THE RICHEST PEOPLE ON THE PLANET 2014. The ranks of the world’s billionaires have swelled to a record 1,645 including 268 newcomers. While wealth spreads to new corners of the world, including for the first time places like Tanzania and Lithuania, the U.S. still dominates with Bill Gates back on top after a four-year hiatus. [FORBES]

A KIOSK FOR KHAKIS, AND OTHER GAP IMPROVEMENT STRATEGIES. Margins may have been pinched by desperate holiday discounting, but Gap made it through the end of the year in respectable—if not exactly stunning—shape. Profit slid 12.5 percent to $307 million, a better result than Wall Street expected, and the retailer managed to tick up sales by the slightest amount at stores open more than a year. [BUSINESSWEEK]

THE LIFE AESTHETIC WITH WES ANDERSON. With the release of his eighth feature film, “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” Wes Anderson takes another imaginative leap into a world of his own invention. [WSJ]

CAN PAYPAL BEAT APPLE, GOOGLE AND AMAZON AT THE WALLET WARS? PayPal is in the center of two battles: one for control of every transaction on the planet, the other for control of its own destiny. [FORBES]

AUDI’S BIG DESIGN PUSH – THE NEW TT. The original Audi TT won acclaim in 1998 for a sexy design that marked a departure from its styling at the time. Fifteen years later, Audi is counting on a remake of the iconic coupe to generate similar buzz. The first TT boosted Audi’s popularity and put BMW and Mercedes-Benz on notice that the brand was a full-fledged rival. The revamp being unveiled tonight in Geneva is meant to once again set Audi apart. [BLOOMBERG]

WOMEN EXECUTIVES: FASHION RETAIL’S NEW POWER PLAYERS. Where once men made up the majority of power players at the world’s big department stores, recent poaches and promotions have thrust five British or British-based women into the spotlight: Stacey Cartwright, the new chief executive of Harvey Nichols; Marigay McKee, president of Saks Fifth Avenue; Alannah Weston, deputy chairman of Selfridges Group; Averyl Oates, fashion commercial director of Galeries Lafayette; and Helen David, fashion director at Harrods. [FINANCIALTIMES]

WHY GAP DECIDED IT HAD TO PAY SALES CLERKS $10 AN HOUR. For now, Gap is ahead of the pack — but its move puts pressure on high-profile retailers like Walmart, who appeared to be mulling a wage increase of their own in the days following the San Francisco clothier’s announcement but later denied those reports.[FORBES]

FASHION HOUSE VERSACE SELLS STAKE TO BLACKSTONE. “This is a very large and very well-known brand so it could be revived, but a lot of work has to be done on the creative side,” Exane BNP Paribas analyst Luca Solca said in the wake of the deal on Thursday [REUTERS]

LUXURY CONSUMER BASE TO KEEP GROWING. The number of luxury goods buyers reached 330 million last year and is set to rise to 400 million in 2020 and 500 million by 2030 as more people become wealthy in Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe, a study has found. [REUTERS]

LAMBORGHINI PLANS SUV IN 2017. Lamborghini SpA, AG’s Italian supercar division, plans to start building the Urus sport-utility vehicle in three years, the brand’s first model in the segment since the Rambo Lambo of the 1990s. [BLOOMBERG]

THE SMART MONEY’S ON CASUAL. Brands shied away from business wear at London Collections: Men. [FINANCIALTIMES]

REBEL CHIC VS. REBEL SHOCK. “It’s an interesting time for our Europe — moral, economic, ethical, spiritual, political and religious — and the best has yet to come,” said Brunello Cucinelli. [NYT]

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF TENSING. The hiking boot has ascended to high fashion, from practical to positively luxurious. [FINANCIALTIMES]

WHY UNIQLO CHOSE FOREVER 21 VETERAN TO LEAD ITS U.S. BUSINESS. Uniqlo, with 17 stores stateside, is mostly banking on Larry Meyer to pull off its American expansion plans – 200 stores by 2020 – particularly after its initial foray into the U.S. market flopped. [FORBES]

NBCU’S ESQUIRE NETWORK HONES IN ON GUYS. While Esquire Net president Adam Stotsky has said that he’d like to program an all-original lineup in five years’ time, the initial game plan is to air all home-grown series on Tuesday and Wednesday nights in prime time. [ADWEEK]

THE THREESOME BEHIND CALVIN KLEIN. Meet the team of fashion designers—Kevin Carrigan, Francisco Costa and Italo Zucchelli—who together have kept the cool of Calvin Klein alive and built the brand into a global juggernaut. [WSJ]

APPLE DOMINATES LIST OF WORLD’S TOP BRANDS. The first fashion brand on the list? Louis Vuitton at #10, valued at $28.4 billion. Apple? $104.3 billion. [FORBES]

RICHEMONT RULES OUT DIVESTMENTS AS GROWTH PICKS UP. Luxury goods group Richemont has decided not to sell underperforming businesses such as leather goods maker Lancel in part because it couldn’t get a good enough price, disappointing analysts’ hopes for a quick solution. Instead, the maker of Cartier jewelry and IWC watches said on Friday it hoped to turn around lagging businesses, which also include menswear brand Dunhill and Montblanc writing instruments, within two to three years. [REUTERS]

IT’S HIP TO BE SQUARE. Cool check tailoring fit for the office. Checks on the red carpet? Whatever next? Yes, the stuff of flannel shirts and country tweeds has been given a smart urban makeover this autumn with designers from Gucci to Tommy Hilfiger, Hardy Amies, Tom Ford, E Tautz and Valentino all embracing sharp check tailoring. [FINANCIALTIMES]

FASHION BLOGGERS SEE A MISSED OPPORTUNITY WITH INSTAGRAM. In the coming weeks, Instagram will start rolling out its first ads in the form of promoted posts within members’ feeds. But numerous marketers maintain that the service is still missing a potential source of revenue: allowing individual users to monetize their own posts. [ADWEEK]