>> Target Lines Up Jean Paul Gaultier —Confirming rumors that have been circulating for the past month, Jean Paul Gaultier has signed on for the next installment of Target's Designer Collaborations, following in the footsteps of Alexander McQueen and Anna Sui.  His collection, set to be available March 7 through April 11, "pays tribute to the American woman, celebrating the forces of style both past and present in American pop culture," according to Target. [WWD]

>> Jourdan Dunn Walks Spring 2010 Jean Paul Gaultier Runway Pregnant, Admits Used to Be on Not-Great Terms with Chanel Iman —In her seventh month of pregnancy — she's due with a boy in December — Jourdan Dunn hit her first catwalk so far this season over the weekend in a padded cone bra and baby bump plate for Jean Paul Gaultier.  She's also appearing on Teen Vogue's November 2010 cover with Chanel Iman — inside, the latter admits they haven't "always been the best of friends": "Until recently, we barely even spoke. We went from being superclose in the beginning to dead silence if we saw each other backstage at a show." Jourdan chimes in: "It's competition. There aren't a lot of us, but instead of sticking together, we're pitted against each other. People will say things in Chanel's ear like, 'Jourdan is taking your spot,' and then they'll say to me, 'Don't trust Chanel.'" [Fashin, Teen Vogue]

>> Loic Prigent's The Day Before series, documenting the 48 hours before Proenza Schouler, Fendi, Jean Paul Gaultier, and Sonia Rykiel shows, doesn't air on the Sundance Channel until Sept. 9, but they've put up 11 clips total spanning the four segments, and the entire Fendi episode has leaked to YouTube — watch here.  A couple of favorite clips below: the first in which Karl Lagerfeld's muse Amanda Harlech yells for some music, initiating the Fendi employees' seasonal late night fashion show — one male staffer even wobbles the runway in vertiginous Fendi heels; the second in which Proenza Schouler's clearly nervous Jack McCullough — who yearns for a cheeseburger — and "fidgeting" Lazaro Hernandez are inclined to physically touch every look backstage before it goes out on the runway.  Ikram boutique' Ikram Goldman calls it "blessing" the garment.

The video clips! »

>> Hermes Denies Jean Paul Gaultier Is Leaving —Despite rumors last week that Jean Paul Gaultier would be exiting Hermes after his Spring 2010 show for the label, Hermes has categorically denied the story: “These rumours are without foundation. Jean-Paul Gaultier is not quitting any of his responsibilities.” Hermes holds a minority stake in Gaultier's own label. [FashionMag.com]

>> Jean Paul Gaultier is said to be resigning from his role as creative director of Hermes, reports Fashion Week Daily, with his Spring 2010 collection, to be shown in October, his last under the label.

A Hermes spokesperson did not return requests for comment, and no reason for the resignation was suggested. Gaultier has been with Hermes since 2003, when he took over after Martin Margiela's resignation as creative director; under his direction, the brand has flourished, on the runway as well as on the sales floor.  In July, the company reported an uptick of 12 percent in second quarter sales — especially notable in this year's tough market.

Also worth note: Gaultier's own label is tied to Hermes — the brand invested $23 million in June 1999 for a 35 percent stake in Jean Paul Gaultier, and then-CEO Jean-Lous Dumas was quoted saying the acquisition was "a love match rather than a business arrangement . . . I believe that Gaultier has the capacity to be what Hermès has become."

>> Matt Tyrnauer may have gotten ahold of Valentino for The Last Emperor, and RJ Cutler of Anna Wintour for The September Issue, but it's Loic Prigent who has really taken the whole fly-on-the-wall fashion documentary concept by the horns these past few years.  He did Signe Chanel, a five-part series on the creation of Chanel's Fall 2004 couture collection, and the 2007 film Marc Jacobs & Louis Vuitton, which captures Marc waddling in pigeon costume and finding inspiration for a bag from a collection of pastel macaroons; both Signe Chanel and Marc Jacobs & Louis Vuitton have been uploaded to YouTube.

His latest project, announced back in June, is The Day Before, set to air for four consecutive nights starting Sept. 10 on the Sundance Channel.  Prigent tracks four design houses — Proenza Schouler, Sonia Rykiel, Fendi, and Jean Paul Gaultier — in the 36 hours before their Fall 2009 ready-to-wear shows, with the exception of Gaultier, who is captured before his Fall 2009 couture show.

Grumpy seamstresses, yappy dogs, collapsing roofs . . . »

>> Jean Paul Gaultier Left Outside in Dressing Gown Following Hotel's Bomb Scare —Jean Paul Gaultier was forced to evacuate Nice's Hotel Negresco, clad only in a white dressing gown, shortly after sunrise this morning in response to a bomb scare.  The couturier "appeared cheerful" and the scare is now believed to have been a false alarm. [AFP]

• Models fees are required in France, so Christian Lacroix chipped in to pay his 10 models 50 euros apiece. Normal couture fees are said to be around 1300 euros per show for new faces — every year of experience earns a "raise" of about 1000 more euros. [Imaginary Socialite]


• Jean Paul Gaultier had a 12-lb dress, Chanel had three seamstresses working on the bride look, and Maison Martin Margiela used 2,000 pen caps for a jacket: it's Fall 2009 couture by the numbers. [The Cut]


• Cathy Horyn yearns for Alessandra Facchinett's Valentino; Of Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli's couture, she says: "Frankly I’d be worried about getting too close to one of those prickly, encrusted numbers. You might get a rash." [On the Runway]
Couture clients, a video of Chanel couture in the making »