>> MODA OPERANDI —Renzo Rosso has diversified once again, taking a majority stake in Viktor & Rolf.  The Dutch duo are the latest addition to the Diesel owner's portfolio, in addition to Maison Martin Margiela, Sophia Kokosalaki, and Dsquared. [IHT]

>> THE MODELIZER —Despite breakup rumors earlier this month, Kate Moss and Jamie Hince were spotted enjoying each other's company around London earlier today, he wearing her Stephen Sprouse Louis Vuitton scarf around his neck, helping her carry her Selfridges bags, even giving her a hug or two. Who knows whether this means a reunion, if they never broke up, or if it was just a friendly excursion . . . [Jezebel, Daily Mail]

Summer is traditionally the season for bold and bright colors. The autumn/winter season gravitates towards more somber tones season after season, giving us grays, blacks, and browns. And indeed Première Vision has predicted a color palette that has many darker inclinations such as deep earthy greens (algae, mud) and rich browns (truffle, root), but it is the intensity of its subversive and grating brights (mauve, atoll, fertilizer), the incandescents (gum, bilberry), and the volcanic blazes (toxic violet, lava) splashed across the color board that caught our attention. Première Vision's Fashion Team told us these palette was meant to "revive a combative confidence and creative boldness while fearlessly experimenting."

One hopes that "seizing on color as a power source" will in fact prove a powerful enabler to the consumer in these increasingly difficult times. The weavers and textile factories have already prepared bold offerings for the market in the hope that this tactic is just what the consumer will desire. These colors evince a clear predilection for risk taking, showing that the fashion industry believes cannot maintain a low profile.

The trouble with predicting the 2009/2010 season is that there really is little collective understanding of just how far down our economic climate will tumble as we stand on the precipice of what could be the worst recession in decades. In this sense, the rhetoric used by the fashion team of "putting aside consensus" makes a certain amount of sense. Shifting aesthetic boundaries may help us to move the market and these bold colors may do just the trick.

However, designers can hedge their bets with the selection of warm and lightened neutrals on display (ginger, amanita, oyster) and the tone on tone tinted sauves (cat's tongue, chemical cloud, North Sea, lichen) that are still decidedly brighter than an average while maintaining a kind of calm.

Yep, that's Miami Swim in a nutshell. We'll be bringing you a few reviews from the Miami Swim 09 shows, surely there's a little bit more substance than that, but we must say this first. Now, we're not likening Swim Week to New York Fashion Week (or even Australia Fashion Week for that matter) but it is, after all, a Mercedes Benz sponsored Fashion 'Week' (the reason we title it just, "Miami Swim" is that it's only three days long) and so it deserves a little bit of criticism. Even just for fun. First off, does the sight of orangey-red bodies skeeve you guys out as much as it does us? Just looking at the models this weekend made us feel like taking a bath in sunblock. We're living in an age where women by and large are finally foregoing their tanning booth subscriptions to avoid looking like a raisin by the time they're thirty, and yet, you'd never think so judging by the Miami runways. How do these designers not have better taste? Sure, when showing swimwear people probably want to see a model with a slight tan. But, at least to us, a 'slight tan' does not mean 'an orange body'. Is there no middle ground? That said, there were some other major fashion no-nos that we just have to shoutout now before we move on. Namely, belly button rings, implants (?), butterfly tattoos, and straw cowboy hats. Is there no justice in the world? There are plenty of sane fashion people down in Miami this weekend, are they too drunk to care? Okay. Pardon all the rhetorical questions. On to the swimsuits...