photo courtesy WWDWhile we love everything bespoke, we’re probably more excited about Z Spoke—something we can indeed afford.

That’s the name of Zac Posen’s new line launching at Saks this spring. And get this, the price point starts at $78. The 60 pieces include tons of separates and are all about sportswear.

Zac told WWD, “To me, it’s more appropriate to build a whole brand and collection around this price point. Chic sportswear should be at this price point. Designer dresses and cocktail pieces should be at a more expensive price point.”

The inspiration is much more LES than UES as Zac had pics of Nike Dunks and Travis Bickle on his inspiration board. We love the idea of this expansion and not only because it’s going to offer us a little bit of Zac to wear in our daily lives, seeing as we’re not the frequent fancy dress wearers. But also because he sounds so excited and serious about the project.

“I treat a T-shirt as a T-shirt should be treated. With a lot of love.” Well said, sir.

Last March, a few designers embraced the one off ad.

Ads are expensive, and if you’ve got the momentum of a Rodarte or a Phillip Lim, unnecessary (for now). Unless of course the economy tanks.

One of the designers who gave the idea a shot, Zac Posen, shot this ad just for Fanzine 137, but the buzz must’ve been worth it because now he’s done it again.

This time around he hired a superstar model, and good friend, Coco Rocha, and Ellen Von Unwerth to shoot two different, very stylized ads to run in the same magazine next month. The ads - luxe, colorful, fun - pretty much sum up the Zac Posen brand and Coco looks perfect, as usual.

Photo Courtesy of WWDI didn’t realize until reading WWD this morning that Zac Posen was such a foodie. Turns out he cooks three times a week (even after the Met Ball), And like so many of us, his obsession began with cooking shows, and Martha. “I was a very depressed middle-school student and I watched [those shows] avidly,” he said. “And then Martha Stewart changed my life. Her first cookbook [Entertaining] was given to my mom, but I took it.”

If you want to taste some of what Zac has to offer, he’s cooking with Giada De Laurentiis and Aquavit chef Marcus Samuelsson at a charity event during the Food Network New York City Wine & Food Festival. Tickets aren’t cheap ($325) but the money goes to hunger organizations. And we’re pretty sure the presentation will be divine.

We know Peter Som is supposed to be a pretty wicked chef too and we’d love to score an invite to one of his dinner’s parties. So, what designer’s aesthetic would you want to see applied to food? As much as I love Karl and Diet Coke (or Coca Lite), I would definitely need a more substantial meal. Stella could probably convince me to go veggie for the night. But I’m thinking Galliano might be my guy for an over-the-top feast.

Super Models! Paris gets all Comic-Con with their show packages. Iselin, Vlade, Hanne Gaby, and Iris will save the world from evil henchmen! {Fashionologie}

Panty Raid: Eric Wilson’s number three trend of NYFW, Spanx. Well, really briefs, outside the clothes. Linda Wells finds it “perfectly insane”. We’ll respectfully agree to disagree. {NY Times}

To Milan They Go: Apparently it’s sweltering, but Mr. Armani really brought the goods to kick things off. Think flouncy dresses and lots of flats. And then came the D&G cowgirls. Yee-haw! {Joe Zee’s Twitter}

Hair God: Bumble’s Jimmy Paul is often the person behind the runway’s coolest hairstyles. You’ve probably copied something he created more than once. Here’s how he spent NYFW. {Vogue Daily}

Marc has instilled such fear in me that I still insist on being punctual to shows even though I always (90% of the time) end up waiting 45 minutes.

So with coffee in hand I sat and watched Mark Ronson DJ for a good fifteen minutes until Rachel Zoe arrived and I could stare at her equally gorgeous nude Alaia wedges. Then I pondered Anna Wintour’s security guard. Has she always had him? Does she need him now that’s she’s a movie star? Was it for the mega necklace she was wearing over her beige dress? Bee sat next to her and I wanted to ask if she made it home with as much random candy as a I did post-Courtney Love. Olivier Zahm ended up on the floor next to Genevieve Jones, but after last night’s debaucherous Purple party I’m kind of impressed he made it at all.

We sat on pink chairs, like last season’s LV shows, in a salon set up while the models walked down a plush pink carpet. A retro, sexy stewardess look kicked everything off - including see-through plastic trenches and maribou furs before Zac went for disco with long pleated dresses and vibrant prints. Rachel Zoe was on, “I die” repeat in my head. That J. Alexander was backstage instructing the girls was clear - they pranced down the carpet with hands in the air stopping and twirling twice before hitting the pit.

It was the best Monday morning I’ve ever had.

Here’s something we never do - the answer to last week’s tent-to-salon blind item was Zac Posen.

But it’s not anymore because KCD’s request form (where you list the shows you’d like to attend next to their time and place) says that Zac’s show will be held at the Altman building - a popular albeit small Fashion Week venue that’s played host to Costello Tagliapietra, Charlotte Ronson and Sophie Theallet in the past.

This is strange because

a) It’s small.
b) Zac was one of the major designers IMG’d managed to hold on to.
c) Zac’s shows ooze glamour, which the Altman building does not.

Good thing his dresses are spectacular enough to make up for it.

Bend it Like the Other Beckham: Heidi Mount plays Posh Spice in this on-line only editorial from V. Though “chasing her kids all day,” really? {V}

Not So Fast: Gen Art, the nonprofit organization known for supporting emerging designers (including at points Zac Posen, Sari Gueron and Phillip Lim) is having serious financial trouble. This tipster says, “Gen Art deserves to die.” {Gawker}

Biba-licious: Biba’s up there with Halston as one of the brands we can’t quite keep track of. It’s just been announced that online retailer Marisot will launch Biba for fall using inspiration from past collection. Um, okay. {VogueUK}

Made Over & Under: Trinny and Susannah, the British makeover artists extraordinaire, are coming to America. Actually, they’re already here, taking Eric Wilson shopping and plucking poor souls out of Times Square and into Zara, including one woman who’d never heard of Elle MacPherson. {NYTimes}

Fashion’s Night Out just released their prolific schedule for September 10th.

Seven hundred stores across all five boroughs will stay open until 11pm, but Anna Wintour, Michael Kors, a surprise celebrity guest and the cast of Hair will kick everything off at Macy’s six hours earlier.

At Barneys, Wool & the Gang will teach knitting while Scott Hahn & Rogan of Loomstate customize t-shirts. Zac Posen will be painting inside Bergdorf’s Fifth Avenue windows while Peter Som and Cynthia Rowley have an in-store cook-off. What are we most looking forward to (aside from the Olsens)? A fashion game hosted by Andre Leon Talley with teams led by Donna Karan, Robert Verdi and Linda Fargo.

Various contests will be held throughout the night in which one can win tickets to runway shows, haircuts by Sally Hershberger and Oscar Blandi, a custom Carolina Herrera wedding dress and the chance to be on set during a Demarchelier Vogue shoot. Cindy Crawford, Hugh Jackman, Stephanie Seymour, Sasha, Caroline, Chanel, Lily, The Misshapes, Taylor Momsen, Yasmin le Bon, Coco and Diddy are just a few of the people with planned appearances.

Don’t forget to shop while you’re out ogling your favorite fashion people!

We weren’t sure why Erin Wasson, free, homeless-person loving, Alexander Wang-wearing rock ‘n’ roll hippie decided to show her AW10 line for RVCA at the commercial epicenter of New York Fashion Week, the Bryant Park tents.

Because though she’s a Maybelline face and Maybelline’s sponsoring the tents, all of her cool friends will be downtown at Milk Studios.

Now we’re hearing she’s not just showing in the tents, but in The Tent, the massive space in which Herve Leger stuffs their starlets, Zac Posen housed five pianos and Justin Timberlake played host to Carine, Anna and J.C. Chasez.

How, exactly, is Erin Wasson going to fill such a huge space? Why, exactly, does she want such a huge space? No idea, though now we know why they’re taking forever to come out with the damn Fashion Week Calendar — they’ll need a good hour cushion before and after the show if they expect everyone to head uptown.

London’s abuzz with talk of a Galliano retrospective.

Like Westwood and Laurent before him, some think it’s time the Dior designer’s eponymous clothes receive full attention in an exhibition at say, the Victoria & Albert Museum.

But stylist, author and longtime Galliano cohort Camilla Morton’s been asking high and low for clothes to be lent, only to find a deficit. It’s not that there aren’t enough of Galliano’s clothes in the world, or that they aren’t museum quality from birth. The problem is that not enough have been collected, archived and preserved well enough to sit on a museum stage.

Which makes us think they’ve just been worn well and hard in lieu of preservation, which should thrill the designer. Plus, he’s not even fifty which means they can start repairing and preserving now for a retrospective in twenty years, no?

So take note Zac Posens and Mulleavys of the world, care for those samples of yours so we can admire their quality in a museum thirty years from now and say, “Remember when?”

—REBECCA SUHRAWARDI AUSTIN

This morning Zac Posen spoke to an auditorium full of high school kids at the Museum of Art and Design.

They’re in New York to receive their Scholastic Art and Design Awards - an award Zac won over ten years ago - and gathered to listen to him discuss his career. He listed the designers who influence him - Alaia, Vionnet, Cristobal Balenciaga - and the importance of persistence in fashion.

He talked about observing craftsmanship at Hermes and Alaia, of spending time in London and Paris and about what it takes to be both inspiring and commercially relevant these days. He “hates lazy artists and trends” most and mentioned the pitfalls of fame. He also admitted that he’s “astounded at the levels of sophistication” in fashion blogging.

On models: These models [AW09] are all killer. I call them creatures. They are their own existence. I look for models that I knew really wore fashion, that I knew fashion sang on. Models who can model my clothes. For a lot of designers robots are great but I’m into people loving characters, loving themselves.

On food: I love grocery shopping. I’m a produce fanatic. I’ve gone through very different waist sizes, but right now I’m eating really healthy. Just vegetables and rice mostly. I cook three nights a week. After the Met Ball I went home and made whole wheat pasta and puff pastry!

In a brightly lit section of his lofted office space downtown and set to the tune of a “Love to Love You, Baby” remix, Zac Posen showed his 09/10 Resort Collection to small groups throughout the day. We took in the collection with Kate Lanphear, Hal Rubenstein, and supermodel Pat Cleveland, whose daughter Anna closed the show, as watched beaming with pride.

Hana Soukupova opened the 30 look collection in a structured day dress and was followed down the short runway by girls like Sessilee, Alana, Tiiu, and Jeisa. Mannequins around the room, and even one seated in the front row, showed off additional pieces of the resort collection.

The designer referenced the Studio 54 days of Nan Kempner and Kay Thompson, where they’d be hosting a fancy garden party by day and grooving at the famous club by night. We were particularly taken with the bright bows and one ridiculously larger than life cape over a bubblegum pink gown. And this perfect polka dot suit!

Like all things Zac, it was refined and structured with a few over-the-top elements thrown in for a bit of fun and whimsy. From the splashes of orange under skirts, to the hot pink patent shoes and some super dramatic headwear, it made us smiley and happy in that special way that only Zac can make us feel.

Change has come to America…and the CFDA Awards.

For the first time ever the Council of Fashion Designers of America is giving out a Popular Vote Award, so make your voice heard by heading here to cast your vote for the Mulleavys or Zac or Marc or another designer of your liking.

As a bonus, every time you vote, you’ll be entered to win a trip to a show during fashion week in September…just in case you don’t usually attend.

Get out there and vote, people. Or else you can’t complain about who wins.

—AMANDA JEAN BOYLE

We miss Natalie for a lot of reasons, one of which was her innate knack for tracking down the best food at even the most anorexic fashion party.

Which is why we started waxing nostalgic when we saw this retro video for BabyCakes, the Lower East Side vegan, gluten-free bakery. Owner Erin McKenna make the go-to sweets for the Zac Posens, Phillip Lims and Elise Overlands of the world and she’s finally launching a cookbook, which means we can have our fashion food at home, too.

We have the biggest sweet tooth in the fashion universe and these cupcakes are actually delicious. And since we want to fit into one of these retro suits come summer, a batch of sugarless baked goods is probably the right alternative to the Ben & Jerry’s in our freezer.

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.

Unfortunately no matter how hard you study, no matter which school you go to, no matter how many sports you play in high school, you’re kind of either a model or you’re not.

And if you’re not, you’ll probably never know what it’s like to be one. Unless of course you pepper a super successful one with a million questions. So just in case you never get the chance to do that, we’ve done it for you.

Welcome to Life With Behati in which we grab lunch, go vintage shopping and hang out at her new apartment - so new Ikea boxes are stacked in the corner and clocks sit on the floor.

She’ll tell you what she does all day, why American Vogue’s so blah and why she spent the last week hanging out with a crocodile wrangler.

A couple weeks ago, the first ever Rodarte ad was revealed, months after it appeared in Anthem’s fall issue, which was apparently the only time it appeared at all. The image, featuring a blood-splattered wall behind Karen Elson, was the result of a spontaneous shoot that ended up serving as a one-off ad for the brand that had never advertised before (they have since launched a “real” ad for Spring 09).

And now, it looks like Zac Posen has the done the same: The young designer, who has never launched an ad campaign for his nonetheless coveted label, got some of his fashion friends together to create a one-off ad for Spring 09 to appear in Fanzine 137, an indie magazine from Madrid (though the image does appear first in today’s WWD).

So are quiet, one-time-only ads the new way to go for young designers looking to establish their identity without emptying out their wallets? We’ll see - but if Gareth somehow gets Beyonce to pose under his name for a full-page glossy image, you can call it on a trend on arrival.