Fashion Wire Daily - It was a night when Heath Ledger should have been celebrating, for his performance as the Joker in "The Dark Knight" (the second installment in the Christopher Nolan-Christian Bale "Batman" series) is already generating Oscar buzz.

Reuters - British supermodel Naomi Campbell refuses to retire after more than two decades on the world's catwalks because there are still too few black beauties in the fashion industry.

Reuters - The world of fashion remains dominated by five cities -- New York, Rome, Paris, Milan and London -- but B-list players like Sydney and Dubai are coming on strong, according to an annual survey of top fashion cities.

Fashion Wire Daily - Just the gap between high and low is increasingly closed - mixing a designer jacket with a pair of jeans from a chain store like Gap is perfectly acceptable these days - it also makes sense that customers of Gap Inc.'s various brands, Old Navy, Gap and Banana Republic, would look to these stores to satisfy different wardrobe needs, whether it's clothing for kicking around the campfire or attending a company holiday party.

Fashion Wire Daily - It sweltered in Rome this week, yet the clothes on the runway of Alta Roma, the city's fashion season, were sturdy enough to withstand a gale force wind and classical enough to fit into a repeat of La Dolce Vita, set in the same date as the original.

Reuters - Cocoa runs in the family of Ivorian fashion designer Felicite Mai. It was her father, a tailor-turned-cocoa planter, who gave her her first sewing machine, a model dating back to 1952.

AP - Just when fashion in Rome needed a dash of inspiration, Gucci's Frida Giannini comes along and throws a big party in a villa overlooking the Eternal City.

Fashion Wire Daily - Gucci took its cruise 2009 collection to the top of Rome's highest hill, the Gianicolo, on Tuesday night, where under umbrella pines and before an audience of Hollywood, politico honchos and coolly haughty Italian aristos, designer Frida Giannini staged probably her best show to date for the house.

Reuters - Rome's new right-wing mayor says he wants to turn the ancient city into a modern hub for budding fashion designers, dismissing criticism that the city's rich art and culture credentials will take a beating under his command.

Reuters - Billowy summer dresses pinned with gold shells and flared trousers from a bygone era of languid glamour dominated Gucci's pre-spring show at a 17th century hilltop villa in designer Frida Giannini's native Rome.

Reuters - British designer Katharine Hamnett is relishing a comeback now that the fashion world has finally caught up with her campaigning notions about clothes.

Fashion Wire Daily - Next time somebody tells you there is a dearth of young design ideas in Italian fashion, tell them to head to Rome for the Franca Sozzani driven talent showcase Who Is On Next, which this weekend unearthed some quirky and cool new designers whose names won't be unknown for much more.

Fashion Wire Daily - Half the passages in this week's haute couture show by Jean Paul Gaultier had birds' names; several were simply entitled cage, befitting a collection where many of fashion's most beautiful models hit the runway bound in wire traps or metal frames.