Pitti W

The guest designers for June's Pitti Uomo and Pitti W in Florence have been officially announced.

Croatian designer Damir Doma is certainly making the rounds on the international fashion scene. The designer just wrapped showing his men's and women's lines in Paris, has a loyal following in New York (including our own Leah Chernikoff and A$AP Rocky), and now it looks like he might be headed to Italy. According to WWD, Doma is rumored to be the next guest designer at Pitti Imagine's Pitti W trade show, which runs from June 18 to 21 in Florence.

FLORENCE--Despite having a cult following of cool kids, being stocked at Colette and Opening Ceremony, and just this year opening a store to much buzz in New York's NoMad hotel, 10-year-old French/Japanese record label/fashion brand Maison Kitsuné had never put on a fashion show until last night.

Kenzo and Maison Kitsune will be the next guest designers at Pitti Uomo and Pitti W, respectively. {WWD, subscription required} Taylor Swift and boyfriend Conor Kennedy have reportedly split, which is a bummer for them, but it can only mean another awesome breakup anthem for us to jam out to. {Us Weekly} Oh look: Lady Gaga is crawling out of a giant mouth in this editorial for Harper's Bazaar Spain, shot by Steven Klein. {ONTD} Every year Heidi Klum goes all out for Halloween, and this year she's giving us a look at how it gets done. Take a peek at this video of her not-quite-finished Cleopatra costume. {AOL}

Here's a news item with a lot of P's. Peter Pilotto will show at this year's Pitti W event, which will run from June 19 to the 22nd. {Vogue UK} Nicholas Kirkwood is not feeling Duchess Kate Middleton. The shoe designer says she isn't "princessy" enough. Way to throw shade, Nick. Maybe he's just mad she doesn't wear his shoes? {Grazia} If you thought Birkins were expensive, peep this freshwater pearl-encrusted Chanel shell bag. This puppy will set you back $48,000! {Refinery 29} Beyoncé posted a picture of her newest nameplate necklace to her tumblr. Whose name is she rocking? Blue Ivy's, of course! {I Am Beyonce}

Pitti Uomo, Florence's twice-yearly trade show and a must stop for everyone who's anyone in the men's fashion industry, has launched E-Pitti.com, an extension of Uomo, as well as their women's trade show, Pitti W. This virtual trade show features a "live" archive of photos and videos from the collections showcased last June. There are over 60,000 photos and 1,000 videos currently living on the site, available to those who registered from June's event.

For their site-specific event at Pitti Immagine, which took place last night, the Rodarte sisters--Kate and Laura Mulleavy--chose an empty building in central Florence. This served as a space for 10 couture-quality gowns, inspired by Fra Angelico's frescoes in the monks' cells at the Convent of San Marco, as well as Bernini's The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa. The tiny rooms--set up like cells--featured strobe lights and classical music such as "Pachelbel's Canon," setting a solemn, intense mood. The Mulleavys worked with longtime collaborator, designer Alexandre de Betak, to build the installation. The capsule, created in Los Angeles, stands apart from the designers' other collections. "It's completely separate," Laura said at a press preview yesterday morning. "We wanted to include what we love about the city, about the fashion."

FLORENCE--It's that time of year again. We've landed in Italy for Pitti Immagine, the biannual trade show featuring the best of men's fashion, as well as up-and-coming women's designers. This season's highlights include a Band of Outsiders runway show this evening and a Rodarte event tomorrow night, where the sister duo will launch a new collection as well as their first book: Rodarte, Catherine Optie, Alec South. But as the young ones from Los Angeles prepared to take the stage, Pitti 80 kicked off with a particularly cool exhibition, curated by fashion historian and critic Olivier Saillard, whose most recent work includes the Madame Gres exhibit at the Palais Galliera fashion museum (where he is director). To uniquely highlight several of the standout menswear brands at the fair (including Brunello Cucinelli and Church's), Saillard envisioned "Dress Like a Man," a runway show/exhibition where female models twisted and reshaped traditional menswear into body conscious skirts, jackets, and dresses.

The folks behind Pitti Immagine, who put on the renowned Florence-based fashion fairs Pitti Uomo and Pitti W, hosted a luncheon this week to tell fashion editors what's in store this June. First off, Pitti Immagine is seriously loving LA this season, as Band of Outsiders' Scott Sternberg and Rodarte's Kate and Laura Mulleavy are the special guest designers for the men's and women's trade shows. Sternberg will present, according to a release, "a multifacted fashion event" on June 15 for Pitti Uomo while the Mulleavy sisters are working on a top-secret site-specific presentation and special collection for Pitti W. But there's another headliner at Pitti this June, an indication that the event is making strides to up their web visibility and star-factor: Sarah Jessica Parker and 40 fashion bloggers.

Pitti Uomo and Pitti W, the renown trade shows that take place twice-yearly in Florence, will welcome Rodarte's Kate and Laura Mulleavy as well as Band of Outsiders' Scott Sternberg as this season's guest designers. (The next edition of Pitti Uomo + Pitti W takes place June 14-17.)

I spent last week in Florence, Italy covering Pitti Uomo and Pitti W, the men's and women's trade shows known best for translating high-fashion trends to retail. You won't find middle-of-the-road brands at this event: Each label is either steeped in tradition, or starting a revolution in its specific category. (Whether that's men's brogues, outerwear, bow ties, or hats.) When I wasn't scurrying off to press previews, runway shows, or, um, blogging, I was floating from booth to booth, checking out what the vendors had on offer. Here's a bit of what I saw. (Tomorrow, I'll reveal my new street style icon, who I found at the fair.)