loose threads

Maria Pinto Opens First Store; Rachel Zoe Might Design Handbags

Agyness DeynPhoto: Getty Images

• Maria Pinto, one of Michelle Obama’s favorite designers, just opened her first store in Chicago in the West Loop neighborhood. [WWD]

• Rachel Zoe might design a “vintage-inspired,” affordable handbag line as soon as 2009. [Fashionologie]

Agyness Deyn is switching to Women Management this December (though DNA will still represent her), which confirms that, indeed, she will be walking this Fashion Week. [Fashionista]

• Banana Republic advertised on their Website that a dress they were selling is no longer $175 but $225. If you’re going to hike up the price, why are you telling us about it? [Racked]

• Heather Thomson, designer behind fashion label Yummie Yummie, is casting exotic dancers in her show this Fashion Week for a “pole-dancing extravaganza.” She reportedly wants Kate Moss for it, owing to Moss’s rumored “expertise” on the pole. Um, where’s our invite, Heather? [NYP]

• Cathy Horyn on the diminishing sense of the individual: “I just have the feeling — and it’s no more than that — that we aren’t drawn as much now to the energy of the individual personality, the Tom Ford or the Karl Lagerfeld or the Miuccia Prada, even though we admire their individual gifts.” [On the Runway/NYT]

• Proctor & Gamble Co. teamed up with Ann Taylor Loft to help promote the new Tide and Downy Total Care lines. The campaign tells women that two-thirds of the items from the Loft collection are washable, and believes that washing and preserving clothes — rather than dry-cleaning or disposing of them — is a relevant message in this recession. Weird. [WWD]

Nanette Lepore opens her gorgeous, Victorian West Village home to reveal lots of eccentricity and a mishmash of modern and vintage pieces. [CasaSugar]

Heidi Klum designed a special T-shirt for the U.S. Open tournament. Naturally, it’s covered in butterflies. [Daily Racquet]

Maria Pinto Opens First Store; Rachel Zoe Might Design Handbags