Karl Lagerfeld quashes any Chanel departure rumors once and for all. “I will die here,” he told the Times before his Couture show last night, which is as unequivocal as it gets. [NYT]

Lindsay Lohan is having a bad day. Her self-tanning products are a knockoff (allegedly), and her refusal of a role in The Hangover could be the end of her career. So much for that golden glow. [People]

Images are lacking, but details on Jil Sander’s collection for Uniqlo are surfacing. Called +J, the line looks like it will adhere to a minimalist aesthetic, which is to say, “Duh.” [WWD]—Alison Baenen

Photo: Monica Feudi / Gorunway.com

Trust Karl Lagerfeld to tell it like it is. The designer is one of many high-profile fashion types offering advice on breaking into the industry in editor in chief Amy Astley’s new The Teen Vogue Handbook: An Insider’s Guide to Careers in Fashion. “Insider” is the operative word. Astley recruited designers like Marc Jacobs and Stella McCartney, photographers like Patrick Demarchelier and Mario Testino, and models Chanel Iman and Caroline Trentini, along with a slew of top stylists, beauty gurus, and editors to participate—and happily, not all of them are quite so blunt as the Kaiser. Astley’s former boss at Vogue, Anna Wintour, counsels, “Don’t go too fast. Because of reality television and all these celebrities thinking they can be designers, everyone imagines that they can just become a designer, photographer, or model, but that’s not the way things work. People have to go to school, learn their craft, and build a brand—that’s the right, healthy way to do things.” Astley calls the book a no-brainer. “Not a day goes by when I’m not replying to e-mails from young girls asking how to get started in fashion,” she says. Her most important tip? “I tell our interns to network as much as they can. And don’t impress me, impress the person they’re reporting to.” But people firmly ensconced in the business will enjoy this photo-packed volume, too. A compendium of the almost seven-year-old magazine’s greatest hits, it is, as Astley calls it, “a love letter to our contributors.” The book will be released on October 5.—Nicole Phelps

First off, I don’t like biopics. So when I went to see an advanced screening of Coco Avant Chanel yesterday (the movie opens in New York and L.A. on September 25), the film already had three strikes against it—the aforementioned dislike of biopics; a firm belief that when movie people tackle fashion, nine times out of ten they get it all wrong; and Karl Lagerfeld’s recent diss on Audrey Tautou, who plays the late, great Coco. For all that, I liked the movie. Filmmaker Anne Fontaine has made a fine film about a young woman discovering her passions, personal and professional, and if you work hard to get away from the mythos of Chanel and treat Coco Avant as a conventional love story, then you, dear reader, will probably like this movie, too. Particularly likable: the conceit that Arthur Capel, the English gent who bedded Chanel and then funded her business, fell for her initially because of her amazing sense of personal style. Here’s to that! And this neat bit of dramaturgy—I expect the truth was rather more complicated—is of a piece with the film’s real respect for the art and craft of fashion. There’s a great sequence at the shore, for example, where we watch inspiration dawn on Coco’s face as she sees fishermen dragging in their nets, and in the next scene, she’s wearing one of their boat-neck, sailor-striped tops. And beyond that, Coco Avant Chanel gives fashion its due as a form of expression, a medium for speaking one’s mind about the layout of the world at present. This is welcome. The problem with Fontaine’s movie, however, is that whenever you take the blinders off and recall that the Coco on-screen is a version of the woman who launched what is arguably the single most important brand in the history of fashion, you can’t help but feel like the woman at its center is a bit small. At no point do you feel yourself in the presence of a radical imagination. And there’s something disappointing about the way the film treats Chanel, the brand, as a secondary love affair—the thing Gabrielle Chanel settled for creating once her grand romance with Capel ended. Maybe that’s how it was; I don’t know. I do know that Coco Avant Chanel has inspired me to get out my credit card: If anyone knows where I can find a pair of white silk, navy-trimmed men’s pajamas like the pair Tautou wears in the film, please let me know.—Maya Singer

Photo: Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

I’ve seen Rufus Wainwright perform in all sorts of places: the great outdoors over a year ago at the Last Song of Summer fundraiser for Robert Wilson’s Watermill Center, and then an elementary-school gymnasium a couple months back for the same benefit. There was the rousing revival of Judy Garland hits at Carnegie Hall, and then a gay piano bar on the L.E.S. In each one, the singer-songwriter and, as of this summer, opera composer, was the same: engaging, funny, and truly terrific. Tomorrow night, Wainwright returns to Carnegie Hall with a group of musicians including sister Martha Wainwright, Courtney Love, and Scarlett Johansson for a Gavin Friday and Friends concert to benefit (RED). On his playlist will be many of the songs from Milwaukee at Last!!!, his recording of a live performance in the Midwestern town, released last month. I sat down with Wainwright to talk about that concert, the Albert Maysles documentary that coincides with it, and, of course, his relationship with fashion.—Derek Blasberg

On October 4, you’re back at Carnegie Hall. I saw you in your Judy Garland tribute there a few years ago. Do you particularly like that venue? Or do you just like Judy?

No, no. I am so proud to have called Carnegie Hall my New York home for many years now, whether it’s my Judy tribute, the Christmas shows, assorted benefits, and so forth. It’s a dream to many to play the venue. And before anyone asks me, I do know the way to get to Carnegie Hall: “Practice! Practice! Practice!”

You just released the album Milwaukee at Last!!!. What is it about performing live that you like? Is the interaction with an audience better than the bonuses of recording in a studio?

It’s really about the paycheck! Ha! I don’t mean it like that. What I’m trying to say—and I mean this in a good way—is that I’m an old-school musician who very much treats my work like a day job. And the better I do, the better I get paid. I love my job, I really do. It’s very capitalistic in a good way.

As someone who performs live so often, in so many different places, why did you pick this specific performance in Milwaukee?

For three reasons: First is that we had toured for a long time and the band was slick as oil and ready to go! Second, we were able to secure Albert Maysles—one of my all-time fave filmmakers—to film it. Lastly, the Pabst Theater is truly one of America’s great treasures. It used to be the center of opera for the Midwest, and it’s just a beautiful opera house.

Tell me more about Albert Maysles. How did you get hooked up with him?

I’ve been a Grey Gardens fanatic for way too long now, not to mention Albert’s other work. The idea of having the same eye that captured the magic that is Edie Beale trained on me and my shenanigans is overwhelming to say the least! I was introduced to Albert through Sean Lennon.

This summer, Manchester, England saw the debut of your first opera. Talk to me about that process: Was that something you wanted to do for a while? The drama, the length, the French!

Opera is my religion. My Yom Kippur is the Ring cycle. So, for me to write an opera was, in essence, paying the piper. The fact that it survived the critics and that it will be performed in all of the major Western cities is incredible.

I saw you perform last month at Watermill’s Last Song of Summer, which I know was sponsored by Viktor & Rolf, a label you have collaborated with on fashion-show music and on your outfits at the Judy tribute. How do you view the relationship between fashion and music?

Fashion and music are one of the great nuclear—as in splitting the atom—relationships of all time. When it really works, it’s truly explosive; and when it doesn’t, it’s so small you can’t see it. Fortunately, I look good with clothes on, so in addition to Viktor & Rolf, fashion is my friend! I love Maison Martin Margiela and Burberry. Karl Lagerfeld told me he wanted to give me a makeover, so I might take him up on that!

So we’ve done fashion, opera, live performance, and studio work. What’s the next hurdle for Rufus Wainwright?

The next hurdle is a solo piano and voice record. I’ve actually finished writing all the songs for it and just need to record. But, of course—in true Wainwright fashion—it’s turning out to be the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Between a single piano and a 70-piece orchestra, I’ll take the orchestra any day!

Photo: Simone Joyner/Getty Images

Photo: Gianni Pucci/Go Runway.com

Turns out there was no truth to the rumor circulating earlier this week that Rome would replace Milan as the seat of Italy’s fashion shows. In fact, it’s “nonsense!” But Rome may reprise its own fashion show—Donna Sotto Le Stelle (”Woman Under the Stars”)—where a bunch of models would “[teeter] down the Spanish Steps.” Ooh, sounds so fun and dangerous! [WWD]

What with the threesome going on behind him, you may have missed Karl Lagerfeld’s jacket Monday night for his bow after the Chanel show. Apparently it was from Calvin Klein. Does this make Italo Zucchelli the new Hedi Slimane? [WWD]

Former Emanuel Ungaro designer Giambattista Valli weighed in on the house’s latest collection: “An actress ought to be an actress, and a fashion designer ought to be a fashion designer.” We wonder who he means? [FWD]

File under awww. Alexander Wang went to his first Paris show. [WWD]

Finally, now we can gush over MObama’s taste in fashion and art. [NYT]—Alison Baenen

Photo: Charles Dharapak-Pool/Getty Images

First Lady Michelle Obama is scheduled to appear on Leno this Friday (OK, via satellite). Note to producers: We will not be happy if we can only see the top half of her outfit. [NY Post]

Agyness Deyn has been spending time away from us to become an actress, and—voilà!—she is. Her first role doesn’t sound like much, but even British modeling royalty have to start somewhere. [Page Six]

Tilda Swinton’s wardrobe for her new film I Am Love is all Jil Sander, all the time. [WWD]

Chanel’s barnyard threesome will be immortalized by the Kaiser in a photo shoot in Buenos Aires. We’re only assuming it’s the threesome, since usual suspects Freja Beha Erichsen and Baptiste Giabiconi will be there, along with newcomer Claudia Schiffer. Not a bad replacement for Lara Stone. [WWD]—Alison Baenen

Photos: Monica Feudi/GoRunway.com

When buying vintage, provenance is important. Which is why this 1980’s black Chanel ball gown is sure to be one of the first items to go today at the special Decades and Decadestwo sale on HauteLook. An early Karl Lagerfeld creation for the French fashion house, the tulle and satin L.B.D. “is fit for a princess, and glam enough for a movie star, too,” Decades owner Cameron Silver told us. He should know; he sold it to Salma Hayek, who wore it three years ago last month to the 21st Annual American Cinematheque Award celebration in Los Angeles. She sold it back, and it’s now part of a two-day online sale curated by Silver and featuring a collection of little black dresses by the likes of Yves Saint Laurent, Versace, Chloe, and Nina Ricci.

www.hautelook.com.

—Nicole Phelps

Photo: Gregg DeGuire/WireImage

It’s not over yet, but let’s make it official: 2009 was the year of the party. The recession is just no match for the fashion world’s insatiable appetite for champers, celebrity DJs (hello, Jesus), and so-hot-right-now hotel bars. To document the trend, we pored over our own party pages and thousands more photos on Patrick McMullan. Yes, searching the Web for pics of Stavros Niarchos with his shirt half off is hard work, but somebody had to do it. The list we whittled down after much debate (maybe next year, Courtney Love) represents the tippy top of our most tireless party people—from perennial scenester Karl Lagerfeld to newcomer Shala Monroque. Click for a slideshow of our selects, and let us know if there’s anyone we forgot. To qualify for inclusion in next year’s night owl roundup, please apply at the Standard.—Alison Baenen

Photo: Sherly Rabbani and Josephine Solimene

Karl Lagerfeld used to sleep in a boxing ring. So not surprised. [WWD]

Rumor du jour: Jeffrey Monteiro is heading to Bill Blass. We’re cool with it as long as he keeps designing his own line. [WWD]

It’s not Jason Wu for Target, but Wu’s decision, announced today, to design a capsule collection for TSE is probably just the beginning of Wu’s cross-market domination—Wu-mination, if you will. The line will be on view during New York fashion week in February. [WWD]

Lorenzo Martone is one half of ARC NY, a new “boutique talent p.r. agency for catwalkers.” Lydia Hearst and Alessandra Ambrosio are already signed up, and we’d be surprised if more of Martone’s high-profile crew don’t join, too. [Page Six]

Speaking of Lorenzo, Marc Jacobs has admitted to being a little awed and impressed by his Louis Vuitton customers: “There’s this huge cult following of almost crazy people at Vuitton who just want whatever they buy to be exclusive.” Don’t get him wrong—he’s not complaining. [Times U.K.]

The Times investigates “the steady infiltration of 19th-century haberdashery into the 21st-century wardrobe,” which is a nifty way of saying guys are dressing like Civil War re-enactors. Muskets are going to be huge. [NYT]

Buy Luella to save Luella. At 50 percent off, this is a slogan we can get behind. [Fashionista]

Olivier Zahm is bringing his particular brand of photography to New York. His show—the editor’s first—opens December 1 at the Half Gallery. Don’t bring your mom (unless you’re a Roitfeld). [BlackBook]

Put down that bamboo. It may be toxic. The eco fabric gets a dressing down in the Wall Street Journal, which means we may have to go back to wearing hemp. [WSJ]—Alison Baenen

Photo: Neil Rasmus / Patrick McMullan