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.

The Tribeca Film Festival hit Doha last week and my mom finally saw The September Issue.

She loved Grace, loved Raquel, and wanted to know if Thakoon ever did design for Mango, and if he didn’t, who did? The only other name we remember from Anna’s list, when she sat down with Oscar De La Renta, was Tracey Feith which, thank god, didn’t happen.

But this morning WWD suggested that Moises De La Renta, Oscar’s son, is up for the job. The Spanish brand’s staging their annual fashion show on Wednesday in Madrid’s Magic Box (built for their failed Olympic bid) and Moises is expected to attend. He’ll be among 600 other guests including Scarlett Johansson and Dree Hemingway.

Meanwhile, Thakoon does have a new job. He’s been appointed Creative Director of Tasaki, the Japanese jewelry line known for cultivating their own pearls. He says, “It is exciting to be working with fine jewelry as it will unquestionably feed into my overall creative process… My goal is to approach jewelry design in the same manner that I approach clothing: always move forward but respect the past.”

Forget the latest phone technology or Prada pumps, Anna Wintour got politics for her birthday yesterday.

American Vogue’s Editor-in-Chief was named to President Obama’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities. She’s joined by a handful of ‘private’ citizens including Sarah Jessica Parker, Edward Norton, architect Thom Mayne and former New York City Ballet dancer Damian Woetzel.

The committee, which works with both the National Endowment for the Arts and for the Humanities, works to achieve “economic revitalization through the arts” and guarantee the arts don’t become an afterthought in America.

We love Anna and we love the arts and we hope time in Washington (if this involves time in Washington) inspires her to get a bit more creative in New York.

We are very happy to hear that Fashion’s Night Out will be back, on September 9, 2010 to be exact.

Before the big night this year, we wondered what it would really be like and if people would indeed shop. As it turned out, many, many did and it was considered a success by most. And according to ShopperTrak, retail foot traffic was up by 50%.

Anna Wintour says, “It was only 15 minutes after the event began, and we were getting reports about lines around the block at stores throughout the city. It was wonderful to see people embrace this initiative, and we are thrilled that they wish it to return.”

Agreed, Anna. Really, FNO was one of the most fun evenings I’ve had in a long time. The city felt alive and united, which I honestly didn’t expect. And the fact that it was the night before 9/11 made my heart swell with New York pride. Plus, I watched dudes shotgun beers in the middle of the Prada store. So there’s that.

No serious details have been announced yet and there’s more than enough time to plan. So what would you do differently in 2010?

Confession: I haven’t read a full article in American Vogue in a very, very long time.

This weekend, I stopped in the street - seriously - to read Hamish Bowles’ story about three days spent in Utah’s desert. It feels like almost every issue of Vogue has a green bent at this point, and for November, a handful of writers scattered around the country, or the five boroughs in Sally Singer’s case, to explore nature.

Hamish enrolled in an adventure course at the Boulder Outdoor Survivor School in Southern Utah, headed to Paragon Sports to pick through “synthetic balaclavas” and “a brace of cotton bandanas in lilac and purple” which “promised a style continuum with [his] urban world,” before Anna subtly demanded, “You can do it.”

Then off he went to scale baby mountains, wade through rivers, sleep in tents and eat bear poop (sort of) without even the comfort of his Barbour jacket. The piece is so brilliantly written that even if you’ve given up on Anna’s Vogue, you must read it. (Which, I’ve just learned, you can do here; but for Condé’s sake, it’d be nice to buy it!)

“Geez”, muttered a friend Wednesday night. We’re standing in a jam packed club - not even a famous one - heaving with human traffic and queueing for £14 drinks. “What recession?”

Indeed what recession — it’s certainly not in London. After a manic LFW, one would expect everything to calm down for a moment, for the money and champagne to stop flowing. Instead, we’ve experienced a pent up demand to party - and wear the clothes \ we so innocently bought during fashion month.

The action’s hot and heavy: this week alone saw the bash celebrating the Juicy Couture store opening (which shares a block with Matthew Williamson & Stella’s store), the Tatler 300th anniversary party and the Vogue/Bulgari party. Last night, Alasdhair Willis (Stella’s husband), threw an intimate do at his Duke Street gallery, while Cindy Crawford launched her Omega collection at the Almada club (where Anna Wintour made her LFW date with Chris Kane). The latter drew the most stars yet including Lily Allen, Rosie Huntingdon Whiteley and Jasmine Guinness whilst Rhys Ifan flirted outrageously with model du jour, Tolula Adeyemi.

Best Of: Now that Fashion Month is actually and officially over (too many forgot about Giles yesterday), the best of the month’s fashion’s been rounded up for your viewing pleasure and consequent envy. {Style}

Watch Out: Just in case you were trying to ignore her, two days after Becka Diamond was named NylonTV’s newest host, the actress is Who What Wear’s Girl of the Month - a coveted title that means she’s not going anywhere. {WWW}

Real or Rubbish: There’ve been a few whispers suggesting that once Condé Nast finishes their 25% cuts, they’ll bring Elle on board from Hachette. In that case, does Condé own every mainstream fashion magazine? And imagine a holiday party at which Katie Grand, Anna Wintour and Joe Zee all answer to the same boss. {FWD}

Cat’s Meow: We’ve missed you this season, Catherine McNeil, though you look perfectly content posing for Greg Kadel in Vogue Italia. {Models}

No Models? Mon Dieu!: German magazine Brigitte’s banned professional models from its pages. They say they’ve been using Photoshop to fatten up girls for years and they give up. So from now on, it’s “real women” only. {The Guardian}

Style Like Me: We’ve mentioned it before, but stylist Elisa Goodkind’s awesome blog jumps into closets across the city (and its outer boroughs) in search of inspiring wardrobes. Today, ogle over Becka Diamond’s Chanel pumps and Rick Owens jacket. {StyleLikeU}

Don’t Stop Believin’: It’s the song that never dies. Apparently Kate Moss was accosted in the street by a Journey-loving thong-wearing gentleman after Simon Cowell’s 50th birthday party. And this is where our moms would tell us nothing good happens after 2 am. And we would disagree.{Page Six}

In which we catch those of you, and those of us, who spent the weekend outside, away from a computer or on a phone-cation, up on the fashion Twitterverse.

1. “I don’t get it,” from @jess_stam. She’s new to the world of tweets, give her a warm welcome!

2. “A Lanvin ‘snow sprite’ cashmere elf hat. It kind of makes me feel like skipping,” from @bunnybisous who appears to have been stranded uptown in the rain.

3. “Got sandwiched between Vogue’s Sally Singer and Anna Wintour to my left and Michael Roberts and Suzy Menkes to the right,” from @bryanboy at Dolce & Gabbana. A better view of their reactions, here. Sally looks amused; Hamish looks dangerous.

4. “Is it possible to have fashion sensory overload? Tell me no. I have 10 more days and another city to go,” from @mrjoezee. Yes, yes there is sir.

5. “Spotted on the front row at Versace…..Janet Jackson,” from @dazedmagazine. She sure pops up in the strangest places.

A quarter. 25%. That’s the big budget cut number supposedly hanging over the heads of editors and publishers at 4 Times Square, according to an article today in The New York Observer. That’s a mighty chunk, huge even.

“There will be significant layoffs. Significant,” said one company source in the story. Well, yeah, I’d think so. And I hate that people are going to lose their jobs, but I think that some of the bloated mastheads at magazines like, ahem Glamour, are easily the first place one looks when making cuts. This is the kind of economic climate where a 23 person fashion department really doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. According to the Observer, the entire editorial staff of Details is only 35 people.

The second biggest talking point of London Fashion Week, post-Fast, appears to be this picture of Anna Wintour and Alexa Chung front row at Twenty8Twelve.

I was sitting there, staring at the back of Anna’s head and wondering how her hair stays so strangely perfect, when Alexa and Pixie Geldof walked in. Anna kept her head down and sunglasses on as the PR tried to sit the it-girl duo next to her. Alexa pushed Pixie, Pixie pushed Alexa, someone even pointed at Anna until finally Alexa got stuck sitting next to her and Pixie moved closer to a red-headed Peaches.

I would have loved to see what happened if Anna had to sit next to a platinum, dirty-haired, ripped tights-wearing Geldof, but she graciously looked up at Alexa, shook her hand and laughed.

So I think that face she’s making has more to do with the clothes than Alexa (after all she is this month’s Vogue it-girl), because while I loved all the denim and corsets and rompers and boyfriend shirts (and Alice Dellal’s full head of hair), the collection didn’t exactly scream Vogue.

(Ed. Note: Excuse us while we rewind a bit. We were anxious to get Burberry up as soon as possible, but we’ve still got a few pre-extravaganza things to discuss.)

There’s something about Christopher Kane where at first, you’re flummoxed by the collection, but then comes the slow burn. In time, you learn to understand and then grudgingly like it. Eventually, you don’t just love his pieces, but covet them ardently. We’ve been doing this dance with Kane for a few years now, so this time around we just went straight for the covet.

We were besotted from look one.

Kane reeled us in through simple nostalgia with the delicate pale pink gingham and beaded details. We’d bet every girl in the room (including Anna Wintour, Donatella Versace, Natalia Vodianova and randomly, Joan Collins,) returned to their five year old self, begging their mother for a pretty pink gingham picnic dress. Kane perfectly captured that sentimentality. Then he hit fast forward to adolescence, where girly-ness gave way to womanhood and a boned bust took root inside the gingham.

After Isaac Mizrahi’s show, the designer ran around his Bryant Park set smiling, waving and blowing kisses and even Anna Wintour broke out into a toothy grin (seriously!).

There really couldn’t have been a better note on which to end New York Fashion Week than his theatrical production complete with studio lights and rain.

His models - Karlie, Iris, Tao, Eniko, Natasha - wore candy colored confections in tulle, fringed sequins and sheer swiss dot. They climbed stairs, walked under water and smiled wide in their classically tailored clothes paired with wooden briefcases and sun hats. There were Oscar gowns and rompers, suits, youthful cocktail dresses and glorious shoes. Maybe we were just exhausted, but it felt almost magical.

Anna’s bodyguard earned his keep yesterday at Michael Kors keeping the throngs of photographers swarming Michael Douglas (yep that Michael Douglas, sans Catherine Zeta Jones) from getting to the EIC and Grace. But eventually she got irritated enough to move to the second row until just before the show started.

Michael always puts on one of the most fun (and biggest - 67 looks!) shows of the week and he definitely stayed true to form with a soundtrack that started Gaga then mixed in Madonna before going back to our Lady of the week. “Poker Face” pretty much always gets me going, even on a gray morning nearing the end of Fashion Week.

The clothes gave me a boost too. Clear plastic panels on dresses! Major bubble necklaces! Metallic pants and shorts! Seafoam galore! Zippers! Delicious spring sweaters!

And as Britt so aptly said, a finale dress (pictured above) “that will be on Heidi Klum in 2.5 seconds.”

—PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEREMY KOST

I got to Marc at 7:45 - the earliest I’ve ever been in my entire life.

There was a line for ticket holders and a line for not ticket holders. I’m not sure what happened to the latter because my ticket was turned over, flipped upside down and the beefy security guard even read the serial number. Once inside the boiling hot white box I was told a) the girls were painted white and b) Lady Gaga was definitely coming.

I stationed myself behind Katie Grand, Juergen Teller and Jefferson Hack (down the row from Rachel Zoe and across from Anna and Bee) and soaked in all their British (and I guess German) brilliance. At 8:03, Perez Hilton was still by his lonesome and the two conspicuously empty seats were filled with Madonna and Jesus. PR’s panicked, “Lorenzo swore he’d take care of it!”

Iris Strubegger opened in a charcoal coat belted over something cream with a very white face and very Geisha shoes. Ruffles followed on suits, dresses, skirts, bags, scrunchies, they came in tulle and wool and cotton and anything else. Karlie wore a military coat, Stam rocked a black cut-out jacket and Vlada had her bra on the outside. The show ended with a series of beautiful dresses, hand beaded white over nude tulle and cream ruffles edged in black all over slightly loose nude mesh leggings.

Lorenzo and Gaga did show up about twenty looks in. Photographers went nuts, do we photograph the clothes? Madonna? Gaga?

Clothes please.