District L

We are not only people having fun or partying, traveling in private jets and kissing celebrities. We are hard workers, responsible for thousands of people's jobs.

- Valentino, on the importance of the fashion industry

Farewell?

This is what 75-year old Giorgio Armani had to say yesterday after hinting that it may be time to appoint a successor.

"I'm already organizing staff who will continue my work...of course I am not eternal, there comes a time when you must hand it over."

Armani spoke to reporters while in Moscow, having recently jetted in to attend a slew of Armani-related events, including several Fall 2009 presentations and parties.

Recent management changes made within the company have indicated an easing of his workload. Rumors are flying about a possible sale of the company. While there has been no speculation about new creative heads or designers, the industry waits with bated breath until the dreaded day when an announcement is made- and we all know the implications of such a declaration.

Long Live "King Giorgio".

District L readers:

Laura Dawson's last 3-day sale was so popular she's having another one. But today is the last day, so act fast!

Just go to her online store and buy a fabulous piece from her A/W collection, then get another for free.

Enter promo code 26-27-28 at checkout, and sit in anticipation by the front door.

"I just got robbed in the street in front of the Thyssen museum . . . My wallet, cash and all my credit cards!!"

From Diane Von Furstenburg's twitter page after she, well...got robbed in the street in front of the Thyssen museum in Madrid. She was there, of all things, to receive a Telva Fashion Award. How ironic!

Not ones to take things lightly, District L has already dispatched its army of bitchy queens and PR girls on a search and destroy mission after the bastard.

Maybe this is some karmic payback after allowing MTV to film "The City" at her HQ in the Meatpacking District?

District L recently made a jaunt down to Siam Square in downtown Bangkok to visit the recently inaugurated BACC (Bangkok Art & Culture Center), where we chanced upon a fabulous little exhibition called "White Break".

White Break

"While everything turns to black and dark, it feels like to the end of the road, white is like the light leading to the beginning"

-Jitsing Somboon

The mini-exhibition was inspired by this one quotation, celebrating the color white and it's many representations and interpretations. Coming from dark and tan obsessed North America to pale and white concerned Asia brings the exhibit into a whole new perspective.

Any celebration of white clothing (a personal favorite) is brilliant by me, and a big fuck you to everyone who told me it was impractical.

Since when is fashion always practical?

Christian Louboutin stated that designing clothes would be his "idea of hell." Cindy Crawford, on the other hand hates catwalks. (I guess if you made your living by not eating, it's okay to bite the hand that feeds.) Speaking of not eating, here is more recent evidence that King Karl hates fatties.

We at District L have our own list of dislikes. On our laundry list? This.

No, this is not the line outside of 1Oak on a Saturday night. This is the crowd waiting to get inside Abercrombie on a Monday afternoon. With the stomach-turning stench of high school wafting down Fifth Avenue, this Midtown disaster ranks pretty high on our shit-list.

"I was like, 'Are you really sure you want my name on your ass?' He said, 'Yes.' I didn't want to do it on his ass. I thought he should think about it, so instead I did it on his back, and said, 'You should still think about it! Do you really want my name on your back?' And he said, 'Yes.'"

Christian Louboutin, on one of his more vehement fans at his "Shoe Signing" last Thursday at Bergdorf Goodman.

Charismatic Diesel head Renzo Rosso has some big news.

S/S 2010 in Paris for Maison Margiela revealed that enigmatic Margiela himself was no longer desigining for the label.

Rosso, whose Staff International group currently runs Maison Martin Margiela, has just announced that he is very, very close to annoint...we mean, appointing a new head designer.

According to a twitter post from T magazine's Horacio Silva, "Just had a chat with Diesel's Renzo Russo who says he is this close to naming a new designer at Martin Margiela." The next post read, "Russo stressed that Martin Margiela will continue to be involved with his namesake label, albeit at a distance."

Knowing the Maison's history of shrouding everything it does in mystery, District L really cannot speculate as to who this individual may be.

Rumors, however, of Rosso's intent to buy Ittiere have been denied. One man can only be so fabulous.

Surprisingly, something noteworthy totally escaped our attention.

While scouring the internet, we came across this little gem on FashionWireDaily that captured our interest.

“I was very influenced in my choice by Tim Gunn, who had invited Lindsay to be a judge [on Project Runway]...his comments that she had a great sense of fashion and knew what works and doesn’t work, were pretty significant to me.”

This came directly out of the mouth of Mounir Moufarrige, CEO of Ungaro.

This is the first of several heart-stopping revelations in the article, entitled "The House of Ungaro's Lowdown on Lindsay Lohan".

Frankly, we were rather shocked to learn that Tim Gunn of all people was the "deciding vote" as it were, to appoint Lohan as the new creative co-director of the major Parisian house.

Moufarrige reveals the reasons behind the final decision, and even behind the fact that she was being considered for the position at all. At first, his rationales seem legitimate.

"We need to bring in younger and cooler and trends to Ungaro. This team can provide that."

"He added that [Estrella] Archs and Lohan had been spending more time together in Los Angeles and New York, but added that this fitted in more with his “long-term vision of the Ungaro woman. She is a combination of the American and European girl.""

Okay, okay, but hold on a second. It gets better.

“Lindsay already had an Ungaro coat at the age of 13...her own mother used to wear Ungaro. You could not sit on a settee or chair in her place. Her home was full of brands. You had to sit on the floor!”

Well, shit. I had a Burberry overcoat when I was 13, I assume I'll be taking up my new position as creative co-director any day now.

The article then goes on to list all of the various events, photoshoots, and interviews Lohan was late for or skipped out on entirely leading up to her Paris showing.

“Lindsay Lohan is not a designer, we are not pretending that she is. But she is a great merchandiser who can bring lots of ideas. You will soon see that,” said Moufarrige.

We all saw how that turned out. Case closed.

"We know Marc Jacobs doesn't take the fashion world too seriously, so maybe clogs were his way of having a joke at our expense. But you can bet your last penny that these noisy shoes will be all over the high street come spring."

Rachel Holmes, Guardian UK, laments the "klompen" filled runways of LV and Chanel

Honestly, we have to agree. WTF.