>> I picked it up at the bookstore on Friday (it was just released Wednesday), but I doubt this is the last time you'll hear me talk about it.  Deluxe: How Luxury Lost its Luster is Newsweek reporter Dana Thomas' new tract on, well, the corporatization of the luxury business. 

Sound a little dry to you?  Don't go away just yet.  This book has gotten a lot of buzz, including excerpts published at Gawker.com, face time at Style.com and in various fashion magazines, and most recently, it was featured in the NY Times Sunday Business section.

The NY Times article has plenty of interesting little details from the book, like:

After France earned $15 million selling hundreds of millions of acres to the United States, Napoleon’s wife, Josephine, spent half of the money on clothes in 10 years.

Shame shame, Josephine.  Or there are fun little statistics, like:

...as of last year 40 percent of all Japanese people  owned a product made by Vuitton, mainly  from the monogram line. That follows from the fact that the Japanese now account for 40 percent of all luxury sales, more than Americans (17 percent) and Europeans (16 percent) combined.

Maybe I'm just poorly informed, but Japan kind of came out nowhere for me on this.  Sure, the Japanese are definitely a fashion-conscious people, but I would have guessed the burgeoning population-heavy markets of China or India would account for more luxury sales than Japan.  Shows how much I know.

In any case, definitely looking forward to more interesting little tidbits from my girl Dana, when I finally have a chance to crack open the book... Did I mention I like the cover art?   

>> I meant to mention before when I was talking about this editorial: this photo of Coco totally reminds me of Audrey's picture with the balloons in Funny Face.  (I couldn't find the exact Funny Face pic, but if you watch this clip you'll see what I mean.)

>>  Meet Jen Kao, who had me ever since I saw this dress on her website.  The Parsons grad only has one collection under her belt (Fall 2007), but already she has big plans (sounds like my kind of girl). 

For her first presentation at the upcoming NY fashion week, Jen collaborated with photographer Ryan McGinley (the man of smoky Kate Moss picture fame) and stylist Kate Young for a backdrop display of Darla Baker photos, all shot at a sleepaway camp in New York.  I can't say I'm not more intrigued than I already was... 

>> If Vogue does one good issue of beautiful editorials a year, it's always the September issue.  Daria gets a Bourdin-inspired treatment by Inez & Vinoodh, Sienna wears some great feathery dresses, and Shalom is in a haircut that reminds me of a mashup between Selma Blair's recent buzz cut and Posh's current 'do: all three girls get separate spreads, but together in one magazine they are quite the triple threat.

Also, someone over at headquarters must be having a serious Jazz Age moment, because so soon after Natalia's Gatsby-esque spread comes the totally twenties-ed out "Paris, Je T'aime" editorial by Steven Meisel. 

Caro Trentini, Coco Rocha, Sasha, Gemma, Agyness, and Guinevere van Seenus all ici and ici.