Alexander McQueen

• Vogue's Virginia Smith turned down the Barneys fashion director position last week, and now the other front-runner, Lane Crawford fashion director Sarah Rutson, has too. “I have no intention or plans to leave Lane Crawford,” Rutson said over the weekend [WWD]
• Tomorrow's British Fashion Awards will honor Alexander McQueen posthumously for Outstanding Achievement; McQueen's frequent collaborator Nick Knight made a short film of the designer's archives for the occasion, scored by Bjork: “It is being styled by Edward Enninful and will feature black models only” [Style File]
• The first image of Dolce & Gabbana's Spring 2011 campaign, which features Izabel Goulart, Alessandra Ambrosio, Maryna Linchuk, and Isabeli Fontana captured by Steven Klein, has leaked (pictured) [TFS]

• Giorgio Armani and Lady Gaga, who have a multimillion dollar partnership, finally met for the first time last night; Anna Dello Russo also met Gaga and brought her a doll [Styleite]
• See the Ann Taylor-inspired looks the 2010 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund finalists created as part of this year's competition [Fashionista]
• Hairstylist Didier Malige on Terry Richardson's childhood: "Now I see Terry as an adult, and at the time I knew him as three or four years old. His upbringing was totally liberal compared to a French kid of his age. They had a Fiat 500, which is a tiny little car, and he always had to share it with a huge poodle, like a royal poodle. And he always had to sit in the back with the poodle." [Into The Gloss]
• Juicy Couture co-founders Pamela Skaist-Levy and Gela Nash-Taylor, who favor vintage pieces, furry vests, black leather pants, and vertiginous heels, plan to launch a new label next year, and they're dropping hints: “It will reflect the way we dress now. We have outgrown our track suits and grown up” [WWD]
• Sasha Pivovarova, who likes to make dolls, opens up her Brooklyn loft for T's cameras [T]
• Watch the music video for a young Jean Paul Gaultier's 1988 single, "How To Do That," featuring Naomi Campbell [Jezebel]
• 23-year-old Central St Martins graduate Thomas Tait only does private orders so far, but he's already got fans in Giles Deacon, Daphne Guinness, Stephen Jones, and Manolo Blahnik [T]
• Intermission Magazine's website just launched, featuring interviews with the likes of Gaia Repossi and Hanne-Gaby Odiele [Intermission]

• Alexander McQueen will receive a posthumous Outstanding Achievement award at tomorrow night's British Fashion Awards — Vogue UK
• The body and soul of Chrissy Teigen and John Legend — Modelinia
• Sarah Rutson doesn't want to be the new fashion director at Barneys, either — The Cut
• Look of the day: Carey Mulligan — Stylelist
• Model Lily Aldridge has design aspirations — Fashionologie
• Michelle Williams in Erdem at the Blue Valentine New York screening — Red Carpet Fashion Awards
• Alexander Wang's Angela pochette — The Bag Snob
• Top three sales happening today — Lucky
• Lust list: evening bags to drool over — Refinery29
• The hip girl's holiday wish list — The Inside Source
• Put a ring on it: Gaia Repossi and Alexander Wang finger-length rings — Vogue Daily
• Jimmy Choo fêtes 15 years with crystal shoe collection — People

• Chanel Iman's photo diary — Vogue Daily
• Animal print pieces on a budget: 10 under $10 — The Budget Fashionista
• Sneak peek: Kim Kardashian's retro-chic jewelry for Bebe — People
• 10 festive holiday necklaces — Stylelist
• Gisele for Balenciaga? — Vogue UK
• Bid on one of these Warhol-inspired painted leather jackets — W Editors' Blog
• Alexander Wang understands the perils of wearing all white — The Cut
• Alexander McQueen cherry blossom clutch — Bag Snob
• Natalie Portman in Rodarte — Red Carpet Fashion Awards
• Hard romance: Kat Dennings and Francisco Costa — Elle
• Boulevard: Chanel charming — Hilltop Glossy

>> Next year's Costume Institute Gala — on May 2, 2011 — has its theme: "Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty." Anna Wintour, Stella McCartney, and Colin Firth are set to co-chair the event, with Francois-Henri Pinault and Salma Hayek as honorary chairs.

The accompanying exhibit will run at the museum May 4-July 31, 2011, and will cover McQueen's work from his Central Saint Martins postgraduate collection in 1992 to his final runway presentation, which took place weeks after his death in February 2010. A hundred pieces from his 19-year career will be on view, drawn from the McQueen London archives, the Givenchy archive in Paris, and private collections, including Isabella Blow's wardrobe, which Daphne Guinness owns in its entirety.

Curator Andrew Bolton, who is spearheading the project, stressed that he doesn't want the exhibit to feel like a retrospective, so the focus is thematic rather than chronological, reflecting McQueen's fascination with the 19th-century Romantic movement. Among the themed galleries planned: “The Savage Mind,” “Romantic Gothic,” “Romantic Nationalism,” “Romantic Exoticism,” and “Romantic Primitivism.” There will also be a “Cabinet of Curiosities” gallery featuring McQueen's collaborations with Philip Treacy and Shaun Leane, and a separate screening room to display videos of McQueen's theatrical runway presentations.

Sam Gainsbury and Joseph Bennett, who helped produce those dramatic shows, are serving as creative consultants to the exhibit, and the Alexander McQueen company is underwriting the whole thing with support from American Express and Conde Nast. “We felt it would be a great opportunity to show Lee’s work and his incredible contribution to the world of fashion and art,” Jonathan Akeroyd, president and CEO of Alexander McQueen, told WWD. “It felt like the right thing to do. Lee loved the museum. It will give us a great opportunity to show Lee’s work and the Alexander McQueen brand to a much broader community. It’s the greatest tribute and important for his legacy, but it’s also an exciting new chapter in the history of the brand.”

Before he passed away in February, Alexander McQueen created a luxurious six-piece collection of rugs and pillows for The Rug Company, and now, three years in the making, the line is finally available. McQueen's trademark skull pattern made its way onto one baby blue and white rug, as well as two pillows, in black and gold, while his recognizable hummingbird, feather, and military broçade themes make up the rest of the line. Finely knotted, the hummingbird rug is an almost photographic reproduction of McQueen's sartorial design, though these pieces will cost you more. A six-by-nine rug goes for about $19,000, while a scarf will cost you only $260. As for accessorizing and creating your ensemble, I think the same rules apply: layer one of McQueen's rugs or pillows over simple separates or go bold and mix them with prints.