Thanks to the magic of television, I’ve seen Rachel Zoe die after Diane von Furstenberg told her “she’d become the woman she’d always wanted to be,” and watched Whitney Port stare blankly as the fashion icon dished out invaluable career and relationship advice. Now, thanks to Teen Vogue’s Fashion University, I’ve heard DVF for myself.

As the program’s keynote speaker, Diane walked out to so many flashbulbs that she had to tell her overly-eager audience to cut it out and listen. Here are some highlights of her lively, inspirational speech.

1. She takes pride in understanding women. Diane believes that clothes should be like close friends: “When you’re standing in front of the closet in the morning, and you feel like shit, you should go for the reliable one that makes you feel good.”

2. She always has a camera with her. Her close-ups of leaves, bark, or anything else she finds beautiful in nature can end up a pattern in one of her collections.

We love Housing Works not only because you can always find the best stuff there, but because of all the good work they do.

Their sixth annual Fashion for Action charity event is coming up and they just announced the details. The event, which raises money for homeless and low-income New Yorkers living with HIV and AIDS, will be co-chaired by Derek Lam and sponsored by Essence magazine.

The four-day affair kicks off with an opening night benefit at the Rubin Museum of Art and continues with a huge public sample sale at the Housing Works Thrift Shop in Chelsea. Over 150 designers have donated $1 million worth of merchandise to be sold at 50-70 percent off retail prices. Hooray! A bunch of new names have been added to the list this year like Acne, Band of Outsiders, Bottega Veneta, Lanvin, and Karl Lagerfeld.

All the details about how you can take part after the jump!

1. I wear one pretty much every day anyway, and now I feel soundly on high beauty ground thanks to the trifecta of YSL, Lanvin, and Chanel.

2. They became new and fresh again at YSL with the addition of a slew of old school comb headbands. I used to rock those things like a champ back in 1997-98 and I’m looking forward to bringing them back. Perfect for every day in my opinion.

Meet Miss Lanvin.

Franz Porcelain’s just sent us a peek of their new collection of thirteen dolls, made in collaboration with the house and Alber. They say, “While Elbaz has revitalized the fashion house, he, like Lanvin, still appreciates tradition. Part of that tradition includes a strong affection for dolls.”

If you’re looking for something to do in the city over the long weekend, perhaps you should consider a trip to the Michali Fine Art Gallery on the Lower East Side to check out Hedi Ferjani’s exhibit “The Art of War”

Now, of course, Hedi’s not new to the scene having created the masks (recently shot by Steven Meisel) for Erin Fetherston’s show last season and directing the short film for her Target collection. (His mom even worked at couture houses like YSL and Lanvin.) And we hear there’s a W profile in the works.

What’s cool about this exhibit (and what has the fash crowd newly obsessed) is the ironic play between something glamorous and something destructive, as in pretty guns and grenades. But we’ll let you make your own interpretations.

Once you’ve seen the show, head on back here and let’s have our own little web discussion group, because we really miss that about college.

We sometimes feel guilty about the limitless hours we spend watching television, and how often we reference shows in various discussions.

So when we hear that a designer of the caliber of Alber Elbaz also gets a little inspiration from the TV, we feel mildly better about ourselves.

The bow-tied one is launching a pre-spring capsule collection for Lanvin focused on tailoring, and inspired by Glenn Close’s character on Damages. All the pieces will be produced in the Italian factories that make Lanvin menswear.

We haven’t worn a suit since our first job interviews after graduating college, but this might be enough to inspire us to yet again.

And with all this talk about growth, expansion and turning Lanvin into a “luxury supermarket” - perhaps like a less commercial Chanel - with additional capsule collections for bridal, jersey, long dresses and dip-dyed sportswear, it sounds like Mr. Elbaz isn’t leaving Lanvin anytime soon.

“This is not a fact until you officially read it somewhere else but rumour has it that Karl Lagerfeld will not renew his contract at Chanel and that Albert [sic] Elbaz will take his place and Olivier Theyskens will take Albert’s place at Lanvin. Both choices make perfect sense to me…Nothing is engraved in cement, these are still just rumours you will have to wait and see.” —Diane Pernet from A Shaded View of Fashion.

Alber Elbaz re-appropriated the classic pearl necklace for his Spring 09 show, bejeweling his girls with chandelier shapes.

The jewels were so beautiful, in fact, that Forever 21 was “inspired” to delve into their good old bag of blatant knock-off tricks — a reader noticed after spotting the Lanvin collar in an Elle editorial.

Maybe the mega-chain thought the addition of a plastic rhinestone or two would hide the fact that they stole the essential shape and drape of Alber’s design? But we’re pretty sure it doesn’t make up for the “pearls” and cheap glue used in production.

We don’t know about you, but we’d prefer our jewelry to last past Memorial Day.

—CARSON GRIFFITH

We just got back from the Decades Two pop-up shop in Soho, above the Kiki de Montparnasse store and we’re still trying to catch our breath.

The Los Angeles location has a beloved, loyal following of fashion obsessives on both coasts. New Yorkers upon arriving LA have been known to stop by the store before even checking into their hotels.

And it’s easy to see why. Walking in the doors was like entering an other-worldly paradise where only beautiful things reside.

We spotted Natalie Portman’s black and blue Rodarte, the pink Oscar dress Carrie pulls out of Baryshnikov’s box, nude Louboutins and navy Lanvin pumps, perfectly worn in Balenciaga motorcycle bags, a mint green Valli gown, a McQueen caftan, Westwood bustiers and an entire rack of Chanel tweed.

“A woman once told me that every time she wore Lanvin, men fell in love with her. I told her, ‘Ugh, I hope next time you will tell me that every time you wear Lanvin, you fall in love.’ And she said, ‘What is the difference?’ Passive and active.” - Alber Elbaz, in the Spring/Summer issue of Another Magazine

Dear Fashionista,

The moment I saw this shirt I saw Alber. That rough handed sketch with dramatized eyelashes and heart-shaped lips scream Lanvin. The tee is called “The Crying Hearts,” because I’m sure there are Lanvin lovers everywhere crying their hearts out over this horrendous Forever 21 knock-off.

Long live Lanvin!

xoxo,
Madison

The 37th Annual Lighthouse International sale starts a week from today.

So just in case you planned on shopping this weekend, we’d suggest saving a few bucks for the charity - Jason Wu, Christian Lacroix, Alexander McQueen, Burberry, DVF, Hermes, Lanvin, Marc Jacobs, Prada, YSL, Zac Posen, and pretty much everyone else has donated to the sale. There’s a Chanel tweed jacket for $150, a wool Stella coat for $350, a $300 Marchesa gown and even a Dior wedding dress.

There are samples, vintage and slightly worn pieces from more recent runways - including Kim Cattrall’s green Jimmy Choos or her gold Valentinos at left.

The sale takes place at 110 East 60th Street between Park and Lex from Thursday, May 14 to Saturday, May 16, 11am to 7pm and Sunday May 17th from 11am to 5pm. A one day pass is only $10, four days is $30 and you can buy tickets here.

Nothing like Chanel for a cause.

“Designers always say, ‘Gray is the new black,” and the next season say, ‘I can’t do one more gray piece.’ Where does it go? How come the loyalty vanishes? Why don’t you love gray every season?” —Stephanie Seymour interviews Alber Elbaz in the new Interview.

Last week on South Audley Street in Mayfair, London’s Rick Owen’s store opened alongside its pretty cool neighbours, Marc Jacobs, Dover Street Market (DSM) and the pap-favourite Scotts restaurant. Thursday, Lanvin is to open its doors in the same hood.

On a “go-see”, DSM and Rick Owens were completely empty. Going west, a smidge past Notting Hill, the much talked about Westfield, Europe’s largest (over a million square feet) and expensive (it cost nearly two billion pounds to build) mall is practically a desert. In its chandelier-laden “Luxury Village”, with shops like Burberry, Prada, Tiffany, Miu Miu Twenty8Twelve, etc, the atmosphere is tense. According to reports, sales are dramatically down. Foot traffic has fallen and about half a dozen stores have shut - barely six months in. One store hadn’t made a sale in six days. Pretty dire stuff.

So, how do retailers feel these days? Said one, sipping water at a recent opening, who naturally did not want to be named: “If we hadn’t signed the lease over eighteen months ago, and planned it for four years, I would have cancelled. Now, I am just [redacted due to un-polite language, so let’s just say the word “clenched” was involved].”

Let’s hope Lanvin knows what they’re doing.

—CHARLEY B

Lara Bohinc, the Brit-based jewelry designer who’s worked with brands like Lanvin and Gucci, is probably best known for her knot jewelry.

The shiny gold and dull platinum knots come in different shapes and sizes, sometimes plaited, in rings, bracelets and necklaces. You’ve probably seen them accompanying a red carpet dress or two and even though they sell for upwards of $500, they’re unique enough that they used to fly out of the store when I worked in retail.

They sold so well that Urban Outfitters (who’s usually a lot quicker on the uptake) is ripping off Bohinc’s signature designs and warping them into $78 “mixed metal exclusive to Urban Outfitters” versions. In the store, they’re merchandised three at a time, layered over each other, to at least lend an image of richness.

But as you can see in the picture, they don’t even come close.

Unless it really is next week? Who knows…

Lanvin. Sale. 70%. For real.

UPDATE: Lanvin is denying the sale. Hmm…

There’s been a lot of buzz about the return of the semi-oldies-but-goodies to the catwalk (Angela Lindvall, Maggie Rizer, Frankie Rayder), though no one seems to mention the one we find most impressive: Jamie Bochert.

If you didn’t remember her from a few years ago, her surprise appearance on the Spring 09 Marc runway - she opened the show - had a lot of people asking, “Who is that woman?” Turned out, she’d been working as Marc’s fittings model for quite some time, after she left modeling in 2006 to focus on her music career.

Since then, she’s stalked a steady stream of runways including Ann Demeulemeester, Rodarte and Lanvin, and shows no signs of stopping.

So our Best Comeback award goes to Jamie - even though we’ll always hate her a little for making Marc’s dresses so ridiculously long.