>> After the fiasco that happened last week, this whole Tom-Ford-as-Vanity-Fair-artistic-director-for-the-March-2006-issue thing has piqued my curiousity.  Luckily, I was able to find a bit more information.

Ford was said to have requested that the Vanity Fair fashion department pull “really grown-up clothes” (translation: skin-baring dresses and platform high heels) for 12-year old Dakota Fanning, just one of a bevy of actresses he worked with. “It’s one thing to have an artistic eye, but it’s another to be offensive,” said one source who worked on the shoots. “It’s been an interesting adventure.” What’s also interesting is that sources are now saying that Ford’s guest-editing gamble might very well become a permanent venture at the Condé Nast title.

While all those involved with the issue remain tight-lipped about which actresses achieved the cover status—once again photographed by Annie Leibovitz—what is known is that none of the actresses will wear any of Ford’s own ready-to-wear line, which he is currently developing. Patricia Clarkson and Mission: Impossible III star Michelle Monaghan are among those featured inside the issue, which also boasts contributions from an array of famed shutterbugs, from Terry Richardson to Michael Thompson.

Scandalous.

**source: fashion week daily

>>  As I was saying... Tom Ford is all about the nudity.

...Now you see it...

...Now you don't.

And what a magician he is, at that.

**source:  gq germany

>>  Good news -- wunderkind Sex and the City stylist Patricia Field is styling The Devil Wears Prada movie.  So we can all breathe easy -- Meryl Streep won't be wearing a horrible bobbed haircut or anything.  Nor will she be wearing Prada, it sounds like.  Field is busy looking for the best designer outfits: "Meryl's wearing a mix of Chanel, with a spring of Vivienne Westwood, Alexander McQueen, and Roland Mouret."

**source: femalefirst

>>  Apparently someone can say no to taking it all off for Tom Ford.  As guest editor of Vanity Fair's Hollywood Issue, Ford prearranged with Rachel McAdams' publicist for her to appear naked in a group portrait alongside Keira Knightley, Scarlett Johannson, and others.  When McAdams showed up to the shoot and found out (as her publicist forget to mention that tiny little detail to her), she stormed back out, firing her publicist on the way.  Surprising that she was so clueless, considering Tom's reputation for liking skin, and the fact that he's told reporters that "the entire issue would be naked."

**source: radar online

>>  It's monumental, it is.  After starting the whole celebrity-instead-of-model trend with Jennifer Lopez and Uma Thurman, Marc Jacobs is reverting back to old school for Louis Vuitton.  "We just wanted a fashion icon more than the celebrity thing," Jacobs explained over cola and cigarettes at the China Club. "I certainly feel Gisele is iconic and recognized all over the world as Gisele. Also, the clothes were hot and sexy and colorful, and we thought she would exaggerate the strength and the heat of the collection." 

So here Miss Gisele is, working different poses and handbags for each month:  yellow suede for February, perforated monogram for March, printed silk scarf bags for April, denim ones for May and a multicolored fringed number for June. "It's the bag-of-the-month club," Jacobs teased.  How tempting.  Tempting for me to vomit, that is.  Not because I hate Gisele, but because something about Louis Vuitton is just always off to me...like those abnormally vivid colors you're seeing.

**source: wwd, chic

>>  Take a cigarette (or maybe you prefer the cigarette pants instead), breathe in, and exhale...  because Paris is in New York.  Kaiser Karl cleared out the Chanel flagship for a pre-fall showing.  I'm seeing high necks, I'm seeing skinny pants, tuxedo shirts, short gloves, and did I mention the monochrome palette?  A couple of hits (think classic Chanel skinny suits, berets, and a dress that reminds me of Elizabeth Taylor) and a couple of misses (a net overlay dress with a huge brooch at the middle, a dress with a clown collar), but everything with a twist of retro.  And besides, the Kaiser still has time to fix the wrongs.  I do love a good sneak-peak, don't you?

The rest of the preview can be seen here. 

>>  Alex Kuczynski was reporting on Abercrombie, haven of ever-so-wonderfully-original-clothes-that-are-absolutely-not-overpriced-for-what-you-are-getting that it is, for the Thursday Styles section of the NY Times, when she tried to talk to a sales clerk.  When the clerk couldn't hear her, because Erasure's "Oh L'Amour" was blasting over the loudspeakers, Ms. Kuczynski got fed up.  She was so mad, in fact, she came back with a decibel meter.  She wanted to make sure those good-for-nothing Abercrombie clerks would have no ears left by the time they were 20.  When she came back, she finally got a clerk to talk to her.  The clerk said (while looking at Ms. Kuczynski's hand-held decibel meter):  "Dude.  That is the weirdest looking phone I have ever seen."

**source:  nytimes

>>  Not one to forgo jumping on the bandwagon, Sienna Miller is following a long line of celebrities launching clothing lines.  At least she has the help of her sister Savannah (both girls left), who was trained at Central St. Martin's (same college Stella McCartney graduated from), but hasn't really done much since.  A source told the magazine: "Sienna has great fashion sense but Savannah is the one with the real design talent. She was a star pupil at college and the label's bound to be successful."  The collection is scheduled to launch in Spring 2007.

I'm skeptical about this -- celebrity clothes lines have always proven to be a bad idea.  And Sienna's track record isn't looking so good lately -- fashion icon, my tush.  I found a picture of her modeling one Savannah's creations from a while back...  if the collection turns out to look anything like this, it will be entertaining, if nothing else.  Especially if that flamingo leg look becomes their trademark.

**source: telegraph, femalefirst