Negative Reaction: Kenneth Cole falls $3.1 million into debt. Where be your cheeky billboards now? [DNRNews]

Cardigan Cabal: The international press is conspiring to make the Cardigan today’s, “dead sexy chick magnet.” Almost Orwellian, ain’t it?

Restoration Hardware: John Varvatos’ conversion of CBGB’s is taking for-frigging-ever. [Racked]

Lil’ Bit More: Crunk poet and Renaissance man Lil’ John not only has his own celeb clothing line on the way, but is currently vintnering up a storm at Little Jonathan Winery. All class that one. [Pro Hip Hop]

Collateral Damage: The new Bond film is an absolute blood fest, destroying one innocent Tom Ford suit after another. [VogueUK]

Co-Ed Naked Design: Matthew McConcaughey and his old lady create new clothes to shed while walking on sunny pacific beaches. [Gawker]

We’ve been fans of John Varvatos for some time, but his takeover of the old CBGBs space looks to be yet another feather in his cap, renovating the space with a lot of respect for the venue’s storied past. It’s not his fault the previous owners lost their lease, but he’s managed to keep a lot of the old spirit alive.

Here’s a few pictures we managed to snag, courtesy of our friends at UrbanDaddy.

More after the jump»

Belly Up to the Bar: Thank Бог someone out there is poking around Russian Elle for Bar Refaeli shots. [Goldenfiddle]

Casual Friday: We’re a little surprised that this internal memo from Interview on office dress code was even necessary. We could guess that this has something to do with the magazine’s new Capo di tutti capi, Glenn O’Brien—but then again, the guy doesn’t always hew to the rule himself. [Gawker]

Spice on Set: Failing fashion designer Victoria Beckham teams up with failing movie mogul Tom Cruise for what will almost certainly be Ben Stiller’s ugliest film since “Meet the Fockers”. [FemaleFirst UK]

Bowery Boy: Does John Varvatos even have time to design anymore with all these CBGBs questions? [NYTimes]

Cheap Shots: The best suits under $500 photographed by Scott “The Sartorialist” Schuman. [Men.Style]

Word Games: Watch as three out of four panelists stuff their feet straight into their mouths while attempting to define “Hipster.” [PSFK]

Shwing!: Tom Ford wants you to appreciate the human dingle as much as he does. [NYMag]

Photographed by our fearless lensman, Patrick McMullan.

The information that downtown dude John Varvatos had opened a boutique in uptown East Hampton somehow passed us by, but then we spend more time upstate than on the East End these days—for reasons which should be obvious enough if you’ve ever been bumper-to-bumper on the Montauk Highway.

In any case, the designer who recently revamped CBGBs celebrated the first anniversary of his Hamptons outpost the other night with an exhibition of photos by the legendary Mick Rock, famous for his iconic shots of the likes of Iggy, Bowie, and Syd Barrett.

More on the photogenic trio»

John Varvatos has been drawing on music-industry cool for long enough, it was only a matter of time before he made the connection official. But we were hoping it wouldn’t be quite so much like a reality show.

It’s called Free the Noise, and to be fair, it’s closer to the more credible custom known as the Battle of the Bands. Aspiring bands upload clips of their act onto the website, finalists are chosen to face off at JV’s Bowery location (former home of CBGBs, if you recall), and the winner walks away with a development deal from Island records and a series of spots in Varvatos’ Star USA ads.

Sounds like a good deal, but a record deal isn’t what it used to be. And doesn’t the whole thing seem a bit rockist?

Not that there’s anything wrong with that»