Last night Teen Vogue celebrated their super cute handbook with a little cocktail party at the Rose Bar at the Gramercy Park Hotel.

Amy Astley and her crew were of course all there in the cozy confines, with Amy’s kids and their friends taking over the pool table. The rest of the crowd out to toast the book included Vera Wang, Jenna Lyons, Thakoon, Keegan Singh, Eddie Borgo, Henry Holland, and Chanel Iman. All in all a very lovely party.

As far as EICs go, Amy’s definitely regarded as one of the nicest in the business. And she’s certainly built upon the Vogue brand in a great way since the launch of TV. Thanks to the book, she’s doing a little mini-tour of speaking engagements. Next up is Cali. So if you live in LA, we highly recommend turning out to see her when she heads west. There’s a signing at Book Soup on Sunset at 4 pm on the 18th. FIDM folks can catch her on the 19th at 10 and 11:30. And that evening, she’ll be speaking at Otis at 7pm. It’s free, but space is limited so click here to reserve a spot.

Go. Listen. Learn. It just might give you a leg up at your next interview.

This is just fun to watch.

Again, the more excited we get for Fashion’s Night Out - it’s really going to be epic - the more worried we get about people not shopping. Sure, the stores will be packed, but no one’s going to head to the dressing rooms when they’re struggling to catch a glimpse of an Olsen or a Miller.

It’s especially weird to watch this video - in which everyone from Michael Kors and Bradley Cooper to Diane Kruger and Vera Wang discuss the fashion industry’s dire situation - while they’re decked in diamonds and their finest custom get-up for the CFDA’s.

“I mean, I was there for seventeen years. I didn’t get the job that Anna got. I guess that was my most memorable experience.” —Vera Wang to New York Magazine on her most memorable experience of working at Vogue.

The m&m is Britt; the Grateful Dead is the Imaginary Socialite

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…

The Oscars are safe.

Starlets choose something long, something pretty, something with a jewel on top. But our Oscars, the CFDAs, are a celebration of all things fashion with a capital ‘F’ which means we get to choose best dressed, not US Weekly.

Vera Wang’s going to be on Dancing With the Stars, continuing television’s obsession with all things fashion.

The former figure skater will be sixty when the season starts next September. She’s signed on for the waltz and the foxtrot.

We’ve never actually seen the show so our first thought was, “Wow, can’t believe she’s doing this,” and something along the lines of, “This is so much worse than saying ‘fuck’ inside her store.”

But if she is going to do it, we can’t wait to see what frilly bedazzled outfits she whips up to dance her away across TV screens.

Designers are falling into two very different camps these days.

On the one side, we’ve got those pulling out of the tents for Fashion Week (Vera), consolidating stores (Marc), and focusing on accessories (Olivier).

On the other, we’ve got those moving from womenswear to menswear (Roland, Gareth, Carlos, Decarnin, Ferré), womenswear to kidswear (Gaultier) and now, from menswear into womenswear.

Tim Hamilton will be showing his first women’s collection at Paris Fashion Week this March. The designer told Style.com that the capsule collection, built in Japan and Italy, is inspired by his mother’s, “avant-garde, all-black look and mid-century postmodernism.” So, very New York?

Also? Shoes! He hasn’t decided if he’ll sell them or not, but the more shoes in the world, the better.

If your spring internship fell through, or if you’re just really late to the table, Vera Wang needs your Public Relations skills.

You need to start now; you need to be available three days a week; you need to commit to three or four months and you need to love fashion.

The team wants your help with various projects, organizing the closet, running errands, filing, tracking samples and tagging magazines. You’ll inevitably devote a lot of time to the Fall 09 show and be one of the lucky few inside Vera’s store when major models walk her makeshift runway.

Also, they’d like one intern in particular who’s especially fashion and tech savvy to work directly with the design team during Fashion Week.

Interested? Email your resume and cover letter to svvwpr@gmail.com.

The past month has seen two major New York store openings.

Vera Wang opened up shop in Soho while Miu Miu added a third New York City location on 57th St, both of which seemed to laugh in the face of economic catastrophe.

It’s a good thing Vera Wang opened that store - she needs it to show her Fall 2009 collection. After a week of rumors regarding her bowing out of Bryant Park, she’s made the official announcement. The designer won’t stoop so low as a presentation, instead she’ll set up a runway in her Mercer Street store. The smaller venue means a significantly smaller audience and the intimate, party-like feel that comes with an off-site show.

Meanwhile, Miu Miu closed their Madison and 69th Street store. The uptown space, only open since 2002, was emptied and shut with absolutely no fanfare yesterday according to The Daily.

The good news is, things will be decidedly less hectic on 42nd and 6th come February.

The bad news is, if this trend continues, Barbie will be the only one left with a Bryant Park show.

When the economy started its downward spiral, we guessed Fashion Week would pass with a few less tote bags and water bottles.

Which was fine, as long as there were still macaroons.

Now WWD reports a surge in planned presentations, instead of runways, which we’d actually love. Both Vera Wang and J. Mendel are allegedly exploring runway alternatives while DKNY has gone ahead and penciled in a February 13th presentation date.

This comes exactly one month after the announcement that Donna Karan Collection would forego a model-fronted ad campaign in favor of “re-interpreting” her runway images and that DKNY’s ads will no longer feature Vlada, an established model, but it-girl Harley Viera Newton. While we can’t know the details of Harley’s contract, it’s highly unlikely she can demand as much as a well-recognized model.

So when you throw it all together, it appears as though Donna’s brands are making some major cuts obvious to the outside world - so who knows what’s happening behind the scenes. Unless of course she’s just being overly cautious, which might not be the worst thing.

Though we hope no one copies her ad idea, campaigns are way too much fun.

Barbie’s getting a make-over for her 50th birthday, and with it comes a real live runway show during Fall 09 Fashion Week.

Mattel wants to up the doll’s fashion cred which means life-size outfits designed by fifty life-size designers including Alexander Wang. Will Ken still love Barbie when she trades in her sequin gowns for ripped denim and smoky eyeliner?

Post-Fashion Week celebrations include separate collaborations with Vera Wang and Jeremy Scott. Mattel’s also signed on as a co-sponsor for Mercedes Benz Fashion Week and worked itself into a three year partnership with the CFDA. Whether the partnership means money or something more creative remains to be seen.

But back to the show, we can’t wait to see how fifty different designers interpret their Barbie influence - and the fifty very curvy models they’ll need for the runway.

I have a tiny friend who wears clothes that are often far too big for her, officially. No, I’m not joking about MK, but she’s technically a big part of this, too.

My size 0 friend will buy say, a DVF blouse in a size 12, and suddenly, she’s wearing a shirt dress nobody can pinpoint. And I think to myself, that’s swell, but don’t you want an expensive shirt to fit well?

And then the other day, I was at Ralph trying on sweaters, and the salesguy looked at the “L” label and then looked at me and did a double take (Editor’s Note: Brett is “L” only in kids’ sections.) Evidently, trying on things that are too big is not very common, at least not at RL.

Vera Wang talks about wearing YSL’s Le Smoking jackets two sizes too big, and Chris Benz always wears sport coats too small, and maybe it’s because they’re super small, but the aforementioned MK and Ashley have made wearing things that oversized or undersized a way of life. And yet, I’m wondering, would you spend a lot of money on something that doesn’t techincally fit?

And I don’t mean buying “Alexander Wang-made to look like it’s big but secretly designed to drape perfectly” oversized stuff. I mean seriously buying something that is meant to be fitted but you choose to get it super huge because you like it like that.

Britt says she only indulges in oversized clothes at places like Uniqlo so she doesn’t feel like she’s wasting money on an item that’s expensive specifically because of its fit. But would you buy a too-large Lanvin or super sized Prada, price-for-fit be damned? Or is that kind of like buying a super expensive floor-length gown and rolling up the hem because you wanted a short dress?

—BRETT KANE

If you’ve been slacking on your intern apps, here’s a new one - Vera Wang’s PR department needs to fill their Fall positions and they’d love you to apply.

That is, if:

- You’ll be in New York this Fall and have wide open availability from 11-6 five days a week starting August 11.

- You’re curious, extremely detail-oriented and you can work hard in a laid back environment.

- You’re willing to spend most of your time on her Simply Vera line while working on preparations for the ready-to-wear show, running errands, staring at pretty dresses, etc.

If that’s you, e-mail svvwpr@gmail.com with your cover letter and resume.

Hint: the people reading it think the cover letter’s the most important part.

Bonne chance!

(Oh, and can you snag one of these necklaces for us?)

Everyone’s been a bit worried about Target losing Isaac Mizrahi to Liz Claiborne.

The designer’s been widely credited with building Target’s fashion cred, but we’ve always thought their success stemmed more from their GO International collections.

Apparently so do they - the company announced this morning that they won’t attempt to form another long term designer partnership and will instead focus on one-off collections.

Long term collaborations don’t have the best track record. No one ran to Kohl’s for Simply Vera, Kate Moss for Topshop always ends up on the clearance rack, and even my mom declared Isaac’s Target clothes “frumpy”.

The only reason I woke up at the crack of dawn for Luella and Proenza was because I knew I’d never have another chance. Had the clothes been on the racks for over a year, I definitely would have slept in those mornings and I probably would have lost interest.

Is it the novelty of one-off collections that makes them more successful? Or is it that the cooler designers aren’t willing to commit to years of mass market work?

Camilla Belle is confirmed as the new face of Vera Wang Flower Princess.

We imagine it will smell just like Vera Wang Princess.

Except with a $500,000 bonus for driving sales.

And also probably a little bit like “Oh yeah, I meant to see that movie…”

Stay tuned for the ads, which we’ll hopefully have soon.

xo.

A much-discussed theory this week is whether the runway’s hemlines can predict an upcoming recession.

The saying goes, if dresses and skirts get longer, the economy is getting worse. It stems from a period in the ’20s, when short skirts revealed expensive silk stockings, and long skirts disguised cheaper wool ones. Now it’s thought by some (including Faran’s dad, an econ guy) that using more fabric spurs and encourages more spending within the entire industry, and you start to see long dresses when people get worried about sales.

We did a little obsessive check on Style.com and found that while designers geared to older luxury shoppers - Marc, Donna, Vera - did feature longer silhouettes, their secondary lines - Marc by, DKNY, and Vera Lavender - all had pretty short skirts. Check out DKNY’s red scorcher at left.

Other young brands - Sass & Bide, Anna Sui, Karen Walker, Charlotte Ronson - also had an a-line sheath shape happening, which means not everyone is surrendering to the grungy or silky long skirts that Erin Fetherston seemed to favor this season.

But does it mean anything for the stock market? We’re not sure - let’s see how Prada’s IPO does once it’s been public for a little bit.

What saves the Wall Street Journal’s knockoff article from being, well, a knockoff of Eric Wilson’s copyright piece in The Times?

The video they’ve made on how to buy cheap clothes.

It’s interesting but also unintentionally funny, like when their “style expert” points out that cheap clothes have ratty buttonholes, and if you buy an inexpensive cardigan, you must keep the buttons done at all times.

Also: when Vera Wang sends a statement to the WSJ, insisting the unfinished hem on a Simply Vera piece is intentional, not cheap. We believe her, too, but you’ve got to admit, it’s giggle-worthy.