We discussed the fate of Hogan earlier in the week when Tod’s S.P.A. announced they were closing their downtown store and moving uptown.

Their downtown image, one cultivated through ads starring Leigh Lezark and Elettra Weidemann, wasn’t quite working - so above 14th Street they went.

And of course we wondered who’d star in their new uptown ads. Someone said they’d tell us but they’d have to kill us, but then someone else told us. Hogan’s Fall 09 ads will allegedly star: Paz de la Huerta, Annabelle Dexter Jones, Rachel Chandler, Sam Hayes and Nate Lowman. Also, someone named Theo, we’re thinking Richards, and a Josephine.

Now we’re lost because it doesn’t really get more downtown than Mary-Kate Olsen’s artist boyfriend and the Ronsons’ baby-sister - unless this person’s constructed a super elaborate list to throw us off.

But, no, it is real and Hogan is confused.

Hogan, Tod’s cooler, younger sister, is closing its downtown New York store in June.

The lifestyle brand says it wants to move uptown and the current economic climate has finally given them access to the kind of space they need.

A spokesperson told WWD that Hogan’s the largest growing brand within the Tod’s family and that they need to move uptown to launch their new retail concept and solidify their customer base.

What it doesn’t say is that the line was supposed to be downtown’s answer to Tod’s, that making Leigh Lezark and Elettra Wiedemann the face of the brand was a very calculated move to attract a customer whose eye is more focused on the Phillip Lims of the world and that it’s not quite working so they’re heading uptown where people actually wear Tod’s loafers and actually look like Gwyneth Paltrow.

So our question is, who gets to star in the new ads?

In case you haven’t heard, Liz Hurley’s the new face of Blackglama, the (in)famous line of furs.

The ad itself is kind of silly. She crouches, she pouts, she wears nothing but her mink, but it’s her presence in general that’s worth discussing.

In the past, women like Catherine Deneuve, Marlene Dietrich, Judy Garland and Elizabeth Taylor have posed for the fur house and Liz Hurley, as PETA and Animal Aid point out, isn’t quite of their caliber.

Who is?

Someone like Gwyneth maybe, but she’s spent the past week apologizing for getting caught under a fox stole in this season’s Tod’s ads, which means that aside from the obvious reasons, she’d probably say no to a Blackglama campaign. In fact, she’s the only really glamorous potential-face we can think of that might have posed for a house like Blackglama.

So what does this all mean? That PETA’s scary and sometimes dangerous tactics are working. That they’ve finally thrown enough pies and bags of flour and held up enough dead-baby-animal posters to make a serious impact on the way fashion, and the celebrities who wear it, feel about fur so that now even the most reputable fur house can’t get an equally reputable face attached.

We don’t expect J.Mendel to actually close, but at this rate, it’s just a matter of time before all the good stores, celebs and designers refuse to work with fur and PETA jumps for joy.

So, could it be that PETA’s (distasteful) means justify the (intended) end result? Or is this just ruling by fear?

“I often dream of Gwyneth Paltrow — aspirational dreams where I am her good, good friend and we make precious lunches in her legacy beach house, laughing. Then I help her with her lines, she gives me a sweater and we hug.” - Mike Albo, on his Critical Shopper piece on Tod’s, in the Times. Or, his unknowing impersonation of Brett, whichever.

Waiting for us in our Inbox yesterday, was a gem from the mind of our girl crush Gwyneth Paltrow. Like we told you, G has alot of stuff to tell us about life and shares it in the form of a sporadic newsletter (i.e. whenever she wants). This time, the topic was GET, her generic term for shopping and fashion, and that should tell you a lot.

1. Before she had children, she had an hour in the morning to “stand in front of my closet and try to figure out what to wear”. Seriously? The woman filmed a movie a minute, and managed, but now that she has two children and two nannies, and makes a sporadic movie (i.e. whenever she wants), she can’t find the time?

2. House slippers? I get it, you’re running around with your kids, but in slippers? How about those cute Repetto flats you reccomend a few scrolls down?

3. She references wearing a uniform in high school. This is significant because she rarely alludes to her days at Spence, and all I keep thinking is she must have been a Serena.

(cont’d..)

I actually sat down and read GQ cover to cover this weekend.

1) Because James Franco is on the cover and you know how I feel about who’s on the cover and

2) Because I actually love their editorial content.

But on my way there I started noticing the ads.

Something was off. For example, in the four page Gap campaign, only men are featured. I flipped from Hugh Dancy to Joseph Feinnes without an appearance from Clemence, Julia, or even Liv. It’d be one thing if Gap only put their girls in women’s magazines, but we get boys and girls - so why do the boys only get boys? Oh, and the Sartorialist is definitively missing, (but so is Sean Avery).

Then we have the Tod’s ads. Gwyneth Paltrow is their super hyped, no doubt super expensive face of Fall 08. But while one of the men in the GQ ad version bears a slight resemblance to Chris Martin if you squint and can imagine Chris Martin draping a sweater over his shoulders, Gwyneth is most certainly not present. Though we know from the background that both she and the men are sitting on the same yacht.

Thirdly, and perhaps best, is the Salvatore Ferragamo ad spread. In it, they’ve used the same Claudia Schiffer and the same background from the ads in women’s magazines, but remember that guy who wore tights? Well, in GQ, he gets to wear a proper suit. And Claudia doesn’t look pleased. But there are ballerinas in tutus running around him which adds the ballet element in a different way.

So the the only woman who can sell a product to men is Claudia Schiffer? And definitely not Gwyneth Paltrow? But you can use any hot guy to sell something to women?

Or maybe I should just stop memorizing magazines.

If you haven’t checked out Michael Stipe’s installation at the Rogan store on Bowery - go now. It’s awesome.

And if you don’t live in NYC, we’re sorry. But there’s another cool collaboration coming your way.

Stephen Burks, the American industrial designer who works in furniture, packaging and fashion, (including Calvin Klein, Missoni and Estee Lauder), was chosen by Tod’s to build window displays for twenty of the luxury brand’s international flagships.

The displays will be built of transparent layers inviting the viewers to see, “not just the merchandise in the windows, but the entire shop floor”.

There were overly made up models dancing in the windows of Armani Exchange in Soho last night and they made us want to run the other way.

But a talented designer in the windows of a beloved Italian house? Sounds much more promising.

Earlier this week, we got some sort of invitation from G-Star - apparently, they’d be working with Dennis Hopper on an upcoming bash.

Then Tod’s sent us an email, saying that Gwyneth Paltrow had been directed by Dennis Hopper in new commercials for the brand.

And we’re like, why?

So here’s the possible fashion connections to actor Dennis Hopper:

1. Warhol made a print of him in the ’70s.
2. He was friends with James Dean.
3. His third wife (of five wives) was named Daria.

Aside from that, we’re totally lost, but as usual, we’ll watch anything with Gwyneth Paltrow in it - even a handbag commercial.

Here’s some unsurprising news:

Right on the heels of everyone obsessing over her 4-minute film for Tod’s, we find out that Gwyneth is the new official face of the Italian brand.

She’s replacing fellow tall, thin and blonde (remember that book?!) actress Sienna, who we thought was a rather strange choice for Tod’s anyway.

We hope the ads are shot in Capri, where the film short was shot, too. Maybe it’s because we always picture Gwyneth from The Talented Mr. Ripley, which was shot on the island of Ischia which is right next to Capri, but she just seems so positively in place there.