>> Riccardo Tisci, fresh off a stint in Rio de Janeiro over the weekend to support Oi Fashion Rocks with a combination men's, women's, and couture fashion show, arrived fashionably late by half an hour yesterday for a guerrilla appearance at Barneys in New York — his first for a trunk show, which was only announced the afternoon before.  Endearingly adorable in sneakers and with braces, the designer was on hand to see the launch of his new lower-priced (by forty percent) Capsule collection, which focuses on his iconic white shirts and studded pieces, with a few exclusives for Barneys on tap.  We were able to steal a couple of minutes of his time:

You were just in Rio, how was that?

I just got in [to New York] this morning, so I'm a little tired but happy.

You dressed Ciara for her Fashion Rocks Rio performance; she later Twittered, "I'm going to be Givenchy's Muze! So excited!" Do you agree?

Yes, she is a muse. I had never met her before, but it was one of the most amazing moments of my life. We really clicked; I can respect her as an artist and a woman and she respects me as an artist and as a man.  I look forward to working with her again soon.

Would he collaborate with H&M? »

>> Cathy Horyn Really Isn't a Fan of Riccardo Tisci —It's no secret Cathy Horyn doesn't love Riccardo Tisci's work at Givenchy — last October of his Fall 2009 collection, she wrote: "I’m beginning to wonder if [Tisci] has any ideas at least that are original."  Of his couture collection in January, it was: "not so wild, frankly, about the lumps & bumps at Givenchy."  And over the weekend, she found his Spring 2010 men's collection "just plain tedious": "To me, the Givenchy collection . . . smacks of the work of a stylist, rather than the specific vision of a designer. The collection has a cadged look of picking things up from here and yonder, notably Comme des Garcons. This method just betrays insecurity — the insecurity of a designer who doesn’t have a meaningful, real vision."  But if you're a fan of his vision, The Cut has a video of Tisci going over his Spring 2009 couture collection. [On the Runway, On the Runway]

>> INSIDER WIRE —More details about Riccardo Tisci's surprise — and perhaps eyebrow-raising — appearance at the Versace menswear show and Donatella Versace's private after party this past weekend. He was in Como to visit his mother and then stayed an extra day to attend the Versace events because he and Donatella go way back — she and Gianni are part of the reason he got into fashion: "Donatella for us is like a Sophia Loren. She’s a great representative of Italy. It’s a friendship.” [WWD]

>> INSIDER WIRE —Over the weekend, Riccardo Tisci flew into Milan for the day to attend his first Versace menswear show, setting off questions as to what the trip might mean, especially just a week before his own menswear show in Paris.  He told the New York Times at Donatella Versace's private dinner at her palazzo that he came to demonstrate his support for the designer, who he compared to “the flag of Italy.” [NYTimes, Tommy Ton's Twitter]

>> ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL — Adriana Lima has been amping her high fashion cred back up for a while now, scoring appearances in Vogue Paris and Love and sending shockwaves when she walked for Givenchy Fall 2009.  Riccardo Tisci must have liked what he saw, because it sounds like she's been cast in the collection's campaign along with three other girls who a source promises "are incredible as could be for this collection." [TFS, TFS, The Imagist]

*image: source

>> An in-house team has produced the last two Halston collection since Marco Zanini left, but the search is still on for a creative director.  Sources say that young London talent Marios Schwab might be the man — he's apparently been in talks with the brand — but Bonnie Takhar, Halston CEO, wouldn't confirm anything. “We have been looking at all options in the market, but we have made no decisions.”

If Schwab were to take the job, would he be required to shutter his eponymous label?  Increasingly, brands are looking for devoted creative directors who don't have to split time between labels; in fact, a lot of brands are digging up designers who have never helmed a label before: Vionnet just hired Prada alum Rodolfo Paglialunga, Nina Ricci is supposedly going with Louis Vuitton-trained Peter Copping, Valentino recently promoted accessory designers Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli, and Chloe decided on alum Hannah MacGibbon.

Hiring designers: it's not what it used to be »