»September 2008 Harper's Bazaar features designers dressed up and photographed in their fantasies — and Karl Lagerfeld picked to be a rapper [FWD]

»Ralph Lauren likely had to pay to design the US Olympic opening ceremony uniforms, but at least he's making money off of it now [The Cut]

»A first look at Samantha Pleet's "goth-and-lollipops" Rapscallion collection for Urban Outfitters [The Pipeline]

»Bergdorf Goodman is hosting a Bill Cunningham retrospective during New York Fashion Week [Fashionista]

»Behati Prinsloo and model boyfriend Jamie Strachan: still going strong [Chic Report]

»Hearst is launching a competitor to Conde Nast's Fashion Rocks in September called 30 Days of Fashion [WWD]

>> BLOWING THE COVER —Vogue's online reality show Model.Live is debuting in just under a week, but one of the stars is already making waves: Cato Van Ee, who has recently shown up in editorials for Dazed & Confused and Vogue China, popped up today on the September 2008 cover of Dazed & Confused alongside Anna Gushina, Kori Richardson, and Pernille Moeller. [Of the Minute]

>> THE MODELIZER —There have been rumors about her and Kanye West, but in the last month, the gossip has placed Chanel Iman with singer and producer Ryan Leslie instead.  The two were snapped together on July 30 at The Grand, and then again last night at VIBE's 15th Anniversary party.  Maybe they're together . . . or maybe Chanel will be announcing an album sometime soon . . . [Young, Black, and Fabulous]

>> A lot of attention has been placed lately on increasing model diversity, but what about that other troubled topic — model weight? 

Today, the British Fashion Council announced that their initiative to ban "size zero" models from the London catwalks next month has been abandoned after the other three major fashion capitals refused to follow suit. 

The plan was to require models to obtain a doctor's certificate proving they were in good health, but the Chambre Syndicale in Paris thought imposing model health certificates lay outside their realm, the Camera Nazionale della Moda in Milan preferred self-regulation, and according to Steven Kolb, executive director of New York's CFDA:

We looked at things like doctor’s certification and body mass index and decided that, for us, it wasn’t the appropriate recommendation. We felt it was wrong to force a girl to have a physical examination, especially because the signs of a problem aren’t always obvious.

After the negative reaction of its peers, London deferred — with fashion week coming up next month, if the city had imposed such strict standards alone, models would likely have skipped the city altogether.
*image: source

After posting on our reluctance to purchase anything resembling a 'fashion coat' this winter, Mayle solved all of our problems. First of all our love for shearling is strong. When we saw shearling this season from Richard Chai, Matthew Williamson, and Preen, we were just about beside ourselves. Shearling is like the morally sound alternative to fur and it's likewise really, really warm. Although we've never donned a pair of UGGs, we've long been fans of shearling. So Mayle, ever the clever indie star, came up with a little shearling caplet which can drape around the collar of your favorite trench or not-so-warm 'fashion coat'. It's darling, really, and might just solve your warmth problem come snowstorm time. The only snag in this plan is that the caplet itself is $240 dollars. Now, that might be nothing to some fashionistas and if so, all the power to you. We do know, however, that not every chicster will want to spend that much post-coat purchase. The only answer we can come up with is to act like Steve Madden and hit up the garment district on a DIY adventure, or, make the fashion coat purchase now and save the caplet investment for later, when you've long forgotten the former investment.

>> IN PRODUCTION — Richard Chai is the twelfth, Jonathan Saunders is the thirteenth, and Thakoon Panichgul has just been named the fourteenth Target Go International designer — his collection will be available in late December. Maybe that makes Alexander McQueen the fifteenth? [Slaves to Fashion]

*image: source