Tim Blanks

The Man Behind Bill Cosby's Famous Sweaters: You've probably admired his work your entire life. Now, you can finally meet the man behind the mask--er, sweaters. We talked to Koos van der Akker, Bill Cosby's sweater designer, about his work, his relationship with the lovable comedian, and not meeting his customers. These Fashion Words Need to Be Retired Immediately: We've all been guilty of using them at some point or another, but words like "maj," "everything," "obsessed," and "situation" really need to disappear from fashion vocabulary--sooner rather than later, please. Roaming the City with a Top Model Scout: We hung out with model scout Lanny Zenga of One Management and learned the tricks of the trade--including where scouts go to find new talent. If you're an aspiring model, start haunting these locations, stat!

The latest in a string of "designers fighting back" memos has emerged. This time around, Jean Paul Gaultier has shamed Style.com critic Tim Blanks for giving the French designer's widely panned couture show a negative review, telling the CFDA Eugenia Sheppard Media Award winner that he needs to "brush up on his fashion history." As nasty and hurtful as Gaultier's words may be, he's certainly not embarking on new territory. Over the past year, designers have steadily criticized their critics.

The open letter is back. Didn't you kinda miss it? While you were out boozing and barbecuing and taking in the fireworks on July 4th, Jean Paul Gaultier was busy typing out an open letter to Style.com's Tim Blanks following his less-than-stellar review of the designer's fall 2013 couture show.

And that's a wrap. The 2013 CFDA award winners have been named and now they're out partying at The Standard (the official Swarovski-sponsored after party) and Westway (the exclusive Givenchy after-party) and wherever else the night may take them. Proenza Schouler nabbed their third win for womenswear designer of the year (they won in 2007 and 2011) beating out Alexander Wang and Marc Jacobs. See who else took top honors this year.

The 2013 CFDA awards, fashion's Oscars if you will, will be handed out in mere hours. The industry has been gathering to recognize and honor its leading talents since 1981. A lot has changed since the early years of the awards. What was once a small intimate industry event is now a widely covered celebrity event. "I think it reflects a broader shift over the last few years where fashion has become more and more popular," Style.com's editor in chief Dirk Standen told us. "The internet has had a lot to do with that. It's entertainment on a par with movies and music." So to prep you for tonight's awards we've assembled this handy primer. In it you'll find the complete list of nominees, our predictions on who will take home the big prizes, and all the celebrity presenters and attendees slated to show up.

After ten years out of the spotlight, following a horrific, debilitating traffic accident, ubiquitous 90s model Kiara Kabukuru is finally ready for her comeback. Her latest gig? Hosting Monday's CFDA Awards red carpet for Style.com, the only site airing the event. We caught up with Kabukuru to talk about how fashion's changed in the last decade, and why she's ready to come back to the industry now.

And the fashion circus debate continues. The latest to weigh in is Garage magazine--except instead of bemoaning or celebrating the street style phenomenon one way or another, they merely explore it in this thoughtful new video featuring Tim Blanks, Tommy Ton, Phil Oh (in a bathtub!), Susie Lau and many others. As one might expect, opinions run the gamut.

A picture may be worth a thousand words, but here are 552 used by the fash pack to characterize Simons's very hotly anticipated debut at Dior. While n

Jil Sander, who famously left her eponymous label in 2000, returned in 2003, and then left again in 2004, is back. Again. While the industry was ups

No one expects a Versace collection to be subtle, but Donatella really amped it up--even by Versacian standards--for her spring 2013 menswear collec

The fashion flock might have already taken flight for Paris, but in case you're still getting your Guccis and Puccis in a row, this afternoon we check in with your ultimate crib sheet to Milan fashion week's most well-reviewed collections. As with our London and New York roundups, we've pored through The New York Times, the International Herald Tribune, Style.com, Vogue.com, SHOWstudio.com—and every other broadsheet and blog we can stream in our Google Reader—to bring you just the adjectives and adverbial phrases and other one-liners used to qualify the shows. Which designers came out on top? In the spirit of the new Milanese minimalism, we've pared the list down to seven. Flash back with us now through the best of austerity chic and graphic tailoring.

The darkly romantic looks on the first day of Milan fashion week may have been a palette cleanser from the rainbow-splashed prints on display over the weekend from all the young guns in London. But you might still be wondering what wild and wonderful British fashion stood out from the digital swirl—which is why we’ve compiled the ultimate crib sheet of the season’s most well-reviewed shows.

This morning, Donatella Versace and H&M creative advisor Margareta van den Bosch sat down with moderator Tim Blanks for a chat on (what else) the Versace for H&M collaboration, which will hit stores in (OMFG!) just over a week. Here's what we learned. The collection is an homage to Donatella's late brother, Gianni: "Yes, it was an homage to Gianni. I couldn't [pay homage in the same way] in my own line [the main Versace line] because it's too archival, but I wanted to give it to a whole new customer, especially the younger crowd, through H&M." Working on the collaboration was difficult for Donatella emotionally: "[Before the collaboration] I never went back [into the archives] to look because it's something I have in my heart and it's very painful. It was a hard process for me but then I said, 'No, everyone should see what Gianni was."

What is the sum of a) a castle in the South of France + b) Raf Simmons, Jack McCollough, Lazaro Hernandez, Cathy Horyn, Christopher Kane (and the list goes on) sitting in the grass eating saucisson + c) demented young designers à la Viktor and Rolf presenting their designs under a tree? The answer = the Festival de Hyères 2011, an annual fashion festival held by the French Mediterranean seaside, that acts like a platform to young creativity. With a jury that has, over years, been led by Karl Lagerfeld, Riccardo Tisci, Ann Demeleumesteer, the event has launched the likes of Felipe Oliveira Baptista, Gaspard Yurkievich into la mode. After showing their creations to the jury in the form of individual presentation, the ten nominees, already narrowed down from hundreds of applications, held their final show last night. Modeled by Raf Simon’s own models, with a soundtrack by Paris’ main fashion week sound engineer, one felt as if about to watch Haider Ackerman’s latest collection. It was “an incredible, impeccable production,” according to Proenza Schouler's Lazaro Hernandez. What more can a young designer ask for? There was not one but four prizes awarded, each that resonate with a different audience:

"It’s going to be all 'Sex Pistols svengali' and 'punk impresario' and—God forbid—'Vivienne Westwood’s plus one' for a few weeks, but more than three

The Scene: When I walked into the Tent, I was dumbstruck by the absolutely massive show Anna puts on; it was like walking into a football stadium. The

Down Under: The Sartorialist's headed to Australia for his Sass & Bide hosted book signing. He's squeezed in a couple of days to shoot, too. But as

Graeme Black, the Scottish designer who walked away with this year's Scottish Fashion Award and put in significant time at both Armani and Ferragamo,

Getting to a fashion show, especially in Paris, is a little bit like running a gauntlet. First, you have to find where you're going, then you have to