Loving to see the downtown sweetheart getting some love from big media like WWD. As the first woman to have a  collaborative Jordan sneaker for us sneaker aficianados and branding observers this is a big deal. Read her Q&A with Flores Gerald on the flip.

As a dedicated label ho, Gucci always sits at somewhere near the top of my list, and for at least the past six months, it’s occupied the No. 1 spot in my heavy-hitter-loving heart. Here we see some looks from the pre-fall, ready-to-wear line for 2010. It’s an ode to the classier, less glitzy side of Gucci, which doesn’t exactly make my heart beat fast, but I’m still digging the nude-influenced color pallette and the very sick, high-waisted trousers, straight out of the 70s. And the fur coat on the left……the mouth drools!

All images via WWD. Click through for three more looks.

WWD released some sketches of the costumes Thierry Mugler is working on for Beyonce’s upcoming world concert. No doubt it will be a very polished and tight set of looks. That being said, I for one will half miss Beyonce’s Mom’s doing the fashion direction. Granted she’s often over the top and too informed by her Southern-Belle-trashy-prom-queen sensibilities, but at the very least she’s entertertaining and more likely to inspire comment than anything an experienced, top designer creates. I mean, Mugler is talking about this collection being about the “duality between being a woman and a warrior,” and I’m like, okay really? And that theme aint worn out like an old man’s suit??

I know we’re in a worldwide recession, but I was still sort of stunned to read yesterday (Hahaha–how mad is WWD that it got scooped by the NY Times on this story??) that Chanel has plans to layoff 200 workers. There’s so much fantasy and aura that surrounds Coco & Co. that in my mind it’s akin to the North Pole and Santa’s Workshop. I mean cheez, is Old Saint Nich gonna announce elf layoffs next???

The articles money quote (which was pulled from a WWD article)? When Karl denies reality by stating: “Today, everyone can say that something is for financial reasons when they want. For me, artistic reasons are more important.” Okaaaaay, hun, keep living in that dream world (and I mean that sincerely!)

Gwen Stefani is launching a perfume line, it was announced in WWD today. It will launch in the fall and is being projected to eventually gross 30 mil. < ---(gawd damn!)

Gwen has forever-and-a-day-love status for me because of her days as frontwoman for No Doubt, not to mention the existence of the heartbreak classic “Don’t Speak.” I still to this day like/admire her, but I’ve always thought the whole Harajuko Girls thing was kind of dumb. When Margaret Cho went off on her about it and described the concept as “a minstrel show,” I figured Gwen would give it a rest, but nope, she kept it ride or die and as you can see in the image above, the bottles of perfume are even modeled after them.

Oh well, make that $$$ Gwen.

Feel like a little flash-back Friday? Here’s the video classic “Don’t Speak” (So please stop explaining!)