SPORT MORPHS AT ST. JOHN: Word is St. John will be rolling its Sport division into its Collection line while elevating the fabrications to create a new luxury sportswear category. While details, such as whether the new category will get its own name, are still to be revealed at next month's shareholders meeting, the move would be the first significant change to the company's apparel business. Accessories and other brand extensions are being reintroduced to the mix.
TALKING CAVALLI: While it may be a landmark for scholars, at Oxford University Wednesday evening, the most pressing question put to Roberto Cavalli was far from intellectual. "Who is your favorite Spice Girl?" piped one student to the designer, who was guest speaking at the Oxford Union, the Oxford University's debating society. "They're all very nice," he replied. "Who is the blonde one? Emma? She's very nice, at least she can sing." Of friend Victoria Beckham he added: "She's afraid to move sometimes, afraid to show herself. Before she comes out [for an appearance] she is so scared, but when she comes out she's fantastic." He would know. The Italian designer dressed the pop group for their recent comeback tour.
BERGE BLACKBALLED: Pierre Bergé may have to wait awhile before he is admitted to France's prestigious Académie Française. The Yves Saint Laurent dean's campaign to join the ranks of the so-called Immortals, who are the custodians of the French language and responsible for writing the French dictionary, fell short last week when Jean Clair, an art historian who has written extensively on the painter Balthus, beat him in voting. Clair got 16 votes to seven in favor of Bergé. The latter organized a cocktail party at his Left Bank house directly after the vote to celebrate or to offer him condolences. Though he was visibly disappointed in the result — many of his friends offered conspiracy theories against him — Bergé remained stoic. "With everything that I've had in life, I can hardly complain about one little setback," he quipped, adding that he intends to continue his quest for a seat under the Académie's gilded dome. "There's always next year," he shrugged.





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