The Tribeca Film Festival hit Doha last week and my mom finally saw The September Issue.

She loved Grace, loved Raquel, and wanted to know if Thakoon ever did design for Mango, and if he didn’t, who did? The only other name we remember from Anna’s list, when she sat down with Oscar De La Renta, was Tracey Feith which, thank god, didn’t happen.

But this morning WWD suggested that Moises De La Renta, Oscar’s son, is up for the job. The Spanish brand’s staging their annual fashion show on Wednesday in Madrid’s Magic Box (built for their failed Olympic bid) and Moises is expected to attend. He’ll be among 600 other guests including Scarlett Johansson and Dree Hemingway.

Meanwhile, Thakoon does have a new job. He’s been appointed Creative Director of Tasaki, the Japanese jewelry line known for cultivating their own pearls. He says, “It is exciting to be working with fine jewelry as it will unquestionably feed into my overall creative process… My goal is to approach jewelry design in the same manner that I approach clothing: always move forward but respect the past.”

Sarah Jessica Parker may as well change her name to Carrie Bradshaw.

Sex and the City might’ve ended in 2005, and she might’ve tried for a movie career, but that failed to launch and since then her only successful movie role is playing Carrie Bradshaw.

Now she’s using Carrie to launch her perfume and WWD even titled their story, “Carrie On.” AND, she’s wearing an Oscar de la Renta dress in the ads. Meanwhile, the packaging and bottle for SJP NYC explodes with so many prints and colors that if you combined Samantha Jones and Carrie Bradshaw into one character and placed her in 1987, she’d be overwhelmed.

Coty’s thrilled to release the floral fragrance around the movie and from the way they talk about “leveraging” the movie release we’re pretty sure they’re going to make her dress up and answer to Carrie for promotional events.

And if that’s not enough Sex and the City for you, HBO’s launching these Sex and the City flats mid-November. Though there’s really nothing to say about that.

The Graeme Black show was on Savile Row, and it’s probably not a good sign that I was more interested in staring out the window into Ozwald Boateng’s shop instead of at Black’s runway.

The backdrop, sandy canvases with mosques painted on, was beautiful. There was a fog machine and squawking birds in place of music and the clothes were well made, but this conversation followed:

Me: Who wears that?

Friend: A very specific kind of woman. He designs for a particular market and does it well.

Me: Can’t that woman buy Oscar De La Renta instead?

Friend: Well yes, it’s the same clientele.

I trekked to the Upper East Side for Oscar De La Renta’s show yesterday, because really where else could he have it?

Pre-show, Oscar mingled through the front row which held Vanity Fair’s Graydon Carter, Anna (and almost the whole Vogue masthead), Aerin Lauder and Zac Posen while I finally met Rachel Zoe’s Brad, who scolded me for forgetting my pants.

When the lights dimmed I landed in my seat and watched the collection, which can best be described as decadent fashion dessert, parade by on the elevated runway. Caroline, Iris, Karlie, Sasha, Arlenis and co. wore classically beautiful dresses made of lace, sequins, feathers, brocade and any other lush fabric you can think of. The man’s got you covered for a handful of occasions: an African safari, an English tea party, a Spanish funeral - whatever event calls for a floor length gown and maybe even a lace veil.

Most of us probably won’t end up at that occasion, but if you do, you’ll be the prettiest one there.

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.

Fashion Week invitations are flooding in and while some, like Michael Kors and Oscar de la Renta stick to their classic cards, others use their invite as a sneak of their upcoming collections.

The most orginal, so far, are a fan from Ports 1961 and a video invite from Rachel Comey.

Mulberry’s brightly colored invite means it’ll be easy to wake up on the morning of the 15th knowing there’s a room full of fantastical accessories to look forward to. And the invitation for Organic by John Patrick is actually a 1921 Cleo Throckmorton photograph, Krazy Kat Klub, recently hand painted by L. Mulero. Preen’s recycled paper invite boasts a mesh, fishnet pattern that’s awfully similar to last season’s collection and Christian Siriano’s dark mountainous image looks like a Rorschach test while Rachel Antonoff’s old fashioned, embossed invite bills her presentation as a performance hosted by Sarah Sophie Flicker at the Henry Street Playhouse.

Click for close ups!

Ew: Miley & a Jonas are in the new LOVE. Thankfully, this editorial peek features neither. {Fashionologie}

“Deacon of Fashion”: Elio Berhanyer passed up the opportunity to work for Cristobal Balenciaga and sent a young man named Oscar de la Renta to New York City in his place, but no regrets. At 80-years-old he’s the most respected and apparently feisty Spanish couturier. {NYTimes}

Dirrrrrrty: Depending on where you work, these editorials pulled together by the kids at Refinery may be NSFW. Regardless, they are hot. {Refinery29}

Shop Swap: New York’s Lower East Side and London’s Newburgh Quarter are trading places for a spell in October. We’ll get some of their goodies like Cowshed and they’ll be treated to a full-on American Halloween party and street fair, along with their pop-up shops. {ELLE UK}

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.

Sui and GG: Pictures have surfaced of Anna’s Blair/Serena/Little J/Vanessa-inspired collection for Target. We’re liking, lots. {Refinery29 via The Cut}

Football Moms: I love the NFL and can be spotted every Sunday of the fall/winter proudly donning my Peyton Manning jersey (go Colts!) But this seems pretty darn niche: Reebok is launching NFL maternity gear. {WWD}

Bird is the Word: Juicy Couture has created a pricier, but more grown up line. We’re reserving judgment until we see it in person. {Elle}

Though the skies threatened to open up just about every other minute, most of the raindrops held off last night as we headed over to the penthouse at the Cooper Square Hotel to view the Sachin + Babi for Ankasa resort collection along with influential types like Fern Mallis and Meredith Melling-Burke.

The married designers started their own collection a few seasons ago after years of doing fabric work and embroideries for designers like Oscar and Vera. Basically, they wanted to bring their knowledge and skill in that area to a more accessible price point - dresses average about $300. And it worked.

We’re even considering wearing sequins, something we haven’t done since some choice high school dresses, after seeing the subtle way Ankasa uses them in not only dresses, but even shorts and pants. The cropped jackets, vests and necklaces were also favorites, as well as the navy and black story in the collection. Most of the work is hand-done in Mumbai with the designers on site for much of the process and you can definitely see it in the details.

Now if someone would just plan us a fabulous vacation on which to wear all of these lovely pieces…

Oscar De La Renta showed his resort collection this morning.

On Park Avenue, naturally, in a pretty small, light room with an organ at the end of the runway and a balcony wrapping around. Vogue took up three rows - Andre Leon Talley wore a dusty pink alligator trench, at least two girls rocked Ann Demeulemeester’s brown lace-up sandals, one lounged in Alex Wang’s grey sweatpants and when Anna tried to sit down Bee squealed, “Mom, that’s my seat!” to which Anna laughed and promptly switched to her proper seat beside Grace Coddington.

The first half of the collection - white and navy boucle tweed suits, shifts, newsboy - screamed Chanel, especially when set to French tunes. The fantastical cocktail dresses built from lace, jewels and what looked like a fabric interpretation of chocolate shavings are exactly what we’d wear if we decided to be a lady who lunched for Halloween (if the costume came with a check).

Karlie opened and closed the show while Aminata, Daiane, Kasia, Hanne, Arlenis, Liu and Ubah also walked. I couldn’t help but think of all the nasty comments Oscar’s made regarding the First Lady’s fashion choices and wonder if this was him desperately trying to land in her closet.

Meanwhile, we just heard Vogue has swine flu. Great. My morning just got significantly less glamorous.

Dear Mayor Bloomberg,

See this rather large rabbit. He’s actually a five foot tall trash receptacle designed by Paul Smith as part of London’s Super Contemporary Commissions Show.

He, along with his bunny friends, will today become part of the Covent Garden and Holland Park neighborhoods. When you throw trash in him, his ears literally light up.

How cool is that? Don’t you think that will make kids and adults alike more excited about throwing away their trash?

We know you love beautifying this fair city of ours. So how about enlisting Marc, DvF, Donna, Oscar and the crew to design some chic garbage bins of our very own? And let’s not limit it to just Manhattan. Let’s take this project to every borough.

We know times are tough and budgets are tight. But we bet the CFDA would get involved. And some environmental groups too.

If there can be lounge chairs in the middle of Times Square, there can be fashion-forward trash bins, right?

xo,

F

Niiiiice: Ikram just ordered a sold out white Margiela tux, allegedly for the first lady, which might push poor Oscar De La Renta over the edge. {FlyPaper}

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun: Just in case you weren’t going to watch Gossip Girl tonight, on top of the prom there’s an 80’s flashback or two. One costume includes the Givenchy pumps we want, um, now. {WWD}

Smell This: One of the reasons we avoid 5th avenue like the plague is our impatience with super slow tourists. The other? You smell like Abercrombie cologne from like a mile away. So this is just awesome. {Racked}

Stolen Crush: Karl gets all the cool girls — now he’s directing a short film with Lara Stone and we’re super jealous. {Fashionologie}

“White House press secretary Robert Gibbs vetoed a shot of Rogers in an Oscar de la Renta ballgown in the First Lady’s garden.” — On Desiree Rogers’ WSJ shoot, in WWD.

“I don’t object to the fact that Mrs. Obama is wearing J. Crew to whatever because the diversity of America is what makes this country great. But there are a lot of great designers out there…You don’t go to Buckingham Palace in a sweater.” — Oscar De La Renta whining in WWD because the First Lady doesn’t wear his clothes.

At the end of last year, during Super Sale Season 08, we were wondering what would happen after everyone got used to even the big stores discounting deeper than we thought was possible. And here’s what:

Believe it or not, some brands are reportedly dropping their prices. According to WWD, both Oscar de la Renta and Alberta Ferretti will be available for less this season (for example, a formerly $900 blouse from Oscar might now be $795 - not exactly earth shattering, but a couple days’ pay for most). Also, Zac Posen and J Mendel are both offering more at lesser price points, with dresses starting at nearly half the price as compared to past seasons at J Mendel.

Of course, some brands refuse to budge: Versace, Givenchy, Chanel and Prada have all made it clear that they truly believe their price tags are fair and worth the money the customer hands over in exchange.

So which way will this go? Will brands like J Mendel regret their price slashing, and never be able to sell on their higher tier again? Or will labels like Chanel and Versace simply lose their aspirational customers altogether, meaning less Chanel wallets but more Chanel evening wear?

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.

I finally went to Saks on Friday.

I knew things were bad - I live in New York, I work in fashion, I have lawyer friends and retail friends and finance friends, a roommate from Detroit and parents who aren’t too far, sorry, weren’t too far, from retirement - but seeing Saks in worse shape than Union Square’s Trader Joe’s on Sunday afternoon was, basically, horrifying.

Where YSL bags and Chloe clutches proudly sat are stacks of crumpled $50 cashmere. Rolling racks fill almost every aisle, so stuffed with this season’s merchandise that you can’t possibly see anything without ripping it from the hanger. Marc by Marc Resort 2009 is already 40% off and I found Alexander McQueen sequined leggings on the floor. Someone wrapped Alaia belts vertically around a pole by the Oscar de la Renta and I spotted the Miu Miu dress Isabeli Fontana wore on last February’s runway crumpled in a ball underneath a 50% off buffalo plaid Ralph Lauren coat hanging from one shoulder.

And the shoe salon, the shimmering bastion of exotic footwear so recently honored with its own zip code, looks tragic underneath tumbling piles of shoes that used to cost $1000. If you can wade through the Stuart Weitzmans to the scratched up Fendis, Viviers and Balenciagas, good luck finding your size because the defeated sales people are holed up in the middle of the room, the only place with regularly priced shoes and the only area without a single customer.

I still couldn’t find the handbags anywhere and not a single employee knew what I meant when I said they weren’t in their usual home - probably because they’re temporary employees, (who by the way are wearing jeans on the floor, which is a sign everyone’s pretty much given up).

I left, pouting, not even tempted by $200 Prada shoes. I should’ve skipped the trip altogether so that if, or more likely when, they finally close their doors, I remember the old Saks instead of the outlet version.

Because even though I know how important it is to “get it,” denial’s so much more comfortable.