>> "The fashion industry and child stars are having a moment," New York proclaims this week: Rodarte is currently partial to 12-year-old Elle Fanning, 14-year-old Hailee Steinfeld caught eyes during award season in Prabal Gurung and Prada, and Vogue is reportedly planning a portfolio featuring both girls plus 14-year-old Chloe Moretz for an upcoming issue. Then, today, Steinfeld attended the Miu Miu show as a special guest of Miuccia Prada — she's rumored to have caught Prada's eye, which begs the question: will she be an upcoming face for the brand? [Style File]

>> Between Alexander McQueen committing suicide last year, John Galliano's drunken, anti-Semitic outburst, and Christophe Decarnin being sidelined for depression treatments, many are starting to wonder if the fashion industry and its current pressures — particularly the demand for more and more collections, released faster and faster — are to blame for designers spinning out of control. Karl Lagerfeld, Michael Kors, and more address the issue:

Karl Lagerfeld: “I see designing, running a company, like a high-level athletic activity. I don’t want to hear anything about the fragility or any of those things. If an athlete is too fragile to run, he cannot run. And this is exactly the same. You don’t accept this kind of business if you’re too much of an artist. I believe in discipline, so I’m not the right person to cry about weakness and things like this, but maybe I’m not human.”

Marc Jacobs: “You don’t think bank tellers have problems? You don’t think people in the middle of the suburbs have problems? Blaming is such a complete waste. I mean, it’s so pointless. To say, you know, my mother was absent and therefore I ran amok, it’s ridiculous. It’s a self-destructive nature, it’s a mental, physical and a kind of spiritual malady . . . people who are happy and healthy and spiritually well don’t do things to hurt themselves.”

Yves Saint Laurent's longtime business partner Pierre Berge: “I have a lot more sympathy for people who have to take the train to work every day. What a load of nonsense! No, no, no. Designers are artisans who are extremely privileged to have a poetic profession. They are not artists. We have to stop saying that they are.”

Marc Jacobs's longtime business partner Robert Duffy: “You cannot blame the industry. The majority of actors are not drug addicts, the majority of designers are not drug addicts.”

Theory founder Andrew Rosen: “I don’t see fashion as an industry being ahead of the world in terms of this issue. It’s a devastating and unfortunate condition that happens in every walk of life. It doesn’t make it better or OK, it’s a devastating illness to all those around it. Drug addiction, and addiction in general, is unfortunately part of society today. Maybe because we’re so close to our industry, we feel it more. Whenever it happens, it’s horrible.”

Michael Kors: "No question . . . I mean, I forget what season I’m in sometimes. I think every designer in today’s world, I don’t care whether you’re a designer who makes clothes that are phantasmagorical or very pragmatic, you have to figure out something that can ground you and bring you back. Whatever it is, if you go to the gym too much or you travel too much, you’ve got to have time to escape. I always tell everyone the crazy conversation I’ve had forever with actors, if they do two films in a row, and they’ve lived these characters and they’re on the set away from their friends and family, but then they take a year off. What are designers supposed to say? 'I’m tired. I’m not doing fall. Wear last year’s clothes, and maybe get some new nail polish.' It’s endless."

Photographer Mert Alas: “I’m the kind of person that I live under pressure, but I enjoy the pressure, so it very much relates to your own personality. Of course we’re all under pressure. The bus driver is under pressure. But, you know, it’s how you come out of it. If you can make good fun with it, pressure can be enjoyable.”

New York Times's Cathy Horyn: "For designers already at big houses, the pressures must reach absurd levels . . . Many people in professional and creative fields are under intense pressure, but for designers that pressure is manifested on the runway. The problem goes beyond having to produce multiple collections a year; it’s the nearly brutalizing feeling that something new and relevant must be communicated each season."

Co-President of PR firm KCD Ed Filipowski: “As a publicist, I have also taken on many times the role of ‘fashion therapist’ to my clients. Globalization, digitalization — the speed and scope of our work — has added a tremendous amount of pressure not only to the creative field but everyone in this industry. I would venture to say we are all doing at least twice as much work twice as fast as we were five years ago.”

>> Many designers, models, and industry figures have given their thoughts on John Galliano and his scandal in the past couple of weeks; today, the words of a few more — Rachel Zoe, Natalia Vodianova, and Michael Kors — have been published:

Rachel Zoe: “It’s a little insane and super-sad. Anti-Semitism, racism or any prejudice is not something I tolerate. I’ve fired clients because they were anti-Semitic, or anti-everything, except what they were . . . I’ve known John Galliano and his boyfriend for years. I don’t know enough about it to make a clear statement, but if it’s true, it’s tragic.”

Natalia Vodianova: “I have seen so many people do monstrous things under the influence of alcohol and drugs. This is a disease. I hope John will get help, and that’s what he needs right now. That’s what we should care about is the person. Everything’s going on — as long as it goes on for John as well. He’s certainly not a bad man. We all know that.”

Michael Kors: “I’m not saying that he shouldn’t have the rules of everyone else, but it breaks my heart to see someone as talented as he is to be in this situation."

>> Rachel Zoe was just named Hollywood's Most Powerful Stylist by The Hollywood Reporter — full list of the top 25 here — and she earns up to $10,000 per job, according to one commercial client.

But Zoe's first pregnancy is full-term, and she's slowing down, she says: “I have this visual of me and [her husband] Rodg living in this amazing house that’s not too big in the south of France, where we go for four months and just sit on the beach and make jewelry. Not to sell, just for fun and therapy. Like literally, take rocks and shells and glue them.”

That's not likely to happen, however: she's got her new Rachel Zoe Collection — “My next tier rollout with Li & Fung will definitely be jewelry,” she says. And although she's not looking to expand her client roster, which currently includes Anne Hathaway, Jennifer Garner, Cameron Diaz, Demi Moore, Liv Tyler, and Eva Mendes, she notes: “That’s not to say I wouldn’t take on new clients, if I was really excited about someone and if it was the right fit.” And The Rachel Zoe Project is due to return in the Fall.

>> Some rumors have the Dior job signed and sealed — with Riccardo Tisci at the helm — but according to LVMH head Bernard Arnault, as of this morning, no decision had been made about John Galliano's replacement. “We’re thinking,” he said at the Louis Vuitton show. Suzy Menkes reports: "People close to LVMH who chose not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the subject say [Marc] Jacobs is a possible candidate, but he does the Vuitton thing so well that it would be a risk to move him." When asked whether he had designs on the Dior position, Jacobs replied: "No! I haven’t been asked.” [IHT]

>> Earlier this week came reports that this season — Fall 2011 — may be Hannah MacGibbon's last for Chloe. And although the label denied it, Cathy Horyn writes: "I feel sorry for Hannah MacGibbon of Chloé. No, she did not have a good collection — too much snakeskin, poor styling, no standout accessories. Reports are that her contract has not been renewed. But a year ago, Ms. MacGibbon was a hit maker and women were again craving Chloé. Maybe the firing last summer of her boss, Ralph Toledano, led to changes that affected her. I don’t know. But knowing what she was able to accomplish in the past, with help, it’s hard to hold her solely to blame for what appeared on the Chloé runway." [NY Times]

>> Riccardo Tisci as Dior's next designer is looking more and more likely — after this morning's rumors pointing that way, Hint now reports: "Today we hear from a highly credible source that a contract has been signed with Riccardo Tisci. Of course, the big caveat is you never really know until an announcement is made." And no announcement or official confirmation has been made; although some are expecting it might come today, Dior is not legally permitted to do so until the termination proceedings against Galliano (which could take several weeks) are complete. [Hint]