Despite this week’s rescue attempts, Escada filed bankruptcy in a German court this morning.

The label, which was founded in 1978 has been better known as the target of the anti-fur movement than for its clothes these past few years. Aside from the red asymmetrical dress Katherine Heigl wore to the Oscars two years ago, and an occasional number on Demi Moore, it’s dropped largely out of the limelight which can’t help its cause when asking for financial salvation.

According to Bloomberg, the brand was once the largest women’s clothing brand in the world. Today, over 2,200 people will lose their jobs as a result of the bankruptcy and the company’s unlikely recovery.

While it’s difficult to watch such a formerly strong brand fail, we’re still impressed that so few high fashion labels have reached that point.

Silver Fox: Jeffrey Monteiro’s resort collection’s already made its TV debut, courtesy of our noted girl crush, Kim Gordon performing on Jimmy Fallon. Though even a Sonic Youth appearance makes it hard for us to stomach that show. {StyleFile}

Invention Convention: Fashion’s most ethically minded innovators get recognized. Reading this cleared our palate of the NYC Prep aftertaste. {Vogue UK}

Urban Dips Into Sea of Shoes: What do you think of Jane Aldridge’s first collection for UO? We’re not in love, but that flat is kinda cute. {Refinery29}

Less is More: Or so Saks thinks for the upcoming year. Translation: if you want your size, you have to shop early…and don’t expect the discounts you’ve seen lately. {Bloomberg}

Just In: Macy’s has cut 7,000 jobs, and their stock dropped 13% within ten minutes of the announcement on Bloomberg.

Yikes - Less than one month ago, it came out that ten of the twelve new Kira Plastinina stores in the US would close up without having been open even a year.

Now, it’s official: The US operation of Kira Plastinina has filed for bankruptcy.

So much for those fifty stores Kira wanted operating in the US by 2010.

And now on to the more fun part of all this (guess the economy couldn’t sustain an onslaught of pink, even if it was kind of cute in its own way): Who’ll take up that prime retail spot on Broadway, right by Topshop? …

We shipped Natalie off on an Egyptian vacation last week and though I’ve spent a fair portion of my life there, she only wanted to know about shopping.

So I told her, “Bargain. Almost everything costs less than half of what you’re told and everything is negotiable - absolutely no exceptions.”

But that’s in the Khan el-Khalili, not in the West Village where according to this article in Bloomberg shoppers have actually started negotiating printed prices.

While major department stores and even mass boutiques like Scoop and Intermix can afford severe markdowns, the smaller stores carrying the same brands just can’t. Which means shoppers are either bypassing them entirely, asking them to match department store prices or lying about how much the same pair of shoes cost down the block to guilt the sales team into lowering prices.

One boutique owner says a woman offered to pay $400 in cash for a $700 bag. Another salesperson says that once negotiating becomes customary no one will want to pay full price again and another is just “really amazed” that people are ballsy enough to ask in the first place.

While I’m always game to bargain at outdoor markets, whether in Cairo or Paris, I could never negotiate my way into a pair of Louboutins.

Are you trying? And more importantly, is it working?

A glooming peace this morning with it brings, Bill Blass Couture is finally done and Kira Plastinina’s closing up US shop.

Bill Blass Couture - the Peter-Som designed, runway bound line - has been at fashion gossip’s core since Peter Som initially stepped down in July only to be re-instated at Anna Wintour’s demand and then leave again in October. Throughout the creative controversy, Blass’ parent brand, NexCen, struggled to find a buyer for the not profitable line. And now, finally, they’ve confirmed that unless a very rich risk-taker swoops in a buys the line before January 1st they’ll give up.

“Bill Blass is facing the same challenges as other consumer and retail companies in the current weak macroenvironment,” NexCen’s managing director told WWD.

Maybe, or maybe they’ve just held on long enough to blame the brand’s failure on greater economic issues than on their own internal mishandling.

Meanwhile, Kira Plastinina, the 16-year old Russian designer whose hot pink stores invaded America less than a year ago will close at least ten of the twelve within the next two weeks.

On the bright side, no one pulled out of Bryant Park today!

Some facts:

1. At this moment, Macy’s has an 11-year streak investment-grade credit rating. Translation: It’s been considered a safe, solid company for investors to invest it.

2. Macy’s debt - which, at $9.8 billion is double than that of any of its direct competitors, like Nordstrom and Kohl’s - combined with the bleak upcoming holiday season, is making it trade like a junk bond. Translation: This could make their investment-grade credit rating, which is decided by ratings agencies like S&P and Moody’s, go down (in fact, both agencies have already announced they have a “negative” outlook on Macy’s rating, which is already at the lowest rung of the investment-grade credit ratings). Further translation: This makes them an unattractive company in which to invest, meaning they’ll have to promise a higher return to investors in order to keep them, meaning it’s going to cost Macy’s a whole lot more money just to keep their investors’ money in their veins. It also means that companies that simply aren’t allowed to invest in companies without investment-grade ratings - some funds simply will not invest in companies that are considered “speculative” - will pull their money out of Macy’s entirely, making it extremely hard for Macy’s to pay off its debt at all.

3. Ratings agencies give these credit grades based on how a company is doing, how much debt it has, etc. Macy’s is about to enter what was typically its most profitable time of year - four-fifths of their profits last year were made just during the holiday selling season - which we all know is expected to be the bleakest holiday selling season seen in some time.

The big picture? Right now, the future of Macy’s seems to be at the mercy of two factors - The credit rating they get, which determines the interest they’ll have to pay investors in order to fund operations, and the upcoming holiday selling season, which will play a huge part in ratings agencies’ decision of whether or not to downgrade Macy’s (they usually wait until after the holiday season to change grades for retail companies) from their current investment-grade rating to a lower rating of non-investment grade speculative.

So? Since the holiday selling season already looks awful (check out Macys.com for some already amazing deals pre-Thanksgiving), and since the main ratings agencies have already said they have a “negative” outlook on Macy’s credit rating, which can only cross the line into non-investment-grade speculative since it’s already at the lowest point of the good end, Macy’s, right at this moment, seems screwed.

But we promise we’ll be more upbeat from here. Ho ho ho.

Even though each day brings more and more clothes at deeper discounts these days, even though the highest of the high-end are lowering their prices in the US, and even though their sales for the third quarter decreased 46% (and even though holiday sales account for nearly half their total sales), Abercrombie says it won’t jump on the sales bandwagon.

They say that in order to “protect their brand image”, they’ll just take the hit that the fourth quarter may be. So if you were hoping for $40 Abercrombie jeans come Christmas, you might want to redirect those hopes to, well, every other store.

We’re hearing rumblings of blow-away sales come Black Friday - the rare term “80% off” has been thrown around, and from major brands. Deck the malls!

There’s an article on Bloomberg today about women-only parks in Tehran.

The parks - there are two so far and plans to open another four - provide a place for women to play sports, sunbathe and just hang out outside without having to be fully covered.

Twenty-two year old Pantea Ebrahimian says, “Every Iranian woman dreams of being able to walk under the sky like this” - this being in a miniskirt and pink tank top. Eliminating the restricting layers of clothing makes her feel infinitely freer, even though she’s technically caged into a very specific area.

Our first thought was, yeah, it’s kind of like the mini-skirt movement. What you wear, whether you want to acknowledge it or not, plays a huge role in how you feel and if you’re being forced into head-to-toe coverage, your soccer skills might be slightly impaired. So it is, in a way, great that Iranian women and young girls now have a place to go where they can feel free.

But on the other hand, it’s really disturbing that they’re being cordoned off into a thirty-seven acre park. And now a generation of young girls will grow up thinking they can only run around, and only be free, in front of other women which moves away from equality and essentially encourages segregation.

So unlike the mini-skirt movement, which was a symbolic and progressive step toward equality for women, the parks are a discouraging stalemate. We’re thrilled that Ebrahimian’s thrilled to wear her miniskirt - we just wish she could wear it everywhere.

Some facts:

1. American workers make up almost half of all diamond purchases worldwide. [Another somewhat related fact: There is exactly one diamond mine in the US (in Arkansas), and it’s not used for commercial sourcing.]

2. US joblessness just increased to 6.5%, the highest in 14 years. Translation: A lot of those American workers are out of jobs right now.

3. Almost 50% of all diamond purchases are made in the fourth quarter. Translation: They’re usually bought as holiday gifts, or in anticipation of a major bonus to buoy the cost, so most major diamond dealers (Harry Winston, Tiffany’s, Van Cleef, etc) haven’t even felt the full effect of our downward economy, and are just about to enter the time of year that usually carries their business.

So what does this all mean? Well, according to Bloomberg, the price of diamonds should fall at least 15% next year, which basically means that Harry Winston is going on sale - but does 15% off $30,000 really help? Well, for some..

Nordstrom is following in the steps of Barneys by going a little greener.

The Seattle-based department store introduced a reusable shopping tote to West Coast shoppers this past Saturday, featuring a cityscape illustration by Ruben Toledo; the tote won’t be available in Nordstrom stores across the country until later this year.

And for those of us either unwilling to part with $22 (the cost of the bag,) or too forgetful to bring the tote along on shopping trips, they’re getting ready for another green initiative - 100% recyclable shopping bags and gift boxes.

As of right now, the bags are only partially earth-friendly due to propylene handles; but those will soon be replaced with cotton ones, which will be filtered into stores while the old ones phase out, a move that should be completed by September, just a couple months before the new and improved gift boxes should complete their own transition.

We’re are all for this and hope that other retailers, big and small, follow suit. The next logical step? Companies like Urban Outfitters and Victoria’s Secret laying off on the 70 or so catalogs we get in the mail every five seconds.