“He died at 2:30 pm. He had suffered for several years from leukemia and died of respiratory failure,” said Rose Torrente-Mett, his sister, also a designer.  Lapidus was burried at Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris.

Edmond Lapidus, known as Ted, was born on June 23, 1929 in Paris. He was the son of a Russian immigrant tailor who opened his fashion house in 1958.

His clients included French film stars Brigitte Bardot and Alain Delon.

President Nicolas Sarkozy paid homage to Lapidus as “the poet of high fashion” and extended his condolences to Olivier Lapidus, the designer’s son who continues his father’s work, a statement from his office said.  It will be interesting to see next years fashion done by Olivier.

“This collection… is a wink to women and a challenge to men because, even if she gives him the password to her GPS, she can always turn it off,” Iorio told AFP. “She can be found only if she wants to.” “It’s not a modern chastity belt. Some men think they can keep tabs on their girlfriends with it, but they’re wrong,” she added.

Unconcerned with the controversy her new collection has raised, Iorio is also dismissive of the global financial crisis and its adverse impact on luxury items sales since the GPS lingerie retails from a cool 800 dollars, with a standard Global Positioning System, to 1,100 dollars with a more advanced model. So how many has she sold? Iorio admits to selling only a few so far.  No suprise there.

A steady stream of Britain’s retailers have gone into administration, a form of creditor protection, this year as shoppers cut spending amid rising food, fuel and mortgage costs.

Hardy Amies was appointed official dressmaker to Queen Elizabeth II in 1955.

In a long career on London’s renowned tailoring thoroughfare, Savile Row, Amies dressed pop stars like the Beatles and Rolling Stones and designed suits for England’s winning 1966 World Cup soccer team, as well as costumes for films, including “2001: A Space Odyssey.”

He died in 2003 at the age of 93.

Hardy Amies shares closed at 1.25 pence on Thursday, valuing the business at about 2.8 million pounds ($5.2 million).

-The Procter & Gamble Co. is linking laundry to fashion in what’s billed as the biggest product launch yet for its venerable Tide brand. This is being done with a tidy $60 million dollar budget.

-Madonna has chosen French Haute Couture house Givenchy to design clothing for her new “Sticky and Sweet” world tour which starts in Britain this month, the fashion firm said on Tuesday.  Great boost and good tie-in.

-U.S.-based modeling agency Wilhelmina is planning an initial public stock offering (IPO) this year, according to a German daily. More details should be available shortly.

A surveillance video released this week by police in Arvada, Colorado, shows two unarmed men inside the convenience store. They stole an undisclosed amount of cash and cigarettes in the May 16 robbery.

One man wore a green thong and the other wore blue.  Each thong barely covered the man’s nose, mouth and chin and left the rest of his face exposed. One also wore a pink backpack in which he stuffed the stolen items.

The suspects were described as being in their 20s. One had a left arm tattoo. Rumor has it the one with the green thong will go to jail for double the time because it clashed with his brown jacket.