Which baby New York City “It” Girl asked her parents for a publicist for her birthday? Yep, that’s right, a publicist.

Which darling, well-heeled blogger posted this on her Facebook page, “there’s Lacroix and then there’s Luella…tragic about Lacroix :( makes me happy for my Lacroix stash I have in the garage…but Luella imo is the fucking worst?”

We’ve been far too selfish in grieving Luella.

We completely forgot having announced, just the day before, that Liberty had invited her to decorate their holiday windows and curate an in-store pop-up shop.

She was supposed to have a Christmas grotto complete with cider and Santa and full priced merchandise which would be a fantastic step for Liberty’s let’s-recruit-the-young-hip-fashion-kids movement, except for the fact that now anyone can head over to Mayfair and buy everything half price from the Luella boutique.

We love Luella (surprised?). But is it possible she didn’t know she was folding just twenty-four hours before she did? Because if she did know, and she let Liberty revolve their holiday plans around her, well, yikes.

Please forgive me while I rant for a moment.

When we heard Ashlee Simpson-Wentz was possibly being shot for Vogue, I had a minor fit in the office. Of everyone in young Hollywood that the magazine has yet to feature, I couldn’t believe this was the choice.

The younger Simpson sister perhaps irks me to a disproportionate degree, but that’s just how it is. (I did dress as her on Halloween for a “Come As Your Most Loathed Celebrity Party.”) Now that she’s been axed from Melrose Place, rumors are surfacing that she wants to do a clothing line.

It’s just too much. Is Joe Simpson not paying attention to what’s happening to Lindsay Lohan in the fashion press this week—because you know he’s still pulling the strings on those girls’ careers? And of the two sisters, Ashlee certainly hasn’t been the “fashion” one, if you can even categorize them that way.

Is she going to start knocking off Chucks and Vans? Is there another rocker tee and hoodie line in our futures? Ugh. Okay, off to do some yoga breathing.

Lately we hear about pop-up shops every single day. This morning’s WWD talked of the just opened “J. Crew Special Selections” shop inside Ron Herman (which is inside Fred Segal.) While it’s nice that Ron himself picked out some pieces and is putting them next to the Margiela, Lanvin, etc. in his boutique, we really don’t see the point.

It’s not that we don’t appreciate mixing high and low. Of course we do. We just don’t understand doing a pop-up shop with merchandise that is readily available elsewhere like, you know, a J. Crew store. Others that come to mind are Citizens of Humanity (also at Ron Herman) and Alice + Olivia at Scoop. Really, are the people of Los Angeles having a hard time locating J. Crew merch or COH jeans? We highly doubt it.

We all (you guys included, of course) have a million opinions about clothing, be it on the runway, the red carpet, or the streets of our cities.

But as much as critiques may be heard by designers, at the end of the day they’re not necessarily part of the decision-making process in terms of what gets produced.

A new company called Beta Fashion that just launched in the UK is taking a different approach. Designers can submit their work and it is then judged not only by the company’s pros but also the reader community on the site. Chosen pieces are then produced and sold.

photo courtesy WWDThis morning we have more details on the Olsen’s latest venture, a juniors line for JCPenney called Olsenboye. According to WWD, the collection will be available at 600 stores in February, but will make a limited debut online and in 50 key locations on November 6th.

Twitter, Facebook, and other social media tools will play a huge part in marketing the line to teens. And today there’s supposed to be an Olsenboye truck out around New York selling merch and handing out cupcakes and balloons. (Let us know if you spot it!)

The line will be sized from 0 to 15 and priced from $20-$50. Ashley says, “Olsenboye is an extension of the Dualstar brand and we feel this collaboration complements and strengthens our business portfolio, delivering trend-based fashion at affordable prices.”

We just wonder what Cintra Wilson will think.

UPDATE: We just heard the “treat truck” will be in Union Square today, Herald Square tomorrow, and Washington Square Park on Thursday.

First, thanks to all of you who responded to our salary survey request. We were so excited to hear from so many of you. And we hope to hear from even more going forward so we can keep bringing you different bits of info that you can use.

Here are just a few of the things we’ve learned so far:

—People just out of school in Montreal are faring way better than those in similar positions here in New York. We heard from assistants to designers, buyers, and marketers making anywhere from $36,000-$56,000. A similar position in NYC seems to be going for $30,000 or under.

Much like New York’s Garment District, France’s industry of specialized artisans is in trouble. And even the prime minister is getting involved, according to the Wall Street Journal.

One major topic of discussion is expected to be rules on labeling, as in making sure it is known exactly where a garment is produced and if it has artisanal nature—which sounds very much like a high end version of the old “Made in the USA” campaign. Because outsourcing and the simple decline in orders for luxury goods is leaving many of the “petites mains” who helped build France’s fashion influence out of work. This also leads to problems when trying to train a new generation.

On Monday night at 9 pm (EST), HBO will debut the documentary Schmatta: Rags to Riches to Rags that takes a look at the history of New York’s Garment District. From the clips we just watched, it looks to be incredibly educational and interesting.

As someone who has only worked on the editorial side, the Garment District has just been an axis around which the industry I work in revolved. But I’ve never had much first-hand knowledge or experience with it, the way a designer or a production person would. Needless to say, I will be tuning in and soaking up all the historical footage and interviews with lifelong garmentos and industry folks like Fern Mallis and Isaac Mizrahi.

The Garment District used to be a serious force in the city’s economy, but that’s become less and less the case as the years go by. In the mid-60s 95% of American clothing was made in the US. By 1985, it was 70% and now it’s only about 5%. You can only imagine what that does to the country’s fashion hub.

Lately its problems are garnering a lot more attention. Along with the documentary, a Save the Garment Center rally has been planned. The center is in danger of shutting down due to zoning issues with the city. Steven Kolb, Stan Herman, Nanette Lepore and others will be on hand voicing their concerns and showing support.

Here’s hoping the garment industry fares better than the airlines and the automobiles. More information on the rally and another clip after the jump!

From time to time we sit around with the editors from our sibling sites Above the Law, Dealbreaker, and Going Concern to share ideas about what our readers are into and how different types of stories might translate across our various industries.

One thing, it seems, that their readers can’t get enough of is information about salaries—which really makes sense. It’s helpful knowledge to have when you’re looking for a job or trying to negotiate a raise. Plus it’s just plain interesting. And in our industry, we know these numbers vary so very much. Having the same number of years of experience in a similar position does not always guarantee a certain salary level.

On Tuesday, I’m going to write a post about a store I swung by on the way to work this morning and in it, I’ll probably tell you that after I interviewed the owner he gave me a pair of sunglasses.

I don’t want it to detract from his brilliant shop and almost insane love and knowledge of glasses. I want you to know that I’d love it and write about even if I’d stumbled upon it on my own, but that there are millions of great stores in New York and sometimes it takes a PR pitch to find them. I don’t want to not tell you and create an uproar or end up owing the government $11,000.

The question is, now that the FTC demands I tell you what I’ve been gifted, I’m trying to figure out the most tactful, and least distracting, way of doing so (even though I’ve disclosed freebies in the past, it feels like an entirely new pressure now that the government demands I do so) and that’s where you come in.

These past few weeks we’ve seen a resurgence of all things juvenile. From pigtails at Prada to side braids at Wang, girlish hairstyles are a go for spring, but it doesn’t stop at the head.

Tao, Moschino, YSL and Ungaro embraced the youthful phenomenon in their Spring collections. Each designer topped their ready-to-wear with prints that would make any little girl giddy. Tao and YSL chose strawberries while Moschino opted for cherries (as did Anna Dello Russo on her feet all week). The playful prints are charming and romantic, stopping just short of saccharine, but the reviews weren’t, to put it mildly, nearly as positive at Ungaro.

Yesterday, the Federal Trade Commission ruled that bloggers must disclose any sort of payment for any sort of product reviewed or discussed on their blog.

It’s something I’ve tried to do, though we’ve never had an official policy on Fashionista. We get a fair amount of free stuff over here, in fact we probably get a handful of packages each week, but we only really post product reviews once obsessed, like with my new James Twiggy jeans, or confused, like that Lancôme vibrating mascara primer. More often than not, products come after we write about something we’ve discovered and fallen for on our own, as a thank you.

The New York Times wrote, “the move suggests that the government is intent on bringing to bear on the Internet the same sorts of regulations that have governed other forms of media, like television or print,” as if it’s a compliment; blogs are suddenly legitimate.

Which is great. Except that print publications, at least the ones we pay attention to, aren’t held to the same standards.

On Tuesday night the second season of The City premiered on MTV. I’ve been stewing over the new episode since it aired, and I’m not sure why I still watch a show that never fails to frustrate me.

I’m a recent college grad and current industry intern, who has spent hours sending in dozens of internship applications only to get one response. I know what it’s like to spend an entire day in the fashion closet of a major publication, and how grueling it is to write up entire racks of clothes and then wheel them around town. Conveniently, none of the unpleasant aspects of fashion internships are ever depicted on the show.

By now it’s no secret that much of the action on The City is staged, but its classification as a “reality show” blurs the line between the real and the fake. Younger girls who are in the target demographic might not realize that breaking into the fashion industry isn’t so simple, and doesn’t provide instant perks. To be perfectly honest, growing up in Virginia and going to school at Tulane, I didn’t know the full scope of what a lot of jobs in the industry required until I had one. And I’m pretty sure I’m not alone in that fact.

Back in June, when I last wrote about consumer confidence levels, I said I was starting to feel a positive retail shift. Yeah, this is probably why it’s a good thing that I don’t do economic forecasting for a living. My hunches are about as reliable as my sense of direction.

And in this case, that’s a real bummer. While Fashion’s Night Out was clearly a success in boosting morale, and in many cases sales for the night, the reality of fashion’s retail situation is still murky at best. The newest numbers released about how consumers are feeling are not so positive, and the people that are paid to analyze such things don’t think there will be much of a significant upswing anytime soon, regardless of the fact that most economists are claiming the recession generally over.

A senior credit officer tells WWD, “There’s been this fundamental shift of people going back to saving and repaying debt. Some of what drove retail growth four or five years ago was really just a bubble of readily available consumer credit.” And that makes a whole lot of sense to me. And while not helpful to struggling fashion businesses, probably a better way to live and not slide back into even worse debt.

Someone’s started a rumor that Sarah Jessica Parker’ll be the new face of Halston. Let’s count all the reasons we bet on never.

1. Halston is a disaster. Though we’re sure Marios Schwab will end its curse and do something brilliant, a brand can’t have a face for a collection that doesn’t exist (yet).

2. Last time Harvey chose a face, Rachel Zoe, to be associated with a brand, it failed. It really, really failed.

3. As if fashion wasn’t sick enough of celebrity, whatever comes down Lindsay Lohan’s runway for Ungaro this week will probably put off even the most celeb-friendly of the fashion world for a moment.

4. It’d be silly to pay Sarah Jessica Parker to be the face of a brand when Carrie Bradshaw’s been photographed wearing it all over Manhattan, for free, and will be seen on every screen in the same dresses come May.

What’d we miss?

So our friends over at our sibling site, Above The Law, came to us this afternoon with a little situation. You see they’d posted a story yesterday about how corporate lawyer types were being allowed, and even told, by their big law bosses to dress “down” during the G20 Summit in Pittsburgh so as not to draw unwanted attention from the protesters that follow this meeting wherever in the world it is held.

But, what to wear some readers asked? So we decided to step in with a few suggestion (even jeans are allowed!)

My first thought for the ladies was to definitely keep it simple: a dark fitted jean (I’m currently obsessed with my “Curvy” style from the 1969 collection at the Gap), maybe a cool not suit-y black blazer, with a striped tee underneath and a simple black boot. Subtle, professional, but not too corporate lackey.

Or throw in a little retro vibe plus color, like this look from fall Chris Benz. Maybe I’m wrong, but brights don’t scream Big Law to me. The other option I came up with was to go luxe boho, like you’re part of the professional counterculture, if you will. Maybe something along the lines of this Anna Sui print with some black tights and a slouchy bag.