Barely five days into the new year, we’ve already received a premature reminder of the embarrassingly inevitable: in 2009, a new crop of opportunists will make hilariously ill-advised forays into the realm of “celebrity fashion design”, a phenomena that by now serves as its own punchline. The culprits this week? Why, British songstress Amy Winehouse and Kevin Federline — that’s right the fallen “Fed-Ex” himself. Considering that the novelty of celebrities dabbling in “crafts” outside their comfort zone died back in 2006, it only seems fitting that the “trainwrecks” and “has-beens” would belatedly hop on board the bandwagon of the “singers who sew”.

First up, the lesser of two evils: Amy. Fred Perry, an iconic British sportswear label we happen to like a lot, is rumored to be interested in having The Wino guest design a capsule collection for them in the near future. As she has currently put the brakes on her third album, she might actually have time — between rehab and detox — to throw something eccentrically, quintessentially British together for the line. And we actually don’t mind this development, should it prove to be true. In her own harrowing, kooky way, Winehouse actually possesses a distinct visual identity, as iconic as it is unhealthy. She’d do scooter boots and Northern Soul minis justice.

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For seasons now we’ve been told to “update our look with some fabulous accessories” so it should come as no surprise that even the big fashion houses are preaching that mantra as times get tough. After all, handbags, shoes and other accessories account for most of a fashion houses sales.

So when Chanel and Gucci both launched their Spring 2009 advertising campaigns with shoe teasers, it was a very big sign that they were clearly pushing what sells (besides their must-have bags) instead of a dress or a look that encapsulates the ideals of the season.

While each brand went down different paths, the message was clear.

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News of Gemma Ward spending part of their Christmas/New Years break in Australia’s beachside town of Byron Bay with fellow Australian model Nicole Trunfio may not be all that ground breaking, after all models bunk and holiday together all the time.

But the little tidbit at the end of the Perth Now article announcing the news that Gemma Ward will be returning to the modeling scene after staring in The Black Balloon and The Strangers last year is definitely good news.

Looks like she won’t be focusing on acting full time, perhaps finances are tough for Gemma after her treks to India and the Himalayas or the lure of high fashion campaigns was too hard to ignore. I wonder which major advertising campaign she will snag first…

What’s wrong with Vogue?
By Cathy Horyn

Because with quotes like this:

There are too many stories about socialites - or, at any rate, too few such stories that sufficiently demonstrate why we should care about these creatures. What once felt like a jolly skip through Bergdorf now feels like an intravenous feed. To read Vogue in recent years is to wonder about the peculiar fascination for the “villa in Tuscany” story. Ditto staff-member accounts of spa treatments and haircuts.

It’s embarrassing to see how Vogue deals with the recession. For the December issue, it sent a writer off to discover the “charms” of Wal-Mart and Target. A similar obtuseness permeates a fashion spread in the January issue, where a model and a child are portrayed on a weekend outing with a Superman figure. Is a ’50s suburban frock emblematic of the mortgage meltdown?

You can’t resist.

(click image for a closer look)

Spring 2009 see’s Versace sign up two bigger modeling guns in the form of Gisele Bundchen and Kate Moss to take over where Natalia Vodianova and Isabeli Fontana left off in the Fall 2008/09 advertising campaign.

Photographed by Mario Testino against a very cruise-like back ground, this has to be one of the freshest looking Versace campaigns I’ve seen in a while, because quite frankly the role call of celebrities fronting the Italian fashion houses campaigns in the mid 2000’s was just garish (remember how it all started with Madonna, followed by the likes of Christina Aguilera, Demi Moore and Halle Berry).

Perhaps Versace are playing it safe this season, with choice of model and collection but it is a spring campaign and what is the warmer seasons without wind swept hair and trips to the beach? And I love the black shift dress Kate has on with the heart shaped embellishments and cut outs.

What do you think?

[Images from TFS]

She is the current face of DNKY Jeans, now Daisy Lowe can add another major advertising campaign to her look book - that of Marc by Marc Jacobs spring summer 2009.

It was first reported earlier this month that the British IT girl and daughter of Pearl Lowe and Gavin “Mr Gwen Stefani” Rossdale was set to replace Victoria Beckham as the face of Marc Jacobs. But the first campaign image reveals that Lowe is actually the face of the younger Marc by Marc Jacobs collection with Lowe joining the likes of Cole Mohr, MIA and Tatu (in Russia).

Photographed Juergen Teller, Lowe is photographed in an off white baby doll dress (modeled on the runway by Anna Jagodsinska) on a white bed.

I think the shoot is missing some of the MJ brand of cheekiness we have come to know and love… and the whole thing  reminds me of this Kate Moss December 2008 British Vogue cover shot by Nick Knight.

What do you think of the Daisy Lowe for Marc by Marc Jacobs ad?

[Image via TFS]

So much for Christmas cheer, Maybelline face and Alexander Wang’s-muse Erin Wasson was robbed just days before Christmas Day while she was at home. Tens of thousands of designer clothes and jewelery was stolen from her Santa Monica home. Her front door was left unlocked, but luckily for Wasson, a few pieces were recovered from an alley around the corner. [Page Six]

In other Christmas news, it was reported that Gisele Bundchen is engaged to boyfriend Tom Brady after he popped the question over the holidays. But various family members, including Brady’s father and Bundchen’s twin sister says the reports are not true. [People.com]

With many image incarnations under her belt, Christina Aguilera may be set to turn her multitude of looks into a collection for TopShop.

According the Daily Mirror, TopShop boss Sir Philip Green has been courting Aguilera to design a clothing line for £1million per range.

“Sir Philip has started talks with Christina and hopes to sign a deal soon. She has visited his offices in London and they are thrashing out the details,” a source told the Mirror.

“Philip loves her style and believes she would add something new to TopShop. Christina is the blonde bombshell who is into pop whereas Kate is the rock chick and model. She’d appeal to a younger shopper than Kate.”

If the deal does get signed off, Aguilera will join the likes of Kate Moss who recently renewed her contract with the popular British fast fashion retailer after seven successful collections.

What do you think of this fashion rumour?

This could be an interesting collaboration if it does go forward and would be an interesting addition to the growing Christina Aguilera collection of fragrances. Though I am glad Christina has past her Diirty and Lady Marmalade stage, and let’s not forget her get up in the music video for Can’t Hold Us Down.

As 2008 draws to its miserly close, another young designer joins the multitude of recent fashion fatalities: Russian teen “designer” Kira Plastinina is calling it quits in the US, after eleven of her twelve boutiques have failed to warrant their existence.

Now, we aren’t into schadenfreude, but — unlike in the cases of beloved and bankrupted shoe lines Hollywould and Té Casan — we can’t really bring ourselves to distress over this latest industry “loss”. In fact, we hope Kira’s downfall will prove to be the final nail in the coffin of loud, tasteless, and fast fashion.

When discussing the crumbling Kira Plastinina empire, the adjectives “cheap”, “garish”, and “tawdry” inevitably surface. And of course, just plain “ugly” does the trick, too: from the rayon parade of tacky pink poshlust she procured to her flagrant, unwarranted stateside opportunism, the entire Plastinina enterprise was a seedy Mickey Mouse operation.

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