Andre Balazs

For some, fashion week ended not with a bang, but a pop. Over at Tasting Table, the private dining room and kitchen in West Soho, André Saraiva and Andre Balazs launched a champagne--a collaborative effort with sparkling wine authority Fabien Gay--named Artéis & Co.

The coolest of the cool crowd are abandoning the South Fork for this quieter spot.

With nearly 300 runway shows and presentations taking place next week, not every designer on the New York Fashion Week schedule gets a spot at Lincoln Center, or even Milk Studios. Nor do some of them want one. Alterna venues reign amongst the cool kids—Proenza Schouler, Band of Outsiders and Rag & Bone, to name a few—and the stalwarts (Oscar de Renta, Donna Karan and Ralph Lauren always show off-site). Under-the-radar spaces are also the best bet for emerging designers who many not be able to afford the high costs of the Tents. (Milk Studios is better for young designers, but spots are limited.) Here are a few off-the-map venues generating heat this season:

The Clothes: With sexy clothes in black and white, Diesel Black Gold riffed on its own signature style. Models trotted out in micro-minis with dangli

When a source emailed me this weekend to ask if I knew what shows Pippa Middleton would be attending New York fashion week my reaction was something

Playboy is (finally) putting their entire archives online at iPlayboy.com, accessible through phone, iPad, and laptop. Yes, the entire archives. Are you drooling yet? To celebrate, the mag asked some fashion/art/film folk to pick out their favorite images from Playboys of the past for an exhibit which opened last night at Partners and Spade (and lives online too). This group of fashion-y curators included: Simon Doonan, Waris Alhuwalia, André Balazs, and Sarah Shotton, the creative director of Agent Provacateur among others. Unsurprisingly everyone played it safe--less lady bits and more culture. The party, however, featured large prints of Playboy bunnies on the wall for sale at $1500 a pop. Naturally the retro styles and naked woman were a conversation topic among the trillions of guests. (Seriously, was all of the East Village there to make up for Simon Doonan's absence?) There was such a large young crowd, so I did some investigative journalism and ask the guests what makes vintage Playboy so alluring to twenty-somethings today. (Hint: no one said the articles.) So click through to see the images selected by big shots (plus their commentary from the exhibit) and to find out what motivates contemporary readers to revisit Playboy's past. (Obvs NSFW)

Get Involved: Though there are a handful of dissenters, the relationship between fashion and Gaga isn't waning. You can play, too. Nick Knight and R

You gotta love a day when you get to namecheck Candy Pratts Price, not once, but twice. The Style.com Fashion Director is co-chairing a major charity

As of today, the fashion crowd in NYC has a new go-to dining establishment, The Standard Grill at Andre Balazs' recently opened Standard Hotel, just u

Le Book has been holding their Conversation Series for a little over a year. Each time they host an international event, they bring together two impor