Alexandra Shulman

>> Tom Ford's talk at this weekend's Vogue Festival touched on everything from the designer's sexuality (at one point he said he's "not gay") to why he wears his own cosmetics.

Alexandra Shulman led the conversation with the designer, asking why he posed for ads with so many naked women when he's been openly gay for years. Ford explained that he doesn't believe people "have to put boxes around everything," then asked, "Have you ever slept with a woman, Alex?"

The question prompted laughter from the audience, and a giggling Shulman answered no and pointed to Ford's partner of 25 years, Richard Buckley. Read on to see how he responded and some of the best quotes from the rest of his talk.

On his sexuality: "I hate to use the words gay and straight, and I think we're all on some sort of sliding scale. Of course, I'm at the Richard Buckley end of the scale, but I hate that gay/straight thing."

On why it's important to be in his own ads: "I'm the face of the brand. With Chanel, you feel that Karl Lagerfeld's personality has really melded with Coco's — but not everyone knows yet who I am, so that's why I'm in the pictures. I don't like having my picture taken but it helps people to respond . . . My real life's not like the fantasy Tom Ford world, with naked girls pouring perfume everywhere. It's more staying in and watching Friends on television."

On staging presentations rather than runway shows: "The reason I present in a small, controlled way is that so much of what makes my clothes special is the cut, the stitching, the lining — things that would be lost on the catwalk. On the catwalk you have to exaggerate, almost."

On testing his line of cosmetics: "I put every single thing on — I don't wear it down the street, but I want to see how it covers, how it works. When you put your name on something, you want people to know you believe in it."

>> Those stories and more in our daily news roundup.

• Heidi Klum has been spotted in public with Thomas Hayo, an advertising executive who's also a judge on Germany's Next Top Model, which Klum hosts. Their public displays of affection have led some to believe Hayo is Klum's first romantic entanglement since splitting up with Seal. Klum and Seal had been married for almost seven years when they separated in January. Klum filed for divorce earlier this month. [The Fashion Spot]
  

• Speaking of Top Model, Tyra Banks let three of ANTM's long-running cast members go this week. Nigel Barker, Jay Manuel, and Miss J. Alexander will not return to the show's 19th season. They've been replaced by Kelly Cutrone, Georgina Chapman, and Cat Deeley. Rumor has it that Bryanboy might make appearances on the next season, too. [Modelinia]
  

• Friday was day one of Vogue UK's inaugural Vogue Festival. Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana led one of today's sessions, but tomorrow will include talks with Diane von Furstenberg and Tom Ford, among others. Alexandra Shulman said she created the festival because she wanted to "analyze where fashion intersects with the world we live in." [The Chicago Tribune]
  

• Costello Tagliapietra debuted its new lower-priced line of clothing, called C&T, at Barneys earlier this week. The dresses are all priced around $300, a mere fraction of what the main collection costs. [Racked]
  

• Miranda Kerr turned 29 years old today. Celebrate by taking a look back at her laid-back, ultracool street style. [CelebStyle]

Photo: Heidi Klum with Thomas Hayo during the finale of Germany's Next Top Model in 2011.

>> Get caught up on all of those stories and more in our daily news roundup.

• Did Vogue Italia Editor-in-Chief Franca Sozzani get marred and not tell anyone about it? The magazine's website posted a scan from the Ugandan newspaper Red Pepper, which pictures Sozzani sitting next to oil magnate Charles Mbire. The paper referred to Sozzani as Mbire's wife, but Sozzani said the newspaper had bad intel. "The marital status I prefer is being single," she said. [Vogue Italia]
  

• Supermodel Elle Macpherson turned 48 today — and she still looks better than most people do at 24. [The Fab Life]
  

• Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana have landed cameo roles in director Woody Allen's new film To Rome With Love, which debuts April 20. Penelope Cruz — the film's lead actress — will wear pieces from the duo's Spring 2012 collection in the film. [The Cut]
  

• André Leon Talley has been off the airwaves since leaving the judging panel of America's Next Top Model, but soon he'll be back. In a new Bravo reality series — currently titled Fashion Stories of NYC — Tally will supervise competing teams of "emerging designers striving to build a business in New York City, which remains the heart of the fashion industry." [Fashionista]
  

• Vogue UK Editor Alexandra Shulman has written her first book. Her new novel, Can We Still Be Friends, is about three pals who went to college together in the '80s, and afterward have to deal with what the real world does to their lives and their relationships with one another. [Fashion Etc.]

>> Two top editors at British Vogue have just departed the magazine within days of one another, after putting in many, many years under Alexandra Shulman. On Tuesday, creative director Robin Derrick announced via Twitter: "After 17 years I have decided to leave Vogue. Times of change and time for a change. New projects beckon....Exciting things ahead." And today, it was announced that fashion director Kate Phelan, who has been at the magazine since 1993, is leaving for a post as creative director of Topshop. [@robinderrick, @TheSTStyle, @Topshop]

>> Plenty of talk has been made of Kate Middleton's wedding dress, but what about her wedding guests? Victoria Beckham is said to be wearing one of her own designs — from the Fall 2011 Victoria Beckham collection — paired with custom Christian Louboutin shoes and a Philip Treacy hat.

Alexandra Shulman has gone with Christopher Kane for the big day (who Samantha Cameron is also rumored to have chosen), while Anya Hindmarch picked a "classic and chic" Emilia Wickstead look. Harper's Bazaar's Sara Parker Bowles will wear Osman, while her mother-in-law Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, will be dressed by Anna Valentine, the designer who created her wedding dress when she married Prince Charles in 2005. And former Armani muse Lady Helen Taylor is wearing Erdem.

>> Over the weekend, rumors popped up that Alexander McQueen's Sarah Burton might be Kate Middleton's wedding dress designer of choice — and apparently lots of TV crews are on the scene at the McQueen show today, following up on the story.

Middleton is not known for her envelope-pushing fashion choices, but now, the Telegraph UK is reporting that shortly after Middleton announced her engagement last year, Buckingham Palace asked stylists and editors to name their "top choice" for the wedding dress designer. Among those approached, apparently, was British Vogue editor Alexandra Shulman, who happened to recommend McQueen.