Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour is in Paris this week to attend the annual couture shows, naturally. But it seems she's also been doing a little lobbying on the side.

• How did a fish-and-chips waitress named Laura Hollins transform herself into supermodel Agyness Deyn? Cintra Wilson reports. [NYT]
• Crisis averted! The $5,950 alligator clutch that some people thought Michelle Obama was carrying in Russia earlier this week was a much more modest $875 leather one. [NYDN]
• Say…

• In the market for a $40,000 dress? Better jump on a plane to Paris. Haute Couture Week kicked off today. [AP, Vogue UK, Independent, FWD]
• The situation at Christian Lacroix, which filed for bankruptcy a few weeks back, is getting bleaker by the day: The company may be reduced from 124 employees to 12 if a buyer…

• Olivier Theyskens is, in fact, parting ways with Nina Ricci. [Grazia, FWD]
• The couture shows in Paris began today and they're as over-the-top as ever. [NYM]
• Brioni just launched a line of suits that cost as much as $43,000 apiece. "The timing was not fortunate for us," says Brioni's CEO. Go figure. [WSJ]
• Tom…