Overheard in an elevator last night:

A young designer (we won't mention your name, though we know it), babbling to a friend about how most investment banks won't put money into a fashion label until it's made $10 million.

The exception, she said, was Theory, whose president, Andrew Rosen, is meeting with emerging designers, she said, to invest in smaller brands, she said.

The only catch?

If your label is successful, Theory will always get a percentage of your sales - she said.

It's a cool story if it's true, but if you're silly enough to talk loudly in a crowded elevator about your secret business meetings, maybe you're also silly enough to get your facts wrong...

WHICH editor takes a stand against extreme diets in public, but has a different set of rules for her staff? Underlings take their food outside or close their office doors for fear of being caught with anything but water and the occasional cut veggie.

Which designer used to alert the paparazzi of both her presence at and the location of family functions when she was married to a blue blooded American?

So here's the most fun/awful rumor of the day -

The reason Kate Moss was missing from Saturday night's Life Ball in Vienna - the annual runway show/party that raises money for AIDS research, for which Kate was set to be the sort-of-face via Agent Provocateur's sponsorship - is pretty simple. Apparently, she "just bailed".

So the Agent people did a last-minute switch, which ended up with Lily Cole taking Kate's place, which inexplicably involved a leather catsuit (of course, Faran's made sure we all get to see Lily in it, Vienna or not).

Next logical rumor: Lily for Agent? But what would her Political Geography 401 professors say?!

A source inside the Hearst building says "it's all true." Marie Claire. Project Runway. Everything. Expect a formal announcement a little later today.

This morning WWD reported that ELLE's Joe Zee and Anne Slowey have started a New York City promo tour for the CW's "Fashionistas".

But there seems to be a little confusion on the Tyra front, or someone missed the memo.

Reuters now reports that the show is called Stylista, and the contestants will vie for the coveted ELLE position as well as two other prizes we haven't heard before: a year's paid lease on a Manhattan apartment and - perhaps the most covetable of all - a yearlong shopping allowance at H&M worth $100,000.

Hey, at least we don't have to share our name anymore...

-- JAZZI McGILBERT

At last night's Dior Cruise show, Christina Aguilera sang along to her own song during the big finale while a lot of glitter fell from the models' nails and eyelashes.

Meanwhile, Allure countess Linda Wells had two empty seats next to her in the front row, leaving everyone to wonder whose they were supposed to be.

All sorts of rumors flew, from Madonna to Beyonce, and the clever boy who speculated the seats were for the ghost of Dior's past, but if you actually know, then you know the drill:

Email tips@fashionista.com and reveal all.

Tell early; tell often.

xoxo Fashionista.

WHICH lovely actress arrived on set for a photo shoot and then refused to wear the fur clothes the stylist had pulled? Did we mention the shoot had a previously announced fur theme?

WHICH pop legend turned down both an invite to the Costume Ball and the cover of Fashion Rocks? She tells influential photographers that she disagrees with what Vogue tells American women.

Ok - we know, alright?

We know Gossip Girl doesn't exactly qualify as news. We know we reference the show a lot as it is. We know it's probably weird to cancel Monday night plans to make sure we're parked on the couch at exactly 8pm.

But you know what else we know? We know Gossip Girl's as good as everyone says it is, and not just for the fashion - yes, we love the plot lines, too.

One of the best parts about Gossip Girl, other than the accessories, is that it's turning out to be a sort of murder mystery, and we've realized that all of the episodes are littered with clues.

So allow us to indulge ourselves (and if the comments section is to be believed, to indulge you guys, too) by musing a bit on what we think is going to happen in the next two episodes.

Please don't click through if you aren't up to speed with the show. Spoilers abound...

Which super awesome, uber fashionable stylist still owes her poor assistant $2,500 from shoots that took place in 2007? The spreads turned out to be awesome and the assistant's sworn off fashion - but she still wants her money...

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?

This weekend, several blog posts emerged from San Francisco, claiming Christian Siriano had gotten wasted at a bar, pitched a fit, and gotten thrown out on his fierce tranny ass.

The problem?

Christian's been in New York all week, working on dresses for the MTV Video Music Awards (among other things).

So if it's not Christian raising hell on Haight Street, then who is flipping their asymmetrical haircut to the point of total damnation?

Well, who's seen Amy Poehler this week?

To: Britt@fashionista.com

From: BoyWhoCriedFashion@newschool.edu

Happy Met Monday Girls!

Word is, Peter Som will be doing double duty at the ball tonight. He'll walk the steps once with a top model dressed in Blass, and then again a little bit later with a certain indie film actress with a big movie coming out this summer. The actress, who considered not attending the event, is being helicoptered into the city especially for the event at the behest of A.W.

Hope Peter's quads are in good shape.

xoxo
B

Update: According to WWD, the actress is Maggie Gyllenhaal and the model - Jourdan Dunn!

This morning as I was chauffeured to work in my town car, I received a message from Natalie via telegram about a Russian billioneiress coming to New York with plans to take over the country by making everyone wear pink - in case you haven't heard, the much-hyped Kira Plastinina store on Broadway is finally open. Needless to say, I had to investigate.

I entered the store surreptitiously to avoid detection, and did a little recon to find out more about the subject.

Pictures of Kira and Paris Hilton plastered on the walls, faux-Gucci sunglasses perched on the heads of mannequins, Bebe Sport-ish looking jackets except more bedazzled, employees decked in House of Holland shirts, and handlers making bold claims like "we're opening 400 stores" - Basically, it looked exactly like what you'd think a 15-year old would design. And the store was packed with customers.

Amused by the entourage but kind of freaked out by the surplus of pink sparkles, I did a double take when I saw the real girl, dressed down in a textured black coat, white jeans and pink platforms far too high for her to manage. I followed her outside and stopped her after a photo op.

Our conversation, if you could call it that, went something like this:

WHICH French fashion house's intern strolled into work yesterday after 1 pm because her boss was out sick? The problem is that several big fashion houses were rather desperate to receive looks for their shoots, and decided to go with other (more prompt) designers instead...