A promo shot helpfully contextualized with a yellow cab.

As if we needed to remind you, Whitney Port’s Hills spinoff, The City, premieres tonight on MTV. Lest the magic of television fool you, “Page Six” asserts Port’s job in public relations at Diane Von Furstenberg’s office isn’t actually &#8212 wait for it &#8212 a real job. Shocking, confounding, deceptive &#8212 we are farklempt.

[O]ne source tells us, “She doesn’t really work. She is hardly ever in the office.” Those who do work for von Furstenberg, however, are in the office daily and “can’t get their work done because MTV tells them they can’t move any thing at their work stations. They do so many reshoots that everything has to look exactly the same every day.”

We have also heard that having the camera crews in the office while paparazzi stalk Port and her greasy suitors outside the office created chaotic circumstances for the actual staff. Moreover, we caught Port’s co-star, socialite Olivia Palermo, at September Fashion Week in the thick of The City’s shooting period at the Carlos Miele show, which took place at 3 p.m. on a Wednesday. Besides, everyone knows whatever not-even-glittering generalities Port managed to utter at her “interview” with a real DVF executive never would have landed her a position there. We wonder if Whitney got paid for her “work” at the label, as she did when she worked for Kelly Cutrone at People’s Revolution. Because we hear the company has just laid off a handful of people, including in the PR department. If this is going to be as great a marketing opportunity for the house as it seems, couldn’t they have held on to one or two of those employees? It would be really tragic if Port and Palermo &#8212 two girls anything but in need of financial means &#8212 are replacing them.

HARD LABOR [NYP]
Related: Run for the Hills [NYM]
Olivia Palermo Misses Work at DVF’s Office for Fashion Week

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Filed Under: diane von furstenberg, inner city life, kelly cutrone, mtv, olivia palermo, peoples revolution, reality tv, the city, whitney port

Dov Charney

You know who probably doesn’t need to worry about getting laid off anytime soon? Members of American Apparel’s legal team. Because enumerating their lawsuits as of late is not unlike counting the number of Christmas cookies and frosted nuts we ate last week. The latest suit involves American Apparel’s ex–chief of European operations Bernhard-Axel Ingo Brake. He alleges he was fired after he complained about the company’s employment practices in Europe. He also claims Dov Charney verbally promised him more than $1 million in bonuses and commissions, which have yet to reach his bank account.

Brake also says Charney paid employees under the table to evade taxes and let the women employees he liked best (you knew they’d come up eventually) mishandle company funds and waste resources &#8212 far from the best interests of American Apparel’s shareholders. Not to be outdone, American Apparel has filed a lawsuit of their own against Brake in German court. They say he was fired for embezzling money from the company and also allege that he hired his mistress for a high-level position in Switzerland, the duties of which went unfulfilled. Additionally, they claim Brake went against the company’s nepotism rules by hiring his daughter to work in a store and then paid her random bonuses. Eh, we’d say the worst crime in all that would be putting any woman in a position in which she might have to interact with Dov Charney. Just typing that feels like cause for a shower.

American Apparel and Former Exec in Legal Battle [WWD]

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Filed Under: american apparel, bernhard-axel ingo brake, dov charney, lawsuits

We’ve seen rumors about this in the British tabs before, but it’s back, so here goes: Topshop owner Sir Philip Green is reportedly wooing Christina Aguilera to design a collection for his chain. The enormous success of Kate Moss’s line shall not stand alone. A source tells the Mirror, “Philip loves her style and believes she would add something new to TopShop. Christina is the blonde bombshell who is into pop whereas Kate is the rock chick and model.” Thanks for clearing up their occupations, anonymous source. On that note, we’ve been thankful that Christina has avoided designing things people can wear for some time. If we do say, she seems to be in the midst of a fashion/image crisis right now. The Studio 54 jumpsuits and Hot Topic lingerie she wears onstage, the permanently bold lip color, the thick black eyeliner she probably tattooed on in secret &#8212 it’s like she landed at a Madonna concert from Planet Moulin Rouge and thought that was how we do things on Earth. Well, Moulin Rouge came out at the end of the VHS era for goodness sake. Upgrade yourself, honey!

Top Shop boss ready to sign Christina Aguilera in £4million deal to design new fashion range [Mirror]

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Filed Under: Celebrity (Non-)Designers, christina aguilera, kate moss, sir philip green, topshop

Hayden-Harnett’s Target collection.

&#8226 Giving up hope on the U.S. market, apparel companies are trying to cash in on the middle class in China. “The Chinese are ideal customers because they want you to put a whole outfit together for them, from head to toe,” says one executive. [NYP]

&#8226 In people-who-aren’t-closing-things-down news, Tom Ford is reportedly opening a shop on Rodeo Drive next year. [WWD]

&#8226 Hayden-Harnett’s handbag collection for Target was supposed to hit stores yesterday, but one shopper was unable to find it in two Target stores in Brooklyn. What’s going on? [Racked]

&#8226 Kate Moss will star in the ad campaign for LVMH-owned jewelry line Fred, replacing French actress Audrey Marnay. “We needed a more international icon that would resonate across all our markets, in particular Asia,” say the Fred people. [WWD]

&#8226 The twelfth-season finale of America’s Next Top Model appears to have just been filmed in Brazil. The challenge: a Rosa Cha swimsuit show! [Made in Brazil]

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Filed Under: advertising, americas next top model, china, fred, hayden harnett, kate moss, loose threads, lvmh, rosa cha, target, tom ford