Nicola Formichetti

Those stories and more in our daily news roundup.

• Hermès doesn't sell its Birkin handbags online, but flash sale sites like Gilt, Rue La La, and MyHabit do. Here's a look at how they ensure authenticity. [BuzzFeed]
  

• A new deal with Sandow Media will expand Fred Segal beyond its Southern California roots. The retailer is expected to set up shops in New York, Miami, Las Vegas, as well as in Europe and Asia, with the first of the new stores opening some time next year. [Racked]
  

• Karl Lagerfeld has signed on to give the exterior of Monaco's Hotel Métropole a redesign. The first part of the project, which involves refreshing the hotel's pool, terrace, gardens, and a new restaurant, will be unveiled in July. [The Daily Telegraph]
  

• Paco Rabanne's artistic director Manish Arora is leaving the brand after designing just two season's worth of clothing and despite the fact that Arora's designs had gotten favorable press coverage. Lady Gaga even wore one of his dresses to the 2011 MTV Europe Music Awards. [The Cut]
  

• Iris Apfel will debut her own handbags in collaboration with HSN, which also sells her jewelry line. The bags are made from Mongolian lamb's wool, snakeskin, and calf hair, and will retail for $228 to $398. [WWD]
  

• Greg Kessler's latest installment of Model-Morphosis shows off Chanel's most popular lacquers. Nails go from unadorned to coated with the flick of a mouse. [T Magazine]
  

• Nicola Formichetti will debut an eponymous fashion label next year. The clothes will be "digitally oriented and high-tech . . . Why do you have to have a zipper when you can have a jacket that's molded to your body?" Formichetti explained. [Styleite]

  Photo: A Birkin snapped on the streets during Milan Menswear Week in January 2012.

>> Nicola Formichetti is starting to give Karl Lagerfeld a run for his money in the how-many-projects-can-I-simultaneously-take-on game. Formichetti, who currently acts as Lady Gaga's stylist, Mugler's creative director, and fashion director for both Uniqlo and Vogue Hommes Japan, recently revealed: "I’m launching my own brand next year." Formichetti, who is planning "Nicola's," a pop-up store in Manhattan to coincide with New York Fashion Week (located at 57 Walker Street from Sept. 8–21), promises that the store will showcase "a sneak preview of what’s coming up in the future" for his namesake brand. [Milk Made]

As part of her ongoing work with MAC's Viva Glam campaign, Lady Gaga has enlisted her little monsters in a new digital, interactive effort that just launched on the VivaGlam site. The campaign, dubbed "Glam This Way," gives MAC and Lady Gaga fans the chance to raise HIV/AIDS awareness among those in their own social networks.

One of the coolest things about the campaign is how the company plans to celebrate the efforts of those who join; Lady Gaga's friend and stylist Nicola Formichetti will create a couture design composed of fan images, which Gaga will wear in the Fall. Cool, right? You can find out how to become a part of Gaga's movement (and see my "Total Glam") when you read more.

>> Lady Gaga may be getting the full spread of Mugler's debut women's collection, but magazines won't be. Nicola Formichetti is wary of overexposure and the shortness of the public's attention span that follows, so he's keeping press samples exclusive: “I’m not giving them to every magazine.” But he sees himself as democratic in most other ways, drawing a contrast between his approach and Tom Ford's. “I’m not an elitist,” Formichetti says of his decision to livestream the show and air live video of the backstage kerfuffle. “I want to share what I’m doing with everyone . . . In a way, I wanted to have the people in front of a screen to have a better seat than the people in the front row. I remember straight after the show, me and [Lady] Gaga just ran backstage and went onto our computers and went on Twitter to see what the fans were saying.” [WWD]

>> Nicola Formichetti unearthed Rick Genest — also known as Zombie Boy — on Facebook, and he's walked in both Mugler runway shows (Fall 2011 men's and women's) that Formichetti has done so far, acting in tandem with Lady Gaga as something of a house muse and face of the brand. But it wasn't as simple as contacting Genest through Facebook and flying him into Paris in time for the shows, Formichetti says: "[Genest] emailed me back straightaway and he was like, 'Yeah, sure, I would love to [come to Paris], but I don’t have a passport.'" Later, Formichetti comes to find out "why he couldn’t get a passport: because he was homeless. He had a lot of fines or something because he was always sleeping on the street. ... He just kept telling me, 'I'm not a criminal, I'm not a criminal.' It took him so long to tell us. Oh my God, he was so emotional. He was crying and saying how this was going to change his life. It was a beautiful moment." Formichetti ended up paying the fines — "It was a lot . . . like ten or twenty [thousand dollars]" — himself. [Hint]

>> Of Nicola Formichetti's debut Mugler collection on Wednesday, Suzy Menkes pondered, "But did those outfits really make their mark on fashion?" And Style.com noted of the debut: "It didn't blow you away, either in its affinities to Thierry Mugler's originals or with its future vision." But according to Formichetti, neither are important: “I just wanted to bring the fun back. It’s not so much about the clothes.” [IHT]

>> Right before Lady Gaga made her runway debut at Mugler, she told friends, “I want people to see me walk and say, 'She is a Mugler woman.' Seriously, I’m so nervous.” But when she took the runway in her eight- or nine-inch heels, the nerves weren't evident — and afterwards, Mugler creative director Nicola Formichetti said, she had already "bought the entire collection in every color." [Style.com]