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Speculation abounds about what Nicolas Ghesquière's life will look like after he leaves Balenciaga, but there are some in the industry who aren't confident he'll be able to start a signature label.

"I don't see private equity or hedge funds backing (a Ghesquière) brand, because of time horizon and fashion risk," said Pierre Mallevays of the London investment bank Savigny Partners in an interview with WWD. "Only a strong group with a confident vision and the means to boot would seriously contemplate that. The temptation for any such potential backer will be to try to apply Ghesquière's talent to an established brand with operating leverage, not just to a start-up, however prestigious."

Mallevays is one of a number of financiers and other business experts who said starting a brand from scratch — even a brand built on a talent like Ghesquière's — is a risky proposition. Their commentary comes on the heels of Karl Lagerfeld saying it wouldn't be "a bad idea" for Ghesquière to start his own line, as well as rumors that Bernard Arnault and LVMH have already offered him the ability to do so.

Sources claiming to be close to Ghesquière say he'll take a break from designing but has been "seriously considering" starting his own brand and is open to working for another house.

Photo: Nicolas Ghesquière in the March 2010 issue of Numéro.

Grace Coddington, Hamish Bowles, and Andre Leon Talley have all penned a book or two — but their boss, Anna Wintour, says she never will.

Much to our chagrin, the Vogue editor in chief says she won't follow the footsteps of flame-haired Coddington, who's just released her own memoirs. Wintour doesn't keep a diary, "Nor will I ever write a book," she told The Telegraph.

"It's a big thing," Wintour said of Coddington's book. "She's given so much to this magazine — she's one of the great unsung heroines of our business."

But she says while Coddington deserves the recognition, Wintour's not interested in celebrity for herself as much as she is in "trying to show a world to my readers that they will be as excited about as we are." Read on for more of Wintour's thoughts on Vogue and the future of fashion.

On her hiring practices: "I look for strong people. I don't like people who'll say yes to everything I might bring up. I want people who can argue, and disagree, and have a point of view that's reflected in the magazine. My dad believed in the cult of personality. He brought great writers and columnists to the Standard. I try to do that here, too."

On who should helm Balenciaga and Schiaparelli: "It is important always to have really original talent. There are lots of good designers that make attractive clothes and make women look beautiful. But at the same time one doesn't want to lose the idea that there is someone out there who can change the way you look at fashion. The way, going back, that Armani did, that Galliano did, that Alexander [McQueen] did."

On how Michelle Obama has also impacted fashion: "Look back at the history of first ladies and you'll see they wore a good suit or a ball gown. Now we have someone who wears J.Crew or Thakoon or Azzedine Alaïa: a gamut of different designers. She has changed the way American women see fashion."

Ivana Omazic, the designer who helmed Céline before Phoebe Philo, is reportedly now in a "senior creative capacity" at Maison Martin Margiela.

Omazic's new position is particularly interesting considering that the house's designers work as a collective unit instead of as a team led by one designer. Even before Martin Margiela left the house in 2009, he refused to bow at the end of his shows, and the house only accepted interview questions via fax. And despite today's news of Omazic's appointment, it seems that policy of anonymity is still in place; when WWD inquired about Omazic's position, the house responded by saying that it does not comment on individual members of its staff.

Before Omazic joined Margiela's collective group of designers, she worked for Romeo Gigli, Prada, Miu Miu, and Jil Sander. She joined Céline as a consultant in 2005 and became creative director the next year when Roberto Menichetti left the brand. Omazic was replaced by Philo in September 2008.

"The more people that are afraid when they see new creation, the happier I am," says Rei Kawakubo in a rare new Q&A. Perhaps that's why the reclusive designer, who never makes public appearances and speaks to the press infrequently, isn't afraid to pass judgment on popular fashion.

"I think the media has some responsibility to bear for people becoming more conservative," Kawakubo told WWD. "Many parts of the media have created the situation where uninteresting fashion can thrive."

The rest of the interview is similarly blunt. Read on for more of Kawakubo's deep-cutting pronouncements.

On the inspiration for her Spring 2013 and Fall 2012 collections: "I can honestly never remember clearly what I was thinking about at the time. I was only trying to make something completely new. There is never more meaning than that. I was not thinking about the age of Internet when I was making the Fall-Winter 2012 collection."

On whether business is more important in fashion than creativity: "Yes, it's true . . . And it's weakening the power of creation. This is the worst of situations."

On her design ethos: "My intention is not to make clothes. My head would be too restricted if I only thought about making clothes."

On selling garments vs. making a statement: "Every day I think about the selling, but when doing a collection, all I want is for people to feel the power."

Could Nicolas Ghesquière be thinking about a hiatus from fashion? Grace Coddington has seen more than one brilliant design career put on pause — or worse, come to an end —and hopes the same thing won't happen to her close friend Ghesquière, who's leaving Balenciaga at the end of the month.

"John Galliano, whom I adored — gone; Helmut Lang, major talent — gone," said Coddington in an interview with The New York Times. "Hopefully Nicolas won't just give up and walk away. He's too good, too strong, too brilliant, too passionate."

Coddington said she rode out the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy with Ghesquière at the Carlyle Hotel, where a number of industry names stayed after the storm. Perhaps Ghesquière let something slip while Coddington and her cats "sat with him" in his room there?

Whatever Ghesquière has planned, Coddington has added her name to a star-studded list of people who want Ghesquière to stay in fashion. Earlier this month, Karl Lagerfeld said that it's "not a bad idea" for the designer to start his own line.

After six seasons of designing Versace's secondary label, Versus, Christopher Kane is leaving the brand to focus on his own line.

Going forward, Versus will serve as a sort of design laboratory through which Donatella Versace will collaborate with "young designers, stylists, and creatives from different walks of life" that will produce capsule collections and limited-edition product lines.

"I am excited about the new Versus strategy, but the time has come to dedicate all my focus to the future of the Christopher Kane label," Kane told WWD.

"I want to thank Christopher for his contribution to Versus over six seasons, during which I have been able to appreciate his extraordinary talent," said Versace in a statement. "Working with young talented people, and see them grow and develop as I have seen Christopher do over these years, is one of the most rewarding parts of my work. I wish him all the best for the development of his own line. He will always have my total support."

News of Kane's departure comes just two days after he denied rumors that he will replace Nicolas Ghesquière, the outgoing creative director of Balenciaga. On Saturday, French newspaper Le Nouvel Observateur reported that Kane would start at Balenciaga on Dec. 1. On the same day, a Kane spokeswoman told WWD, "Rumors surrounding Christopher Kane's appointment as creative director of Balenciaga are unfounded."

Joanna Coles told us she was "not going to muddle" with Cosmopolitan when she took over as editor in chief in September, but she clearly wasn't referring to staff changes.

Coles has reportedly sacked nine members of the magazine's team, including seven on the editorial side and two from the photo department. And while she's hired British GQ's Paul Solomons as creative director and Marie Claire's Joyce Chang as executive editor, a litany of other positions have yet to be filled.

The departures leave Jessica Knoll as the magazine's only current senior editor. When the two first met at a staff meeting in September, Coles joked, "Kate [White] told me you're a rock star. But Kate's gone, so it doesn't matter now."

Over the last several months, the desks at New York's glossy fashion titles have operated more like a game of musical chairs than anything else. The latest departure in a round of shuffling that started in August sees Elle's style director Kate Lanphear leaving her position. It's unclear where she's headed next.

The revolving doors started spinning when Sally Singer was ousted as editor in chief of T Magazine at the end of August. She's now back at Vogue as the digital creative director and was replaced by former WSJ. Magazine editor Deborah Needleman in late September. Needleman took WSJ.'s creative director Patrick Li and fashion features director Whitney Vargas with her when she made the jump.

This week it was announced that stylist Joe McKenna would join T Magazine as fashion director at large. W's Maura Egan has joined T as features editor. Meanwhile, Alix Browne, T's deputy design editor, will head to W Magazine as features director.

Back at The Wall Street Journal, Needleman's deputy editor Ruth Altchek was named editorial director of the paper's weekend Off Duty section and WSJ. in mid-October. Harper's Bazaar executive editor Kristina O'Neill was brought in as editor of the magazine. Two senior members of Bazaar's accessories team, Kate Davidson Hudson and Stefania Allen, left shortly after O'Neill, but not to join her at WSJ. Bazaar's features director Anamaria Wilson also left in October for a position as vice president of global corporate communications at Michael Kors.

Bazaar held onto and promoted three key staffers: longtime senior fashion market editor Joanna Hillman was promoted to style director, Nicole Fritton was named fashion market and accessories director, and Elisa Lipsky-Karasz became the magazine's features editor.

Brides executive editor Anne Fulenwider replaced Coles as editor in chief of Marie Claire. Her first big staff changes have been to promote Nina Garcia from fashion director to creative director and to hire Alex Gonzalez as artistic director. Fulenwider was herself replaced by Keija Minor, becoming the first black editor in chief of a Condé Nast title.

Speaking of Condé Nast employees, Eva Chen left her position as beauty and health director at Teen Vogue and was replaced by Glamour's senior beauty editor Elaine Welteroth.

Above: Joanna Coles. Below: Kate Lanphear.

Reports that Missoni has plans to launch a lower-priced line have already been debunked by one of the brand's most public faces, Margherita Missoni.

"Missoni is NOT launching a second line," Margherita tweeted on Friday, a day after The Wall Street Journal reported on the family's plans for a diffusion line. "We already have a second line and it's called M Missoni."

Earlier, Margherita had also tweeted to Elle UK that its story regarding the new line was "completely false."

Curiously, it was Margherita who was quoted in the Journal's story about the line, which the paper reported was spurred by the success of the family's popular collaboration with Target. Missoni reportedly said the diffusion line would be higher-priced than the Target offering. "I don't think I could put the zigzag on that," she said, referring to the price point.

The story was pegged to the methods Missoni has used to stay ahead of the curve.

"You need to evolve," Margherita said. "If you sit for a moment, you're not relevant in fashion anymore."

We've reached out to Missoni for comment, and will update this post when we have a response.

Missoni is NOT launching a second line. We already have a second line and it's called M Missoni.

— M Maccapani Missoni(@mmmargherita) November 16, 2012

@elleuk this is completely false

— M Maccapani Missoni(@mmmargherita) November 16, 2012

Photo courtesy of Yoox.

Shopbop has revealed plans to start a menswear retail website early next year that will cater to the "cool" guys who are underserved by the current spectrum of men's sites.

A Shopbop spokeswoman told WWD that the site would be "both approachable and serve as a destination to educate and engage guys on fashion and style. While others are serving the fashion converted or the super straightforward, we believe there is an opportunity to serve the guys who live in between these polarities.”

The menswear blog Fourpins broke the news when it discovered a listing for a men's divisional merchandise manager on the Shopbop careers page. The listing describes the target customer as "modern, cool guys who are looking for the fashion that works in his individual style." This means offering an "appropriate mix of designer" options, with high-end contemporary labels and premium denim brands sprinkled in. WWD nodded to Rag & Bone and Alexander Wang as brands that could possibly be featured on the site, so it wouldn't be surprising to see brands that operate in the same forward-thinking ethos, like A.P.C., Mark McNairy, Levi's Made and Crafted, BLK DNM, and John Varvatos, in the mix.

But whatever the site's offering will include, that Shopbop is starting a men's site speaks to its parent company Amazon's desire for a greater market share in the fashion space. Amazon recently started featuring high-fashion model Chanel Iman in its seasonal campaigns, and this month the company announced that it would set up a 40,000-square-foot fashion studio in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

Photo via Alexander Wang