>> Vogue Paris's most recent issue brought us Terry Richardon's pinup-laden 2009 calendar, and as rumored, come February we will indeed be seeing a whole lotta Lara Stone — 100-plus pages worth.

A couple of weeks ago at the Vogue Paris calendar launch party, Carine Roitfeld spilled all kinds of details about what we have to look forward to: "February is an entire issue with Lara Stone and the cover line is Et Vogue Créa Lara."  The influence is Roger Vadim's 1956 Brigitte Bardot classic Et Dieu . . . créa la femme — Lara has often garned Bardot comparisons — and will include shoots by Inez van Lamsweerde, Peter Lindbergh, Hedi Slimane, Nan Goldin, and Steven Klein.

Granted, Lara is known to be one of Carine's favorite models, but fans are just happy to hear Lara speak, so why an entire issue?  "Lara had almost stopped working so I decided I wanted to make her a star," the VP editor explained.
*image: source

>> Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen's book, Influence, doesn't come out until Thursday, but The Cut got an advanced copy — an advanced look at all the interviews the Olsens conducted for the book — among their subjects are favorite designers Francisco Costa, Diane von Furstenberg, John Galliano, Christian Louboutin, Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, Giambattista Valli, favorite photographers Peter Lindbergh and Terry Richardson, plus pictures by Rankin of the interviewees and their work. 

Needless to say the Olsens didn't leave out their favorite Karl Lagerfeld — The Cut excerpted parts of his interview, including his views on models:

KL: [N]owadays you start to model because you're young. Now the girls are sixteen, seventeen, fifteen, and Russian. They are like from another planet.
AO: They can look very bizarre!
KL: I hate all these tall women. They are all giants!
MKO: If only I were a little taller — that would make me happy!
KL: You are one meter fifty-one. You are taller than that?
AO: We're five feet and one inch.
KL: Oh, I thought my office told me that you were four-foot eight or something. Not that it matters. What you need is a face. If you have a face you don't need height or a voice. Models know this; that's why the good ones don't need to talk much.
KL: I like to work with models for a long time. Sometimes the girls change, but some girls I work with for years and years.

Enlightening, perhaps, since some think the Chanel Spring 2009 campaign will host not long-time Chanel girl Claudia Schiffer but either Heidi Mount or Russian model Sasha Pivovarova . . .
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>> ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL —Kate Moss has been known to channel Brigitte Bardot in a number of editorials, most recently for August 2008 Vogue.  Now, those smoky eyes and ruffled Bardot hair have appeared in Kate's first shot for Fall 2008 David Yurman. She joins Du Juan in the latest edition of a campaign that is similar season after season, but always seems to work. [Models.com]  

»Rei Kawakubo has designed a red, pie-shaped shop concept that will house her Comme des Garcons for H&M collection when it comes out in early November; She also chose Peter Lindbergh to photograph Missy Rayder and others for the campaign [WWD]

»Harper's Bazaar brought a cadre of four staffers to couture, while Kate Lanphear is representing Elle alone [FWD]

»Alice Dellal nabbed a MNG Jeans campaign for Fall [Fashionista]

»Nick Knight has asked the likes of Alexander McQueen, Stella McCartney, Naomi Campbell, and Giles Deacon to spin records live on Showstudio.com over 3 days starting July 9 [WWD]

»Karl Lagerfeld seemed to smile in approval at Kris van Assche's latest outing for Dior Homme yesterday [Guardian UK]

»Natasa Vojnovic has gone blonde (NSFW) [Supreme Being]

»Hye Rim Park did recently get married; Vogue Korea has a photo feature story [TFS]

»LVMH won a counterfeit lawsuit against eBay, so the auction site has to cough up $63.2 million [The Cut]

>> Prepare yourself to be shocked and awed — two of the most forward-thinking designers in the industry are comfortable dropping slight hints about their Spring 2009 collections, copycats be damned. 

Dries Van Noten, during a recent interview, had one staff member "drawing a print of abstract eagles; another researching Peter Lindbergh and Bruce Weber images from the 1980s; some working with skeins of bright yarn on the blend of 'graphic with spontaneous' that [he] wants for the 2009 season, saying 'everything for me is about balance.'"

As for Alexander McQueen, he was much more vague about the direction of his Spring 2009 collection, but did note that it would be completely different, with a “very modern” theme based on engineering.

These little (heavy on the little) tidbits will have to suffice for now . . . at least until July, when couture will hold us over.

[Side note: Just had to use this picture of McQueen in his London home, because who else would have a table like that in their house?]

*images: source

>>  Earlier today we got a look at Isabeli Fontana in the Fall Cavalli campaign, and now we've got a small peek another one of her Fall works.  Introducing Alessandra Facchinetti's first Valentino ads, featuring Angela Lindvall along with Isabeli and shot by Peter Lindbergh in Paris.  I'm not sure why you would release an image if you're going to require it to be this small, but hey, something is always better than nothing, right?

The idea was to "emphasize Valentino's ties with Paris," according to Facchinetti, and the ads are presented in a "groupage," or a number of images photographed to run together and tell a story.  Expect a mix of color and black and white, studio and location shots, set to debut in July fashion issues — maybe we'll be able to make out what's going on in the pictures by then.

*images: source