>> Olivier Zahm, the man who recently described his trademark look as "a disguise" — "five or six years ago, I decided to wear this kind of outfit and behave as if I were a celebrity. It’s not out of narcissism. It’s for the magazine. For an independent magazine to exist, I had to incarnate it personally" — has been busy with projects other than Purple Fashion lately.  He and art director Alex Wiederin have been working together "on Carine Roitfeld's book" — no further details given, and he's also "art directed and designed" the first issue of 31 Rue Cambon, a Chanel magazine — which seems to be in a similar vein as Yves Saint Laurent's Manifesto — to be distributed worldwide in Chanel stores. Featured, of course, are Chanel favorites like Lara Stone, Baptiste Giabiconi, and Freja Beha Erichsen.

>> Yesterday afternoon, Alexander Wang — in black hoodie, white t-shirt, jeans, and dirtied-up white sneakers — spent two hours taking pictures and chatting with fans at his Spring 2010 Barneys trunk show in New York.  Wang was Barneys' number one trunk show seller last season, according to his PR director Leslie Rubisch — the sales racked up during that period accounted for fifty percent of Barneys' total Alexander Wang delivery — sold, three months before it even hit the floor. Needless to say, he had some expectations to live up to this time around.  Vogue got the scoop on which three Spring 2010 pieces were the best-sellers yesterday, and we chatted with Alex for further details:

What's your favorite piece from the Spring 2010 collection?

Hmm, that's difficult. [Rubisch leans in: "I'm curious to hear what you're going to say!"] I feel like every day I change my mind. But I always seem to come back to Freja [Beha Erichsen]'s look, she really knows how to bring an outfit to life, which is so important in a model for me.

He does have a favorite shoe »

>> Spring 2010 Ad Campaign Casts for Alexander McQueen, Christian Dior, and Chanel: Revealed — After skipping out on a traditional ad campaign last season, it sounds like Christian Dior is bringing it back for Spring 2010 — John Galliano revealed Monday that Karlie Kloss is his girl of choice for the brand.  Karl Lagerfeld, meanwhile, is continuing the trio theme from the Spring 2010 Chanel show finale for his campaign cast — menage a trois participants Freja Beha Erichsen and Baptiste Giabiconi are both staying on, with Claudia Schiffer replacing Lara Stone; Lagerfeld plans to shoot the threesome on location in Buenos Aires, marking his first time in Argentina.  And word is Nick Knight and Raquel Zimmermann, who worked together to produce the background video for Alexander McQueen's presentation, also collaborated on the designer's forthcoming campaign. [WWD, WWD, WeLoveModels]

>> Freja Beha Erichsen Loves Chanel Shows for Their Food — W recently spoke with Freja Beha Erichsen, who is getting ready to go back to Denmark and then on a West Coast road trip now that she's done with couture. Karl Lagerfeld picked her as one half of the Fall 2009 Chanel ad campaign, and it sounds like the feeling of adoration is mutual: "There’s a special feeling that you get from Chanel that you don’t get from any other show. And they’re famous for their food backstage.  At most shows, they don’t actually feed us that much, but at Chanel there’s a full buffet and everything is really good." [W Editor's Blog]

>> ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL —The first of many Fall 2009 Gucci ads has dropped, this one featuring Anja Rubik. Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin still did the photographing honors, but the look is a hard-edged change from the pastoral, verdant ads of seasons past.  Expected in upcoming images: perennial Gucci faces like Jacquetta Wheeler, Raquel Zimmermann, Freja Beha Erichsen, Natasha Poly, and Abbey Lee Kershaw, with a few surprises — Myf Shepherd, Dree Hemingway, and Jamie Bochert. [TFS, TFS, TFS]

>> THE MODELIZER —Are two models involved in a love triangle?  Pictures have surfaced of Catherine McNeil — who was rumored to have broken off her highly-speculated-but-never-confirmed relationship with Freja Beha Erichsen — kissing openly gay MTV Australia VJ Ruby Rose Langenheim last Saturday at the Roosevelt Hotel in Los Angeles.  Curiously, Myf Shepherd, who just scored her first Vogue cover — for Australia's July 2009 issue — was also photographed kissing Ruby Rose at the Jimmy Liks restaurant in Sydney at the beginning of this month.  Both Catherine and Myf are represented by Chic Management in Australia; Ruby Rose has been represented by the agency in the past. [ONTD_FF]

>> We found out a couple of weeks ago that Frida Giannini chose nine models for the Fall 2009 Gucci campaign, and now we've got more details.  Apparently the designer is quite taken with London and decided to have her usual campaign photographers Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin do the honors in a north London studio; she's even picked to feature native Londoner and 1999-2000 Gucci face Jacquetta Wheeler (left, Fall 1999).  “We’re in London, so of course I had to have an English girl.”

Joining Jacquetta in the campaign are Raquel Zimmermann, Natasha Poly, Freja Beha Erichsen, plus Myf Shepherd and Abbey Lee Kershaw, whose television commercial for the brand's Flora fragrance, which was filmed over four days in Latvia last July and created using more than 20,000 fake flowers, just debuted.

Three faces are left to be named — Lily Donaldson is likely one of them, since Frida likes to stick with the same girls and Lily has been in at least two of her campaigns.  Plus, a Gucci spokesman advises that the upcoming campaign will be similar to past seasons, “a continuation of Frida’s Gucci generation."
*image: source

>> ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL —Spring 2009 Chanel face Heidi Mount is getting a friend for Fall — Karl Lagerfeld just returned to Paris from his Vermont home, where he shot the campaign, repeating the setting, but adding Spring 2009 Karl Lagerfeld face Freja Beha Erichsen into the mix. “It was very cold, the sky was blue and the light was stunning."  The campaign includes a barn as a backdrop. "I’ve never seen such a beautiful barn in my life." [WWD]
*image: source