Ever wondered what Loewe’s design team looks like? Here, an introduction:

[Britt and Natalie sit in the backseat of a cab, on their way to the Doo.Ri Under.Ligne launch, last night. Taped to the back of the cab’s partition is a cute drawing of a cartoon cab with the slogan “This is a happy cab” written above it.]

Britt (to Driver): West 26th Street, between…

Driver: 11th and 12th?

Britt and Natalie: Yeah…

Driver: Yes, I just took three people there, no problem!

Britt (to Natalie): Wow, this cab driver is really nice.

Natalie (to Britt): Well, it is a happy cab. [Giggle]

[Several minutes pass, during which the driver asks polite questions, laughs, and remains generally jovial while wearing his “Dooney & Bourke” baseball cap. The cab arrives at the destination. Britt exits, and Natalie waits for the receipt.]

Driver: Just one more second, sorry, it’s still printing.

Natalie: Oh, it’s ok! I really love this Happy Cab painting by the way.

Driver: Oh!

[The driver exits the car, leaving Natalie inside. As he rummages through his trunk, Natalie quietly opens the door, having decided to wait for the receipt while standing safely on the sidewalk.]

Driver: Here you go! One for everyone who mentions the Happy Cab!

[The Driver hands Natalie the small, “Louis Vuitton” wallet, at left.]

Natalie: [Making a face not unlike Jim from The Office] Oh -

Aaaaaand, scene.

We put as much trust in the labels on our clothing as we do in the labels on our food. As in, we believe whatever it says. But apparently, this may not be so smart.

The Humane Society just filed a pretty hefty lawsuit against Dillard’s, Lord & Taylor, Macy’s, Saks, Neiman Marcus and Andrew & Suzanne, over claims that independent tests proved that clothing sold in their stores labeled as “faux fur” contained actual fur, which would be a major legal (and ethical) no-no.

Over three years of buying clothes from all these stores, the Humane Society found twelve instances of mislabeled fur items, including a “faux fur” coat from Neiman Marcus that turned out to be made of rabbit skins.

So far, none of the stores have issued official comments, though time is running out - they have twenty days to come up with their official explanation of exactly how this happened.

No word yet on whether PETA’s planning on dousing the stores in ketchup and flour - and exactly how much people paid for these “faux” jackets made of real (read: much more expensive) fur. Not that we really like either choiceanyway.

Scene 1: Kiosk, a fun galleryish store on Spring Street gets their neon arrow sign stolen in the middle of the night. The owner blogs about it the next morning and posts the security video.

Scene 2: The sign, or a sign that looks a lot like the sign, appears outside a new Urban Outfitters in LA, and the Kiosk store owner goes ape on his blog.

Kiosk wants their sign back, and Urban Outfitters, to our knowledge, hasn’t said a word.

Though we do kind of like the idea of a fun fashion crime, does anyone else think the signs actually look a bit different? Kiosk’s arrow seems fatter, and Urban Outfitters’ frame seems thicker…

So we were flipping through the Saks Holiday Gift catalog this morning, when we came to page 168. Not too far away from the Oscar de la Renta robes and Diptyque soaps was a rack of lamb for $150. Next to that, mesquite smoked peppered beef tenderloin, for $130.

Now, we get the whole Target-inspired one stop shopping thing, but meat? From Saks?

Guess we missed them moving into the gourmet market.

But it’s comforting to know that, if pressed, we could get our Thanksgiving turkey for less than one of their candles.

So, I really did go to Vermont this weekend, and I really did try to keep an eye out for Karl even though I was really on the wrong side of the state. But guess what? Karl’s not the only one moving his off-hours fun site to the green mountains -

On Friday, I stopped by Parker Pie, the only pizzeria for many miles in West Glover, VT (pop. couldn’t be more than 600). Just as soon as I walked in, someone exclaimed, “YOU’LL NEVER BELIEVE WHO WAS JUST HERE!”

Who?

“Tyra Banks! She sat in the back with some guy and had a pizza.”

And there you have it. The apocalypse.

And now, a note from Faran…

Last season, Ann Demeulemeester made some pins inspired by Kara Walker silhouettes (without the racial subtext or the fury or the brilliance, of course).

This season, Cynthia Rowley is going one step further, introducing a holiday cocktail dress inspired by the artist’s work.

It’s actually a pretty great dress, and if it were sold with a different name - the Shadow Dress, maybe - I’d love it. But my stomach gets knocked sideways when you say, “Look, it’s the Kara Walker dress,” because it’s not even subversive, or funny. It just seems hollow and kind of misinformed.

Kara Walker is an artist whose work is so beautiful that it clashes directly with her subject matter - hate, oppression, victimization, blame, poverty, shame, rape, madness. It’s so complicated that I still haven’t decided how I feel about it, but I do know this:

It feels really oblivious and pretty wrong to make a holiday party frock, and without an ounce of humor, to proclaim it your Kara Walker dress.

But maybe I’m just overreacting - I get worked up when I don’t get to see the Chloe show in person, you see…

Love you guys, xo.

>My parents live in Doha, Qatar.

They’ve been there about a year and I’ve yet to visit them. But I’m planning a trip for Christmas and agreed to go when my Dad assured me it’ll be warm enough in mid-December for my sister and I to lie on a beach/by the pool for almost two weeks.

My mom sent me a link to some bathing suits she’d recommend for the trip. I picked my favorite - it’s on the left.

She’s joking of course - not only would I never wear it, she’d never let me - but I thought you guys might enjoy a peek into something fashion-y and not New York centric. And the best part is that the model’s actually incredibly gorgeous. Why bother using such an attractive woman if you’re just going to cover her up? You’d think a 1920’s Gatsby-esque suit would suffice.

Sometimes, in the midst of all our Would You Wear crop tops/ripped tights/bras as shirts, I forget about all of the international states of “fashion” and it takes a reality check from my Californian-living-overseas Mom to remind me that not everyone runs around half naked.

Yes, this is totally random, but I just had to share these suits with someone, and I knew only you guys would care.

As we all know, even people you love can make mistakes. And unfortunately this is one of those situations. We tried to be understanding. We tried to be compassionate. But seriously, Topshop, what were you thinking with this hat?

Is it for an as-of-yet-unannounced Halloween line? Or perhaps some sort of joke we don’t understand. You, yourself, even describe it as a “clown hat;” but frankly, Topshop, we aren’t laughing. We don’t appreciate your attempt at haute clown apparel because lets face it - this looks like a pointy white felt cap with pom-poms slapped on the side. We can’t imagine anyone, clown or not, who would want to spend $30 on this.

But even this inexplicable misstep couldn’t dissuade our love for you, Topshop, so we forgive you. And we’re still beyond excited for you to open your doors in New York this October, just do us a favor and don’t sell your clown hats there.

xo

—HAYLEY PHELAN

So here’s something that shouldn’t shock us, but somehow, totally did:

We were having a nice morning chat with a friend of ours that works at a Louis Vuitton boutique and she said:

“Oh god, I have to help re-tag all the items at the store tomorrow. So annoying.”

Why? Is there a sale?

“No, we’re just upping the prices.”

Why?

“We always do. Like twice a year, we up all the prices by 5%.”

Why?

“I have no idea. Because we can?”

And there you have it.

Aren’t these boots adorable? (Picture them with cigarette pants, now coo.)

But here’s something else:

They’re called “Trottinette” ankle boots, as in trottinette, French for a (child’s) scooter.

Does that mean it won’t be weird if we wear these while scooting around Bryant Park?

Or that it won’t be weird if they’re worn by a 12-year old?

Discuss!

“$1,600. Category: TV Women

Answer: Lauren and she stopped speaking after she moved in with Spencer on MTV’s The Hills, Duh.”

- from last night’s Jeopardy. No, really.

Britt: Um, did you just get this forward?

Natalie: What forward?

Britt: A forwarded e-mail. Like, where you pass it on to so many friends in a certain amount of time, or else…

Natalie: So what?

Britt: So, it was sent by Phillip. As in Lim.

Natalie: As in, the company? Or him?

Britt: Him.

Natalie: You’re kidding.

Britt: No. There are a lot of people on here, but the original sender is Phillip. It’s called Lotus Touts. The subject is “Feng Shui.”

Natalie: So what happens if you don’t forward it on?

Britt: You will get “a very unpleasant surprise”…

Is it lunchtime already?

Because we have a little snack for those of you dying to point and laugh at something along with your cubemates.

Here are some clips from what might possibly be a show stranger than ANTM.

Did you hear those breakfast trays quivering? Catch the Miranda vibe?

Now that’s the sound of “reality”!

The only saving detail - the YSL star necklace!

Today’s WWD has a full-on story about Whitney Port’s clothing line, Eve & A.

But we weren’t interested in her clothes as much as we were interested in her title at People’s Revolution.

The story states that she is officially an intern for Kelly Cutrone.

Intern?

We’re pretty sure she’s supposed to be an actual employee on the show, some sort of assistant, something, especially since she had a supposedly paid position at Teen Vogue before she moved over to PR.

Is even Whitney’s position made up for the show? We can’t imagine one of the busiest PR companies putting up with cameras and crew just to have an extra person cataloguing clothes as “work.” We understood with Teen Vogue - it was a fake set in their LA offices, after all.

But a fake job in a real place? Really?

To: Natalie@fashionista.com

From: Spice@UpYourLife.com

Hey, hey!

Here is a very interesting picture of MJ at David and Victoria Beckham’s mansion in LA a few days ago.

They had a dinner party chez casa Beckham.

Lots of campness and bitchy gossiping from Marc and Posh; imagine!

Ummmm…. we have no idea where this photo came from or what, exactly, is going on, but 1) It’s awfully interesting that Marc was in L.A. on the same schedule as Hedi Slimane and Kate Moss, right? 2) Wow. That’s a lot of Posh for one morning.

Coffee, anyone?