>> As previously suggested, relative newcomer Jeffrey Monteiro, an alum of Jane Mayle and Derek Lam with a year-old collection of his own under his belt, is the newest design director at Bill Blass. He was chosen from among 100 applicants and starts in January with the intention of bringing a high-end Bill Blass collection back to stores next Winter.

New brand owners Bill Blass Group let the label lay fallow since purchasing it last year, allowing half of the 20 licensees to expire.  According to Group president Scott Patti, “There was not a lot of business left out there, so it kind of cleaned itself up.”

Patti noted that Monteiro, the fifth designer to take over the label since Bill Blass retired in 1999, was chosen because “he’s very low-key and realistic. Bill Blass designed real clothes, and that’s what Jeffrey does as well.” Monteiro, for his part, was mum on what he has in mind for the brand, only telling the New York Times that his idea customer is a young professional woman and that he was thinking about colors based on the paintings of Clyfford Still. “The challenge is to take something that has such weight and nostalgia and make it modern and fresh."

Sasha Pivovarova poses alongside Mika, MGMT, Vampire Weekend, and the Horrors in the January issue of Vogue.

Tommaso Aquilano and Roberto Rimondi of Aquilano.Rimondi (formerly 6267) have signed their first licensing deal with Gilmar for the production and distribution of knitwear.

Magazines that defy the downturn—032c, Fantastic Man, and Purple—with advertisers responding to highbrow editorial.

Young men are still obsessed with dressing like Don Draper and Roger Sterling.

Jeffrey Monteiro finds inspiration in Clyfford Still paintings while working on his first collection as creative director of Bill Blass.

Vanity Fair's Michael Roberts has a photo session with Jesus Luz on the beach in Rio.

We took inspiration [from Fellini] for two fashion shows. One [fall 1996] was from “Le Notti di Cabiria.” It was the printed chiffon dresses with the cherries. And another [fall 1997], we took inspiration from “Satyricon” [and “Roma”]. We make a collection like a priest, all the girls in priest dress.—Stefano Gabbana on how Fellini films have inspired past Dolce & Gabbana collections.

Donna Karan—with the help of Kelly Cutrone and creative agency, All Day Everyday—is launching a short film to promote the designer's Eldridge bag, which can be worn in multiple ways. In the film, actress Christina Ricci is directed by Jake Sumner, son of Sting and Trudie Styler, in the Soho Grand Hotel and filmed "primping, dancing, spying and lounging in various stages of dress and undress."

A second short is also currently in production for DKNY's Cozy sweater, presumably to go along with the recently released iPhone application. Kai Rogan directed the DKNY film, which features 14 models wearing the multifunctional knitwear in a variety of ways while marching through New York city to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' "Heads Will Roll".

>> Grace Coddington has been spotted dining often with The September Issue director RJ Cutler, and it sounds like it's not just purely out of friendship.  When Coddington was in London last week for the British Fashion Awards, she told the Times UK Cutler is working her illustrated book Catwalk Cats into a film treatment: “It’s a bit of a battle, actually. I’m fighting for it not to turn into some Disney thing.”

Despite all the newfound attention The September Issue has brought her — at least five people come up to her on the subway every morning — she's not planning on becoming a press hound:

Do you ever see me giving interviews? I’m never one of those people talking into a microphone at the end of a show. I’m not prepared to crush some poor designer who’s just spent six months slaving over a collection. I think it’s horrible and they all [the pundits] talk about themselves. Plus, the questions are so stupid . . . I hate trends. And you know the question they always ask me at shows; ‘What’s the latest trend?’”

Which models are her favorite? »

Vogue creative director and star of The September Issue, Grace Coddington, is getting used to all the public attention she's received since the film's release, telling the Times UK that at least five strangers approach her on the subway every morning. “It’s driving me nuts, actually,” she says. “And I’m loving it.”

Coddington famously ignored director R.J. Cutler's cameras when they arrived on the 12th floor of 4 Times Square to film the Vogue documentary, telling Anna Wintour either the crew leaves or she would. Eventually Cutler won the genius redhead over (through a meeting with his cinematographer) and secured key footage of the power struggle and mutual admiration between Wintour and Coddington from which the film pulls its most compelling story.

Now Cutler and Coddington are again working together on a film based loosely on "The Catwalk Cats" a book penned and illustrated by Coddington. “It’s a bit of a battle, actually,” she says of the collaboration. “I’m fighting for it not to turn into some Disney thing.” Somehow we think she'll get her way.

Source: Getty

>> French Buyers Were Not Enthused When Matteo Marzotto Took Over Vionnet —Matteo Marzotto, who was president of Valentino from 2002 to 2008, chats about his newest venture, the relaunch of French house Vionnet under the design capabilities of Prada alum Rodolfo Paglialunga: "One of the hardest things I have had to do since my business partner Gianni Castiglione [husband of Marni's Consuelo Castiglione] and I bought Vionnet in 2008 was calling stores and saying, 'Hi, do you remember me? I have bought this brand and it is going to be very glamorous. I would like you to come and see it.' I sent an average of 25 e-mails to each buyer, and wrote them letters explaining why we were doing it, and reminding them of my track record. I made it very personal. Even then, in the beginning, almost no French buyers came." [Financial Times]