That Derek will host Mary Kate and Ashley, plus The MisShapes and the misfits and Ben Cho and Lily Donaldson, at a Paris party this Sunday.

The bash is also thrown by Opening Ceremony (the store responsible for Chloe Sevigny's line) and GrandLife NYC (even though we're in Paris). It's at Paris Paris, which is probably one of the most fun places we've danced in the whole world.

If you're in Paris, zoom on down.

Oh, and Derek's not the only one holding court this week:

Today, Alexander McQueen and his posse headline the notorious Don't Tell My Booker bash, which is usually a coke-fueled streak of "Oh my gosh, I can't believe I did that" - albeit, not for the models walking in Lanvin, etc, on the weekend.

Brett: Really? It impressed me!

Britt: If a woman were to actually wear these clothes, Carine and Jennifer Connelly aside, she would look so scary, almost like a modern day warrior. The shoes practically look like weapons! Chic weapons, of course. The clothes are stunning, but more so as pieces of art, not something to actually put on your body.

Brett: But don't you think the Balenciaga Runway is like a petri dish for ideas? Nicolas pushes fashion forward, and to quote one of my favorite Cathy Horyn-isms, “adjusts the eye”. Also, what is the Balenciaga customer if not an urban warrior? All those curved seams, studs - for crying out loud, the house was rebuilt on a motorcycle bag!

Britt: The runway might be a platform on which to present an idea instead of necessarily wearable clothes, but shouldn't we at least aspire to wear that idea, especially if it's supposed to be Ready to Wear?

Brett: Leave all the subsidiary Balenciaga lines to give women something to wear, but let the seasonal shows provide clothes for the daring and the bored!

Discuss!

-Last year, I dragged my entire family to her exhibition at San Francisco's DeYoung Museum. They were confused but they played along.

-I once announced to the office that I'd wear absolutely anything and everything by Dame Vivienne. (In truth I'd probably only wear 90% of it, but I'll still admire the last 10%.)

Case in point: From yesterday's collection, I'd have to say no to the fur suit - look 23 - and the stilts. But I'd happily don the rest, (minus the face paint).

Her dresses and jackets - made of sharp folds and eloquent draping - look more like sculptures than clothing. Last night, they were painted by second grade students instructed to explore a jungle-warrior theme. It made me want to take a paintbrush to my summer dresses from last year, but since they aren't Vivienne in the first place I know they'd look ridiculous.

I don't know how she makes jungle-warrior-English-pirate-ripped-bulky clothes with sashes look so amazing - but she does. And I love her for it.

I knew just from passing the window on the street that this flowy, yellow and white checked top was the exact degree of light handed pretty that I wanted to project that particular summer. I have been one of her devoted followers ever since.

A sign that we're fashion soul mates? She made the exact top that I have been searching endlessly for - tan and almost-red, plaid, but only subtly (look 33.)

I don't hear enough about Isabel Marant over here. I'm not sure why - her clothes are so perfectly wearable, and not at all in the boring sense.

Couldn't you see the dress at left on a 75-degree day?

Looks like the runways have taken a cue from Balenciaga's florals- they've blossomed even bigger at Marchesa, Blumarine, and Benjamin Cho for Fall. Now we have an urge to go home and watch the Secret Garden...

--JAZZI McGILBERT

"Looking at the floor made me nauseas," moaned one fashion friend. "The bags were patterned and the tile was patterned and I really needed a Dramamine."

"Headache!" emailed another editor, "Total headache!" Though perhaps she was talking about the collection...

A model also texted in to tell us the floor caused many girls to fear tripping over themselves, which may be why no girls who have fallen in the past - Stam, May Anderson - were cast in the show.

Instead, Natasha Poly opened, which means she'll probably be a face of the brand for another year - hopefully the campaign set will cause less vertigo than the current runway.

I stayed up way too late last night reading an article on you in the new Vogue UK. You came across differently than most designers. Softer, more intellectual, maybe even slower thinking - none of which is better or worse - just different. I liked you.

Then I woke up this morning and looked through the pictures from yesterday's show and I changed my mind - I love you.

The next time someone asks me what I want to be when I grow up, I'm not going to ramble incessantly about the million and one things I plan to do in the next thirty years; instead, I'll say, "I want to be the kind of woman who wears Bottega Veneta." Which will, I think, sum up those million things nicely.

The monochromatic palette is ideal, the shapes are surprising yet appealing, and the simplicity is what makes it all truly perfect. And that tailoring - I can imagine each dress fitting my size 8 body as well as Freja's size zero. (Very differently! But still well.)

So thanks for giving me an answer to that terrible question. And thanks for giving me something so tangible to look forward to.

xo,
Britt

These looks from London's Armand Basi, Erdem, and Eley Kishimoto could have popped straight out of a Saturday morning cartoon. Or a Crayola box. The 64-ct. of course.

--JAZZI McGILBERT

"Sasha missing from Prada! Sasha missing from Prada!"

And, well, she's right:

There's no Sasha in the Prada show...

But does that mean there will be no Sasha in the upcoming Prada ads?

Well, let's not get ahead of ourselves...

Though Ms. Pivovarova might finally get to go to art school next season!

That's what we're hearing out of Milan - that Ms. Dunn was indeed booked in the show that launched Sasha, Gemma, and Daria Werbowy.

Also walking in Prada this morning:

A series of black-and-white laced petticoats and whale-bone inspired hip stomachers that look like a cross between the Infantata and a tablecloth...

But more on those later - so far, our favorite Milan runways have been Burberry and Just Cavalli (we know, we're shocked too).

After the long reign of Kate Moss and the brief intervention of Aussie Gemma Ward, the campaign shot by Testino has scooped up Lily Donaldson, Agyness Deyn, Keira Gormley, Morwenna Cobbald, and Georgia Frost.

The only girl left is Daisy Lowe, who's lent herself to Doc Martens and Agent Provocateur, but not yet worn the famous Burberry check.

That may soon change, as the daughter of Gavin Rossdale and designer Pearl Lowe was finally spotted on the Burberry Prorsum runway yesterday. She looked cute in her amber necklace and Erin Wasson cap, and walked alongside Lily, Aggie, and the rest of them.

Will she appear in store windows next season?

It would be silly to think not - unless Fred Perry or someone's already called their dibs.

According to Vogue UK, up-and-coming designer James Long showed a well-received line for Topman's MAN runway, only to have the entire collection stolen from his East End studio hours later.

The strangest part? Everything else in the studio, including the designer's laptops, were in their normal place. Only the clothes - all but a few accessories - were taken.

No word yet on how the burglars entered the space - but we're curious if it's the same group that raided Alexander McQueen and Marc Jacobs back in December. We doubt it, since that group's signature move was to "smash and grab" - ride by on mopeds and smash the windows of store-front displays to grab whatever they can.

We're not sure how to calculate the street value of obviously stolen clothes. But since only the clothes were stolen, maybe they really are just a group of fashion fanatics?

In any case, we suggest questioning all the well-dressed men hanging out in Hackney. Or, rounding up all the victimized designers and finding out if this is some ploy to gain publicity...

Last year, they had some choice t-shirts and a really gorgeous caftan by artist Julie Verhoeven.

This season, they're striking out on their own, with a tiny but very cool collection of cocktail frocks and menswear that manages to straddle the line between rumpled and style conscious, probably because all of their designs are really fresh and rather young.

The question is whether Mulberry can take the fan base they've got for their bags and transfer it, slowly, into their entire lifestyle brand. It's something that Kate Spade and Coach are doing here in the States, and something Mulberry's invested a lot of time, money, and coolness into cultivating in London.

Bottom line:

We really dig the clothes, especially the printed blue dress, but if these outfits are as expensive as the Mulberry bags, we'll have to raid TopShop for an alternative...

Oh, Daily Rubbish

We wish you were every week -

Not just London Fashion Week.

Because nobody writes about frenemy kissing.

And even if they did, it wouldn't be like you.

"You have to see this girl!" she gasped, post ThreeAsFour, "I couldn't take my eyes off her!"

So I kept my eyes peeled, and when I saw her saunter at Peter Som, I had to agree. Her look: Regal cheekbones and exaggerated cat-eyes. Her walk: One of the best I'd seen.

Though she walked Marc Jacobs and Ralph Lauren last year, her big break came when Kate Moss chose her as the face of Kate's Christmas collection for Topshop. She went on to walk twenty shows last week and Gap just released the first image from her new ad campaign, at left.

You might not understand our love for models, but really, who wouldn't want to look at (or like) a girl like that?

But these were for Fall, and they were everywhere: Erin Fetherston, Peter Som, Michael Kors, Sari Gueron and Derek Lam to name just a few.

The idea is appealing. On a disgusting rainy/slushy/snowy day like today, a purple floral mini would make the day a little more bearable.

But the truth is that we're already a little over the floral thing, and for most people, it's only just started. When we saw Anna in that yellow and blue-flowered skirt (a couple times) last week, we didn't think, "Oh, how pretty," (and it was!) We thought, "Oh, it's that Prada skirt. Again."

Maybe it's because we work in fashion, or maybe it's because we have the attention span of a six year-old, but we feel like florals (especially the Balenciaga kind,) have been dominating editorials for months, and so to just now see them on the street, we can't help but feel over it, and totally surprised (and bored) to see it again for Fall.

We're pretty sure we're still going to rock some cute floral dresses with gladiators in a couple months, but come October, we think we'll probably have moved on to stars or swirls or something in between.

Would you invest in key floral pieces for fall? Or will this trend never make it off the runways?

The above Suzy Menkes maze is exactly why we love the fun kids at London Fashion Week's Daily Rubbish. If there was a New York version of this (paging Faran!) we think the maze girl would be Anna, and the task would be getting out of each show as quickly as possible, but without the help of that heaping bodyguard guy she uses to part the crowds.

Backstage at Christopher Kane, the gentle hum of fashion prep time was interrupted by the arrival of Liya Kebede, whom we hear flew into Kane's show because of an Anna Wintour phone call (though of course this could be a rumor).

Also spotted:

Daiane Conterato, Kate Lanphear, Tammy Kane, and a few piles of white silk dresses waiting to get steamed.

Have a look!

--PHOTOS BY MORGAN O'DONOVAN (surprised yet?)

When it debuted this morning on the London catwalk, you could tell pretty instantly that it was part of a much bigger thread, the one that spins from British and Scottish sewing traditions of needlepoint, weaving, and - well, lots of sheep.

The difference is that Kane intersperses the fuzz with metal embellishments, with sequins, with really cinched waists that cut into his cableknits. The effect is cool, and tribal, and a little bit unsexy - not a bad thing when the current trend is to look, somehow, like your outfit has either imploded, exploded, or both.

There was also some very cool string art happening, strewn across the bodices in patterns that looked like dream catchers, but also like a quantum physics charts where galaxies collide with time, and love can't stack up to gas and light years and infinity - but it was all contained in the space between one breast and the other.

So the yarn / string / wool theme is one reason for the Spindle Collection, but the other is this:

The models looked like needles with haystack hair. We support every designer's right to create their own vision, but we really like the vision better when it includes spaghetti, 1 % milk, and avocados.

That said, we appreciated Liya Kebede because she had both the best skin and the best walk of any girl there, and she was 10 years older than most of them - exactly the right age to actually wear a Christopher Kane gown.

--AMAZING PHOTOS, AS ALWAYS, FROM MORGAN O'DONOVAN

Which model couldn't keep her lunch down at her final Calvin Klein fitting? Her gown had to be re-made just days before the show and her lunch, well we hope she kept something down since she walked so many runways last week.

--BRETT KANE

--PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEREMY KOST

For more, check out RoidRage.

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.

We heard from someone working with Marc that tonight's show is a Sonic Youth concert, with a stage instead of a runway, a stadium seating plan instead of a catwalk alley, and basically pandemonium point five. Is it true? We'll find out in... well, either one hour or four hours, depending on when, exactly, the clothes are ready. Place your bets.

Yesterday at the fin de Tommy Hilfiger, Britt and I watched Lily Donaldson climbing into a cab.

Magdalena tried to go with her, but after a quick chat that we couldn't hear, Lily slid the door with a curt thwump and Magdalena joined two other brunettes on the curb, arms flailing, "Omigosh we need to get to Zac," etc.

Like anything involving a show-stopping blonde, the whole thing seemed slow motion, and when it came back to real time, Britt and I realized we were cold, we were tired, and we were like a foot from the subway.

"Let's go," I charged and we clomped in teetering shoes down to the bottom.

Tanya D. was there, too, and so was Richie Rich from Heatherette.

"Are you kidding, it's rush hour," he chirped, "This is the only way to get somewhere on time."

We hear from M.A.C that Tanya D. was, in fact, one of the first girls to arrive backstage for Mr. Posen.

Behind the cover, models flowed from a purple paper forest in sheer purple dresses and furry purple heels. The polka-dotted pieces reminded us of Georges Seurat and probably should have been on a Spring runway, but we loved them anyway.

Toward the end we swore we were seeing dresses of shredded black paper. As animal shapes emerged, we wondered if we'd had too much prosecco: animal crackers, Where the Wild Things Are,Kara Walker? At the end of the show we scrambled for a program and sure enough the last three looks were "inspired by Kara Walker".

That might have been a great idea that just didn't translate well onto the runway.

But Parker Posey appeared thrilled. And if anyone can pull it off; she's the one.

Karen Elson - pre-fall at Zac's Fall Show

Freja, Coco, Irina, Chanel - Just posing pre-Posen...

--PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEREMY KOST

For more, check out RoidRage.

Maggie was at Tommy?

Hmm....

--PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEREMY KOST

For more, check out RoidRage.

A slumber party fashion show?

Julia might look lost and confused...

But you know we love it.

--PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEREMY KOST

For more, check out RoidRage.

Karen Elson fell during the finale of the Zac Posen show, about four hours ago.

She was wearing a long and winding dress with fabric splayed out like a slinky run over, and she looked absolutely incredible... and then she just kind of dropped.

After the five seconds of gasp, whisper, snap, Karen gracefully pushed herself back up to standing with a huge smile on her face and kept walking.

The audience burst into massive, booming applause, and then came the finale.

Karen Elson, you're damn cool, and we salute you.

There's still hope, sort of:

It basically resurfaced on the Temperley runway yesterday, with a slightly toned-down shape and a repeat of the cross-front, stripes, and colors that everyone loved back in September of '06, when the dress originally debuted on Coco Rocha.

Karlie Kloss rocks the new version at right; it won't be on sale until August, but we expect it'll cost around $750 - more expensive than the Anna Sui version, but it does come with pockets.

Looks a little wasted...

Oh yeah, it's almost the end of Fashion Week...

--PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEREMY KOST

For more, check out RoidRage.

Oh, and Agyness, too.

--PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEREMY KOST

For more, check out RoidRage.

"If anyone asks if that's really your seat, just say yes in a foreign accent." -- One girl to another as they squeezed next to the Vogue row at Phillip Lim...

Caroline, we know Fashion Week is insane...

But please pull out someone else's hair...

Yours is too pretty...

--PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEREMY KOST

For more, check out RoidRage.

Lily Evans is Rodnik's amazing PR director.

She is lovely, funny, cool... and currently missing her favorite pair of Charles Jourdan heels, studded at the bottom with Swarovski crystals.

She lost them when Phil and Rich picked her up onstage at the Box during the Rodnik concert and swirled her around, and left the party in a spare pair of Keds.

If you found them, please email lily@rodnik.co.uk and send them back.

Also send her your size, because surely one of those Rodnik dresses doesn't have to go back to London...

We believed they were the real deal since she put them on only after the lights dimmed and the first model stepped on the runway.

But then we saw her walk in with them at Frank Tell, then Chris Benz, and now Jeremy's snapped them on her face once again at the Ksubi and Sex + Fashion party.

So what do you think - visual aid or hipster accoutrement?

--PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEREMY KOST

For more, check out RoidRage.

I crashed the Temperley show tonight***, and about an hour later (when the show finally started), Alice Temperley crashed D & G's party.

The flowy, threaded British designer steered her usual knit dresses and cropped jackets into something straddling S & M wear, with black police caps, tight leather pants, and black garters chafing through sheer black capes and tunics. All the models wore shimmery boots which reached past their needs and came equipped, or maybe I should say armored, with a four inch pointy heel.

It was a little bit of a shock for those of us who cling to Alice's trademark hippie-chic outfits the way that we cling to our friends at the end of a loud party, but there was some very cool stuff:

A gold crocheted evening gown that looked like an Art Nouveau fish net and swooshed capably through the night. A really fun silk striped dress in black and white bias with red flowers on the bottom, echoed in a red and white zagged evening dress that Gwen Stefani will totally want (us, too). And she paired all her long, jewel-tone chiffon dresses with high black boots, which was kind of '90s but also kind of awesome, especially for those of us who take the subway everywhere - even to the Whitney Ball.

When the show was over, everyone bolted - they'd just lost an hour of their Gucci Party prep, or (like me), they were starving.

***The Temperley Show was crashed with permission from their publicists. No seat holders were harmed in the making of this crashing. Do not try this at home, though if you're near Bryant Park, we'd secretly say go for it.***

- Is this a party or a fashion show? People are actually dancing in their seats!

- Damn! We shouldn't have let our friends talk us out of those fringed boots.

- Is that Riley Keogh sandwiched between Amy Astley and Russel Simmon's in a group hug? (It was.)

- Karen Elson, Agyness, Coco, Chanel, Stam, Ali, Sasha P., Lara, Lily - we're in Fashionista's version of heaven!

- Hmm, Sui just transitioned from a Native American tribal vibe to luau appropriate prints and headdresses to a Russian peasant thing in one fell swoop...

- Wait, why is Russell Simmons here?

- Is Agyness wearing an outfit from The Little Mermaid on ice?

- There's really no point in buying clothes in any color but purple ever again.

- We know the pictures are terrible. Sorry, we were having too much fun!

There was an origami pleated, yellow printed mini skirt that we could find a way to wear everyday, but the floor length, ruched, beaded and ombred gowns were a bit much.

And the fur trimmed everything seemed strangely inappropriate in the midst of the industry's current anti-fur stance, not to mention among the lingering Charlotte Ronson pins.

We still enjoyed the show. We giggled at Karlie's death walk/stare and fell deeper in love with Tanya D.

Last year's Michael Kors ads might have been awful, but after seeing her on the runway everyday for the past week, well, we're kind of obsessed.

The skylight lit room was draped in heavy black curtains and the square shaped runway looked primed for an interpretive dance performance.

Instead, we watched Ikeliene, Ali and Masha walk around it in a solid, commercial collection.

The show's theme went from retro - brightly colored coat dresses paired with boxy hats a la Balenciaga '06 - to hippie - floral chiffon dresses topped with fur vests and low-slung belts. Waistlines varied from super high trousers to party skirts that hit at the hips.

Our first thought: If just one of these dresses hung in our closet, getting dressed in the morning would be so much easier.