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Happy 2009! We're spending our first days of the new year researching some fashion designers, one of our New Year's resolutions being to grow our new designer index into an invaluable, authoritative resource.

That's how we ran into Blend Magazine, a Dutch publication covering fashion, music and culture. Luckily, the publication also maintains an English version, with a few articles from each issue translated and available online. Here we found some interviews from of our favorite fashion designers. In the context of fashion, reading these is an thoughtful, inspiring way to start your new year.

"There is no general recipe. If you see early Bless as a friendship and the structure it forms today as a collective of like-minded people, then the products are the documentation of how to have a good time today."

--The ladies of Bless

"I think it's interesting for designers to have limitations, certain boundaries. We realized we don't lose anything by it. It's even more accessible. I think we have achieved we wanted to, or we are on the way…you should never say, 'Oh, I’ve done it,' but the main thing is that we're on the way."

--Ange and Gabi of Three As Four

Either you do everything your self, but then restrain your self. Or you enjoy what other people are doing. It is just two choices basically. For me it's life. When you take on a job, you live your jobs all day all night, then you have to enjoy it. And I think that you also have to consider, even though you get a lot of work and hard pressure, if you enjoy what other people are doing you get something back.

--Jonny Johannsson of Acne

In London, I find there's always this very clear period point of reference, like a trend, while I find in Belgium, it's much more personal. I'm not saying that one way is better than the other, but that way [the Belgian approach] is just what’s right for us. The artistic approach is very free.

--Peter Pilotto

Invariably, every time we think we've seen every fashion related site worth seeing, a new one pops up on our screens. That's basically how we stumbled upon Milkshake Chocolate. The site is a seasonal zine in the tradition of zines that were popular on the web way back in the 1990s. Deliciously handmade and devoid of any kind blogging or content management system, each issue covers the more creative side of fashion by way of fun pictorials and interviews with a bevy of talented fashion and accessories designers.

A good place to start: their interview with Ines Kaag and Desiree Heiss of Bless, or their interview with up and coming British design duo Poltock & Walsh.

• The IHT has an interesting article on the past and present of Tokyo's many vintage shops (IHT).
• Refinery29 has details about a LEGO themed Band of Outsiders installation that just debuted at Opening Ceremony in New York(Refinery 29).
• SHOWStudio today debuted the first few in a series of "Future Tense" videos that are created by up and coming fashion designers (SHOWstudio).
• The Critical Shopper on Rick Owens' recently opened New York shop (New York Times).

• W Magazine has a short interview with Rei Kawakubo about Comme des Garcons' upcoming collection with H&M.
• The Moment has an interesting post about the burgeoning Berlin boutique scene.
• Dazed Digital interviews Rick Owens about his upcoming store in New York, and the current state of his company.
• JC Report takes a look at Beijing shopping.
• Independent Fashion Bloggers interviews your editor about Jargol.

We all know Karl Lagerfeld the spectacle, jetting around the fashion world in fingerless gloves and stiff-collared shirts. But we have now seen 3 distinctively different perspectives of Lagerfeld and thought you might be interested them as well.

Well over a year ago, Charlie Rose did an hour long interview with Lagerfeld. Quote of the hour, when asked about "bridge" lines many designers are doing. "Bridges are for dentists."

A few months ago we were lead to a 5 episode documentary that was done on the design and creation of one Chanel haute couture collection. Fun fact: when Lagerfeld enters the Chanel headquarters the receptionists promptly call and announce his arrival to just about everyone else in the building. (Click here for a listing of all the videos.)

And finally, we have the just released documentary Lagerfeld Confidential, the first authorized biography on Lagerfeld, directed by young director Rodolphe Marconi. The film is currently playing at Film Forum in New York through November 6 and will likely be making its way through the art house theater circuit later on. This is the most candid of Kaiser Karl's appearances, where he talks everything including from his mother to his ability to cut people out of his life after knowing them for decades. One of several choice quotes from the film: "I don't want to be a reality in people's life. I want to be like an apparition." On that count at least, we'd say mission accomplished.

Better 3 years late than never? The New York Times last week did a piece on high-end Japanese denim. Naturally, San Francisco's Self Edge and New York's Blue in Green were both mentioned in the piece.

Just last week we profiled Peter Jensen and now via Tres Bien we find this Current TV look at his Fall 2007 show. Definitely worth a few minutes of your time. Take a look.

When a Paris native first introduced us to Colette in 2001 we were amazed that such a shop could exist. It was one of the original inspirations for creating this here website. IHT has an article on Colette's 10 year birthday.

• Did you know that Anna Wintour plays a huge role as intermediary between young designers and companies, a la Thom Browne and Brooks Brothers? We didn't.
• A quick interivew with Patrik Ervell. Other than that what he has to say about menswear and fashion is pretty interesting, he went to college at Cal and so did we. Go Bears!
• From Suzy Menkes is a review piece on Dior Homme and the other Paris menswear shows. Click on the accompanying slideshow on the left to get a good overview of most of the menswear shows w/o needing to look at thousands of photographs or read dozens of articles.
• The Styleserver Blog has a series of behind-the-scenes looks at Berlin fashion week. Links: I, II, III, IV, V and VI.

• IHT on Dior's amazing show and more on Lacroix and Chanel.
• Style.com has all the photos
• The Telegraph on Chanel.

A few more interesting articles.

• Style.com interviews Olivier Theyskens about his pre-fall and fall collections for Nina Ricci.
• IHT on how subtle details and simplicity, not overbearing flashiness, is the new trend in menswear. Can we get an Amen.

• The London Times profiles Lanvin Creative Director Alber Elbaz.
• Wallpaper succinctly summarizes the Milan menswear collections.

Not much to talk about today (not even sales!), so we'll point you to an interview with Vivienne Westwood by the London Times. She always has something interesting to say.

A few links of note from around the web:

• We saw the clothing of Hanii Y at several stores when we visited New York in November and we were quite impressed. The collection displays a admirable attention to detail and a fashionable, feminine aesthetic. Elle has photos of the label's Spring 2007 collection.
• IHT profiles legendary Parisian department store Le Bon Marché.
• Vogue UK reports that Sophia Kokosalaki has agreed design a collection for the revived Vionnet label.

Men.Style.com added a few LA store tours, including American Rag and Douglas Fir (among our favorite men's shops in LA). Click here to see them.