Brian Reyes has had a loyal following of influentials since he first launched his collection in 2006. The Elle crew was the first magazine to get behind him in a major way and they were out in full force this morning, from Robbie, Joe, and Anne to the rest of the fashion news team, and celebrity guest blogger, Becki Newton. Longtime fan Rachel Bilson and her stylist Nicole Chavez were also in the front row yet again.

But this season brought a new major face…Carine! I get pretty excited when I’m at the same show as CR, so I can only imagine what it feels like for a designer knowing she’s watching their show for the first time.

What I always love about Brian’s clothes, and what I saw again in this collection, is that he brings in the uptown training he got at Oscar but makes it young and cool and something I really, really want to wear. Now there were some teeny tiny shorts that will definitely work on the adorable Rachel B. Me, not so much.

But the prints were gorge and the dresses were incredibly “it” girl appropriate. Usually, black isn’t what comes to mind when I think of Brian’s clothes, but the dresses in that color were some of my favorites.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed for some awesome Vogue Paris credits.

Just to quickly recap the very swingin’ Whitney Art party last night, Britt was totally right, bandage dresses took over the room. (To be noted though, Britt did opt for something very hot herself!)

The music was old-school (loved). The champers ran out two hours in (did not love). And the room was filled with amazing art and all the cool kids from Camilla Belle and Hilary Rhoda to Anne Slowey and Joe Zee.

We can’t lie, though, the highlight of the evening was not running into Brian Reyes and snagging an invite to his huge new design space (though that was lovely) or perusing the pieces of art that, sadly, we didn’t have the funds to bid on.

No, it was Bradley Cooper. What can we say: we’re girls, he’s way dreamier in person, and the smile, god, the smile. Even cynical fashion types swooned in his presence. We saw at least two ladies hand him their cards.

Sorry, enough with the crushing when we should be talking about fashionable things. He just does that to us.

But so does a great dress. And the best-dressed of the night was definitely Lake Bell in red BCBG which clearly stood out in the sea of Herve.

The Met Ball might have been Monday but the fashion pack just keeps going and going, so we made the three obligatory stops last night and this is what we saw:

— At Derek Lam’s store opening, curved glass walls separate different sections of the store - think shoes from bags from dresses from coats - and totally distort your vision, but look amazingly cool.

— Every editor was there - Anne S., Robbie M., even Anna - though we didn’t read NYMag’s Rihanna tweet until after our cab made it above Houston. Too bad, we would have greatly appreciated seeing RiRi’s new blonde highlights in person.

Like you, we watched the premiere of Stylista last night. And probably like you, we were left… unsettled.

Can we be frank? Good. Because this is getting kind of weird. It was all fun and games when Nina Garcia decided to be a judge on a show that used to be genuinely good, and all she did was give her professional opinion while sitting neat and tidy in her director’s chair, occasionally trading jokes with Michael and Heidi, which was cute.

Then when Kelly Cutrone joined the Hills cast, it was just like “ha ha” cool, because, after all, she is a publicist - as in, publicist - and she truly did not attempt to act any differently than she does in real life, which on MTV, is admirable. (We’re not even touching The Fashionista Diaries at this time - and ANTM never felt shocking since the judges on the show are hardly industry members anyway.)

But now what was once fun and games has hit a bona fide fever pitch, with the Style Channel’s new The Stylist, MTV’s Model Makers, and of course, Whitney Port’s new spinoff, The City, in which she works for an actual designer who’ll probably be on camera a total of ten seconds by season’s end. But we doubt any of these will hit home the way Stylista did last night.

Because the thing is, everyone knows these people. You’ve either seen them out, seen their work, worked with them or maybe for them, and you definitely know what they actually walk / talk / look / dress like, so watching them play their own caricature was a little like seeing your little sister’s Facebook - disturbing.

(And can we just add here that when it came out that contestant Megan is co-owner of Addict on 12th St, we literally involuntarily yelled, “WHAT?!” to the screen.)

No one expects reality television to be real, so these real, recognized people with real jobs playing their tele-real versions is kind of like getting robbed in your home - you can’t believe it’s happening, and you keep asking yourself, “is this really happening?” Because dear reader, it’s not. At least, not really.

Lately, there are a lot of invites to events flying around that make us go, “huh?” And sometimes, they actually make us go “ew”:

ELLE’s sponsoring a Fashion Week show at the Metropolitan Pavilion on the 9th. The show’s being “curated” by LA boutique Dash, the children’s boutique Smooch, and the whole thing’s being hosted by Khloe Kardashian, to no doubt be filmed for her family’s reality show.

The event’s the same date as the second episode of Stylista, at 10am.

But somehow, we expect Anne Slowey to be at Badgley Mischka instead.

We knew Stylista would be a dramatic, over-the-top, hysterically unrealistic reality show, but seriously, we didn’t think it would be like this.

Check out the clips if you can’t believe that:

1. Contestants (because that’s what they are) have to set up Maggie Rizer’s hotel suite for her before she flies into town (Bonus info: does that mean Maggie’s in an upcoming ELLE shoot? And going to be on the show?)

2. Contestants are asked to plan Anne Slowey’s niece’s birthday party, to which the niece instructs “don’t embarrass me,” sounding like a cross between that 13-year girl from the bat mitzvah episode on SATC and Monty Burns.

3. A faux clueless contestant says, “I certainly don’t want to be carrying anyone’s coffee” with just enough of a smirk on her face saying even she knows she’ll never live this down.

4. A horrifying contestant says, “If you want to work in this industry, you have to change your body for it.”

Yikes.

To: Natalie@fashionista.com

From: ISee@All.com

Here’s something for your girls:

Rumor has it that Anne Slowey may actually be hiring her Stylista reality show contestant….(in the real, not the faux, ELLE office!).

But the show finishes filming soon (like now), so wouldn’t the new person answering her phones spoil the show a bit?

Wouldn’t everyone in the industry who calls / emails Anne end up knowing who wins?

xx

This month, ELLE has Rihanna on its cover… and Dancing with the Stars on its new website.

The magazine famous for its razor-sharp fashion coverage is launching its own celebrity news site, akin to People.com, and calling it Hollywood Up Close.

So far, the site’s homepage - which we think must be in soft launch - stars Kristy Yamaguchi, Britney Spears, and David from American Idol.

This isn’t ELLE’s first big foray into the entertainment world:

After their recent Project Runway scuffle, the magazine is launching Stylista, a reality show about a hellish editor starring the normally low-key Anne Slowey.

This morning WWD reported that ELLE’s Joe Zee and Anne Slowey have started a New York City promo tour for the CW’s “Fashionistas”.

But there seems to be a little confusion on the Tyra front, or someone missed the memo.

Reuters now reports that the show is called Stylista, and the contestants will vie for the coveted ELLE position as well as two other prizes we haven’t heard before: a year’s paid lease on a Manhattan apartment and - perhaps the most covetable of all - a yearlong shopping allowance at H&M worth $100,000.

Hey, at least we don’t have to share our name anymore…

— JAZZI McGILBERT

Dear Anne Slowey,

You look better than any of the Prada models did in those clothes.

No really, you do.

In fact, we thought they were kind of wretchedly doily until we saw your face pasted on top of them.

Now they’re kinda perfect.

Hope they give you a really good discount!

xoxo Fashionista