Dior

Raf Simons has selected 22-year-old actress Jennifer Lawrence as the next face of Dior's iconic Miss Dior handbag, making her the youngest ambassador the brand has ever signed. Her campaign for the bag will appear in March 2013.

"Like everyone else, I first discovered Jennifer Lawrence in the roles she played in action movies," Simons said. "Her youth and her classic beauty, but also her force of character and the complexity she's capable of embodying at such a young age, are, for me, both unique and very moving."

Lawrence, who sat front row at Simons's debut show for Dior in July, and recently appeared on the cover of British Vogue, acknowledged that "it's impossible to be in the industry without getting even the slightest introduction to fashion." She added, "It's such a dream to represent an iconic brand that is synonymous with high fashion."

She's not the only actress who's taken on the role of Miss Dior. Marion Cotillard has been its face since 2008 and will continue working with the brand. Mila Kunis starred in a print and video campaign for the bag this year.

Photo: Jennifer Lawrence wearing Dior at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sept. 8, 2012.

John Galliano is believed to have sued Dior for €15 million (about $18.8 million at current exchange) in a French labor court.

According to The Daily Telegraph, Galliano has filed an employee/employer dispute with the Paris Conseil des prud'hommes, an industrial tribunal that hears cases regarding employment contracts. While details of Galliano's complaint to the court are not known, his hearing is scheduled for Feb. 4, 2013.

Dior dismissed Galliano last March after he was accused of making anti-Semitic remarks in a Paris bar. Last week, the newly installed French President Francois Hollande stripped Galliano of his membership in the country's Legion of Honor.

Those stories and more in our daily news roundup.

• Jason Wu collaborated with La Perla to add a touch of seduction to his Spring 2013 collection — but he hasn't said yet where that touch will show up on the runway. "They understood my vision for the Spring collection and went above and beyond my expectations in creating the most luxurious accent pieces to go with my designs," the designer said of working with the lingerie brand. [Style]
  

• Condé Nast has opened an edition of Allure in Russia. Its debut cover features Natasha Poly wearing — what else? — a bright red lip. [WWD]
  

• Proceeds from the sale of Dior's Rouge Nude Lipcolor Grège #169 will benefit Natalie Portman's favorite charity, Free the Children, which supports girls' education in Kenya. [Fashion Etc.]
  

• H&M will open its largest store globally in New York at Fifth Avenue and 48th Street some time in 2013. The store will take up 57,000 square feet over six floors. [WWD]
  

• The plywood covering the construction site at Tiffany & Co.'s new store in New York's SoHo neighborhood was turned into an art installation by artist Natasha Law. In the video below, Law is seen creating a female figure carrying a flashlight, which symbolizes Tiffany's journey back to the neighborhood where it was founded 175 years ago. [Fashionologie Inbox]
  

Those stories and more in our daily news roundup.

• Carine Roitfeld styled Mila Kunis for her second Dior campaign, a series of black-and-white photos taken by Mario Sorrenti in Los Angeles. [WWD]
  

• Ralph Lauren is under fire for manufacturing the United States Olympic team uniforms he designed in China. Even politicians have weighed in: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said, "They should take all the outfits, put them in a big pile and burn them and start all over." [NPR]
  

• Andrej Pejic is the subject of a new reality show that will follow him as he works on assignments. The show will also star Pejic's mother, Jadranka Savic. [Fashionista]
  

• Mario Testino has opened a cultural center in his native Peru called Mate, with the goal of supporting and promoting Peruvian art. "I wanted to give back to my country and I figure the best way that I can do this is by giving back through culture," he said. [Vogue UK]
  

• Speaking of Testino, his management agency Art Partner recently started a blog on which it shows off the work of its clients, who also include Mario Sorrenti, Mert Alas, and Marcus Piggott. [Art Partner]

Raf Simons says the focus of his first collection for Christian Dior was to "change the psychology of people who are interested in couture."

Simons may have accomplished that goal: the reviews of the show have been universally positive, and many noted that Simons's work might cause a shift in the way couture is viewed. Cathy Horyn said Simons "gets the most and the best out of couture," while Tim Blanks observed that the designer "can't help himself; he will bring a heart-on-his-sleeve human dimension to this remote and rarefied world."

As Simons later explained to Blanks, he's doing that by re-imagining the possibilities and limits of the couture customer.

"I want to make it more dynamic, appeal to a person who has a different energy," he said. "A younger person, in mind, not necessarily in age. And I think couture is very much about curating something unique for women. Fashion is so mass-produced now; I hope there will come a refocus on how people see couture. And I would also hope for a new focus on the craft. . . . It's mind-blowing when you start investigating what is done here. But I want to approach it with a new energy. I'm interested to see how people will pick up on it."