In the spirit of Friday, here’s something absurd.

In Topshop’s “New In” page, it’s not the horrible Blake Lively-esque side-braid the model’s rocking, it’s her sweater. Or more specifically, what’s on her sweater.

At first, I wasn’t sure which animal I was looking at. A skunk? A hamster? It was cute, but creepy. Upon further investigation - or clicking - I discovered that the critter’s a guinea pig, which is probably one of the most random things I’ve ever seen.

Sure, Miuccia scattered kittens all over Miu Miu and Giles went dinosaur crazy. I’ve even seen animal-centric sweaters in Topshop before (adorned with large cats, for example), but out of all of them, I think I prefer this guinea pig (it lacks the crazy-old-cat-lady” stigma).

I’m not the only one drawn to the cuddly creature, the top’s sold out in almost every size. If yours is gone, don’t fret. This clip of Stephanie Pratt will more than fill your guinea pig quota for the day.

I.N Showroom is carries a number of European brands like Strenesse, Marlies Dekkers, Alba and Amulette. They’re looking for some fabulous new interns to start at the end of the month—just in time for Pre-Fall market.

You’ll assist the sales team by prepping the collections for appointments, pricing, developing looks, and orders maintenanceas. For the PR team you’ll pull samples for photo shoots, tracking them at their various editorial locations, merchandise, and help walk editors through the collections.

Sounds like a very well-rounded experience to us. If you’re organized and serious about learning the business this could be the perfect gig for you. It’s unpaid but you can earn school credit, or those oh so important recommendations for future jobs.

Email your resumes and cover letters to jessie.merrill@streness.com.

You’re about to be able to get your hands on some very cool and very affordable shoes and hats thanks to Target’s latest round of collaborations.

We are very excited to see what Eugenia Kim offers up in the form of headwear, as we’re always on the lookout for something new but seriously hate spending over $200 on it. The collection will hit stores and the web on April 18, just in time for us to pick out our signature summer look. Awesome. We’re hoping for an array of knits as well as some more structured pieces.

Also arriving in April will be a limited edition of Cynthia Vincent shoes. When I lived in Los Angeles, I was Cynthia’s publicist for a spell and so I am doubly excited to see this happen for her and her super talented shoe designer Charlotte Stone. Expect a range of heel heights, especially cute flats, one of her signatures.

Keep ‘em coming, Target. This never gets old.

Blog-alicious: Meet Caroline. She’s guest blogging for Lucky (how we found her), but she’s actually a textile designer with her own blog full of illustrations, both fashion and otherwise, and other very pretty things. {ItLooksGoodToMe}

Oscar & Valentino: The designer’s doc is on the short-list for an Oscar nom. Sadly, The September Issue is not. But we’re still pulling for a fashion victory. Also, we couldn’t be more excited for Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin to host. {Vogue UK}

Thigh High: The kids over at Nylon sound like they had a grand old time recreating Miuccia’s super festive socks and they’re letting us in on the scheme. Just in time for party season. Hooray! {Nylon}

This is the End: They may be denying it, but sources say there’s a major brawl going down between executives at Ungaro over what else? La Lohan. Let’s hope the best man wins. {Page Six}

GQ needs interns.

They’d like a handful of highly-motivated, professional, and experienced interns to work in their fashion department.

It’s unpaid, duh it’s Condé Nast, but you will learn a lot! Normal day-to-day responsibilities include managing the closet, handling incoming and outgoing samples, assisting editors on projects ranging from storyboards to store pulls, and general office support for the entire department.

They’ll pick the most detail-oriented, highly organized multi-taskers who thrive in a fast-paced environment. Previous experience in the fashion industry is a must, so is living in New York. They’re looking for spring interns, but they’re also interested in anyone who can start now and work throughout the year.

You can e-mail your résumé and cover letter (as attachments) to gqfashion_intern@yahoo.com, with “GQ FASHION INTERNSHIP” in the subject heading.

Good luck!

The Telegraph has more of the images from the 2010 Pirelli calendar shot by Terry Richardson up online today. And they’ve also thrown in a few from years past which got us reminiscing.

There’s a gorgeous Avedon shot of Honor Fraser and a Peter Lindbergh of Jaime King from 2002 that I just love.

But the one that really caught my eye was this Herb Ritts photograph of Laetitia Casta in full pin-up mode. It made me miss Herb Ritts and wish that he was still around making beautiful people look even more beautiful.

We highly suggest heading over to his website (kept up by his foundation) and taking a walk down memory lane. You know, in case you’re looking for something other than actual work to get you through this Friday afternoon.

We may not wear tons of makeup, but we’re pretty much never without a slew of lip glosses in our bags. They usually range from Chanel to Cover Girl and everything in-between, but there is pretty much always a Lancôme Juicy Tube or two in the mix.

We’re pretty thrown by the fact that the cult-fave lip gloss is about to celebrate its 10th anniversary. Seriously, where does the time go? And on that note, how on earth is it almost Thanksgiving already?

But we digress. In honor of the big birthday, they’ve created a limited edition collection of four shades that will be released in April called 100% Natural Origin, with honey as its main ingredient.

We love all the pinky shades but not that we have to wait until warm weather returns to try them.

“First of all, if you lived in New York at that time, there was no way you could not meet Andy Warhol. He was everywhere; he was like parsley.” —DVF tells students at Oxford, via WWD.

It’s a good thing the Victoria’s Secret fashion show will be on TV in a couple of days, because I’m not really sure how to describe it.

Something like, “At last night’s Victoria’s Secret show, naked women, but for $3 million bras and tweed bustles, walked down a triangular runway, around the Black Eyed Peas who performed with mimes and trapeze artists, in front of a diverse front row including Jay-Z, Carine Roitfeld, Michelle Trachtenberg, Dr. Dre, Patricia Field and Sir Richard Branson. The giant blow up dog that blew up out of the floor at the start of Pink section took our breath away and we left the Armory covered in glitter,” would be a good start.

It was sort of like fashion Disneyland; there were lasers and dancers, people were in the sky, wings were made out of balloons, Fergie was actually great and the whole production made a Chanel show look like it’s put together by a high school stage crew (a really talented one, sure).

If there’d been clothing, I’d say it was the most fun I’ve ever had at a fashion show.

Giles Deacon up and left London Fashion Week last season while everyone else was heading in the opposite direction.

Thanks to his ANDAM award, he had the opportunity to show in Paris, he did, and now he’s not coming back to London.

As if you could say no to Paris.

Despite the fact that the Giles show was always at the top, the Marc Jacobs of London Fashion Week if you will, and the fact that Giles’ Paris show was alone on the very last day of fashion month, he said, “Sales were up 42 per cent for the spring collection, and a lot of new buyers came to the show. I work in London, employ people here, but I need to look at the bigger picture.”

If showing in Paris means more dinosaurs, we’ll happily jump on the bandwagon.

It’s difficult to pick up Lucky magazine and not feel a desire to shop take over your entire being. If, in the future, you could actually shop out of the print magazine, there’d be trouble. For now, you can shop their website, which is dangerously close.

This week, they’ve redesigned everything to make it clickable and shop-able, and they’ve developed their own boutique within the site.

Last night, editor-in-chief Kim France and the magazine’s online team explained why their online shopping experience is different from the other hundreds out there. Despite the 450 brands they’ve launched with, the team’s managed to carry the magazine’s tight edit onto the site. For example, search results are sorted by Lucky’s editors, not equations. When you search “studded bootie,” the results appear in order of which ones the editors like best. So really, it’s like shopping a massive store from your bed with a fashion editor telling you what’s best or as one of the editor’s said, “We’re bringing a human touch to the tech.”

Also, almost every store Lucky’s hosting on their site offers some sort of cash back or rewards program, which you means you get money when you spend money. So instead of despairing about how much your wallet’s going to hurt, you can think about all the extra holiday presents you can buy and you’ll feel a bit better.

And…scene. Boy, was this a painful season of PR. We’re not sure we can be convinced to go back for more. But we will keep you spoiler-free in the meantime.

1. Did you look at Heidi and think “Holy Pink!?”

2. Nina’s face at Irina during judging, who didn’t love it?

3. Really, that much black wasn’t a conscious decision? Really? It’s not necessarily wrong, but c’mon.

4. When you saw the black headbands, didn’t you just think Carmen Kass in every single Michael Kors show you’ve ever seen?

5. Were you mad when Tim didn’t reference Balenciaga re: the shoulders?

Many, many lookbooks come across our desks over the course of the year. And lots of the them are adorable and well-styled.

But a video lookbook, like this one for Suno’s resort collection, makes us even happier. You get to see the brightly patterned clothes that the company is known for live and in action—actually on roller skates with Parisian artist Marie Vic (who collaborated on the project) “skiing” behind a car in Cuba. The music is super snazzy and really it just looks like the most fun shoot ever.

Can we come next time?

“Everyone just expects me to jump now. I think they just think I jump naturally, like put me in great shoes and I jump,” said Caroline Trentini backstage at the Victoria’s Secret show this afternoon.

“Will you ever not jump?”

“No! I mean, as long as people ask me to jump, I’ll jump!”

Once I got that all-important question out of the way, I ran around the room and asked a handful of our favorite girls two critical questions:

1. What’d you have for breakfast?
2. What are you wearing to tonight’s after party?

Chanel Iman said she ate eggs, bacon, potatoes, cereal and fruit. I would have said, “Don’t lie,” but I wasn’t in the mood to pick a fight with an angel and she followed with, “I think eating is sexy.” She wants to wear the Valli dress she wore down his runway, but if it doesn’t show up, she’s sure she can find something “super sexy to wear with my fabulous boots.”

Julia Stegner’s wearing Herve Leger, surprise! (There were two camps of girls, the ones wearing Herve and the ones specifically not wearing Herve because everyone else is wearing Herve.) She’s not a breakfast person, but “I had pomegranate seeds this morning! Only because I’m on antibiotics and I have to eat something.”

December’s British Vogue is a treasure chest of goodies, from the how-to on glitter to Lara looking very un-Lara-like in ballgowns and a stunning Doutzen editorial.

But the one article that really caught my eye was a beautifully written collection of stories by some perfectly appointed contributors. “The Seven Wonders of Fashion” is an examination of pieces that are just so incredible that they endure the test of time. (There are some seriously great collages of fashion images over the years, too.)

Charlotte Rampling starts it all off with the tuxedo, an item of clothing she declares “empowering” and statement making. Amanda Harlech muses on the ballgown, the dress of every girl’s dreams, while Alison Goldfrapp informs us of the power of the hat, praising milliners as artists and hats as sculptures.

Which baby New York City “It” Girl asked her parents for a publicist for her birthday? Yep, that’s right, a publicist.

Be Italian: We totally agree on the Penny Lane girl crush of course. We can’t even describe the levels of excitement we have for Nine. And Kate never fails to look super cute. Seriously this press tour is going to be out of control fashion-wise. {WhoWhatWear}

Not That Lisa Kline: But the one who styled Sarah and the rest of the Palin clan during the campaign finally comes out to clear the air. And she was asked to do the big makeover during a holiday weekend. Yikes on so many levels. {NY Times}

Change the Date: Fashion’s Night Out is moving to Friday September 10th so that you can drink champagne, shop, and shotgun beers all night long without having to show up for work the next morning. Sweet. {WWD}

That’s Me in the Corner: I (Abby) remember when all my REM tunes were actually on cassette tape. Hence I was automatically drawn to this one-off collaboration between Michael Stipe and Maison Martin Margiela. Though I don’t think I would try wearing it as an eye patch as someone in the shot did. {Racked}

For years it seemed like Si Newhouse and Condé Nast were hiding out and hoping that the whole internet thing would just run its course and life would return to “normal.” Sure they formed CondéNet and launched Style.com but they were certainly not pre-curve on anything digital.

But over the past few months, they’ve definitely been trying to make up for lost time. (We can only imagine the pages of the McKinsey reports that must have been dedicated to online growth.) From finally getting each of their magazines its own proper website to online dating (still super weird!), they are making a serious go of it.

Today’s Wall Street Journal reports that the publishing house is developing an e-reader application that will debut sometime next year first with Wired and then the other titles like Vogue and Vanity Fair. Apparently this is different from the GQ technology they just put on iTunes.

We have yet to sign on to the whole e-reader thing. But it’s really nice to see Condé trying to get out ahead of things instead of hanging back and watching the world change while it stands still. Because we all know how that worked out, and no one wants to see it happen again.

“It has the obvious connotations…girl in boyfriend’s/husband’s/one-night stand’s shirt the morning after a black-tie ball. It’s very James Bond.” —Marcus Wainwright on the whole tomboy trend. We couldn’t love this sexy image more.

I’ve never really been a puffy vest kind of girl, but after flipping through this month’s J.Crew catalog about a million times and reading about Pharrel’s Bionic vest for Moncler, I suddenly need one.

The musician’s designed a special collection for the luxury puffer brand. His vests and jackets come in black, all black and only black, including one vest in particular he’s billed as a bullet proof vest for pacifists. Inside, the jackets and vests are printed with images - mostly of nature after dark - by Japanese artist Keita Sugiura.

The range will drop in Fall 2010, no word on price points or stockists yet. But every piece uses fabric from Bionic, Pharrell’s three-year-old company that makes yarn from recycled plastic bottles.

If I’m venturing into puffer territory I’ll probably stick with something more like this, though between Pharrell and Giambattista Valli the idea of fancy down outerwear’s growing on me.

In case you’ve been under a fashion rock this week, you know that tonight’s the night for the taping of the big Victoria’s Secret show. You may have also heard the rumor that some of the Angels are going to be recreating George Michael’s supremely awesome “Freedom ‘90” video for the occasion.

Now, we love Doutzen, Chanel, Miranda, et al. But seriously nothing will ever top this MTV supermodel explosion.

Naomi dancing in the sheer black top! Cindy in the tub! Christy and the sheet dress! Tatjana in the animal print! Super blonde Linda in that delicious oversized sweater! Throw in the jukebox and jacket from “Faith” burning and you’ve got yourself a video masterpiece.

So before it happens (or doesn’t) we thought we’d give you a little reminder of the original. And this song never fails to brighten a day. Though we’ll always contend that sometimes the clothes do indeed make the man. Just sayin’.

There is something a bit awkward about a designer choosing to repeat their “one-time, exclusive, limited edition” collaboration.

We love it - the more the merrier - but for the handful of people influenced to buy because it’s now or never, it must be disappointing when really, there’s nothing exclusive about it.

If you’re not in that camp, you’ll be thrilled to hear that Stella McCartney’s teaming with Gap for yet another collection. It’s still Gap Kids, for Spring, but by now you should know whether you need a girl’s size 12 or 14 and whether you prefer the fit of the boys’ or girls’ jackets.

Also on repeat? Jil Sander’s collection for Uniqlo. Unlike Stella, she’d left room for the possibility. We’re pretty sure her brilliant coats caused the line down Broadway, but we’re curious to see what she does with spring.

Tonight, Fendi played host to the launch of John Baldessari’s book (written and curated by contemporary arts expert Sharon Coplan Hurowitz.)

If you don’t know Baldessari’s work, we would highly suggest taking a look. It’s conceptual and multi-format, but in our opinion, not the least bit contrived. (A retrospective is currently touring from the Tate to LACMA to the Met.) And from the looks of the crowd at the party tonight, we’re not alone. The uptown store was packed. We especially loved the decked out piano, and when Elew (who we hear is Donna Karan’s favorite) started getting all jazzy on it.

Unfortunately we couldn’t stay for the whole set as we had to jet to celebrity colorist Rita Hazan’s fete a few blocks away. (Stay tuned for a very fun Life With Rita soon!)

But all in all it was a colorful evening. Plus we were home in time for fashion’s new favorite TV show, Glee, on the DVR. Good times, good times.

Paige Gamble bags are very UES. Hence you’ll spot them on everyone from Tinsley to Blair Waldorf.

And they need an intern starting in December to help them get the word out when such sightings happen. That and lots of other responsibilities like merchandising and organizing the showroom, maintaining databases, running errands, and working at events.

They want someone who communicates well and professionally; is hard working and comfortable in a luxury-focused environment; has an all-around good attitude; and a basic knowledge of design layout and HTML. The time commitment is two to three days a week and it’s unpaid but they can offer you college credit if you’d like.

If you’re interested email juliet@paigegamble.com

We’ve been sent some weird stuff at Fashionista, but never have we ever been more perplexed by an accessory than we are by the legwarmer-sock-boot cover product known as “Bella Legs.”

The package arrived Monday; we’re still gaping at it Wednesday. They’re essentially legwarmers that widen at the bottom to fit over your boots (though they don’t fit over my Frye boots) or heels. The kicker though, is the wide variety of styles.

We’ve got an awful Burberry plaid knock-off, white cable knit, black lace, ruffled chiffon, rhinestoned fleur de lis, and the worst possible phrase we may ever utter on this blog: black, glitter, ruched faux fur with drawstrings. (Let’s not pretend I didn’t just run around the office pretending to be the Yeti.)

But seriously, they’re supposed to turn “one great looking pair of boots into an amazing collection of boots.” Not that there’s anything wrong with high socks or legwarmers; we love them a la Marni or Marc by MJ, but a) why can’t this look be acheived with regular socks or legwarmers? and b) sometimes less, as in just one pair of boots, is more.

The holidays mean parties; in the next few weeks we’ll be digging through our closets for the perfect party outfits.

Luckily, December’s British Vogue’s given us a way to make those outfits better without breaking the bank.

Glitter!

Who doesn’t love a little shine? Instead of a light smattering, makeup artist Lisa Eldridge says that the look should be “bold, simple and beautiful, with the rest of the face kept bare and natural.” This grown-up version of glitter looks best in jewel tones like emerald or cobalt, and in a solid block of color over the eyes instead of shadow or liner. We noticed it on a handful of SS10 runways like Louis Vuitton, Betsey Johnson, and Derek Lam and it works well in liquid liner, glitter eye pencil, or loose glitter pot form.

Now that Taylor’s gone, there’s an opening at Rachel Zoe Inc.

We assume Brad’s moved on to first assistant and according to this job listing on Linked in, they’re looking for an Advertising Sales and Business Development executive.

Specifically, they’d like someone to “evangelize The Zoe Report as being a leader in the fashion publication/newsletter space.” They want someone with at least three years experience in ad sales who already lives in LA and has an “entrepreneurial attitude - overcome any obstacle, creative, willing to be an evangelist for a new product.”

We’re not sure what’s up with consistent use of evangelical-related words, but we do think it’d be an amazing job. And while you won’t actually be styling, something’s bound to rub off, right?

Last night, I went to Times Square.

I was greeted with throngs of screaming teenagers, like, dying over one Gossip Girl arrival after another. Inside was worse, paparazzi (and PR) pushed and shoved and threatened to escort us out if we - standing at a whopping 5’4” - didn’t get out of their way to take the perfect shot.

But after waiting forty-five minutes for Leighton to sing, I wasn’t going anywhere. When she did come on stage, well, who knew white leggings painted with blue and yellow fallopian tubes even existed? I spent a minute wondering where the bangs came from, then I turned on the camera and watched Carter Baizen try and boogie his way past Rufus onto the stage.

And then, after one song, I escaped, kind of devastated I’d skipped Fred Perry’s birthday celebration with a civilized Friendly Fires performance in lieu of the violent teenage mob.

Don’t fret just because you might not see them on the home page.

We’ve been getting so many cool internship opportunities for you guys that we’ve created a whole special section dedicated to them. You’ll find it up on the tool bar just between Beauty and Parties.

We’ll be posting jobs as often as we hear about them so if you’re in the market, be sure to check back regularly. And if we know of something super crazy fantastic, we’ll be sure to direct you to the post.

Keep doing us proud out there in the market. We love listening to people rave about what great interns they find from our lovely pool of readers!

Frost French, Sadie Frost and Jemima French’s contemporary clothing line, want Gemma Ward for an ad campaign.

But they want her now, at this weight. Not later, when she’s lost it, or when she decides to get back into modeling. They want a real girl, albeit a really, really, ridiculously good-looking girl, to be the face of their brand.

It sounds like the cherry atop their rebirth sundae.

After suffering financial difficulties in 2008, the brand was rescued by a Norwegian investor within weeks and they just opened their second London store, in Soho, earlier this month, which could only be bested by a runway show in February. Their runway’s featured a Kate Moss striptease and Liberty Ross trapeze act in the past - we’d kill to see Gemma on a London Fashion Week runway.

Sounds like the balls in Gemma’s court, so cue the online encouragement please.

Union Jacked: The shredded, Union Jack peek-a-boo jeans Georgia wears in Hudson’s ads? They’re actually for sale. They retail for $297 and we kind of desperately want them. {Hudson}

The Aftermath: Taylor Jacobson says she no longer speaks to anyone in the Rachel Zoe camp. She’s been recruited to talk Twilight fashion with Louise Roe in this video, hates Robert Pattinson’s boots, but loves his Marc Jacobs suit. {E!}

Let Us Count the Ways: We love it when our mascot pops up in the most unexpected places, like on the Lands End website in a striped turtleneck and khakis. We can still hope she walks the Victoria’s Secret runway tomorrow, right? {LandsEnd}

Speaking of VS: Apparently even supermodels have to wait to a year to get their wings. Chanel Iman says she’s not going to be wearing any in her first appearance on the lingerie company’s runway. {InStyle}

photo courtesy WWDWhile we love everything bespoke, we’re probably more excited about Z Spoke—something we can indeed afford.

That’s the name of Zac Posen’s new line launching at Saks this spring. And get this, the price point starts at $78. The 60 pieces include tons of separates and are all about sportswear.

Zac told WWD, “To me, it’s more appropriate to build a whole brand and collection around this price point. Chic sportswear should be at this price point. Designer dresses and cocktail pieces should be at a more expensive price point.”

The inspiration is much more LES than UES as Zac had pics of Nike Dunks and Travis Bickle on his inspiration board. We love the idea of this expansion and not only because it’s going to offer us a little bit of Zac to wear in our daily lives, seeing as we’re not the frequent fancy dress wearers. But also because he sounds so excited and serious about the project.

“I treat a T-shirt as a T-shirt should be treated. With a lot of love.” Well said, sir.

With New Moon imminently on the rise, our friends at StyleList conducted survey of cold ones inspired beauty. The results? Nearly 10% of respondents caved to the idea of having or investigating fang implants.

Um, what? Even 1% would seem really high. Certainly fashion statements have often taken cues from pop culture, but this just seems ridiculous.

Apparently, there are two types of canines to be bought. The first is a temporary cover that can be fitted and fashioned to fit into your bite (Lady Gaga was spotted smiling with these a few months back). The more permanent option—a cap—needs to be put on by a cosmetic dentist. Lengths, style and size can be customized. And pricing starts at $100 a tooth.

Lest you think we’ve completely lost our minds, let us tell you that last night we sat across the table at Rose Bar from a girl actually wearing fangs. So this trend is happening whether we like it or not. And as much as we love a cheesy teenage vamp flick or a semi-evil Eric, we’re going to go with not. You?

I’m always desperate to land in the Cash Cab, but scooting into the backseat of a Diane von Furstenburg driven taxi would work, too. She’s launching eyewear today, a collection of sunglasses in homage to her most famous dress silhouettes (we’re not sure how that works, but it’s what they say), and in honor of the debut, Diane’s filmed this Taxi TV commercial.

You can enter to win a pair of glasses, or even an entire resort look, on the DvF Facebook page right now. If you win the pink ones, or get in the Cash Cab, we’ll be jealous.

The best part of this article, in which WWD explains they’ve heard Michelle Trachtenberg’s ‘designing’ a line of jewelry for Coach’s new Poppy line, is when they describe her, “tough-girl meets sugary-sweet vibe.”

That’s Georgina, right? Minus the all-important word “psychopath?”

So she’s making baubles with Coach for spring. The line will focus on colorful crystals and fake pearls with “intricate hardware.” We loved the necklace she wore last night, to the nightmarish American Eagle flagship opening in Times Square, so maybe, despite our increasing distaste for celebrity collaborations, we’ll like what she does for Poppy.

(More on Leighton’s performance once I figure out how to upload videos to Youtube.)

It’s one thing to watch a fashion documentary that peeks inside a designer’s studio - Unzipped, Lagerfeld Confidential - and a very different thing to stand over a designer while he or she builds something from scratch.

Gareth Pugh’s moving into the studio space within ShowStudio’s Bruton Street shop in London on Friday. He’ll be there through the weekend crafting a totally exclusive, one of a kind look, “a unique interpretation of his SS10 collection.”

Of course, since this is ShowStudio, the whole thing will be broadcast live at www.showstudio.com/project/livestudio once he gets started and afterward, Nick Knight will shoot the look in the shop before it’s sold.

If you were waiting for the perfect excuse to invest in some Pugh, this is it. Otherwise, have fun dreaming.

Last night was the second time this week we found ourselves in the car park at Selfridges.

On Sunday, Yasmin LeBon hosted the Really, Really Great Garage sale to raise money for Mothers4Children and last night, Vivienne Westwood showed her Anglomania collection to everyone from Tracey Emin, Rosemary Ferguson and Little Boots to Julia Restoin Roitfeld, Yasmin Mills and Lady Victoria Hervey. Daisy Lowe stomped down the runway as she’s prone to doing in an eye-popping, colorful Masaai warrior look - the collection’s recurrent theme.

The whole Survivor-esque thing felt quite timely, given that Londoners are still reeling from the Luella news, but Viv was not discouraged, “It’s a bit of a cull, innit? May be a good thing, she may just come out bigger and better. Tell an English bird she can’t do and she will come out stronger - trust me!”

It’s just a Rachel Antonoff kind of day.

The designer’s designed a dress, that’s right, just one dress, for Target’s Red Hot Shop. It’s gold brocade, sleeveless, with a sweetheart neck and available online. Maybe in stores? We delight in knowing Target has even the tiniest indie designers on their radar.

In other news, Teen Vogue has amazing stills from her SS10 video - she’s shot her brother, Jack Antonoff and Alia Shawkat, yeah Maeby Fünke, re-enacting the “Top That” rap scene from Teen Witch.

The Antonoff video isn’t done yet, but if you need help putting words to images, Teen Vogue’s posted the original scene which we guarantee will make your day.

We really would rather not remember a time when IMDB did not exist. Those were the days of racking your brain with some actor’s name just on the tip of your tongue, only to end up super frustrated when you couldn’t come up with. Now you can just look it up on your phone.

Now, we’re finally getting a similarly comprehensive database for the fashion industry in the form of MyFDB.com. While searching for models’ credits was made so much easier by the good people at Models.com, this database will log credits for everyone from photographers to stylists to hair and makeup to creative directors, set designers, and food stylists.

In the December issue of W, Alex White directed an all-Armani shoot.

In lieu of models, Bookings Editor Rena Lazaros (who narrates this video) cast a variety of artists, hence the title, Armani: United Artists. She gathered dancers, singers, performers and actors to sit for Inez and Vinoodh wearing Armani, Prive and A/X.

The cast includes Hugh Dancy, Susie Bick, Sophie Auster and Peter Sarsgaard, and as usual, a behind the scenes peek - especially one that lets you watch Inez & Vinoodh work - is almost better than the end product.

Do you ever sit at your day job and dream up different businesses that might be more creatively stimulating and all-around fun for you?

We think that must have been what sisters Ilissa and Dorian Howard were doing because they’ve now launched Milk & Honey Shoes their own customization business in Los Angeles. Two girls with some creativity, a love of shoes, and an entrepreneurial spirit can sometimes lead to a second career.

They even landed a very fashion-y celebrity client in Ginnifer Goodwin who, along with her stylist Penny Lovell, created the vegan-friendly, aubergine pumps she wore to the Prada book launch.

Which darling, well-heeled blogger posted this on her Facebook page, “there’s Lacroix and then there’s Luella…tragic about Lacroix :( makes me happy for my Lacroix stash I have in the garage…but Luella imo is the fucking worst?”

She’s Back Y’all: Gemma Ward’s not going anywhere, thank god. She’s just taking a mini-break from modeling. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if she got back into it without losing those twenty pounds? {Fashionologie}

Blurry Blogging: An even deeper look into the world of fashion blogging. Do you embrace the industry? Stay away from it? Can you be a part of it and still be a real-life blogger? {Blackbook}

One More Time: The age-old, never-ending debate about whether or not girls can be both into fashion and smart, or more importantly, taken seriously. {Telegraph}

Getting Technical: Nicholas Kirkwood and some other major players in the shoe industry teach us all about how they make heels more comfortable from materials to techniques. We love a mini-tutorial. {NY Times}

“Retirement is not one of the topics with which I deal. Why should I? I still have so many projects that I sometimes don’t know where to begin. Chanel will still need some clothes when I’m 89. The world can count on me for a long time.” —Karl Lagerfeld on those pesky rumors.

Last night Barneys debuted their new holiday windows—an homage to Saturday Night Live (which is currently celebrating its 35th year on the air.)

Simon Doonan and team have created papier-mâché tributes to favorite characters from over the years including the Coneheads, Mary Katherine Gallagher, Roseanne Roseannadanna, Pat, Gilly, Amy Poehler doing “Weekend Update”, and of course Tina doing Sarah Palin. There are tons of cool little details to be found in the windows and we definitely suggest checking them out the next time you’re uptown.

Natalie Portman wears a jealousy-inducing amount of Chanel on the cover of the current V.

Not content to pay homage to the brand through editorial, the magazine enlisted the help of filmmaker Stephen Smith to make a short film dedicated to the house of Chanel.

Natalie Portman’s not in it, instead it features a stop-motion collage of Chanel imagery, including some killer striped booties and a tweed hatbox bag, that make for the liveliest wish list we’ve ever seen in action.

The International Herald Tribune’s hosting a conference in Berlin right now.

Techno Luxury’s the theme and Christopher Bailey, Jefferson Hack, Claudia Schiffer, Tomas Maier, Natalie Massenet, Frida Giannini and Prada’s Tomaso Galli will take turns speaking and answering questions about new technology’s effect on the fashion industry - blogging, twittering etc.

Top quotes (via Twitter of course) so far:

Federico Marchetti: The Marni online store is already the biggest store they have in the world. —Business of Fashion

Natalie Massenet says fashion bloggers contribute to 5% of Net-a-Porter’s sales. —Bryanboy

Massenet of Netaporter says that 25% of sale are returned. But as the store is in “every city in the world” that is not so bad. —The Moment

C[hristopher] B[ailey]: From Facebook, we understood how many of our young fans were entering the Burberry brand through fragrance. —Business of Fashion

You can tweet questions for Claudia Schiffer @IHTluxury right now - she’s up in two hours.

Sophie Theallet won the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund award last night.

The ceremony featured a keynote address from Alber Elbaz, who co-hosted with Nicole Kidman and told the crowd, “Success is like a bottle of perfume. Smell it, don’t sniff it and don’t drink it.”

Patrik Ervell and jewelry designer Monique Pean both took home $50,000 as runners-up, while Sophie received a $200,000 check and a year’s worth of mentoring.

The Brooklyn based, Alaia-trained designer made headlines when she showed her SS09 collection on all-black models (post-Summer of Italian Vogue) and then again when Michelle Obama wore one of her dresses last spring.

She told the audience, “I’m French, so I’m going to try to do my best…Thank you for making my American dreams come true.”

Would you rather get in the holiday spirit with a beaded, embroidered, sequined, primary-colored reindeer sweater or this?

Yeah, we’d choose the gold bow, too.

The Moment posted it yesterday and we’ve been feeling extra holiday cheer ever since. Kate Spade’s popped a gold bow on top of a shiny bobby pin and it’s the perfect way to turn your basic cocktail dress into a kitschy ensemble worthy of the most fashionable holiday party.

It’s part Blair, part Eloise, and though yes, it’s $45, we bet you’ll find a way to keep it relevant both now and when you’re sixty. And with a bow in your hair, you’ll be the best present in the room. (Sorry, we couldn’t resist.)

To make this video, Danny Roberts, the illustrator and painter behind Igor + Andre, chose the music first, a song by Yann Tiersen.

From there, he started sketching. But because he wanted the lines to match the beats of the song, he’d stop after each one to take a picture which means this ethereal little drawing was actually a massive undertaking. It turned out beautifully, the image of Paper magazine’s Julia Frakes, and it’s magical to watch the image appear on blank paper out of nowhere.

The opportunity to own vintage Givenchy, Audrey Hepburn’s vintage Givenchy, comes along once, maybe twice in a lifetime, including now. If you’ve got a miniature waist and a not-miniature wallet - to stock your closet with almost priceless wares.

On December 8th, thirty-six pieces of Audrey’s clothes, accessories and letters are going up for auction in London, including, according to The Independent two custom Givenchy dresses from Paris When it Sizzles and How to Steal a Million.

The dresses are expected to sell for at least £15,000 each (that’s about $25,150), pennies compared to her Breakfast at Tiffany’s dress which sold for $783,541.12 three years ago. This time around, all of the net-profits from the auction will be donated to All Children in School, a foundation supported by the Audrey Hepburn Children’s Fund that aims to educate 120 million children worldwide. So it’s a win-win: get Givenchy, give to charity.

What could be better?

“People are getting really excited about social media without really asking themselves if there is any reason to really get excited.” —The founder of Paris-based consulting company, Luxe Corp in The New York Times on fashion’s internet clusterfuck.

Get Involved: Though there are a handful of dissenters, the relationship between fashion and Gaga isn’t waning. You can play, too. Nick Knight and Ruth Hogben (who’s worked on Gareth’s films) are asking for your video submissions based on The Apocalypse to play on her tour. {ShowStudio}

Red Rover, Red Rover: Celine’s landed at Dover Street Market, Phoebe Philo’s Celine that is. Who says Spring 2010 can’t debut in Fall 09? Phoebe even helped design the airy space to house her collection. {Dazed}

Got It: After last year’s Hilary Clinton/Vogue fight, Jonathan Van Meter finally got his chance to profile the now Secretary of State. Annie Leibovitz photographed her in the White House, so gowns. {Vogue}

We’ll take this story with a grain of salt (especially since the author began by proudly noting her role in the Posh/Simon Fuller modeling agency rumor), but The Daily Mail reports that Blake Lively’s Victoria Beckham’s new muse.

We mean ‘muse’ the same way we mean ‘design’ for Brad and Angelina. The female Becks has declared her love for Gossip Girl and landed a cameo, but now she’s allegedly angling for Blake to ‘model’ her next collection.

By model she could mean star in a campaign or in the line’s lookbook or even, but hopefully not, on whatever runway or in whatever presentation Victoria shows in February.

Again though, this writer also calls Victoria’s dresses her, “eponymous couture,” so we’ll believe it when we see it.

If you thought Lindsay Lohan might give fashion a rest post-Ungaro, you’re wrong.

After hanging out with jeweler Pascal Mouawad at Jermaine Dupri’s house late last week, she told Access Hollywood that the two are actually working together, “we’re doing something with a friend who owns bebe.”

We wish we knew the terms of her Ungaro contract; if it doesn’t forbid her from working on other fashion collections, especially an American mall brand, CEO Mounir Moufarrige must be kicking himself (if he wasn’t already). That is, assuming Lindsay hasn’t made this up.

Poor Ungaro, if he reached the soul-sucking stage of grief last week, this news might put him over a dangerous edge.

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are celebrity designers now.

They’ve been working on a capsule collection for Asprey for a year, which means that in between UN conferences, orphanage visits in Africa and raising however many children they have, the not-human couple found time to design a $525 baby spoon.

Their line, which aside from the baby spoon includes pave diamond snake rings, earrings and pendants, is called The Protector and inspired by snakes, or more specifically a non-Asprey snake ring Angelina wore while pregnant with her first child.

Brad and Angelina are still super humans though, so all net profits from The Protector will go to Education Partnership for Children of Conflict which helps, “children who most need a safe place to learn, a place to heal, a place to learn reconciliation, a place to build a better future and a place — to just be children.”

photo courtesy WWD
Katie Hillier, the creative genius, or accessories designer, behind first Luella, Giles, Stella and then Marc by Marc Jacobs has finally launched something of her own.

It’s the bunny necklace at left, yes she’s really only launched one thing, and it goes on sale at Dover Street Market and Colette this week.

The bunny, whose bottom half is basically a fancy safety pin, is made from 18-karat gold with a diamond eye and retails for $1,325 - probably three or four times the amount her “Daddy, I want a pony” belt sold for ten years ago so here’s hoping for a Katie by Katie Hillier line very soon.

Last Spring, we mentioned The Daily would be going weekly.

Fashion Week Daily, which, when it’s not Fashion Week is online-only, planned on printing a weekly newsletter. Though some weeks might be packed with parties, we did wonder what they’d fill it with during the slower weeks of fashion. Apparently, they did, too since they’ve scrapped the idea.

They’re still expanding though, just in other directions - they’ll be the official Daily magazine of the Tribeca Film Festival. We predict a magazine still full of fashion, but plumped with extra celebrity and maybe even extra glitz.

We’ll be sneaking below Canal for copies and carefully monitoring the Fashion Week/Film Festival overlap.

Now this sounds like a very cool opportunity.

Bergdorf Goodman Social Media is looking for a spring intern or two. And you’ll actually be working on some cool projects like updating their Facebook page, contacting vendors and designers, photographing special events and designer appearances, connecting with the publicity department, and other regular intern tasks and research.

And we’re pretty sure a bunch of you guys are exactly the kind of people they’re looking for—someone who is creative, clever, familiar with the collections they carry, totally comfortable chatting up designers and high-profile customers, and crafty with FB, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr and the like. As far as computer skills go you should know Photoshop, InDesign, and have some knowledge of HTML code. If you already have your own blog, even better.

Things we liked in this behind-the-scenes video of Vogue’s Art Issue.

1. It was Anna’s idea to put Lady Gaga in the issue.

2. Lady Gaga is fully aware that she does the pantsless thing and wants something new for the shoot. Also, she arrived naked with just a raincoat on.

3. Without even saying a word, Cate Blanchett’s facial expressions prove her a better actress than most.

4. Two of our favorite redheads: Lily and Grace!

5. That it may be more exciting than the actual issue.

We’ve been far too selfish in grieving Luella.

We completely forgot having announced, just the day before, that Liberty had invited her to decorate their holiday windows and curate an in-store pop-up shop.

She was supposed to have a Christmas grotto complete with cider and Santa and full priced merchandise which would be a fantastic step for Liberty’s let’s-recruit-the-young-hip-fashion-kids movement, except for the fact that now anyone can head over to Mayfair and buy everything half price from the Luella boutique.

We love Luella (surprised?). But is it possible she didn’t know she was folding just twenty-four hours before she did? Because if she did know, and she let Liberty revolve their holiday plans around her, well, yikes.

photo courtesy WWDI’ve already professed my deep love for all things Australian. Apparently Steven Alan shares my opinion.

He’s currently working on a project with V Australia (that’s Richard Branson’s new airline, not a spin-off of the magazine) where he’s creating the “perfect” travel bag. He just finished traveling around Oz (specifically New South Wales and Queensland) getting inspired.

And he’s Tweeting about it too. No sketches have been released yet, but he has put up some materials he’s thinking about using and color choices like reds, tans, blues, and oranges. If you feel like weighing in, now’s your chance.

The bags will be available exclusively at Steven Alan stores in New York and Los Angeles. If we can get over our jealousy of what sounds like a ridiculously amazing trip, we’re sure we’ll love them.

The weather in New York has taken a turn for the cold and blustery incredibly quickly. It’s making me sad. Except for the fact that I can start busting out my tights on a regular basis.

What I’ve realized I’m lacking is an array of black patterned ones. Every night this week, I’ve seen at least one adorable pair on a girl in a simple outfit that becomes a little less simple with that extra addition.

Unfortunately the Louis Vuitton and Chanel versions aren’t exactly how I should be spending my paycheck right now. Unless of course I decide to give up Christmas presents for the fam. Last night at the hair salon one of the girls (who also happened to be a dead ringer for Rayanne Graff) told me hers were from Urban Outfitters and that she’d just picked up a whole bunch of them.

This Betsey Johnson pair seem to fit my criteria perfectly: black, not so dark as to obscure the pattern, and affordable. Plus they have bows! Even if those aren’t your style, there are tons of others to choose from.

Friday shopping complete. Now if that wind would just die down.

“Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels.” —Kate Moss tells WWD.

Jessica Hart, the model who’s landed both Sports Illustrated’s Swimsuit Issue and the cover of Australian Vogue, headed home to Australia to shoot the summer lookbook for Seafolly.

Since we couldn’t go with her, we asked her to keep a diary of her day for some insight into model life. Enjoy!

On Location: Sydney, Australia shooting Seafolly swimwear’s second collection, available March 2010.

Jess Hart here! Ready to start the newest campaign for Seafolly swimwear. I’m so excited and can’t wait to get on set in Sydney, and then finally back to Melbourne to see my fam!

Fashionista’s asked me to keep a diary, so here’s a peek inside my crazy life…

8 AM

Finally! I land in Melbourne, following my flight from NY, the fastest turnaround in LA, 3 great movies and a little catnap.

Love Strong: To sit front row this season, you needed an invite and an Eddie Borgo spike bracelet. If we’re taking trend cues from Rihanna (and really, who isn’t) you’re going to need a gauntlet come February. Meanwhile, the spike bracelet’s still sitting on top of my Christmas list. {Barneys}

Double Duty: Marios Scwhab and Raf Simons discuss designing their own line while designing another. The former thinks designing Halston brings something new to his own label while the latter switches on and off between Jil Sander and his eponymous collection. {VogueUK}

Color Us Surprised: Claudia Schiffer wants her own line. As my mom would say, “If everyone else jumped off a bridge, would you really feel the need to do it, too?” {Telegraph}

The Styled Life: Keegan Singh might be a bit young for a retrospective, but who doesn’t want to stare at his Abbey Lee/Rodarte shoot from The Last Magazine over and over again? {TheMalcolm}

The Atacoma wedges sent shoe lovers into a frenzy when they debuted in Acne’s Pre-Fall ‘09 collection.

Alexa Chung fell particularly in love with them; and the coveted bootie sold out within just a few days after she wore them on her MTV show. So maybe that’s what inspired Jeffrey Campbell to name his knock-off the Alexa?

It’s a well-studied copy. The shape’s exactly the same, the diagonal seaming is spot-on. In fact, the only difference between the two is the transition from the black leather to the silver metal panels. While Acne’s is seamless, Campbell’s has a bit of a divot.

With so many wedge booties out this season, it should be easy to avoid buying a pair based off someone else’s ideas.

Last year, Alexander Wang won the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund award and this year he’s won the Swiss Textile award.

The prize, which comes with 100,000 euros (about $150,000) was given to Rodarte last year. The money’s meant to help younger brands develop their international presence though really, aside from the runners up who are given Swiss fabric vouchers, it can be used for anything. The judging panel included Isabel Toledo and i-D’s Ben Reardon.

Alex said, “I’m so honored to take this award…This year has been an amazing year for us as a company and as a family. Taking it forward and growing as a business has helped us realize a lot of things. The monetary component [of this prize] is always a big help, no matter what size business you are. The most important thing is to keep improving what you do and keep on moving forward. [It’s] like the cherry on the cake.”

Is there anything else left for him to win?

Last night, at a party in honor of Francois Nars’ new book and the 15th Anniversary of Nars, I finally spoke to Daphne Guinness.

I’d been standing there staring at her Alexander McQueen shoes and her awe-inspiring beehive and barely looked away long enough to realize that Marc’s kilt is actually just a pair of shorts with a panel in front, a skort, if you will, when I just reached out and said, “Excuse me,” I had to know how much her shoes weighed.

“They’re quite light actually,” she answered.

“Is the top part hollow,” I asked.

“Hmm…I can’t be quite sure. They’re lighter than…um, lighter than…”

“The ones from the runway?”

“Oh no! These are the ones from the runway.”

“Right. Duh.”

“They’re less weighty than the Nina Ricci’s. Does that help?”

“Yes totally!” I thanked her, though of course I have no idea how much the Nina Ricci’s weigh and she’s actually the only person in the world who’s worn both shoes in real not-on-the-runway life. But you can’t help but worship a woman who measures her life in Ricci.

Okay, so we’re down to the final three…and the always fun Tim Gunn home visits. We just wish we had seen more of the clothes. Nonetheless, away we go with the q’s.

1. So Irina’s got issues with Althea about copying ideas, but was fully okay with using another artist’s renderings for her shirts without permission? Obviously, there were some lawyers involved with the show who were not so okay with this.

2. Where my Blue Devils at? Who knew Carol Hannah would take her inspiration from the Duke Chapel? I must say, it is quite stunning, especially at night.

3. Does anyone else take small pleasure in completely agreeing with Tim in real time while viewing? As in screaming at your TV, “NO!” when Carol Hannah threw that mess of a beaded belt on her dress in his presence.

4. If someone calls one of your pieces “borderline Hillary Clinton,” is that the worst thing you could hear going into Fashion Week?

5. Upon seeing that Irina’s collection was basically all black, didn’t you just flashback to Anna in The September Issue saying to Stefano Pilati, “Stefano, no color?”

There are many reasons we really want to go to Art Basel in Miami. From (of course) the art to the beyond chic crowd and parties. And just the general fun one can have in sunny Miami because you know, “Miami, Miami, you’ve got style. Blue skies, sunshine, white sand by the mile…” (If you get that reference, we’re pretty much automatically friends.)

But I digress. We just learned about another cool thing that will be at the upcoming Art Basel: a super swanky vending machine at the Mondrian Hotel filled with special edition goodies curated by Interview magazine.

Inside you’ll find this Pringle of Scotland t-shirt (pictured) designed by artist David Shrigley, hand-drawn Vena Cava shoes, art from the Gossip Girl set, old archival issues of Interview, and even an out-of-print copy of the Fabien Baron art directed Madonna Sex book.

So much better than the Doritos and Snickers you usually find in a vending machine.

We probably think this post is about us…and in a lot of ways it is.

According to a report compiled by TotalBeauty.com, New York is the vainest city in the US. The study examined data like plastic surgeon to population ratios, number of personal care businesses (salons, day spas, etc.) and money spent on beauty upkeep.

Fact: New Yorkers spend nearly 60 million (yes, six. zero.) dollars on trying to make ourselves prettier each year. And there are more than three times the amount of salons et. al in NYC than any other city, and that includes Los Angeles.

These stats got me thinking:

—Do we New Yorkers feel pressure to be pretty because models and all-around beautiful people can be found at every turn? (Agyness Deyn is always at my am coffee spot. Yes, it makes me feel less than lithe and lovely early in the morning.)

Didn’t think you’d be able to find a great design internship until next semester? Think again.

Helmut Lang needs an intern, immediately, for the rest of this year and into next.

Candidates need to be available a minimum of two full days per week, but ideally would be able to do three or more. You’ll be working in the design department, and would help the team create flats (candidates must know how to flat by hand), prepare boards, organize and maintain notebooks, and assist with creating cut tickets.

Please forgive me while I rant for a moment.

When we heard Ashlee Simpson-Wentz was possibly being shot for Vogue, I had a minor fit in the office. Of everyone in young Hollywood that the magazine has yet to feature, I couldn’t believe this was the choice.

The younger Simpson sister perhaps irks me to a disproportionate degree, but that’s just how it is. (I did dress as her on Halloween for a “Come As Your Most Loathed Celebrity Party.”) Now that she’s been axed from Melrose Place, rumors are surfacing that she wants to do a clothing line.

It’s just too much. Is Joe Simpson not paying attention to what’s happening to Lindsay Lohan in the fashion press this week—because you know he’s still pulling the strings on those girls’ careers? And of the two sisters, Ashlee certainly hasn’t been the “fashion” one, if you can even categorize them that way.

Is she going to start knocking off Chucks and Vans? Is there another rocker tee and hoodie line in our futures? Ugh. Okay, off to do some yoga breathing.

We will never tire of watching outtakes from editorial photo shoots:

1. We love models.

2. We’re fascinated by what looks like their innate ability to immediately collapse into the most dramatic, most draped positions ever.

3. We always wonder how they choose the music. Is it based on the vibe of the shoot? If so, this must have been a very creepy experience for everyone involved.

4. We never tire of seeing it all pre-airbrush.

“Our Dad said If we used our own last name for our brand, we might be mistaken for an Irish pub.”—Kate Mulleavy at the press conference for the 10th Anniversary of Swiss Textiles (via Business of Fashion’s Twitter)

Proenza-envy: Kristen Stewart’s roaming the world with two heartthrobs and she’s wearing new Proenza. If we were sixteen we’d be green with jealousy over the former, but we’re positively devastated over the latter.{NYMag}

#saveluella: We wish we’d thought of this first. The Guardian’s Fashion Statement column’s composed an Ode to Luella. It says, “Luella, we will miss / The frills / The spills,” and more. {Guardian}

Shop Someone Else’s Closet: Nikki Laura, one of our favorite still-standing neighborhood boutiques, finally got online this week. She stocks Grey Ant and stingray clutches from Khirma Eliazov that we’re obsessed with. {NikkiLaura}

I Wanna Be A Super-Robot: Time’s released their list of the 50 Best Inventions of 2009; it includes a fashion robot. She’s 5’2” and 95 pounds, which sounds like Daphne Guinness’ proportions, not Lily’s.{Time}

For Serious: Selfridge’s is having a garage sale, except instead of old Easy Bake Ovens you can buy Gwyneth’s Balenciaga and Liz Hurley’s Helmut Lang. {StyleFile}

While people keep asking Lorenzo Martone about his impending nuptials with Marc, we were more interested to read about his new business venture in this morning’s NY Post.

Martone and former Elite marketing director Ryan Brown have created ARC NY, a public relations agency just for models. They told Page Six: “Our goal is to build equity around the girl’s personality.” That means helping them branch out into other projects like acting, singing and product lines.

So far they’ve lined up Lydia Hearst, Alessandra Ambrosio, Fernanda Motta, Julie Henderson, and Jessica White.

We think this sounds like a pretty cool idea. Because it’s always painful to watch a celebrity (model, actress, or singer) stumble into new genres, seemingly without a plan or any guidance whatsoever. And between Lorenzo and Ryan, they’ve got the media savvy backgrounds and serious connections to make some really interest projects happen.

Though we can’t lie and say the possible “singing” careers don’t frighten us just a wee bit. But we’re gonna go ahead and trust in Lorenzo’s good taste on these matters.

This morning’s Times tells of more bad news for Condé Nast, or rather actual numbers on news we already knew would be ugly. The company’s ad pages are down by 1/3 or 8359 pages. W is one of the worst hit, down by 46%. Oof, that’s definitely gotta hurt.

We’re all well aware of the cost-cutting that’s already gone on. So what to do next to get readers and advertisers excited?

Apparently InStyle thinks it has an idea. Its December Taylor Swift cover has a 3-D component wherein you hold up the magazine to a webcam and see a 45 second video of Taylor surrounded by snowflakes.

The 3-D theme continues inside with a bunch of advertiser participants like Michael Kors and YSL Beauté. We’re not quite sure exactly how this works since we don’t have the actual issue in hand, but according to WWD there are click-to-buy features and videos. And it sounds like the advertisers are pretty jazzed about it…at least for now.

The world’s gone crazy since Luella lost her backing on Tuesday.

There’s a #saveluella campaign going strong on Twitter, even Alexa Chung’s weighed in, a Save Luella group on Facebook and, unless it’s our imagination, we saw more Luella out and about last night than we have in a while.

But the only way to really save Luella, and who knows if it’ll even work, is to buy Luella, a thought becoming more and more realistic as prices get lower and lower on Luella.com. We’re still obsessed with her SS09 collection and most of it’s more than half off.

There’s also a bunch of coats, random accessories and Giseles for under $500. So break your no-shopping-recession-fast and let Luella know how devastated you’ll be when she’s gone.

In which other industry do people have as many jobs, or their hand in as many tasks as they do in fashion?

Though Jason Wu’s become a booming success, he’s lending his design skills to Tse next season. His limited edition capsule collection - around fifteen pieces - will debut at New York’s Fall 2010 Fashion Week.

Tse’s been producing Jason’s knitwear for a couple of years, so he already has a solid relationship with the brand and its CEO, Christina Peng-Gerschultz. He told WWD, “I thought, ‘This could be interesting.’ In many ways, I am probably the least expected designer to do this, because Tse’s aesthetic is so different from my own, but that’s one reason I wanted to do it.”

It’ll be sold through Tse outlets, no word yet on the price points, and though it’s being billed as a one time pairing, Peng-Gerschultz already says she’d love to do it again.

photo courtesy of Jak&JilThis picture over at Jak&Jil has us wishing that we had someone to come over and put a slew of well-placed bobby pins and flowers in our hair every morning.

Alas, this is likely never to happen. But we are still currently in the market for ways to make our thrown-up-in-a-bun ‘dos look vaguely more interesting and less, well, haphazardly thrown together.

We love the floral motif mixed in with the classic pins—and a quick internet search let us know they wouldn’t be too hard to get our hands on. This copper set is super cute, and the Etsy seller seems to have lots of other vintage pin options too. We also found some with a little sparkle for fancier occasions.

Now if we could just master the art of perfectly place things on the backs of our heads without breaking into a sweat.

As H&M gets older and wiser, their collaboration launches get bigger and better.

Stella McCartney launched her line with a Gwyneth Paltrow and Dita Von Teese attended bash in an old schoolhouse, Matthew Williamson rocked a ship in the Hudson River with Grace Jones and now, Sonia Rykiel will celebrate her collection for the Swedish mega-brand with a parade and runway show in Paris on December 1.

It’ll be in the Grand Palais, home to Chanel’s runway blow-outs, and feature both the lingerie, debuting for holiday and the knitwear which launches next spring.

No word yet on who will sit front row, but given the star power of Sonia’s 40th Anniversary bash, we have big expectations. And with Lara, Caroline and Anne in the ads, we expect big models, too.

Sure, this Pierre Hardy shoe’s from 2008, but the print’s so distinct that when we saw Nine West’s Bonfire pump we immediately knew what we were really looking at.

Prints on shoes are rare anyway, let alone 3D squares of bronze and black stacked upon each other. The size, the angle, the shadows of the square are all perfectly imitated (on an almost identical shape, too).

We’ll stop short of calling the shape irrelevant and focus on the fact that prints represent a danger zone for high street knock-offs, especially given the success of past print-based lawsuits from Anna Sui and Diane von Furstenburg.

Nine West makes the shoe in another print, one we haven’t seen before, no need for them to push it.

Alien Invasion: According to a McQueen spokesperson, ladies are clamoring for the “alien” shoes from S/S10. Some want to wear them, some want them as art. We loved hearing that the process to make them is copyrighted. {Grazia}

In Goal: Before she debuted at Christopher Kane (in 2007), Karmen Pedaru was the goalie on the Estonian soccer team. Very cool. She also has a dental phobia. We know that pain and that’s less cool. {W}

Aspirational Hair: Serena’s the new Rachel. Blake Lively’s hair gets 713,000 hits with a Google search. We’re not loving the outfits but we would take the hair any day (as long as its not in that awful braid.) {NY Times}

Not Posh: Contrary to rumors, Victoria has no plans to become a model agency owner. We’re not gonna lie and say we wouldn’t have wanted to be a fly on the wall during an open casting with VB. {Vogue UK}

Lars Nilsson, one of the earlier holders of the now-cursed Nina Ricci job, has landed himself a new position, one as un-Ricci as possible.

He’s launching a menswear collection with Mabro, an Italian manufacturer.

The Swedish designer’s actually made his way through a host of cursed houses; he worked at Bill Blass until going to Ricci in 2003 and then, in late 2007, landed at Gianfranco Ferre, taking over for Mr Ferre himself. But he surprised everyone by leaving less than a year later. If we were him, we’d be fed up with womenswear, too.

According to Nilsson, Mr. Nils, the menswear line, will make “chic sportswear with tailoring. It’s a modern and accessible luxury brand, which will be manufactured entirely in Tuscany, Italy.”

It’ll debut at Pitti Uomo in January.

“You have to offer something that feels produced, because that’s what you cannot have on Internet. You have to reinforce all the good things magazines are there for and eliminate everything else.” —Fabien Baron to The Daily Beast on what he’s doing at Interview this time around and magazines in general.

Lately we hear about pop-up shops every single day. This morning’s WWD talked of the just opened “J. Crew Special Selections” shop inside Ron Herman (which is inside Fred Segal.) While it’s nice that Ron himself picked out some pieces and is putting them next to the Margiela, Lanvin, etc. in his boutique, we really don’t see the point.

It’s not that we don’t appreciate mixing high and low. Of course we do. We just don’t understand doing a pop-up shop with merchandise that is readily available elsewhere like, you know, a J. Crew store. Others that come to mind are Citizens of Humanity (also at Ron Herman) and Alice + Olivia at Scoop. Really, are the people of Los Angeles having a hard time locating J. Crew merch or COH jeans? We highly doubt it.

The whole world weighed in on Lindsay Lohan and Estrella Archs’ SS10 collection for Ungaro.

Except Emanuel Ungaro himself. The founder’s kept quiet since he sold the house in 2004, but yesterday, at a film festival outside of Lisbon, he was quite blunt, “Lindsay Lohan’s collaboration was a disaster.”

“I am furious but I can’t do anything about it,” he told the Independent, adding that his vision “is in the process of losing its soul…That happens to a lot of designers. We were the creators and patrons, responsible for the creation and destiny of our houses. But when we gave up our houses, we gave up our souls.”

We can’t imagine the man ever coming to terms with heart pasties stamped with his name, but as the outcry over the collection settles down (or had until now), we wonder what happens next? If no one buys the collection, stores or customers, how long does it take until CEO Mounir Moufarrige gives up?

More importantly, if another Ungaro collection sees the light of day while Luella doesn’t, we predict a massive fashion temper tantrum.

Stylecaster, the fashion networking site that debuted last year, is launching a series of short films this month.

The first, starring Poppy Delevigne and Isabelle McNally (Keith’s daughter) is like an awesome, super-fun-to-watch Shopbop commercial. Everything the girls wear, from the red sequined Siwy jeans to the Pencey dresses and the Dolce Vita heels are for sale on the shopping site right now.

Net-a-Porter recently debuted their video component, and we always choose team Net-a-Porter, but Shopbop definitely wins this round.

Last night Louis Vuitton debuted their first US lifestyle boutique at Saks in NYC, hosted by Maggie Gyllenhaal, LV’s Daniel Lalonde, and Saks’ Steven Sadove. (Lifestyle boutique = every product category offered at their own stores is now available at Saks. The only other one of its kind is at Harrods.)

The invitation called the party “Le Jardin Louis Vuitton” but for some reason I was still expecting a lovely, but typical, department store event. Um, no. First clue: the entry bracelets were properly LV embossed leather. Second clue: The greenery was out of control in a very awesome way that also smelled amazingly delicious.

I have to say I don’t read Vogue Deutsch monthly. And by read, I mean look at the photos because my foreign language skills are embarrassingly non-existent. But now I’m kind of thinking I may need to start, if only to see the weird, random casting decisions they make for shoots.

This month brings you Lost’s Hurley (Jorge Garcia) and Christie Brinkley, shot by Bruce Weber in Montauk.

Also spotted: tortilla chips, fried chicken, and a Pilates machine. Oh, and some oddly loving glances between two people we never thought we’d see in a picture together. (Not to imply anything at all, it’s really just odd.)

See for yourself after the jump.

Save Fashion returns this week and if today’s Luella news is any indication, there’s still a lot of saving to be done in this fair industry of ours.

But what to buy?

Here’s advice straight from some of the participants:

—“I’d say the one must-have item from VC at Save Fashion is our leather leggings.
The color makes them more unique than your basic black leather leggings, and the price is pretty killer too. Also, they’re a surprisingly solid winter staple - really warm and cozy!” -Lisa Mayock, Vena Cava

—“The Egyptian dictionary dress is my favorite. It’s silk chiffon with hand written words from an Egyptian glossary written all over it. Definitely a conversation piece and it will leave you wanting to figure out what a lot of the words are.” -Sophie Buhai, Vena Cava

—“There will be lots of one-of-a-kind pieces straight from my shows. I would invest in one of the coats. Don’t let this weather fool you. I’m predicting a very very cold winter.” - Thuy Diep, Thuy

The interwebs are all abuzz today with the release of Lady Gaga’s new video for “Bad Romance.” She’s the ultimate crossover as every music, celeb, and fashion site is fairly obsessed with its arrival.

As expected the styling is ridiculously awesome. The S/S10 McQueen is killer (as is the Lady’s ability to walk in those shoes.) And it’s totally creepy and gorgeous all at the same time. I’ve already watched it three times and can’t imagine getting sick of it anytime soon.

In honor of Gaga’s new gig as a beauty spokesperson, I’ll point you to my favorite non-clothing related styling choice in the video: the barbed wire-like nails. While they’re not exactly practical for every day life, you (or rather your manicurist) could create something nifty like this for a holiday party.

P.S. How weirdly cartoon-y were they able to make her eyes in some of those shots? I felt like I was watching Roger Rabbit!

We’re not breaking out gloves quite yet, in fact, we’re not even wearing tights today.

But the cold is coming and until we find the nerve to buy leather pants, which after reading this quote from Stella McCartney we probably won’t, we’re going to lust after these from American Retro.

They’re the arm equivalent to thigh-high boots, reaching up almost in to your armpit (though not quite because that would be uncomfortable). The buttery black leather’s cut off at the end, so your fingers are free and you can wear them at all times and though they’re expensive, they’ll qualify as a classic in the right wardrobe.

We’d suggest pairing with something more like Garance’s MaxMara coat than the model’s Jenny Humphrey hair, but that’s just us.

If the sentence, Isaac Mizrahi needs interns doesn’t make you a little excited, then we’re not quite sure what to say.

Fashion’s most fun character is looking for both styling and design help for the upcoming semester and we really can’t think of a better way to spend your time if you’re trying to break into the industry.

On the design front, you would assist in sketching, making boards, organizing trim
books, and helping out with design projects. Fun! Some experience with Adobe Illustrator would be even more helpful but is not 100% required.

In the midst of Fashion Month, a vacation, a birthday and what’s starting to feel like a blog explosion, I ran out of time to finish posting the series of Life With’s I worked on in LA this summer.

Next up is Molly Stern.

I’m tempted to call Molly “make-up artist to the stars,” but that doesn’t really cover it. Yes, she’s pretty much the only one who touches Reese Witherspoon’s face, but she’s also landed a gig for Cover Girl. She used to have her own clothing line, which sold in Barneys etc, she’s a mother of three and for lack of a less cheesy word, she’s one of the most inspirational women I’ve met - especially in this industry.

She got her start at the Shu Uemura store in her local mall, made fast friends with the girl who replaced her, Jillian Dempsey, moved to New York to find herself, moved back to LA when her mom set her up with the guy behind the counter at her favorite deli and only recently came to terms with working in beauty.

Click through for our meandering talk.

Crushed Leopard: Can a cast have a cumulative crush? Marie Claire thinks all of New Moon is obsessed with Dolce & Gabbana. Maybe. We think it’s more probable they grab what they see first. {MarieClaire}

Who Is Yvie: Have you checked out YSL’s new blog yet? They’re sending five bloggers around the States for “experience.” Not like Kate’s experience in the commercial, but still fun. {YSL}

Get Your Blog On: If you’ve always dreamed of blogging your way through London Fashion Week, you’re probably too young to enter this competition. If you are old enough though, here’s your chance to land backstage at Somerset House. {Grazia}

Bridge & Tunnel: Try telling a tourist to leave Manhattan to find fantastic shops and they look at you like you have ten heads. Send them here for proof. {Refinery29}

The British Fashion Council is continuing to grow by leaps and bounds.

After last week’s news about the creation of the BFC and Vogue Fashion Fund, they’ve just this morning announced a new addition to the British Fashion Awards—a one off called the “London 25.”

The “London 25” was created in honor of the 25th anniversary of the awards themselves and the winner is meant to be someone who “who embodies the spirit of London and is an international ambassador for the capital’s fashion industry.” The list of suggested nominees ranges from Stella to Alexa to Vivienne and, of course, Kate.

Unlike the designer awards, the public will be the ones deciding who takes home the prize the evening of December 9th by voting online for their favorites.

So, who gets your vote?

“You’d think it would be enough to be the Queen of Constance, but then to have to be the queen of the Upper East Side, and then … ” Jenny trails off here, but allow us to finish. And then you have to be the queen of your college sorority. Then you have to be the queen of the Style.com set, and have Derek Blas blog about you. Then you have to be the queen of the trophy wives, and then you have to have the prettiest and smartest children. Then you have to be the queen of New York Social Diary, and the queen of Bill Cunningham’s page in “Styles,” and then you have to hope that when at last you get Alzheimer’s your children don’t turn against you and start selling your possessions and letting you live in squalor on a pee-stained sofa. And then you die, and even then, you can still lose, if everyone stops talking about you.” —From Daily Intel’s epic Gossip Girl recap.

Yesterday brought news that Paul Wilmot is shuttering his west coast operations saying, “I opened up the Los Angeles office to see if there was there was business for us out there, and we just didn’t find it.”

But others, like Starworks, are finding business booming. In fact they just doubled their office size by moving into new 5000 square foot digs on Beverly Boulevard.

Allison Oleskey, who heads up the LA office of 15 employees, tells us, “As we expand our offerings and client range in LA, we felt the need to move to a larger space that would better accommodate our brands and also better reflect the Starworks aesthetic. We have always been passionate about the LA Market and see tremendous opportunity in the years to come.”

All those perfect polka dot dresses? The punchy bows and tulip silhouettes from Luella Bartley’s SS10 collection? They basically don’t exist anymore.

The label’s ready-to-wear producer Carla Carini closed last month, unexpectedly, which put a stop to all SS10 production. Whether or not that’s worse than this morning’s news that Luella’s lost their licensee, too, we’re not sure.

Club 21, which has licensed the Luella brand for almost seven years, is done investing in Luella (the brand) and it will stop trading.

The designer told Vogue UK, “This is a very disappointing situation for everyone involved with the brand…It is upsetting not to be able to protect jobs in this difficult economic climate. I love the Luella character and hope that after we have survived this challenging time the Luella girl can have an exciting future ahead of her.”

So if you’re on her side of the ocean, get thee to Luella, before it’s too late. We’ll have to settle for pouting.

Not that I really needed more reasons to love Anja Rubik—aside from the legs, the gorgeous face, etc—but she gave me a few when I finally met her in person last night at the launch of the Wii yoga game that features her.

Here are three things I know about Anja now that I didn’t know before:

1. She loves going home for Christmas as much as we do. She even does all the baking at her house, while her mom handles the massive amounts of cooking.

2. We’re currently reading the same book, The Beautiful Fall. Though my guess is she’ll have a little more insight, seeing as she just spent four days with Karl Lagerfeld.

3. While I was jealous when she told me she’d just jetted from Paris to Nice to LA to New York…and that in few weeks she’s working in my fantasy vacation spot, The Maldives, she was so sweet and lovely to chat with that I couldn’t even hate her.

Don’t go changin’, Anja!

“Oprah just revealed the 3rd cover of the Dec issue and she is wearing custom made PG gown. Dreams do come true y’all. Thank you @Oprah” —Prabal Gurung’s Twitter. As if he wasn’t already on a roll the past couple weeks, now women across America will know his name. Congrats!!!

Who knew that luxury car makers would be concerned with hideously unattractive footwear? Not us.

Turns out in Germany, they most certainly are. Our sibling site, GoingConcern.com, has discovered a lawsuit in Germany where Porsche is suing Crocs over use of the word “Cayman.” (That’s the name of the style pictured to the left. This is a Porsche Cayman.)

We have to agree with their story in that there’s got to be a fairly low level of confusion as to which “Cayman” one is talking about.

But we cannot lie and say we don’t advocate anything that chips away at the company behind these fashion abominations. We might be able to handle Fit Flops, but Crocs…never.

As much as I totally loved all the bows on the S/S 10 runways, I’m starting to feel a little wary about how well I can really pull one off.

Our intern Steff came in today wearing the cutest big black bow headband and all I could think was that I might look totally ridiculous in something like that. She looks more than adorable (And yes, I’m a little jealous of how well she can pull it off!)

Enter this inexpensive headband/zipper bow I just found over on Fred Flare. It’s subtle, sweet (but not too sweet, thanks to the gold zipper detailing) and on trend enough for those of us not ready to make a big old bow statement.

Perfect.

Please forgive my ignorance, any of you who are in or know someone in a wheelchair, but until this afternoon I had no idea something called a “wheelchair poncho” existed.

But now that I’ve read up on it, it totally makes sense: an outerwear garment designed to be easily put on by someone who needs a wheelchair, and that also won’t get caught up in the wheels, ie it’s short in the back and long in the front to cover the legs.

I also noticed that the offerings in the market were not the most fashionable things around, which is why it also makes sense for a company to partner up with a designer like Built By Wendy’s Wendy Mullin (hence, how we learned of the wheelchair poncho in the first place.) Check it out here—it’s very classic trench-y.

“Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana hit New York City last week to shoot their spring-summer advertising campaigns for women and men. According to…Twitter, the duo was in the middle of a Sicily-themed photo shoot with Steven Klein in a Brooklyn studio on Wednesday.” — From this morning’s WWD, because dressing Brooklyn up as Italy, which is where you are in the first place, makes so much sense.

Foreign Explanations: Of all the nutty fashion people, explaining Olivier Zahm to the unsuspecting masses is most entertaining. If the post itself doesn’t make you giggle, the comments definitely will. {Gawker}

Royal Snap: Kate Middleton’s taken a job assisting photographer Nikolai von Bismark while Prince William takes royal tours to Australia and New Zealand. It’s not her first fashion job; she was an assistant accessories buyer at Jigsaw in 2006. {DailyStar}

Posh Model: In other British tabloid news, Victoria Beckham and Simon Fuller are allegedly developing a plan for a modeling agency. We’d crack a joke, but we actually love her collection, so we’ll wait and comment post-launch. {DailyMail}

Valley of the Dolls: Ruth LaFerla profiled Mattel’s new Fashionista Barbies (no relation), this weekend. The thought of “aspiring primary-school Rachel Zoes” is surprisingly disturbing. Its makers say the dolls are suited to this economy and promises they won’t be driving limos anytime soon. {NYTimes}