Jezebel reported that Wu said that a Times profile that mentioned his boyfriend essentially outed him to some of his extended family. Maybe. But it seems that him being gay wasn't much of a secret outside of that. Ex-Village Voice nightlife personage Tricia Romano dug up this pic of Wu in 2006 with noted tranny Amanda Lepore at an AIDS benefit. And only gays hang out with Amanda Lepore at AIDS benefits! Actually not, so this post is basically just a good reason to show you her photo of Amanda Lepore and Jason Wu, Michelle Obama's designer. He's on the rise!

[Pop and Politics. Wu was reportedly making some sort of replica dolls of Lepore at this benefit, which is strange regardless of sexual orientation.]

We've no idea how or for how long Needleman (middle, above) has known celebrity decorator Michael Smith (far left), but she's been slobbering in her magazine since last April, when he expressed his desire to get his paws on the Lincoln Bedroom. Smith and Needleman have been conspiring together for years, according to this SECRET MEMO.

Well, now Michelle Obama has selected Smith as her official White House decorator, and Needleman continued crowing:

But Smith's work does have a look that's distinctive. His unique talent is marrying Old World pedigree with a clean Californian sensibility. Think about what a grand English country house might look like if it were owned by a beach-loving movie executive who grew up worshipping the studios, and you get the idea. His interiors combine a crisp, polished sense of glamour with a laid-back ease, comfort and lightness—you can practically feel the breeze when you look at pictures of his work. Smith brings his clients the class and history of Europe but in a well-ordered, uncluttered American package, and this has proven to be a golden formula. His clients are mostly politically active members of Hollywood royalty, with a fair smattering of media moguls and socialites. The rooms he designs for them are luxurious but livable, layered but not stuffed, patinated but not dusty, individual but not eccentric.

Needleman is, of course, married to Slate editor and political journo Jacob Weisberg, which almost explains her recording an odd story of getting drunk at a party and Smith calling her "Martha Mitchell."

And so today Needleman took her White House makeover fantasy to the pages of the New York Times op-ed section, in an odd column attacking, of all things, the Committee for the Preservation of the White House as some sort of attack of bad taste launched by Jackie Kennedy (and Pat Nixon?) from beyond the grave.

Now, of course, she paints Michelle Obama as a new Jackie O, who'll add crazy Mark Rothkos and 20th-century furniture to the Green Room. Of course the last First Lady to really have her way with the place was not Jackie O, but Nancy Reagan, with her famous $200k state china and complete renovations of the second and third floors of the White House and her Oscar de la Renta dresses. That is a comparison that is probably not so complimentary to Michelle Obama and Deborah Needleman's BFF Michael Smith, though, because everyone in America hated Nancy Reagan, except Peggy Noonan.

Anyway, sure, let Deborah's fave designer add some new curtains to the room where one of Abe Lincoln's kids died.

"I am not saying 'Kill Obama' I am only saying, 'Who Killed Obama?' And yes, you may say that I am predicting the near future."

Idiot.

"I am still not sure if this is the best pop art creation I have ever made, or if it is the worst pop art creation I have ever made. But one thing is certain, it is definitely one pop creation that asks a lot of questions and evokes a lot of emotions in people... If I wouldn't do it, as an artist, who will?"

Probably some other idiot.

Despite the fact that his clothing line is perhaps not for me—and perhaps something that would cause me to make jokes were I to spy it on the street, offending as it is to my traditional small-mindedness—there's no denying that Andre is a guy with an actual claim to being an artist, whereas just about every other celebrity designer just has a claim to being a narcissist. So good for him!

Later, to create a persona for his fashion line, Mr. Benjamin combined his surname with that of Bill Bixby. The character is a world traveler whose wardrobe includes things like a $995 cotton corduroy blazer, a $350 felted waistcoat and a $95 newsboy cap. At Barneys, those clothes now hang next to lines like Double RL and Engineered Garments, which have a similar bent of Depression Chic.

God it just sounds so ridiculous.

You think it looks good on the models, ladies? Wait till your boyfriend puts it on. It will be awful.

So, boo hoo, he made some crazy clothes. It's hardly Southernplayalistic. But it's an improvement over Sean John. This clothing line is just like Andre's music: he was great at standard, normal hip hop. Then he got bored with it and started making crazy shit. I liked the early stuff better, but the new stuff is still miles above whatever Puffy might turn out. Creativity is painful. The only thing worse is no creativity.

We still don't encourage anyone to actually wear this. [NYT]

The press release for the upcoming L.E.S. Fashion Flipside show is below. As you can see, Metro is listed as one of only two sponsors for the show. And [bad designer], last seen trying to sell a copy of his poetry book "America, My Whore" to a reporter from Jewish Week, is listed as the first name under "boutiques." Urgh:

L.E.S. FASHION FLIPSIDE

ECO-FRIENDLY RUNWAY SHOW
AUGUST 17th @ ORCHARD ST (BTWN RIVINGTON & STANTON) FROM 2pm - Late

L.E.S. Fashion Flipside turns Orchard Street into the Lower East Side's nabe-centric answer to uptown's Fashion Week, all with sustainable, eco-friendly and vintage clothing for men and women. Come down to Rivington & Orchard on August 17th to see the Lower East Side's hottest boutiques put their best pump forward!

Historical
David Zarin is doing 'The Real Housewives of NYC' theme with Team Jill apparel
Orchard Corsets
Harris Levy

Eco-Friendly
Moo Shoes
Loli By Reincarnation
Hairy Mary's
David Owens Vintage
Kaight

Boutiques
Apollo Braun
DeMask
Dressing Room
House De Lux
Valley

Menswear
20 Peacocks
Ted's Formal Wear

Complimentary Beauty Lounge will also be present for all of your therapeutic needs.
Including eyebrow threading and massage with beverages provided by Fizzy Lizzy.

Hair by Celebrity Stylist Dana Gibbs of Dana's Loft & Tropical Salon
Jewelry by Wendy Mink and Doyle and Doyle

Press & VIP RSVP - [Redacted]

Sponsored by Metro NY and the The Lower East Side Business Improvement District (LES BID). The Lower East Side Business Improvement District was established in 1992 as a nonprofit economic development organization dedicated to revitalizing the Orchard Street Shopping District while preserving its unique and diverse character.

[via Fashion Indie]

When The Jewish Week paid him a visit at his cramped shop on Tuesday afternoon, the long-haired, fast-talking [b.d.] claimed to have summoned the police to his store twice the day the story hit the streets, to deal with berating visitors. His mother has urged him to return home to Israel, after some have called for his head, literally.

Not surprising, what with his edgy, cutting-edge, edge-moving political fashion:

[B.d.], who left the Holy Land for New York in the summer of 2001, is no stranger to controversy. One of his fashion shows featured a gay wedding between two models, one with a mask of President George W. Bush, the other wearing an Osama bin Laden mask. He doesn’t seem to be a fan of any politicians, stating he is no fan of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and that Sen. John McCain “is not the answer” for America. His line of anti-Obama shirts has been on sale since March, sporting slogans like “Jews Against Obama,” “Obama = Hitler,” and “Who Killed Obama?” the latter of which the designer claims has sold 1,200. They sell for anywhere from $69 to $250.

Some people can handle it. Some people can't.

Web sites like Gawker believe it’s all a stunt to get people into his store, and the designer isn’t helping matters. As this Jewish Week reporter was leaving, he attempted to sell her a copy of his self-published book of poetry, “America, My Whore.”

[Jewish Week. The story also gives credence to what we heard about the firing of the Metro editor who oversaw the front-page story.]

Here's the release we got on Wednesday:

[Alleged victim], a 25 year-old graduate student who lives in Manhattan was attacked yesterday (Tuesday, July 15th, 2008) at 8.30 P.M. outside of the 14th St.-Union Square subway station. ["Victim"], who was at the time listening to music with her iPod, was wearing a pink t-shirt bearing the slogan "Obama Is My Slave". Four African-American female teenagers approached her and one of them started to curse her because of her t-shirt, screaming at her, and then push her. ["Victim"], who was shocked, started to walk away from the group but was followed by the girls. The same one who cursed her, pulled her earphones and another girl spat on her face. ["Victim"] ran away from them and called the "[Bad designer]" store on [LES] where she had purchased her t-shirt and complained about the attack to the employee who was working in the shop at that time. The employee agreed to give ["victim"] the owner's, [bad designer's], cell phone number and the still shocked ["victim"] told him about the attack and informed him she was thinking of suing him "for all he's got". [Bad designer] in return told her that he was very sorry she had been attacked, but that she could not blame him because as he told her "No one made you buy the t-shirt". ["Victim"] said that she would come the following day and demand a refund for the t-shirt, which cost her $69. [Bad designer] told her that he doesn't give refunds because it is against his store policy. This made her even more agitated and she started to scream at him saying that he should be "ashamed of himself". [Bad designer] asked her for her phone number saying that he would speak to his lawyer and call her back. Yesterday at 10 PM when I, his publicist, called ["victim"] she was extremely upset and told me that she had spoken to her parents and decided to take [bad designer] to court.

* To speak with [alleged victim] about the incident, you can reach her at phone number: [redacted]
* To speak with [Bad designer] aka [prick], you can reach him at phone number: [redacted].
* A picture of [Bad designer] aka [prick] wearing the "Obama Is My Slave" t-shirt can be found at: [Hell]

Sincerely,

Lauren Levy
[Bad designer's] Publicist.

What's wrong with this picture? The guy is supposedly getting sued, and his own flack blasts out a press release with all the alleged dirty details, including the contact info of the girl who is supposedly suing him. Any reporter who's ever seen a press release related to a lawsuit knows that there's no way on earth one side will be happily passing out the other side's contact info and encouraging journalists to call them. And Metro says the "victim" didn't return any of their calls. Which didn't stop them from putting this on the front page.

There are only two possibilities: Either this whole thing is a hoax; or, the girl did get assaulted, and the bad designer and his creepy flack decided that this race-baiting was just the thing to get his face in the paper. Either way, what a bunch of scuzzballs.

Metro: you fools.

[Radar]

The International Herald Tribune described Zanini's first outing as "a polite homage to the Halston heritage without much fire," lacking the "sexual charge" so inherent to the label's DNA and the original designer's own lifestyle. Sources at the time said Zanini was devastated by the reviews.

Anyone who works for Weinstein Co., remember to keep things sexually charged at all times. Harvey knows just what that term means; he's married to Georgina Chapman, a sexually charged designer herself. But don't cry for the mogul, because a new analysis of Project Runway, the company's most successful property (maybe it has better sexual charging?) indicates it could be worth more than $240 million if Weinstein decided to sell it. That's enough for plenty of dresses. Sexual dresses.

[WWD, Portfolio]

A small group of people - stylists, photographers, hairdressers, make-up artists, designers - are, I've come to the conclusion, having a great deal of fun, and making a great deal of money at our expense.

These people do a very skilled and persuasive job: they bully us into buying more stuff.

No!

They are peddling the myth that if we only scrape together enough money to buy the things in the adverts and the fashion shoots they construct for us, we will be cool, just like them. We will be accepted, and beautiful, and happy, and liked.

Illusion-shattering!

It isn't wrong to love clothes, whether they are from designer stores or from the High Street. My advice is to buy something because you love it, not because you think it will give you a better life.

And not because you think it will gain you acceptance by the cool kids.

This is why everyone should wear Hanes t-shirts, exclusively. Good sentiment, but perhaps Jones should find another beat.

But yes: ridiculous ads.

[via Daily Mail UK]

[Made in Brazil via Queerty]

Marc Jacobs had a bad childhood, his dad died, and his mother had a poor sense of style.

"I hate the term 'bad taste,' but my mother wasn't, like, a very chic person," he says. "Jane Fonda in Klute was definitely one of her role models, much to my father's dismay. But when I'd watch my mother getting dressed up to go out on dates and she'd be putting on three rows of false eyelashes and some hideous fox-trimmed brocade coat with a wet-look miniskirt and knee-high boots, I thought she was fabulous."

He doesn't talk to her any more. If he did, they would probably have to talk about working out, because that is what Marc Jacobs talks about. His trainer Easy is now his main man.

By the time they met, Jacobs was already dieting. "I never saw the bigger Marc," Easy says, behind aviator shades etched with mj, a Louis Vuitton gym bag at his feet.

"The fat guy that I kicked?" says Jacobs.

"The fat guy that we'd beat up if we saw him on the street," Easy laughs.

"The soft, blubbery Marc Jacobs," says Marc Jacobs.

Ha, screw your old self! But Easy is more than just a friend; he's a dawg.

Easy hesitates, then offers his wrist, which boasts a gold Rolex—a birthday present from Jacobs. On the back, it's inscribed love you dawg, mj. "I'm really proud of it," Easy says quietly.

As well you should be. At the end, Marc Jacobs sums up the philosophy that has enabled him to become a millionaire and worldwide celebrity:

"It's like saying, 'I want to look hot.' That is such a dumb thing to say," Jacobs notes. "But what's so cool about it is that you can say it. Yeah, I want a bunch of muscle queens at David Barton Gym to think that my body looks dope."

[pic via Arena Homme]

*permission to collect picture books, sense of superiority, androgyny