The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a new case that will determine if the government can deny trademark protection to words or phrases it deems vulgar. The decision will have far-reaching implications for what should be protected as free speech under the First Amendment.
The case in question, Lancu vs. Brunetti, involves Los Angeles-based clothing brand “FUCT.” Founder Erik Brunetti applied for trademark protection of the name in 2011, but was denied. Attorneys at the United States Patent and Trademark Office nixed his application on the basis that the phrase was “immoral” and “scandalous.”
The USPTO’s Trademark Trial and Appeal Board affirmed the decision, finding that the apparel company displayed “strong, and often explicit, sexual imagery that objectifies women and offers degrading examples of extreme misogyny.”
But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed the decision.
Now the country’s highest court will have to consider whether the Lanham Act, which governs trademarks in the U.S., is lawful and should be allowed to continue blocking trademark protection to brands it finds offensive.
FUCT could not immediately be reached for comment.

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David’s Bridal can start to think about a planned exit from bankruptcy court proceedings.
A Delaware bankruptcy court has confirmed the retailer’s restructuring plan, the final hurdle in the company’s plan to exit bankruptcy court. The retailer previously said it expects to complete its tour of bankruptcy duty later this month.
When the retailer exits bankruptcy, it will have reduced its debt by $450 million. That was part of the negotiated deal with lenders, most of its senior noteholders and equity holders. The company filed its prepackaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy court petition on Nov. 19.
Scott Key, chief executive officer of the bridal retailer, said, “During the court-supervised process, our more than 300 David’s Bridal stores have remained open and dedicated to delivering a five-star customer experience.”
He also said the process has led to the company exiting bankruptcy as a “stronger company with significantly less debt.”
The company previously arranged for exit financing of between $40 million and $60 million.
David’s Bridal was able to keep its stores in operation, and most of its stores are four-wall profitable on an EBITDA, or earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization, basis. Its problem was its debt load from a leverage buyout.
The company still has challenges ahead,

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Sadelle’s has brought its luxurious New York City brunch to Vegas.

The company is building the 300 mph ACCEL airplane to break the all-electric aircraft speed record.

Two swimming pools, a beach club, a game room, and two wine cellars offer plenty of entertaining possibilities.

Salle Privée has nothing new, and is proud of it.

The electric hypercar was named after Pininfarina founder Battista Farina.

NEXT CHAPTER: After 25 years at Les Arts Décoratifs, Pamela Golbin is ready to turn a new page.
The fashion expert has resigned as chief curator of fashion and textiles, effective Dec. 31, and will pursue other projects. “Having celebrated 25 fulfilling years at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, 2019 is all about new beginnings,” she said in an Instagram post on Friday.
During her tenure, Golbin oversaw exhibitions on designers including Dries Van Noten, Marc Jacobs at Louis Vuitton, Madeleine Vionnet, Valentino, Balenciaga and Elsa Schiaparelli.
A fixture at fashion shows and industry events, Golbin has also penned five books excluding exhibition catalogues, the most recent of which was “Couture Confessions: Fashion Legends in Their Own Words,” a series of imagined conversations with leading couturiers that was published by Rizzoli Ex Libris in 2016.

Pamela Golbin 
Dominique Maître

A Franco-Chilean born in Peru, Golbin attended Columbia University in New York and La Sorbonne in Paris. More recently, she completed an executive education program at the Harvard Business School.
She joined Les Arts Décoratifs in 1993 at the age of 23, becoming responsible for one of the three largest public collections of dress and textiles worldwide. In 1997, the museum inaugurated a 16,000-square-foot permanent gallery exhibition space

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PARIS — The new year comes with new challenges for historic lacemaker Noyon Dentelle, which has filed for the French equivalent of Chapter 11 bankruptcy at the commercial court of Boulogne-sur-Mer in the north of France.
The manufacturer, one of France’s last remaining producers of Calais lace, confirmed the decision on Friday to WWD, adding that a redundancy plan was in the works.
Citing “the decreasing lingerie market,” Noyon Dentelle, which specializes in knit and Leavers lace for the lingerie and ready-to-wear sectors, was unable to pay its 170 employees in December 2017. As a result of the Jan. 3 filing, the firm has been granted a turnaround period of six months, while a follow-up hearing at the commercial court set for March 7.
“We need to start the new year by being better adapted to the current market,” said Sebastien Bentos Suares, deputy manager of Noyon Dentelle. “Redundancy plans are always dramatic on the human side, but it’s the only way forward for us on the long term. The court believed in us, we have six months to prove them right.”
“Lace is not dead, it is just starting a new life,” he assured. “Lace manufacturers need the fashion and textile industry’s support to go

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And it has its own plastic surgeon.