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!

1. Seriously, where is Michael? This LA thing is really causing a problem.

2. Is Mitchell maybe Godric from True Blood’s twerpy younger brother?

3. Where’d you get those tights, Rachel?

4. Couldn’t you totally imagine Donna Karan wearing that brown t-shirt Johnny and Irina made to some Hamptons shindig?

5. Who else has a hankering for some macramé?

6. Why does avant garde automatically translate to a large one-shouldered number for so many contestants over the course of this show?

LVMH is on a shopping spree but first it needs to unload some unwanted brands to raise cash the cash it hopes to spend.

According to sources at an investment firm, Donna Karan’s DKNY brand is up for sale. LVMH bought Donna Karan International in 2001, five years after she took it public. Donna Karan Collection is not believed to be on the block.

Sources say the clothing brand is no longer the right fit for LVMH as they are trying to focus more heavily on their super high-end luxury products with a strong international brand. Donna Karan admits on her website “DKNY is the pizza to Collection’s caviar.” It’s thought that while DKNY carries a lot of weight in New York, it doesn’t have the same luxury pull internationally.

A couple of weeks ago we wrote about Tahari’s iPhone application and now Donna Karan is jumping into the mix.

The designer sees it as an extension of her in-house publication, Woman to Woman. She told WWD, “This iPhone application is the modern evolution of the time I spend with my customer in the dressing room. Only now I can reach a world of women immediately, speaking woman-to-woman about clothes, objects of desire and personal passions.”

You can look through runway looks, of course, and then send a wish list to a personal shopper. There are also videos, things that inspire Donna, and photos of her travels. She’s also doing a “Proustian” questionnaire with someone she likes, starting with Iman. Knowing that the designer can often veer into quirky Zen-ness (and we mean that in the best way) we can’t wait to see her questions.

Are you guys into all these designer apps? I’m not 100% sold that I will ever use them regularly. Though I’m not the app-happiest person I know. Word Warp is usually enough for me.

We are so excited for September.

While the official list won’t be released until August 17th, we just received a huge rundown of events for Fashion’s Night Out, the New York City fashion celebration this September 10th. Over 300 retailers in all five boroughs have already signed up to party from 6pm to 11pm. We’re a little overwhelmed by it…in a good way.

We already told you about Alex Wang at Barney’s. That’s just the tip of the iceberg. Also at Barney’s? The Olsen twins (girl crush times two!), Jonathan Adler and Lisa Perry, on hand to teach you how to knit. After you learn, you can knit a square to be included in a blanket to be sold to benefit the September 11th Memorial Fund.

The Ultimate How To: We know this was yesterday, but it’s brilliant. So in case you missed it, go on. {Refinery29}

The Creep Factor: Donna Karan’s still looking to save a few dollars with virtually constructed ad campaigns in lieu of Kate Moss’ daily fees, but putting Toni Garrn’s head on Sasha P’s body is a bit much. {Fashionologie}

Ouchie: Modelinia’s built a slideshow of models falling including legendary moments like Naomi at Vivienne and Prada SS09. Not so well known, but infinitely worse? A model at Gharani Strok 06. {Modelinia}

This September doesn’t just mean Fashion Week, fall and my 25th birthday (yikes!), it also means the first ever Vogue Night Out.

Mayor Bloomberg and Anna Wintour announced the initiative in May, hoping for a revitalization of fashion and retail in New York City. The event’s taken on international proportions, with counterparts in London and Paris on the night of September 10th.

The best part of the night’s shaping up to be something other than endless promotional tees and charitable tie-ins: the presence of the designers themselves.

Today, Vogue UK lets slip that Alexander Wang will be on hand at Barneys teaching customers how to walk a runway which means we’re left wondering how the the other participating designers will feature. If it’s cold enough, can Vera Wang teach ice skating at Rock Center? We’d like Tommy Hilfiger and Ralph Lauren conducting traffic at 57th and 5th and Donna Karan drawing horse carriages from Bergdorf to Saks.

Is that too much to ask?

Dear Mayor Bloomberg,

See this rather large rabbit. He’s actually a five foot tall trash receptacle designed by Paul Smith as part of London’s Super Contemporary Commissions Show.

He, along with his bunny friends, will today become part of the Covent Garden and Holland Park neighborhoods. When you throw trash in him, his ears literally light up.

How cool is that? Don’t you think that will make kids and adults alike more excited about throwing away their trash?

We know you love beautifying this fair city of ours. So how about enlisting Marc, DvF, Donna, Oscar and the crew to design some chic garbage bins of our very own? And let’s not limit it to just Manhattan. Let’s take this project to every borough.

We know times are tough and budgets are tight. But we bet the CFDA would get involved. And some environmental groups too.

If there can be lounge chairs in the middle of Times Square, there can be fashion-forward trash bins, right?

xo,

F

—PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEREMY KOST

—PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEREMY KOST

This morning, we were jerked awake not by our large Americano, but by the strangest of runways.

Behold the Red Heart Truth Fashion Show, hosted by Tim Gunn, starting Linda Carter grinding down the catwalk to, If You’re Good to Momma.

— Sidenote: Post-show, Linda was at the Bryant Park Hotel, where the bellman squealed with delight. He’d met her many, many years ago at the age of twelve and just happened to have a picture to prove it in his wallet. He made our friend take another, Wonder Woman: The Later Years. —

Amanda Bynes tripped on cue when Beyonce sang, “Now you wanna trip,” in Single Ladies; Hilary Duff walked to her own song; Susan Lucci just was; Jennie Garth looked amazing; Tori Spelling was skinnier than Rachel Zoe.

The dresses? A billowy red Christian Siriano that he made on one day’s notice, a feathered red Marchesa, a sequined red Jenny Packham, an red Herve-ish Donna Karan.

Meanwhile, this is the second Marcus Schenkenberg appearance so far. He sat front row and combed his hair like Danny Zucco.

That’s all.

Donna Karan’s DKNY is coming up on its 20th birthday, and to celebrate Dazed Digital recently produced a short film styled by their fashion editor Katie Shillingford and shot by photographer Pierre Debusschere.

The film is shot in black light, making details in the model’s DKNY outfit glow, as well as her fluorescent makeup. Dazed claims the film (as well as the accompanying photo shoot for the new Dazed & Confused) is “out-of-this-world, 80s inspired” and that “the model takes on an ethereal, almost alien presence”.

This makes for pretty good visuals, but more importantly it sounds very close to the 80’s cult classic film Liquid Sky, where the main plot line revolves around a fashion model possessed by aliens, including a very memorable scene of the model applying glow-in-the-dark makeup in black light.

I consider Liquid Sky required viewing for anyone who likes their fashion a bit quirky and their films a bit obscure, so if this applies to you and you haven’t seen it, try to get your hands on it ASAP.

In the meantime, you can catch a glimpse of it here (black light face paint clip starts at about 1:20). We’re betting it’s a favorite in the Dazed offices, too.

—JULIA HERMANNS

Last year’s rather girly, aka floral, House of Holland show was punctuated by a few pairs of jeans here and there - a small price to pay for massive amounts of Levi’s money.

This season, DKNY will benefit from the denim dollars, too.

Donna’s collaborating with Levi’s on three styles of jeans: a skinny, a boyfriend and a wide-leg. They land in stores (Neiman Marcus, Bloomingdale’s, Lord & Taylor and Macy’s) in just a few weeks and will set you back a not-so-recession friendly $225.

They say the move’s for DKNY’s 20th birthday - DKNY launched with jeans in 1989 and Levi’s is the international word for jeans - but heaps of money can’t hurt either.

Meanwhile, in other Donna news, the designer’s finally agreed to do away with fur.

And to think, all it took was plastering Manhattan with graphic images of bloody bunnies.

When the economy started its downward spiral, we guessed Fashion Week would pass with a few less tote bags and water bottles.

Which was fine, as long as there were still macaroons.

Now WWD reports a surge in planned presentations, instead of runways, which we’d actually love. Both Vera Wang and J. Mendel are allegedly exploring runway alternatives while DKNY has gone ahead and penciled in a February 13th presentation date.

This comes exactly one month after the announcement that Donna Karan Collection would forego a model-fronted ad campaign in favor of “re-interpreting” her runway images and that DKNY’s ads will no longer feature Vlada, an established model, but it-girl Harley Viera Newton. While we can’t know the details of Harley’s contract, it’s highly unlikely she can demand as much as a well-recognized model.

So when you throw it all together, it appears as though Donna’s brands are making some major cuts obvious to the outside world - so who knows what’s happening behind the scenes. Unless of course she’s just being overly cautious, which might not be the worst thing.

Though we hope no one copies her ad idea, campaigns are way too much fun.

It’s official: This season’s trend for established supermodels will trickle into Spring 09, with WWD confirming Claudia Schiffer as the new face of YSL (replacing Naomi) and Dolce (replacing a trio of young things playing GG).

Also, she gets to keep her post as the face of Salvatore Ferragamo, but we’re pretty sure she’s definitely out at Chanel, with either Heidi Mount or Sasha rumored to be taking her spot.

We guess YSL, Dolce and Salvatore have the money to pay a supe whatever she asks, a much different situation from Donna Karan, who’s recycling runway shots for her Spring campaign - undoubtedly saving a lot of money in the process by not paying for a photographer, a venue, all the people involved, and probably not Constance Jablonski who’s technically the campaign girl - instead of renewing Kate’s contract for however many zillions she made for Fall 08.

One of the best show’s during Fall 08 Fashion Week was Shalom Harlow’s Earth Pledge. The supermodel culled together the cream of the designer and model crop to show off a series of stunning, eco-friendly outfits.

This year’s Fashion-Cares-About-The-Environment event will take place at the Museum of Natural History on September 4th. The Angela Lindvall hosted runway show doubles as the launch of the Be Eco-Chic campaign.

Donna Karan, Ralph Rucci and Vena Cava are a few of the designer’s showing looks modeled by Alek Wek, Lauren Hutton, Alexandra Richards, Patti Hansen and “a smattering of TV stars” according to WWD.

Everyone should show at museums - they really make the best venues - but we will miss Shalom.

We have a feeling Gwyneth may have had something to do with this one…

WWD reports that Donna Karan is relieving herself of 20 years of clothes, accessories, and stuff from her house(s). We wonder…

How will she fit a warehouse full of stuff in her studio? Will it spill out onto the street Brooklyn yard sale style?

Will people really buy her old bed? And sleep in it? Does it come with Donna Karan linens?

We hear she’s selling couture gowns and runway samples from her own collections. But how will that fit into her $20 to $2,000 price range?

Do you think her inspirational rock will be fore sale? Because it would make a great paperweight

Will there be security to fend off crazy Barbra fans from trampling everyone else?

We hope so. But if this sale foreshadows a collection for WalMart ala Norma Kamali, we will cry into our Seven Easy Pieces.

March 14 and 15, the Steven Weiss Studio - Be there!

—BRETT KANE

A much-discussed theory this week is whether the runway’s hemlines can predict an upcoming recession.

The saying goes, if dresses and skirts get longer, the economy is getting worse. It stems from a period in the ’20s, when short skirts revealed expensive silk stockings, and long skirts disguised cheaper wool ones. Now it’s thought by some (including Faran’s dad, an econ guy) that using more fabric spurs and encourages more spending within the entire industry, and you start to see long dresses when people get worried about sales.

We did a little obsessive check on Style.com and found that while designers geared to older luxury shoppers - Marc, Donna, Vera - did feature longer silhouettes, their secondary lines - Marc by, DKNY, and Vera Lavender - all had pretty short skirts. Check out DKNY’s red scorcher at left.

Other young brands - Sass & Bide, Anna Sui, Karen Walker, Charlotte Ronson - also had an a-line sheath shape happening, which means not everyone is surrendering to the grungy or silky long skirts that Erin Fetherston seemed to favor this season.

But does it mean anything for the stock market? We’re not sure - let’s see how Prada’s IPO does once it’s been public for a little bit.