Earlier this week, the Canadian Free Press reported that Donatella Versace's spring 2009 men's collection was dedicated to Barack Obama. Naturally, this brought glee to reporters round the world and the story quickly spread to outlets like CNN and the Today show. "Obama is Versace's muse!" enthused bloggers and reporters everywhere. But apparently the reporter who broke the story made an error, and, in fact, Versace did not "dedicate" her collection to Obama. Fashion Week Daily reports:

"It was the type of man Barack Obama represents that inspired the men's Spring 2009 collection," said a Versace spokesman. "A modern man with a laid back relaxed look and attitude. Not Obama himself." Indeed, nowhere in the Versace press release nor in her presentation was there any indication of any direct influence by Obama.

That still sounds like a roundabout way of saying "inspired by Obama" to us. Perhaps the house doesn't want us to think Versace's jazzy, tie-less numbers were merely a riff on Barack's plain-Jane suits? Or maybe Donatella's a little shy about her Barack crush, platonic though it may be? Sigh. We wish she would just send him a suit à la Vivienne Westwood in the Sex and the City movie, and let us bloggers go nuts — then we could all call it a day.

Donatella Versace refutes Barack Obama as "inspiration" [FWD]
Related: Donatella Versace Dedicates Her Men’s Line to Barack Obama