DSQUARED2 is bouncing everywhere lately – Paris and Milan for fashion weeks, and lately, Hong Kong, to open a new 2,727 square foot, two-level store at Central On-Lan Street. The store has ready-to-wear clothes and accessories, and also fitting rooms with leather-trimmed doors surrounded by tree trunks and birch trees. It can’t be a DSQUARED2 store without a touch of wood, great clothes, amazing accessories and fabulously eclectic decorations.

Or it would seem. His nightclub here in Las Vegas is said to be thriving, and we all love the Ed Hardy brand, so why shouldn't his selling of his vast empire in an economic downtown turn bring the $700 million asking price? That's right folks, Mr. Audigier is said to be looking to sell the entire lot, that is – ten brands, including Ed Hardy, and 92 licenses. Even with the economy at what it is currently, you can bet there are interested parties – 15 to be exact, according to WWD, who ran a story on the prospective sale in its October 16 edition. Even if he sells his stakes, hopefully he will continue to design or oversee the designs, (gasp) what would Ed Hardy look like without him?

His show was also the highlight of Wednesday's LA Fashion Week's shows. Looks like it's a good time to be Christian Audigier.

Tom Ford has never been shy about his good looks, his unbridled ambition or his yearning to be part of the Hollywood movie scene. Well, it would seem his Hollywood dreams are coming true in a big, big way. His production company, Fade to Black, formed three years ago at the close of his design duties for Gucci Group, has Tom sitting in the director’s chair for his first feature film, “A Single Man,” an adaptation of Christopher Isherwood’s novel published in 1964. The book tells the story of George, a middle-aged gay man who recently and suddenly lost his longtime lover. The film has quite a star-studded cast with Colin Firth (playing the character George, an English professor), Julianne Moore (plays the friend of the professor) and Matthew Goode (plays, in flashbacks, the deceased lover) signed on to the project, which will be stylized just so with the addition of stylist to the stars, Arianne Phillips, who will be outfitting the cast for the production. Another possible coup is that Mr. Ford is in talks with the set designers from one of Couture's favorite shows, Mad Men. Can you imagine the character Don Draper making an appearance in the movie?

Not sure how well Ford’s designer eye, or collector’s eye will translate to films, but with a solid cast, a notable book and hopefully a well developed script, it will all come together well. If not, Ford can continue branding his Tom Ford brand and opening more Tom Ford stores, no?

We here at Couture have often scoffed at celebrities designing clothing lines. Truly, shouldn’t clothes be designed by people who have it in their blood from the embyro stage, or at the very least dressing paper dolls since preschool? Harsh I know, but we also have given kudos to a few who do it well, namely Jovovich-Hawk. Milla Jovovich and her design partner/model Carmen Hawk were spot-on with their fabrications, drape and that ‘I’m fabulously dressed but couldn’t be bothered making an effort’ elan. How sad are we here at Couture to report that Milla dropped the bomb in the September issue of Lucky magazine that her divine fashion line will be no more. “When one door closes... she mused.” Come on, how does one close a successful line sold in all of the best stores? Is this because of her little cherub? Is this because of the man that she had the cherub with? Well whatever the reason, I’m disappointed, no mad. Where will the Couture team get our silky boudoir ‘20s inspired dresses, our tiered daisy design spaghetti strap summer dresses, our silk faille tap pant shorts and belle short sleeve jackets (okay this one is a stretch)? Darn it woman, have you no feelings? Well, one can only hope and pray that the next door/window that does open will be a fashionable one. Well that and begin scouring the online and
offline universe for any Jovovich-Hawk creation you can find.

Giddy am I that Alexander Wang, the East Village wunderkind of edgy downtown fashions, is premiering his first shoe line along side a diffusion line this fall. These lust-worthy, towering, textured platforms and sky-high heels will premier alongside his Spring 2009 fashion collection during New York Fashion Week. The collection of shoes will start small with a launch of just five styles that have a sigh-inducing (in a good way) price point of $125 to $250. The styles will include an open toe, thong sky-high heel platform, a perforated leather bootie and a stiletto high-heel with fringe around the ankle. Of course, this good news comes on the high heels (pardon the pun) of his popular capsule collection for Uniqlo, the Japanese version of TopShop, which featured his grunge aesthetic of lived-in T-shirts with their stretched necklines and lowered armholes, tank tops and T-shirt dresses. I’m not sure yet what his Spring 2009 collection will bring, but if it picks up where his fall collection off, I am already smitten.

Love affairs these days seem so short, don’t they? You are hot one moment — primping, posing and sashaying in magazine layouts for a brand — and then you're out. It would seem that the advertising tryst between Miu Miu and Kirsten Dunst is over, finished. Vanessa Paradis, famous French actress, established French musician and mother of Johnny Depp’s children is the brand’s new ‘It’ face, according to Women’s Wear Daily’s May 14 edition.

No word yet on who got to keep the clothes from the Dunst brand divorce. Just kidding. But perhaps the Devil really does wear Prada (Miu Miu’s owner, in case you did not know.)