Blog-alicious: Meet Caroline. She’s guest blogging for Lucky (how we found her), but she’s actually a textile designer with her own blog full of illustrations, both fashion and otherwise, and other very pretty things. {ItLooksGoodToMe}

Oscar & Valentino: The designer’s doc is on the short-list for an Oscar nom. Sadly, The September Issue is not. But we’re still pulling for a fashion victory. Also, we couldn’t be more excited for Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin to host. {Vogue UK}

Thigh High: The kids over at Nylon sound like they had a grand old time recreating Miuccia’s super festive socks and they’re letting us in on the scheme. Just in time for party season. Hooray! {Nylon}

This is the End: They may be denying it, but sources say there’s a major brawl going down between executives at Ungaro over what else? La Lohan. Let’s hope the best man wins. {Page Six}

The bleaching of models’ brows was all the rage for S/S 2010 (and actually was fairly popular the season before at Prada, Balenciaga, and Miu Miu). We’ve been fascinated as to how all the girls’ eyebrows didn’t fall out by the end of Paris Fashion Week.

Today, we went to a Cover Girl lunch with the amazing (and always fun) Pat McGrath and got some answers.

First of all, we had no idea that Pat has had a hair colorist on her team for years. While he does many other things as well, brows often fall to him. Very cool. And considering the lady does around 30 shows a season (not to mention countless editorials and covers), it makes a lot of sense to have everyone you may need at the ready.

She told us that she suggested to the models that they not go through the bleaching process more than twice. Instead, the makeup teams would just color in darker versions when necessary. “Of course some girls insisted on always changing back, but what are you gonna do?” said Pat. We’re sure those ladies are regretting those decisions right about now.

We almost forgot about fall given the SS10 hysteria.

Now that it’s freezing outside, we’re digging to the bottom of our closets to find the ball of tights that gets us through every winter, but plain black tights are significantly less satisfying than usual.

For FW09 designers showed a range of patterned and embellished tights that left us longing for something more exciting. From Marc Jacobs 80’s neon paisley to McQueen’s optical houndstooth, tights stopped being just something to keep warm, and started being a crucial accessory with which to liven your outfit.

Wouldn’t you rather brighten your fall wardrobe with some sparkle tights a la Anna Sui or some bejeweled Miu Mius? And if you still feel for black, try the sheer dotted tights seen at Balenciaga, which are perfect for adding a detail to a simple outfit.

We say ditch the black tights and start walking in technicolor!

—PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEREMY KOST

LOVED:

—More side braids. Hooray!!

—The sturdiness meets quirkiness of the shoes, especially these and these.

—The fact that so many women will be embracing the pantsuit again. Those things were sexier than expected.

HATED:

—The cat situation. Even through Miuccia’s lens I’m struggling with this and I’ve heard from other non-cat people that I am far from alone. Also, the kitties led in no small part to this Style.com story which includes a picture that might haunt me for the rest of my life.

—That girls with any sort of boobs of the non-concave variety are going to have some serious issues with many of those cut-out and appliqued tops. Bummer.

This headpiece, from Paris based Maison Michel, went on sale on Net-a-Porter this morning.

The site suggests pairing “this opulent accessory with your favorite LBD to bring bygone beauty to a modern cut.” We suggest:

1. Wearing it as a necklace and perhaps layering with other pearls in homage to McQueen’s sea theme, or The Little Mermaid.

2. Double wrapping it around your ankle to achieve some of that ankle/shoe fringe we’ve seen - and loved - on the Spring/Summer 2010 runways.

3. Putting your $2,195 toward a pair of Brian Atwoods and this adorable ombre Miu Miu clutch. In total, you’ll spend an extra couple of hundred, but hey, it’s worth it.

4. Jumping for joy because the recession must be over.

Reed Krakoff’s starting his own fashion house.

The President and Creative Director of Coach (and Vice President of the CFDA) is ready to do his own thing in tandem with his responsibilities at the mega-brand. The project, however, is entirely funded by Coach which gives him the unique advantage of being able to launch his line for AW10 with ready-to-wear, bags, shoes and jewelry - not your average sixteen piece start-up collection. In fact, he’s already talking to WWD about men’s clothes, furniture and fragrances.

“It’s about a new craftsmanship,” he said, citing brands like Miu Miu and Balenciaga as inspiration, though he talks more about brand building than design and sounds more like a sound businessman than a passionate artist.

The only peek we have so far is the fluffy black organza dress Reed’s wife Delphine wore to the CFDAs in June (at left) - it’s from the upcoming line and so far, we like it. You have to be crazy to launch “the next great American fashion house” right now and crazy makes for good design.

I took a fashion road trip this weekend—after three years in New York, I finally made my way to the much lauded Woodbury Commons.

I’m not a shopping in a group kind of girl and I’m not an outlet kind of girl because it’s generally too much effort, but this was like walking through a living archive of legendary runway looks that had me squealing up and down the aisles. Plus at this point in the summer I’ll get out of the city any which way I can.

It started at Prada which currently houses an entire rack of AW09 lace priced around $2000—black dresses, gold skirt, blue tops. Anna’s favorite floral prints are on the clearance rack for about $400, along with the red and blue checked skirt, a single Harlequin Miu Miu mini and a lone black turban.

Balenciaga’s packed with SS08’s structured florals—skirts, dresses, jackets—priced under $1000, but it was the riding hats from AW06 that really made me gasp. Alas, they were low on shoes, though I found these at the Neiman Marcus outlet for $200 (along with the pink fur stole from Chris Benz’s AW08).

Camille, 22, intern

Got Her: Walking down Prince on her way to lunch.

Stalked Her: The lace lured us in.

Shot Her: Her light pink dress with its black lace overlay had us yearning to revive our lace addiction. When we got closer we noticed her super cute Miu Miu flats and layered pearls. We love how she managed to look fresh and young while combining such classics.

She Said: “I like a little bit of everything, and I’ve been super into pearls lately.”

We Say: Antique chic. Nice.

—MELISSA ELLIOTT

Last year, V named Amanda Laine their model search winner.

Since then, the Canadian’s walked everything from Alex Wang to McQueen, Miu Miu to Vuitton. She’s been in V (obviously), Interview, POP, Numero, W, Bazaar and more. Needless to say, Stephen Gan’s eye for runway potential has a one up on Tyra’s.

So now the mag’s teamed up with Ford Models and thrown Alexander Wang onto their judging panel to find the next superstar. They’ve already received over 6000 online entries, but you have until June 29th to submit your profile on their site.

Finalists will be announced July 3rd and from there the winner gets an editorial in V and a contract with Ford, which is kind of priceless. Gan wants to, “unearth the next classic female beauty with a twist.”

If that’s you, you better get a move on.

“Miu Miu’s spring collection had an overt bread-line chic to it. Not since the Great Depression has the stuff of feed bags been recycled with such imagination …” —Karin Nelson in The New York Times.

Natalie Massenet’s much-anticipated The Outnet finally launched this morning.

The site’s as easy to navigate, though not quite as pretty, as Net-a-Porter and stocks about 200 brands right now. You can search by designer, by category and by percentage off or click on Dress Me where they’ve sorted product by occasion. Also, they’re doing seventy-two hour pop-up sales on rotating items.

There’s a note on the site that Marc Jacobs will be in next week and we’ve spotted some amazing finds like this Derek Lam grecian dress, this cream Zac Posen bag and this awesome Mulberry jacket.

But remember that part about how it wasn’t going to be all recycled Net-a-Porter product? True, we probably spend an inordinate amount of time on the mother site but we’ve seen all of this before, this Chloe dress, these Marc shoes and this 3.1 Phillip Lim shift - all at the exact same prices - except for these sequined Miu Miu’s which are $100 less at Barneys right now.

There’s a gem of a Burberry trench, some beautiful pieces from Nina Ricci and we spy the Louboutin zipper heels. It’ll be swell to have a Net-a-Porter sale year round, but let us know when there’s something we haven’t seen.

Way back in Fall 07, Miu Miu became the ringleader of the circus-y trend with their Harlequin collection, which reverberated across the fashion board, all the way from Topshop to Phillip Lim.

This season, the circus look was full-on at Erin Fetherston, Manish Arora and Diesel, making a certain pop princess look especially prescient.

—CARSON GRIFFITH—

To: Tips@ Fashionista.com

From: TheCats@Meow.com

Hey Fashionista!

This bag by Jessica Simpson looks a whole lot like the bags Miu Miu did in Spring 2006.

I know her career is in total shreds but did she really think no one would notice?

The first image from Miu Miu’s Spring 09 campaign with Katie Holmes is out - thanks to Vogue UK - and ready for the tribunal.

While some might go the “feline” description route, we’re struck by how much she looks like Joey Potter giving Dawson a disapproving face (probably because he’s giving her shit for wearing a designer dress, but anyway).

Still to come are the rest of the images, featuring the gaggle of models hired to flank Mrs. Cruise, including Imogen Morris Clarke, Katie Fogarty, Darya Kurovska, Myf Shepherd, Sophie Srej, Tilda Lindstam, and Elena Lomkova.

Faran and I spent a luxurious day at Barneys pre-Christmas.

We reveled in $300 Miu Miu, $150 Christian Louboutin and I walked away with three little black dresses - Alexander Wang, Marc, Phillip Lim - for less than the original price of one.

Most of our time was devoted to shoes.

I slipped on ruffled Prada pumps, sequined Miu Mius, cap-toed Chanels and t-strapped Balenciagas, all signature AW08 shoes, and wondered what one does with such distinct pieces post-season.

I couldn’t take them home. They’re still too expensive (season-specific things tend to be). But for those who do shell out $4000 on the Prada lace skirt or $5000 for that Alexander McQueen military jacket, what do you do with them?

Do you wear the piece every single day until it’s ripped to shreds and then relegate it to the back of the closet? Do you treat it like the rest of your wardrobe, occasionally broken out and always met with sqeals of, “OMG! Fall 08!”? Do you wear it once and then stash it away for twenty years so that when you do wear it your friends fall at your feet with envy and ask which amazing vintage store you’re hiding from them?

Or do I only think about this because I covet it all for a month before moving on to the next impossibly gorgeous, unattainable piece of runway history without actually seeing any of it in my closet?

We’ve obviously been spending a serious amount of time shopping online.

Margiela and Miu Miu cost less than Michael Kors these days and that, we love.

These booties top our list of discoveries. Booties are our favorite winter shoe - they’re far more practical than pumps, warmth wise, they aren’t as serious as boots and they’re fancy enough to wear out to dinner. Basically, these Miu Miu’s are perfect and not even a little bit boring.

Then we found these same exact booties, minus the real suede, minus the option for purple and plus the unsightly addition of studs.

While studs can be great (thanks Alexander Wang), these look more like an inexpensive attempt to combine this season’s signature Gucci studs and Miu Miu’s simple design without the quality that makes each special in the first place.

So we say, if you’re going to rip something off, stick to one Italian designer at a time and stay away, far away from fake suede.

— ALEXANDRA BEN-GURION

An internet analyst just launched a site dedicated to online price matching.

It’s called lightningsales.com and it scans the internet for the same product at different prices so that consumers can compare everything in one place instead of searching for the lowest price.

But it’s for electronics and we’re more interested in shoes than car stereos.

So, we’re getting you started with a few comparisons to highlight which sites are making the biggest online price cuts. (Because we’ve noticed online prices are generally higher than in-store prices anyway.)

For example, this season’s sequin stiletto Miu Miu Mary Janes are $349 at Barneys, $432 at Net-a-Porter and the non sequin version is $455 at Bergdorf Goodman.

Phillip Lim’s layered cashmere sweater dress is $299 at Barneys, only a dollar more at Bergdorf but still $450 on Net-a-Porter.

The Stella McCartney patent wedges Mary Kate wore in Elle UK in September? $479 at Barneys, $687 at Net-a-Porter and still a ridiculous $802 at Bergdorf.

So far, Barneys seems to be the best bet and we’d say stay far away from Net-a-Porter until they realize it’s silly to sell Phillip Lim Spring 07 for hundreds of dollars.

We could play this game all day, but we’re pretty sure they’re shooting Gossip Girl on our street and snow will not stand in the way of seeing Chuck.