When aging musical jack-of-all-trades Jack White of the White Stripes and his model wife Karen Elson announced their divorce to friends, it wasn't with teary phone calls in the middle of the night, it was with an invitation. They're throwing a divorce party!
It hasn't been the easiest year for Vikram Pandit, but the Citigroup CEO has at least one reason to smile today: It's his 53rd birthday. Cranky 60 Minutes commentator Andy Rooney turns 91 today. Fox News anchor Shepard Smith is 46. Maureen Dowd of the New York Times is turning 58. Director Steven Soderbergh turns 47. Jason Bateman is 41. Dave Grohl is turning 41. LL Cool J is 42. Model Angela Lindvall is celebrating her 31st birthday. And Faye Dunaway turns 69 today.
• This is going to come as a big shock to you, we're sure, but it seems Alex Rodriguez has been hooking up with several women since splitting up with Kate Hudson. A-Rod also "keeps bragging that Madonna is still texting him all the time," although for Madonna's sake, let's hope that isn't true. [P6]
• Angelina Jolie has been dropped as the face of the clothing brand St. John in favor of red-headed model (and the wife of Jack White) Karen Elson. Why the change? It seems St. John concluded that Jolie was too famous and had "overshadowed the brand." [NYDN]
• Related: Did Brad Pitt deal weed in college? No, but he kind of looks like he may have what with that scraggly beard he's been sporting recently. [NYP]
• Usher had more than $1 million in jewelry, furs, and electronics stolen from his SUV in mid-December. Exactly why he had all this stuff stored in his car of all places—and why he only noticed now—is unclear. [TMZ]
• Tila Tequila was set to be interviewed on Larry King Live, but CNN yanked the "Casey Johnson tribute" at the last minute. Did the network realize giving a mentally-ill publicity addict was a bad idea? (Unlikely; the Balloon Boy dad was a guest the other night.) Maybe CNN worried about getting sued? Who knows, but you can always go to Twitter (where she's tweeted about Johnson's death more than 160 times over the past week), or go to People's website for your "Tila Tequila exclusive interview," if you must. [TMZ, E!, People]
• Swine flu fashion has arrived! Just as you totally expected it would. [Pipeline, NYM]
• David Beckham is designing a line of men's clothes. Why? Because he can, that's why. [WWD]
• Kim Kardashian is taking a stand on the importance of honest photography in supermarket tabloid journalism. It's about time, too. [Jezebel]
• A peek inside the closets of Gisele Bundchen, Naomi Campbell, and Karen Elson. [Vogue]
• The 2009 CFDA Award nominees were announced this evening. [WWD]
• Following months of speculation, it's official: Olivier Theyskens (left) has parted ways with the house of Nina Ricci. [WWD]
• Depressed? "In times of trouble, pink is the shopper's comfort color." [NYT]
• Katie Holmes is starting up a kids clothing line, it seems. [Racked]
• Is Marc Jacobs getting married later this year? Possibly! [FWD]
• The times they are a-changin': Beyoncé appears on the new cover of Vogue, which means the mag has featured black women two issues in a row. [NYM]
• Karen Elson stars in Agent Provocateur's new spring campaign. [Pipeline]
• LiLo's spray-on tanner actually works, you may be surprised to hear. [NYDN]
• A look inside the new Armani flagship on Fifth Ave. [Racked]
• Claudia Schiffer has such a huge clothing collection, she converted a climate-controlled helicopter hanger into a giant closet. Naturally. [Daily Mail]
Worst birthday ever: Embattled Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit turns 52 today, although we're going to assume that whatever big party Swati Pandi had been planning is not going ahead as scheduled. Others celebrating: 60 Minutes' Andy Rooney is turning 90. Fox News anchor Shepard Smith is 45. The New York Times' Maureen Dowd is 57. Models Karen Elson and Angela Lindvall are both turning 30. Filmmaker Steven Soderbergh is 46. Cranky liberal Eric Alterman is 49. Venture capitalist (and babe magnet) Adam Dell is turning 39. Jason Bateman is 40. Dave Grohl is celebrating his 40th. LL Cool J is 41. Faye Dunaway is turning 68. And Ms. Kristin Cavallari is turning 22 today.
♦ Diane von Furstenberg's comic book is now on sale. She launched it last night with a party at her meatpacking district boutique, where guests (like Lindsay Price, left) had their names checked off at the door by Whitney Port and Olivia Palermo, and everyone was warned they might be taped. We look forward to seeing the relevant scene on The City. [Racked]
♦ Pat Field's line for British chain Marks and Spencer had shoppers lining up in their hundreds today, but an unimpressed reporter says she "can't imagine any woman with a stylish bone in her body being seen dead in these get-ups." [Daily Mail]
» The scene at Michael Kors was inevitably the central portion of the fashion industry/magazine world/reality TV venn diagram: Nina Garcia, Rachel Zoe with her client Joy Bryant, Heidi Klum, Joanna Coles, and Joe Zee drew the limelight away from Kelly Killoren Bensimon, Aerin Lauder Zinterhofer, Blake Lively, Bette Midler, and Kors' mom Joan. On the runway the (smiling!) models, who were told "you are the most glamorous beach bums in the world," showed off middle-of-the-road, cheerful outfits with polka dots and gingham aplenty. [NYO, NYDN, IHT]
Elson is a fashion model known for her flame of red hair, penciled brows, and phantasmically translucent skin. Dubbed "Le Freak" by Italian Vogue, she is perhaps the most successful living definition of "oddly pretty."
