Denise Williamson’s been a part of New York’s fashion industry for almost twenty years.

She made it through FIT, worked in house at Calvin Klein, fooled around with showroom ideas, networked her way into one of the most successful PR and branding companies in the city and now runs the showroom, Williamson PR and Williamson Consulting.

Our discussion was meant to revolve around her day to day life, but instead it took a few philosophical turns into the state of the fashion industry and what she sees in the future. Of course, we also talk about her clients, including Trovata, Jen Kao, Kimberly Ovitz, Raf by Raf Simons and Madeleine Thompson, her kid and the fun parts of working so hard.

John, 25 musician

Got Him: At the Tribeca Grand, just after the Made: I Wanna Be a Hipster movie

Stalked Him: Because his cross-front sweatshirt was an understated risk that made him look very cool, not very in need of attention.

Shot Him: Anyone who can wear slim jeans without looking like a Swedish heroin dabbler is good with us.

He Says: “This sweatshirt is from Alexander Plokhov’s last Cloak collection… my roommate works in fashion, but he doesn’t tell me what to wear - I dress myself!”

We Say: Okay, now dress us, too…

The fashion world is used to underage girls representing its brands: At fifteen, Gemma did Prada and Riley Keough did Dior, and whether Tanya D was fourteen or younger when she shot YSL is often discussed.

So Versace’s new teen face shouldn’t be shocking - except that it’s a sixteen year old boy.

As pegged by Paris Vogue, their new poster child is Tuki Brando, the grandson of Marlon and the son of Tarita Cheyenne Brando, a former model who committed suicide when Tuki was five. He was raised in Tahiti by his grandmother, and lived there until recently, when he flew to Paris for a L’Uomo Vogue shoot with Bruce Weber.

No doubt the new boy will be fun eye candy in magazines - but will he entice grown men to buy into the Versace brand?

And isn’t it odd that Versace’s men’s collections have gotten way more grown-up on the runways, thanks in large part to Cloak’s Alexander Plohkov, only to be faced by someone born in the ’90s?

It’s men’s Fashion Week in Milan, and we’re hearing there was something of an exodus at Versace, when several key buyers actually left the presentation in the middle.

Outside the lobby, our spy heard the words “boring” uttered in several languages.

Usually we love this sort of thing, because it’s fun when misaligned fashion gets called out for poor form, but this time we’re bummed.

This time, the Versace clothes are exceptional.

They were designed with help from Alexander Plokhov, the displaced Cloak createur, and they are clean, cool, awesome. We think draining the Kool Aid colors that usually grace the Versace men’s collection was a brilliant idea, because now they look like an outfit and not a costume.

Also: For maybe the first time, the line doesn’t look like it was designed for confidently gay men. It looks like it was designed for confident men, period.

See the whole collection, and read Tim Blanks’ rather spiffy review, on Style.com.

And keep your fingers crossed for Alexander; this is good stuff…

In one week, the Victoria and Albert museum in London debuts a new exhibition called “New York Fashion Now” which seems a lot like a Seamless come to life.

The exhibit charts “the stories of twenty designers who launched their own labels in the five years between 1999 and 2004” and details the challenges these designer hopefuls faced in establishing their fledgling brands.

According to the museum’s website, the designers include Zac Posen, Three As Four, and the now-defunct Cloak.

As if we needed another reason to visit the land of TopShop…

—KEVIN KHUONG

Dazed and Confused has a hysterical blog post today on the meeting of Gareth Pugh and Karl Lagerfeld, complete with an eye-witness account by Gareth Muse / Dazed Fashion Assistant Katie Shillingford.

We can’t help thinking what Gareth Pugh will be like in thirty or forty years, and whether his outlandish presence will build him into a Lagerfeld-like icon. The digital picture of Gareth and Karl on the blog is pretty priceless, as is this morsel of info buried on another part of the site:

Alexander Plokhov’s capsule collection for UNIQLO launches in July, making it the last thing from Cloak that menswear fans can buy. Sniffle.

The V&A just announced an April exhibit called New York Fashion Now, which shows the work of young designers coming out of the city.

Among those getting curated: Proenza Schouler, Zac Posen, Derek Lam, and Cloak. Not only will their work be shown in the museum, but the designers will also be included in a book by Sonnet Stanfill about the show.

Maybe the best part - it’s much easier to get into this show than it is to get into Proenza’s actual runway presentation - the V&A has declared this exhibit free to all visitors! We especially hope they include Zac’s crazy closing number from his Spring ‘07 show - he told me “making it was like taking a course in architecture” and then I was sad he hasn’t designed a building yet.