So now we know how Elizabeth ended up owning a store and designing clothes in Cambodia. Next we talk about how she fits into the local community and even more importantly whether or not we’ll be able to get our hands on Wanderlust goodies more readily here in the States.

Plus, we all know that no matter how blissful life can be far removed from the big city, there’s gotta be some things she misses. I, for one, would struggle for quite a while without my regular unhealthy dose of crappy television and require regular care packages of American candy.

Though the idea of managing a possible Maldives location of Wanderlust does not sound like a very bad thing at all.

Here goes part II of our e-chat with Eliz.

Have you made plans for the Fourth of July yet? We hope you’re going to be catching some awesome fireworks or grilling out at a sweet barbecue. The American patriotic spirit has even gone global, thanks to Obama-mania.

The latest in the ever-growing category of Obama-inspired fashion (see: Rodarte for Sonia Rykiel) comes from Italian shoemaker Cesare Paciotti - an Obama Tennis Shoe. It’s very simple: a white sneaker emblazoned with the good ol’ stars and stripes.

We don’t mean to be anglophiles, but in the past if we thought about wrapping a flag around our bodies, we’d usually choose the Union Jack.

But now we’re thinking twice about it thanks to Cesare’s cool American look. While the president served as inspiration, the flag detail pretty much embraces the whole country.

So come the Fourth, let’s wave—and wear—our flags proudly.

—AMANDA JEAN BOYLE

Settled: Woody Allen asked for 10 million, but this morning settled for 5 from American Apparel. {NYPost}

Smells Like Guinness: Daphne Guinness revealed her new perfume, made with Comme des Garcons, at the George in London yesterday morning. A short film will accompany its September launch, because nothing sells without a film apparently. {ShowStudio}

Alice & a Milkshake: Stacey Bendet, of Alice & Olivia, says a McDonald’s Big Mac and strawberry milkshake are her favorite meal. She’s also working on a jewelry collaboration with Erickson Beamon. We believe one of those things. {Blackbook}

So Far So Good: Isobel Lucas in Vanity Fair - the best showing of SS09 Chloe we’ve seen yet. {VanityFair}

“But the problem isn’t limited to design. The overwhelming number of people in their 20’s at the shows guarantees that everything will seem new to them. So Mr. Jones can do pointless things to tailored clothes. John Galliano can summon his pirates and tri-cornered highwaymen. Jean Paul Gaultier can pop on the Afro wigs and issue some jivey pinstripes (with a mini-me line of children’s clothes). And Riccardo Tisci of Givenchy can evoke a Teutonic fantasy with laced black-leather leggings and severely buzzed heads. There is little demand to do something that’s actually new and relevant.” - Cathy Horyn, on Men’s Fashion Week, in the Times.

Linda Dresner, the legendary Park Avenue boutique, will shutter next month.

While magazines go out with a bang, the city’s retail gems - this year’s seen the demise of Leontine and Dernier Cri along with others - quietly close their doors in the face of still-skyrocketing rents, invisible shoppers and major department store sales they’d never dream of competing with.

Dresner, who brought the greats - Yamamoto, Demeulemeester, Margiela, Jil Sander, Commes des Garcons - to the Upper East Side more than twenty years ago sums it up best, “There’s too much of everything right now. Would I open a store in New York today? No. Retailing has to be reconsidered. It’s become a commodity that’s less creative. There’s too many stores selling the same kind of merchandise and it’s not as beautifully chosen. It’s ruined the enthusiasm for fashion.”

Basically, the retail market, especially in New York, is totally oversaturated. You try on a pair of jeans in one store and they don’t have your size? Skip down the block, and if they don’t have them there, you might have to go three whole subway stops to yet another store carrying the same brand. It’s as easy to buy a pair of Sevens in this city as it is a grande latte.

Staying alive in this economy will be rough. Small boutiques will have to carry things the big stores don’t, whether that means different lines or just a different buy, because they just can’t mark things down the way Barneys can. Customers will need incentives - buy this, get that - they’ll need motivation and they’ll need, most of all, encouragement because even those who have the money to shop right now are terrified.

It won’t be easy, it will require patience and creativity and a passionate love of the game, but please, little stores, don’t close your doors!

This just in:

When the Comme des Garcons for H&M line finally hits New York, you won’t be able to stash up in armfuls of every item like in the past.

H&M, or somebody, is imposing a two-item per garment limit for every shopper. So, if you really like a certain shirt and want three or more of it (or, if you’re secretly running a black market out of your basement), H&M’s already on to you.

So does this mean fashion black marketers will shop in hoardes, each getting two of everything?

We’ll see.

Dear Everyone,

We get it, fast fashion is where it’s at. No one’s enjoyed Go International more than us, we’re still eagerly awaiting Comme for H&M, and we’re counting the days until another GAP shirt collection. But, as often as we’ve reported on the ins and outs of designers at Chloe, Gianfranco Ferre, Valentino; we wonder, what’s going to happen to Paulo, Lars, and Alessandra?

So we were thinking this morning, as we usually do over french toast, that it would be a really interesting proposition for someone like, say, Bergdorf Goodman, to have a Go International collection of their own, but at the designer level. Think about it. While Alessandra’s waiting for Rochas to propose, she could do a one-off collection of empire-waisted chiffon-y frocks, and Alessandra gets to remind everyone how swell she is, not to mention pick up a nice little paycheck in between gigs. Plus, the store gets a covetable collection that gets people to spend their money at a time when everyone’s just waiting for the next diffusion line to come out, and we all get amazing clothes. Total win-win.

If you need more convincing, imagine how amazing it would have been if a few years ago, Phoebe Philo had a chance to remind everyone why they love her courtesy Barneys. It might have made Anna’s job getting her the top spot at Celine way easier, not to mention an instant fan base for normally unlikely customers for Celine.

Just saying,

Fashionista (ok, it’s Brett, as if you didn’t know)

My camera is like, so over Fashion Week.

Or maybe it was protesting the lit up runway at Yohji Yamamoto. Either way, my pictures are terrible. So I’ll tell you about the pre-show conversation I had instead and you know where to find runway pictures.

I sat next to an editor from Vogue Brazil. Her thoughts on:

Anna Piaggi: “Do you know her? You are so young! She makes me tired. She is always perfectly dressed, meticulously coiffed. I just think, it must be so hard to pack because you know, in Brazil, we have so much help. Her home, in Milan, is literally covered in clothes, the most beautiful clothes that everyone who loves her has given her but so much work to take care of!”

Yohji and Comme des Garcons: “I saw them both show for the first time here in Paris in 1983. You were born, no? It was revolutionary, like girls walking out of a bomb. An entirely new aesthetic for us, all black and so deconstructed -brilliant.

Tokyo: “I went to Tokyo to interview Yohji in ‘92 and he is such a gentleman. A very quiet gentleman who was so famous, worshipped, in Japan. You know, his look is not trendy right now, but look at all the women who love his clothes. He will always be relevant.”

We just heard that the Comme des Garcons for H&M ad will be public very soon. We can’t show it to you yet, but here’s a fun fact from it:

The ad features a dress. And it costs $350.

Now, we get that Comme des Garcons goods come at a hefty price. But dresses from H&M? Really?

And if just one dress is $350, how much do you think those structured jackets will cost?

When we got our first full look at the line, we thought no one would buy it because it didn’t have enough mass market appeal to fly off the shelves.

But now, well, we just don’t think anyone’s willing to shell out hundreds at a crowded H&M checkout desk.

On Monday, we gave you guys a sneak peek of Rei Kawakubo’s designs for H&M via W’s upcoming issue.

Now that it’s Friday, we’ve got the full range via a very gracious tipster, which we’re happy to share with you all because (secret!) we love you guys, too.

Try to ignore the sticky, un-showered appeal of the models to really take in the clothes. It’s kind of what we expected (deconstructed jackets with Peter Pan collars anyway, the huge statement coat) and yet, not (the pleated skirt, the micro-dotted button down).

We should point out that this lookbook doesn’t include the accessories - but we’re betting it might be like one big black bag, and one small one.

We can already tell this line may not sell so amazingly at H&M as, say, Stella did, regardless of the Rei name. Most of the pieces can easily be worn by boys or girls, which is great, and we’re really into some of the short jackets and the multi-colored men’s shirt (for us, anyway), but other than that, well…

It’s a little Minnie meets Krusty in the asylum, no?

UPDATE: IMAGES REMOVED AT H&M’S REQUEST.

So we got a sneak peak of the September W, and it contains a bit of news about Comme des Garcons’ line for H&M (screen shot at left) -

1. No kids’ stuff. H&M says, “We wanted something for kids, but she [Rei] didn’t feel like it, so we didn’t.”

2. The line is, “mostly black and with Japanese tomboy airs, the H&M collection includes a range of tailored jackets, many deconstructed, along with cropped pants, baggy shorts and a variety of skirts in stretch wool. On the perkier side are polkadot knits in jersey or merino wool, colorful shirts - some with dots - and a “showpiece” coat-dress decorated here and there with dense Victorian ruffles.”

3. There’ll also be a unisex perfume with notes of cedar and patchouli.

The issue doesn’t hit stands until the 19th, so you’ll have to wait to read the rest yourself. Until then, rest knowing there will be no Comme kicks for little babes after all.

Traditionally a taboo color combination, the pairing of orange and black dominated the runways for Fall 08. Orange accents paired with black ensembles made bold appearances, seen in the high collars at Prada and the opaque tights at Alessandro Dell’ Acqua.

Aquascutum, Christian Lacroix, Gaultier and Narciso Rogriguez reversed the new combination, swapping out the traditional little black dress for more vibrant orange creations paired with opaque tights in black and burnt orange.

Moschino Cheap & Chic did their own version of Halloween-chic with a black and orange printed coat, and Comme des Garcons took the trend to new heights with a voluminous tulle skirt and top, finished off with black tights and dreadlocks.

We’ve always considered black and orange to be a spooky combination worn only on the day of the dead, but since it’s now a runway trend, will we start seeing it on all the other days, too?

—AUDREY SMITH

Just after the weekend took off, Louis Vuitton and Comme des Garçons announced that they will open a joint store in Tokyo on September 4th, the day before New York Fashion Week kicks off, that will exist for just three months, similar to Comme’s past guerilla store openings, except… as a collaboration with a huge luxury company that seems like the antithesis to Rei’s designs.

The store, which will be in the Aoyama shopping district, will be “half luxury, half raw”, with a section designated for Rei’s Comme for H&M designs (which will be pie-shaped and red, H&M’s unofficial color) come November.

In celebration of the collaboration, Rei’s designed six one-off bags which she describes as “party bags”, incorporating the LV monogram pattern with serious handles, meant to evoke the style of LV’s bags three decades ago when they opened their first store in Tokyo.

So, just to keep this straight: First, Rei’s designing a bunch of LV-ish bags that’ll be sold in a store that LV will sponsor, from which LVMH will take half the profits. Then, Rei will sell her H&M designs in the space, from which LVMH will take half the profits.

Congratulations… LVMH?

When we heard last Fall that Stephen Jones was collaborating with Rei Kawakubo to make his own fragrance, our reaction was kind of like, “Oh boy.”

But WWD has the results of the project this morning, and we have to say, it looks rather special.

The bottle has a certain heft in its look that the Lovely’s and Glow’s of the world are missing. And the little hat box it comes in? Perfect for gifting.

But of course, we’ve yet to actually smell the perfume, which Stephen, who’s usually a maker of hats, describes as “a violet that’s been hit by a meteorite,” which sounds like the kind of one-noter that usually does pretty well. Stephen recently teamed up with Bumble & Bumble for a hairspray event, so we’re also wondering if these are the beginnings of a Stephen Jones beauty division.

The fragrance should hit stores next month, and we’re still hoping he’s planning on making the matching hat he talked about last September.

The whole thing seems so very Stephen, actually, that we’re kind of wondering - where was Rei in this one?

Were you wondering who would follow up Karl, Stella and Viktor & Rolf as H&M’s next guest designer this fall?

Wonder no more - H&M announced this morning that Rei Kawakubo will design the next capsule collection, after the mega chain opens its first store in Tokyo this November.

We think this is great, because we can’t imagine another scenario in which we could afford anything designed by Rei, but we’re also a little worried - the collection is supposed to include clothes for both men and women (obviously), accessories (fine), children’s clothing (uh), and a perfume (oof).

We’re already sincerely hoping that Rei doesn’t just put out a bunch of belts with studs and baby shoes that look like Christian’s Comme kicks (at left), and actually provides college kids across the world with the fashion-forward choices they wish they could afford.

Guess we’ll see which way this one goes.

Suzy Menkes’ new video just went up on IHT’s website.

In it, Menkes declares, “There’s only one icon who mattered in Paris this season, and that was Amy Winehouse.”

She takes us on a whirlwind tour of the runways, from the beehives at Dior to the cat-eyes at Commes Des Garçons and attributes fashion’s interest in the cracked out singer to Karl Lagerfeld’s initial fascination with her retro look.

The best part is when Menkes informs the audience that Winehouse’s most popular song is called “Rehab.” And that in that song “she sings, “No, No, No,” but the fashion world is saying ‘Yes, Yes, Yes’.”

“For fall, the most perverse thing you can wear might actually be a white shirt. But like in any good Catholic tale there is no pleasure without punishment. Were all of those heart shaped holes at C.D.G. for love or were they for sex?” - Stefano Tonchi, Editor of T: Style in The Moment.

Nazzy Beglari-Scarlet, international war correspondent

Got Her: At the corner of Prince and Mercer.

Stalked Her: Because we couldn’t stop staring at her Comme Des Garcons wrap dress while she crossed the street. And we were relieved at her fresh take on the Wayfarer shape of shades.

Shot Her: Because while we might not be sure how to dress for this awkward fall/spring weather, she managed to look both stylish and comfortable.

She Says: “My style is just casual chic.”

We Say: Fade to black…

—BRITT ABOUTALEB

For years yellow was the only color on our list of “Things We Will Never Wear” (things like bows, Tevas, and Pucci prints). But lately we’ve warmed up to the usually daunting color in a big way.

This season it looks like designers have too. Everyone from Valentino to Comme Des Garcons showed looks en jaune, in hues ranging from daffodil to traffic light.

We like yellow because it makes pretty clothes look a little less obviously pretty; the ruffled dress Natalia wore at Valentino would have looked saccharine in pink, but in yellow it was just right. We also appreciate the way it pops against our favorite neutral, gray.

Even though the color has lots of runway presence this year, we’re unsure if it will make the jump to most women’s wardrobes. Matching yellow to your skin tone can be tough; Chanel Iman looked gorgeous in a bumblebee shade at Giambattista Valli, but Sasha looked washed out at the same show in the same color.

Will you be matching the daffodils for spring? Or will you leave this color in the Crayola box?

—ANNA FIELDING GRIGGS