Cityfile: New York's Most Notable and Influential

♦  At yesterday's Fashion Group International panel on fashion retail, Simon Doonan chatted with Sally Singer, Bloomingdale's fashion director Stephanie Solomon, and InStyle's beauty director Amy Synnott about the pervasive doom and gloom in the retail industry. Doonan's take: "It's really terrifying. But I think my job is to sustain the idea that fashion is exciting and glamorous. We really need to do our best even if sales are plunging." [WWD]
♦  When deciding who should front its next campaign, did Louis Vuitton go for someone fresh, edgy, and exciting? Nope, it's supposedly Madonna. [stylefile]
♦  Because now every article on Michelle Obama's person must be identified, priced, and judged: She wore Maria Pinto to the White House, and those dangly earrings she wore on election night? White gold with diamonds, priced at $11,000, and designed by Loree Rodkin. [WSJ, The Cut]More

• Shoshanna Lonstein Gruss and Charlotte Ronson, who have been friends since their Nightingale-Bamford days, are joining forces to create a swimwear/resort line due to hit stores in February. [WWD]
• Do you ever have moments when you just have to buy a Ralph Lauren outfit and you can't wait to reach a store or the internet? That will never be a problem again now that Polo is launching shopping via cellphone. [Vogue UK]
• American Express Gold, Platinum and Centurion card holders can buy tickets to two Fashion Week shows. Still available: Betsey Johnson/Dennis Basso and Phillip Lim/Carlos Miele. [AE via FabSugar]