Ralph Rucci

These stories and more in our daily news roundup.

• IMG has landed in Australia, and one of its models, Marthe Wiggers, might just be one to watch. [Fashion Copious]
• Sarah Burton would like to design Kate Middleton's maternity clothing. [Grazia Daily]
• Glenn O'Brien, who penned the script for Brad Pitt's Chanel No. 5 commercial, says he's flattered by the many parodies of the advertisement. [The Cut]
• Greg Kessler's popular Model Morphosis series has morphed into a new app. [Go Backstage]
• This year's CFDA Winners have been matched up with mentors. [WWD]
  

• Ralph Rucci: Ascension, an exhibit featuring Rucci's most recent artwork, opens in San Francisco next week. [Harper's Bazaar]
• Giorgio Armani will star alongside Sean Penn in a new campaign to support Penn's Haitian Relief Organization. [Vogue UK]
• Nicholas Kirkwood is set to release a line of men's shoes in 2013. [Telegraph]
• Levi Strauss & Co. is the latest to expunge toxic chemicals from its production lines. [WWD]
• Lara Stone does some serious writhing in the behind-the-scenes video for Calvin Klein's upcoming Euphoria fragrance ad. She also shares her favorite beauty tips. [Vogue Italia]

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

• Kate Young's styling work for Natalie Portman and Michelle Williams has earned her the title as most powerful stylist of 2012. Young tops the list of The Hollywood Reporter's 25 power stylists, trailed closely by Petra Flannery (spot three) and Christina Hastings (spot 10). L'Wren Scott, Brad Goreski, and Arianne Phillips also make appearances on the list. [The Hollywood Reporter]

• On the same day that Barneys fashion director Amanda Brooks announced that she was leaving the company and moving to London, Harper's Bazaar UK editor Lucy Yeomans announced that she's leaving to direct the editorial efforts at Net-a-Porter. Jenny Dickinson, who used to work as an editor at Elle UK, will take over for Yeomans starting next month. [Daily Front Row]
• Ralph Rucci, designer of the couture-level clothing brand Chado Ralph Rucci, announced today that he would be adding a secondary line, a line of sportswear, and possibly a fragrance to his product assortment. Rucci said he "realized that not everyone can afford a double-faced cashmere suit," and wants "to make other garments that more women can afford." [Fashion ETC]
• When Simon Doonan talks, fashion listens. In his most recent column for Slate, Doonan proclaims that Queen Elizabeth II is the most fashionable woman in the world. "In an era when the fashion landscape has fragmented into an infinite archipelago of conflicting trends and incomprehensible ideas, the only thing that really matters is to have your own signature look. Who has accomplished this if not QE2?" Who, indeed? [Slate]
• Time is bringing back its twice-yearly Style & Design supplement, and actress Emily Blunt is on the cover. She's also featured in the pages of the magazine wearing everyone from Rick Owens to Chanel to Balenciaga and Yves Saint Laurent. The comeback issue was delivered to half a million select Time subscribers today, and the next issue will come out during New York Fashion Week in September. [TIME]
  

These stories and more — here in our daily news roundup.

>> An audience of 300 ran the gauntlet of PETA protestors, Police officers, and a metal detector to hear Andre Leon Talley wax lyrical last night at FIT on everything from blogs and the Internet — "love it . . . the Internet is very important to fashion" — to his original career path — "I went to school to be a French teacher, but I always knew I wanted to be in fashion" — to a current project in the works — "I'm working on something that I hope maybe one day can become a one-man Broadway/Off Broadway show."

He rattled off his personal Costume Institute Gala best dressed list, "in this order":  "of course Anna Wintour in exquisite Chanel," Lee Radziwell in "a beautiful Ralph Rucci sequin paillette caftan," Renee Zellweger in an "extraordinary" Carolina Herrera, Isabel Toledo, Ricky Lauren "dressed as Marlene Dietrich," and Cassie, of whom he added: "she was dressed by a new young designer called Laquan Smith [Editor's note: who Talley has recently taken under his wing]."

Talley says his own Met Gala ensemble came under fire, however »