H&M's partnership with Maison Martin Margiela isn't the only shock collaboration being announced this week. Today Kohl's confirmed that they are starting to partner with designers to offer affordable designs and first up is Narciso Rodriguez. WWD reports that the designer, most known for outfitting Michelle Obama on election night back in 2008, has signed on to create a one-off collection for the retailer that will drop this winter.

The announcement is unexpected because it marks Kohl moving in a new direction. They're known for working with celebrities having worked with Jennifer Lopez and Lauren Conrad on lines but aside from their partnership with Vera Wang, they haven't really teamed up with designers before. So far they haven't released information about what can we expect but since their partnership with Rodriguez kicks off their new designer collaborations, I'm sure it will be good.

That's the big question in publishing right now. Before we all complained about the prominence of actresses on the cover of fashion magazines but over the last two years reality stars have taken over. "If you look at what works for us, it's not the same stuff that used to work for us," Cindi Leive, American Glamour's editor-in-chief, told WWD recently.

And the numbers speak for themselves. Take US Glamour for example - in 2010 Lauren Conrad was their biggest selling cover and Kim Kardashian, who appeared on the most covers in 2011, had their best selling cover last year for their January issue. As part of their big revamp set to unveil in March, the magazine have confirmed that they intend to tap into this love of all things reality TV by giving it a big push in their editorial content.

Read more after the jump

Lauren Conrad hasn't done too badly since leaving 'The Hills'. Her clothing line, Paper Crown, is doing relatively well and her blog, The Beauty Department, is on many-a-woman's bookmark list but there's more in the pipeline for Conrad.

In her blog for Forbes.com, she revealed that she's currently working on expanding her blog to a full on cosmetics line. "Right now, one of my main objectives is to expand TheBeautyDepartment.com into a product line," she revealed. "I am currently researching all of my options, but should begin the process of executing an actual line very soon—stay tuned."

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Harper's Bazaar US isn't the only one having a hard circulation year. WWD reports that Glamour is also suffering the same problem but it looks like they've cracked the problem. It's not the headlines that get people buying the magazine, it's all about the cover and reality stars seem to be the biggest magazine sellers.

According to reports, Lauren Conrad's 2010 cover was the magazine's biggest seller that year and Kim Kardashian's February cover this year is the best selling issue so far this year. The figures indicate just how much the business of magazines have changed. 15 years ago publications like Vogue US were beginning to introduce celebrity covers but were only allowing the A-list to appear and fast forward to 2011, every reality star worth their 30 minute TV slot is bagging a cover. “If you look at what works for us, it’s not the same stuff that used to work for us,” Glamour US editor Cindi Lieve points out.

See more after the jump

Miucca Prada made bank last year: [Fashionologie]

Neiman Marcus' Ken Downing is working on a beauty collaboration: [Fashionista]

Michael Kors channels all things scuba in the brand's latest resort collection: [Coco's Tea Party]

It's all about the wooden flatforms this summer: [Fashionologie]

Just in case you still care about Lauren Conrad: [Fashionista]

Despite using MTV to elevate her profile both on 'Laguna Beach' and her show, 'The Hills', Lauren Conrad has again spoken out about the damaging effect the TV show had on her credibility as a 'real' designer.

"It's easier to launch the line without MTV," she told Lucky magazine. "A lot of people in fashion don't want to be linked with anything that has to do with reality TV. Showrooms were turning us down." MTV passed on her reality spinoff that documented the launch of Paper Crown. Conrad says, "It's difficult to compete with all the 'Jersey Shore'-type shows," adding, "besides, there weren't any scenes of me getting drunk or fighting, so what's the point?"

Although that may be true, something doesn't quite sit right with us about Conrad's blame game finger pointing because after all, the endorsement deals and fashion line would never have been possible without the show. And besides, if the reality show was damaging on her fashion career, why did she pitch for a spin-off to push her new collection?

What do you think?