December is a funny time in fashion news. It seems that PRs don’t want to release any news too important (and celebs don’t want to announce anything like impending marriage, babies, high-street collaborations etc) because it will just get overshadowed by fashion editorial pieces – those that tell us what to wear, which looks work for the roundabout of festive parties and which sample sales are throwing up the best bargains. We don’t need fashion weeks, new collections or new designers to cheer us up – it’s Christmas! But interestingly it’s the first weekend of December and I have lots to report from the wires. Don’t say I never give you presents…

Keeping with the festive note, anyone with tree-envy can look away now. Posh hotel Claridges got none other than John Galliano to design their tree for them, and he upped the chic-tree ante by moving away from the traditional spruce and using a tropical-inspired tree decorated with snow leopards, parrots and dragon flies. Completing the eerie magical look are a load of fairy lights and an icy blue glow. It might not be traditional but it sure is fashionable.

Proving that social media interaction has well and truly been ingrained in the fashion world (t5m – always ahead of a trend…) the December issue of Italian Vogue is a media-inspired affair, with models such as Lara Stone and Natalia Vodianova photographing themselves a la the Twitter picture (Twitpic) phenomenon. [fashionologie]

I am SO excited about this next one: is American store Target set for a collaboration with none other than our beloved Liberty of London? I was just this morning musing that it isn’t fair that Americans can get their fashion mitts on bargain Rodarte (the most recent Target team-up) and we can’t. And Zac Posen is next: so not fair. But this news cheers me, the Liberty collaboration is based around a Flower Power theme so cue lots of classic Liberty prints, and will include both fashion and homeware. Even better news, Liberty will choose pieces to stock in London, so us Target-starved Brits can get a hold of a handful or two.

Christian Louboutin may have ruled out any discount lines of his own (boo) but he doesn’t mind the mass-appeal of Jennifer Lopez’s catchy new song Louboutin. He says of the tune, “the brilliant thing is that it’s not about me. It’s about a girl and her shoe.” Apparently the singer checked in with the shoe designer extraordinaire to check she was pronouncing his name correctly and was told she was. Bet she gets a Louboutin collection every year for life. Jealous much?