Those stories and more here in our daily news roundup.

• Thakoon Panichgul opened the doors of his art-filled New York studio for a tour, where he revealed that while it's important for him to be surrounded by books and lots of inspiring fabrics, he often doesn't want to look at his own archives. "The past is the past—I don't want to look at it, I want to move forward," he said. [Vogue]
  

• Paco Rabanne today announced that it has appointed Lydia Maurer as its new creative director. Maurer, 29, will fill the position Manish Arora had until he and the brand decided to part ways in May. [The Cut]
  

• Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen have had an incredible journey from their days on Full House to winning one of the most prestigious trophies in American fashion from the CFDA. How did they do it? Part of it was building their brand slowly. "They took time to become part of the industry and didn't expect any special favors," says CFDA executive director Steven Kolb. [Fashionista]
  

• Georgia May Jagger is the new face of The Sunglass Hut, but she may well help create visuals for the chain one day. Jagger is a budding photographer, and Sunglass Hut's CEO Fabio D'Angelantonio said the company is "investigating how [Jagger's] passion for photography can come alive." [WWD]
  

• Harley Viera-Newton has been selected as one of Target Style's guest editors for June. "I've always loved Target," she says. "They allow people to have fun and dress up and express themselves without going completely broke." [Target Style]

Photo: Courtesy of Vogue

Alexander Wang's fashion label filed court papers on Wednesday in which it once again denied that it ever operated a sweatshop. The documents called the people suing the company for poor working conditions "two disgruntled former employees with axes to grind."

In the papers, lawyers for Wang said the only reason Wenyu Lu and Flor Durante filed suit against the company in March was to "exact a substantial settlement from the defendants, and that the two have mischaracterized their former workplace as a hovel, while attempting to portray defendants as 'sweatshop owners.'"

But according to the defense, nothing could be further from the truth. Wang's lawyers say the company's workspace at 386 Broadway in New York — which Lu described as a windowless room — is in reality a "modern, brightly lit studio with high ceilings and large windows." The papers say that Lu and Durante, who both worked as sewers, were paid $25 and $22 per hour, respectively.

The papers said Wang employees were allowed to take breaks during the workday and were eligible for a wide variety of benefits, including paid vacation and medical and dental insurance. Additionally, the papers emphasize that the designer and all of the defendants named in the suit "have complied with all applicable wage and hour and leave laws, and there is no basis whatsoever for plaintiffs' frivolous and entirely unsupportable accusations that defendants have harassed them or discriminated against them on the basis of their race, or on any other protected basis."

Lu filed the original lawsuit in March, when he claimed that he had been forced to work 25 hours without taking a break when he worked for Wang. The other plaintiff, who has been identified as both Flor Durante and Flor Duarte, claimed she was fired after applying for worker's compensation.

Photo: Alexander Wang attends a party hosted by Lacoste during Coachella.

On the first leg of Karl Lagerfeld's traveling "The Little Black Jacket" tour — which features images from the book of the same name that the designer shot with Carine Roitfeld — the designer opened up about where Chanel's classic jacket belongs in fashion history.

"There are different cuts, shapes and proportions, but the basic thing is timeless," Lagerfeld explained. "There are not that many designer items you can say that about. We don't know who did the tank top; we don’t know who did the white shirt, but we know who did the little black jacket."

Lagerfeld says the book, which depicts everyone from Alexander Wang to Daphne Guinness (above) wearing the jacket, features some straightforward imagery and some in which the subjects take on different personas.

"I love the photo of Uma Thurman [resembling Marlene Dietrich], but she is not like this in life," he said. "We made Anja Rubik Japanese. She doesn't look like this either and is playing a part. The idea is the portrait of the personality, or the personality playing a part."

At the moment, one of Lagerfeld's favorite personalities is his oft-tweeted 9-month-old Siamese cat Choupette, who he admitted stealing from his male muse Baptiste Giabiconi.

"Baptiste gave her to me for Christmas to watch for two weeks when he was away but then I refused to give her back. I thought she was too cute," Lagerfeld said. She is like a kept woman. She has a strong personality. She has lunch and dinner with me on the table, with her own food. She doesn’t touch my food. She doesn't want to eat on the floor. She sleeps under a pillow and she even knows how to use an iPad. She has two personal maids, for both night and day. She is beyond spoiled."

But not spoiled enough to get her own little black jacket from Chanel. "I don't like animals in human clothes," Lagerfeld said. "I think that's very circuslike."

Below, a look at three preview clips for the exhibit, which opens in New York June 8. For a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the book, click here.

Photo: Karl Lagerfeld photographing Daphne Guinness for The Little Black Jacket.