Poshbot

Proenza Schouler plus Giuseppe Zanotti? Try saying that five times fast.

You don’t have to know how to say it, but come spring 2009, you will be wearing them. WWD reports that Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez of Proenza Schouler just inked a licensing deal with Giuseppe Zanotti to produce women’s shoes.

I love a good fashion mash-up, but I’m kind of scratching my head on how Proenza’s chunky heeled aesthetic will blend with Zanotti’s bling. It could be fashion heaven or a hot tranny mess.

Hip denim masters Ksubi are hooking up with Kanye West to develop a line of fashion eyewear for his Pastelle fashion brand. Ksubi for Pastelle will launch in October with limited edition gold frames that will retail for $2,000.

The line will be designed by Ksubi co-owner George Garrow, who previously worked with West on custom eyewear for stage and videos like the blinder sunglasses that he wore in the Stronger video.

“At our first design session at Kanye’s place in LA we spent two days talking and going over shapes,” Gorrow said. “He allowed me to push the design but playing on his aesthetic. He’s not afraid to try new things, and I guess that is why he is where he is.”

Fashion street cred proper.

Anna Wintour cartoon spoof on the cover of the NY Observer

When The New York Observer parodied the April cover of Vogue with a cartoon of an open-mouthed Anna Wintour bouncing a basketball as Advance Magazine chairman S.I. Newhouse Jr. hugs her, chuckles from cubicles were heard all over Midtown — including 4 Times Square. Now it appears André Leon Talley will own the last laugh: Observer owner Jared Kushner bought the original artwork from the illustrator, Victor Juhasz, for the Vogue editor at large. At least seven people placed serious bids — two of which were from within Condé Nast, including Talley and another mysterious bidder whose identity couldn’t be learned. In the past, original art commissioned for the Observer has said to have been sold for anywhere between $1,000 and $10,000. According to sources close to the weekly, Juhasz’s piece went for a price in the middle of that range. No word on whether the piece will hang in Talley’s office at Vogue — on display for Wintour and other staffers to view — or in his Hastings home. [source]

In Italy, his ads most certainly are. Italy’s Institute for Advertising Self-Discipline (IAP) has banned the advertisements for Tom Ford Eyewear, calling them “markedly vulgar” and claiming that one ad depicting a man’s finger in a woman’s mouth (above) “transcends the limits of simple bad taste and offends the sensibility” and that the “scene evokes an offending and abusive act against women, which degrades the dignity of the person.”

Prior to the ban, the images ran in three Italian magazines including Italian Vogue.

Tom Ford is known for his risque ads and the ads are tagged as “sexually explicit” on his website. But unlike his boob-cradled bottle of perfume ads, the current creative doesn’t even show any sexual body parts.

Let’s keep it real. We all know that this is only going to make his new line of eyewear even more popular. This is the kind of publicity designers would cut off their sewing arm for.

But what do you say: vulgar or no?

Are you the Quentin Tarantino of perfume ads? Skilled in the art of parfum porn?

Giorgio Armani is on the hunt for a talented young director to create a television advertisement for his Emporio Armani fragrance line.

The new Emporio Armani for Him and For Her fragrances have been named “Get Together” and the creative campaign should explore the messages of freedom and togetherness.

“Together but with respect for their individuality.”

Send in your entry and vote for your favorite clips at http://www.emporioarmaniparfums.com/contest.

Entries must be submitted by May 15 and voting is open until May 31.