loose threads

Tracy Feith Owes a Lot of Money; Chanel Tones Down Its Pre-Fall Metiers D’Arts Show

• Designer Tracy Feith owes over $200,000 to landlords in New York City and Montauk, despite his popularity with high-profile clients like Michelle Obama, who wore one of his dresses to walk Bo last year and to go farming a month ago. [Fashionista]

Chanel usually travels to some extravagant location every year to show its pre-fall metiers d’arts collection (last year, Shanghai; previously, Moscow, New York, and Monte Carlo), but this year they’ll show it at the house’s Rue Cambon couture salons. [Fashionologie]

Hermès’s stock jumped over 15 percent yesterday after LMVH bought a 14.2 percent stake in the company. [WWD]

• Olivier Theysken’s new role as Theory’s artistic director will entail supervising a team of 25 people to produce clothes that are about 30 percent cheaper than his signature line (Theory’s price points average $240 for a pair of pants and $175 for a shirt). [NYT]

• Japan Fashion Week didn’t attract as many international buyers this year, possibly because there were fewer shows. Also, political tension between Japan and China may have kept some Chinese buyers from attending. [WWD]

Karolina Kurkova wears a cleavage-squishing dress on the cover of Japanese Numéro’s December issue. [Design Scene]

• Anna Wintour is still embarrassed about the time she spent working at Bob Guccione’s Viva. A friend said, “The whole place was pornographic, and here was this very proper, very pretty young Brit with aspirations of running Vogue virtually surrounded by glossy photos of big boobs.” [Jezebel]

• Jenny McCarthy’s bodyguard accidentally beat up Stefano Gabbana at the 1998 MTV’s Video Music Awards in Europe. [HuffPo]

Hugo Boss just entered into a sponsorship deal with the New York Knicks, which means basketball fans can expect to see lots of the brand’s ads at Madison Square Garden. [WWD]

Issey Miyake will be awarded Japan’s Order of Culture by Emperor Akihito tomorrow. Miyake says, “I see this decoration as a form of encouragement to all the people with whom I work. This includes not only our young designers but also those in the textile industry: spinners, weavers, knitters and dyers all of whom are still managing to create things of beauty and quality despite very difficult economic and manufacturing conditions in [Japan].” [Vogue UK]

Naomi Campbell thinks that Australian Vogue editor Marion Hume was fired for putting her on the cover in 1997. [Frockwriter]

Tracy Feith Owes a Lot of Money; Chanel Tones Down Its Pre-Fall Metiers D’Arts Show