And…scene. Boy, was this a painful season of PR. We’re not sure we can be convinced to go back for more. But we will keep you spoiler-free in the meantime.

1. Did you look at Heidi and think “Holy Pink!?”

2. Nina’s face at Irina during judging, who didn’t love it?

3. Really, that much black wasn’t a conscious decision? Really? It’s not necessarily wrong, but c’mon.

4. When you saw the black headbands, didn’t you just think Carmen Kass in every single Michael Kors show you’ve ever seen?

5. Were you mad when Tim didn’t reference Balenciaga re: the shoulders?

Rachel Zoe is probably dying a little over the news that Marchesa is launching bags at their presentation at the Chelsea Art Museum on September 16th. (The stylist oohed and aahed her way around Georgina and Keren’s studio on last night’s episode of The Rachel Zoe Project. Though did we notice that they misspelled Keren’s name?)

Georgina told WWD that they decided to “approach it the way we approach a dress.” Translation: draping, beading, and of course, rosettes. Because is it really Marchesa without some rosettes? We think not. And they were all designed to hold an evening’s necessities—makeup, Blackberry, and keys.

The line’s prices will range from $995-$5000 (for the exotic skins.) So we’ll just be checking them out on the red carpet for the time being—because you know Harvey Weinstein will have the ladies of Nine working those things right and left come press junket time.

We’re one month and one day away from Gossip Girl’s season three premiere - can you feel it?

In today’s anticipatory news, Tory Burch and Georgina Chapman both went to Long Island City (that’s in Queens) to film cameos for a particular episode set to air on October 5th. No word on what they’re doing exactly, though if they’re both in the same episode we’ll go out on a wild limb and suggest the episode might revolve around Fashion Week.

More importantly what will they wear? Because if we were Tory Burch, no matter how much we love our tunics, we’d die to wear one next to Georgina Chapman in a Marchesa gown. Georgina, by the way, says she’s “a huge fan of the show,” which explains the uncredited, impossible piece Blair wore to prom last season.

In other GG news, Nacho Figueras, Argentine polo god and face of Ralph Lauren, guests in the premiere episode, just in case you hadn’t already cleared your calendar.

The venerable Fashion Calendar, published as always by Ruth Finley, will give us the first look at the lineup (so far) for September’s New York shows and presentations when it publishes this Friday.

WWD reports this morning that Tory Burch will show for the first time in the tents and that Betsey, Marchesa, and Monique Lhullier (among others) will again opt for presentations.

So I didn’t watch Gossip Girl last night. I don’t actually have a TV, slight problem, I know. But when my phone started buzzing with texts from former Fashionistas, I knew I’d missed something major.

Apparently, Blair had been keeping a prom scrapbook under her bed for a very, very long time filled with creepy sketches of her and Nate at the big dance. In one such sketch was a dress and that dress was Marchesa Spring 08, the one Dita Von Teese wore to 7th on Sale almost two years ago.

Which should mean that Blair dreamed up the black and gold embroidered poof before Keren and Georgina even hooked up. And of course the dress in the sketch turned into the dress in real life (thanks to Chuck apparently? thanks to Natalie for ruining the end?) without a single mention of Marchesa.

Wonder what Harvey Weinstein’ll say about that?

Reminder:

If you’re looking for something to wear to the Natural History Museum’s Winter Dance on Thursday, or if you’re just in the mood for something extra fluffy in your closet, we kindly remind you of the Marchesa sale, which started approximately one hour ago.

If you get thee to the Warwick Hotel earlier than others, you might be able to score a serious dress for $200 - $750 (instead of for $2650 - $7000, seriously).

So go on, you know you want to.

PS. And if Marchesa’s just not your cup of tea, Hermes starts today, too…

Of all the trends that popped up last week during New York Fashion Week (so much more on that later), the one that took us by surprise most was the use of fur by designers who’d never designed with animal skins in the past.

First, we saw it at Ohne Titel, then at Alexander Wang and Thakoon (whose shows were actually sponsored by Saga Furs), and then finally at Marchesa (left).

We’re not really sure what this means - has fur become more acceptable? Is it a backlash against “restrained” times? - but consider this: Fall 09 was the first time in ages that PETA didn’t protest at the Tents.

In fact, the PETA presence was much less this time around, which makes us wonder, has fur won the battle?

We’ve never seen a couture dress in person - at least not that we were aware of - but we always imagined it’d look a little something like the dress at left.

Georgina Chapman and Keren Craig showed their Fall 09 Marchesa collection at the Chelsea Art Museum this afternoon. The girls, all of whom looked about twelve, were split into triptychs and apparently instructed to look miserable.

No matter, the clothes spoke for themselves. There were a couple of recycled Marchesa ideas but who really cares when recycling looks like that? We spotted a few McQueen inspired dresses, lots of sequins, shimmer and lace. Their inspiration? “Fairytales,” said Keren.

The shoes, square toed platform satin ballet slippers from Christian Louboutin had us practically swooning into the arms of Matchbox 20’s Rob Thomas. We can’t imagine having a reason to wear such frothy gowns, but thank goodness we’ve got six months to justify the shoes.

Oh, and for the record, Little J’s raccoon eyes are so back.

This afternoon, I died and went to pre-adolescent fashion heaven.

I walked among fifty models, fifty little girls, more hair extensions than they used on Cousin It, trays and trays of plastic nails and some seriously awesome clothes backstage at Barbie’s 50th birthday party.

Charlotte Tilbury directed the make-up artists through their three looks: Retro Barbie (red lip lacquer and “visor-like” lashes), Present Day Barbie (sparkly pink lids and fabulously teased hair) and Future Barbie, with braided up-dos and insanely feathered glittery eyelids. Stila’s make-up artist promised me that, “It’s all wearable, you just have to find your era and maybe bring it down a teeny tiny notch.” Uh-huh.

Post make-up, I snuck past the dressers and into the rails, tucked myself between Marchesa’s frothy number and Alex Wang’s rhinestoned leotard and took pictures of the hot pink patent Louboutins lining the ground- it took all of my self control not to accidently slip Vlada’s into my clutch

And then I met Ken. He and his unreal blonde highlights introduced me to Miranda.

The six-year-old held her own between Behati and Jourdan in the make-up chairs. I asked her if she was excited to walk a runway. She looked at me, confused and I said, “Is this your first fashion show?”

“No,” she answered politely, though she gave Ken a knowing look. “I’m a model. Last time I was on a runway I got to wear ballet flats and they put pompoms in my hair,” she told me before getting swept into her tutu.

And that was my cue to take my seat - Part II very soon.

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.

We love street style blogs - from Garance, to Scott, to Jak&Jil - and Phil from StreetPeeper just made his even more fun.

He’s added a search feature so that you can enter a name - whether a designer’s, a label’s or an individual’s - to narrow your search and see how real, albeit super stylish, people incorporate Rick Owens and Marchesa into actual wardrobes - not editorials.

And to make things more interesting, he’s starting a new feature in which he recruits some pretty awesome fashion people to pick their favorite looks from the site. First up is Lisa Mayock of Vena Cava who doesn’t just choose the most inspiring, most creative outfits but actually explains what she likes about them and why she wants to be reincarnated as a dude.

Rogan and Kate Lanphear are compiling their lists - so we’d suggest checking in rather frequently.

A little birdie told us that Project Runway will never make it on the air again.

The source says that next week’s scheduled show will in fact happen to generate publicity and anticipation for the PR brand without ever being broadcast. Instead, it will help establish Harvey Weinstein’s place in the fashion industry - in total, he’s behind three major shows: Halston, Marchesa and Project Runway.

Meanwhile, the poor designers busting their asses to finish their collections will miss out on the fame and fortune, or notoriety, or whatever, that comes from actually starring on the reality show.

The end.

We learned a lot of valuable lessons from Rachel Zoe’s reality show.

The wise one explained that while she’d love to throw her girls onto red carpets in fashion forward runway looks, the public doesn’t always get fashion forward. And so she’s forced to put aside her own taste in lieu of more traditional garb. As in, if she veers too far from strapless/sparkly/long De La Renta, US Weekly will have a field day with her poor unsuspecting clients.

It’s with that rule in mind that we’ve chosen what we hope three of the nominees will wear and what we think they’ll actually wear.

To begin, we’d die if Kate Winslet wore this Vivienne Westwood. It’s her night, she has to win and this is the dress one wears while winning. Plus, we’re still not sure exactly why Britain got so pissed over her Golden Globes speech but this would be a nice nod to her homeland.

Amy Adams, please eschew chiffon and jewel tones for a night - you’re hot and you can rock this black lace. If you’re scared or intimidated, the Oscar De La Renta label is there to comfort you.

Anne Hathaway! Congrats on the nomination. You’re hot, too. And young, so very young, too young to wear so much Valentino and the frumpy Chanel couture of late so why not go nuts and wear this super sexy Proenza cut-out gown? Seriously, Ryan Seacrest won’t know what to do with himself.

But what do we think they’ll actually wear? What do they have to wear to land Best Dressed? Click on my friends.

Another to add to the non-speculation ring:

Worshippers of pure glamour, fear not. Marchesa is most definitely holding their Fashion Week presentation.

It’ll take place, like last season, at the Chelsea Art Museum on Wednesday, February 18th.

The very formal presentation takes place the same day as Oscar de la Renta’s twin shows.

So basically, all we need is L’Wren Scott to pick the 18th as her day, too, and it’ll officially be the fairest Fashion Week day of them all.

Go Fall 09.

Marchesa’s having a major sale which opens to the public tomorrow, so in the event that you’re looking for a discounted gown to wear to that ball you have next week, you’re in luck!

Who: Both Marchesa and notte by Marchesa

What: A “sample and stock sale” (somehow, the way they worded that makes us think there’ll be actual samples..)

Where: The Warwick Hotel, 65 West 54th St, at 6th Ave. The Essex Suite, 2nd Floor.

When: Tomorrow, 8am - 7pm; Thursday, 8am - 6pm.

Why: Prices are marked down between 50 - 80% off, at $195 - $3,500.

No exchanges. No refunds.

Marchesa designer Georgina Chapman, (remember, Keren’s just the co-founder), is the new “guest designer” for Garrard.

The long term partnership starts now, but the first collection drops during Spring 10’s New York Fashion Week, probably around the necks and wrists of models wearing very pretty dresses.

Georgina said, “Jewelry is so interesting because, like fashion, it has a history. People have long been ornamenting their bodies.”

We picture the jewels big and extremely girly - the kind of thing that screams costume but costs millions. They will pair well with the dresses, whatever they’ll look like a year from now, but we kind of wish Georgina would separate the two and continue to feature new, and sometimes contrasting, jewelry designs on her runways, (or in her presentation spaces).

Also, on an entirely different note, isn’t this when Rachel Zoe’s jewelry line will debut? She and Georgina will make for the most glamorous competition ever.

What do Rose Charities and Lily Cole have in common?

Stripping!

It’s true - Tonight, Rose Charities, a volunteer-led organization that provides critical care for people in critically affected areas of the world, is hosting a fashion event, aptly named Be Bare, at Milk Studios at 7pm.

Best part (other than helping the world)? Models will be walking a runway in clothes provided by Vivenne Westwood, Zac Posen, Alexander Wang, Marchesa, and Sue Stemp.

Funniest part? The models (Noot Seear’s headlining) will be auctioning the clothes right off their backs, right down to their Kiki de Montparnasse knickers.

The people at the door are expecting at least $50 per person, but we bet Noot can convince you to give back, right?

—HAYLEY PHELAN

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.