Leave it to Isaac Mizrahi. In just a few seasons, the designer has transformed Liz Claiborne from a matronly brand suffering from over-the-hill aesthetic tendencies to arguably as chic and cheap a mainstream retailer as one can find these days. Take the brand’s Fall 09 Look Book for example, of which Coutorture says, “every item ... from the boots to the bracelets to the outerwear, is affordably priced and perfectly merchandised.”

It seems Sean Combs is taking an interest in sportswear beyond his eponymous brand, Sean John. The rapper-turned-mogul’s namesake corporation just purchased Enyce -- an urban label, which WWD describes as “flailing” -- for $20 million from Liz Claiborne. Combs also coughed up enough dough to cover “all rights and trademarks fro the RSRV men’s line, which Claiborne launched in top urban specialty stores in September 2007,” WWD adds. It seems, as the aforementioned article points out, that Sean John Enterprises isn’t exactly strapped for cash (especially thanks to an investment of $100 million in the company made earlier this year by billionaire party enthusiast Ron Burkle).

"The marriage of Liz Claiborne and Narciso Rodriguez was a bad idea,” says the New York Post in response to the recent news that the latter will depart the classic American brand. After 18 months of what sounds like a very unhappy relationship -- “the struggling apparel giant and the prickly fashion designer have ended their stormy marriage” -- both parties are moving on.