Photo: Getty Images

More sad store news from across the pond. British retailer Marks & Spencer, the chain Patricia Field designed a capsule collection for late last year, is laying off 1,230 workers and closing 27 stores. Marks & Spencer is the largest clothing retailer in Britain. Though it sold more than 50 million pounds of goods on December 23, it suffered its worst quarterly drop in a decade, of 7.1 percent, afterward. Chairman Stuart Rose says the cuts will reduce costs by 200 million pounds. He added, "We're just finding that customers individually didn't have as much to spend." Analysts have heralded the chain for taking action in the downturn and the company's stock is up 5 percent. We're all in this together.

UK retailer Marks & Spencer to cut 1,230 jobs [AP]

Photo: Getty Images

Okay, Madoff. Now it's personal. The Evening Standard is reporting that Bernie Madoff defrauded Valentino of a "significant amount of cash." The paper cited anonymous sources, and WWD reports that a Valentino spokeswoman declined to comment on Vava's personal life. Still, it's not unlikely news — Madoff's known fashion victims already include the Vittadinis, Nine West founder Jerome Fisher, and 86-year-old L'Oréal heiress Liliane Bettencourt.

Meanwhile, Saville Row tailor Kilgour confirmed Madoff as a client. According to WWD, Madoff bought suits there for the past 30 years, always in gray and in a variety of fabrics. He reportedly always paid his bills on time. Well then. How about that.

Oh no! Bernie's made off with my cash too… [Evening Standard]
MADOFF’S GRAY AREA [WWD]

Photo: Courtesy of Giorgio Armani

• Sasha Pivovarova's spring 2009 Giorgio Armani campaign is out. Yep, she's still gorgeous. [Fashionologie]

• Retailers are trying to convince landlords to lower rents so they can keep their stores open. We wish apartments worked that way. [WSJ]

• Model Liskula Cohen is suing Google to try to force them to reveal the blogger who called her "skank" and "ho." She says such posts tarnish her "reputation and desirability for endorsing products." [British Vogue, Daily Intel]

• MTV is casting for True Life: I Don't Like My Breasts. "We are not looking for girls who just want to get boob jobs … If you feel like your breasts are keeping you from having the life you want … then we want to hear from you." [NYP]

• Cindy Crawford on her early modeling days: "Some girls at school found out, called me and said they were from a local store in our town, saying they wanted me to model for them. I showed up for the interview and the woman there said she knew nothing about it. I was so humiliated and I walked out and saw four girls from high school pointing and laughing." [British Vogue]

Oscar the invincible.Photo: Imaxtree

The economy is slowly eating away at next month's fall 2009 Fashion Week (hello, Vera Wang, Carmen Marc Valvo, Betsey Johnson, Monique Lhuillier, and Naeem Khan). But even in this bearish financial wasteland, bulls walk alone in the night. Like Oscar de la Renta, who has, upon our stars, added a fashion show. He will show twice on Wednesday, February 18, first at 1 p.m. and then at 2 p.m. One show is for retailers, the other for press. He tells Fashion Week Daily, "[2008] has a been good year for me … While some businesses faced tough times, I actually added 15 employees to my company. Sales-wise, the last three months have been solid for us." Merry words indeed! Fabulous to know the really rich have stayed that way. Ladies who lunch must be just as keen, perhaps more so, on Oscar's divine, exorbitantly priced creations (one white lace cotton dress: $4,790) in hard times as in good times. Next thing you know he'll fill the gift bags with cash.

Oscar de la Renta to show twice during New York's Fashion Week [FWD]

Taylor at the Bendel's event in September.Photo: Getty Images

Teen Vogue worked out with Taylor Momsen while interviewing her about her style. Because those things go together (no, really). She says her favorite designers are Alexander Wang and Marchesa and she "can't live without" mascara. We could have predicted as much. We were shocked when she showed up at a Bendel event as a raccoon-eyed goth rocker girl back in September, since she's 15. We've since gotten used to her "I dip my eyes in tar" look. However, this part of the interview nearly rattled us out of our skin:

Who are your fashion influences?

A lot of people. Edie Sedgwick had a cool style; she pushed the envelope for the time. My leopard coat, which I had on today, is vintage, but I added the zipper and took out the shoulder pads. That was inspired by her!

Okay, first, 15-year-olds shouldn't look up to a woman famous for doing heroin, even if it's just for fashion guidance. Second, what does she know about Edie Sedgwick? She was born yesterday. Just because she feels like she should know about this stuff doesn't mean she has to. What does she do — pore over Interview magazines from the seventies while listening to the Veronicas and cut out Edie pictures and stick them to her mirror with Bubblicious? Pierce your belly button and call it a day, girlfriend.

Working Out with Gossip Girl's Taylor Momsen [Teen Vogue]

We knew the "lob" was a fad.Photo: Getty Images

HAIR
• Anne Hathaway's long bob is a "lob" no longer. The actress showed up to the Bride Wars premiere in hair extensions. The nerve. [Style.com]

• But! Katy Perry chopped her lob down to a bob. [Allure]

• Also! Peaches Geldof chopped her hair off. Thoughts? Do you even care? [British Elle]

FRAGRANCE
• Lacoste will launch Love of Pink in February, a follow-up to their Dream of Pink and Touch of Pink fragrances. We're going to go ahead and not think about Valentine's Day now. [Now Smell This]

SKIN
• If you want the 3Lab Perfect Mask, get on the wait list at Barneys New York. People are gaga over its magic ingredient Nano-Claire GY, a growth hormone that restores aged skin. [Fashion Week Daily]

Ariel Meredith at Elie Saab (Ford Models)Photo: Imaxtree

Runway success has been a long time coming for Ariel Meredith. The Louisiana native was discovered at a modeling expo in Dallas while still in high school. But this smart cookie had her priorities straight and decided to focus on finishing her studies before embarking on catwalking. Post graduation, Meredith spent a few years doing commercial modeling and then signed with Ford Models in 2008. She made her runway debut at Vera Wang last September. A week later, she was booked for the D&G runway in Milan and the label's spring ad campaign, shot by Mario Testino. And things haven't slowed down for the southern belle since. Meredith has upcoming spreads in V magazine by Will Davidson, French Revue de Modes by Thierry LeGoues, and even a television spot for Yves Saint Laurent's fragrance. But then again, are you surprised? With a face like that, we have a feeling you'll be seeing a lot more of this one.

Model Profile: Ariel Meredith

Plus: Browse more than 475 of the hottest, freshest faces in our comprehensive Model Manual.

Monique Lhuillier, spring 2009Photo: Imaxtree

And then there were … two less. Vera Wang, Betsey Johnson, and Carmen Marc Valvo have opted out of Bryant Park runway shows, and now Monique Lhuillier and Naeem Khan have decided to do the same in favor of presentations. Paul Wilmot, whose PR firm represents both designers, said the moves aren't even about saving a quick buck. In fact, Wilmot said the designers might not spend any less money. Apparently they just want to "shake things up a bit." But is this change we can believe in? “Before, there’s that one degree of separation — the press and the buyers get a different sense of the clothing when they’re flying past you on the runway as opposed to being able to stand next to them and having the fashion designer talk about the clothes,” Wilmot says.

Excellent point — presentations could be a better sales strategy. But are they the future while runway shows merely walk the path to Obsolete Park? As Cathy Horyn noted a while back, shows aren't even necessary these days. Anyone can look at the clothes online minutes after they end, and the only function the shows seem to serve is to preserve the egos of the people with the good seats (i.e., that episode of the Real Housewives of New York where Jill storms out of the tents because Ramona got a front-row seat while she got a second-row seat). So bring on the presentations and force the important people to mingle with the lowly bloggers like us. Come fall 2009, everyone's front row!

Monique Lhuillier, Naeem Khan Decide Against February Runway Shows [Heard on the Runway/WSJ]

Paco Rabanne, fall 2006Photo: Getty Images

Two and a half years ago, Puig Beauty and Fashion Group announced it would stop producing the Paco Rabanne ready-to-wear line. Patrick Robinson, currently the chief designer for Gap, had designed the line since 2004. The Rabanne name has lived on in fragrances. However, Puig created the new post of vice-president, which the former director of the fragrance business Vincent Thilloy now fills. Thilloy will oversee the fragrance, fashion, and accessories divisions of the label. "I'm thinking about a new business model for the fashion," he said. Cryptic words indeed. This could mean Rabanne will ink a bunch of new licensing deals, for things like watches and glasses, which Puig has already done. Or it could return to the runway, which is what we're hoping for. We're sick of all this recession/cutting-back crap.

Expanding Rabanne [British Vogue]

Photo: Getty Images

Next month Rihanna is performing in Malaysia, where government regulations stipulate that female performers must cover themselves from the top of the chest, shoulders included, to the knees. RiRi has promised to abide by the guidelines, which have gotten the Pussycat Dolls in trouble in the past. Organizers of their 2006 show were fined $3,000 for flouting decency rules. Rihanna's team hopes that protests, which Avril Lavigne and Gwen Stefani both faced in Malaysia for their attire, won't get in their way too much. However, Malaysian government officials called Lavigne's moves from her show last year "too sexy" and have already called Rihanna "sexier and more dangerous." Literally dangerous, because if you rubbed up against her, those spikes might draw blood. In fact, it might behoove Rihanna to take a break from her usual duds. The silver loincloth she wore to the American Music Awards (pictured) was a bit trying-too-hard. As was this.

Rihanna taking no wardrobe risks for Malaysia show [USAT]

The Louis Vuitton Speedy Bag from the Stephen
Sprouse collection.Photo: Courtesy of Louis Vuitton

• British retailer Marks & Spencer is expected to cut 1,000 jobs this week. [WWD]

• Carla Bruni-Sarkozy is going to Couture Week. It's not clear if she'll attend a fashion show, but she's a confirmed guest at a charity event on January 29. [WWD]

• Louis Vuitton's Stephen Sprouse collection hits stores January 15. You've been saving, right? [British Vogue]

• Ann Taylor president Christine Beauchamp was seen "talking shop" with Derek Lam at the airport in Turks & Caicos. [NYP]

• Kate Moss isn't pregnant, but she appears to have injured her wrist. See photos of her frolicking on the beach in Thailand here. [Fashionologie]

Seriously, WTF?

When we last left Whitney on The City, she was, unbeknownst to her, straddling the uptown-downtown divide. Would she let her drunk best friend and unshaven boyfriend pull her into the nether regions of downtown debauchery, fedoras, and fake bar fights? Or would her co-worker/frenemy and her first Manolos lure her to fight, along with Olivia, for her own spot in uptown society? With this in mind, we took a critical eye to last night's episode of MTV's brilliant new reality show, assessing which elements said "uptown" and which said "downtown." We define each category by the stereotypes laid out in the first two episodes. Uptown is a world of propriety, Manolos, and sobriety, while downtown is a greasy cesspool of facial hair and fedoras, where misguided partiers take to the bottle instead of figuring out what they want in life. After the jump commences our first Uptown/Downtown Tally of The City.