>> Belgian fashion legend Dries Van Noten talked about his life and his work Thursday night at the French Institute Alliance Francaise's final Fashion Talk, giving the audience a little insight into the way his brain works.

Van Noten touched on a range of subjects, from the unique relationship he has with his creations to what it was like going to design school at Antwerp's Royal Academy of Fine Arts. Below, some of our favorite quotes from the talks.

On fashion school: "Going to fashion school in the '70s, it was really difficult to be judged by a [teacher] who said, like, 'No short skirts, only pants,' or, 'You can do short skirts, but then you have to cover the knees with stockings,' and things like that . . . 'Long hair is untidy, so it had to be all chignon or short hair.' 'Jeans are for poor people.' So, that was our teacher. So, in fact, when you have so many restrictions, you have to be enormously creative."

On his clothing: "I'm more inspired by things which I don't like . . . nothing is so boring as something beautiful. I prefer ugly things, I prefer things which are surprising . . . You force yourself to ask yourself questions. Quite often I make a collection and I say, 'Here's a color I really don't like.' . . . My assistants will say 'OK, you don't like lilac,' [that means] this season will be lilac."

On runway presentations: "Fashion shows are really my way of communication. I don't go on Twitter, I don't go to parties, I don't often do fashion talks like this. So for me, it's really what I want to communicate. It's the end of the story . . . So the venue, the light, the location, the sound, the hair, the makeup, all makes it for me. You have 10 minutes to explain to your audience what you're doing, what you want to tell. So everything has to be perfect."

On fast fashion: "That's one of the disadvantages of modern technology. It's so fast, that it's already like, a few minutes after the show, on the Internet, you have like, the shoe's details from the back, side, front. It makes it easy sometimes . . . I think it's the reality. I don't want to live in the old world, like 35, 30 years ago when people had prêt-à-porter and that was it. I think fast fashion is good. I think modern people combine vintage with designer clothes, with a piece they buy at Zara or other stores — why not?"

>> Those stories and more in our daily news roundup.

• Karl Lagerfeld said in a recent interview that the pink Chanel suit Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis wore when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963 was actually a knockoff. But a little investigative digging reveals that the iconic suit was actually made to Chanel's specifications with fabric Chanel sent to a tailor in New Jersey. [Fashionista]
  

• The reason Daphne Guinness has been sending so many erudite-sounding tweets lately is because she's actually been quoting famous books and poems. Highlights include excerpts from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar and Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra — all cut down to 140 characters or fewer, of course. [The Cut]
  

• Madonna's commercial for her new fragrance, Truth or Dare, has been making waves with TV network executives for being too risque. ABC reportedly asked for the bra she wears in the commercial to be "digitally made bigger, and to extend higher to cover more of her chest, and her corset longer to cover more of her bottom." [The Huffington Post]
  

• Perfumer Jean-Paul Guerlain has been fined a grand total of $24,000 for making racist remarks on French television last year while describing how hard he worked on his iconic scent Samsara. The fine was split up among the French government and three antiracism organizations that sued Guerlain after his gaffe. [Styleite]

>> Get caught up on all of those stories and more in our daily news roundup.

• Did Vogue Italia Editor-in-Chief Franca Sozzani get marred and not tell anyone about it? The magazine's website posted a scan from the Ugandan newspaper Red Pepper, which pictures Sozzani sitting next to oil magnate Charles Mbire. The paper referred to Sozzani as Mbire's wife, but Sozzani said the newspaper had bad intel. "The marital status I prefer is being single," she said. [Vogue Italia]
  

• Supermodel Elle Macpherson turned 48 today — and she still looks better than most people do at 24. [The Fab Life]
  

• Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana have landed cameo roles in director Woody Allen's new film To Rome With Love, which debuts April 20. Penelope Cruz — the film's lead actress — will wear pieces from the duo's Spring 2012 collection in the film. [The Cut]
  

• André Leon Talley has been off the airwaves since leaving the judging panel of America's Next Top Model, but soon he'll be back. In a new Bravo reality series — currently titled Fashion Stories of NYC — Tally will supervise competing teams of "emerging designers striving to build a business in New York City, which remains the heart of the fashion industry." [Fashionista]
  

• Vogue UK Editor Alexandra Shulman has written her first book. Her new novel, Can We Still Be Friends, is about three pals who went to college together in the '80s, and afterward have to deal with what the real world does to their lives and their relationships with one another. [Fashion Etc.]

>> After three years of legal volleys, Guess and Gucci finally met in federal court on Wednesday to get the much-delayed trademark trial between them underway.

Gucci sued Guess in 2009, claiming that a number of Guess products mimicked and imitated Gucci's design elements, including a large block letter "G" and red and green stripes. Gucci's lawyers say Guess has knocked off over $200 million worth of Gucci product.

"This case is not about following fashion trends," said Louis Ederer, Gucci's lawyer, to WWD. "It's about a massive, complicated scheme to knock off Gucci's best-known and iconic designs."

Guess's legal team said Gucci's case is "built on a house of cards," pointing out that Gucci only complained to Guess about its products once. Guess's intellectual property experts also stopped the production of a sneaker that they thought looked too similar to one of Gucci's.

It's not often that trademark infringement cases actually go to trial. This one could take up to three weeks to resolve, but it's not the only one the Gucci group has in the works — its sister company Yves Saint Laurent is currently involved in a court battle with shoemaker Christian Louboutin over its trademark red soles.

Below, a side-by-side comparison of the controversial shoes.

Days after rumors circulated that it would open a new luxury fashion label, Swedish retail giant H&M has confirmed that it's planning to open a new brand in 2013.

While the company wouldn't characterize exactly what price range the chain will occupy, CEO Karl-Johan Persson said in a press release that the new chain is part of a plan to secure H&M's future as a major player in retail.

"We have many different projects in progress and already next year we will be launching a completely new store chain," Persson said. "Like Cos, which today is very successful with good profitability, the new chain of stores will be independent and complement the other offerings from the group. We have great faith in this new brand and we see considerable potential for further initiatives."

Cos is the highest priced and most fashion-oriented of the many brands H&M owns and operates, and if that's the brand that compares best with the new business, it's possible that next year will see the launch of the rumored luxury line.

Rumblings of an H&M-backed luxury line started over the weekend after the Swedish financial newspaper Dagens Industri reported that the company would venture into high-fashion territory. Representatives for H&M did not respond to requests for more information about the new line by the time of this post.

Update: An H&M spokeswoman told Fashionologie that the new brand will cost more than H&M, but is not being classified as a luxury label. "A new store chain will be launched in 2013 under a separate brand with a higher price point," she said. "It will not be a luxury brand, but it will be a retail chain that will follow the same ambition as H&M, to offer our customers the best price for a comparable item."

>> Starting Thursday, fans of Pamela Love's geo-tribal cuffs, rings, and statement necklaces will get the chance to preorder the designer's Fall 2012 collection via Moda Operandi. In honor of the trunk sale — and Love's first time on the site — Bettina Santo Domingo went behind the scenes at the designer's studio, capturing the thought process and handiwork that go into each piece. "For the first time ever I was extremely inspired by the architecture from the 1920s in New York City," Love explains in the video. "It's really unique for me because normally I'm very focused on other parts of the world, but for this season I was really focused on the place that I live in." Get an up-close look at the designer at work — set to "Out of My Head" by Shadows On Stars — in the exclusive video below, then scroll down for a peek at some of the gorgeous pieces that will be available for preorder at the trunk show.