Are Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana two of Italy's top (alleged) tax cheats? Or is it all a big misunderstanding?

According to WWD, Italy's excise and revenue police have recommended that the two superstar designers be brought up on tax evasion and abuse of rights charges with fines of no less than €800M (that's $1.12B at current exchange rates). Wow!

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And the fashion verdict is in! Halston has tapped 31-year-old Austrian/Greek designer Marios Schwab as the iconic brand's new Creative Director, effective immediately. It was a highly anticiapted hiring and Halston execs picked the designer after being impressed by his Spring '09 collection in London.

Schwab, who launched his own line in 2005, will oversee the fashion house's ready-to-wear and accessories collections and work to modernize Halston, while continuing to run his own namesake line. He will relocate to New York City for the new high-profile position.

His first collection, Fall 2010 will debut in February, and as reported by The Cut, he will also spearhead the brand's Halston Heritage collection, which will feature reissues of ionic Halston pieces at today's recession-friendly prices ($55-$595). Apparently, Schwab was tapped not only for his sense of style, but for his knowledge of the Halston history. According to CEO Bonnie Takhar, Schwab's designer 'mantra' is an excellent match.

"After several meetings, both our board and I were confident of Marios' design sensibilities. His mantra was very Halston-appropriate in terms of what we think Halston should be. His knowledge of the Halston brand really impressed us."

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The slug-fest between American Apparel and Woody Allen is over, as reported by The New York Times. After months of threats and name-calling, the legendary director agreed this morning, before the trial was to begin, to settle the $10 million lawsuit for a cool $5 million, sparing the controversial clothing company from what was sure to be a nasty, not to mention costly, court battle with the aging film icon.

Ironically, it wasn't one of American Apparel's racy ad campaigns that got them into trouble this time. The battle began last year when the company used an unauthorized image of Woody Allen dressed as a Hasidic Jew from his 1977 film "Annie Hall" on billboards. Next to "Rabbi Allen's" image appeared the words "the holy rebbe" written in Yiddish.

American Apparel picked the wrong celebrity to mess with. According to the lawsuit, Woody "does not endorse commercial products or services in the United States." Someone at the clothing company or its ad agency should probably have checked on that before running the campaign. Nevertheless, founder Dov Charney posted a statement on the company blog defending the use of the image as a matter of free speech.

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Brooke Shields is having quite the month! Last week she reminded us that at 43, she's still so beautiful that she can inspire a headbutting altercation. Now she's capitalizing on her feisty good looks in a cougar-inspired photo shoot for Australia's Kurv Magazine. The six-foot-tall actress showed off her toned bod in PVC latex leggings and a cinched-to-there corset while engaged in sexy poses with younger model Chris Fawcett. The saucy black and white images were taken by photographer Tony Duran, who brought out Rene Russo's sexy side earlier this year.

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This week, Kris Allen totally dodged a bullet on "American Idol." The "dark horse" contestant managed to come out of nowhere to prevent the seemingly inevitable face-off between Danny Gokey and Adam Lambert. With this turn of events, it comes down to Kris and Adam.

Sure, Kris is a great singer, but is that what really made the difference? We think Kris' come-from-behind win is a sign that America likes his style.

If we had to pinpoint exactly what gave Kris Allen the edge, we'd say it was his lucky jeans. Not Lucky Brand jeans, mind you -- we mean jeans that actually worked as a good luck charm.

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