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Dreams of having enough money to splurge on a Saks and St. Jude’s elaborate Christmas gift are still dancing in my head. If I had such an exorbitant amount of money that it became no issue, I would absolutely design my own snow globe. After all, the kids at St. Jude’s would benefit.

But since I don’t have that much spending cash, I’ll have to keep my head in the clouds for now. However, while I’m there, I can’t help but keep my thoughts on the subject of Saks Fifth Avenue in general. So here’s a little tid-bitty news piece about the iconic New York retail hub turned national style necessity:

Saks has been toying with the idea if going international for sometime now, and certainly has the rights to be called an internationally-known name. Wednesday they took the first tangible step towards officially being a worldwide store, though, when they opened their first non-U.S. location.

So which country did they choose to step into first? France? Italy? Maybe England? No, they went straight for Mexico. (So I suppose that they are technically they are North American, not international.)

The new locale is a three-level, 150,000-square-foot unit in the upscale Santa Fe Shopping Center in Mexico City. According to the company, this opening is a test to determine the potential for more stores in the country.

Mexico a fashion-forward country … who knew?

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Gap Kids is the hot topic of legal buzz of the day. British newspaper The Observer set out on an investigation of child labor in an India-based supplier for the retail giant’s European and United States stores.

Why the newspaper was able to discover this, and Gap, Inc. was not … baffles me, but the important part is that child labor was found to be used at this factory, and actions are being set forth to stop it.

Kids as young as 10 years old were creating clothes on a daily basis, including currently working to produce blouses in time for Christmas.

The Observer reported their findings on Sunday, October 28, and the Gap responded by withdrawing all potentially tainted items from sales floor and shipments, beginning their own investigation, and meeting with all of their suppliers to review laws and ethical codes.

Child labor alone disgusts many - and rightfully should. But the conditions found were not just those of kids working to earn money to feed their families. It was a sweatshop, make no mistake.

According to the Observer, the child workers described long hours of unpaid work, threats, and beatings. The children were hand-embroidering and beading. They were bought from their parents and taken several miles away into the city of New Delhi. They were working off the cost paid to their parents rather than receiving any pay. They were often going without food for more than 24 hours.

Many of you may not shop at Gap affiliations anyway, finding it too popular/preppy/corporate/fill-in-the-blank. But if you do, you should note that, according to Gap’s official statement released Sunday October 28, this was not a regular supplier. Gap would like to note that the Christmas blouse mentioned above was the only item that this subcontracted factory was producing. Additionally, the actual company that Gap was in direct contract with, allegedly further subcontracted the work out to an unauthorized company without Gap’s consent or knowledge.

Gap’s spokespeople made numerous statements, as I am sure you can imagine. They are being very political, making it near impossible to read into the situation. We will just have to wait and see what happens next … and we should all surely keep these children in our thoughts and prayers, especially as the Thanksgiving season approaches and we remember all that we have.

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Creative copyright: I’ve touched on it before, and it continues to make the news and spark my interest.

Sometimes lines aren’t clear and easy to draw - can someone claim a color or hemline? Sometimes it’s easy - the streets of New York are replete with bags and clothes that print designers’ exact logos on cheaply-replicated designs.

Where does the copyright line begin and end?

In a case that could potentially be a landmark legal pathway for creative rights, seven defendants - who were running a counterfeit clothing company under names including Gizmo Wear Inc., Tea Shirt Inc., T Shirt
International Inc., and Jump Wear - have thus far plead guilty and been sentenced. Some of the brand names that were being counterfeited were Rocawear, Evisu, Ecko, Enyce and LRG, as reported by Women’s Wear Daily.

Five defendants have been sent to prison. The latest, Abbas Chouman, 43, of Astoria, N.Y., received a sentencing October 12 of 57 months in prison and $7 million in fines. His punishment has been the harshest yet; the others range from two years probation to 27 months in prison. Charges have also included copyright infringement and piracy on CDs, DVDs, and shoes. All this, according to PR Newswire.

So will this lead to further pursuit of copyrighting criminals? Were they busted only because their operations were so large, spanning the nation by Internet and UPS C.O.D. delivery? Will this hinder future potential crimes against creativity?

Only time will tell, but until then, make sure you only purchase the real deal!

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If you turned on the television or opened a newspaper or magazine at all this weekend, then you know that it was a busy weekend in the fashion world. Here’s a quick recap of the major highlights:

**Vera Wang - shown here at the Breast Cancer Research Foundation’s Hot Pink Party in April - designed collection exclusively for Kohl’s that was announced in August 2006 has hit the stores! Originally set to be called Very Vera by Vera Wang, the line now dubbed Simply Vera by Vera Wang began being stocked last week, hit stores officially Sunday August 9, but won’t be fully stocked in all stores until Monday August 17.

**Dame Anita Roddick - founder of The Body Shop, blogger, and human rights and environmental campaigner - passed away at the age of 64 after a brain hemorrhage.

**Fashion Week has been going strong. Unfortunately, I am not cool enough yet to be invited to any of the designers’ shows. So instead, I will direct you to Vogue at the Shows where Vogue writers who are actually that cool provide full coverage on Style.com. Related site Men.Style.com offers coverage of the men and their Fashion Week shows. Women’s Wear Daily provides all the scandals of the weeks including last minute cancellations …and if there is a slow day later this week I’ll compile some slideshows for you from a few favorites since I am cool enough to have access to press photos! Any requests?

**Talk-of-the-town Britney Spears danced and performed “Gimme More” at the MTV Video Music Awards Sunday evening in a black sparkly bra and boy shorts with knee-high boots. And of course, people are making fun of her left and right. But come on people… no she doesn’t look as good as she used to (how many of us look the same at 25 as we did at 15?), and yes she could have picked a better outifit, but I’d like to see any one of these stone throwers look half as good post two pregnancies. Heck, I hope I look like this after I have two kids, though I also hope someone steps up and reminds me to put clothes on over top of my underwear before I go out for the night.

Now that it has been made official that both Valentino and partner Giancarlo are done with their fashion designing days, Women’s Wear Daily brought us a fantastic summary and update of what the future holds for the duo’s company:

Valentino Fashion Group on Wednesday appointed Alessandra Facchinetti as creative director of the Valentino women’s collections. WWD first reported on May 25 that VFG was courting Facchinetti, the former head of women’s wear at Gucci.

In her new role, Facchinetti, 35, will be responsible for Valentino’s couture and ready-to-wear collections, along with the RED and Roma secondary lines. She takes the reins from Valentino, 75, who on Tuesday revealed plans to retire in January 2008 after one more ready to wear season and one more couture show. His longtime business partner, Giancarlo Giammetti, also will step down.

VFG emphasized in a statement Wednesday how it worked together with Valentino and Giammetti to reorganize the creative team at the brand. In a further sign of the changing times at the house, longtime accessories designers Maria Grazia Chiuri and Paolo Piccioli have been appointed creative directors for the fast-growing category. There are also plans to strengthen the men’s wear division in the near future.

Can you believe it? Facchinetti - pictured here in May 2006 - is only 35 years old and is already moving up from Gucci. I think I smell the need for a fashionista profile … so stay tuned!

Love fashion so much that you can’t seem to think about anything else? Why not try making a career out of it?

Fashion Careers is an online job search engine where you can post your resume; search for work in marketing, buying, selling, designing, merchandising, and more; and connect with top industry leaders such as Steve and Barry’s, BCBG, Guess?, WWD, and more!

Also, be sure to check out the Fashion Career Expo if you are within reach of New York on September 7, or Los Angeles on October 19. You have to have at least a bachelor’s degree and two years of experience, but once you are pre-screened and approved, you can attend and meet directly with dozens of decision-making style industry leaders. Companies represented will span fashion, retail, and beauty realms.

Creative rights are hard lines to draw in artistic fields. When a designer creates a dress, how much can they claim to be original? Choosing the color blue has been done before, so has a plunging neckline. Post award shows you can find imitations of all the red carpet gowns for one-tenth the price from labels other than the original designer’s. How do the designers feel in all of this?

Well we at least know how Jessica Kagan Cushman feels.

The one-of-a-kind, couture jewelry maiden has been the buzz of bracelet world over the past year. Cushman’s latest line is that of mammoth ivory (all collected from preserved tusks of animals that died naturally from 10,000 to 40,000 years ago), scrimshaw, phrase bangles. The fun sayings include inspirations from The Wizard of Oz, Mary Poppins, New York graffiti, and simply being an independent woman. I must say, it was refreshing not to see a designer expecting me to plaster a sleazy sexual innuendo on my body.

No controversy yet. The bracelets were doing well, hitting stores, magazines, and wrists.

Chanel then showed off their new “it” bracelets in March: a Chanel quote carved into resin for $600, and they had a waiting list already.

In the past, people have written quotes and sayings on bracelets - just take the “Live Strong” trend for example. Why is this suddenly considered a direct copy? My debate for that would go on for a while. Instead let me finish the designer drama for you.

Jessica got mad; then she got even; then she one up-ed them.

First, there was a classy “Ripped off by CHANEL” bangle, with Chanel written in the designer’s exact font. This move? childish, but made a statement. Even better though, Cushman began designing her own carved resin wrist jewelry for $130 - pocket change compared to Chanel’s version.

Are you following so far? Cushman designs expensive, quality bracelet. Chanel copies with cheaper material. Cushman responds with cheaper price.

Now, however, Forever 21 has jumped on the writings-on-your-wrist bandwagon. Now Cushman has more press than ever, but she also has more direct copies/competitors.

The bracelet is cute, the sayings clever. But the controversy? Well, creative rights are a hard line to draw.

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Jessica Simpson hit us seemingly all at once with JS by Jessica Simpson, Princy, and Jessica Simpson Footwear (not to mention her makeup, perfume, and hair product lines). Jennifer Lopez rolled out Sweetface and J Lo. Earlier this year Sarah Jessica Parker worked with Steve & Barry’s to produce Bitten.

And let us not forget the numerous - and I do mean numerous - other celebs who have a clothing label or two: Gwen Stefani, Will.i.am, Sean “P. Diddy” Combs, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, and Justin Timberlake only skim the surface.

How many more celebrity labels do we need?

Well, we’ll have to make room for at least two more. Amanda Bynes and Paris Hilton are jumping on the bandwagon.

Amanda, like SJP, teamed up with Steve & Barry’s for Dear, which she’ll debut in the Manhattan store on August 16. The name is endearing, coming from the affectionate way older women reference young ladies. She is bringing us everything this fashion world has been missing - hooded sweatshirts, racerback tank tops, mini jean skirts, hearts, stars, and multi-layered shirts. Dear is also full-equipped and ready to go with it’s own MySpace page. Just guess who the target audience is for this line.

Paris, capitalizing on her oversized feet (size 11!), just signed with Antebi Footwear Group to create Paris Hilton Footwear that will debut next year. “My goal is to create a stylish and fun fashion line from head to toe,” said Hilton in a statement. While I wish Paris all the best, I can’t help but point out … head? Paris, it’s a shoe company.

Who’s next? My guess would be Jessica Biel, Hayden Panettiere, Jennifer Hudson, Jon Stewart, Suri Cruise …

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