Most designer clothing for women is sized ridiculously small (we’re looking at you, Alexander Wang), and the sample sizes that dress the models on the runway can be even more petite. It hadn’t really occurred to us that the same extreme proportions would apply to male models until New York magazine revealed that the Olympic fencer Jason Rogers was cut as a walker from Louis Vuitton‘s Paris show because he couldn’t fit into the pants. Come on, this Hottie McHotterson is too fat for the runway?

Costco used to be the ultimate shopping mecca for people who like to stock up on toilet paper, meat, and socks in bulk. But pretty soon the ladies-who-lunch crowd could become the giant retailer’s best customers, now that the cat is out of the Chanel bag. You see, the Costco store in East Harlem, which opened last week, is selling Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Tod’s, Burberry, and Salvatore Ferragamo purses for a discount (well, a discount compared to their regular prices, not to most people’s expendable income). Burberry’s mini satchel costs $1,019.99. A medium shopper tote by Tod’s is $549.99. The Ferragamo “Marissa” handbag goes for $629.99. And the Chanel bag costs $1,999. I think it would be strange to purchase one of these high-fashion wares while everyone around you is pushing a shopping cart and sampling microwaveable foods. Am I the only one that finds Costco selling designer handbags weird? [StyleCaster]

There’s a new online fashion magazine out there called Flamboyant, and its debut issue presents this “artistic” spread of designer-inspired loaves of bread. In the mix are carb-loaded replicas modeled after brands like Hermès, Valentino, and Vivienne Westwood. Normally, we squeal girlishly (um, you know, on the inside) at these types of conceptual fashion/food photographs. Remember those Chanel and Louis Vuitton cupcakes?

While we get the idea, Flamboyant‘s take doesn’t quite follow through. OK fine, we’re just going to come out and say it: that Burberry “croissant” looks like a turd. Yum! [Fashion Copious]

For the Red Cross’s 150th Anniversary, Louis Vuitton and friends are joining forces to really celebrate in style. Photog Annie Liebovitz and artist Damien Hirst have each designed Louis Vuitton pieces for the collection to be auctioned off at Sotheby’s on November 17. Even Marc Jacobs got in on the action with a travel trunk for his dogs. Not only should this make you want to fly around the world, but it makes everyone else want to see you doing it. (Hey, a girl can dream, right?) After the jump, check out these soon-to-be auctioned items.

This creation makes us question which planet Louis Vuitton is living on. (Oh right ... France.) It’s a space-egg-suitcase-contraption that contains all the necessities for your next trip to Mars and yes, as in the one in outer space. From the illustration, we gather that the essentials for the LV lifestyle include a lounge chair to recall your sunny St. Tropez memories, books on style and fashion, drawers in which to organize your Vuitton accessories, and dishes. Makes so much sense, right?

The description, however, is in French, so here’s our stab at a translation—roughly—after the jump…

Hot on the heels of his sneaker design collaboration with Nike, Kanye West has debuted another one with Louis Vuitton. The collection, simply called, er, Kanye West for Louis Vuitton, features five distinct sneakers which range in colors from solid red to pastel shades. West mixed the usual suspects when it comes to sneaker materials like leather uppers and cotton laces with felt trimming. And while they might look like your standard sneaker, the signature Louis Vuitton logo on the soles and tongues let you know that these are luxury kicks. So does the price! The shoes, available at Louis Vuitton stores, cost between $840 and $1140 depending on the style. If your guy, really, really, really wanted these, would you buy them for him? It’s a recession, so I’m thinking I’d download the picture and frame it nicely for him instead.

Twiggy has just been tapped to be the face of Oil of Olay, again. Back in 1985 she was the star of their commercials and now she’ll be bringing the glamor back for their Definity ad campaign. Of her new gig the model said, “I am delighted to be fronting the new advertising campaign because as a women who is nearly 60, I am a strong believer in using trusted brands like Olay, that are clinically proven to meet the needs of more mature skin.”

It’s nice to see a familiar face, not to mention an adult one.  In an age where models seem to be getting younger and younger, Twiggy is part of a trend of talented women breaking through the ageist industry and proving they’re as sexy and as valued as ever! And these confident supermodels, who are not teenagers anymore, are beating the odds of a highly critical, looks based business. Thanks to the women in this slideshow, true beauty is something we all can achieve at every age.

A photo from Madonna’s second Louis Vuitton ad campaign was leaked, and—surprise, surprise!—it features Madge wearing a pair of the bunny ears she rocked at last month’s Met Ball. Luckily, they look a lot less crazy in the campaign than they did in real life—some fashion just doesn’t translate to life beyond the Playboy mansion. In this upcoming campaign, she appears less like a hooker than she did in the last one, but I still prefer the brand’s series featuring former astronauts. No one sells Louis bags like Buzz Aldrin. [Fashionologie]

Fashion is addictive, and oftentimes insatiable. For those who need to satisfy their hunger, there are these fashion-inspired cupcakes created by photographer Therese Aldgard and food stylist Lisa Edsalv. Working with colors and themes from high-end designers, the team created sweets to suit the brands: Chanel features black frosting and white pearl adornments, Louis Vuitton is chocolate frosting with red roses, and Louboutin, is an appropriate red cake to mirror the soles of the shoes. The Frisky’s favorite is naturally the Agent Provocateur-style, with vanilla frosting adorned with a pink tip to resemble nipples. You may not be able to find these treats for purchase, but looking at them is enough eye candy.  [High Snobiety]

Apparently Topshop, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, and Forever 21 aren’t doing too badly in the recession, even as their peers are experiencing millions of dollars in losses. A WWD survey of a 100 luxury industry experts came up with those four brands as the most likely to succeed in this economy and, as you can see, there’s quite a disparity in price points. We understand why Topshop and Forever 21 will do well—they’re on trend, fun and dirt cheap—but Chanel and Louis Vuitton need a little further explanation. Why Chanel and LV, not Prada and Dior? What is it about these particular $3,000 bags that makes them relatively recession-proof?

Ads for luxury brand Louis Vuitton generally feature the rich and fabulous, i.e., Madonna, Sean Connery, Sofia Coppola, and Sean Connery. But the latest installment in the company’s Core Values series, shot by Annie Liebovitz, features lesser-known faces whose names we learned in elementary school history lessons. The ad pictures Sally Ride (the first American woman to enter space), Buzz Aldrin (set foot on the moon with Neil Armstrong), and Jim Lovell (commander of the Apollo 13 mission). Of course, the trio just happen to have a Vuitton satchel with them as they hang out on a battered pickup truck, looking at the moon. Isn’t it nice to have a change from the typical celeb faces we see hawking products? [WWD]

In an article entitled “Put It Away Madonna!” UK newspaper, The Daily Mail, boldly stated that they think Madge is too old to flash her vadge.  Excuse me, the Material Girl damn near invented crotch shots!  And the now 50-year-old looks super sexy in the new Louis Vuitton ads in which she’s sprawled out in a booth with a leg up and a come hither look.  Honestly, I can’t get over the muscle training alone required to lift that piece of luggage above her head with a stiletto heel! I can barely grab my bag off the airport turnstile with both arms.  Heck, even a homosexual like designer Marc Jacobs can’t resist her charms!  It was his idea to make the Queen of Pop his cover girl. Why should motherhood stop the sex symbol from doing her thing? She’s a straight up MILF representin’! At the very least, over 15 years later, it’s nice to know people still uncontrollably pop a woody for her, even if it makes reporter/hater Chris Johnson uncomfortably critical. We’ve come up with five other things we think that the newly single M could do with her crotch to expand her business, besides sell luxury handbags…

A 50-year-old Madonna will be the new face of luxury brand’s Louis Vuitton’s spring/summer 2009 collection. The idea to use Madonna came to Marc Jacobs, the label’s creative director, while watching her concert in Paris last year. “I just blurted out, ‘I think we should do Madonna,’” he said. “I was totally just blown away by it, and moved by her performance, by what she had to say, and her energy.” He sent her a text asking if she’d be interested, she replied, “I’d love to,” and she was quickly reunited with photographer Steven Meisel, who took the pictures for her infamous Sex book in 1992. Madonna resurrects the whole underwear-as-outerwear schtick in Meisel’s shots of her wearing fishnet tights and LV lingerie in a smoky French bistro setting. In another one of the six campaign images, Madonna actually dons a jacket.

Antoine Arnault, Louis Vuitton’s communications director, explained their choice in the Queen of Pop: “Madonna is glamorous. She has a global image. She’s the ultimate performer and businesswoman, and not someone who is just a famous singer. She has travelled. She has tried to change things.”

The more-than-famous singer was reportedly paid $10 million for her hard day’s work but Arnault has denied the figure, saying the real fee was “very far away from that.” Hopefully, she got to keep the panties. [Telegraph.co.uk]

Before today, I thought Ring Pops were the height of glamour in food that you can wear; I was very wrong. Designer Nancy Wu took sheets of beef jerky and sewed them together to create what appear to be a classic Chanel quilted handbag and a Louis Vuitton wallet. Doesn’t the bag look like a vintage purse that was handed down from Grandma? [via Designboom]

The mark of a good dad is his kids, and when you’re Francis Ford Coppola, director of The Godfather trilogy, Apocalypse Now, and our personal favorite, the Michael Jackson Disney World 3D experience, Captain EO, you’ve already set the bar pretty darn high for your children. But if there’s a woman awesome enough to fill her father’s film-making shoes it’s Sofia Coppola.  With The Virgin Suicides, Lost In Translation, and Marie Antoinette to her credit, she is undoubtedly making him proud.  The two recently posed together for Annie Leibovitz (the photog responsible for ruining Miley Cyrus’ career), who shot their ad for Louis Vuitton Journeys.  Sure, it’s made to sell handbags, but it also shows just how supportive and loving their father/daughter relationship really is. The Coppola’s are the cutest! [Trend Hunter]

Sex is all about give and take. A study at the University of Michigan School of Public Health found that even though 475 U of M undergrads didn’t need to use sex to get provisions (that’s what parents’ bank accounts are for), many did use it to get other things—help with Econ 302, maybe? Since the students didn’t have any needs that they actually had to use sex to fulfill (i.e., hummingbirds mate to gain access to the most productive flowers guarded by larger males), this suggests something hard wired about the behavior.

There’s one thing Donna Karan, Louis Vuitton, Christian LaCroix, and Alexander McQueen agree on for spring: fabulous full skirts. While high-waisted jeans may still cause us to cringe at the mom factor, high-waisted skirts can make any woman look like a pin-up girl.  Since the feminine silhouette of the skirt naturally blossoms at the bottom, it accentuates your waist and can even create one for boyishly figured types. It’s not magic, it’s just plain old-fashioned fashion. Five we really love, after the jump…