Oooh, are you ready for a stonking good bookfight? It's a Monday, so why not. The authors of the three new biographies of Coco Chanel are taking swipes at each other in the pages of the New York Times. Lisa Chaney, the author of Coco Chanel: An Intimate Life says that Hal Vaughan's Sleeping With The Enemy: Coco Chanel's Secret War is "underhanded," full of "insinuations," and "written in a highly inflammatory style." That's like literary for "Neener neener!" Vaughan professed surprise at this attack, and said everything in his book — which asserts that Chanel not only spent World War II bunking with her Nazi spy boyfriend, Hans Gunther Von Dincklage, at the Ritz, but was herself a Nazi spy codenamed "Westminster" — is backed up by historical research. "Say, ‘Produce the damn document,' and I will produce it." That's like literary for "See you round the bike sheds after school." Vaughan then took a pot-shot at Justine Picardie's Coco Chanel: The Legend and The Life. "I don't know whether it was subsidized, but it's clearly a Chanel book," he says. Translation: "Your mom!" Picardie says, "I presume it was Lisa Chaney who said to you that my book is authorized by Chanel?" This is almost as good as that time all of Isabella Blow's biographers were mad at each other in public. [NYTimes]

Good news, retail drones: seasonal hiring in the retail sector surged by 50,000 jobs last month, even after taking into account the normal seasonal increase. [WSJ]

That's not the case in the U.K., where government austerity measures, rising food and fuel costs, and high unemployment are causing retailers to slash prices in anticipation of the worst holiday shopping season "since Lehmans." [Guardian]

Here is an important update on the love life and living situation of Tilda Swinton: namely, she never had a ménage à trois for a domestic situation, living with the father of her children, John Byrne, and then traveling the world with her lover, the awesomely named Sandro Kopp. "No," says Swinton. "John lives with his girlfriend in Edinburgh and has for like five years. He happened to pick us up from the airport, because he had been looking after the kids while we were in London. There's no drama. The most transgressive thing that we have done is not be acrimonious." [NYTimes]

In this series of Tweets, America's Next Top Model: All-Stars guest judge Tyson Beckford apparently "spoils" the contest, revealing the winner. We would write about that here, but we've read the whole thing twice and still can't identify any spoilers. [ONTD]

Dee Ocleppo, who is married to Tommy Hilfiger, is launching an HSN handbag line called Deesigns. [WWD]

Meanwhile, Tommy Hilfiger would like to tell you a joke: "How many hipsters does it take to change a light bulb? What, you don't know?" In related news, Tommy Hilfiger is your sweet but very corny uncle. [Guardian]

Getting a bikini wax for your pre-teen daughter is no big deal at a surprising number of the beauty salons Fashionista called. (The story is inspired by Good Morning America's exposé.) Want a Brazilian for an 11-year-old? "Sure," says "a large NYC chain" of salons. [Fashionista]

Michael Kors is planning an IPO. According to SEC filings, Kors plans to float up to 48 million shares, at $17-$19 each, which will value the company at around $3.6 billion. It's gunning for the stock ticker KORS, and the deal would — in addition to making Michael Kors up to $111 million richer — guarantee the designer a $2.5 million annual salary for life. [WWD]

"I think the artistic process comes from disorder," says Amanda Harlech. "When you are happy, it's not always a feeling that you can identify. It's like a dog sitting in front of a fire. Pain isolates you but it can also clarify things." Harlech, who is famous for being Karl Lagerfeld's full-time paid "muse" — apparently, Harlech is so good at being a-muse-ing that Lagerfeld poached her from her previous position as John Galliano's paid, full-time muse — also says that fashion and art "can make insincere bedfellows. Fashion is perceived to be very hard-nosed and superficial, when it is full of incredibly sensitive and visual people. But it is not always their voices that get heard...I think fashion, mishandled, can be quite toxic. It becomes about image, and the cult of celebrity. I think when an artist is seen at a lot of parties as a celebrity, I find that worrying. I think it can limit them." [FT]

In case you need to know when and where various fashion magazines are holding their holiday parties this year — perhaps you are an expert wearer of disguises looking for a chance to sharpen your skills of impersonation? — Women's Wear Daily compiled a list. Service-y! A hundred bucks to anyone who can crash Vogue's and live to tell the tale. [WWD]

And now, a moment with designer Yeohlee Teng. How do you feel about being called an "architectural" fashion designer, Yeohlee?

"I regard clothing design as a form of shelter and that's what architecture is. Both forms of discipline call for examining space."

[WWD]