Faran Krentcil

Despite the fact that her feathers and fur are purely ornamental, Carine Roitfeld serves as many fashion folk's spirit animal. Enigmatic, powerful, and usually swathed in Alaïa, the French fashion legend has long been everyone's ultimate everything. Now Roitfeld shows you the inner scenes and seams of her life through a new documentary. Called Mademoiselle C, the film, which opens on September 11 in major cities across the US, shadows the smoky-eyed icon through two big events: the launch of her new magazine, CR Fashion Book, and the birth of her first granddaughter, Romy Nicole. (Also: she does a full split on camera. Take that, Betsey Johnson!) I met Roitfeld across the street from Bloomingdales to discuss her latest project, and yes, I was shaking.

Cats have been a chic motif since the Ancient Egyptians worshipped them thousands of years ago (and sure, that Miu Miu print from 2010 helped, too). They've also been pop culture stars thanks to the James Bond / Austin Powers / CeeLo style of super-villain: A wily, hyper-cultured megamind holding a pampered little puffball. Karl Lagerfeld appears to be next in line.

It's been a tough few weeks for mini skirts and the young women who flaunt them. Between CNN's blame-the-victim tone in Steubenville to the helicopter parents picketing Victoria's Secret Pink, you'd think America's most pressing national security issue is teen girls in glittery panties. (And according to Harmony Korine's bubblegum grenade Spring Breakers, that's exactly right.) And on the fashion front, T Magazine editor Deborah Needleman tweets "Say goodbye to slut clothes"...

"So do you want to talk about this?" asks Leah. This being Suzy Menkes' "Circus of Fashion" article from T, which turned into this "Blog is a Dirty Word" manifesto from Leandra Medine, which rolled into this "Sad Clown" response from Susie Lau. (A Times story called "My Look, My Ego, My Brand" snuck in there, as well, as did a piece questioning whether fashion bloggers have gone "too far" on The Daily Beast.) So what do I think about this? I think I need some whiskey.

Most people remember the leather leggings from Rodarte's last show. Not me. I remember covertly pressing the show notes into my right knee, desperately trying to stop the bleeding. Let me explain:

Believe it or not, Fashionista turns five years old this month. Which is, you know, pretty old in blog years. To celebrate our big bday, we've asked all of Fashionista's former editors (in chronological order that's Faran Krentcil, Natalie Hormilla, Abby Gardner, Britt Aboutaleb, and Lauren Sherman) to reflect back on their time at Fashionista from the highs (seeing a Chanel show) to the lows (being chewed out by Arianne Phillips for leaking her fashion week plans and costing her a client). First up, the girl who started it all, the inimitable Faran Krentcil, who is now Nylon's digital director. To Begin With: Everything. Some people think I started Fashionista from my bedroom with a pinch of magic, an overdose of ambition, and some Skittles. That's not really what happened. Not even close.

Attention, Russian readers: If you're stashing black nail polish, thick eyeliner, purple lipstick, or some spike bracelets, you may be in trouble with

Daisy Lowe may have left IMG, but she's still consistent on one thing: Her ad campaigns. Today we learned Ms. Lowe was retained by Doc Martens for the

The new Guess? ads are out, and they're great, but a little bit sad. After all, if Amy Winehouse were healthy, she'd look exactly like this picture of

WHICH not-quite socialite has her polite publicist pitching writers on "her favorite places to shop in Brooklyn?" This would only be mildly annoying,

Looks like Karl Lagerfeld has some competition: It seems his new / old muse, Claudia Schiffer, won't just be posing for him at Chanel anymore. We he

Dubai's seen a lot of fashion action lately, first with Calvin Klein dropping by the paradise city, then Zac Posen and Roberto Cavalli flying into t

A few years ago, Twiggy became the face of Marks & Spencer, joining Erin O'Conner and Lily Cole in representing the British department store. Now it s

A few of you, like us, have wondered where some of the bigger models have been during this week's couture shows. Thanks to Rajni over at NYLON, we at

Considering that it's now July 2nd, most of us thought that the incredibly anticipated issue of Vogue Italia would already be on newsstands, at least

We have no idea how this would work, but we want to believe it works anyway: Three students from a high school in Scotland came up with a device that

Today's dose of Vogue UK tells us that not only are Lazaro and Jack coming out with their first full-range of shoes (two months...), but now, so is Hu

To: Natalie@Fashionista.com From: ShirtDresses@Francophile.com Hey! Went to the sale at Curve yesterday, and your favorite (Isabel Marant) is very on

Kanye West's been dabbling in the fashion world for a while now, sitting at shows, rapping about Trovata, performing for Louis Vuitton, and making his

Madonna has been one of fashion's most fickle friends; all too ready to call Jean Paul Gaultier or Olivier Theyskens when she feels like donning coutu

To: Tips@Fashionista.com. From: Loves Shoes@PRGirl.com Hey! Do you all have any info on the Louboutin sale going on today? I overheard co-workers talk

--KYLE HAYES

Just after the weekend took off, Louis Vuitton and Comme des Garçons announced that they will open a joint store in Tokyo on September 4th, the day b