Forget the medal count. In the first competition of the 2012 London Olympics -- the global runway show known as the opening ceremony's parade of nations -- it looks like Team Switzerland did it right.

Over the weekend, a couple of All the Rage readers were anything but neutral about their feelings for that country's gray-and-red ensembles. After bashing Team Canada's uniforms (described here), a reader from Montreal posted a comment Friday evening declaring: "For two weeks I am purely Swiss. They show style!"

That was followed by a Saturday morning email from another reader, who held forth on the wardrobe choices of several of the teams (including the rumpled-Elvis look of host team Britain), noting that "the Swiss looked snappy."

If there was an opening ceremony uniform you thought was a sartorial standout -- good or bad -- let us know by posting a comment.

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 -- Adam Tschorn

Left photo: Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka leads his team into the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games in London on Friday. Credit: Adrian Dennis / AFP/Getty Images

Right photo: A view from above of the Swiss team's snappy gray-and-red ensembles. Credit: Quinn Rooney / Getty Images

First Lady Michelle Obama spent the weekend at the Olympics, attending opening ceremonies, cheering on the nation's swimmers and sitting in the Williams family box to watch tennis champ Serena Williams advance, among other things. Obama looked sporty but polished as she rooted for men's basketball here.

Tavi Gevinson, the 16-year-old fashion blogger who has been famous since she was around 12, is on a whirlwind tour to promote her online magazine, Rookie. [NYT]

Chilean designer Maria Cornejo talked to the Wall Street Journal's weekend Off Duty section about her style inspirations: "Cindy Sherman, Tilda Swinton and, when I was a kid, Audrey Hepburn. When I was a student, Vivienne Westwood, Rei Kawakubo—those women who are stylish in their own way and do their own thing.” [WSJ]

One of these inspirations, Tilda Swinton, stars in a short fashion-related film directed by photographer and artist Katarina Jebb that is to be shown on a loop each evening of the contemporary arts Festival d’Automne à Paris, which is scheduled to take place at the Palais de Tokyo from Sept. 29 to Oct. 1. [WWD]

Rapper-singer Azealia Banks has been chosen as the star or Alexander Wang's T campaign for fall. [Style.com]

Today's lingerie styles are being influenced by period and fantasy television shows like "Game of Thrones." [WWD] (Subscription required.)

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--Susan Denley

Photo: First Lady Michelle Obama claps in the stands during the basketball game between USA and France during the London 2012 Olympic Games in London. Credit: Larry W. Smith / EPA.

Hats may once have seemed like a wardrobe staple of the past — an accessory reserved for the ladies of an era when no one left home without a proper head covering.

Hats have been a tenet of British style for decades, and here in the U.S. they are making a comeback. Modern millinery seems to have a definite place in L.A.'s urban jungle as style-savvy men and women, the royal set from across the pond (including the Duchess of Cambridge) and celebrities such as Lady Gaga are bringing a variety of headpieces back into pop culture.

In Sunday's Image section, find out more about the status of the hat, and meet a couple of L.A.'s creative milliners.

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— Jenn Harris

twitter.com/Jenn_Harris_

Photo: Louise Green, of Louise Green Millinery, poses for a portrait in the factory of her millinery. Green makes romantic and beautiful vintage-inspired creations that have crowned stylish women, music and movie stars since 1987. Credit: Katie Falkenberg / For The Times

And to get started, it wouldn't hurt to look the part.

All manner of vendors (Nike, Adidas, Ralph Lauren, among them) are pushing their own Olympics or Olympics-inspired apparel. But among the most intriguing are the swimsuits Speedo and Tyr are offering consumers that have been engineered using some of the technologies they employ in the high-performance suits they've provided to Olympic swimmers such as Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte, Amanda Weir, Ariana Kukors and Natalie Coughlin. These suits can help competitive swimmers move faster and beach bunnies look slimmer, as writer Diedre Crawford reports in this week's Image section.

These suits might just deserve their own gold medals.

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-- Susan Denley

Photo: Ariana Kukors in the new AP12 Speedsuit by Tyr. Credit: Tyr

Photo Gallery: Marilyn Monroe Merchandise

But two of the more ambitious are the separate projects underway to open both a chain of Marilyn Monroe cafes and Marilyn Monroe nail salon-day spas -- both of which are being done in cooperation with (and licensed through) the company that owns the bulk of the Marilyn Monroe estate.

Press materials describes the concept as "designed to be a place Marilyn would be comfortable in, not a shrine, featuring a relaxed but elevated design experience with lush menu options." Which means
patrons shouldn't expect to be greeted by a skirt-billowing blast of air from a subway grate at the front door. (Though to be fair, the slogan at the website does say: "When you step into the Marilyn Monroe
Café, you step into the spotlight.")

The spa concept sounds a bit more ambitious -- not to mention a bit better suited to leverage the Monroe legend. Orlando, Fla.-based Marilyn Monroe Spas, founded by Niki Bryan (founder of an  spa management company of the same name) and Al Weiss (immediate past president of worldwide operations at Walt Disney Parks & Resorts), has plans to open not one but three concepts under the Marilyn Monroe banner. In a recent interview, Bryan and Weiss shared their vision with me.

"The first concept will be a nail boutique, which will be a small- to medium-sized facilty that will specialize in manicures and pedicures as well as offer some other minor services," Bryan said.

"The second one will be the Marilyn Monroe 'glamour rooms,' which will combine all the services of a traditional salon, with an emphasis on the hair and makeup for styling, for photos -- a real celebration and revival of that notion of beauty that fits in with the Marilyn Monroe brand."

Weiss added that the glamour room concept would also offer manicures and pedicures and include a few rooms for eyebrow shaping, waxing and facials. "But," he said, "the point we want to emphasize there is the glamour."

Bryan said the third concept will be a luxury spa. "It's going to be the kind of high-glamour, high-elegance, high-touch environment that we believe will represent the relaxed, pampering side of her personality. Those will typically go into big resort luxury hotels, cruise ships and places like that."  

Weiss said that the first stores of each concept opened in 2012 and 2013 will be company-owned and operated before the business is opened up to franchise opportunities. “We don't have an exact opening date," Weiss said, "But we’re looking to open the first one in Orlando in November or December. ... We believe, on a conservative basis, that within five or six years we’ll have several hundred [franchised] locations."

So, what exactly constitutes a Marilyn Monroe-themed spa? I asked Bryan and Weiss if that meant they'd be creating a spa menu that included things like a "Seven Year Itch" salt scrub or a "Some Like It Hot" hot stone massage.

"I doubt we’d go as kitschy as that," Weiss said with a chuckle. "We want this to be a fairly elegant, high-quality product with a distinctive design that has an old Hollywood feel. When people walk in they're going to see her red lips, they’re going to see things that they’ll recognize very quickly from an iconic standpoint and they'll know they've walked into a world of Marilyn." 

The company is also developing three lines of Marilyn Monroe branded beauty products; nail lacquers, a line of cosmetics and a selection of skincare and body-care products.

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-- Adam Tschorn

Photos: At top, an artist's rendering of what the Marilyn Monroe Spas "glamour room" concept is expected to look like. Credit: Marilyn Monroe Spas. At bottom, an artist's rendering of the Marilyn Monroe Cafe concept, the first of which is expected to open in Canada in early September. Credit: Marilyn Monroe Cafe 

Created by the Hudson’s Bay Co., the uniform consists of a bright red parade jacket with the country's name in white and red across the chest that takes its inspiration from the color-blocking motif of the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games. That's layered over a tailored white dress shirt; the women's version has the official Canadian plaid on the shirt placket, and the men are accessorized with a necktie in the same plaid. Tailored khakis and white sneakers round out the uniform.

“We want our athletes to walk in the parade wearing a stand-out piece that reflects the Canadian spirit and who we are as a nation,” said Hudson’s Bay Co. senior vice president and fashion director Suzanne Timmins in the press announcement. “The Canada Parade Jacket was a natural choice, and it captures Canada’s love for the outdoors. It is also practical and versatile -– two characteristics we wanted to highlight when designing the look.”

We're told replica versions of the jacket -- in red, black and navy for men and women -- as well as Hudson's Bay Co.'s other 2012 Olympic gear is available online at thebay.com and across the nothern border at all Bay and Zellers stores until September 2012.

Our compatriots over at the Showtracker blog posted these details on Friday night's NBC broadcast:

"The opening ceremony, directed by Oscar winner Danny Boyle and featuring an expected 15,000 performers, will air at 7:30 p.m. Pacific and Eastern time in the U.S. And expect the fun to go until midnight." 

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 -- Adam Tschorn

Photo: Sketches of Team Canada's opening ceremony parade uniforms for the 2012 London Olympic games. Credit: Hudson's Bay Co.

"Glee's" Matthew Morrison, Lea Michele, Darren Criss and Heather Morris were among the actors mixing with pro surfers at Billabong's annual Design for Humanity block party, music festival and swimwear fashion show Wednesday in Hollywood. [Society News LA] 

Naomi Campbell's reality show "The Face" will also feature models Coco Rocha and Karolina Kurkova as coaches for teams of aspiring models. The show is slated to debut on Oxygen in 2013, and for those who may have missed our earlier report, there is a casting call in Los Angeles on Saturday. [The Cut]  

Photographer and filmmaker Timothy Greenfield-Sanders' documentary "About Face: The Supermodels, Then and Now” is scheduled to air on HBO on Monday night. Isabella Rosselini, Jerry Hall and Marisa Berenson are among the models who talk about their looks and lives, then and now. “Working off your looks makes you pretty much the opposite of self-confident,” Paulina Porizkova says. Carmen Dell’Orefice compares plastic surgery to upkeep on a home: “If you had the ceiling falling down in your living room, would you not go and have a repair?” [New York Times]

Lauren Conrad has signed on to host the second annual "Designs for the Cure" gala event with the Susan G. Komen breast cancer foundation in Los Angeles, event organizers announced in a news release. The gala is scheduled for Oct. 13. Last year's event raised more than $100,000 for the cause.

Southern California denim company Lucky Brand struck a licensing deal with the Parigi Group to manufacture and market Lucky Kid, which should hit department stores beginning in January. [WWD] (Subscription required.)

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Fashion News, the Olympic edition, featuring McCartney, Branson

--Susan Denley

Photo: Model and actress Liberty Ross and director Rupert Sanders attend a "Snow White and the Huntsman" screening in May in Los Angeles. Credit:  Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

Virgin territory: Lawyers representing Richard Branson's Virgin empire have reportedly asked a new New York City-based eco-friendly denim line to stop using the name "I Am Not a Virgin," according to the Telegraph. Apparently they consider the name a copyright infringement, though we just consider it the funniest name to emblazoned on a pair of jeans since Guess. [Telegraph]

Cartoon McCartney: Stella McCartney is launching a seven-piece capsule collection of kids' clothing -- and a book -- themed around a cartoon character called "Little Miss Stella," British Vogue reported. The character was originally created by author/illustrator Adam Hargreaves to appear on a fashion show invitation for the designer, so any resemblance to the Beatles trippy animated movie "Yellow Submarine," is purely unintentional. [British Vogue]

Olympic egg cups: The real gold in the London Olympics will be in the estimated $1.55 billion worth of Olympic-themed merchandise -- from Union Jack bed sheets to egg cups -- the Wall Street Journal reported will be purchased over the course of the Games. We don't know who'd shell out good money for an Olympic-themed egg cup, but the fact that they even exist made us think about our favorite SCTV sketch from ages ago. A spoof on "Chariots of Fire," called "Chariots of Eggs," it featured Daryl Hall and John Oates facing off with members of the Second City Television cast in a spoon-and-egg race. [You can see a YouTube clip here]. [Wall Street Journal]

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Lines from Launch LA: Field Notes serves up the write stuff

-- Adam Tschorn

Photo: Sales of Olympics merchandise, like these Union Jack emblazoned pieces being sold in Cardiff, Wales, on June 25, may reach an estimated $1.55 billion, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. Credit: Julian Finney / Getty Images

New trade show Launch LA, which opened its doors at Santa Monica Airport's Barker Hangar, delivered on its promise to serve up a smartly curated mix of apparel, footwear and accessories that spoke to the Southern California lifestyle, but the first brand I want to highlight isn't a clothing label. It's a pocket-sized notebook.

To be honest, I've known about Field Notes for a while now, ever since my wife picked up a three-pack of the 48-page stapled graph paper memo books ($9.95) during a J. Crew shopping trip. It was part of the brand's 50-state "County Fair" collection and each of the blue, red and yellow covers (representing the ribbon colors awarded at a county fair) was printed with the name and outline of the state of California. 

At first I didn't think anyone would share my obsession with the retro-flavored, decidedly analog note-taking medium, but when I recently gave one to my sister-in-law and she immediately held it aloft and proclaimed it "so Wes Anderson," I realized she had a point.

Designed, printed and manufactured in the U.S. using the Futura typeface (this information is among the facts printed inside the back cover), they're exactly the kind of thing you'd expect to see turn up in the hands of a character from Anderson's latest movie, "Moonrise Kingdom." 

In a partnership between Portland, Ore.-based Draplin Design Co. and Chicago-based Coudal Partners, Aaron Draplin found inspiration to create the 5-year-old company's flagship product in the old-school agricultural memo book used by crop inspectors and farmers.

Michele Seiler, who was representing the brand at Launch LA, said J. Crew started stocking their wares several years ago. "We'd decided we didn't want to go into stationery stores where we'd be competing with a bunch of other brands, and focused on men's fashion stores where we'd be seen as a $10 add-on to a $100 purchase."

And there is a certain element of seasonal style to the books, especially the limited-edition runs of specific colors (including neon hues for summer and icy whites for winter 2011) and themed editions like the aforementioned 2010 County Fair edition (which Seiler says has been so popular that it has been brought back as a permanent offering) and a red-covered fall 2011 "Fire Spotter" edition ("celebrating forestry and tall towers").

The most recent, for spring 2012, which harks back to the memo books' agricultural roots, is the "National Crop" edition ($23.95): custom-boxed sets of six notebooks, each paying tribute to one of America’s top six (legal) crops; corn, soybeans, hay, wheat, cotton and sorghum. Each of the 7,500 boxes in the limited run also contains an embroidered logo patch. 

Is it silly to fall in love with a tiny little memo book? Probably. But it's a whole lot less silly than falling in love and not having some place to jot it down.

Local stockists can be found at the Field Notes website, which also offers an e-commerce option.

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-- Adam Tschorn

Photos: At top, three-packs of Field Notes' California "County Fair" edition memo books ($9.95) on display at the Launch LA trade show in Santa Monica on July 25. At bottom, a six-book boxed set of the brand's spring 2012 "National Crop" edition ($23.95). Credit: Adam Tschorn / Los Angeles Times