Last season, walking into Galliano, Britt and I were accosted by anti-fur protesters (neither one of us were wearing any), but yesterday I was accosted by manic fans trying to crash the show like it was Justin Timberlake’s last concert ever.

I hung out around post-Hermès since Galliano was in the same venue within the hour and watched, amazed, as girls embraced their inner Penny Lane, batting their eyelashes for photographers and security guards begging, pleading for entrance to get in the show. It was fascinating.

I tired before they did and snagged my spot at the end of a bench to get good shots, until of course the girls finally did get in and had nowhere to crash but the aisles until finally my sight was just plain blocked (so please excuse the pictures).

It was game, set, match at Hermès yesterday.

Gaultier’s always a sucker for a theme and this year was no exception. Everything was covered in grass from the runways to the bleachers - with white cushions for us to sit on of course, god forbid we get actual grass stains! Between the setting and the music, I was ready for an actual tennis match.

An industry legend once said to me, “Hermès is not a fashion house, so I never expect fashion here,” but I still loved every bit of it. The clothes screamed 1920’s tennis and I had no problem imaging myself living it up like Daisy Buchannan or lounging on a boat in Pantelleria.

If you’re ever at an Hermès show where you don’t love the clothes, I dare you not to smile when Gaultier runs out smiling, hugging, kissing with such adoration for his models. Long after the show’s ended and the lights are up, he’s still milling about gratefully greeting his fans.

And that’s a grand slam.

—REBECCA SUHRAWARDI AUSTIN

Georgia Peach: Just in case you don’t have as massive a crush on Georgia May Jagger as we do, which is kind of inconceivable, here’s a mini-portfolio from Vanity Fair. We like to say we knew her when. {VanityFair}

Herm-Asprey?: Maybe Hermès thought no one would notice if they bought Asprey’s massive New Bond Street store since the whole fashion world’s on a plane to Paris. But they did, and now word is they’re not just buying the store, but maybe the whole company. Interesting…{VogueUK}

Kane Control: From the second I left Heathrow, I was bombarded with Christopher Kane for Topshop. For every fifteen pieces, an original ape popped up, but for the most part with was crocodiles (alligators?) everywhere you looked, as captured here. {Streetpeeper}

While it turns out The Daily was just stirring up smoke with those false Jean Paul Gaultier rumors - he & Hermès look forward to a long and happy life together - the French house still has major problems.

WWD reports their profits have taken a 7% dip in the first half of the year which the house claims is fine, since they plan on evening out their numbers in the second half. While it’s tempting to blame the recession, Bryanboy puts it best when he tweets, “That’s what they get for letting Heidi Montag buy their stuff all the time.”

Meanwhile, on the other end of the retail spectrum, J.Crew’s profits aren’t just staying steady, but actually rising. CEO Mickey Drexler says, “There’s nothing like a good old-fashioned recession to make you run a better business.”

J.Crew’s always been the most-luxury of the high-street brands, which might explain, why, during all of this, they’ve consistently done well. If the woman who buys only designer clothing finally needs to cut back, she’s not going to stop shopping, but she will buy her basics elsewhere. And if she was buying $200 t-shirts, J.Crew’s $88 version is a steal.

Not that they’re perfect (Madewell’s not doing so hot), but they are winning while everyone else is losing.

Last week’s news that Liberty may be partnering with Target was cause for probable excitement, but today’s news that Liberty’s already partnered with Hermès comes with evidence, which is cause for immediate excitement.

The partnership started with Liberty’s floral Tana Lawn fabric; Hermès added a classic stagecoach and horse print in contrasting colors and promised to decorate the Scarf Room in the famed British department store.

“Tying the Knot” between the two iconic brands is the room’s theme and the French label’s built a giant installation to hang from the atrium’s ceiling to the floor. The scarves and ties will be available for six weeks starting September 7th and Liberty will be throwing various events and hosting different activities revolving around the exclusive collaboration.

If you can’t make it to London, you can buy them here.

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.

Apparently, we’re a bit towel-obsessed at the moment. Perhaps it’s the very un-beachy weather we’re having here in NYC that has us dreaming about sunnier, sandier days. While we won’t be wearing ours anytime soon, we rather liked these D. Porthault beach versions that we saw on style.com. But the price tag was what really made our jaw drop. Four hundred and fifty dollars?!

Of course, this isn’t the first time we’ve come across expensive designer beach towels. We’re actually big fans of Hermès’ beach towels - who wouldn’t be? But one of those bad boys rings in at over five hundred dollars. It’s, um, a little out of our price range. And even if we could afford one, we’re not sure we would buy it. It seems sacrilegious to get sand on anything Hermès, or anything that costs that much. Period.

For us, this is veering into the expensive-designer-clothing-for-babies-that-will-vomit
-on-or-at-best-grow-out-of-them-in-two-months debate.

So, tell us, would you grab your boogie board and your four hundred and fifty dollar towel for a day of sun and sand?

—AMANDA JEAN BOYLE

Entermodal Leather’s based in Portland, Oregon.

They make bags, wallets, luggage, you name it, in both stiff briefcase-like leather and soon, for Spring, a soft, slouchy alternative.

When you buy one of their pieces, it comes with a card telling who crafted it, since it’s all done by hand, and who you can send it back to when you’re in need of a change.

They won’t just fix it if it breaks - they’ll re-format the entire thing if you get bored, need a change, want a new bag, whatever. Each piece has as few stitches as possible to make a seamless transition that much easier. And, if you’re sick of the whole thing, you can send it back, they’ll compensate you for the leather, and make something totally new for a different owner.

Take that, Hermès.

For now, you’ll have to swing down to Pas de Deux or Odin to get yours. But when they launch online, you can buy your new bag from anywhere.