Those stories and more in our daily news roundup.

• Alber Elbaz will join Vogue UK editor Alexandra Shulman and Dean and Dan Caten of DSquared2 to judge the European section of the International Woolmark Competition. The competition, in which young designers create garments from Australian merino wool, saw Karl Lagerfeld and Yves Saint Laurent compete against each other in 1954. [Vogue UK]
  

• According to Mulberry's creative director Emma Hill, Hermès will destroy its products if they're not up to the brand's standards. "A friend who was working at Hermès said that if there was even the most minor imperfection on a bag they would take it out the back and burn it — no compromise," she said. [Fashionista]
  

• Mary-Kate Olsen was spotted walking with Olivier Sarkozy, whom she is reportedly dating, in New York City's West Village this week. [The Cut]
  

• Natalia Vodianova pays tribute to pinup girls from the '40s and '50s in her newest magazine cover, GQ Russia. [The Huffington Post]
  

• The world's four largest sellers of clothing — Inditex (which owns Zara), H&M, The Gap, and Uniqlo — are the focus of a new study comparing everything from the number of global stores each chain has to how much its jeans cost. [Racked]

Diane von Furstenberg — who has opened three stores in China in the last five years — said in a recent interview that regardless of nationality, all the women she dresses are fundamentally similar.

"You would be surprised: Whether she is Russian or Brazilian or French or American, my consumer is the same," she said. "But it is great to design for Chinese women, because they have great bodies. They are slim and have tiny waists, so it's nice."

The designer was quick to point out that more than their figures, she admires women for their strength — and that empowering women has always been a central tenant of her work.

"What I like about women is always strength," the designer explained. "All women are the same really: They are strong, but they are afraid of their own strength."

One such strong woman was von Furstenberg's mother, a German prisoner of war. "She went to the death camps and survived. She weighed 49 pounds, so she wasn't supposed to survive," von Furstenberg said. "She always told me that God made her survive so that she could give me life. So my birth was a miracle, and therefore I carry her flag."

And it seems von Furstenberg will continue to carry that flag wherever she goes. "I think I will be DVF till the end. I don't want to retire from life. I am too engaged, I am too curious, too interested, and I still think I can make an impact. And in this part of my life, I want to make an impact."

Another day, another Karl Lagerfeld side project: this time, the kaiser has designed a one-of-a-kind leather, emerald, and pavé diamond collar for Net-a-Porter that retails for $37,500.

The collar, which features more than 40 carats of black diamonds and a 22.33-carat hydrothermal emerald, was created for the Brilliant exhibition of diamonds at Masterpiece London, which runs from June 28 to July 4. After the exhibit, Net-a-Porter will ship the collar to its buyer along with Lagerfeld's sketch of the creation. A portion of the proceeds from the sale will be donated to the children's cancer charity CLIC Sargent.

"I’m renowned for my love of a high collar and I wanted to create a true collector’s item with this one-off piece," Lagerfeld said in a statement. "Merging the masculine with the feminine and uniting the world of fine jewelry and high fashion, to me this collar is a work of art and a real showstopper."

Narciso Rodriguez will launch a capsule collection for Kohl's as part of the retailer's new designer collaboration program, called Design Nation, in November. Designers who participate in the program will create lower-priced capsule collections that take inspiration from cities around the world. Rodriguez chose Istanbul, saying he "wanted to take what I do and merge it with something completely different." The collection of outerwear, tops, dresses, and knitwear will be available for one month, and will sell for between $30 and $150.

Sources say Derek Lam will follow Rodriguez as the second Kohl's guest designer, but that hasn't been confirmed.

Rumors of Rodriguez's partnership with Kohl's surfaced last week, but this isn't the first collaboration for either party. In 2010, Rodriguez created an eight-piece capsule collection for eBay. Kohl's, meanwhile, has established a long-term relationship with Vera Wang, who creates clothing, cosmetics, shoes, and housewares for the store under the label Simply Vera Vera Wang.

Sketch courtesy of Kohl's