American designer Charles Nolan passed away yesterday after a long struggle with head and neck cancer. He was 53 years old. In addition to establishing his own label (a favorite of the political set), Nolan worked for Bill Blass, Christian Dior, Ellen Tracy, and Anne Klein. Nolan left his position as head designer at Anne Klein to volunteer for Howard Dean’s presidential campaign. [NYTimes]
Even though Black Swan didn’t get an Oscar nod for its costume design, the pre-nomination buzz featured a lot of indignation about the Rodarte sisters’ disqualification from Academy Awards consideration. Because the Mulleavy sisters weren’t credited as the film’s head designers, any Oscar recognition would have gone to costume designer Amy Wescott. Without a nomination, the scandal is moot, but Wescott is finally commenting on the story. Wescott claims that the Rodarte sisters’ work on the film was negligible: previous reports have stated that the Rodarte sisters designed all forty featured ballet costumes, Wescott says they only designed seven. [The Cut]
The Hearst Corporation purchased Elle magazine from Lagardère for $885.6 million dollars. The Hearst family of magazines includes Marie Claire, Harper’s Bazaar, and Cosmopolitan. [Fashionologie]