And so it begins…

Tonight we’ll be chatting with Jack and Lazaro before a preview screening of The Day Before, the Sundance Channel series about the 48 hours leading up to some of our favorite shows. And we’ll sip on a little champagne to toast the series at the after party.

Then it’s on to the Crystal Renn’s party at the Soho Grand for me, while Britt hits up Paper Magazine’s 25th Anniversary Party at the New York Public Library where she’ll be mingling with Liza Minelli, The Virgins, and Queen Latifah, and of course Mr. Mickey. If that doesn’t kinda perfectly sum up Paper, I’m not sure what does. (Plus the Mayor even named it Paper Magazine Day here in the city. Nice.)

If you’re not already, be sure to follow us on Twitter (@fashionista_com) as we’ll be tweeting our way through all things Fashion Week. That way you won’t miss us during our erratic posting schedule as we’re taking in shows and presentations.

Sneak A Peek: Here’s a sneak preview of the Natasha Poly-centric Muse, hitting New York’s news stands on September 10th. It features Craig McDean, Riccardo Tisci, Jeff Koons and Terry Richardson. If ever there was a time to try to replicate those lips, it’s tonight’s Paper party. {Models}

Jeepers Creepers: Yes, all fashion girls swoon for Yigal Azrouel. He’s gorgeous, makes brilliant clothes and is the only straight man for miles. But this woman, who told the Post she likes to try on clothes in his store just to be naked in the same room as him, is far too enthusiastic about the whole thing. {NYPost}

PughHoo!: Gareth’s coming to New York. The Brit will show his full collection in Paris - no word yet on whether he’s reverting back to runways or sticking to last season’s video format - but before that he’ll swing by Milk Studios and offer a peek of his SS10 collection this Saturday night. {Style}

We’ve made it abundantly clear that we love Montauk and Mr. Mickey.

And this Sunday the 5th, the two shall come together for the Paper mag editor’s second annual Celebrity Sidewalk Sale at Screaming Mimi’s.

The shindig is co-hosted by Peter Davis, Charlotte Ronson, and Emma Snowdon-Jones and will feature loads of merch from people like Catherine Malandrino, Julia Frakes, and Lynn Yaeger.

Plus, the money goes to charity:water which builds freshwater wells in developing countries. We actually had no idea that it only takes about $5000 to give water to a whole village for 20 years!

So shop away, friends. We just wish we were going to be out east too. But ‘tis wedding season and we’re off to another one in Ann Arbor come Friday.

Another Tuesday, another round of fashion parties. Not that we’re complaining. A few of the highlights:

- Drinking Budweiser (at the Tommy Hilfiger/Paper Magazine fete to celebrate the mag’s new Rebranding America issue) and listening to John Mellencamp made us feel very American, in a good way, which we suppose was exactly the point. But where were the pigs in a blanket?

-Random guest side note: Matthew Modine, our long-ago crush from Vision Quest and Gross Anatomy, looks way older than we’d like to remember him.

Lindsay, 24, works at a digital interactive agency

Got Her: At the Tommy Hilfiger/PAPER Magazine Re-Branding America party last night, on the stairs.

Stalked Her: Do you see her shiny jacket? Everyone was stalking her.

Shot Her: Because she was wearing a giant flower purse, a shiny jacket, the pink Marc dress we’ve wanted forever and cowboy boots and still looked relaxed and adorable.

She said: “I saw this purse in Teen Vogue once and totally tracked it down. It’s from some totally random website out of like Ohio or something and I’m obsessed.”

We said: Shine on flower girl.

Mickey Boardman, aka Mr. Mickey, is the Editorial Director, and basically the face of Paper Magazine.

The man’s one of the busiest people I’ve ever met - and yet he positively bubbles over with enthusiasm for his job and the people he works with. The first time I met him, in an elevator at Milk Studios at one of the first fashion events I ever went to, he told me I was funny. In Paris last month, he gave me his ticket to John Galliano and introduced me to Kate and Laura Mulleavy. Needless to say, I love him.

So our Life With session turned into more than just a what-do-you-do-all-day interview. We dove into topics like his love for India, his devotion to various charities and the highlights of his sixteen-year career at Paper - the Olsens are involved, so is DVF.

His goal? To host Mr. Gay Bombay, but for now there are photo shoots to plan, web meetings to conduct and a snack run to the local deli wherein lives a fat cat lovingly christened Candy Cats Price.

There was a mini-debate going on in the comments section of a Paris post.

One person decreed that blogs aren’t press and therefore shouldn’t sit in the press section of a show while another pointed out that we obviously aren’t buyers which together puts us in a rather awkward category. Blogs are, according to most publicists, considered press, and our seating assignment is usually a testament to that classification.

However, this season we noticed a new seating trend pop up. For the first time, those reporting for blogs and magazines’ online departments were often seated together which meant we had daily run-ins with reporters from Elle.com, Papermag.com, Glamour.com, Showstudio, DazedDigital, Fashionologie and more.

For example, at Marios Schwab, bloggers had their own Front Row section (alongside the Conde section, the ELLE section, etc), which created a real commune-style discussion of, “Well, I can’t report this for my site, but you totally should use what I heard earlier!” Fun, and certainly effective for spilling your thoughts onto Twitter in mere minutes.

Which makes us wonder, are the days of acting like bloggers aren’t real media members finally over? Because it looks like they are, at least in fashion. Especially now, when major editors from The Times are tweeting and Vogue editors like Filipa Fino are writing for Vogue Daily and WWD posts multiple times a day. We’re just saying, the line is getting awfully blurry.

“This New York Fashion Week appeared to reflect the reality of an accountant in a box which he’s been locked inside for 100 years.” - Fake Karl, in an interview with Paper.

Pamela Anderson crashed Richie Rich’s runway at the Waldorf-Astoria tonight.

She pranced, skipped and kicked her way down the catwalk, after the model finale, a singer, a troupe of half-naked dancing men, a Kat Deluna performance, Tinsley, Aubrey O’Day and someone else who looked vaguely familiar, in a gold, thong one-piece bathing suit with plastic coins glued to it - the crowd went nuts.

That crowd included the Paper Mag team and Lynn, Ellen Von Unwerth, Cory & the Cobrasnake, a life-sized pig and Ice-T (who’s randomly popped up at different Fashion Weeks twice now) and his wife whom we were painfully close to in the elevator.

The clothes were, well, not Heatherette, but not much of anything. They were tight, they were bright, there was a one armed spandex unitard in a purple print and lots of plastic coins inexplicably glued to the men’s barely there swimwear. There was one printed summer dress we’d actually wear but we’re pretty sure that wasn’t the point of the show.

It was to have fun and of course, with Richie, it’s always fun.

Lynn, no! …And who will Mickey whisper and giggle with in February?

ps. We don’t feel as bad for Lynn as we do for the Village Voice - someone amazing will scoop her up in under a week (Katie, are you listening?!) As for the Voice, well…

Ok, we’ve received about 800 e-mails today asking about the status of the Hermes sale, so we dispatched Fashionista friend Rebecca Suhrawardi Austin from Papermag.com, and here’s what she saw:

1. The line is from the middle of the block all the way to Sixth Ave (they’re only letting in a certain number of people at a time) - but, we hear if you walk up like you’re somebody who shouldn’t be waiting in a line, they let you right in.

2. The whole thing is incredibly civilized: dressing rooms, tons of people to clean things up, polite employees, plenty of space to check things out, shelves, etc.

3. The goods are so-so: Don’t expect to find a Birkin - the bags are mostly canvas totes that we’ve never even seen anyone carry. There are hardly any shoes at all, and the clothes are mostly very uptown, very ladylike - think flowery dresses and cashmere sweaters. But at least there’s a wide range of sizes stocked - at this point, anyway - even the teeny-tiny ones.

4. This could actually be a decent place to get some impressive holiday gifts - there are tons of scarves and ties, and the menswear section is practically untouched. But also, there’s tons of china (mugs for $39), bathrobes (but like $342) and even baby booties ($54), if that’s your thing.

5. It might be easy to get in, but the line to pay goes all the way from the front of the space to the back, so that might be a little while.

Ok. And now you know.

We all know there’s been a ton of rumors lately that Richie Rich and Traver Rains are walking on separate yellow brick roads these days, but some recent developments might prove otherwise -

First, the glitter boys shot a prom-themed spread for ELLEgirl with Lydia Hearst right after the rumors of their demise swirled Gossip Girl-style all over the internet.

Now, we’ve learned that they’re flying out to LA with Paper Magazine today as special guests at Playboy’s Playmate of the Year Luncheon since they custom designed the winning bunny’s dress - and we were told this by a concerned Heatherette fan that wanted to help “squash the rumors.”

So now the real question is - are these one-time events for the sake of the good old days?

Or can we all expect a blowout show in September?

Industry insiders have keenly noted two departures from Heatherette in the past two weeks:

First, technical designer Macky Dugan got his own label and his own studio, and then publicist Lysee Webb took a new job at Paper magazine, running their events and promotions.

Now we hear (from a TV producer, no less) that Traver is trekking out to Los Angeles, leaving Richie in New York to start some new solo projects.

That sort of makes Richie like, the Fergie of glitter t-shirt fashion, but whatever.

If indeed there is a Heatherette diaspora, the big question is, “Who will throw an insane fashion show next season?”

Then we remember Sean Combs and Gwen Stefani both have their own lines in the tents and we feel a little bit better.

But only a little bit…

Today’s WWD reports that Hedi Slimane will shoot Pete Doherty along with his Babyshambles bandmates, for the cover of Spin Magazine.

Could Spin’s Creative Consultant, celebrity stylist Mary Alice Stephenson, have had something to do with the cover choice?

In other magazine news, we hear that Paper is shooting Lindsay Lohan for their cover this weekend.

We don’t know how we would dress her in light of recent news - maybe something pretty, like the new Stella McCartney florals?

We’re betting it doesn’t matter - this might be one of those times when the interview matters way more than the spread - we just think we’d be sure to steer clear of leggings…