>> Juergen Teller wore an oversized white T-shirt and super-short blue satin shorts edged with white piping for a recent interview with the Independent — a practice he apparently picked up on the set of the Spring 2004 Marc Jacobs campaign shoot he did with Charlotte Rampling: "I got to Paris, and to my complete horror I couldn't fit into any of the clothes. I was too fat."  Juergen had chosen to shot himself for Jacobs's menswear that season, but the only piece he could fit into was a pair of silver satin shorts.  The decision was made, and supposedly, he's worn the style religiously since.

Photographing "dead things" and being "frightened" by Winona Ryder »

>> Alexander McQueen, famously outspoken, spoke out in an interview for the Spring 2009 issue of Numero Homme (#17), and started by giving his interviewer, Numero editor at large Philip Utz, and fashion journalism as a whole, a dressing-down: "[it's a] thinly-veiled exercise in marketing."  Then, he moved on to the British Fashion Council — "[it] doesn't know what the f*ck it's doing" — and another one of his favorite subjects to disparage — Hubert de Givenchy.

McQueen was the designer for Givenchy from 1997 to 2001, and upon his installation, he declared Hubert de Givenchy's work "irrevelant"; it seems the years have not softened his opinion: "Well what do you make of Hubert de Givenchy? He was only ever any good at ripping off [Cristobal] Balenciaga."

He saves admiration for a select couple »

>> INSIDER WIRE —When Roberto Cavalli's H&M line launched last year in New York, Cavalli himself was on the flagship's staircase, taking in the madness with Jessica Stam at his side.  For the Comme des Garcons for H&M launch in Tokyo on Saturday, Rei Kawakubo also made sure everything was going properly, but in her own way — she spent all Friday morning beforehand, "folding her signature shirts with precision." [WWD]

>> When it was announced that Rei Kawakubo would be lending her Comme des Garcons aesthetic to H&M this fall, questions were raised, specifically: Would the avant-garde Comme look be compromised in translation by the mass retailer?

"Certainly we're opposite," Kawakubo told W Magazine of the project. "But . . . this idea of collaborating with designers—that’s something I can identify with."

Based on the until now unseen pictures of the collaboration, the signature Comme deconstructed jackets, dropped-crotch pants, polka dots, and predominantly black palette are all there.  But compared to the more mainstream sensibilities of past H&M collaborators — Stella McCartney, Karl Lagerfeld, and Roberto Cavalli, with the exception being Viktor & Rolf — this line is definitely a departure.  That's not to say it won't still create a frenzy . . . the crowd may just be a little different than in the past.
*image: source

>> IN PRODUCTION —The first shots of Rei Kawakubo's Comme des Garcons designs for H&M are starting to appear, and the collection is "mostly black and with Japanese tomboy airs." There also seem to be lots of polka dots, but my bets are on this "showpiece" coat-dress (left) to be the sell-out, based on what's showed up so far. [Fashionista, SuperFuture]

>> IN PRODUCTION —What do you get when you cross Comme des Garcons with Louis Vuitton Monogram?  A Speedy bag with four sets of handles.  This bag, plus five other limited-editions, are part of a collaboration that debuts in Tokyo in September. [Bag Snob]

UPDATE: Four of the others can be seen here.

»Rei Kawakubo has designed a red, pie-shaped shop concept that will house her Comme des Garcons for H&M collection when it comes out in early November; She also chose Peter Lindbergh to photograph Missy Rayder and others for the campaign [WWD]

»Harper's Bazaar brought a cadre of four staffers to couture, while Kate Lanphear is representing Elle alone [FWD]

»Alice Dellal nabbed a MNG Jeans campaign for Fall [Fashionista]

»Nick Knight has asked the likes of Alexander McQueen, Stella McCartney, Naomi Campbell, and Giles Deacon to spin records live on Showstudio.com over 3 days starting July 9 [WWD]

»Karl Lagerfeld seemed to smile in approval at Kris van Assche's latest outing for Dior Homme yesterday [Guardian UK]

»Natasa Vojnovic has gone blonde (NSFW) [Supreme Being]

»Hye Rim Park did recently get married; Vogue Korea has a photo feature story [TFS]

»LVMH won a counterfeit lawsuit against eBay, so the auction site has to cough up $63.2 million [The Cut]