Contest!

One lucky subscriber to our Daily Email (only 3-4 times a week, really) will be randomly selected to win these unisex sunglasses from Lunettes Kollektion, the new house line from Lunettes Selection, the kulty Berlin-based source for unworn vintage models from the past eight decades. These frames are inspired by American intellectual specs of the 1960s, in particular those worn by George Falconer, the professor in A Single Man. All glasses—prescription and sunnies—are handcrafted using 100% original Italian acetate, 100% solid alpaca hinges, 100% solid steel screws, 100% sustainable production. Retail value: €259 at Lunettes Kollektion.

If you're not already subscribed, enter your email address before 12 am, February 22, for a chance to win:

• Posted Feb 08, 2012
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Video Fix: Lanvin's Infectious Spring Campaign Video

At the end of Lanvin's just-released campaign video for spring, shot by Steven Meisel, a live snake lunges toward the camera, but it's the infectious rap-grrrl music of Maxine Ashley that gets you. The 18-year-old Bronx native first caught the attention of Pharrell Williams on YouTube, moving the star-maker to sign her to his label pronto. Cookieman, written and produced by Pharrell, is the first single off Maxine's upcoming debut album. The track is tailor-made for the runway...

• Posted Feb 07, 2012
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Something Different: Tsumori Chisato for Ladurée

We can't tell if this is sugar or kawaii overload. Ladurée, French makers of luxury cakes with a new store in Manhattan, has joined forces with Japanese designer Tsumori Chisato, renowned for her unabashed playfulness, to create these pink macaroons inspired by Japan's famed cherry blossom trees. They're calling the flavor, which was concocted by Vincent Lemains under the artistic direction of Chisato, "phantasmagorical" and we believe them. Completing the collaboration is a scented candle—a first for Ladurée, who've previously teamed up with John Galliano, Christian Louboutin, and Marni—again infused with the essence of cherry blossom. Can this please spell the end of the almighty cupcake?

• Posted Feb 07, 2012
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Video Fix: YSL Cruise

Watch Eniko Mihalik luxuriate at the Carlton Hotel in Cannes and strut around the palm-studded Promenade de la Croisette in this sweet, breezy video for YSL's Cruise 2012 collection. You can almost taste the salty air...

• Posted Feb 07, 2012
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Visual Proof that Madonna's Backup Dancers Are Hot

Take a moment to soak this in. Here we have Madonna's backup dancers as gladiators, helmets and all, backstage at her Super Bowl halftime show. In their Calvins, they're flexing and frolicking for Madonna herself. Somewhere the real Calvin Klein is glued to his computer screen.

• Posted Feb 07, 2012
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The New Louis Vuitton Book Is a Lot More Than Pretty Pictures

Fashion fans and history buffs alike will go weak in the knees over Louis Vuitton/Marc Jacobs (Rizzoli, April 2012, $75)—and not just because of its massiveness. Created to accompany the exhibition of the same name at Les Arts Décoratifs in Paris (March 9 - September 16, 2012), the monograph examines the lives and times and triumphs of the two very different men who lived over a century apart. It does this by amassing all the pretty pictures you could possibly want to ogle, as well as through essays by fashion historians and editors contextualizing the milieu that gave rise to the luxury powerhouse. Here's a peek...

• Posted Feb 05, 2012
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Marc Jacobs Might Be a Buddhist

Marc Jacobs spoke to the interview site The Talks and said some fairly profound things, managing to make fashion seem, for a moment, a little less materialistic and jejune. Our favorites bits...

Yves Saint Laurent said in his farewell speech: “I now understand that the most important encounter in life is the encounter with oneself.” Have you reached that moment yet?
I feel I know myself pretty well at this point. I am still open-minded and still kind of curious and have a wonder about things, but I feel quite strong as a person and I’ve developed a certain confidence and a certain self-awareness. It doesn’t make life easy all the time, but it gives me a certain strength that perhaps took a long time to develop.

Is success a key to happiness?
I don’t know, I don’t know what the key to happiness is. Happy is just a feeling like every other feeling. I certainly feel happy some days and in general I am pretty happy, but I have all the other feelings as well. So I don’t know if there is a key. Maybe the Buddhists have it right where they just sort of honor all feelings and just go with the flow. And then I think you have no problems.

Can success and constant flattery be distracting?
Well, I just do my job. I’m not really distracted by it. Nice things are very nice to hear and it is flattering when one is given some kind of recognition, but none of that distracts me from what my job is, what it has always been: to make things. And honestly, no matter how flattering or even unflattering something is, it doesn’t prevent me from getting up and going to work and doing what I love to do.

• Posted Feb 05, 2012
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Video Fix: Sofia Coppola for Marni/H&M

Sofia Coppola directed the video for Marni's collab with H&M, in select stores March 8. You might think, given Marni's artful aesthetic and rich fabrications, that it would channel the moodiness of Virgin Suicides, stylistically speaking. But no. Think more party scene from Somewhere, with Stephen Dorff replaced by British actress Imogen Poots...

• Posted Feb 04, 2012
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Diesel is the Target of a Malicious Spoof

It’s known for outré advertising, but Diesel’s latest campaign seems to have taken its Live Stupid motto a little too seriously. A new website called Diesel for Women appears to be the latest in the Italian label's ongoing Successful Living campaign. But the proposed secret to success this time? Abortions.

The well-produced site imagines a world called Misopolis, where sex reigns free and female factory workers are given “the same rights as successful people.” The press release brings up legitimate women's issues (“[they're] marginalized, abused, raped, impoverished and exploited by the garment industry”) before veering into tastelessness (“we are giving them recognition, dignity, the right to have a safe abortion and fun”). That sentiment is echoed in over-the-top slogans: "Abortion Pill, A Gift from God," "Immaculate Contraception," and "Say Goodbye to Coat Hangers."

Fashion’s politics have always leaned left, but this is not your average pro-choice message. In fact, the ads are not real, according to a Diesel spokesperson, who tells the Huffington Post, "We will ensure all steps are taken to hold the person(s) accountable for this fake campaign activity."

Though no one is claiming responsibility yet, Twitter users have collectively determined the campaign was created by the Amsterdam-based Women on Waves. The pro-choice group apparently believes that, in their opposition to abstinence-only education, it's okay to make light of a traumatic experience for millions.

Update:
After sending shockwaves through the blogosphere and bitter condemnation from Diesel, it turns out the Diesel for Women site is indeed a spoof started by Women on Waves. The Dutch non-profit issued a letter explaining that they, along with the activist group Yes Men, “designed the hoax to expose the violations of women’s rights that take place in the garment industry.”

But why pose as Diesel? The organization cites the 2011 report “Captured by Cotton” which claims that companies such as Diesel exploit garment workers hired by subcontractors through the “sumangali scheme,” forcing women to work for years in anticipation of a lump-sum payment. The ad’s faux-factory, with its abundant abortion-related imagery, was intended to point out that many garment factory workers (75 – 90% of whom are women, average age 19) face unsafe conditions, rampant sexual harassment, poor healthcare and no maternity leave. Many of these factories are located in countries where abortion is illegal. Women on Waves is campaigning to make medical abortion available to women all over the world. May we recommend Change.org?

• Posted Feb 05, 2012
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Video Fix: Kate Bosworth for Vanessa Bruno

Kate Bosworth goes to the moon in this sweet and perfectly weightless short video for Vanessa Bruno, directed by Stephanie Di Giusto and using the French designer's spring collection... 

• Posted Feb 05, 2012
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