>> Ferragamo's Menswear Designer To Take Over Womenswear —Cristina Ortiz, who was hired by Ferragamo in August 2007 and has since received less-than-stellar reviews, is being replaced by the house's menswear designer Massimiliano Giornetti, who will continue to uphold his current responsibilities. Ortiz is expected to exit the company after showing her Spring 2010 collection, and Giornetti, who has been at the house for nine years and never done women's clothing before, is already at work on the Fall 2010 collection. [WWD]

>> After weeks of speculation, Versace CEO Giancarlo Di Risio, who has been with the company since 2004, is expected to hand in his resignation at a board meeting on Friday.  Despite the fact that Di Risio worked closely with Donatella Versace to make her collections less flashy and returned the house to profit, the company has been under strain from declining sales, and its board recently approved a restructuring plan which effectively sidelines the chief executive.

Di Risio is said to have clashed with Donatella on a number of levels — he disagreed with her lavish lifestyle, according to recent articles in the Italian media, and pushed her to simplify her designs so that the house could introduce accessories and clothes with lower prices.

Donatella wanted to spend $140K a day on Mario Testino, Di Risio didn't. »

>> Milan is infamous for being one of the hardest markets to break open for models of color, and unfortunately, that still seems to be the case, based on tallying by The Cut.  The worst offenders? Burberry, Giorgio Armani, Missoni, Fendi, Salvatore Ferragamo, who all only used one model of color, while Gianfranco Ferre, Jil Sander, and Prada didn't use any.

Meanwhile, buyers have spoken on their Milanese favorites: Jil Sander, Prada, Marni, Bottega Veneta, Giorgio Armani, Gucci, Pucci, Roberto Cavalli, and Gianfranco Ferré — surprisingly, Missoni was not in the mix.

A number of critics and retailers have Tommaso Aquilano and Roberto Rimondi on their lists as Milan's most promising up-and-coming talent, but their situation at Gianfranco Ferre is currently tenuous — the front row Friday included three government-appointed special administrators, a reminder that owner IT Holding faces bankruptcy proceedings, and could take Ferre, Just Cavalli, John Galliano, and Malo down with it.  Regardless, hopes are high — as Linda Fargo, fashion director of Bergdorf Goodman, put it, "Tommaso Aquilano and Roberto Rimondi continue to show the promise of world-class design for the future — both in their own line and at Gianfranco Ferré. We hope the dust settles favorably on Ferre as the two designers are hitting the right notes."  

Other highlights on the to-watch list: Christopher Kane at Versus and, for next season, Vionnet, under the care of Prada alum Rodolfo Paglialunga.
*image: source

>> The '90s supermodels are turning out in droves for the Fall 2008 campaign season:  Linda Evangelista is starring in Prada, Naomi Campbell in Yves Saint Laurent, Claudia Schiffer in Chanel (below, top middle) and Salvatore Ferragamo, Kate Moss in Stella McCartney, Eva Herzigova in Louis Vuitton (below, bottom middle), Stephanie Seymour in Loewe, Amber Valletta in Dsquared (below, left), and Christy Turlington in Escada (below, right).  Phew! 

Without further ado, a first look at the supers' Fall work (nothing stellar yet, but you know they got paid a lot for it):

Nadja Auermann is conspicuously left out of the bunch, but only because she's turned down offers to focus on her fledgling music career — who knew?!

*images: source