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Is speculation the new black? Asking "Who will replace John Galliano at Dior" is the fashion question of the season. For a passing moment, wondering who might design Kate Middleton's wedding dress seemed to take center stage but with Fashion Week fast approaching, we are all wondering who will be named Galliano's successor. Bernard Arnault, CEO of LVMH, will not be rushed into making an unwise decision and has been taking his sweet time choosing a creative director for the French house. More than twenty names have been suggested as potential replacements for the disgraced Galliano, including Riccardo Tisci, Stefano Pilati and Sarah Burton, who all work for different brands owned by LVMH and fashion stars like Alber Elbaz, Haider Ackermann and Hedi Slimane. Many, however, are misguided suggestions like Georgina Chapman and Keren Craig of Marchesa and Alexander Wang (come on, Mickey Boardman, was that for real?). Azzedine Alaia was apparently offered the position but turned it down. And who was the one who mentioned Christian Lacroix? His business has never been profitable, which is something LVMH requires of its designers.

Who do you think will take over? I suspect it will be a heavy hitter like Marc Jacobs, whose name has recently been thrown into the ring, while Brooke Bobb, our fashion assistant, suspects Alber Elbaz. What do we know? Many others have suggested that a less well known designer may be given the honorable title. Check out our list below and let us know who you are rooting for.

Beauty news from around the web...

Natalie Portman Models for Dior
As per usual, Natalie Portman looks flawless in Dior's newly released images for its ad campaign, Diorskin Forever. The ad comes as a surprise, however, since Portman announced she would not be affiliated with Dior designer John Galliano in any way after he was videotaped making anti-Semitic remarks. How will the actress explain herself now? - Via HuffPost Style

Gwen Stefani's Releases New Fragrance
Super G Harajuku Lovers Fragrance, Gwen Stefani's adorable new scent, is currently on sale. With notes of pineapple, tangerine and banana nectar, the perfume smells as sweet as it looks. The fragrance retails for $45. Honestly, we'd pay that just for the doll on the bottle. - Via Racked

Sedu to Sell $700 Blow-Dryer
Is dry hair really worth almost a month's rent? The Icon-Privé dryer weighs 1.05 pounds and delivers up to 21,000 RPMs (in layman's terms, it'll dry your hair really fast). Calling itself the most technologically advanced dryer in the world, it has 18 different temperature speeds, an ionic off/on switch and a transformer that uses 70 percent less energy than other dryers. This machinery makes letting our hair air-dry look like the stuff of medieval times. - Via WWD

Tanning Beds and Drugs Have Similar Effect, Study Finds
This explains so much. A new study from UT Southwestern Medical Center found that the brain activity of people who frequently use tanning beds is very similar to that of drug addicts. Further emphasizing the comparison, tanning can become a compulsive activity due to neurological triggers. Maybe it's time to rethink that gym-tan-laundry lifestyle, Jersey Shore? - Via Fashion Etc.

Dolce & Gabbana Add to Beauty Line
After launching a successful makeup collection this past spring, Dolce and Gabbana has announced its plans to add a foundation and lipstick-gloss to its beauty line this September. The Perfect Finish Creamy Foundation will be available in 15 different shades and will retail for $55, while the Passion Duo Gloss Fusion lipstick will be available in 20 and retail for $34. Quality is important, Domenico Dolce told WWD, but the packaging is equally so. That from a fashion designer? We're shocked. - Via Racked

Putting a new spin on the term "high fashion" Heidi Klum, maneuvering deftly on towering stilts, appears before the season 9 "Project Runway" contestants to present a lofty challenge.

And sew it goes:

The Challenge: While working in teams of two the contestants must create a larger-than-life look for stilt-strutting models that won't make them look like circus freaks.

The Twist: This big and tall fashion extravaganza is to be presented during a "Project Runway" first: A live, outdoor runway show produced in New York City's Battery Park. The audience will include the fashion press (um, we must have missed our invite) and one famously voluptuous reality bride-to-be.

The Making-It-Workroom Drama: Of course, most of the contestants are unhappy about their team partners.

Behold the dawn of what the other contestants dub Bert-zilla, a monstrously-bad pairing of Bert Keeter and Viktor Luna. The duo clash egos over everything including British period costume references. Keeter snipes that Luna "needs to do some reading" after he doesn't seem to know that Queen Victoria "spent 50 years in mourning clothes" and it was the first Queen Elizabeth who favored color and cleavage. Luna declares Keeter a "know-it-all" and dismisses his fabric choice as "curtains." Both men have a point and mentor Tim Gunn has to break it up.

Self-taught hairdresser-turned-designer Fallene Wells is sobbing, exhausted and "looking for her soul" under the workroom tables. Her lack of design school training is showing in her inability to sew, but her choppy, red pixie cut is so completely of-the-moment.

Meanwhile, Gunn pronounces shoulder pads are "very on trend" for fall.

The Guest Judge: Vera Wang-loving Kim Kardashian makes a well-timed appearance to plug her Aug. 20 nuptials. The fashion entrepreneur also intelligently opines on the designs.

The Runway Show: Features a bedazzled matador, a bizarre ode to "Black Swan," unusally tall models and the strangest updo to ever come out of the L'Oreal hair studio. Meanwhile, we're a little disappointed Kardashian didn't call on her ubiquitous family to create a real-life circus on the catwalk. Imagine how tall the basketball players in her expanding clan would have been on those stilts.

Who's In: Laura Kathleen gets her first win and immunity for an elegant, red charmeuse ensemble she created in collaboration with Anthony Ryan Auld. Kardashian calls the look "a showstopper." It's Auld's third time in the top three making him the season's official front runner. He displays Southern gent style by recommending Kathleen for the week's top honors. (Sorry, Bert Keeter, your week one win is now a distant memory.)

Who's Out: The big top falls on quirky Wells, for her part in the split-personality all-black dance look she created with partner Bryce Black. Kardashian complained its camisole bodice "looks like something I wear to bed" and declared its sloppy finish read "made in 15 minutes." Luna narrowly misses the dreaded 'auf, taking the judges' blame for the almost-curtains frock he created with Keeter.

A teary Wells promises to continue to indulge her "fun, playful side" when she takes her workroom scissors and red pixie back to her Denver salon.

Stay tuned: Next week, the designers are creating a garment for the most demanding of clients. Judge Nina Garcia will serve as their muse.

Meanwhile, read about the teenage Kardashian sibling who has been modeling designer bikinis.

And to catch up on "Project Runway," read last week's recap.

How does Betsey Johnson celebrate her 69th birthday? The cartwheel-turning, hot pink lipstick-wearing designer, best known for her over-the-top party dresses, unveiled a new fragrance, called Too Too.

While dancing to DJ sets by Becka Diamond and Chelsea Leyland and indulging in mimosas and cupcakes at the launch event, we got a whiff of the fruity-floral scent. We've finally recovered, but remain entranced by the fragrance and it's over-the-top packaging.

The perfume is a blend of sweet passion fruit, mandarin, ginger, strawberry leaves, jasmine, patchouli and sandalwood. But there are three aromatic standouts for Johnson.

"The black vanilla is exotic, tasty and strange. The pink musk...it's heavy duty and super sexy. And the Bulgarian rose, my all time favorite," she said. "It really nails the guys love its sexiness trail."

Clearly Johnson's years as a dancer inspired her latest masterpiece, and the bottle's pink and black tutu, fishnet and curvaceous corseted top represent special moments on-stage.

"My costume was almost the same as the bottle when I danced the Sugar Plum Fairy, the Can-Can, and Cabaret," she said.

Too Too ($42-$82) will launch exclusively October 2011 through April 2012 at Sephora before hitting department store and specialty boutique counters in May.

Will you purchase Betsey Johnson's Too Too this fall?

Tell us your thoughts in the comments section and click here to find out which $1 million fragrance is on our wishlist.

There's no doubt that Vera Wang is an immensely talented designer but she's also equally, if not more lately, a very talented business women. She's pretty much monopolized the U.S. wedding market at this point, putting her name on everything from high and low-priced gowns and accessories, to registry items like bedding (even mattresses) and table wear, to wedding invitations and floral arrangements. She even wrote a book in 2001 called Vera Wang on Weddings.

Today, WWD reported that Vera's adding engagement rings to her growing stock of nuptial-minded materials. Months after the announcement of her debut collection for David's Bridal, the designer's now partnering with Zales on "Vera Wang Love," a collection of engagement rings, wedding bands and solitaire jewelry to be sold at over 500 of the retailer's stores in the U.S.

Now that she's checked engagement rings off her list, what wedding day duds (or products) do you think Vera should stamp her name on next?