Lady Gaga dresses up as red cockscomb!

Source From: http://www.examiner.com/fashion-in-atlanta/lady-gaga-dresses-up-as-red-cockscomb

Atlanta Lady Gaga fans, the fashion iconoclast is up to her old self again – donning yet another outrageous fashion creation and new dark red platform shoes to tax any ankle – just in case you were a bit concerned for her that she was having an identity crisis!

The Queen of Pop was spotted at the Atom Factory VMA Dinner in Los Angeles on Friday 26 August, 2011 wearing an outfit that looked like a bright red cockscomb at the waist and abdomen.

The plunging necklace revealed that Lady Gaga chose not to wear her bra to the event but she did accessorize to the hilt with a huge diamond necklace, thick leggings – in the heat of summer – and her signature break-neck clodhoppers. Her kidney-shaped red clutch bag was very tasteful though as were her lovely sunglasses.

Gaga, who is normally known for her signature scarlet red lipstick, actually wore a black tint instead to match her raven hued pointed nails. The platinum blond updo with bangs must have had add-ons as there was a lot of hair in her bun!

The diva was there to perform at the VMA awards on Sunday 28 August, which she did as her alter ego Jo Calderone but more on that later – with pictures! Promise…

Fashion News: Barneys New York taps Lady Gaga for holiday campaign

Source From: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/alltherage/2011/08/fashion-news-barneys-new-york-taps-lady-gaga-for-holiday-campaign.html

One of the presents we opened in our email inbox this morning was an announcement that Lady Gaga would be serving up her interpretation of Santa's workshop as part of Barneys New York's holiday campaign called "Gaga's Workshop." The announcement reads, in part:

"Barneys New York has worked closely with Lady Gaga under the creative direction of Nicola Formichetti to design a range of exclusive, limited-edition, small gift items, which will be available for a limited time only at Gaga's Workshop. In addition to Gaga's Workshop in New York, a selection of items from the collection will also be available at Barneys New York locations nationwide and online at Barneys.com."

The retailer will be donating 25% of sales from all items featured in the workshop to a charity of Lady Gaga’s choice.

If you ask us, Christmas can't come soon enough.

The latest in shoe-collaboration news? Apparently London-based shoe designer Mark Fast has teamed up with Aldo. At least that's what they're saying over at Catwalk Queen.

In other shoe matters, the legal equivalent of the "Red Shoe Diaries" takes another step forward (or is it back?), with industry trade paper WWD reporting that Christian Louboutin plans to appeal the recent ruling by a federal judge in Manhattan that allows YSL to sell red-sole shoes.

Speaking of Manhattan, Opening Ceremony, which always throws a good party, celebrated the Bean Pole x Kim Jones collaboration with a good, old-fashioned block party on Friday.

Summer block party season will eventually give way to the tailgating and football season, and now team spirit will be as close as the nearest Old Navy. Seventy of the nation's top college athletic programs will team up with the Gap-owned label to sell branded clothes and accessories at stores across the country.

Color Wars: Luxury Makers Battle Over Red-Soled Shoe

Source From: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904823804576500190678090656.html

A U.S. federal judge has stepped on Christian Louboutin SA's red-soled shoes.

In a ruling Wednesday, Judge Victor Marrero denied the fashion house's request to halt sales of similar shoes made by Yves Saint Laurent, saying Louboutin would not likely prove its use of the color deserved legal trademark protection.

The issue may pale against the sea of red flowing in the markets lately, but it is big business for Louboutin, which has long colored the bottoms of its shoes to make them stand out.

The company won a trademark for red soles from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in 2008 and filed suit against PPR SA's YSL in federal court in Manhattan earlier this year, alleging some of its competitor's shoes featured soles in shades of red that were uncomfortably close to its own. Judge Marrero wasn't swayed.

"Because in the fashion industry color serves ornamental and aesthetic functions vital to robust competition, the court finds that Louboutin is unlikely to be able to prove that its red outsole brand is entitled to trademark protection," the judge wrote in his opinion.

Louboutin didn't respond to requests for comment. David Bernstein, a partner at Debevoise & Plimpton who is representing YSL in the case, said the company is gratified by the court's decision. "No designer should ever be allowed to monopolize a color," he said.

Color is regularly trademarked in industrial uses—for instance, pink fiberglass insulation—where its only use is typically to distinguish a product. It gets trickier in matters of fashion, where color actually serves a fundamental purpose.

Complex uses of color like Burberry's plaid and Louis Vuitton's monogram have been trademarked, as have Tiffany's signature blue boxes. Levi Strauss & Co. has filed hundreds of suits against competitors it alleged infringed on its trademarked stitching and tag that decorate the back pockets of its Levi's jeans.

But Louboutin's claim breaks new ground, says Susan Scafidi, academic director of the Fashion Law Institute at Fordham Law School, who said she hopes the case goes to trial. The dispute is "the most interesting case in fashion intellectual property that has come down in the past couple of years," she says. "I really want an answer."

The judge delivered his views with flair of his own, invoking Whitman ("A lawyer said, What is the red on the outsole of a woman's shoe?) and asking readers to visualize "industrial models sashaying down the runways in displays of the designs and shades of the season's collections of wall insulation."

He even sketched out an imaginary suit between Picasso and Monet. His conclusion: "Color constitutes a critical attribute of the goods." In other words, it can't be trademarked.

But the order didn't settle the broader issue. The judge ordered the parties to show up in court next week to argue why he shouldn't just cancel Louboutin's trademark outright.

Some in the industry say the recent development just raises more nettlesome questions for designers trying to have some measure of protection for things they consider fashion signatures.

"Clearly, the [United States Patent and Trademark Office] took an unprecedented decision when it agreed to register the color as a mark," Steven Kolb, chief executive of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, wrote in an email. "The issue is who has authority to decide this … the USPTO or the courts?"