Gucci

Mirabelle Vargas, 29, winds her way through the open-air stalls in downtown Los Angeles' bustling Santee Alley, hunting for Victoria's Secret underwear. Or at least undies with a tag that says Victoria's Secret. An authentic pair from the lingerie maker can cost $7.50 and up. But Vargas, a retail sales clerk, managed to find a table brimming with pink-and-white unmentionables. Price: two bucks a pop. "Of course they're not real, not at this price," said Vargas, decked out in a chocolate brown Victoria's Secret tracksuit, also counterfeit.

Beyonce has signed on to headline a concert benefiting Gucci's Chime for Change (get it?), an initiative that works to improve education, justice and health for women and girls around the world. John Legend, Ellie Goulding and Florence and the Machine are also expected to perform. Tickets are on sale starting Wednesday. [Elle] Buzz Bissinger, author of "Friday Night Lights," comes out in the latest issue of GQ -- as a shopaholic. Consider: he owns 81 leather jackets, he writes, 115 pairs of leather gloves and 43 pieces from Gucci.

Robert Pattinson has come out of his post-breakup self-exile, attending movie premieres and chatting and eating ice cream on "The Daily Show. " And he's wearing Gucci. Pattinson had been laying low since it came out in July that girlfriend and "Twilight" costar Kristen Stewart had a fling with married director Rupert Sanders. Make that ex-girlfriend. [WWD] [Los Angeles Times] CoverGirl announced via news release on Tuesday that singer-songwriter Janelle Monáe is joining its roster of celebrity faces.

Gucci Mane apparently isn't ready for spring break to end just yet. The Atlanta rapper and actor was booked into the Fulton County Jail late Tuesday, after Gucci Mane (born Radric Davis) turned himself in on suspicion of aggravated assault with a weapon, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution. PHOTOS: Celebrity mug shots In an irony befitting the "Spring Breakers" star ,  the Fulton County Sheriff's Department said Gucci Mane allegedly hit a man over the head with a Champagne bottle at a night club after the man asked to take a photo with him. According to ABC News,  the man is a soldier.

Tom FORD is finished with Gucci and not quite sure what he will do next ("A Designer Ready for a Change," by Booth Moore, March 27). Martha Stewart has stepped down as an officer of her corporation and will likely do time in jail. It's obvious: Tom Ford for Martha Stewart Living. The man who gave us bamboo stiletto heels and fur-trimmed bell bottoms is the perfect person to take Martha Stewart Omnimedia to the next level. Martha's designs were always a bit on the tame side. I just have a feeling about this.

It's fashion versus fashion as luxury label Gucci faced off in court against Los Angeles clothier Guess? Inc. over a multimillion dollar trademark lawsuit. In the opening day of trial Wednesday in Manhattan, Gucci accused Guess of purposely copycatting its designs in a "complicated scheme" to knock off the Italian fashion company's most iconic trademarks, according to Bloomberg. The saga began three years ago when Gucci filed suit against Guess alleging the California company tried to "Gucci-ize" its products by crafting logos that closely imitated Gucci trademarks, including mimicking the iconic interlocking G pattern that has appeared on numerous Gucci items over the years.

Gucci Group's U.S. unit sued Los Angeles-based Guess Inc. for alleged trademark infringement, accusing the apparel company of using a network of wholesale buyers to sell imitations of Gucci's bestselling designs. Guess allegedly sells knockoffs of Gucci's green-red-green-stripe designs and interlocking "GG" patterns on footwear, wallets and other accessories, according to a complaint filed in federal court in New York. Guess did not respond to a request for comment.

This season, Italian designers reclaimed the jet set, challenging the dominance of French labels such as Balenciaga, Balmain and Givenchy in driving this flashy, body-conscious moment in fashion. Although two strong collections suggested an alternative recipe for seduction -- Raf Simons' passionate take on deconstruction at Jil Sander, and Tomas Maier's spare and sculptural approach, nearly all white with broad strokes of curve-highlighting color -- the overriding message of the spring 2010 shows that ended Monday at Milan Fashion Week was this: the tighter, shorter and more see-through, the better.

There was an assembly-line quality to the beginning of Miuccia Prada's spring show Thursday, the highlight of Milan Fashion Week. Set on a raised metal platform with industrial-style lighting, the models came out one after another, wearing boxy short-sleeve tops and pencil skirts that were uniform-like in their simplicity. Industrial orange, then green, then blue. Each model carried a neon-colored fur stole, which could have been real or fake. Was the designer making a sly comment on fashion's rapidly churning pace?

AFTER presenting his collection for Gucci, designer Tom Ford announced he has "never been more embarrassed to be an American" ("Peace Offering," by Booth Moore, March 3). I've never been more embarrassed to own Gucci. Leslie Fuhrer Friedman Venice

Do you know your Gucci from your Galliano? Your Levi's from your Lincoln? Brand names are part of our pop-culture psyche. But corporations and luxury brands have been known to change their names. French luxury group PPR, whose portfolio includes brands like Puma, Balenciaga and Saint Laurent, recently announced that it is officially changing its name to Kering (pronounced “caring”). Although to us the name sounds more appropriate for a Scandinavian wolf hospice or an off-brand cherry liqueur than a high-end luxury firm, the word “ker” is a Breton word that translates as “home” which, according to company Chairman and Chief Executive Francois-Henri Pinault, better reflects the company's recently narrowed focus on the apparel and accessories brands.

Fashion prize: The incredibly talented shoe designer Nicholas Kirkwood has won the British Fashion Council/Vogue Designer Fashion Fund prize, which includes 200,000 British pounds (more than $315,000) to help grow his business. The London-based Kirkwood is one of a new generation of creators pushing shoe design to new extremes. He isn't inspired in the traditional fashion-designer sense by a place or person. Instead, he's more of an architect of shoes. "Usually, it's about finding an interesting organic shape, or just playing around and doodling," he told Times Fashion Critic Booth Moore in 2011.

UCLA freshman Shabazz Muhammad's Gucci backpack, thrust into the limelight by an Internet reporter's observation, was a “birthday and Christmas gift,” Ron Holmes, his father, said Friday. Holmes said the gift was purchased by Muhammad's mother and sister. He also said that the family has provided UCLA's compliance office with receipts. A Yahoo! Sports reporter mentioned the backpack in a story about the Bruins' 84-73 victory over Arizona on Thursday, noting that it was worth at least $1,000.

Fashion heiress Patricia Gucci has listed her estate in Mountain Center for $9 million. The Riverside County compound consists of a nearly 11,000-square-foot main house, a guest house, tennis court quarters, a swimming pool with spa and a kennel. The contemporary Moroccan-style estate has a screening theater, a library, 10 bedrooms and 10 bathrooms. Built in 1989, the two-level house sits on 23 acres in a gated community. It has views of Coachella Valley, Joshua Tree National Park and mountain ranges.

Gucci Mane may swear that “for the record,” his new song “Truth" is "not a diss record" aimed at Young Jeezy . But if this switchblade of synth-goth menace is just an innocent promo for his forthcoming “Trap God” mixtape, we're scared to hear what an actual warning shot sounds like. The beef between the two Atlanta rappers stretches back nearly a decade, when Gucci (born Radric Davis) was arrested in the shooting death of an alleged Jeezy associate after a break-in at his home.

Call it the H&M effect, or fast fashion. Americans are buying, and discarding, clothes more quickly than ever. On average, each of us throws 54 pounds of clothes and shoes into the trash each year. That adds up to about 9 million tons of shoes, jackets and other wearables that are sent into the waste stream annually, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Traditionally, the options for dealing with that waste have started with an R: Reduce, reuse or recycle. But a clutch of designers, some of them high-end, are pursuing a different tack.

$ Make: Look3D Price: $30 and up Works with: RealD Availability: December $$ Make: Marchon 3D Price: $95 to $150 Works with: RealD Availability: December $$ Make: Oakley 3D Gascan Price: $120 Works with: RealD Availability: November $$$ Make: Gucci Price: $225 Works with:...

IN reference to "Right Bag, Wrong Person," Travel Q&A, Jan. 1: I've got one to top that. Five years ago, I was returning to Orange County. My bag was a Louis Vuitton duffel. After all other luggage had been claimed, the only piece left was a Gucci duffel. My friend encouraged me to copy the business phone number off the tag and call, saying a boyfriend or spouse might have retrieved the wrong bag. Continental took the unclaimed Gucci bag and locked it in its office. The Gucci bag's owner returned my call at midnight.

Robert Pattinson has come out of his post-breakup self-exile, attending movie premieres and chatting and eating ice cream on "The Daily Show. " And he's wearing Gucci. Pattinson had been laying low since it came out in July that girlfriend and "Twilight" costar Kristen Stewart had a fling with married director Rupert Sanders. Make that ex-girlfriend. [WWD] [Los Angeles Times] CoverGirl announced via news release on Tuesday that singer-songwriter Janelle Monáe is joining its roster of celebrity faces.

It was fashion versus fashion as luxury retailer Gucci America Inc. faced off in court against Los Angeles clothier Guess Inc. over a multimillion-dollar trademark lawsuit. In the opening day of trial in Manhattan, Gucci accused Guess of copying its designs in a "complicated scheme" to knock off the Italian fashion company's most iconic trademarks, according to Bloomberg. The saga began three years ago when Gucci, a unit of the French luxury conglomerate PPR, filed suit against Guess alleging the California company tried to "Gucci-ize" its products by crafting logos that closely imitated Gucci trademarks.