We felt a little confused today when we came across this Cynthia Rowley dress on shopbop.com.

With Paris SS10 shows still on our minds, Cynthia’s dress immediately reminded us of this Karl Lagerfeld look. The halter neck, cut-out shoulders, and wide waist belt are strikingly similar—though the rest of the design is obviously different. (And we’re not going to lie and say we don’t like one more than the other. We’re sure you can guess which one.)

But Cynthia’s dress is from her FW09 collection, meaning that if anyone was guilty of copying its neckline, it would be Karl.

Could be sheer coincidence or not…what do you think? We’d very much like to hear your thoughts on the matter!

When I think of Cynthia Rowley, I think of two things: cute and Montauk. Cute because that’s what her clothes are, and the lady herself for that matter. And Montauk, because every time I’m out there I see her and her adorable family beaching it up and think that they must lead the loveliest life.

As for the show, it was a mixed bag of bold-faced names at Gotham Hall for the show which thank god offered up champagne in the long wait time for seating. (Wind + Rain + 4 pm + full day ‘o shows = drinks in Abbyland.) You had Waris and Rachel Feinstein, but also Jill Hennessy and Erin Lucas. Okay, then.

And then came the cute. Though really not my favorite cute as far as I’ve seen from Cynthia over the years. The music was super ethereal to start (apparently made by the guy who did the Narnia movies), but the clothes weren’t especially so. I did very much like the sequin socks with the backless booties, but nothing else got me super excited. There was a hint of the cut-out trend, but it was mostly just slices into some of the dresses…and I’m not so sure I’m sold on cut-outs anyway. But was it wearable? Totally.

I guess if I wanted to get all 7th grade about it, I’d say I liked it, but I didn’t like it, like it. If you know what I mean.

Fashion’s Night Out just released their prolific schedule for September 10th.

Seven hundred stores across all five boroughs will stay open until 11pm, but Anna Wintour, Michael Kors, a surprise celebrity guest and the cast of Hair will kick everything off at Macy’s six hours earlier.

At Barneys, Wool & the Gang will teach knitting while Scott Hahn & Rogan of Loomstate customize t-shirts. Zac Posen will be painting inside Bergdorf’s Fifth Avenue windows while Peter Som and Cynthia Rowley have an in-store cook-off. What are we most looking forward to (aside from the Olsens)? A fashion game hosted by Andre Leon Talley with teams led by Donna Karan, Robert Verdi and Linda Fargo.

Various contests will be held throughout the night in which one can win tickets to runway shows, haircuts by Sally Hershberger and Oscar Blandi, a custom Carolina Herrera wedding dress and the chance to be on set during a Demarchelier Vogue shoot. Cindy Crawford, Hugh Jackman, Stephanie Seymour, Sasha, Caroline, Chanel, Lily, The Misshapes, Taylor Momsen, Yasmin le Bon, Coco and Diddy are just a few of the people with planned appearances.

Don’t forget to shop while you’re out ogling your favorite fashion people!

Now You See It: Photographer Greg Kadel shot an editorial titled Come As You Are for Australian Vogue and released an early shot to models.com. In the actual magazine, they’ve airbrushed out Abbey Lee & Cat McNeil’s nipple rings. So, the title’s kind of funny. {Frockwriter}

About That: Those Sex and the City auditions were yesterday. Here’s a sampling of the crowd looking to linger behind SJP & Co. in the film’s sequel. {Interview}

Babies’in’Fashion: Cynthia Rowley’s designing a line of baby clothes for Babies’R’Us. It’s called Hooray, launches in 2009 and she’s been “dying to do baby clothes for a long time.” Because designing bibs and diaper bags gives her something a runway doesn’t? {PRNewswire}

Better & Better & Better: As if there’ll be a moment to breathe during London Fashion Week, now you’ll have to squeeze in the National Portrait Gallery’s Twiggy exhibition. {Telegraph}

If we’re going to be honest, we’re going to tell you that the best part about a Cynthia Rowley show is the front row.

She lives in the West Village, plays in the West Village and has a store in the West Village which means she’s bffs with people like Parker Posey and Philip Seymour Hoffman who are infinitely more interesting than her clothes.

So we’re not pissed that we didn’t get to see the collection, we’re pissed that we stood outside amongst the protesters at left for forty minutes only to be told the venue was at capacity.

We asked one PR girl just who planned the show and she said LaForce+Stevens; the next said it was handled in house and the next offered me a perch in the doorway from which to see nothing but the back of the models.

So it’s just too bad these economy-friendly, “intimate” shows aren’t designed for the same number of people as before. Otherwise, you’d be reading about the show.

Someone at Diet Coke HQ must miss Project Runway, too - they’ve invented an online TV show called Style Series that brings weekly webisodes to your computer.

The first show launches Tuesday, December 9, and stars Rihanna, Robin Thicke, and Cynthia Rowley.

The rest is kind of unclear: Will they all be there together, like a well-styled View? Or will each be interviewed separately, by somebody else?

The mystery gets solved in two days, and Diet Coke started their own fashion website to showcase it.

Wouldn’t it be great if they started to sponsor Fashion Week, too?

Walking on Houston the other day, I noticed a change on the perennial Calvin Klein billboard: men. Good bye naked Eva Mendes, hello guys and girls in jeans.

Then last night on Bleecker, I spied a sparkly jacket and jeans in the window of Cynthia Rowley, for men.

Not to mention both Nicolas and Roland Mouret (re-)adding menswear to their repertoire.

And, Scott Schuman’s recent editorial in Fantastic Man features Chanel menswear.

All of this, coupled with the fact that my best friend (a girl) keep stealing my clothes, the preponderance of boyfriend jeans, and Band of Outsiders, Michael Bastian, and Thom Browne showing up in Vogue on women and men have me thinking that we’re having a manly moment.

Am I nuts, or does it seem like menswear is the new womenswear?

—BRETT KANE

And now, a note from Faran…

Last season, Ann Demeulemeester made some pins inspired by Kara Walker silhouettes (without the racial subtext or the fury or the brilliance, of course).

This season, Cynthia Rowley is going one step further, introducing a holiday cocktail dress inspired by the artist’s work.

It’s actually a pretty great dress, and if it were sold with a different name - the Shadow Dress, maybe - I’d love it. But my stomach gets knocked sideways when you say, “Look, it’s the Kara Walker dress,” because it’s not even subversive, or funny. It just seems hollow and kind of misinformed.

Kara Walker is an artist whose work is so beautiful that it clashes directly with her subject matter - hate, oppression, victimization, blame, poverty, shame, rape, madness. It’s so complicated that I still haven’t decided how I feel about it, but I do know this:

It feels really oblivious and pretty wrong to make a holiday party frock, and without an ounce of humor, to proclaim it your Kara Walker dress.

But maybe I’m just overreacting - I get worked up when I don’t get to see the Chloe show in person, you see…

Love you guys, xo.

When we think of Spring, we don’t usually think black and white. But given the Spring 09 collections, this might be about to change. An overwhelming amount of designers showed black and white outfits and many had entire shows based on the shades. The graphic above is just the short list. We swear. We had to leave out Dries Van Noten, Balenciaga, Prada, Versace, Christopher Kane, Rag & Bone, Rock & Republic, YSL, Stella McCartney, Giambattista Valli, Cynthia Rowley, Band of Outsider, Philip Lim.. And we have a feeling the list could go on..

On a side note, this black and white thing could be well used as a background to some neon pieces you might have purchased for Spring 08, no?

— HAYLEY PHELAN

*editor’s note: the dress in the top row, labeled Sonia Rykiel, was actually designed by Michael Kors for Sonia Rykiel.

1. Are those actual bleachers? Wow, they’re wobbling…

2. Front row: Linda Fargo, Julia Stiles, Olivier Zahm - wait, Olivier Zahm?

3. Nice, mostly dresses. Graphic, clean, good for a party.

4. Austria!

5. Madeleine!

6. Just realized this is where Rodarte was last season.

7. These dresses with anatomical lines kind of remind me of Marc’s Spring 08, except more graphic, and yet, less graphic.

8. No wait, really, why is Olivier Zahm at Cynthia Rowley?

9. The back straps on that final look, the Gravity-Defying dress, are genius. But a cardigan over it would make you look like you have a hump…

If you’re an avid Fashionista reader, you’ll have noticed that once in a blue moon, our server crashes.

Those moments are usually punctuated with an “Oh, Shit” and a race to the TV to play Nintendo. So when an invite arrived combining our two loves - Nintendo and fashion - we kind of jumped for joy.

Nintendo DS is hosting a day spa at the Bryant Park hotel from September 9th through 11th which means people from Sephora will be on hand for hair styling, make-overs, and the best part - lash applications.

We made our appointment after Rogan but before Cynthia Rowley so we’ll look refreshed at Zac Posen five hours later.

Hopefully there’s lots of espresso, and maybe some Mario, on hand, too. We’re exhausted already.

What wasn’t floral or plaid last week, was most definitely sheer. And actually, sometimes both.

There were transparent blouses at Ruffian, wispy dresses at Cynthia Rowley and Marc Jacobs, lacy gowns at Temperley - we finally have a use for those vintage slips we always buy.

But what about tops? What’s the perfect undergarment for a see-through blouse?

We’d love to just wear a bra underneath, though that would require the perfect one for each top. Not to mention the perfect body to show off.

And throwing a cotton tank underneath kind of kills the image - it’s like saying you can’t quite commit to wearing this really sexy blouse you had the courage to buy in the first place.

The best thing we can think of is a camisole or a super thin, super low cut tank. So does this mean we have to buy a bunch of new tops to go with our tops? Any amazing top recycling ideas we’re not aware of?

“In the Ex-Girlfriends of Ryan Adams Stakes, Posey so far is losing to resplendent redhead Jessica Joffe, who might be more pompous but also looks fantastic.” — The Fug Girls, at the Cynthia Rowley show.

Cynthia Rowley’s show began with a giant storybook thumping open on stage, eliciting applause down the front row from Philip Seymour Hoffman to Alan Cumming.

Behind the cover, models flowed from a purple paper forest in sheer purple dresses and furry purple heels. The polka-dotted pieces reminded us of Georges Seurat and probably should have been on a Spring runway, but we loved them anyway.

Toward the end we swore we were seeing dresses of shredded black paper. As animal shapes emerged, we wondered if we’d had too much prosecco: animal crackers, Where the Wild Things Are,Kara Walker? At the end of the show we scrambled for a program and sure enough the last three looks were “inspired by Kara Walker”.

That might have been a great idea that just didn’t translate well onto the runway.

But Parker Posey appeared thrilled. And if anyone can pull it off; she’s the one.

Sometimes a TV show can launch a girl’s wardrobe.

Just look at Mischa Barton and Rachel Bilson, whose O.C. stints proved a goldmine for looted Marc Jacobs dresses and Marni flats.

That show may be gone, but Candace Bushnell’s latest novel, Lipstick Jungle, has turned into an NBC pilot starring Brooke Shields as a film producer and Lindsay Price as her best friend, a fashion designer.

You might remember Lindsay from her darling days on 90210, but lately we’ve been pairing her with Cynthia Rowley in our minds (there’s Cynthia on the left and Lindsay on the right).

Why?

Her character, Victory Ford, is based on Cynthia, and they even share the same winning, winsome grin.

We’re eager to see Lindsay’s wardrobe in the show, and if it extends into her personal image as well. Sarah Jessica may be tired, but isn’t it time for another TV girl to thrill us with her closet?