>> INSIDER WIRE — Despite all the cutbacks and paredowns, Chanel is still going ahead with that Cruise show in Venice that has been rumored since last June. Now, we'll just have to wait and see if the collection, which debuts next month, is accompanied by a spectacle to rival last year's in Miami. [FWD]
*image: source

>> Kate Moss is still very much in business — that photoshoot with Craig McDean in Paris last week was for a future Yves Saint Laurent women's fragrance, she recently had buckets of water thrown in her face during a Mert & Marcus shoot, and soon she's going to be jetting in to New York to launch that first stateside Topshop store — they've already got racks inside — simultaneously with her ninth collection for the brand, which she's already been wearing out and about, and has garnered fans like Giovanna Bataglia.

But those things might not be the only projects on Kate's plate.  In a recent interview with the Telegraph, it appears that Kate slipped up and admitted that she's getting married — why else would she say "the wedding"?

An exquisitely beaded 1920s-style flapper dress that is draped over a chair catches her eye. "Ooh that would be great for the wedding." She pauses, suddenly realising the headline-worthy nature of what she has just said. "Not my wedding. A friend’s. No. I’m not getting married and my boobs haven’t grown because I’m lactating or pregnant."

But back to her Topshop collection — she's says it's evolved since round one.

"The first season was pieces that I loved which had been hanging in my wardrobe that I then tweaked and improved. It was great, but now I can’t wear any of it because, oh my God, all my favourite dresses have a Topshop label in them, ha ha. Now when I come into the office I’ll talk about things that I really want. It’s about what I think I am going to wear next season."

On to more pressing matters: for whom does she dress to impress? »

Cheap Chicas Guide To Style found a makeup set by Tarte that is spring inspired and also eco-friendly. 

Juicy Watermelon reported on home facials and the pros and cons of the under-five-dollar variety. ..

Kitten Lounge created a gallery of the newest Cosabella collection to hit shelves: this one is SATC-inspired. 

Solo Lisa gave readers the low-down on how to choose a fashionable clutch that works for you.

>> IN PRODUCTION —Mark Walsh and Leslie Chin's fourth jewelry collaboration with Rodarte didn't make it onto the runway for Fall 2009, but it will be making it into stores — including Colette.  The 21 pieces of silvered bronze and rock crystal jewelry were inspired by medical experiments, and W's got a few pictures.  Speaking of Rodarte, they seem to have a new brand ambassador — Reese Witherspoon, who has changed her Nina Ricci brand alliance. [W Editors' Blog, Elle News Blog]

>> For Spring 2009 more than ever, brands stuck with campaign models who guarantee a sell — supermodels like Gisele Bundchen and Kate Moss for Versace or Claudia Schiffer for Yves Saint Laurent, Daria Werbowy for Roberto Cavalli — or the classic blonde hair-blue eye combination that Toni Garrn and Anna Maria Jagodzinska's campaign sweeps represented.  Also of note for the season, Prada and Balenciaga's decisions to go with big groups of models — eight and ten, respectively.

With Fall 2009 campaign season under way, it sounds like at least a couple of brands have decided to break from that latter part of last season's formula — Wayne Sterling of The Imagist reports:

"It is too early to say and too tenuous to reveal who's holding/confirming what these days but rest assured it is the striking and the extreme that seem to be filtering into the next phase. Among the buzz I picked up by some art directors is a disenchantment with the 'multiples' ideal, that concept of an army of models rocking as many of the looks from the show as possible while waving as many possible it-bags as can be crammed into a double page. Two VERY big brands have already gone 'Only Girl.'"

The most likely candidate from that description of packing the models in seems to be Prada — so does that mean Prada is one of those already-decided brands, and Miuccia's current favorite exclusive Ymre Stiekema is going to finally get a main season campaign under her belt?

Who else is already being pinpointed? »