>> While Prada is talking to banks about renegotiating its debt to free up cash for an aggressive store expansion instead of taking recent offers to sell a minority stake, Dolce & Gabbana are lowering their prices between 10 and 20 percent.

Stefano Gabbana informed WWD of the initiative, which begins with the Spring 2010 season for both Dolce & Gabbana and D&G, and is intended to be long-term, while "wearing a white shirt, frayed khaki Bermuda shorts and Crocs sandals."  In order to uphold creativity and quality while achieving the drop in price, the designers have diminished their usual selection of hundreds of fabrics to dozens in a more far-ranging palette and made construction of their garments simpler.

Examples of the new prices include $450 for a pair of five-pocket jeans (which for Spring 2009 cost $695); $1,469 for a dress that was $2,295; $1,499 for a formerly $2,296 leather bomber jacket; and $3,589 for an iconic stretch silk tulle corset dress that was $5,200. Explains Dolce: “The idea is to peel off the superfluous because there are too many clothes, too many seasons, too much advertising — too much of everything that is tacked onto the final price. We want to go back to how things were 20 years ago. It’s about drawing the line.”