We love Sharpies here at Fashionista. They come in very handy with our graphic tendencies and the rainbow of colors they now come in is quite lovely. That said, we never expected to hear them attached to Fashion Week. But apparently, they are.

It was thought that perhaps MAC wanted to get out of their IMG relationship in part because of the overcrowded sponsorship mania that now goes on at the Tents. You know, with people like McDonald’s and whatnot. Um, maybe this is what they were talking about?

Which designer won’t be showing in the Tent this year, like he usually does? Rumor has it he’ll send his gorgeous gowns down the Salon’s runway instead.

We weren’t sure why Erin Wasson, free, homeless-person loving, Alexander Wang-wearing rock ‘n’ roll hippie decided to show her AW10 line for RVCA at the commercial epicenter of New York Fashion Week, the Bryant Park tents.

Because though she’s a Maybelline face and Maybelline’s sponsoring the tents, all of her cool friends will be downtown at Milk Studios.

Now we’re hearing she’s not just showing in the tents, but in The Tent, the massive space in which Herve Leger stuffs their starlets, Zac Posen housed five pianos and Justin Timberlake played host to Carine, Anna and J.C. Chasez.

How, exactly, is Erin Wasson going to fill such a huge space? Why, exactly, does she want such a huge space? No idea, though now we know why they’re taking forever to come out with the damn Fashion Week Calendar — they’ll need a good hour cushion before and after the show if they expect everyone to head uptown.

The first solid details on the tentatively titled MAC at Milk shows we’ve been talking about since the cosmetics company decided to end its partnership with IMG leaving Maybelline to jump in as the official makeup sponsor at Bryant Park.

And the initial list of designers signed on for events at Milk Studios is very, very strong: Proenza Schouler, Alexander Wang, Peter Som, Threeasfour, Vena Cava, Band of Outsiders, Adam Lippes, Altuzarra, Barbara Tfank, Costello Tagliapietra, Erin Fetherston, Pamela Love, Preen and Temperley London.

“And she pays her bills doing print work, as a model, and, you know, she’s lucky to be able to do that—even though she fuckin’ hates the business, we both hate it. It makes the music industry and the film industry and every industry look like a walk in the park.” —Michael Pitt on fiancée Jamie Bochert in the NY Observer to which we question his Bryant Park presence.

Which style photog snapped at another on the steps of Bryant Park this morning? And we don’t mean his camera, more like, “Dude, don’t steal my shot”….Think outside the box.

SPOTTED: The Lilly Pulitzer Jeep parked outside the tents, with a Connecticut license plate, naturally.

This afternoon, I died and went to pre-adolescent fashion heaven.

I walked among fifty models, fifty little girls, more hair extensions than they used on Cousin It, trays and trays of plastic nails and some seriously awesome clothes backstage at Barbie’s 50th birthday party.

Charlotte Tilbury directed the make-up artists through their three looks: Retro Barbie (red lip lacquer and “visor-like” lashes), Present Day Barbie (sparkly pink lids and fabulously teased hair) and Future Barbie, with braided up-dos and insanely feathered glittery eyelids. Stila’s make-up artist promised me that, “It’s all wearable, you just have to find your era and maybe bring it down a teeny tiny notch.” Uh-huh.

Post make-up, I snuck past the dressers and into the rails, tucked myself between Marchesa’s frothy number and Alex Wang’s rhinestoned leotard and took pictures of the hot pink patent Louboutins lining the ground- it took all of my self control not to accidently slip Vlada’s into my clutch

And then I met Ken. He and his unreal blonde highlights introduced me to Miranda.

The six-year-old held her own between Behati and Jourdan in the make-up chairs. I asked her if she was excited to walk a runway. She looked at me, confused and I said, “Is this your first fashion show?”

“No,” she answered politely, though she gave Ken a knowing look. “I’m a model. Last time I was on a runway I got to wear ballet flats and they put pompoms in my hair,” she told me before getting swept into her tutu.

And that was my cue to take my seat - Part II very soon.

I’m sitting in the tents blogging from this impossibly small Sony computer that I think they sent me to be nice but is going to result in my going blind.

While I’m trying to connect to the internet, I meet a guy who says he’s a photographer though he’s suspiciously without a camera and this happens:

“Does Chanel ever have a fashion show,” he asks?

“Yes,” I answer.

“Well when? I’ve been sitting here all day and I’m just so confused.”

“Um. Well. They show in Paris, in a couple of weeks.”

“Well maybe you can try and help me out. I’m looking for this one model and I’m having trouble finding her. Her name’s Coco. Like Chanel. She’s perfect and has this fiery red hair and I really need to find her but they tell me she hasn’t walked anything in the tents so far.”

So I’m totally creeped out. And because I too love Coco Rocha, in a not-stalker-but-I-love-all-models kind of way, my response comes out something like, “Oh yeah, um, I don’t think she made it to New York this season,” even though I saw her at Rag & Bone last night.

Add that to the list of things making this Fashion Week like no other: Super small photo pits, weirdly empty front rows, Budweiser where champagne used to be, and major creepers making their way past Bryant Park security.

We knew there’d be good Fashion Week news eventually: Full Frontal Fashion might’ve been cancelled but you’ll still be able to get a behind-the-scenes look at New York Fashion Week via a new TV show called Videofashion Daily.

They’ll be covering shows on and off site - from Rag & Bone in Chelsea to Narciso Rodriguez at the tents - from February 15th to the 26th.

No word on a front row host, though backstage beauty coverage will be led by Glamour’s Editor-at-Large Suze Yalof Schwartz. Fabiola’s got her New York Magazine front row act down pat, so it’ll need to be someone equally bubbly and nice. Suggestions?

The show will air on NYCTV from 9 - 11pm every night. Full schedule after the jump.

It’s official: Damrosch Park (part of the Lincoln Center plaza) is the new Bryant Park, but not until September of next year.

Spring 2011 (“Spring 11” just doesn’t look right) will be here, in case you just can’t yet visualize it either.

The past month has seen two major New York store openings.

Vera Wang opened up shop in Soho while Miu Miu added a third New York City location on 57th St, both of which seemed to laugh in the face of economic catastrophe.

It’s a good thing Vera Wang opened that store - she needs it to show her Fall 2009 collection. After a week of rumors regarding her bowing out of Bryant Park, she’s made the official announcement. The designer won’t stoop so low as a presentation, instead she’ll set up a runway in her Mercer Street store. The smaller venue means a significantly smaller audience and the intimate, party-like feel that comes with an off-site show.

Meanwhile, Miu Miu closed their Madison and 69th Street store. The uptown space, only open since 2002, was emptied and shut with absolutely no fanfare yesterday according to The Daily.

The good news is, things will be decidedly less hectic on 42nd and 6th come February.

The bad news is, if this trend continues, Barbie will be the only one left with a Bryant Park show.

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.

Standing in the “lobby” of the Bryant Park tents during Fashion Week means being pelted with copies of WWD and Fashion Week Daily while buying ‘wichcraft sandwiches, coffee from an awkward sponsor and dodging street style bloggers.

But if you’re looking for more intelligent pursuits in the ten minutes between Herve and DVF you can swing by the CFDA’s health booth. Among all the crazy ideas we’ve heard about monitoring the industry’s skinniness - this might be the most rational.

At Diane’s behest, the CFDA’s teaming up with the Renfrew Cetner, an eating disorder treatment facility, “to answer specific questions, provide referrals and basically perform overall outreach to any person who might be interested in treatment or may be worried about someone they are working with,” said Steven Kolb.

It could work - even we need a reminder to eat during Fashion Week. And we never forget to eat.

Jacklyn, 23, fashion department at The Golden Touch

Got Her: Eating lunch with a friend in Bryant Park.

Stalked Her: Because her bright, printed dress stood out among the hordes of business people strolling Fifth Avenue. Plus, it’s perfect for today’s milder weather.

Shot Her: Because we’re starting to notice more T-strap heels stomping the streets and her patent pair are particularly cute.

She Says: “It’s such an amazing day outside. I just hope I’m not a fashion don’t!”

We Say: Beautiful day. Bryant Park. Cute outfit. How long until Fashion Week?

—KYLE HAYES

The city’s bid to take Fashion Week out of Bryant Park seems to be getting closer to official.

The Daily News reports that whoever wins the back-and-forth bid for the 10th Avenue rail yards is obligated to host New York Fashion Week after its run its course at Bryant Park after the S/S 2011 shows (a far-away date that the CFDA and Mayor Bloomberg have fought to keep despite the city’s campaign to keep Fashion Week from congesting all of Midtown.)

Right now, the bid for the rail yards is still up between a few major city players, including Condé Nast, but whoever comes out in the end (the lucky winner gets to put up $20 million upfront, then an eventual $1.5 billion when all is said and done,) should be announced by the end of this month, if not sooner.

As much as we can’t imagine Fashion Week not centering around Bryant Park, the move would make all those Chelsea/Bumble & Bumble shows a lot easier to get to.

But Fashion Week next to the West Side Highway? Not so chic.