>> 16-year-old Zimbabwean model Nyasha Matonhodze majorly hit the model radar upon bagging a slot in the Fall 2011 Louis Vuitton ad campaign, and it looks like Vuitton show stylist Katie Grand is helping her perpetuate her rise. Matonhodze is featured on the latest issue (likely the first cover of many for the issue) of the Grand-edited LOVE magazine. [@THELOVEMAGAZINE]

>> After a three-year run with Uniqlo, Jil Sander's Fall 2011 +J collection will be her last, the company announced today in a release: "With the recent completion of the design of the . . . Fall and Winter collection, Ms. Sander and [Uniqlo] agreed that they had fully explored the possibilities of their creative collaboration and accomplished what they had set out to do. Consequently, the two parties have decided to wrap up their design consulting agreement with this collection."

Uniqlo has never disclosed revenue for the +J line, and although Sander is notoriously difficult to work with, her relations with the company seemed to be going well as recently as February. According to an interview dated Feb. 1 with Tadashi Yanai, CEO and founder of Uniqlo parent company Fast Retailing, Yanai said: “Jil’s attitude towards clothing creation is truly incredible. She is particularly masterful when it comes to garment shape and style. She will recreate and refresh her designs until she is completely satisfied — even when it comes to the minutest detail. That is why customers feel so satisfied with the fit of collection clothes the instant they try them on. Uniqlo must embrace this fundamental attitude, as well as the passion and attention to detail that Jil brings to creating clothes.”

A Fast Retailing spokesman confirmed today that the company's team of 100 designers “learned a lot” while working with Sander, including her famed attention to detail in selection of raw materials.

>> After an almost 7 hour trial, there will be no verdict for John Galliano today — instead, the decision will come on Sept. 8. If convicted, Galliano faces up to a six-month jail term and a fine of 22,500 euros ($32,410).

Plaintiff Geraldine Bloch is seeking just one euro in compensation on moral grounds. "What we are after is an expression of regret and excuses for what has happened," her lawyer said on the courthouse steps before entering for the trial. Her fellow plaintiff and boyfriend, Philippe Virgitti, is pursuing compensation of 220,000 euros ($316,272) on the basis of "moral damage." His lawyer said, pre-trial: "Unfortunately Mr. Galliano doesn't seem to have a code of honor, so my client feels the only way to reach him is through his wallet."

The prosecutor ultimately recommended a guilty sentence and a fine of up to 5,000 euros ($7,188) for both the Feb. 24 and Oct. 8 incidents at today's trial.

>> Kate Moss apparently told a group at a Topshop dinner during London Fashion Week in February that John Galliano was designing her wedding dress, and though her fiance Jamie Hince denied the reports, the rumor is still persisting.

Late last month, the Daily Mail reported that Moss had enlisted the help of Galliano’s boyfriend, Alexis Roche, to oversee every last detail of the wedding dress while Galliano prepared for his trial today. "Kate knows that John is deeply sorry for what happened and has always been a loyal friend," a source supposedly said.

And now, rumors have surfaced that Galliano — who told the court today that since the Feb. 24 incident that caused him to get fired at Dior, he has been at rehab in Arizona for two months, and then in Switzerland for two months — has been ensconced at the atelier of a leading fashion designer in New York, working on Kate Moss' wedding dress.

If true, will so public an embrace by Moss signal the beginning of Galliano's return to fashion? The Financial Times's Vanessa Friedman suggests that although Galliano's career is over in its present form, she could see him returning to the industry in time: "People love a redemption story."

>> Azzedine Alaia recently turned down one of fashion's most high-profile gigs, and now he has some choice words about two of fashion's most high-profile figures.

On Karl Lagerfeld: "Happily, women love me and buy my clothes, unlike Karl who’s never been loved like me! [Laughs.] . . . I don’t like his fashion, his spirit, his attitude. It’s too much caricature. Karl Lagerfeld never touched a pair of scissors in his life. That doesn’t mean that he’s not great, but he’s part of another system. He has capacity. One day he does photography, the next he does advertisements for Coca-Cola. I would rather die than see my face in a car advertisement. We don’t do the same work. And I think that he is not doing a favor to young [designers] who might think it works that way. They’re going to fall before they retire."

On Anna Wintour: "I said it before. She runs the business [of Vogue] very well, but not the fashion part. When I see how she is dressed, I don’t believe in her tastes one second. I can say it loudly! She hasn’t photographed my work in years even if I am a best seller in the US and I have 140 square meters at Barneys. American women love me; I don’t need her support at all. Anna Wintour doesn’t deal with pictures; she is just doing PR and business, and she scares everybody. But when she sees me, she is the scared one. [Laughs.] Other people think like me, but don’t say it because they are afraid that Vogue won’t photograph them. Anyway, who will remember Anna Wintour in the history of fashion? No one. Take Diana Vreeland, she is remembered because she was so chic. What she did with the magazine was great, with Avedon and all the great photographers. Vogue remains while its fashion editors come and go."

>> This afternoon in Paris, John Galliano arrived at a Palais de Justice courtroom for what is expected to be a one-day trial to determine whether he made anti-Semitic remarks to three separate people. He appeared in dressed-down garb compared to his usual: a black three-piece suit, black brogues, and a black-and-white polka-dotted neckerchief, and removed his fedora upon entering the courtroom, which, according to a Wall Street Journal reporter in attendance, is "hotter than a Jardin des Tuileries fashion show inside."

After the judge read Galliano's alleged anti-Semitic comments (to suppressed giggles in the courtroom), Galliano was questioned. Snippets from the conversation, below.

Judge: Do you remember what happened that night 24 February?

John Galliano: I don’t remember very well. I can’t remember very well, I have a memory of a very violent man. I have no recollection [of words used on night].

J: Does he remember who started to be aggressive and utter insult?

JG: I don’t remember. I don’t remember any insults and how the situation degenerated. I don't remember it lasted 45 minutes.

PJ: Do you remember the driver intervened when the chair was grabbed?

JG: I remember that and the arrival of the police.

PJ: How do you explain that this incident lasted for so long?

JG: I don’t know.

PJ: How do you explain the fact that you don’t remember anything about that incident.

JG: I have a triple addiction. I followed a rehab programme, spent two months in Arizona, I am still being treated and spent two months in Switzerland.

Further quotes from Galliano during the conversation:

JG: I'm a recovering alcoholic, I'm a recovering addict.

JG: I mixed alcohol, barbituates, sleeping pills and alcohol.

JG: I was in denial.

JG: I was taking sleeping pills during the day. I've only just discovered since rehab what a lethal mix I was taking.

Galliano says he started to drink because Dior was doing well: "After every creative high, I would crash and the alcohol helped me."

JG: At the time of the financial crash [in 2008], I have two children. One was Dior, the other was Galliano. Dior is a big machine and I didn’t want to lose Galliano [his eponymous label]. At this point in order for that house of Galiano to survive, I met many businessmen and signed many licenses. So the collections to increase men’s wear, women's, children, shoes boys and girls, perfume projects, jewelry, fine jewelry. Beachwear, underwear, boy's and girl's clothes. The workload increased very fast.

Galliano added that he lost his friend Steven Robinson [his right hand man and longtime collaborator, who died in 2007]: "Steven protected me from everything so I could concentrate on being creative. With his death, I found I had no protection."

He says that he began drinking regularly in 2007.

Galliano noted his father's death also affected him. "I really did not take the time to mourn." He turned to sleeping pills.

JG: I'm still in recovery but feeling much better.

Galliano then took his seat.

UPDATE: Later, after the infamous Galliano video is shown, Galliano is called back to the stand.

JG says the words in the video are not views he holds: "I see someone who needs help. It's the shell of John Galliano. I see a man who has been pushed to the edge ... someone that needs help, who's vulnerable. These are not the sentiments of John Galliano."

JG: I have all my life fought against prejudice, having been subjected to it myself. We moved to south London when I was 6 years old and aware that I was gay. I was sent to a difficult English boys school and you can imagine that children can be cruel.

JG: I never held those views — the things I'm being accused of today.

JG: I cannot acknowledge for this man I do not know. The man you see up there [in the video] is not John Galliano.

JG: I've no recollection of the events. I read about them afterward ... all you need is look at my work and see these are views I never held.

JG: I apologize for the sadness this whole affair has caused.

Galliano is seated again.

UPDATE #2: Galliano called to the stand once more.

Galliano says he has no current occupation. And he is in "day care" for his addictions.

When the judge asks for his last thoughts, Galliano says if we look at his work can see he embraces every creed and celebrates cultural diversity.

JG: I'm passionate and I travel the world, not just as tourist but to understand cultures . . . I've lived with Masai tribe.

He thanks the court, and the judges are recessing for 15 minutes.

UPDATE #3: Galliano's verdict has been set for Sept. 8, after a nearly 7-hour trial.

>> The end of Kate Moss's singledom is near — two weekends ago, she rolled into the Isle of Wight Festival in a pink Hummer for her bachelorette party, and this past weekend, a team of workers erected the first of an expected six marquees on the grounds of her Cotswolds home in Little Faringdon.

Rumors have been circulating the past couple of months that Moss plans to celebrate her July 1 wedding to Jamie Hince with a three day music festival-style shindig including numerous performances — and given the appearance of the marquee and Moss's love of music festivals, it doesn't seem a stretch. Locals have apparently dubbed the impending wedding "Mosstock," and Moss has reportedly approached Snoop Dogg, The Gossip's Beth Ditto, and the Rolling Stones about performing.

One musician who won't be performing? Lady Gaga, who apparently had to send her regrets, as she won't be able to attend.