Bravo to Sarah Jessica Parker for being brilliant at leverage:

Mere months after the Twilight series gets pegged as the next Harry Potter, and mere heartbeats away from its first movie release, the movie star releases a perfume called… Twilight.

Coty Inc. said in WWD today that the fragrances are based on “moments in time,” but we know the reality:

They’re based on a catchphrase that’s already made millions, and can stand to make even millions more.

Sadly, SJP probably won’t make a cameo in the actual Twilight, which is really a bummer - put her in some midnight blue McQueen and she’d be a perfect goth princess.

We have trouble with bracelets.

The perfect one is hard to come by. It can’t be too big or too heavy, or else you have to take it off all the time. It can’t be on everyone else’s wrist, because that’s just boring. And it has to work perfectly from day to night, because that’s just the way of our wardrobe.

Luckily, this set of bangles by Jennifer Rose meets our rigid bracelet criteria. They come in both yellow and rose gold, either of which will work perfectly with Spring’s neutrals - they’d compliment Givenchy’s nudie frocks quite nicely.

If only they came in silver for the days we’re feeling more Alexander Wang than Tisci.

Oh, and did we mention they’re on sale?

—ALEXANDRA BEN-GURION

Fashionista Debate # 749

Once again, the office was in heated debate over a super important issue: Do you have a fashion icon?

As usual, Natalie’s adamant: no, decidedly not. But I wonder, how can this be possible?

Everyone should have an icon, someone to look to when you can’t figure out which socks to wear, someone to grab ideas from, someone that just makes you smile.

When the topic came up, I stared at Britt expecting an immediate, “Gwyneth Paltrow.” But she didn’t say it, so I did. To my surprise, she didn’t say “Duh” in that funny Cher Horowitz way she has. She was on the fence about the whole icon status. Sure, she writes love letters to Gwyn, but never thought about how she loves Stella and McQueen and structured blazers and white t shirts and major shoes the same way the super mom does.

And okay, so Hayley has a Holy Trinity (Kate, Jane, Brigitte) that she loves to look at and I can’t stop staring at Ezra Koenig every chance I get, but who’s in the majority?

Do you have an icon, a couple of icons, do you even know that you have an icon, or do you march to the beat of your own stylist?

—BRETT KANE

Chanel just unveiled a new line of bags and accessories under the label Chanel Unlimited.

The bags are made of a “glossy gray canvas material.” Though our first thought was, “These are totally Karl’s answer to Prada’s nylon bags. But worse, because they’re plastered in not just one, but many logos.”

You can have hobos, clutches, mini and maxi bags, even a large garment bag littered with words like “Coco,” “Paris,” “31 Rue Cambon,” and of course, “Chanel.” They feature “exquisite details” like inside pockets, leather reinforcements and invisible zip fastenings. Details that are, you know, so hard to find in other purses.

So essentially, they’re like LeSportsac with Chanel price tags.

Karl, how could you condone this?

—HAYLEY PHELAN

Dear WWD,

We love you, and respect you, and can’t wake up without you.

But when you read a piece of important information on our site, or when we email you news stories we’ve broken, it would be great if you could credit us.

We know you mean us when you say, “Our Sources,” but not everyone else does.

We don’t mean any disrespect, but you’re not the only one who breaks news anymore.

xoxo
Fashionista

“Back in the day when they were teenagers, they had status but they probably had pagers!” —Go to COACD right now. Can you name them all?

Yesterday, we suggested that Men’s Vogue is the new Fashion Rocks - a rather irrelevant supplement that pops up twice a year in the back of your actual Vogue and gets relegated to the bottom of the magazine stack, if not the garbage.

Well, WWD confirmed our analogy this morning.

Fashion Rocks and Movie Rocks are no more. And no Fashion Rocks supplement means no Fashion Rocks concert. Did Justin Timberlake know this before the rest of the world and sign up to host the Met Ball as his fashion event replacement?

We also suggested Conde cut back on coffee runs and black cars. But we don’t think we’ll be reading confirmation of that in WWD anytime soon.

Stella McCartney needs interns!

Not in London? Not a problem. It’s the US Press Office that needs stocking up.

They need someone, many someones, who are available three to four days a week from 10am to 6pm.

You should be motivated, punctual, experienced and possess a heretofore unseen devotion to the world of fashion because it will make your life much easier.

You’ll handle credit requests, scour magazines, run around the city, probably meet Stella and maybe have to buy underwear for Kate Moss.

You’ll also get up close and personal with the Spring 09 collection and that should be enough motivation.

Email your resume and cover letter to stellamccartneyintern@stellamccartney.com. Make sure to include all contact info and your availability.

Good Luck!

Jeremy met a boy.

His name is Joey Kirchner.

He shot him for Nuke Magazine.

Here's a sneak peek.

Joey's signed to Major Model Management and Jeremy thinks he'll be pretty major, no pun intended.

He has hockey sticks and his number tatooed on his right arm.

If this is outside the box, remember, it's Friday and we'll use any excuse to post a cute boy playing with pool toys.

--PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEREMY KOST

Even Bollywood’s been hit by hard economic times.

India’s answer to Hollywood, (though so much bigger), has been suffering at the hands of less willing theatregoers. But, like Shirley Temple and the Great Depression, it looks like India’s movie-lovers just needed the right reason to get back in their red velvet seats.

Madhur Bhandarkar’s blockbuster film, Fashion, is about a small town girl who moves to a big city to become a supermodel. The model, played by Priyanka Chopra, makes her way through managers, publicists, designers, stars and agents until she finally takes to a runway.

Though the movie claims to be a work of fiction, it’s being heralded as a realistic portrait of the industry. From the things a girl must do to make it to the top, to the shady practice of label switching among Indian designers, it’s being regarded as a more digestible version of many truths.

The film opens stateside today and movies are the perfect cure to a Halloween hangover.

The fashion industry’s been kind of obsessed with this election.

Everyone gasped when Michelle wore Thakoon, then again when she wore J.Crew. Everyone panicked when Palin spent $150,000 at Saks and Neiman’s and everyone cringed when she wore knee-high boots.

Sonia Rykiel and Jean de Castelbjac sent Obama dresses down their Spring runway, Nicole Farhi sprinkled her looks with Obama pins and Stella McCartney left personal notes encouraging her runway audience to “V.O.T.E. Obama.”

And now, with four days to go, Zac Posen’s making his message loud and clear. So far, we love his outfit best.

“Am I still going to be alive in 2009? I really hope so. I am a designer; I will go on designing until I die. This is my way of talking about 2009, 2010…” —Yohji Yamamoto on the future of men’s fashion.

This just in:

A clue as to who wins Stylist (and no, we really can’t drum up the words for the guy who hyperventilated like he was a hostage last night).

But since we know what crabby pants people can be over spoilers, it’s hidden after the jump!

From an ELLE staffer:

So, we found this video.

It’s called “Where’s Rogan? with Raymond Uberhoff” and it’s on New York Magazine’s website.

We don’t know what it’s for, where it’s going or how it got here.

It chronicles Rogan Gregory’s humble beginnings, a la E! True Hollywood Story, through to his fashionable success story. But then suddenly, he disappears and Uberhoff dedicates himself to solving the mystery.

Along the way, we meet two men who run a store called Opening Celebration and a girl who’s positively beside herself when she learns Rogan’s missing. We also see the designer hand sewing jeans with a needle and thread in a cage. The episode ends without a solution, but apparently this is just the beginning.

All we could think was, “Is this why his runway show got canceled at the last minute?”

The cut backs we reported first at Men’s Vogue this morning just got some new details via a statement Conde Nast released to Media Week:

Not only is the magazine definitely cutting down their issue count to just two per year - a Spring and Fall addition - but the magazine will also be “absorbed” into Vogue.

Translation? It’ll probably become a small version that’s bagged with the regular Vogue, kind of like Fashion Rocks.

Meaning? There must be a lot of lay-offs at 4 Times Square today, especially since it’s just now been announced that Portfolio, Conde’s business magazine, will be cutting its own issue count to just ten per year, which will inevitably lead to some people being let go.

This is all coming to a head after Conde’s announcement of a company-wide budget cut of 5%.

You’d think they could dig into that by cutting back on car services and multi-day department Starbucks runs.

Want to save 40% on dresses today? Of course you do.

So, go to Owl’s Lab, all dresses will be 40% off - sale and regular price.

All you have to do is type in the magic code at the check-out (DRESS40) and voila, that Vena Cava zipper dress we’ve been dreaming about is now 40% more justifiable.

But click quick because this promotion only lasts until tonight at midnight!

Sharing is caring.

—HAYLEY PHELAN

Men’s Vogue might be dying but baby Vogue’s on a roll.

The magazine’s sponsoring a pop-up store in Short Hills Mall, the high-end shopping destination for all Juicy wearers in Northern and Central New Jersey, all to encourage spending and offer a fun place for teenage girls to hang out.

It’s a branding move - nothing’s actually for sale - meant to provide “a place for girls to relax, try on clothes and drink smoothies.”

There will be snacks, music, make-up, clothes, a faux runway, and even occasional visits from actual Teen Vogue editors dishing life and fashion advice.

Basically, the magazine’s reigning in their “impressionable and aspirational” audience as tightly as possible before things get any worse. This store, The Haute Spot, will be followed by two prom-centric stores this spring and two back-to-school versions the following August - assuming all goes well the first time around, we’re sure.

We haven’t been to a mall in ages, but if Teen Vogue had a store while we were in high school, we probably would have lived there.

If you happen to be a college student in Austin, Atlanta, Boston, Minneapolis or Los Angeles, and a fan of the Lauren Conrad Collection, then you’re in luck.

Lauren’s kicked off a college-tour of her line, The Lauren Conrad Collection College Tour, bringing a runway show to each school along the way. Apparently, she’s figured out that her key customer is young, in school, and probably in a sorority, and much more likely to buy the clothes if she graces the middle of class schedules with a fashion show.

Confirmed schools include Georgia State, Georgia Tech, University of Texas at Austin, University of Minnesota, Brandeis and BU, and shows will go on through the next month.

In other celebrity-design news, have you seen Nicole Richie’s first line for House of Harlow? Because we have to say, Kitson or not, we’re pleasantly surprised, and picturing that Pyramid Bangle with everything come Spring.

This just in:

Another one bites the dust - kind of.

We just got word that Men’s Vogue has been cut down to just two issues per year.

And apparently, it went down with much emotional fanfare on the part of its editorial staff, including the Editorial Director “welling up”.

Call us naive, but we thought Conde would be sort of immune to these problems.

Guess anyone can go down in this climate…

A reporter way up at The Burlington Free Press, is hot on Karl’s Chanel-shooting trail.

Check out the first of her videos stalking the Kaiser GG style (ok, murderer style), and her thoughts on whether “Vermontonia” will influence Chanel Fall 09, and on the house itself (no one seems to realize that this “Lake Champlain” home on Grand Isle is literally on Rte 2.)

Buffalo plaid hunting caps in one year? …

Maison Martin Margiela’s finally diving into the world of pre-collections.

Pre-fall and pre-spring collections are arguably, according to many buyers at least, becoming more important than their runway counterparts. They’re delivered to stores earlier, are often less expensive, and the clothes are usually easier to wear in real life.

Margiela’s “Avant Premiere” debuts in stores this May. The collection offers sixty styles each for men and women, including shoes and bags. The purpose, aside from offering the customer consistently new product, is to give “an introduction to what we’re going to show for the rest of the season,” said a spokeswoman.

The other unspoken purpose is to catch up with the times. While the man himself can stay hidden forever, the revolutionary, well-respected, underground brand needs to compromise their ridiculously niche position to survive financially.

And as long as there’s never a Margiela it-bag, we think everyone will understand.

Another message, from 10:36pm last night:

Hi Ladies,

Just got home and saw the comment madness over Blake Lively and thought I’d clear the air. I’m interning in PR for a luxury designer, and we had a request for some samples for her last week. For Vogue.

The request came for MMB’s assistant (who happens to be, strangely, Tory Burch’s step-daughter, Izzie). I don’t remember if it was for MMB’s Index or for another shoot, Izzie also handles the American market requests for any fashion shoots.

But the samples were definitely for Blake Lively and definitely sent to Vogue last week, dropped off at 4 Times Square on the 12th floor.

Night!

Then, from a friend at 12:08am:

To: tips@fashionista.com
From: pop_secret@condenast.com

Dear Fashionista,

We work at one of Conde Nast’s publications, (can’t say which, obviously), but we know which cover she’ll be gracing soon. We saw the W mock up in the elevator this morning.

It was on its way to the the imaging dept. Hope this helps settle your commenters’ debate!

You know you love us, xoxo

Well, we’re really not sure why Blake would have been at 4 Times Square if it really was for W, and we’re pretty sure the entirety of W is on one floor anyway, so that elevator thing doesn’t sit quite right, but, we share nonetheless.

Dear Natalia,

You’re basically the prettiest person we’ve ever seen, ever, and we smile every time we see you in the David Yurman ads or posing for DVF, or as the lone model on the cover of Vogue.

Having said that, we were all kind of freaked out by the faux-pastoral scene shot by Mario Testino with your family because, isn’t it sort of creepy to have beautiful you holding your terrified children on a horse? And it’s also rather disconcerting to see all of you looking in different directions, dazed.

Plus, this isn’t the first time you’ve done the whole ‘look at my gorgeous family’ thing in Vogue, but at a time when ostentation couldn’t be more inappropriate, this seems out of place.

We do have fond memories of the shots of Stella Tennant with her family, but that had an interview to accompany it, and was all about personal style, which made sense. But just seeing the Portman clan hanging out and playing dress up looking like Peter and Wendy grown up is just awkward.

I’m sure if you asked him nicely Mario would have done this shoot just for you.

Just saying.

—BRETT KANE

Last week, you might remember that ELLE Accessories kind of folded, along with a few more print magazines, and CosmoGIRL! died just before that.

Now, Time Inc’s announced that they’re cutting 600 jobs from their company, instituting a total restructuring of the management of their titles (which includes In Style, easily the most widely-read fashion women’s magazine on the market) and will now be regularly lending writers between magazines, presumably to save on pay. And Time’s the world’s largest magazine publisher with 130 books on its roster.

For now, they’re saying that none of their titles are folding. Whether anyone should really believe that remains to be seen. But here’s a thought:

Time is widely regarded as one of the best companies to work for. Anyone who’s ever worked at In Style will go on and on about the hours, the pay, the benefits, and especially the general culture of super nice people who are all sans ‘tude.

But what happens when you strip staffers of their sense of security and inevitably make everyone more competitive for their jobs?

We were going to show you the new commercial for Fendi’s Palazzo fragrance.

It stars Raquel, Brad, sheets and nipples. But then we found this video documenting the making of the commercial, which also stars Karl. And everything’s better with Karl.

So here you go.

Raquel tries to look sexy in her white boyfriend tee. Well, she doesn’t actually have to try. She just does. And Brad gets to sleep while she poses against the wall, the balcony, the Italian Palazzo.

If only life were more like fragrance commercials, directed by Karl and full of perfectly smoked eyeliner all the time.

His and hers towels make us giggle.

His and hers underwear ads positively thrill us.

We think this might be history in the making. From now on, for every nakey David Beckham for Emporio Armani Underwear ad, Victoria will get one to match.

WWD reports that Mert and Marcus have already shot the Spring 09 campaign starring Posh, whom Giorgio calls a “style icon, a dynamic lady whose influence and recognition will add great excitement to the continued international growth of our Emporio Armani women’s underwear business.”

Her body should also add some “great excitement” - we haven’t seen Posh in her underwear since that steamy W shoot over a year ago, since which her fashion cred has skyrocketed with a starring role in the Marc ads, a well-received line of Roland Mouret, ooops, her own, dresses and front row seats on major runways.

On another note, whatever happened to the Beckham reality show?

Our Tom Ford wardrobe dreams have been slashed much too soon.

Arianne Phillips, best known as Madonna’s personal stylist, will be dressing the cast for A Single Man. Her past film credits include Walk the Line and Swept Away. Her past Madonna credits include the icon’s last four tours, loads of Givenchy and an influx of Gucci leather jackets.

While we might not always love Madonna’s sartorial choices, we did love June Carter Cash’s and can’t wait to see what Phillips does with another 1960’s cast.

Meanwhile, Ford’s said to be collaborating with a couple of Mad Men’s production designers on the sets.

So if Tom can convince Don Draper to make a cameo, this should be the best looking film of the year.

Because we know you were wondering what’s happening with that Sean Avery movie that Sean said might be happening, here’s an update:

In an interview with The Dallas Morning News yesterday, Sean divulged that not only is the movie definitely happening and in pre-production, but that he himself is an executive producer on the film, and “talks to the writer weekly.”

Indeed, someone somewhere has opened an IMDB entry for the film, set to hit silver screens in 2010. So it all seems about as real as his internship, so far.

But so many questions, like: Who will play Sean? Will Andre make a cameo? Will it be called something like, Seamless Summer? Which inevitably leads to, who exactly is this film targeting? Hockey fans? Is somebody out there hoping for a Devil 2?

And most pressing, will the Anna character wear a bob and nude mules?

This just in from the caf:

“Blake Lively spotted lunching at 4 Times Square, with a certain fashion assistant and her manager in tow. She was there for a fitting, but with which magazine, I’m not sure…”

A little math: Couldn’t be Lucky, since she was just on their January cover, and she was just on Teen Vogue’s March. Realistically, that would only leave Glamour, Allure and Vogue.

Oh yeah, the rest of that conversation:

“I think the assistant might have been that girl from Vogue”.

But we highly doubt it could be for the cover - right?

It might be because we love the man blindly, but for some reason we don’t balk at Tom Ford designing a movie the way we balk at Jessica Simpson designing shoes.

Vogue UK reports that the busy man’s starts production on his first film, A Single Man, next month. He adapted the script from the novel of the same title with the help of screenwriter David Scearce and he’ll be directing, too - someone likes to be in charge.

Though we bet directing the likes of Colin Firth and Julianne Moore will be quite different from directing the Sophie Dahl’s and Carmen Kass’s of campaigns past. We’re expecting, ok, hoping, for at least a bit of behind the scenes drama what with Ford’s diva ways, a Los Angeles set, a dramatic story and a stellar cast.

Of course, we’re also hoping Ford has a hand in the set and costume design, too. Anyone who sees the movie, who knows Tom Ford directed it, and who knows who Tom Ford is, will be paying more attention to the aestethic details than the story line anyway.

It’s been far too long since Ford’s had a hand in dressing women and as far as we’re concerned, there can never be too much of the man.

Maintaining a contact database can be excruciatingly boring though often necessary, depending on what kind of job you have.

So here’s some great news for all you assistants out there:

Rhonda Richford and Kristen Calavas, formerly of BPCM, have created an incredibly extensive online directory of PR contact information for pretty much ever fashion brand / stylist ever, called TheLookBook.com. Need to get those Margiela jeans in the office stat? Try James at Staff International. Want to ask Annabel Tollman which designer Scarlett was wearing last night? Try her through Magnet.

The truly incredible part is that all this information is free, at least for now, though a little dangerous if you don’t feel like getting random e-mails from people looking for work, no?

We get the sense that Burberry hasn’t exactly been affected by the credit crunch.

Their profits are up 20% so far this year, they just opened up their new west coast flagship in the company of Kate Hudson, their refusal to use models associated to drugs in any way keeps them in the news and in conversation, and now, they’re taking over a bit of our sky line.

Next March, Burberry’s moving their US headquarters to 444 Madison, a 49-story skyscraper topped off by three illuminated signs from the olden days. Right now, they still say “New York” on them (that’s where New York Magazine operated from until they moved further downtown last year), but as soon as Burberry takes over the space, the signs will glow for the brand - and they’ll even give us the time and temperature, too.

(Burberry’s also throwing around the idea of opening their third New York store location there, but nothing’s set in stone.)

And now if only Topshop could get their own issues in order, we might be able to declare a new British Invasion - can’t wait.

And this Spring’s theme for the Met Ball is out: Models.

Next year’s gala, “The Model as Muse: Embodying Fashion” will explore how models have changed fashion, by inspiring the designers (and we’re thinking photographers are going to play a big part in this one) who’ve dressed them, and sometimes designed for them, through seventy looks handpicked from the Costume Institute’s collection.

The exhibit kicks off May 4th with the usual big party, this time co-chaired by Marc Jacobs, Justin Timberlake and Kate Moss, in addition to Anna Wintour.

Yeah - Justin Timberlake? Please don’t say it’s because the Met’s trying to bring sexy back… Though Harold Koda did say it would be a “hot gala”.

While perusing the Salt Lake Tribune (don’t ask) we happened to come across a news item that really tickles.

Apparently, a woman was apprehended by the Utah Transit Authority at 7:30 am after numerous complaints from fellow riders about her lack of pants. After being booted from the train, the woman quickly explained that, in fact, she wasn’t pantsless at all but wearing a mic