So it seems Condé Nast is not the only one tightening up its stable of brands.

Word is that LVMH has another big sale on. According to the head of a private equity firm who is currently in Paris looking at the fashion houses’ books, Celine, Loewe, and Kenzo are on the block. It appears that CEO Bernard Arnault is no longer taking excuses for under-performers.

A New York-based investment adviser who spoke to Fashionista on the condition of anonymity said, “These labels are making no money, their margins are way down!” Just today WWD ran a story on Loewe focusing on its core leather business. And we all recently witnessed how well-received Phoebe Philo’s collection was at Celine. But it seems that efforts to try to unload the brands is still moving forward.

—PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEREMY KOST

LVMH is on a shopping spree but first it needs to unload some unwanted brands to raise cash the cash it hopes to spend.

According to sources at an investment firm, Donna Karan’s DKNY brand is up for sale. LVMH bought Donna Karan International in 2001, five years after she took it public. Donna Karan Collection is not believed to be on the block.

Sources say the clothing brand is no longer the right fit for LVMH as they are trying to focus more heavily on their super high-end luxury products with a strong international brand. Donna Karan admits on her website “DKNY is the pizza to Collection’s caviar.” It’s thought that while DKNY carries a lot of weight in New York, it doesn’t have the same luxury pull internationally.

I’m sad I went on a celebrity/model/actress collaboration rant the other day; I should’ve saved my speech for this.

In February, we mentioned Hilary Duff was designing a line for DKNY (home of Rachel Bilson’s line, too) under the name Femme. The one image, of her in a fringed tee and leather vest wasn’t awful, though wasn’t groundbreaking.

So now, the ad campaign’s out, shot by Scott Schuman naturally, and for the first time, we believe the celebrity wearing the outfit physically designed the outfit.

But really, Scott would never shoot that on the street, Hilary Duff would never wear it (she looks miserable!) and more importantly, the customer interested in purchasing something designed by a former Disney star doesn’t want a cocoon, right?

We’re banking on the fact that it’s just styled to get your attention and the whole line doesn’t actually look like it’s trying to explore some avant-garde aspect of otherwise commercial fashion, because what’s in that picture is not what this flailing industry needs.

Nola, 23, student

Got Her: Strolling down Broadway.

Stalked Her: Her necklace. Her earrings. Her skirt. Basically we were obsessed. Plus her shirt kinda looks like the dearly missed DKNY billboard.

Shot Her: Because the juxtaposition of her super casual tee and long, pleated skirt is effortless, and we love a statement necklace.

She Said: “I wear a lot of hand-me-downs from my mom and my aunt. My mom got this shirt when she was visiting NYC in the eighties, so I took it. I rarely buy anything.”

We Say: So, who gets your hand-me-downs?

—MELISSA ELLIOTT

Ed. note/warning: This is an Adventures in Copyright post. If reading it will cause you to wish death upon us, please jump to the next post! xxB

Remember this Marc by Marc dress?

Yes, SS06 was a long time ago, but it was all over the press again after model Heather Bratton’s tragic death. (She wore it on the runway and it was the image accompanying almost every news story.) And now it’s back.

When we saw the dress at right on Nordstrom’s site (it’s sold out now) we thought it was actually the same dress. We thought it was weird that Marc was bringing the old print back after so long, but kind of cute because it really is such a great pattern and we really did love the dress.

But it’s actually by DKNY. Guess they didn’t feel the need to change the swirls of the roses, the size, the color scheme, the fabric, the price point etc.

They changed the sleeves though, that was nice.

—MELISSA ELLIOTT

—PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEREMY KOST

A very special model treat from Jeremy -

Right this way…

Following in the footsteps of Marc Jacobs, DKNY has had to significantly cut down their guest list for next week as well.

Instead of switching to a presentation, as previously reported, DKNY’s decided to keep with a traditional runway show - But with a guest list of 400 instead of the usual 1,000.

We wonder if Vlada’s walk down the runway will suffice as the Fall 09 campaign, too, a la Donna Karan Spring 09.

Either way, who else is cutting down their show in the next week?

Uh oh.

One of the upsides to this whole recession thing has been the total drop-off of celebrity clothing lines. We thought we were free and clear of the phenomenon for at least a couple years, but alas, no luck.

WWD broke the story on Hilary Duff’s new line for DKNY a la Rachel Bilson. This one’s called Femme and includes fringed tanks, faux-leather leggings, t-shirts with detachable chain necklaces and crystal strapped tanks. She’s grown out of her Stuff by Hilary Duff line and is excited to be a part of “the perfect line for young girls who can’t afford to buy a lot of clothes these days.”

Then, tucked into a strange story about DVF’s luncheon for Jessica Alba’s Elle shoot is this: ” [Alba] has her own fashion project in the works.” But we can’t even speculate on what Jessica Alba has to offer the struggling fashion industry.

Instead, we’ll take solace in the news that Mad Men costume designer Janie Bryant is finally launching her own line and keep our heads down and our minds focused on next week.

Donna Karan’s DKNY is coming up on its 20th birthday, and to celebrate Dazed Digital recently produced a short film styled by their fashion editor Katie Shillingford and shot by photographer Pierre Debusschere.

The film is shot in black light, making details in the model’s DKNY outfit glow, as well as her fluorescent makeup. Dazed claims the film (as well as the accompanying photo shoot for the new Dazed & Confused) is “out-of-this-world, 80s inspired” and that “the model takes on an ethereal, almost alien presence”.

This makes for pretty good visuals, but more importantly it sounds very close to the 80’s cult classic film Liquid Sky, where the main plot line revolves around a fashion model possessed by aliens, including a very memorable scene of the model applying glow-in-the-dark makeup in black light.

I consider Liquid Sky required viewing for anyone who likes their fashion a bit quirky and their films a bit obscure, so if this applies to you and you haven’t seen it, try to get your hands on it ASAP.

In the meantime, you can catch a glimpse of it here (black light face paint clip starts at about 1:20). We’re betting it’s a favorite in the Dazed offices, too.

—JULIA HERMANNS

Last year’s rather girly, aka floral, House of Holland show was punctuated by a few pairs of jeans here and there - a small price to pay for massive amounts of Levi’s money.

This season, DKNY will benefit from the denim dollars, too.

Donna’s collaborating with Levi’s on three styles of jeans: a skinny, a boyfriend and a wide-leg. They land in stores (Neiman Marcus, Bloomingdale’s, Lord & Taylor and Macy’s) in just a few weeks and will set you back a not-so-recession friendly $225.

They say the move’s for DKNY’s 20th birthday - DKNY launched with jeans in 1989 and Levi’s is the international word for jeans - but heaps of money can’t hurt either.

Meanwhile, in other Donna news, the designer’s finally agreed to do away with fur.

And to think, all it took was plastering Manhattan with graphic images of bloody bunnies.

A reader just alerted us to this very subtle, yet uncanny Prada knock-off.

We were amazed because:

1. The knock-off is by DKNY - not Forever21, not Jeffrey Campbell, nor Steve Madden.

2. We know it’s a gladiator sandal, but the straps are so exactly the same, it’s creepy.

3. Vogue.com put the DKNY’s in their Need it Now section, but not only did Prada design the sandal already, but the originals are also on sale at Bergdorf’s for practically the same price as the full-price DKNY’s.

4. DKNY even gave the type of sandal a different name - they consider them huarache sandals while Prada considers theirs gladiators…

On a related note, DKNY’s really on a roll these days, no?

—ALEXANDRA BEN-GURION

Scott Schuman recently gave an interview to Metro Canada, and dispensed with a couple pieces of news:

1. He confirmed that he did in fact get a book deal.

2. He said that he just wrapped shooting for DKNY, undoubtedly the Spring campaign with Harley Viera Newton.

So will the DKNY ads turn into Harley posing straight on for the camera in the middle of the street? Stay tuned..

Wondering who’s taking Vlada’s spot as the face of DKNY’s Spring 09 campaign?

According to NYLON, it’s New York it girl Harley Viera Newton.

The pint-size NYU student/British rock/fashion offspring might not like being called an it-girl, but she’s definitely not a model - yes, she’s signed to Elite, but that does not a model make these days - so we’re guessing she likes being an it-girl long enough to land a lucrative campaign.

She has great style and apparently great DJ skills, but we’re kind of confused about who she appeals to. Aside from those who caught her I-tie-my-scarf-on-my-bag piece in Vogue, do most consumers know who she is? And how can she sell jeans?

Maybe they’ll shoot on our street again and she’ll pleasantly surprise us.

Free mini-bottles of champagne is one of the little perks you might find under your seat during Fashion Week - it’s like a way of saying, “I know you’re totally exhausted and could easily see all the clothes in a look book we could send you, so since you’re being such a good kid, here’s some booze,” which we totally appreciate.

So here’s some fun news: In celebration of their 20th anniversary, DKNY’s pairing with Chandon to create their own special blend of champagne (ok, sparkling wine, but who’s counting?) which will be available on Chandon.com, at all DKNY parties throughout the year, and under everyone’s seat at their show in September - but in full-size, not mini.

We have a feeling nobody’s going to leave these behind.

And thank goodness we’ll be carrying our cameras on us…

Aww, we’re still holding out hope that DKNY used Vlada standing on our block…

Imagine our delight when we left our office yesterday to find the DKNY fall ad campaign being shot right outside our door.

At first we didn’t recognize the model at all, but after a few minutes of inspection we realized that there was a newly brunette-ish Vlada posing right across the street from us.

So we dropped everything and snapped away like a bunch of tourists, just for you, dear friends!

The stats: Vlada was bundled in a leopard hat, purple tights and bright gloves. She was forced to skip past a wind machine over and over again, Trentini style. Guido Palau was on hair duty.

According to the crew on set, the shot on Mott Street was just one of several vignettes to take place around the neighborhood. We’re hoping they got some in front of the iconic DKNY mural on Houston that will soon be no longer.

It’ll be fun to see what they turn our semi-drab block into with Photoshop. Until then, enjoy the pretty pictures.