>>  It's amazing what you can learn about a person when they speak.  Take Kate Moss, for instance, who rarely speaks on the record.  In just a short little exchange, I learned quite a bit about her:

• On how she dressed when she was ten: "I remember dressing as a punk . . . Green lipstick, backcombed hair, Mum's T-shirt as a dress . . . "
• On her style icon as a kid: "[I] didn't really aspire to look like anyone else [when I was younger]. I shopped for myself, mostly at jumble sales and Oxfam."
• On what she had on when she was 'discovered': "a white shirt and jeans, and I felt very cool."
• She refers to boots in the singular: "Everyone wore jeans and a boot."
• On why she's a style icon: "I think it's because I don't follow a trend. I just have a thrown-together look."
• Does age affects her style? "Ha! No!  I still think I'm 17."

*image: source

>>  It's no secret that Valentino is begging to send the costume department of Gossip Girl clothes and accessories — almost every main female character on the show, save maybe Vanessa and Lily van der Woodsen, have sported Valentino bags, dresses, and even headbands more than once.  One recent episode even revolves around Jenny and a fiasco involving a one-of-a-kind red Valentino gown. 

At first, I thought product placement — there was too much of the brand for it not to be a coincidence.  But is the Gossip Girl market really Valentino's target market?  Apparently it is now: the brand is going for rapid expansion, and one if its main checkpoints is "To attract a younger, trendier consumer while not losing the brand's current clientele."  And there you have it, product placement at work.

*images: source, photos courtesy of the cw

>> Marc Jacobs not only has a new boy, he has a new favorite bag.  From late March on, he hasn't been seen at a big event without the same black leather clutch in hand.  I wonder what he's got inside?

*image: source, source

>>  Changes are afoot at Barneys, and it's not just involving Target merchandise on the Co-op floor.  The man credited with restoring the store to top-tier stature after bankruptcy in the late '90s, CEO Howard Socol, is expected to quit as early as this week.

Mr. Socol has been with the company since 2001, but disagrees with the chain's new owners, Istithmar, who since their takeover in August have been spearheading an aggressive international expansion.  Mr. Socol's business strategy at the company focused more on landing exclusives with hot labels and capitalizing on the contemporary market. 

The original plan when Istithmar bought Barneys was for Mr. Socol and the new owners to work together on his replacement so that he could leave a year later.  The early bail is brought on because of the aggressive expansion timetable put in place, the helter-skelter choice of future Barneys locations, and the new owners' lack of communication.  Socol doesn't have a new job currently lined up.

I wonder how this will affect the Barneys we know and love . . .

*image: source

>> There must be something about this one-shouldered Fall 2008 Balmain dress: Eva Herzigova wore it last night to Valentino's 76th birthday party, Kate Hudson wore it to the UK premiere of her movie Fool's Gold in early April, and Carine Roitfeld chose it for a recent Miu Miu party.  Three very different ladies, but Christophe Decarnin is definitely doing something right — I'm starting to feel like everywhere I turn, there's Balmain.

*image: source, source, source

>>  The mystery man who showed up as part of Marc Jacobs' posse at the Costume Institute Gala is indeed his latest boyfriend, Lorenzo Martone, who is supposedly a Brazilian advertising executive based in New York.

L: Lorenzo, Sofia Coppola, and Marc at the Costume Institute Gala last week
R: Top — Donna Karan and Marc, Lorenzo in background at Valentino's birthday party last night; Bottom — Lorenzo, Marc, and Eva Herzigova recently

*image: source, source, source