Beyoncé’s Searching for a New Sasha FierceAll that practicing you’ve done in your room is going to pay off! The singer is looking for the person with the best rendition of the dance from “Single Ladies.”
Valentino Scorches His Fellow Designers on the Way OutNobody knows how to burn bridges like a fashion designer on the way out. Valentino, the Italian womenswear legend who retires this month after 45 years in the industry, decided to go right for the toiles in an interview with reporters this week. “I certainly won’t miss the fashion world. It’s ruined! Everybody’s doing the same things. What’s missing is challenge, creativity, cheerfulness. These days it’s all about numbers! To continue working in an environment which says nothing in particular to me would be a bore,” he sniffed. “This environment is no longer stimulating.” In case that criticism wasn’t specific enough for you, the 77-year-old took aim at some of his longtime colleagues in the industry.
On Miuccia Prada: “[She] knows what she wants … even if we don’t share ideas about clothes.”
On Giorgio Armani: “In the course of 40 years, he has created a great style — but vulgar.”
On Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana: “[They were] shy at the beginning — now arrogant.”
On Donatella Versace: “[Her brother] Gianni’s talent was unique — but what grit she has!”
Valentino will be replaced at his eponymous company by former Gucci designer Alessandra Facchinetti as the company tries to expand. Asked about her talent, Valentino turned generous. “I’ve met her,” he said. “She’s pretty.”
Valentino takes parting shot at ‘ruined’ industry [London Independent]
company town
Steve Schwarzman Takes the Fun Out of BuybacksFINANCE
• Steve Schwarzman found yet another way to stiff his investors, using the GSO deal as an elaborate cover to buyback shares of Blackstone without the typical benefit a buyback program gives to other shareholders. No wonder the Chinese, who have lost $1 billion on Blackstone, hate him. [DealBook/NYT]
• Bank of America bought Countrywide Financial, the huge mortgage company teetering at the edge of bankruptcy, for $4 billion in stock. Some observers worry the deal will take the bank down, but considering Countrywide was worth $30 billion before the mortgage meltdown, it may yet make B of A CEO Ken Lewis a king. [Deal Journal/WSJ]
• Merrill Lynch will likely take a $15 billion write-down next week, far in excess of the $12 billion some already bearish analysts had predicted. John Thain is looking to rescue the bank with still more foreign investment capital, but with the Senate getting anxious, that stream dry up. [NYT, NYP]
company town
The ‘Times’ Touches Upon Checkbook Journalism — With Two Fingers, Of CourseMEDIA
• “OK!, the celebrity magazine, could not possibly have purchased all the attention it enjoyed in late December after it got the scoop that Jamie Lynn Spears, the younger and until then less sensational sister of the troubled pop queen Britney Spears, was three months pregnant. Or could it?” [NYT]
• Josh Stein isn’t actually leaving Gawker; Emily Gould will write for Jezebel; Choire Sicha will continue contributing columns; and recently departed Wonkette editor Ken Layne returned after just a few months off the job. Can anyone escape the tentacles of Nick Denton? [HuffPo]
• The Writers Guild plans to picket Jay Leno, Jimmy Kimmel, and Conan O’Brien as the three late-night hosts return to the air. Letterman gets off easy since he struck a deal with the writers and may get a big boost since big stars (like Robin Williams, natch) won’t have to cross the pickets to go on his show. [NYO, NYT]
gossipmonger
We’ll Make It, I Swear … to the Governor’s Mansion?Jon Bon Jovi lives in Soho but is keeping a house in Jersey because he may run for governor there one day. Alec Baldwin is worried that Hillary Clinton won’t vote “no” on a $10 billion farm bill that subsidizes farmers who provide fattening foods to schools. Kelly Ripa claims she treats her butt like her breasts by buying really tight jeans and pushing her cheeks together. Cindy Adams claims that Time Warner may be looking to sell People magazine and In Style to Hachette. A stylist for Frederic Fekkai had to wear rubber gloves before shampooing a tweaked-out, sweaty Brandon Davis. High-end TV network Plum TV laid off a bunch of people and may be closing. Makeup maven Olivia Chantecaille has a new banker boyfriend. Liz Hurley and Hugh Grant are still buddies and attended a dinner party at the Upper East Side townhouse of Valentino.
company town
Stephen Colbert Doesn’t Make the BallotMEDIA
• Hollywood and television writers have decided to strike and will announce a walk-out deadline by noon today. Late night will be most immediately effected — guess we’ll find out just how funny Jon Stewart and David Letterman really are. [NYT]
• The South Carolina Democratic executive committee rejected self-proclaimed “favorite son” Stephen Colbert’s attempt to get on the ballot. Colbert now has to accumulate 10,000 signatures to make the ballot as an independent or pay the Republicans $35,000. Tough decision. [HuffPo]
• Don Imus signed a deal with Citadel to return to radio, broadcasting on WABC in New York and syndicated nationally on ABC Radio. The I-Man had to settle for $5 million a year, half of what he made with CBS. [WSJ]
company town
Rupert Murdoch Wins the PartyMEDIA
• News Corp. surpassed Time Warner to become the largest media company on the planet, and Murdoch held off a shareholder revolt in order to keep his family tyranny in place. [Hollywood Reporter, USAT]
• ESPN poached marquee columnist Rick Reilly from Sports Illustrated after 22 years with the mag. Dan Patrick, who SI just poached from ESPN, will take Reilly’s place at the back of the book. [NYT, Deadspin]
• Stephen Colbert took his campaign to the Tim Russert show: “This is not a dream, you are not going to wake up from this. I am far realer than Sam Brownback.” [NYT]
gossipmonger
Carrie Has to Remarry for ‘Sex and the City’Sex and the City producers have to reshoot the wedding sequence between Carrie Bradshaw and Mr. Big at the New York Public Library because they rushed through it the first time. (Also, Kim Cattrall shows up to work last every day.) ABC contacted Cosmo’s hottest New York Bachelor of 2007, Patrick Clark, about staring in The Bachelor. Bonnie Evans, widow of Charles Evans (brother of producer Bob Evans), is putting up her Park Avenue triplex for sale for $30 million. Josh Hartnett claimed that “half–95%” of what is written about him is not true but declined to say whether his hooking up with Rihanna was included in that figure. The Autumn, the play starring Meryl Streep’s daughter Mamie Gummer, is coming to Broadway. Law & Order: SVU star Richard Belzer spends a lot of time looking for UFOs. Cindy Adams discusses reruns on TV.
company town
Miss Manners Hates Your BlackBerryFINANCE
• Blackstone founders Stephen Schwarzman and Pete Peterson shot up 30 places to No. 4 in Vanity Fair’s annual ranking of “The New Establishment.” Henry Kravis, who made the list for the first time, will have to console himself with No. 51. [VF, DealBook/NYT]
• Maybe CEOs aren’t all automatons after all: Scholars found that the death of a child or wife typically results in a 15 to 20 percent hit on profits — though the death of a mother-in-law often means good news for business. Let’s just hope they’re not confusing cause and effect, here. [WSJ]
• Beat this, Spence girls: The daughter of Qwest CEO Edward Mueller gets free use of the corporate jet to help ferry her from Denver to California for high school. [DealBook/NYT]
company town
Valentino Resigns, Greenspan BlogsFASHION
• Valentino is set to stop designing. He’ll announce today that he’ll do two more shows, and then call it quits. You know, to catch up on all that missed tanning. [WWD]
• Pierre Hardy to be the latest big name designer to work with the Gap. [British Vogue]
• Instead of bowing at Fashion Week, former Trovata designers Sam Shipley and Jeff Halmos will debut their new menswear line online at men.style.com. That should save everyone a little headache and VitaminWater. WWD]
gossipmonger
A Money-er Honey?CNBC “Money Honey” Maria Bartiromo is jealous of co-worker Erin Burnett because Burnett is becoming more popular than she is. An upcoming book about Katie Couric claims she planned to leave NBC a year before she actually did and that the staff of 60 Minutes thinks she’s a “lightweight.” State Senator Carl Kruger is not a fan of fellow Democrat Eliot Spitzer. Jeremy Shockey took a bunch of Giants teammates to Scores. The woman who blogged about Keith Olbermann’s bedside manners is no longer maintaining her blog. Naomi Watts finally gave birth. Nora Ephron has spent a lot of time giving her breasts a workout. Christie Brinkley is spending $10.9 million to buy the house in North Haven next door to the one where Peter Cook had an affair.