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.

As October comes to an end, there’s still lots going on in the fight against breast cancer. Designers such as Betsey Johnson, Donna Karan, Tory Burch, Prabal Gurung, Tracy Reese, Milly, Rachel Roy, Rebecca Taylor and Jill Stuart, have all teamed up with Sharpie to contribute to the fund-raising efforts. (We love our colorful Sharpies and use them every day for graphics so it’s great to see the company getting so involved with fashion this year!)

The designers have created one-of-a-kind designs using Sharpie markers, including a t-shirt customized by Betsey Johnson, who is a breast cancer survivor. All items are being auctioned off on eBay and benefit City of Hope, a leading cancer research and treatment center.

Bidding for the designer sketches and t-shirts ends on Monday, November 2nd at 1pm (PST), so get on over there and bid!

Want to bid? Visit www.sharpieuncapped.com and help support Breast Cancer Awareness. And if you get out-bid you can always buy Sharpie Pink Ribbon markers and highlighters!

—PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEREMY KOST

Betsey Johnson didn’t hold a presentation at the Plaza yesterday; she threw a rager in the lobby.

The designer’s apparently redesigning Eloise’s room at the hotel and thought the elegant setting would contrast nicely with her punk rock clothes.

Models - boys, girls, Georgia May Jagger - threw down on stage, chugging champagne from pink labeled bottles in their sequin dresses, tulle headdresses and nipped in suits. There was pink and pink and some lime green and more pink. The boys wore tie dyed tank tops and skinny jeans and sunglasses and everyone danced to Ida Maria, performing on a side stage.

I’d have loved to stay and party all night but it was day five and I had four shows left to go, so I snagged a couple of chocolate covered strawberries from the pink feast and danced my way out.

There’ve been a record amount of presentations this week - a trend we love so long as it never signals the death of the proper runway.

However, depending on how and where the models are arranged the system can either be perfect or disastrous. In the past three days Chris Benz, Devi Kroell and Betsey Johnson have all employed the same idea - stick all the models on a stage at one end of the room and let the crowd angle for the best possible view. Presentation rule #1: make sure your models move in and around your audience if they’re not elevated above the crowd otherwise it’s impossible for those of us below 5’8” to see anything.

Anyway, even though I had to hold my camera high above everyone else (pushing to the front is even worse) Devi Kroell’s presentation looked pretty. They propped up white cut out waves in Cedar Lake and had models moving in and out of them in front of the crowd. The clothes were cute, very ruffly, shiny and said something like, “I’m a demure party girl.”

We like Betsey Johnson now, but we loved Betsey Johnson fifteen years ago, which is why we spent last night watching these vintage videos instead of True Blood.

Her team’s uploaded an insane archive, dating back to 1978 when Betsy debuted her namesake label and sent gyrating models down the runway in neon satin dresses with major side ponytails and shoulders I’ll call Balmain even though I’m aware they weren’t that back then.

You can catch Steven Tyler and Marc Jacobs walking her runway, as well as Pat Field, Bjork and of course, the famous ending cartwheel.

There are ten videos posted so far through the eighties and into the early nineties, and they’ll be adding more on a daily basis on Youtube, their Facebook page and via Twitter.

The venerable Fashion Calendar, published as always by Ruth Finley, will give us the first look at the lineup (so far) for September’s New York shows and presentations when it publishes this Friday.

WWD reports this morning that Tory Burch will show for the first time in the tents and that Betsey, Marchesa, and Monique Lhullier (among others) will again opt for presentations.

JA in the BK: Jonathan Adler’s newest store is opening tomorrow…and it’s right by my apartment which makes me very happy. Atlantic Ave is well on its way to becoming a hip shopping drag. {Racked}

Going Concern: That’s the name of the newest addition to our Breaking Media family! It’s super dishy goss for the accounting/finance exec/CFO crowd - and there is lots of juicy stuff going on in that world. You know you’ve got a few people who fit that description in your life. Spread the word, dear readers. Spread the word. {Going Concern}

Breathe In, Breathe Out: That’s my mantra when I get really envious of Sea of Shoes, because after all she’s a kid and I’m a grown-up, a grown-up without Margiela cowboy boots, but still. Now she and mom are in Vogue. I also keep reminding myself that jealousy isn’t pretty. {Sea of Shoes}

It wasn’t going to be long before designer Sean Monahan of Sea New York hit our radar. He’s kind of perfect for the current climate — a former Wall Street analyst who ditched his career in finance and turned designer.

He started out dressing his best friends which quickly turned into dressing Gwyneth Paltrow, Christina Ricci, Leighton Meester, Blake Lively, Chloe Sevigny, and Alexa Chung. He wanted to create clothes that “make girls smile,” an ethos that whacks the sometimes unbearably heavy gravitas of fashion across the head.

Stocked by Barneys and Milk, his clothes are happy, lighthearted and full of frills, pretty prints and easy to wear dresses so it’s no wonder an army of models are also fans. His clothes kind of embody the “off-duty model” look.

Meanwhile, he’s quietly adding some big names to his design team. Monica Paolini, his best friend, muse and former design director at Betsy Johnson and Jill Stuart, is now on board as well as Emilie Roy of Dior.

There could be perhaps no two houses as misaligned as Betsy Johnson and Dior, so it will be interesting to see what the two new creative forces come up with.

As long as it stays light and fresh, we’re pretty sure we’ll love it.

—CHARLEY B.

“You know what it is? It’s the psychology of the line. If you have to wait on a ridiculous line because the elevator to get to the space is so small, then wait on another line to actually get on the elevator, then wait again to actually get inside the show, you’re pissed, you’re in a bad mood, and you won’t like anything you look at. So really, every show should be on the ground floor.” - Imran Amed, from The Business of Fashion, while killing time on the line to get on the line to get on the line at Betsey Johnson.

With the generally serious feel at most of the shows so far this week, the Betsey Johnson presentation this afternoon was a little like traveling back in time. Not because Betsey’s signatures were all there - leopard and rose prints, lacy things, poufy skirts and more hot pink than a Pepto factory - but because the venue exuded fun when all anyone wanted to do was get the hell out of there and over to Chris Benz in time for dinner reservations.

But Betsey’s playpen beckoned with Twizzlers, two cute girls working a Presecco counter, and boys wielding trays of sliders and mini hot dogs (you had to push your way to the outer walls if you actually wanted to see the clothes).

Nothing summed up how the over-the-top vibe felt quite like the cooking demonstration video playing on a flat screen in the back. The footage was of Betsey herself in a comical kitchen, prepping a whole chicken using a shaker of pink glitter, then tossing the bird across the room… because she’d covered it in glitter instead of salt.

We think that pretty much captures it.

For the last two show seasons, Band of Outsiders has won the Fashionista contest of “Best Invite.”

But this season?

We think Betsey Johnson, whose presentation will obviously have some sort of food theme happening, has taken the cake for Fall 09, sending in an actual pot holder which we totally plan on using this Sunday.

On a related note, is anyone else hoping Betsey makes the models eat a la Lorick Spring 09?

Scoring vintage Betsey Johnson is only half the battle of thrift store shopping - trying to find what you love in your (actual) size is usually the part that turns a good shopping trip into just a bad trip.

So good news: Betsey feels your pain, and Opening Ceremony knows an incredible deal when they see one, so they’ve paired up to introduce a new-ish range from Betsey, the Betsey Johnson Archive.

Yes, it’s exactly what it sounds like: Re-makes of 35 of Betsey’s best vintage designs to launch at Opening Ceremony in NYC and LA (and some Betsey Johnson stores) this Fall.

In the meantime, you can try to hold yourself over with the vintage page on Betsey’s site. But we’re just going to send the Opening Ceremony people telepathic messages all afternoon - “Please host an 80’s dance party for the launch!”

Betsey Johnson won’t be showing at the Bryant Park tents this February.

Betsey, who’s shown her past five collections in the park, is scaling back the presentation of her Fall 2009 collection in light of the recession. She usually shows to more than 1000 buyers and editors in the main tent; this time around she’ll host a more intimate event at a still unnamed location.

Carmen Marc Valvo’s also surrendering his tent space after ten seasons. His audience was already significantly smaller last September and with less press and buyers expected to make the trip to New York for the first Fashion Week of 09 and Bryant Park show costs climbing above $100,000 - it’s just not worth it.

Meanwhile, IMG’s allegedly open to converting tent space into presentation space, like the London Fashion Week tents but rotating, to keep as many designers as possible on site.

We love presentations, but a fun, fantastical Betsey Johnson collection belongs on a major runway.

Let’s talk about Jenny’s outfits from last night, shall we? Because, in a very true to life manner, Jenny’s turned 15, picked up a huge attitude in the process, and is diligently reflecting her newfound not quite a woman self with over-the-top outfits and almost as much eyeliner as Jodie Harsh.

Her new look? A cross between Betsey Johnson, to channel that young designer vibe, and 80’s Madonna via gobs of wannabe Gothic jewelry and a new don’t-mess-with-me walk.

We love that Eric Daman goes so out of his way to reflect what the characters are up to sartorially (got to love Blair’s Communion Day white socks in thigh-high form for Chuck seduction), but gray, fishnet knee-highs? In public? At work?

Quite a jump from her polka-dot socks / headbanded curly hair / big bag swinging from her elbow days, no? But maybe, since she’s in high school, that’s what makes it so real.

—PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEREMY KOST

Last week at Betsey Johnson, we saw a troop of teen models crash into the store. They looked familiar, from the runway show, and they were hungry - well, for clothes anyway.

“How much do they get?” I asked the salesgirl, as they gleefully tore apart the store like a Supermarket Sweep rehearsal.

“A lot,” she answered. “Like, unless it’s a one-of-a-kind piece, they can have it.”

Alas, we don’t get the same privileges, but here’s something that could be fun:

Starting Saturday, Betsey’s having a President’s Day sale that ends on Monday. Select stuff is 75% off, which means a dress you like might be $50, $75, or at most $110.

Let us know if you get anything - we found a really cute black flapper dress and already wore it to The Box!

Nicole Richie and Christina Aguilera aren’t the only Betsey Johnson fans shopping for baby clothes:

We hear Betsey’s bombshell daughter Lulu is pregnant with baby number two, and it’s also a girl.

Lulu’s first daughter, Leila, is about two years old, and makes occasional runway appearances on her grandma’s catwalk (see a backstage photo, right, from New York).

Now maybe that there will be two toddlers in the family, Betsey can revive her children’s clothing brand?

The article in today’s NY Times about the goths, punks, and drag queens who fit in perfectly at their places of employment - Halloween costume stores - while being cast as fashion misfits in the world at large struck an emotional cord with us.

When we were in college, one day our across-the-hall neighbor - a very conservatively-dressed Psychology major- came knocking on our dorm room door. She wanted to know if she could borrow some of our clothes for her Halloween costume. “Something funky, you know - like the stuff that youwear,” she explained.

“My costume is going to be like ’80s girl,” she continued, while amusedly sorting through our collection of large vintage earrings, party dresses, colored tights, and tight black jeans. “Your clothes are so funny. Oh my god, can I actually wear this in public,” she asked, holding up one of my most cherished thrift store finds, a tight vintage 1980s black and silver Betsey Johnson skirt.

Of course it wouldn’t have been in the Barnard sisterhood-is-powerful spirit to not help her out. But we have to confess, we were somewhat dismayed to have our everyday gear pronounced “the perfect Halloween costume.”

We’ll be the first to admit that many of our college fashion choices were regrettable (an outfit that included ripped purple leggings and a leopard-print miniskirt comes to mind), but what do you do when your personal style is another girl’s idea of a costume?

—ALISON COOL

We’ve always seen Sonia Rykiel as the French Betsey Johnson - cooler with more dirt and more sex, but with that same sense of girlhood that comes from plastic heart sunglasses and ruffled panties.

And though there was a lot to talk about at her show this afternoon - how she made her sweaters into turbans for the girls, how Ali Michael wore a leather cat mask as a headband, how the Marie Digby soundtrack was amazing - what everyone here is talking about is the dance party.

That’s right, the dance party.

After the last creamy cloud dress was over, Irina came tearing into the catwalk with a boa, screaming and jumping and basically just being Irina.

But then Tanya did it too. And Stam. And Lily. Pretty soon there were about twenty models going nuts on the catwalk like it was a disco. Feathers and glitter flew everywhere, the whole audience (minus the fashion editors) was on its feet, and for a few seconds it was actually fun - the real kind, the kind you have with your friends on Fridays.

After the show, one of our favorite editors sent an email:

“Skinny dancing girls. I was worried they were going to faint…”

Yeah, maybe, but what a way to go.