Photo: Patrick McMullan

Richard Chai is reportedly interviewing to take the top design position at Bill Blass, Fashion Week Daily reports. A spokesperson for Chai wouldn't comment, and neither would a representative of Peacock Holdings LLC, which bought Bill Blass from NexCen at the end of last year. However, Peacock said a new creative director would be announced in about a month. Whether or not Chai is appointed, Bill Blass should return to the runways in September. After the months-long drama with Peter Som leaving and NexCen laying off the Blass staff, we can scarcely believe that the label is back on its feet so quickly.

Photo: Getty Images

News flash: Michelle and Barack Obama have landed in London and, contrary to what we had guessed, Michelle changed outfits on the plane. She boarded the plane wearing an ivory custom-made tulle-tweed Thakoon coat. She deplaned wearing Jason Wu's chartreuse silk-crepe short-sleeve sheath dress with a shawl collar. The dress could be a modified version of a look from Wu's fall collection. Or it could be entirely custom. Either way, Wu used the same fabric for a couple of fall pieces. She's cinched the black coat with her signature Alaïa belt. When we know who the coat is by, we'll let you know.

Michelle Obama Travels in Style [WWD]
Landing In London [Mrs. O]

Photo: Getty Images

The New York Topshop is basically all constructed and set up. The scaffolding is gone, the merchandise is hung, press are filtering in and out for previews (look for our video tour of the store shortly!). All Sir Philip and his minions need to do is throw the requisite 40 or so celebrity-stocked parties to honor the occasion, throw up a big fat ribbon and thrust awkwardly large scissors into someone's hands to cut it, and then let all the 14-year-olds lined up outside trample and beat each other on the way in (we will be among them, but the shoes we buy will be so worth it). So who's the lucky person who gets to awkwardly wield the giant scissors? Kate Moss! Yes, it's confirmed. According to WWD, she'll be awake on Thursday morning to cut the ribbon. We hope she gets a good night's sleep the night before so she can get there on time. Because the wrath of that mob is the last thing we'd ever want to descend upon us.

Topshop Lands in New York [WWD]

Miss Virginia.Photo: Getty Images

HAIR
• Miss Virginia beauty queen Tara Wheeler promises to shave her head if she raises the $500,000 she wants to donate to the St. Baldrick's Foundation, a nonprofit for children's cancer research. With twelve days left, she's only raised 3 percent. Something tells us she might not be trying that hard. [BellaSugar]

MAKEUP
• Queen Latifah's makeup artist is suing her. Roxanna Floyd alleges that she never got paid for the work she did on Latifah's Cover Girl campaign or Curvations fashion line. [NYDN]

FRAGRANCE
• Gap creative director Patrick Robinson is excited about his first fragrance, called Close. Of the fresh, salty citrus scent, he says "The salty part — that's human nature, that's how you get people close to you. The citrus part makes them stay." We're going to go spread salt and orange juice all over us now. [FWD]

• You know how Twilight has a fragrance? So does Star Trek. [Kiss and Makeup]

SKIN
• If you're laid off and can't afford Botox on your forehead anymore, get bangs. And this marks the five hundred millionth blog post with that meme. [Beauty Counter/Style.com]

Michelle in Thakoon.Photo: Getty Images

MObama's going to London today with Barack on their first trip overseas since taking office. But never mind what he's doing at the G20 conference, because MObama's going to wear clothes. She's bringing with her a week's worth of day and evening outfits. For the most part her schedule will be planned by Prime Minister Gordon Brown's wife, Sarah, and she'll probably wear things by her favorite American labels, like J.Crew and Narciso Rodriguez. The Telegraph reports that it's unknown whether MObama will bring her hairstylist Johnny Wright with her. But when Carla Bruni-Sarkozy took her first official trip to London as the First Lady of France, she appeared to have done her own hair and makeup the whole time, so maybe MObama can wing it, too.

Twins Kathryn and Elizabeth Fortunato. (Kathryn is on the left.)Photo: Melissa Hom

Lizzie Fortunato Jewels' mantra is that high-end jewelry should not be limited to precious materials. Designer Elizabeth Fortunato uses ecofriendly found and reclaimed objects from around the world, while her twin sister, Kathryn, handles the business end of the company. The young women have grown from winning over their peers during their days at Duke to becoming favorites of Condé Nast editors, and they recently designed jewelry for VPL's runway show. With their notably statement pieces taking New York by storm, we sat down with the dynamic duo to talk about old-school Betsey Johnson, Obama, and the open road.

Hoyer (IMG) at MaxMara.Photo: Imaxtree

Last season, newcomer Charlotte Hoyer scored a spot on New York's most exclusive runway: Calvin Klein. Not long thereafter, she booked Marni and Chloé, and it soon became obvious that a new runway star was born. Before hitting a single catwalk, the Danish beauty booked her first cover, for Cover magazine's August issue. And she's off to a roaring start this year. The 19-year-old walked the spring Armani Privé couture show and snagged a spread in 10 magazine's spring issue alongside Karmen Pedaru. And we hear that’s just the beginning.

Model Profile: Charlotte Hoyer

Browse over 485 of fashion's elite in our extensive Model Manual.

Photo: Getty Images

Designer Pierre Cardin is looking to sell his company. Known for his avant-garde designs, Cardin doesn't put on fashion shows anymore, but his substantial empire includes restaurants, hotels, food products with his name, and numerous other licensing deals. The 86-year-old designer tells the new issue of Fantastic Man, "The asking price is 1 billion euros [about $1.3 billion], and if prospective buyers can't pony up the funds, then that's their problem, not mine. It's not like I'm strapped for cash." Cardin says he hammered out a deal last year, but it fell apart along with the economy. Also, Roberto Cavalli had wanted 1.4 billion euros for his company last July and never got it. So yeah. He and Pierre should do lunch.

PIERRE'S PRICE [NYP]

Jonathan Saunders for Topshop.Photo: Courtesy of Topshop

• Jonathan Saunders and Preen's collections for Topshop will hit stores April 2, the same day the New York outpost opens. [British Vogue]

• The knee-length version of Carrie Bradshaw's Vivienne Westwood wedding dress sold out on Net-A-Porter in a few hours yesterday. That version cost about $6,500, but you can get the real thing custom made in London for around $16,000. [British Vogue]

• Chanel is sponsoring an exhibit of European court costumes from 1650 to 1800, opening in Versailles today. Karl Lagerfeld wrote the program notes. [WWD]

• After Naomi Campbell walked in that fashion show in Lakme Fashion Week in Mumbai, Bollywood producers supposedly swarmed her and asked her to appear in their films. God, we hope one of those offers pans out. [British Vogue]

• What's this? Valentino stopped by gay night at 1Oak on Sunday? Walked in, scanned the crowd, and left immediately? [NYP]

Oscar de la Renta, fall 2009.Photo: Imaxtree

Remember how everyone was speculating that those crazy 70-percent-off sales that kicked in before the holiday-shopping season could knock clothing prices down across the board in the coming seasons, since no one would be willing to pay full price for something? That's exactly what's happening for fall. Retailers that have lost a lot of money in the downturn, including Saks, Neiman Marcus, and Nordstrom, are asking designers to lower prices because they don't want to pay full price for things. Many have slashed budgets by up to 30 percent, and with the exception of a handful, designers are obliging and lowering prices. Albeit grudgingly.

Photo: Getty Images

About a month ago, the Obamas had Stevie Wonder over to the White House to perform, an event so special it prompted the president to break from his streak of red-and-blue neckwear for a tie in gleaming silver. The fashion risk-taker inside of him was emerging, just as the experts predicted! That silver tie paved the way for the finely patterned tie Barack wore today to tell the auto industry what it needs to do if it wants more bailout money. Classy, respectable — a good choice for a huge press conference. And then there's Tim Geithner, who wore an orange-and-lavender striped tie. Orange. And lavender. Interesting how this guy makes his boldest fashion statements at the biggest press conferences. Perhaps he's feeling emboldened now that the markets are reacting positively to him. Perhaps he's getting a jump on Easter. But then, how would we explain the bright-orange tie he wore to that huge press conference a month ago? There's only one answer: He's an attention whore.

Earlier: Barack Obama Dabbles in Risky Neckwear, Tim Geithner Goes All Out

What — this doesn't inspire you to fork over cash?Photo: AFP

Naomi Campbell walked in a charity show at Lakme Fashion Week in Mumbai on Friday. Designers like Anna Sui and Naeem Khan donated dresses for the event, to be auctioned on eBay to raise money for victims of the Mumbai attacks. At press time, many of the bids amounted to mere pennies.

Lakme Fashion Week [eBay]

Photo: Getty Images

We've been wondering for a long time what the hell is up with Jay Manuel's style. The clothes, the hair — it's a lot to take in. So when we caught him at the GLAAD Media Awards on Saturday, we started small and just asked about the hair. Jay acknowledged that Sisqó went silver first, but the real reason for his silver coif? Tyra Banks. "I actually did it on a dare from Tyra,” he explained. “When we were shooting season one of Top Model, we were talking one night while Flash Gordon was on. I saw his white hair and said, ‘I would love to do my hair that color.’ And she goes, ‘Oh, you should do it right now.’ I said, ‘No, we’re in the middle of taping the show, how are we going to explain this? I promise you the day after we wrap I’ll do it.’ So a week later, after we wrapped the show, I colored my hair. I saw Tyra in L.A. and she said, ‘Ya did it, all right, now that’s your trademark.’” The genius behind the Flash Gordon pigment is New York–based stylist Oscar James, who does Tyra’s hair (or weave) as well. His services are very exclusive. “He actually doesn’t work at a salon,” explained Jay. “Because, you know, he works on Tyra, celebrities, blah blah blah.” Exactly.

View our Party Lines slideshow.

The curls run amok.Photo: Getty Images

MAKEUP
• Kids today are beauty-obsessed: "Five-year-olds have spa days and pedicure parties … teens get laser hair removal, the most common cosmetic procedure of that age group … By the time your 10-year-old is 50, she'll have spent nearly $300,000 on just her hair and face." [Newsweek]

• Castanea Partners, the company that owns Betsey Johnson, just bought a majority of the Urban Decay cosmetics brand. They like that it targets young people. [WWD]

HAIR
• Jonas brother Joe likes to wear his hair straight, but he showed up to the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards this weekend with curly hair. Travesty. Whoever lost his CHI iron should get fired. [Stylewatch/People]

• Jennifer Lopez debuted thinner, wispier bangs when she was in Tokyo. We approve. [Beauty Counter/Style.com]

FRAGRANCE
• New men's spring fragrances, like Prada, Burberry, Gucci, John Varvatos, and more, all smell the same. [LAT]