Madonna has been one of fashion's most fickle friends; all too ready
to call Jean Paul Gaultier or Olivier Theyskens when she feels like donning couture, but more often than not trudging around in track suits and baseball caps.

But in her new-ish "Give it 2 me" video, fashion seems once more to be on her mind. Madge dances around and goes on and on and on in front of a chevron pattern suspiciously like the one that covers Goyard's signature luggage. Ok, it's upside down, but come on.

All the while, Pharrell is playing with his much blogged about purple crocodile man-Birkin.

But given his allegiance to Vuitton, we're surprised they don't writhe around in front of a monogram canvas.

Go figure.

--BRETT KANE

"Wow. Havin a nineties Versace meets Beastie Boyz flashion-back." - commenter Landis Smithers on Omahyra's outfit on The Sartorialist.

To: Tips@Fashionista.com.

From: Loves Shoes@PRGirl.com

Hey!

Do you all have any info on the Louboutin sale going on today?

I overheard co-workers talking about it and how flats were going for $100 and pumps for $200.

If you get any info on it PLEASE email me or post! I'll be checking all day...

xo

Just got off the phone with the Gansevoort location - it's the last day of their sale. Go!

Heidi Klum wore a pretty Foley and Corinna top in The New York Times around this time last year.

She's now selling the same top under her Jordache line.

We didn't even realize she was designing clothes for the denim brand, but according to this style watch page from People magazine, sent in by reader Amy, she's launched a capsule collection in her spare time.

It includes jeans of course, a sweatshirt jacket, and a v-neck pleated top that nips in at the waist just like the Foley and Corinna one.

Heidi, we expect more from you.

And Foley and Corinna, so sorry everyone keeps ripping off your pretty clothes.

--KYLE HAYES

We thought Gwyneth Paltrow's July Bazaar cover was just a very delayed reaction to Iron Man - turns out it's part of a 40-page Estée Lauder campaign that continues within the magazine, just barely disguised as editorial.

The cosmetic giant placed the four faces of their new perfume, Sensuous, throughout the issue, even though the actual ads don't debut until fall. The move means a priceless Gwyneth cover for Bazaar and an insane amount of advertising for Estée Lauder before their ads, (which also feature Elizabeth Hurley, Carolyn Murphy and Hilary Rhoda), even hit.

This weekend, The New York Times asked if the partnership meant Hearst, (which owns Bazaar) was selling out, before admitting that it's actually a pretty smart move.

This morning, WWD reports an even cooler partnership between Marie Claire, (which is also owned by Hearst) and Ray-Ban. The two have commissioned five New York City artists to create billboards to promote Ray-Ban's new colored Wayfarers. And the magazine will also run three times more Ray-Ban ads this year than ever before.

The symbiotic relationship between fashion magazines and fashion advertisements has been losing steam as circulation has slowed for print publications and more companies turn to online advertising. So while at first these ad campaigns, whether subliminal like Estée Lauder's or in your face like Ray-Ban's, seemed a bit desperate, we actually think they're kind of cool - especially when real artists are getting into the mix and what used to be a boring ad gets taken to a new creative level.

We actually kind of love it, and we're sure Andy Warhol's probably giggling in his grave.

Tanya, Accountant

Got Her: At this weekend's roller derby at Studio B in Brooklyn.

Stalked Her: Because we'd love her romper anywhere, but in a sea of shiny American Apparel disco wear, her retro alternative was subdued and still fun.

Shot Her: Because it might just be the best fitting romper we've ever seen.

She says: "I bought it on eBay. Thank goodness it fit! And it's so comfortable for skating!"

We say: If only every day promised a well dressed, roller skating night...

Sorry, guys! Major server problems today, but it looks like we're back. Thanks!

xo F

Finally, a logical fashion decision.

Byrdie Bell, the actress and socialite, has signed with Ford Models.

The New York native is of Norwegian descent and actually bears the name Evelyn Byrd Bell, though she's been called Byrdie since childhood.

She has a movie coming out this Fall called Homecoming, with Mischa Barton and Matt Long, the cutie from Jack and Bobby, which never should have been canceled.

And she follows in the footsteps of fellow socialite beauties Vanessa Traina and Harley Viera-Newton, both of whom recently signed with Elite. Lydia Hearst, Amanda Hearst, Margherita Missoni, and Julia Restoin-Roitfeld are also Manhattan socialites with modeling agencies (most are on IMG's women's board).

It seems Ford has their work cut out for them - Byrdie's already been in Vogue more times than Nicole Kidman.

Just after the weekend took off, Louis Vuitton and Comme des Garçons announced that they will open a joint store in Tokyo on September 4th, the day before New York Fashion Week kicks off, that will exist for just three months, similar to Comme's past guerilla store openings, except... as a collaboration with a huge luxury company that seems like the antithesis to Rei's designs.

The store, which will be in the Aoyama shopping district, will be "half luxury, half raw", with a section designated for Rei's Comme for H&M designs (which will be pie-shaped and red, H&M's unofficial color) come November.

In celebration of the collaboration, Rei's designed six one-off bags which she describes as "party bags", incorporating the LV monogram pattern with serious handles, meant to evoke the style of LV's bags three decades ago when they opened their first store in Tokyo.

So, just to keep this straight: First, Rei's designing a bunch of LV-ish bags that'll be sold in a store that LV will sponsor, from which LVMH will take half the profits. Then, Rei will sell her H&M designs in the space, from which LVMH will take half the profits.

Congratulations... LVMH?

It looks like the CW has some direct competition for Stylista this fall:

The Style Network is launching its own as-of-yet, unnamed reality show in which three interns will compete for a position with "a top fashion magazine in New York" by the end.

They're just starting to cast the show, and the applicant letter advertises that "no experience is necessary" but that interested candidates must be "fiercely passionate about working in the fashion, beauty & lifestyle publication industry."

There will be upcoming auditions in Los Angeles, Chicago, Nashville and Philadelphia, so please bring your iPhone if you're planning on trying out!

We're not sure if reality shows for jobs is the new norm for fashion (is it telling that we didn't even smirk when we opened the e-mail?), but most importantly, stay tuned for which magazine...

(Full release after the jump!)

Milla Jovovich, Penelope Cruz, and Mamie Gummer have all posed for the Spanish brand Mango - now it's Alice Dellal's turn.

The British best friend of Lizzie Jagger is frequently spotted at London fashion shows and parties, and now she's finally making the leap over to massive commercials.

She'll star in Mango's denim campaigns for summer and fall, and they'll run on billboards, in magazines, and also in MNG store windows.

Alice's other big campaign for Agent Provocateur also drops this Fall, so stay tuned -

Maybe like Daisy, Mary Charteris, and Alexa Chung, she'll be moving to NYC in the near future.

Hey Fashionista -

Did you guys catch Jeopardy last night?

There was a fun moment in a category named "Christian." The first contestant buzzed in with her answer of lovely Mr. Lacroix, the second contestant claiming Mr. Dior was the owner of the shoes with "red lacquered bottoms" as described in the answer clue.

After the third contestant had no answer, our trusty Trebek was there to inform the audience and less fashion inclined that the true answer was our wonderfully talented Christian Louboutin.

So fun!

Stay cute.

xo
Angelo

Daphne Guinness, the McQueen darling and Irish Beer heiress, has put her creative talents to use on screen.

Her first short film, The Phenomenology of Body, debuts on The New York Times Style Magazine website today.

The film, set to LCD Soundsystem, features a chronological exhibit of fashion throughout time. The camera rotates around the models' (Jessica Joffe's even in there!) bodies, first wearing an apple, later a Victorian gown, then a veil, all set against a black wall.

We're kind of obsessed with Daphne Guinness - and would probably love anything she touched - but this video is really beautiful and hopefully just the start of her foray into other creative fields.

"Is Roberto Cavalli the Doctor Doolittle of fashion?" - Alexa Chung.

If you haven't checked out Michael Stipe's installation at the Rogan store on Bowery - go now. It's awesome.

And if you don't live in NYC, we're sorry. But there's another cool collaboration coming your way.

Stephen Burks, the American industrial designer who works in furniture, packaging and fashion, (including Calvin Klein, Missoni and Estee Lauder), was chosen by Tod's to build window displays for twenty of the luxury brand's international flagships.

The displays will be built of transparent layers inviting the viewers to see, "not just the merchandise in the windows, but the entire shop floor".

There were overly made up models dancing in the windows of Armani Exchange in Soho last night and they made us want to run the other way.

But a talented designer in the windows of a beloved Italian house? Sounds much more promising.

Hey Fashionista,

Here's a pic of one of the upcoming Gossip Girl episodes.

Blair looks adorable in a floral dress and is carrying (as you predicted) a woven Kate Spade bag.

Just thought I'd let you know -

Can't wait til the new episodes!!

xo

Madison

Update: GG's filming in an H-formation on Lafayette, Crosby and Jersey. So far, we've spotted just Blake and Penn, but there are a lot of trailers, one of which is marked "Chuck"...

Remember when Miley Cyrus named Teen Vogue on her list of desert island necessities?

It was a pretty blatant "Pretty please put me on the cover of your magazine?!"

And we hear it worked.

You can catch her on the cover of Billboard right now, where she apparently dishes on the Vanity Fair scandal, but expect to see her on little Vogue's cover very soon.

We bet they'll even give her cute clothes to wear - or at least more than a sheet.

Maybe they'll even let her keep the stylist. She could use some help in that department.

I've been carrying around a zippered Y-3 wallet under my arm for a week, and suddenly, life is easier. I grab everything I need, all at once on my way out the door, which is too much to fit into a pocket-sized wallet.

So I'm particularly delighted with the newest unexpected twist from this season's menswear runways - the introduction of clutches to men's wardrobes.

If you think about it, it's really not far-fetched. Men carry briefcases and portfolios, which are just as hard to carry as a clutch. So why not switch out an attaché case for a sleek Marni envelope? Plus, these days, we're carrying cell phones, wallets, Blackberries, keys and a bajillion other things. A giant messenger bag isn't always a convenient, or appropriate, accessory for a night out.

Dries Van Noten's zippered patent leather option is pretty basic without adding too many buckles or other distractions we're sure most guys wouldn't approve of. We love the blood red Ferragamo, left - it's big but not annoying.

We bet Marc will be next in line with some playful clutches, since he's obviously a fan of them himself.

The only problem? Keeping your girlfriend's hands off them.

--KYLE HAYES

Just a friendly reminder - there are a bunch of new posts in Fashionista Community, so comments/advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

xo F

We love when images of Target's GO International collections surface, and this time, NYLON's got the first look - but only eight of them. You'll have to pay up for their August issue to see the rest.

We're especially crushing on the outfit at left, we're already picturing the eight million different ways to wear that tank.

And can you believe that each outfit totals to around $90? Yeah, us neither.

Side note: doesn't that white top with the orange ruffle at the neck kind of remind you of that Marc by Marc top?

But since the colors are reversed and the ruffle's so much less, it's actually a lot cuter and more likely to be worn -

We love Chai.

There's something strange happening on the runway at the men's Spring 2009 shows, and we're kind of liking it:

First, Vivienne Westwood sent out a rather burly man to model little sandals and an enormous gold chain (he was actually an actor/bodyguard). Then, Dean and Dan Caten cast almost all black models for their line-up, which will supposedly be the case in next week's Lanvin show as well.

And just yesterday, Yohji Yamamoto pulled his own model stunt, sending out ten (much) older models down the runway to balance out the baby softness of the usual model boys, one of whom was especially regular life-sized.

We don't know where this is going to go with the other designers, but we're extremely curious to see if any of this will be attempted during the women's shows (we're not counting Gaultier's Spring 07) and how it'll translate if it is.

But so far, we're tickled. Especially after we read Yohji's message about the models - "Let's be happy."

Today's WWD has images of the new Burberry campaign, for which Christopher Bailey dropped Agyness for lesser known model, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley

It might be a sad day for Agyness - Burberry was kind of her calling card, and the new campaign looks a little dull anyway.

But something tells us she might be too busy laughing her way to the bank to care - Shiseido's swapped one serious face for another, dropping Angelina Jolie (after two years) for Agyness!

We love when beauty companies use real models, but probably not as much as Agyness loves that beauty company-sized paycheck.

MK was the first fashion lover we noticed embracing the full finger ring back in December, and we loved it. Now, we're spotting Rihanna wearing one (and sometimes two) during her ongoing media blitz - most recently at the the awesome BET Awards.

While the trend takes cues from calvary armor of the 16th century, the ring variation has typically been reserved for more hardcore Goth culture. We still don't know whether to call them "Gauntlet Rings," "Full Finger Rings," "Armor Rings," "Over the Knuckle Rings," or some variation thereof - but Googling will turn up some pretty diabolical results. And everyone still thinks we mean "Brass Knuckles". Definitely not.

Vivienne Westwood has been making her "Armour Ring" for years, but it's a little expensive and we're on the hunt for a more delicate looking variation, like the filigree version Rihanna's sporting at left. Maybe it's a sign, but we're not having much luck.

So in the future, if you see us on the street giving someone the finger, at least you'll know why.

-- JAZZI McGILBERT

I've been seeing a lot of girls on the street wearing sheer tops without a bra.

Without anything.

Basically, I keep seeing a lot of boobs, and it's kind of awkward.

A lot of the girls are modely - tall, skinny, probably a 32A - and I envy anyone who can leave the house without underwire support, but if you're going to throw on something loose and cool and sheer and off Chris Benz's Spring '08 runway, please put something under it.

We posted a while back about sheer etiquette - what, exactly, should one should wear underneath the transparent, lady-like fabric and lace we see everywhere, and we were flooded with suggestions: nude bodysuits, pretty bras, silk camisoles. We'd love for you guys to pass on your brilliant advice to the half naked girls running around our pretty city.

Seriously, even Naomi had the decency to wear panties under her sheer skirt - she's finally being a role-model!

Caroline, 19

Got Her: Crosby and Prince

Stalked Her: Because her adorable sun dress made us momentarily forget how depressing the weather is today - plus it stood out from down the block set against those black opaque tights.

Shot Her: Because we love the romantic print and effortless flounce of her dress. While it's weird to wear tights in late June, we think it totally works in this case. Plus, her boyfriend Johan is a super cute accessory (click through!)

She says: We live together in Sweden. He's only here visiting for a week!

We say: Cute couple, cuter outfit. Adjö!

--HAYLEY PHELAN

"I need some new sti-le-ttos, Can't walk, down the street in those. You are, who you wear, it's true. A girl's just as hot as the shoes she choose. FASHION, put it all on meh, don't you wanna see these clothes on meh?" - Heidi Montag, in her new single, Fashion.

Fact: Bloggers have been endorsing Polyvore like celebs endorse presidential candidates. But it took us a little while to jump on the bandwagon (blogwagon?) with this one. But thanks to Polyvore, now you, too, can play Rachel Zoe from the comfort of your own laptop.

If you're new to the game/just bored like us, you should give it a try. Then spend all day not working, and instead mixing and matching your Net-a-Porter pipe dreams or taking your own wardrobe and pretending you have Cher Horowitz's closet (so ahead of its time). Even the offical Polyvore Blog is addictive.

And retailers, take note: Polyvore is also a pretty genius marketing tool. Hot stops like Nine West have been holding contests and giving away merch to the users who create the best looks using their products.

Now let's commence plotting on how to get Net-a-Porter to jump on board and give us free stuff...

-- JAZZI McGILBERT

A little fashion spy in LA tells us that Dior Homme is trying to get Hedi Slimane back into place.

According to them, Kris Van Assche is feeling the same corporate bullshit that Hedi felt and has had it with the whole thing.

Meanwhile, Dior itself is realizing that perhaps the reason Dior Homme was so lucrative under Hedi was because he was awesome, not because they tried hard to micromanage him.

So... is Hedi going back into negotiations with Dior Homme?

Or are there rocks in our head for suggesting it?

Gareth Pugh's announced that he'll show his Fall '09 collection in Paris this year, instead of his usual London stomping grounds.

Pugh's been a staple member of the Brit cool kid pack for the past few seasons, but his recent ANDAM award grants him 150,000 euros, some serious backing (including Swarovski and LVMH), and a Paris show.

Way back when, as an intern in a designer's London showroom, I had the gall to ask my supervisor why said designer showed in Paris while so firmly rooted in London, to which my boss responded, "Because Paris is the only place that matters. It's where the real artists show expert collections and it's where you show when you've really made it."

While I think there are brilliant designers showing everywhere, there's something about Paris that makes it a designer's mecca. Pugh said, "I want longevity, of course, and I also want to be taken more seriously," which implies that while London's been nothing but good to the young, radical designer, showing in Paris is his ultimate validation.

Silvia Venturini Fendi dedicated the latest Fendi menswear collection to poverty, but that wasn't the only strange thing about it.

Enter wedges for men.

We're not really sure where they came from, or how they made it to the runway, but what we do know is that this is right up there with Mcqueen's one-piece bathing suit on the weirdness spectrum.

We know we might take some heat for this, but we feel like this is just another example to add to the list of this season's misappropriation of women's wear, to go with cinched waists for guys.

We guess we could see them on certain attention-loving men - They would garner some looks on the street. And we know some guys may want a little extra height, too, but we're not sure this is the way to go about it.

Who knows, maybe this could be the next big thing, but for now we're predicting that this is a trend that stays right where it should be - on the runway.

--KYLE HAYES

Aww, we're still holding out hope that DKNY used Vlada standing on our block...

We know more than a few of you have already noticed the models at the Dsquared² show this week.

In reverse of how shows usually go, the majority of the models were black, with just a couple majorities.

Now, there's a delightful rumor on COACD, that next week's Lanvin show will have an "all ethnic" line up.

We're just going to skip over the part where we debate the definition of "ethnic" and admit we know exactly what he's talking about, so here's the better question -

Is this in response to the upcoming Vogue Italia? Or would designers have made an effort to cast entirely non-white model line ups in their shows without it?

(And better yet, will this trend carry over into the women's shows?...)

We recently read that Nicole Fiscella, otherwise known as one of Blair's friends on Gossip Girl, has been a model for years, but we wondered who she worked for because we couldn't recall her in anything.

Then this morning, there she was, in a WWD article about streetwear, smiling in a purple fedora.

it's good to know the show's background characters have jobs other than to "yeah" Blair's declarations. Did you know the girl that used to play Kati now goes to Columbia?

Good morning!