Those rumors that Pamela Anderson would be featured in ads for Vivienne Westwood were correct. Ms. Anderson has reportedly signed a six-figure deal to be the face of the designer's spring 2009 campaign. [Vogue UK] 

Trays of shots replaced birthday cakes at the joint birthday party at Indochine for Julia Restoin Roitfeld and her father Christian Restoin hosted by mother Carine (editor of French Vogue) and brother Vladimir. [WWD] 

Tallulah Harlech, daughter of Karl Lagerfeld's muse Lady Amanda Harlech, has been cast in a short film for Chanel by the designer. Her mother's words of advice? "Don’t pout like Keira Knightley." [WWD]   read more »

Several sources say that photographer Steven Meisel recently shot Madonna for the spring Louis Vuitton campaign. [WWD] 

As everyone scrambles to find new job, the classic interview suit might be making a comeback. [NY Times]  

Jon Hamm appears very un-Don Draper-like in the new Gap ads, smiling and being hugged by his girlfriend Jennifer Westfeldt. [Racked]  read more »

This morning, the Daily Transom hustled over to the H&M on Fifth Avenue and 51st Street where at 8:30 or so, a huddled mass of around 250 shivering Comme des Garcons enthusiasts were shuffling around outside. They were waiting for the 9 a.m. debut of Rei Kawakubo's special, low-priced line for H&M, and many of them had been in line for hours.

Before the doors opened, several line-standers were overheard wondering whether the line's Japanese eclecticism could possibly fit onto the typically toned-down, moderately priced shelves of H&M. (Especially considering that Ms. Kawakubo created a Comme des Garcons fall 2008 line that  read more »]]> http://www.observer.com/2008/o2/comme-des-garcons-enthusiasts-will-stop-nothing#comments Fashion O2 Comme des Garcons H&M Thu, 13 Nov 2008 15:31:31 -0500 Em Whitney 78810 at http://www.observer.com http://www.observer.com/2008/o2/cranky-jay-mccarroll-responds-tina-brown-snafu

When we ran into former Project Runway contestant Jay McCarroll at The Humane Society of the United States' Cool Vs. Cruel Ceremony at the Bowery Hotel last night, we had to ask him about the little miscommunication he--or rather his impostor--had with a reporter at Tina Brown's the Daily Beast.

Last week, the Daily Beast ran an article that was supposed to display concept drawings by former Project Runway contestants for Michelle Obama's inaugural gowns. By mistake, a reporter named Hailey Eber contacted a Jay McCarrol, a musician in Canada, instead of Jay McCarroll, the Project Runway contestant. Mr. McCarrol, the musician, went along with it, getting a friend to do a drawing of a gown and leading Ms. Eber to believe it was authentic. The drawing was posted alongside other designs, but was soon found out for what it was--a hoax--by the Smoking Gun.

"I’m over it now. It’s guess it's funny," said Mr. McCarroll, the real reality show contestant. "I guess it keeps my name in the spotlight, doesn’t it? And I didn’t have to do anything—zero!"  read more »

This morning, Observer columnist Simon Doonan unveiled the holiday windows at Barneys—where he toils as Creative Director by day—to the press.

"This year, I noticed that everyone was talking about the counterculture," he said, explaining his "Have a Hippie Holiday" theme via books by Sheila Weller (Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon—And the Journey of a Generation) and Tom Brokaw (Boom!: Talking About the Sixties: What Happened, How It Shaped Today, Lessons for Tomorrow) and coffee-table tome Spaced-Out: Radical Environments of the Psychedelic Sixties.

Also: "I read somewhere that it's the 50th Anniversary of the peace sign!"  read more »

Why are New York women wearing ankle boots?

“Because we follow trends,” said Maya Beaumier, 18, a college freshman who was hanging out on University Place last Friday night, clad in flat black ankle boots with black leggings and scrubby denim shorts.

“Yeah, we’re followers!” said her friend Maureen Flanagan, also an 18-year-old freshman and also wearing little zip-up ankle boots (“my mom bought them for me”), with black leggings from American Apparel. Over that she wore a short dress, and in her hair were evenly spaced technicolor bows, like glow-in-the-dark wallpaper.

“We want to be L.A. hipsters,” Ms.  read more »

After opting for a controversial black and red number by New York designer Narciso Rodriguez on Election Night, Michelle Obama visited the White House today in a conservative (if snug) red dress by Maria Pinto, a Chicago favorite and creator of the blue dress Ms. Obama wore at the Democratic National Convention and the purple sheath she wore the night her husband claimed the Democratic nomination.

(This after a much-publicized appearance in J. Crew on The Tonight Show in the wake of news of Sarah Palin's $150,000 department store splurge.)  read more »

The bipartisan windows of Henri Bendel currently feature a group of five mannequins standing near red and blue polling booths, each representing a political party. Today, each mannequin has a question mark above its head, but tomorrow, these will be removed and all the girls will be placed in front of the winning booth. [WWD] 

Anna Wintour waited in line to vote in Soho today. [NY Mag] 

Several prominent Hindu activists are calling for a public apology from model Heidi Klum for dressing as a crass representation of the Hindu Goddess Kali for Halloween. [Vogue UK] 

Due to the troubled economy, Madison Avenue has been plagued by vacant storefronts.  read more »

We have some terrible news. As of about 30 minutes ago, Women's Wear Daily is reporting that the annual masquerade holiday party thrown by Marc Jacobs and his best friend and longtime business partner Robert Duffy--has been canceled due to the current economic situation. 

"Due to the financial climate, I had to make the decision to cancel the 2008 holiday party," Mr. Duffy wrote an e-mail that went out earlier today to guests invited to the annual bash, which had been scheduled for Dec. 10 at the Rainbow Room and was to have a "Rock and Roll Circus" theme. "It pains me as this has been a Marc Jacobs tradition for the past 18 years.  read more »

The funny thing about designer Nathan McCarthy is that he doesn’t care how you wear his clothes. The flowing silk charmeuse dress with the kimono sleeves? You decide which is the front or the back. The drapey cashmere crisscross sweater with the sheer trim? Hey, make it a dress! And when you get sick of it, cut off the sleeves, or chop it in half. Why not?

“My whole thing is that I’m not into imposing styles on what I do, so it’s like, if you want to belt it, belt it. If you don’t want to, you want to wear it like a big T-shirt, I don’t care.  read more »