By JILL COLVIN and ERIC TUCKER

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON  — President Donald Trump on Friday delayed his own order to declassify and release documents from the FBI’s Russia investigation, saying the Justice Department and U.S. allies have raised security concerns about their disclosure.

The announcement, in a pair of tweets, represented a highly unusual walk-back for a president who has pressed for the release of classified information that he believes will expose “really bad things” at the FBI and discredit special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into possible coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign. The order threatened to fuel further tension between Trump and a law enforcement community he routinely maligns as biased against him and determined to undermine his presidency.

The president on Monday had called for the declassification of highly sensitive records from the Russia probe, including a portion of a secret warrant application to monitor the communications of Carter Page, a Trump campaign adviser whom the FBI suspected of being a Russian agent. The Justice Department said it had begun complying with the order, though officials had previously strenuously objected to the release of classified information they said could jeopardize the investigation and compromise secret sources.

On Friday, Trump said that instead of moving forward immediately, the department’s inspector general had been asked to review these documents on an “expedited basis.” He tweeted that he believes the office, which is already reviewing FBI actions in the early stages of the Russia probe, will move quickly.

The president also noted: “In the end I can always declassify if it proves necessary. Speed is very important to me – and everyone!” Trump added.

Trump signaled a slowdown in an interview with Fox News on Thursday, when he said that several close allies had called to raise concerns about his decision to order the release of unredacted documents, which also include text messages of several FBI and Justice Department officials — including former FBI Director James Comey and ex-Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, both fired by the president — whom the president has for months personally attacked.

“And we do have to respect their wishes,” he said in the interview. “But it’ll come out.”

On Friday, he said, Justice Department officials had warned him that the declassification of documents “may have a perceived negative impact on the Russia probe.”

The White House did not immediately respond to questions about why the president was suddenly concerned about actions that “may have a perceived negative impact on the Russia probe.” Trump and his allies have spent months now trying to discredit the Russia probe and undermine its future findings.

Monday’s order to declassify documents wasn’t the first time that Trump had sought to publicize classified FBI records.

He made a similar move in February when the White House, over the objections of the FBI, cleared the way for the Republican-led House intelligence committee to release a partisan memo summarizing details from the Page warrant. Democrats later countered with their own memo.

A spokesman for the inspector general did not immediately return a message seeking comment Friday.

___

Associated Press writer Chad Day in Washington contributed to this report.

HUNTINGTON BEACH – After months of conflict between Huntington Beach City Attorney Michael Gates and his would-be opponent Jerald Friedman, an Orange County Superior Court decision Friday, Sept. 21, makes the incumbent the only candidate on the November ballot.

One day before the candidate filing deadline of Aug. 10, Friedman lodged a lawsuit with the California Supreme Court arguing that the city should not have disqualified his application.

Huntington Beach requires its city attorney to hold a degree from a law school accredited by the American Bar Association. Friedman graduated from the University of West Los Angeles, which is accredited by the State Bar of California but not the ABA.

In his lawsuit, Friedman claimed that the ABA prerequisite is “arbitrary, capricious, oppressive and punitive” – noting that larger California cities with elected city attorneys demand no such requirement.

The lawsuit asserted that because ABA-accredited schools tend to charge higher tuition, the city’s stipulation discriminates by screening “implicitly on the basis of socioeconomic class.”

The state Supreme Court kicked the suit to lower courts, where Judge Robert J. Moss denied Friedman’s request to appear on the ballot.

“In cities with elected city attorneys, the city lacks the ability to vet candidates for the position, thus a requirement above and beyond State Bar admission is both reasonable and desirable,” Moss wrote in his decision.

Moss also suggested that Friedman should have filed his complaint earlier, observing that its hearing “is occurring after the deadline for the publication of official election materials.”

Expressing disappointment with the ruling, Friedman said, “It’s individuals, not schools, that run for office – and it’s the individual’s merit, not the school’s reputation, that decides what kind of an attorney they are.”

Gates and Friedman have gone toe-to-toe since April, when Gates filed a lawsuit against resident Daniel Horgan to stop his petition for a gun-control ballot initiative. As Horgan’s attorney, Friedman accused the city of violating his client’s free-speech rights. The city later dropped the suit after Horgan gave up on his petition, but a judge declined to award Friedman attorney fees.

Gates predicted that Friday’s court decision puts to rest the two men’s showdown: “This should be the end of the road for Friedman’s legal challenges against the city.”

The Etro woman is known for her wanderlust. For spring, she sojourned through the Pacific Coast region, starting in fun-in-the-sun, sports-minded California, continuing on through “postcard perfect” Hawaii and finishing in history-and-denim-rich Japan. It was a busy trip.
Backstage before her show, called “Pacific Zen,” Veronica Etro said she sought to imbue her intrepid traveler with “this balance between the mindfulness, the spiritual and the more physical thing, as if she’s balancing the two.”
“The more physical thing” — got it. These days, fashion hearts sports, and Etro punctuated her interest there by casting two real-life surfer girls: world top-10 ranked Victoria Vergara and Maribel Koucke — both gorgeous; Vergara a brand ambassador for Reef. But telegraphing spiritually via clothes? Fashion convention swings if not toward full-on monasticism, then at least visual calm, which on this journey was in short supply.
Much else was going on in a lineup in which specific points of inspiration blurred; Etro noted that a rendering of a Hawaiian tropical sunset might look like a Japanese landscape, or Matisse-inspired cutouts could in fact be Asian calligraphy. These motifs worked in concert with ikats, florals, bandana prints and the house paisleys, all in a broad-based palette infused with more bold

Follow WWD on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook.Read More…

Now in her third year, Los Angeles-based designer Neha Kapur has settled into her aesthetic at Hensely, which offers wearable and elegant day-to-evening pieces for sophisticated women who aren’t looking for logos, trends or loud colors.
Her spring 2019 collection, which she wisely edited down to the pieces that retailers such as Moda Operandi continue to buy each season, was loosely titled “Master Class,” referring to the sartorial lessons given by Seventies goddesses such as Diana Ross and Bianca Jagger.
“I took some after-hours inspiration from them,” Kapur said of the gold lamé, metallic taffeta and other shiny fabrications that were new for her this season and worked back to her previous holiday collection. She worked a palette of metallics and neutrals that are meant to be worn across all seasons, for many years.
The collection hewed close to its loosely tailored tomboy aesthetic such as the double-breasted blazer, the trench-with-a-twist and the wide-leg trouser, with some more feminine silhouettes such as a silk wrap-front gown, a one-shouldered column, a strapless sequined minidress, and a draped keyhole top mixed in.
Kapur wisely leaves room in her silhouettes to allow for layering jersey T-shirts underneath and hiding imperfections because by now she knows her customers well.

Follow WWD on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook.Read More…

Flush with cash from new investors, Woolrich is gearing up for a re-branding as it prepares to double its retail footprint in the next three years. As such, its spring presentation in Milan — held the day after Luxembourg-based investment firm L-GAM bought a majority stake in the contemporary and outerwear brand — was a transitional one.
Andrea Canè, Woolrich’s creative director, said the fall 2019 collection will unveil a new aesthetic for the label and a logo that has been created with Pentagram. To that end, it has recruited Mel Ottenberg, best known as Rihanna’s stylist, as a consultant beginning next season.
The plan is to put the accent on heritage looks, like the plaid flannel shirt from the Woolrich archive that was shown as part of the Museum of Modern Art’s “Items: Is Fashion Modern?” exhibition in New York last year.
“What we are going to do in the future is to be a little bit more American that we’ve been in the past, because we feel that that is our DNA and that is what we need to bring back,” he said.
In the meantime, the spring collection leaned toward a more European sensibility, with feminine takes on outerwear staples such

Follow WWD on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook.Read More…

For the third season running, Marc de Vincenzo let childhood memories color his collection, this time looking back to the Eighties when his aunt Santina from California spent her summer holidays with his family in Sicily. “She looked like an alien because her way of thinking was different than a Sicilian,” de Vincenzo said before the show. Santina had to cover up to go to church and had what de Vincenzo fondly remembers as “trashy taste,” bearing gift baskets of oversize T-shirts.
The collection was sweet though not nearly as sophisticated or elaborate as de Vincenzo’s skills allow. He played Sicilian clichés — retro underpinnings peaking through black lace, giant cross necklaces, black knee-high hosiery — against American — big polo shirts, bags worn as fanny packs, denim jackets and skirts seamed in multicolored crystals and dreamy California pastels. Trends were checked off: sweatshirts, workwear, a slogan or two. Much of it was cute. Toy dogs and lambs — Sicilian or American, hard to tell — turned into repeat prints on wispy sheaths; a shirtdress in blurred pastels with tiered ruffled sleeves; and rattan baskets filled with fruit and glittery booties. But de Vincenzo is capable of much more than cute.

Follow WWD on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook.Read More…

To street or not to street? Logo or no-go? Go safe or go home? These are the questions designers all around, no matter their position in the market, are facing. Massimo Giorgetti is no exception. He dabbled in all three for his spring collection, working oversize denim, the biker short trend that seems to just be getting started, a bit of logo-ism and some tweaks on the colorful jersey dresses that did well for him when he first launched almost 10 years ago. It was all painted in the vivid color of a blissful dream. “It’s like when you have an amazing dream and you wake up and these are the memories,” Giorgetti said backstage. “All the prints and colors are a little bit wrong, a little bit blurry. To dream is beautiful.”
The collection was a far cry more feminine than last season’s Milano-inspired, graphic print and bourgeois street lineup. Fluid, draped jersey dresses, some with a sporty accent, came in interesting color blocks — red and pink with a jolt of hard black; nude to soften bold yellow and red. Floral prints abounded on oversize denim and tie-dyes, all hand-done in Italy, brought the show home on ruffled denim dresses

Follow WWD on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook.Read More…

PLAN B: Rosie Huntington-Whiteley is busy building her profile online in a big way.
“I’ve just launched my social media platform, a beauty-content platform online called Rosie Inc.,” said the British actress and model, who was seated front row at Versace on Friday night. “It’s everything beauty: tutorials, shopping my favorite beauty products, the looks that I’m loving.”
Acting remains the top priority for Luke Evans, who came in Milan just to attend the show.
“I just wrapped a movie in Italy. We filmed in Milan, Lake Como, Portofino with Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler,” he said of the Netflix production “Murder Mystery.” “I’ll start another movie in two weeks in Montreal about World War II. So from comedy to war!”

Follow WWD on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook.

Read More…

BEIJING — Shanghai’s rainstorms paid no regard to whether Diesel had planned its “Hate Couture” party. On Thursday evening, the downpour continued as a capsule collection designed by South Korean actor Yoo Ah-in was shown on a grassy outdoor runway, feting of the launch of the Diesel store on Tmall.
A fleet of clear umbrellas were at the ready at the venue for the night, the historic Taiyuan Villa. Coiffed hair and carefully styled outfits on guests turned soggy, but smiles and laughs also erupted in the front row. If anything, the night — which was all about reclaiming negativity and turning it into something positive, per their recent campaign — worked a little bit better because of it.
“Sitting in the rain and enjoying the show despite the difficult conditions. I’m not sure that it could have been the same in the western world,” said Giovanni Pungetti, greater China chief executive officer of OTB Group, which owns Diesel and the likes of Marni and Maison Martin Margiela.
“With other brands, they would have maybe a different reaction,” he added, but the Italian label has always had a bit of grittiness about it, a bit of rebel — “a wet rock and roll.”
While some

Follow WWD on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook.

Read More…

THEY MET IN FASHION: Two of the fashion world’s more elusive personalities — Nicolas Ghesquière and Grace Coddington — will sit down for a conversation with Alina Cho at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Oct. 22.
Ghesquière, artistic director of Louis Vuitton’s women’s collections, and Grace Coddington, former creative director for Vogue, have a lot of common ground in and out of fashion. They will speak about their recent collaboration for Louis Vuitton, their love of animals and future plans. One shared commitment is their chat on “Face to Grace,” Coddington’s new Made to Measure series.
In next month’s installment of “The Atelier With Alina Cho,” the pair will have a good deal to discuss, given their contributions to the fashion industry. Their creativity and stewardship has led to an understanding of fashion as art — a topic that will no doubt be a hit with guests in the audience.
In May, Ghesquière renewed his contract with the LVMH Moët Hennessy-owned Louis Vuitton. The designer first took on the role in 2013, following in the footsteps of Marc Jacobs. With Ghesquière’s creative input, the world’s biggest luxury brand reported “unprecedented” growth in ready-to-wear and leather goods in a statement last spring. His

Follow WWD on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook.

Read More…