jean-paul gaultier

Erin O'Connor's star is on the rise once more. The 34-year-old British model had been snaking in and out of fashion for 15 years before making strong showings in Zac Posen's Resort 2013 lookbook this June and again in Jean Paul Gaultier's Fall 2012 Couture show this July, and now she's here to stay.

"I'm recarving my career yet again, because aside from missing the people I've built relationships with in fashion, I miss posing the most," O'Connor said in an interview with Style.com. "I love the physicality of my job and how my mind and body are most happy when I'm expressing and moving. My face was always secondary to body alignment and the dynamism of making a moment come alive."

Does that mean she'll be creating memorable moments during Fashion Weeks in New York and abroad next month? If so, then she's already well primed for the runway. Gaultier reportedly assigned each of the models in his Couture show a famous woman of the past — like Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn — to impersonate on the runway. But he told O'Connor, "You're just going to play yourself. You are already an absolute diva."

Photo courtesy of Zac Posen

Those stories and more in our daily news roundup.

• Marion Cotillard stars on the cover of the August issue of Vogue. [Vogue]
  

• Ralph Lauren has promised to make its next set of Olympic uniforms in the United States after being criticized for producing Team USA's outfits for the London Olympics in China. "Ralph Lauren promises to lead the conversation within our industry and our government, addressing the issue of increasing manufacturing in the United States," the company said in a statement. [LA Times]
  

• An image that is believed to be the ad for Saint Laurent Paris's new fragrance Manifesto — starring Jessica Chastain — leaked today. [Fashionista]
• When Diane Kruger got the part of Marie Antoinette in the new movie Farewell My Queen, one of the first people she told was Karl Lagerfeld. "I walked over to his home and picked his brain for inspiration," she says. [The Wall Street Journal]
  

• Giorgio Armani worked with the costume designer on the new Batman movie The Dark Night Rises to create suits for Christian Bale's character Bruce Wayne. Armani last dressed Wayne for 2008's The Dark Knight. "I'm thrilled to play a small role in the Dark Knight legacy," he said. [Fashionologie Inbox]
  

• Downton Abbey stars Jessica Brown Findlay (Lady Sybil) and Rob James-Collier (Thomas) are each featured on a cover of Love Magazine's Fall 2012 issue. Both actors were shot by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott. [FashionEtc]
  

• Jean Paul Gaultier will design eight collections of textiles for French home fabrics company Lelievre, which also produces cloth for Missoni Home and Sonia Rykiel Maison. [WWD]
  

• Madonna wears Balmain in the video for her newest single "Turn Up the Radio." [Elle UK]
  

• Karlie Kloss's Summer vacation plans have taken her to Machu Picchu, Peru, where she's taking in the sights with writer Derek Blasberg. [@KarlieKloss]

Those stories and more in our daily news roundup.

• Jean Paul Gaultier's third edition of his special bottles for Diet Coke makes the bottle look as though it's wearing a corset made of tattoos. [Styleite]
  

• Anne Vyalitsyna has landed her second film role, securing a spot in the upcoming film Lullaby alongside Amy Adams, Jennifer Hudson, Terrence Howard, and Garrett Hedlund. Vyalitsyna will also star in next year's A Good Day to Die Hard. [Modelinia]
  

• After a three-year absence from the industry, designer Veronique Branquinho will relaunch her eponymous label in partnership with the Italian clothing manufacturer Gibò this September. "Before, I had an independent company. I was responsible for everything," she said. "In this new situation, it feels so comfortable, because I'm only busy with the creative part." [WWD]
  

• Former Yves Saint Laurent muse Betty Catroux says she, like Pierre Bergé, supports all the changes Hedi Slimane is making at the venerable brand. "All Hedi's decisions are brilliant and it is so clever of him to work in Los Angeles — in peace, away from everything, under the sun," she said. [The Cut]
  

• Tory Burch is expanding her brand's reach with a fragrance that will launch in September. She also wants to create clothing for yoga, tennis, and golf, and envisions a home collection in the future. [Elle]

Jean Paul Gaultier's July couture show will include something many of the other Paris shows won't have: male models.

Gaultier is skipping the Fall 2012 men's shows scheduled for the end of June and will instead present his menswear collection alongside his women's Fall 2012 couture line on July 4. The mixed show will take the form of an all-day presentation in the designer's showroom on Rue Saint-Martin in Paris. A spokeswoman for the house said a final format for the presentation had not been decided.

This isn't the first time Gaultier has put menswear and women's couture together. There were a few men's looks included with his Fall 2011 couture collection, and he put men on the runway when he launched his couture line in 1997.

Jean Paul Gaultier may be on this year's panel of judges for the prestigious Cannes Film Festival, but there was a time when his avant-garde style kept him on the other side of the velvet rope. In a recent interview, the designer says it was only his friendship with Madonna that helped him gain access to the various screenings and parties at Cannes.

"I have been refused at the Festival de Cannes," he said. "Yes! First time, I was in a tuxedo but with shorts. Black. And second time I was with a kilt with tuxedo. Refused again. But the third time, I came with Madonna — I was in bed with Madonna . . . she was like my passport, so I got through it."

Gaultier famously designed the cone-shaped bustiers Madonna wore on her 1990 Blond Ambition Tour, among other costumes. He was named to this year's panel of Cannes judges along with actors Diane Kruger and Ewan McGregor.

Those stories and more in our daily news roundup.

• Fairchild Fashion Media, the company that owns WWD and Style.com, announced today that it has acquired Fashion Networks International LLC, which owns NowManifest. The site plays host to blogs written by Bryanboy, Anna Dello Russo, Elin Kling, and Derek Blasberg, among others. [Fashion Etc.]
  

• Kristen Stewart wears both men's and women's clothing in the June issue of Elle. In one photo, she plays both a man in a tailored Balenciaga suit and a woman in a Tom Ford crocodile bustier. [Elle]
  

• Jean Paul Gaultier took his first trip to China this week for a presentation of his Fall 2012 ready-to-wear and couture collections. The show drew a crowd of almost a thousand people. Gaultier joins Dior, Chanel, Burberry, and other European brands that have presented special shows or exhibitions in China, Taiwan, and Japan. [WWD]
  

• Indonesia's national police have canceled Lady Gaga's June 3 concert in Jakarta after religious groups and conservative lawmakers protested against her sometimes racy choreography and stage costumes. The police said they decided to deny a permit because they couldn't guarantee security at the concert, which would have hosted the largest audience of Gaga's "Born This Way" tour in Asia. [The Cut]
  

• Tyra Banks wrote an open letter to aspiring models in light of Vogue's new Health Initiative, encouraging women all over the world to embrace their flaws. "Vogue has the power to make and break—whether it's fashion trends, designers, models, and yes, even industry practices," Banks writes. "Their bold stance means that others will follow." [The Daily Beast]
  

• Rachel Roy has revealed the details of how she and her date Solange Knowles got ready for the Met Gala. In between getting her makeup done and a final dress fitting, Roy squeezed in a "quick phone call to the office" and "a little negotiation on some fabric prices." [Stylelist]

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