>> Decision on Christian Lacroix Delayed —Christian Lacroix recently said it would be a relief to have a decision on his company's fate, but it seems that luck is still not with him.  The French tribunal which was scheduled to make a decision today on Emirati sheikh al-Naimi's $100 million offer for the brand adjourned hearings, citing the need for an economic recovery plan to be finalized before a decision could be made.  The court will reconvene for another review Nov. 17, and a final decision is expected at a later date. [AFP]

>> Giorgio Armani, who has historically been vague about his plans for a successor on both the creative and management side of his company, hinted earlier today that he is taking precautionary measures. "I'm already organizing staff who will continue my work. Of course I am not eternal, there comes a time when you must hand it over." In the past, he has talked about both selling the company and a bourse listing — no word on whether either is still being considered.

The 75-year-old designer, who is in Moscow for a succession of Armani promotional events — a cocktail party, a Fall 2009 Emporio Armani fashion show, and a Fall 2009 Giorgio Armani presentation — is coming off the recent announcement that he has eased his workload following a hepatitis scare.  But today he was fit enough to joke with reporters about his appearance: "You see how I am, I don't look bad yet, do I?"

>> Comings and Goings: Layoffs at W, Julia Frakes Signed at Next —W editorial director Patrick McCarthy vowed that the magazine wouldn't be cutting its twelve-month run in half, but the same doesn't go for his staff: features director James Reginato, who has been working with W since the early nineties, has left the magazine; more layoffs are expected next week.  Next Model Management, meanwhile, is starting to carve out a fashion blogger portfolio — they signed Fashion Toast's Rumi Neely to their LA branch in April, and just announced representation of BunnyBISOUS's Julia Frakes in New York. [FWD, Next]

>> Diane von Furstenberg Gets Robbed, Photographs Upcoming Campaign Herself —Just before she jetted off to Madrid and subsequently got robbed "in the street" — "My wallet, cash and all my credit cards!!" — Diane von Furstenberg kicked off Teen Vogue's Fashion University over the weekend, where she reminded the audience that her eyewear collection is out in January.  Tom Ford and Karl Lagerfeld have done it, and now DVF: she photographed the entire sunglasses campaign herself. The model is none other than her son Alex's fiancee Ali Kay, who has recently been at the center of a tabloid scandal. [@InsideDVF, Fashionista]

>> Fashion houses tended toward casting celebrities or established, "pretty" faces for their Fall 2009 campaigns, and it sounds like despite the fact that the Spring 2010 runways were flooded with new faces — because so many established models were sitting it out — Spring 2010 campaign season will bring more of the same.  In an interview published today, Nick Knight tells the Independent UK:

"My aim has always been to push at the boundaries of what is and isn't beautiful. Instead of our perception of beauty opening up, it's becoming more narrow all the time. To make money, the industry is increasingly catering to the lowest common denominator and, as far as the people who run the big companies are concerned, anything even slightly out of the ordinary frightens people. But anyone with a brain knows that it is the quirkiness and imperfection in a person that attracts other people. That is completely obvious to human beings; it's just when it gets to a corporate level that it all falls apart."

So what of those new faces? »

>> Christian Louboutin Would Never Work with H&M, Design Clothes —Christian Louboutin likes sticking to what he knows. Last week, he revealed that H&M had asked him to do a diffusion line: "I declined . . . it's a lot of work really, so it's just difficult for me to do it." When prodded, Louboutin said he didn't plan on ever doing a diffusion line in the future. He also doesn't foresee foraying into clothing: "Never! Never, that's my idea of hell. I was asked to do a line. I was like, 'Are you crazy?'" [The Cut, FWD]