>> Louis Vuitton is mounting a retrospective of Marc Jacobs's designs, to be unveiled during Milan Fashion Week; Robert Duffy suggests in a recent interview that Jacobs is ready to take on a couture line; and now, Jacobs has pushed back his New York Fashion Week show date — all fueling speculation that he's busy focusing on saying goodbye to Vuitton and doing a deal with Dior.

But, whatever happens, Jacobs won't be saying goodbye to one person — his business partner of 28 years, Robert Duffy. In a new profile exploring their partnership, Jacobs says of opportunities over the years: "Wherever we were, it would seem to the owner that one of us was the more valuable of the pair. But we always stood by each other ... it's not about what I do and what Robert does. The two of us together are Marc Jacobs. The two of us together are Vuitton. I don't think without him or without me we could achieve all that we've achieved."

More highlights from the profile, below.

Duffy on working with Jacobs for 28 years: "Marc honestly hasn't changed that much. He is very fragile and childlike. But when he's pushed against a wall and he really believes in something, he'll come back fighting. I think it's something he's learned from me. I guess that's how I've seen him change. He's more confident about what he has the right to say. He's definitely learned his craft and become an amazing technician. He could do a couture line. Of course, once he got sober, the natural thing to do was to get healthier. I don't know if you've ever known a heroin addict. He would eat cake, a whole wedding cake from a pastry shop. I would be like, 'You're the only fat heroin addict I know.'"

Duffy on what Jacobs would be without him: "I think if we weren't together, Marc would be a designer of renown, but he probably would have stayed small. He would never embrace social media. He wouldn't have done Marc by Marc. When I wanted to open Marc by Marc, he said, 'You think I want to design another line? You've got me working at Louis Vuitton, you've got me working here. You want to do it? It's yours. I'll come in and help when I need to.' But I have to be profitable, especially in the partnership with LVMH. I have to fund his collection line and the fashion shows."

Duffy on Jacobs's last-minute decisions: "Marc is famous for deciding things two weeks before the show, like, 'Oh my God, I want Stephen Jones to make polka-dot hats.' He expects the impossible from every single person. He expects everybody to just get with the program and get it done."

Jacobs on not always seeing eye-to-eye: "Sometimes we disagree on creative situations. He'll look at me like I'm out of my mind, like when I wanted to play 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow' for last fall's show. He said, 'You're not really going to use that?' And then he sort of said, 'All right.' He's never stopped me from doing something. Sometimes we see each other constantly and sometimes there are weeks or maybe even a month where we don't speak. We don't micromanage each other."

>> After this year's record-breaking Alexander McQueen-themed exhibit, what will the Costume Institute pick to focus on for the 2012 gala and exhibit? WWD reports hearing that Miuccia Prada and Elsa Schiaparelli will be the focus, but further details could not be learned, and the Met declined comment on the matter. [WWD]

>> Daria Strokous made the rounds during this year's Cannes Film Festival, and now she's making her film debut in Steven Soderbergh's upcoming disease-outbreak thriller Contagion, featuring an all-star cast of Matt Damon, Kate Winslet, Marion Cotillard, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Jude Law. The film — out Sept. 9 — features Strokous as Irina Modelskova, a Ukranian supermodel in London who is struck down by a mysterious and deadly ailment; a first image of Daria as Irina, at left. [TFS]

>> After six months in office as Vogue Paris's editor-in-chief, Emmanelle Alt — who spent a decade as the magazine's fashion director — tells Vogue: “It is really strange, editing the magazine; it’s like decorating an apartment you have lived in for ten years already.”

One of the first things the six-foot, 44-year-old editor installed in her new office? An iPod sound system, as she likes to have music — think Michael Jackson, ABBA, disco, and David Bowie — playing as she works. "People say to me, ‘Oh, my God, your iPod!’ But I think a lot of us love the stuff of our teenage years,” she explains.

And the musical leanings extend to her out-of-office duties, too: “I love to dance, I love to sing. After a shoot, I like to do karaoke. David [Sims, the photographer] likes it, too. And Kate [Moss]. In the studio, when you’ve been working hard all day, it’s such good energy to just play around.” She and Moss tend to duet on “No More Tears (Enough Is Enough),” by Donna Summer and Barbra Streisand, Alt says, with Alt on Streisand's part and Moss on Summer duty.

>> Marc Jacobs has rescheduled his collection show from Monday evening, Sept. 12, to Thursday, Sept. 15 at 8:30 pm, according to Robert Duffy. WWD reports that the switch was made to "allow Jacobs and his staff to make up for time lost this past weekend when the entire design and sample room staffs were scheduled to work before Hurricane Irene intervened." The move — which places Jacobs in the upcoming New York Fashion Week's closing spot — could complicate traveling for those headed to London Fashion Week, which begins the following morning on Sept. 16. The Marc by Marc Jacobs show, meanwhile, has been bumped up from Tuesday afternoon to the Monday evening slot. [WWD]

>> Gemma Ward, who last appeared as a mermaid in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, has reportedly landed a new film role. She said to have been cast for a "significant" part in The Great Gatsby, which begins shooting in Sydney next week. The film, directed by her fellow Australian Baz Luhrmann, is scheduled to be out in theaters next year and stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Gatsby, Carey Mulligan as Daisy Buchanan, and Tobey Maguire as Nick Carraway. [Herald Sun]