>> Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen's book, Influence, doesn't come out until Thursday, but The Cut got an advanced copy — an advanced look at all the interviews the Olsens conducted for the book — among their subjects are favorite designers Francisco Costa, Diane von Furstenberg, John Galliano, Christian Louboutin, Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, Giambattista Valli, favorite photographers Peter Lindbergh and Terry Richardson, plus pictures by Rankin of the interviewees and their work. 

Needless to say the Olsens didn't leave out their favorite Karl Lagerfeld — The Cut excerpted parts of his interview, including his views on models:

KL: [N]owadays you start to model because you're young. Now the girls are sixteen, seventeen, fifteen, and Russian. They are like from another planet.
AO: They can look very bizarre!
KL: I hate all these tall women. They are all giants!
MKO: If only I were a little taller — that would make me happy!
KL: You are one meter fifty-one. You are taller than that?
AO: We're five feet and one inch.
KL: Oh, I thought my office told me that you were four-foot eight or something. Not that it matters. What you need is a face. If you have a face you don't need height or a voice. Models know this; that's why the good ones don't need to talk much.
KL: I like to work with models for a long time. Sometimes the girls change, but some girls I work with for years and years.

Enlightening, perhaps, since some think the Chanel Spring 2009 campaign will host not long-time Chanel girl Claudia Schiffer but either Heidi Mount or Russian model Sasha Pivovarova . . .
*image: source

>> Karl Lagerfeld has a new favorite blonde, and her name isn't Claudia Schiffer.  Meet Heidi Mount, who opened and closed Chanel's Spring 2009 presentation and is now appearing in the house's Resort 2008 campaign, shot by none other than Lagerfeld himself.

Rumors are flying that after three Claudia Schiffer campaigns (Resort 2007, Spring 2008, Fall 2008), Karl Lagerfeld is ready for some new blood — and Heidi might just be the right choice: He did personally give her some freebies after the Spring 2009 show, after all, and the Resort campaign portends well.

It does seem plausible that Karl would be ready to switch it up, he tends to use a different model every year (Claudia for 2008, Freja Beha Erichsen did Fall 2007 and Spring 2007, and before that he really liked Daria Werbowy, who did Spring 2005, Fall 2005, Spring 2006, and Fall 2006).  So if the pattern continues, and Heidi is the girl — that means she would not only do Spring 2009 but be a likely contender for Fall 2009 as well.  Two seasons at Chanel would be quite the grab.
*image: source

>> A LITTLE TURN ON THE CATWALK —Sure, we've already seen our fair share of model trips, stumbles, and falls this season, but can you blame them? Heidi Mount had to walk on an entirely broken heel at Doo.ri (left) yesterday, and this afternoon, Atuai Deng hobbled along on a Manolo Blahnik at Juan Carlos Obando with a stiletto heel that had warped into a 45 degree angle . . . [ONTD_FF]