Bill Blass

Those stories and more in our daily news profile.

• Bill Blass Limited has dismissed its women's designer Jeffrey Montiero and his entire design staff. The brand also canceled its Spring 2013 runway show, for which about 90 percent of the work had been completed. [Styleite]
  

• Salvatore Ferragamo will sell its Fall 2012 collection via an online trunk show. The offering goes online Tuesday and will be modeled by Lily Kwong. [The Cut]
  

• Sarah Easley and Beth Buccini — the duo behind Kirna Zabete — have revealed a glimpse of their 100-piece capsule for The Shops at Target, which hits Sept. 9. [Teen Vogue]
  

• Victoria Beckham has added eyewear to her ever-growing line. [WWD]
  

• Speaking of Victoria Beckham, a series of her tweets has some observers convinced that she and the rest of the Spice Girls will wear Giles Deacon to perform at the Olympic closing ceremony. [The Daily Telegraph]
  

• A bronze statue depicting model and former French first lady Carla Bruni as a worker in peasant clothing has been covered up after criticism aimed at her husband, former French President Nicolas Sarkozy. [Vogue UK]

From Chanel's Resort 2013 show to all the romantic editorials that have been staged there, the Palace of Versailles is having a moment. And now, Le Grand Divertissement à Versailles — the 1973 fashion face-off between five American designers and five French couturiers — is the subject of the new film Versailles '73: American Runway Revolution.

The event was staged by Eleanor Lambert, creator of Vanity Fair's International Best Dressed List, who invited Halston, Oscar de la Renta, Bill Blass, Anne Klein, and Stephen Burrows to represent America. The French team included Yves Saint Laurent, Dior's Marc Bohan, Hubert de Givenchy, Pierre Cardin, and Emanuel Ungaro.

Director Riley Draper said she created the film, which will premiere during New York Fashion Week in September, to remember an evening that had a profound impact on the American fashion and modeling industries.

Riley's research found that the American designers took their positions as underdogs very seriously. "When you look at the documents, they were like, 'We're going to war,'" she said. That may explain their groundbreaking decision to cast black models for their portion of the show.

"To actually have an exhibition with 12 African-American models at one time, in one show, in a palace in France, representing the United States and representing our fashion industry, is legendary — it's historical," said Riley.

The documentary features interviews with some of those models, including Pat Cleveland and Alva Chinn, as well as former Vogue editor Grace Mirabella and several fashion historians. Cameron Silver of the vintage store Decades narrates the film, which Riley screened at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year. She'll also screen the film in Los Angeles and Atlanta before bringing it to New York City. A glimpse of the film in the trailer below.

>> Jeffrey Monteiro to Make Bill Blass Debut Next Week —The little-known designer Jeffrey Monteiro, who was hired at Bill Blass last December to bring the high-end label back (it was shuttered in December 2008), will preview his first collection for the brand next week for the Cruise 2011 season. The collection will be shown next Thursday, July 10, during a presentation at the Bill Blass showroom. [FWD]

>> As previously suggested, relative newcomer Jeffrey Monteiro, an alum of Jane Mayle and Derek Lam with a year-old collection of his own under his belt, is the newest design director at Bill Blass. He was chosen from among 100 applicants and starts in January with the intention of bringing a high-end Bill Blass collection back to stores next Winter.

New brand owners Bill Blass Group let the label lay fallow since purchasing it last year, allowing half of the 20 licensees to expire.  According to Group president Scott Patti, “There was not a lot of business left out there, so it kind of cleaned itself up.”

Patti noted that Monteiro, the fifth designer to take over the label since Bill Blass retired in 1999, was chosen because “he’s very low-key and realistic. Bill Blass designed real clothes, and that’s what Jeffrey does as well.” Monteiro, for his part, was mum on what he has in mind for the brand, only telling the New York Times that his idea customer is a young professional woman and that he was thinking about colors based on the paintings of Clyfford Still. “The challenge is to take something that has such weight and nostalgia and make it modern and fresh."

Sasha Pivovarova poses alongside Mika, MGMT, Vampire Weekend, and the Horrors in the January issue of Vogue.

Tommaso Aquilano and Roberto Rimondi of Aquilano.Rimondi (formerly 6267) have signed their first licensing deal with Gilmar for the production and distribution of knitwear.

Magazines that defy the downturn—032c, Fantastic Man, and Purple—with advertisers responding to highbrow editorial.

Young men are still obsessed with dressing like Don Draper and Roger Sterling.

Jeffrey Monteiro finds inspiration in Clyfford Still paintings while working on his first collection as creative director of Bill Blass.

Vanity Fair's Michael Roberts has a photo session with Jesus Luz on the beach in Rio.

We took inspiration [from Fellini] for two fashion shows. One [fall 1996] was from “Le Notti di Cabiria.” It was the printed chiffon dresses with the cherries. And another [fall 1997], we took inspiration from “Satyricon” [and “Roma”]. We make a collection like a priest, all the girls in priest dress.—Stefano Gabbana on how Fellini films have inspired past Dolce & Gabbana collections.

>> Bill Blass May Have a New Designer Soon —After the whole Peter Som/bankruptcy debacle which has been ongoing for the past year, Bill Blass may finally be ready to start anew.  Originally, a Spring 2010 collection was supposed to be shown, and Richard Chai's name was thrown around for Blass's new creative director, but neither happened. Now, it sounds like Jeffrey Monteiro, who was design director for Derek Lam before starting his own collection for Fall 2008, may be the man to revive Blass next.  Owner Peacock International Holdings declined comment except to say that news about Blass will come in the next few weeks. [WWD]