>> Phoebe Philo was very adamant about coming back to fashion on her own terms — that includes working out of London rather than Paris, and having reasonable work hours, she tells The Independent: "I think that's a discipline I've taught myself. We're just organised. Everybody in this building knows when I arrive and when I leave and the important things are done within those hours. That's just the way it is. And it works." She continues: "I have a fantastic team and it's much easier having children, because that creates a natural limit. If I have a good time with them before they go to sleep, it's worth everything to me."

A few more quotes from the rare Philo interview, below.

On not allowing media backstage at her runway shows: "Once the show has happened there's no need to control any image, but I don't like the idea of people sending out images before we've even done it. We don't allow anyone to do that. I don't like all that 'model backstage standing around having her picture taken in a stupid pose.'"

On being interviewed: "I just feel it's really unnecessary ... I think that the clothes say it all much better than I can. I always find it strange after a show when everybody comes backstage and says: 'What was it all about'? It's like: 'You've just seen it. What do you mean?' My instinct is to say: 'What did you think? What did you get from it?' And yet they want you to fill in even more. To me, the show is quite a complete story. There's nothing more for me to say and, anyway, it doesn't matter what it was meant to say. It's out there. It can be whatever anyone watching it thought it was, surely."

On being approached by LVMH: "I was heavily pregnant with my second child and LVMH contacted me to find out what I was up to. I remember having this huge tummy. We agreed it wasn't the right time to go into details, but I said I was looking at going back to work at some point. So, I had my baby, and I think when he was four months old and I was ready, the conversation began again. We looked at a business model for [a completely new, eponymous brand for Philo]. We talked about the products I wanted to do and the vision I had for it. And then Celine came into the picture. LVMH seemed very happy to allow me to do everything I would have done for my own label there, basically giving me the same amount of control, and it just felt right. It's never been important to me that my name is above shop windows, and I get a lot of comfort out of having something I can stand behind. Let Celine be the name and the front of it, and I just quietly come to work every day and get on with it. It's nice. It fits."

>> “People think of someone like Alexander Wang and know him for his clothes and for his life as an ‘It’ boy,” Michael King, co-founder of the new website The Food Life, explains. “But no one really knows that he spends three nights a week eating family meals at home." As such, the site visited the designer at his brother's home on one of those evenings to partake in — as Wang put it — “my version of comfort food”: grilled Chinese sausage with sliced garlic, braised beef noodle stew, and the like. “It's like the one thing that still hasn’t changed since I was little," Wang explains of his nights in. "No matter how busy or how little we see each other, cooking always brings us back memories of growing up.” [The Food Life]

>> Helmut Lang seems pretty set about not coming back to fashion — he recently shredded the remains of his archives for an art exhibition — but that doesn't mean he isn't still being pursued. Apparently, after Jean Paul Gaultier decided to leave Hermes in May 2010, Lang was the firm favorite to replace Gaultier as Hermes creative director, W reports. But: When Hermes courted Lang, he refused — he wanted to continue his newfound career as an artist instead of returning to fashion — and the job instead went to Christophe Lemaire.

While Hermes womenswear contributes less than 10 percent of the brand's annual turnover, it does have a symbolic significance in the media and how the brand is viewed. And speaking of views, another Hermes family member has spoken out about Bernard Arnault and the threat of an LVMH takeover. Pierre-Alexis Dumas, the company's group artistic director, tells W: “Hermes has grown out of a family culture with a set of values that we all believe in. I am convinced it would disappear if the family dimension was taken away or diluted. You know, there have been a lot of very good, small restaurants in Paris that have been bought by big chains over the years, usually in the name of better management. But somehow their clients have stopped going, because they have lost their souls ... This whole situation has been an incentive to work even harder. I have told everybody, ‘Listen, guys — it’s time to be more Hermes than ever.’”

>> With Jil Sander's last +J collection for Uniqlo hitting stores this Fall, the retailer has announced a new designer partnership with Undercover's Jun Takahashi. Both Uniqlo and Takahashi have declined to comment on the details or scope of the collaboration, which was inked June 1, but the first collection will hit stores for Spring 2012. According to a release, the details of the collaboration will be announced "as they are determined." [WWD, Honeyee]

>> With Sarah Jessica Parker, Harvey Weinstein, Marios Schwab, and now board member Tamara Mellon no longer involved with Halston, and rumors of clashes between the remaining board members, brand owners Hilco Consumer Capital are looking for a strong figure to help rebuild the brand, which is now focusing solely on the contemporary Halston Heritage line.

Max Azria put in a bid for Halston when a sale or additional investment was being considered by Hilco, and although neither panned out, the dealings may have provided the leader Halston is looking for: Ben Malka, who has been president of BCBG Max Azria Group since 2001, is said to be close to joining the brand to head up the Heritage business — and he may be bringing Marie Mazelis, creative director of Herve Leger and Max Azria, with him. Mazelis has confirmed that she plans to leave BCBG Max Azria Group, but would not comment on her next move: “I haven’t made a final decision yet.” Malka, for his part, denied that he was joining Halston on Friday.