In which other industry do people have as many jobs, or their hand in as many tasks as they do in fashion?

Though Jason Wu’s become a booming success, he’s lending his design skills to Tse next season. His limited edition capsule collection - around fifteen pieces - will debut at New York’s Fall 2010 Fashion Week.

Tse’s been producing Jason’s knitwear for a couple of years, so he already has a solid relationship with the brand and its CEO, Christina Peng-Gerschultz. He told WWD, “I thought, ‘This could be interesting.’ In many ways, I am probably the least expected designer to do this, because Tse’s aesthetic is so different from my own, but that’s one reason I wanted to do it.”

It’ll be sold through Tse outlets, no word yet on the price points, and though it’s being billed as a one time pairing, Peng-Gerschultz already says she’d love to do it again.

(Photos and Nails by CND)

As I made my way into the St. Regis on 55th St. for my backstage appointment at 11:45 (the show was called for 12), Karlie and Lakshmi were just running in, on their way to hair and makeup. This rain is seriously making everything even later than usual. Ick.

But inside, it was all kinds of glorious and pretty. Jason obviously has a thing for hotels (his resort show was at the Greenwich Hotel) and it makes for a much lovelier backstage setting than the tents. But it’s still totally chaotic. There were like a thousand video cameras around Jason as he finished final touches on looks and they were in the way of me seeing the clothes, so I made my way over to hair and makeup.

Lucia from MAC told me that Jason’s girl this season is cute and sexy, but slightly raw (see: visible stitching on some pieces). And he’s loving the Tim Burton-type girl, pale skin and major lips. And that’s certainly what he got. The girls had three variations: a bright berry matte, a black currant matte, and burgundy reddish brown with a bit of shine. All this paired with fresh, glowy skin looked like a ridiculously better looking version of what I attempted this morning. Aveda’s Odile Gilbert pulled hair up into a ponytail for weaving in pieces of black fabric in a criss cross pattern. She swears it should only take 10 minutes. I’m not wholly convinced but it does look super cool.

On my way out, I peeked at as many outfits hanging in wait for the show as I could (along with the test shots for the girls’ dressers). I was very much liking what I was seeing, especially the metallic touches on dresses and the feathery details. And there was definitely one knit top/skirt combo that has MObama written all over it.

Shared the elevator down with Siri as she searched valiantly for some food. Apparently there was a catering truck outside. But wouldn’t room service have just been easier?

As Fashion Week approaches, we hear about all kinds of collaborations and sponsorships—some totally logical, some seemingly pulled out of thin air.

This one, though random, we’re kind of digging: Pret A Manger, a favorite lunchtime sandwich chain, is sponsoring all the backstage catering for Oscar de la Renta, Jason Wu, Brian Reyes, Preen, Tory Burch, and 3.1 Phillip Lim.

We’ve always frequented the one near Bryant Park, and over in the Garment District when on appointments, so it’s all the more handy to have them right backstage while we preview the clothes, hair, and makeup. We hear Oscar specifically requested the Turkey Club on his menu though we’re more chicken and avocado sandwich girls.

And, designers, we promise to be really careful not to spill, just like Raquel with her pie on that couture shoot in The September Issue.

Labor Day weekend used to mean back to school shopping. Now it means beer and BBQs and maybe, if we can stand it, back to Fashion Week shopping.

But if you’re still looking for a valid excuse to spend money in the next few days, how about for charity?

Each October, Glamour asks six designers to participate in their Fashion Gives Back project. This year, they’re recruited Jason Wu, Alejandro Ingelmo, jewelry designer Pamela Love, Brian Reyes, Bensoni, and Lorick, (Abigail, of Gossip Girl fame) to design a series of limited edition totes. They range from sketchy black lines from Wu to a dreamcatcher heart from Love and are exclusively available at Bloomingdales.

At $35, they’re not only affordable, but adorable. And the best part is one hundred percent of the proceeds go to Dress for Success.

Unless of course you are still in school, in which case these are way cooler than the last book bag we carried.

Now we know many of you, not unlike some of us, are a little over it when it comes to the First Lady and her style choices.

And of course, the work she does is incredibly more important than which Michael Kors sheath she chooses for an appearance. But you can’t ignore the fact that, like it or not, she garners major press every time she makes a move.

Now she’s made perhaps her boldest decision since the Jason Wu Inaugural Ball dress by chopping off her hair into a much shorter bob, which I for one think is incredibly chic.

What interests me more will be whether or not this translates into a national trend like those inspired by Victoria Beckham, Jennifer Aniston, and Farrah Fawcett.

It’s even got the potential to go international.

UPDATE: Okay, so apparently it’s not a cut, just a rather brilliant updo. But we would highly recommend she go for this look on a permanent basis. We love it more now than we did this morning.

“It’s very casual with the whole family and a few friends like Jason Wu, BJ Blum, and the gallery owner John McWinnie. Typically we sit down post swim, so the dress code is bathing suits under a light summer dress like Tracy Feith or Philip Lim. We decorate the table with a mix of roses, hydrangeas, and irises picked from the garden. The table is dressed with a large hand-embroidered tablecloth inherited from my grandmother, a mix of white French linen napkins, and vintage plates found at a local antiques fair. We pull up a wood bench with big cushions to squeeze in more people and protect ourselves from the sun with large parasols and straw hats from Anne Moore. The meal is a colorful, flavorful mix from local farms and purveyors such as Round Swamp Farm for delicious salads and homemade raspberry pie, Lucy’s Whey for cheese, Iacono farm for organic, free-range chicken, and pick-yourself strawberries from the farm down the road.” —Olivia Chantecaille to Vogue on her “casual” holiday weekend lunch. We’re sticking to burgers and dogs on the grill, thank you very much.

Bergdorf Goodman’s teamed up with the American Visionary Art Museum for their 5th Avenue windows.

The museum’s in Baltimore, Maryland, but its artists created a collection of fantastical backdrops here in New York for clothes from Jason Wu and Oscar De La Renta, brightly colored homes for Louboutin shoes, erratic sketches frame a bejeweled Valentino bag and a man carved from wood watches over a Rodarte look complete with slashed gloves and Nicholas Kirkwood boots.

The museum’s mission statement defines visionary art as “art produced by self-taught individuals, usually without formal training, whose works arise from an innate personal vision that revels foremost in the creative act itself,” which, when combined with the best of pre-fall fashion makes for a must-visit outdoor museum on the street.

Thank god it’s finally stopped raining.

Jason Wu’s resort show was at the Greenwich Hotel which was exciting just because a) Gwyneth GOOPed it and b) we’d never been.

As our cab pulled up, Vogue poured out the front door and we thought, “Shit, we’ve missed it.” But there were two shows, so we scrambled past practically the entire staff, watched Nina Garcia swallow the tiny Wu in her big hug and made our way upstairs to check out hair and make-up (see below) before taking our seats with champagne in hand.

The clothes were pretty. There were rosettes and pleats and bright colors and even structured shoulders - more ladylike than most - with crystals beaded on. There were petaled sleeves, a pink and orange petaled coat (which we swear we’ve seen before) and a blue petaled dress like this one from Henry Holland on steroids.

It was cute. It was fun. It wasn’t our favorite Jason Wu, but it was definitely the most wearable, which given the times is probably more important than satisfying our runway fantasies.

One of our favorite things about the Jason Wu Resort show today was the pretty as can be hair and makeup.

MAC’s Gordon Espinet created our dream version of a summery lip by mixing a few shades coral with their Gentle Coral Tinted Lip Conditioner.

He left the rest of the face basically nude with just a touch of primer to make the skin glow. “This woman has an well-honed sense of style and would never, ever want to look made up,” he told us.

The perfectly windswept ponytail was very luxe-vacation-worthy too. “It’s elegant, but looks like she did it herself,” according to Aveda stylist Kurt Lowery. We’re fairly uncoordinated when it comes to doing our own hair, so we’re not too sure about how this will turn out at home. But we’re certainly going to try.

We also got a genius product tip for keeping our wavy hair from flying out of control this summer: Sun Care Protective Hair Veil. Seriously, Kurt worked a little into our hair backstage and we immediately looked more polished.

Stay tuned…pictures of the clothes are coming soon.

For this year’s CFDA Journal portraits of the nominees, models and muses were replaced by the designers themselves.

DvF told the creative team she wanted something “fabulous” and from what we’ve seen so far, she should be very pleased.

WWD has a few of the photographs, including this one of Marc wearing his LV bunny ears and one of Jason Wu donning a gown over his suit.

Craig McDean photographed the nominees and in perhaps the most prophetic shot, captured the Proenza Schouler boys wearing their handbags as boxing gloves.

If only they’d been armed that fateful night when Kiefer Sutherland went on the attack.

Wu’s New Lady: Iris Apfel will serve as inspiration for the designer’s resort show next week at the Greenwich Hotel. Bring on the eyewear, please. {FWD}

Scarlett’s Posing Again: Johansson is the new face of Mango in a campaign shot by Mario Sorrenti. She’s also recorded a Serge Gainsbourg/Brigitte Bardot-style album with Pete Yorn. Seriously. {Style} and {Billboard}

Random Fun Photo: We love when people find fashion (and Chanel) in the most unexpected of places. {J’AdoreJoey}

Before There Was Topshop: BIBA’s Barbara Hulanicki chats with Glenn O’Brien about drawing for Vogue, the mail order biz, and Barbie’s bad taste. {Interview}

Obviously, we don’t think we’re alone in loving that President Obama is pretty much the hippest guy to hold his position, well, ever.

But we’re quite sure we’ll never tire of examples of this.

Like the fact that the guest list at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner now includes people like Chace and Ed, Jason Wu, Donatella and so many others from our little world.

And of course, the guests are all looking their chicest to impress the first fam and the fashion press, who have taken coverage of MObama’s sartorial choices to an almost stalker-ish level. Not that we have a problem with that.

With Gossip Girl and fashion designers in the mix, it is really starting to feel like “our” White House, too.

“We actually went to Anna Wintour’s house for dinner. It was very cool and quite the fashion baptism by fire.” —Leighton Meester on The Moment on her date with Jason Wu to Anna Wintour’s house for dinner.

Looks like the r-word hit the runways harder than we thought. I heard the term “DIY” batted around backstage so much it had me wondering if next season we might see models backstage with lash curlers and cans of Elnett in hand.

The smoky makeup at Chris Benz and Anna Sui along with the hair at Jason Wu, Rag & Bone, Wren and Miss Sixty were all fashioned to look as if the models had done it themselves. At the Twinkle by Wenlan show, MAC’s Gregory Arlt took the inspiration quite literally, letting some models curl their own lashes to get his “50’s girl on a first date” look.

Good news for those of us trying to recreate these straight-from-the-runway looks at home, not so great news for beauty pros if some designers actually decide to take their words at face value and let the models do their own thing. While I doubt the reality of that particular scenario, you never really can be sure. Stranger things have happened at the tents.

—MEGAN MCINTYRE

The Jason Wu show at Exit Art this afternoon was, how should we put it?, insane.

Last season, there was enough room for a pick up game of Frisbee, should anyone have been so inclined. This time, it was one of those shows so super packed that the standing section had a better view than half the seats.

Accordingly, I snagged a spot standing over Mickey & Lynn (Lynn was stunned that the show was for Fall and wore a Rugrats themed scarf printed with images of Tommy, and Mickey couldn’t remember his sex joke). The show didn’t start until a good fifteen minutes after Anna’s arrival, and a very long time after Robert Verdi and one of the ANTM judges (graciously) took their spots in the standing section, too.

The show finally started after Julie Gilhart arrived, and it was filled with very pretty clothes meant more for photographing than anything else.

We’re sure Michelle will have much to pick from for the coming year.

Public Service Announcement:

In case you’re swept up in Wu mania, you might want to know the following:

Net-a-Porter just put up a bunch of designs from Jason Wu, whom they’ve never carried pre-Obamania.

But you know what else?

We have a sneak peek of some of the other Wu designs the online luxury store will also sell, to be posted sometime within the next two weeks.

Check it out.

In the meantime, does anyone else think $1,000 is way too much for purple bermudas?

So remember Michelle Obama’s Vogue cover that we told you about three months ago?

We don’t know what she wears on the cover (we don’t really believe it’s Jason Wu since she’s clearly a fan of mixing it up and Wu’s had his moment in the spotlight), but we do know that she wears J.Crew in the accompanying editorial.

The shoot was styled by J.Crew’s Creative Director Jenna Lyons and features the First Lady in J.Crew’s still unseen Fall 09 collection.

We hope J.Crew’s site is ready to handle major traffic overload this time.

Natalie: I can’t believe all this news about ABS knocking off the Jason Wu dress. I mean who would wear that knock-off? It’s so recognizable anyone on the planet would be like, “Dude, you’re wearing Michelle Obama’s dress.”

Britt: But that’s what they do. All they do is knock off famous dresses.

Natalie: But I feel like it’s different this time. Everyone knows this dress.

Britt: But everyone knew Gwyneth’s pink Ralph Oscar dress.

Natalie: But this is different! You don’t have to follow fashion to know this dress.

Britt: I promise you people will buy it. It will sell out in minutes.

Natalie: God, I would love to meet these people, I have so many questions for them.

Britt: No you wouldn’t.

Natalie: It would be so embarrassing! I would never be able to get it out of my head, “I’m wearing a wannabe First Lady ballgown.”

Britt: Well if you see anybody in it, you should tell them they could’ve bought it at Jessica McClintock five years ago.

Natalie: It’s not even pretty.

Britt: I know, I know.