YSL

Those stories and more in our daily news roundup.

• "You may think I am high maintenance, but I assure you, the attention is worth it," Choupette Lagerfeld writes in the infamous diary her two maids keep detailing her every move. "Even my fur balls are glossy." [Grazia]
  

• Lady Gaga has sided with Oscar de la Renta in his tiff with fashion critic Cathy Horyn. "Bravo Oscar," the singer tweeted. "Only you would be so chic as to purchase an entire page in WWD, making statements like a good fashion citizen." [Styleite]
  

• Mugler creative director Christophe de Lataillade has revealed the secrets behind campaigns for the house's iconic fragrance Angel — including the set that nearly burned a model's flesh. [The Cut]
  

• Calvin Klein's ex-boyfriend Nick Gruber has accused the fashion icon of paying private eyes to "stalk" him and his new boyfriend, animator John Luciano. "Calvin can hire goons to follow John and me all he wants — we have nothing to hide. I've moved on. I've never been happier." [Page Six]
  

• Hedi Slimane will unveil his new Saint Laurent Paris store concept when he opens a store in Shanghai next week. The design, involving a lot of dark stone and mirrored surfaces, references the French art deco and Union des Artistes Modernes movements. [WWD]
  

• Versace has opened another store, too — online. Customers in Italy, the United Kingdom, Germany, and France can now buy the house's wares through a new ecommerce site. [Versace]
  

• Net-a-Porter founder Natalie Massenet has been appointed chairwoman of the British Fashion Council, succeeding its leader of five years, Harold Tillman. [The Independent]
  
  Photo via Grazia

Christian Louboutin received a reason to celebrate today when a New York federal court of appeals judge ruled that the red sole on his iconic shoes should be given trademark protection after all.

Now, except in the case of shoes that are red all over, Louboutin will be able to defend itself against shoemakers who copy its red soles. Armed with the new protection, Louboutin's lawyers will next square off against attorneys for Yves Saint Laurent. The parties have been engaged in a legal battle concerning a pair of red-soled YSL pumps for over a year.

Louboutin asked a New York court to prevent YSL from selling its own all-red, red-soled shoes last April. YSL pushed back in court papers, arguing that Louboutin's trademark on red soles, which it has held since 2008, should never have been granted in the first place. The judge agreed and asked Louboutin to prove it deserved the trademark.

Today's decision will undoubtedly vindicate Louboutin himself, whose lawyers have said he was ready to "fight like hell to the end." Late last month, the designer referred to the case as being "very much a double standard."

Photo via Christian Louboutin.

For the first time since last April, Christian Louboutin has spoken out about the ongoing legal dispute between his company and Yves Saint Laurent over who has the right to put a red sole on a shoe.

"It's my trademark," says Louboutin simply in a new interview with WSJ. Magazine. "For two months I said, 'Fix it,' and nothing happened. Then they tried to kill me by saying I can't own a color. But they own colors for their makeup and the red-and-green stripe for Gucci. It's very much a double standard."

The legal volleys haven't distracted Louboutin from creating more pairs of red-soled shoes. But he says the focus of those shoes has never been on women's feet.

"The thing I always try to remember is that feet are attached to the leg, and that you must prolong the silhouette. The shoe elongates the leg and does it discreetly. The goal is to get people to look at a woman's legs. It's all about the leg." He pauses. "No, it's not about the leg. It's about the woman."

Summer is the perfect excuse to indulge in new arm candy. We're talking about bags: whether it's a satchel, clutch, or crossbody style, we got you covered with our top picks from the likes of Fendi, Marc Jacobs, and Givenchy to name a few. Tip: pair these bright and bold offerings with a white dress for extra pop. Special thanks to Neiman Marcus!

Some of the industry's biggest names commented on Hedi Slimane changing the name of Yves Saint Laurent to Saint Laurent Paris, but Slimane himself had remained silent until recently. The designer finally explained his reasons for the shift in an interview with Vanity Fair.

"It is interesting to see how much reaction this retro branding has created," Slimane said. "Clearly, this period of the history of the house was not well-known, which I trust was a surprise for Pierre Bergé. I went back to 1966 — just before the events of 1968 [when 11 million workers revolted against the conservative politics of then-President Charles de Gaulle — the biggest general strike in history], but the awakening of youth was in the air, and Yves Saint Laurent wanted to dissociate himself from the clientele of haute couture and embrace this new generation."

Since Slimane announced the name change in June, Arizona Muse, Karl Lagerfeld, and Bergé himself have publicly voiced their support for the change. When the house revealed an image of the new branding on Facebook last month, its followers were not as enthusiastic. One called the new name and logo "an act of disrespect" against the house's founder.

Saint Laurent, who would have turned 76 last week, was considered a pioneer in ready-to-wear when he founded Saint Laurent Rive Gauche in 1966, but he continued to design couture until he retired from fashion in 2002.

The brand once known as Yves Saint Laurent revealed its new Saint Laurent Paris logo online over the weekend. Said logo — affixed to a black box resting on a marble surface in the photo above — is presented in capital letters. The image was posted to the brand's official Facebook page on Saturday, and while some commenters were supportive of the change, many others decried it as a bad move. One fan called it "an act of disrespect."

Hedi Slimane, who took over as creative director of the house in March, announced last month that he would change the name of the ready-to-wear collection to Saint Laurent Paris. The shift was billed as an attempt to "return to the fundamentals of YSL." When Saint Laurent moved into ready-to-wear in 1966, he called the operation Saint Laurent Rive Gauche.

The new branding will not replace the iconic YSL logo, which will still be applied to some of the house's products.

Yves Saint Laurent — or Saint Laurent Paris, rather — has been presenting Hedi Slimane's Resort 2013 collection to buyers since late June, and so far, the people who have seen the garments called them "very tailored and sharp." The collection is also said to be said to be "significantly more expensive than Stefano Pilati's era."

So, what's offered? There are reportedly "lots of silky, girly tops" as well as plenty of pinstripes, skinny jeans, hot pants, tuxedos, and cigarette pants. Colors range from black, white, and gray to red and fuschia, with sequins and animal prints, as well. Initial feedback to the collection was said to be "resoundingly positive."

Nevertheless, the house is definitely keeping Slimane's first two collections under wraps. In May, the house decided not to show women's Resort 2013 and men's Spring 2013 to the press so that the designer would be free to make his first big fashion statement for the house with his women's Spring 2013 collection during Paris Fashion Week. Buyers were also not allowed to take pictures during the Resort presentation, and the house didn't provide anyone with lookbooks.

On Thursday, WWD released some artistic renderings of the collection, but YSL was quick to point out that the drawings, which were penned by noted fashion illustrator Steven Stipelman, are not official representations of the collection.

"The sketches released in WWD dated July 4, 2012, do not represent YSL Cruise '13 Collection and obviously were not designed by Hedi Slimane," the brand tweeted . WWD has since removed the illustrations.

Find a look at Steven Stipelman's Saint Laurent Paris Resort 2013 illustrations, here.

— Additional reporting by Christina Pérez