Tired of doodling on paper or the soles of your Converse? How about your arm? Your thigh? Your chest?

Rodarte kicked off the body art trend in New York, covering their models with Sharpied tribal shapes to complement their primitive, deconstructed collection. James Kaliardos pulled from a variety of inspirations to come up with the black curvilinear designs that ended up the perfect armor for Rodarte’s futuristic warrior girls.

Rag & Bone think it’ll be quite cold this spring.

They layered thermals underneath practically all their looks, sticking out from men’s pants, under jersey harem pants on their girls and even below tailored blazers.

Stam was missing from their runway, guess they wore her out behind the cash register the night before, but they boasted Sasha and Freja and Lily and Magdalena and Kim Noorda and Kinga and a bevy of chiseled men.

Charlize Theron sat front row, like two seasons ago, across from Ugly Betty’s Becki Newton and down from Elettra Weidemann (looking especially hot) and LSD rocking major leather pants. We sat next to Tavi, who was loving her first official New York Fashion Week and down from Susie Bubble who rocked the best headpiece we’ve seen so far.

Jacquetta Wheeler’s the new Gucci girl.

Sort of, she was the face of Tom Ford Gucci ten years ago, but the British-born, New York-living model’s been in campaigns more Lord & Taylor and Banana Republic these past couple of years. Her most recent high fashion campaign was Ralph Lauren in 2005, but Frida Giannini got swept up in London’s energy while in town to re-open Gucci’s Sloane Street store and wanted a real life English girl for her Fall 09 campaign.

Jacquetta joins the more traditional Gucci girls Natasha Poly and Freja, as well as Raquel Zimmermann who at this point is a given for pretty much every campaign.

Frida really wanted to capture the London spirit so Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin are shooting the campaign in a studio in North London.

Did you know Freja and Catherine made a movie together?

Well, sort of. The short film helps promote the work of designer Mads Nørgaard, and includes Freja walking around like she’s in a music video until she runs into Cat and they play sexy eyes at each other for about a minute.

The second, and much more official, installation can be found here.

Guess we’ll have to wait and see if the girls get a happy ending.

Under normal circumstances, if I get to a show and someone is sitting in my assigned seat, I let it go and take the next one over.

But if I get to Chanel and everyone’s name is written in impeccable calligraphy and my nameplate happens to be next to Brad’s, as in Rachel Zoe’s assistant, then I am fighting for it.

And so, after a heated discussion in the best French I could muster, I took my seventh row perch (the Grand Palais offers fancy stadium seating, about twelve rows) and wondered how to start a conversation with Brad and his red bow tie. But then I read that Kate Moss was front row, got flustered, and before I could decide if I should search for Kate or talk to Brad, Karen Elson was in front of me in black and white tweeds and a whirlwind of models stormed the glassy catwalk.

Sasha, Stam, Freja, Angela, Eniko, Vlada and company wove their way in and out of the labeled doorways, sometimes not so gracefully, in their Edwardian collars and ruffled cuffs. The collection took a turn toward the playful in the middle with pink and green knit accents - tights, bags, ribbons - on the mainly black and white collection. Jourdan carried a 2.55 encased in plastic, Lara wore a giant pink cream puff sweater and Jessica Stam’s ensemble was hip Miss Havisham.

And of course Karl threw in two healthy doses of Sebastian and the boys for good measure.

At the end, trap doors opened from every doorway and out hopped Karl in his sequined blazer smirking, as if to say, “You did not expect me, no?”

The surprise end, maybe not. But these clothes? Definitely.

Warning: NSFW!!!

Because we know you were wondering what’s happening with that Sean Avery movie that Sean said might be happening, here’s an update:

In an interview with The Dallas Morning News yesterday, Sean divulged that not only is the movie definitely happening and in pre-production, but that he himself is an executive producer on the film, and “talks to the writer weekly.”

Indeed, someone somewhere has opened an IMDB entry for the film, set to hit silver screens in 2010. So it all seems about as real as his internship, so far.

But so many questions, like: Who will play Sean? Will Andre make a cameo? Will it be called something like, Seamless Summer? Which inevitably leads to, who exactly is this film targeting? Hockey fans? Is somebody out there hoping for a Devil 2?

And most pressing, will the Anna character wear a bob and nude mules?

Morning -

Did anyone else notice that Freja wasn’t in yesterday’s Gucci show?

Excluding Resort, she hasn’t missed walking Gucci since Fall 05, having stomped for the Italian house for the past six regular seasons in a row, opening the show twice. She’s practically a Gucci mascot (but second to Natasha Poly, of course), so her absence on roll call is definitely a surprise.

In fact, Freja’s only walked a few shows in Milan so far, but that’s still more than Catherine McNeil, who’s been entirely absent from Fashion Week since her walk at Tommy.

Is somebody kidnapping the good models one by one? Because that would make staring at Zara-esque wares a lot less interesting…

A few of you, like us, have wondered where some of the bigger models have been during this week’s couture shows.

Thanks to Rajni over at NYLON, we at least have roll call for Freja figured out -

She snapped the Danish dudette walking the Hope show at Stockholm Fashion Week yesterday, with gawkers aplenty staring on behind her.

We think this is one of the nicer runway shots we’ve seen of her - rested, kind of casual, totally at ease.

On an only somewhat related note, we think all Stockholm Fashion Week shows should include free Swedish fish for everyone in gift bags…

Fashionista alumna Sabrina and Natalie had a good little sighting at the Alexander Wang Sample Sale:

They saw Freja Beha Erikson, the model who opened Alex’s last runway show, stopping by to chat.

Freja and Alex hung out among the shoppers for a good 20 minutes, and the former face of Chanel even rooted through cashmere sweaters, silk dresses, and “f*** me” jeans (Alex’s term, not ours!).

Seriously, between Julia RR, Charlotte Ronson, Freja, and the hordes of fashion editors flocking to this sale today, it’s feeling a lot less like a shopping experience and more like the beginning of a night at Upstairs!

The upcoming May ELLE with Madonna on the cover includes more than just fun pictures of the Material Girl gyrating for the camera.

It has something even better - way more models than usual.

In fact, the new issue seems to be so high on model love, that they even have this image of Irina and Freja, still dressed from the Earth Pledge show, in a bit of a lip lock.

Our friends at ELLE sent over a high res image of the shot, just especially for our reader friends.

How’s that for a Wednesday morning treat?

Thanks, ELLE!

Dear Mr. Maier,

I stayed up way too late last night reading an article on you in the new Vogue UK. You came across differently than most designers. Softer, more intellectual, maybe even slower thinking - none of which is better or worse - just different. I liked you.

Then I woke up this morning and looked through the pictures from yesterday’s show and I changed my mind - I love you.

The next time someone asks me what I want to be when I grow up, I’m not going to ramble incessantly about the million and one things I plan to do in the next thirty years; instead, I’ll say, “I want to be the kind of woman who wears Bottega Veneta.” Which will, I think, sum up those million things nicely.

The monochromatic palette is ideal, the shapes are surprising yet appealing, and the simplicity is what makes it all truly perfect. And that tailoring - I can imagine each dress fitting my size 8 body as well as Freja’s size zero. (Very differently! But still well.)

So thanks for giving me an answer to that terrible question. And thanks for giving me something so tangible to look forward to.

xo,
Britt

Karen Elson - pre-fall at Zac’s Fall Show

Freja, Coco, Irina, Chanel - Just posing pre-Posen…

—PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEREMY KOST

For more, check out RoidRage.

Gucci was keen enough to release a behind-the-scenes video of their perfume commercial on YouTube, and it confirms a few things for us:

1. Gucci is really trying to evoke to decadent, industrial Halston spirit of the ’70s.

2. Freja looks about ten years younger with long hair, which is both good and bad.

3. Gucci creative director Frida Giannini is maybe the cutest designer we’ve ever seen.

4. The Gucci by Gucci perfume has been treated a little like a borrowed Louvre artifact - note how it’s only handled on set by white-gloved art directors, who look a little bit like butlers when polishing the bottle.

5. Director David Lynch is more obsessed with glitter than Heatherette during Fashion Week. A surprising revelation indeed.

Harvey Weinstein just proposed to Georgina Chapman, which should buy Marchesa another 5-10 years of press, depending on how many editors get invited to the wedding. Less cynically, the marriage could also open Marchesa up into the bridal sector - undoubtedly, she’ll create her own gown, which millions of wannabe wives could covet.

Meanwhile, the long-dead label Halston is simmering for a relaunch, thanks to Weinstein’s recent buyout of the brand, plus his acquisitions of Rachel Zoe and Tamera Mellon as creative consultants. We’ve heard a lightly treading rumor that the first new pieces will break in Vogue next Spring, and buzz already brews about just how big and bananas their launch party will be (The stars! The splurges! The sequins!).

And while Halston gears up, other brands watch and wait to pounce.

An early indication?

The recent Gucci fragrance ad, with a luscious Freja Beha restored to her long-locked look, and a brown-and-gold palette stolen from a fossil of Studio 54. Everything about the ad screams ’70s luxury, and the sultry campaign evokes the fading sex that Gucci reclaimed under Tom Ford.

If this is what Gucci looks like now, we can’t wait to see Halston’s first campaign when it’s ready -

Hopefully they’ll transcend the disco ball vibe and push their label even further into easy, electric glamour.