Irina Aleksander

Starting next September, New York Fashion Week will begin the second Thursday of every September and February in order to give London Fashion Week extra days. [WWD] 

Kate Moss treated her daughter's nanny to an unlimited shopping spree at Topshop in London yesterday. The bill, which ran over 3,000 pounds, was ultimately picked by Topshop boss Sir Philip Green who was so impressed with Ms. Moss' generosity. [Vogue UK]  

Kelly Cutrone is working on a reality TV show with the Magical Elves, the producers behind Project Runway before the show left Bravo, to "showcase the nitty gritty side of fashion." [P6]

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The parties at Miami Art Basel, which this year runs from Dec. 4 through Dec. 7, are always decadent. And judging from this week's underwhelming party scene here in New York, some of our socials departed earlier in the week for the pool and rooftop parties in hotels a little further south. While the mega-fetes begin tonight, a few early comers have already been spotted out and about.

As the Miami Beach Convention Center opened yesterday, Faye Dunaway as well as Julian Schnabel and his son Vito strolled around gazing at the discounted works of art, reported Bloomberg. Calvin Klein, for his part, offered this about the general mood: “It will be interesting to see how the attendance and sales are affected.  read more »

At the UNICEF Snowflake Ball last night at Cipriani on 42nd Street, the Daily Transom encountered David Lauren (son of Ralph) and his girlfriend, Lauren Bush. (Ms. Bush's cousin Barbara Bush was also present, arriving with socialite Maggie Betts; both refused to speak to the press; in the September issue of Vogue Ms. Betts said, "If the economy continues to slip, don't you think the adoration of Daisy Buchanan types will fall with it? They will be resented, replaced by something grittier and more real." Perhaps she wasn't feeling "real" last evening.)

Lauren Bush was wearing a black-and-red-checkered, one-shouldered, belted, possibly flannel dress paired not with the FEED tote that she carries with her everywhere, but rather a more dressed-up clutch printed with the letters FEED across it. 

"It actually used to be a tote but I made it into a little clutch," Ms. Bush told Daily Transom.  read more »

Designers including Isaac Mizrahi, Carolina Herrera, and Betsey Johnson have submitted to Women's Wear Daily sketches of the dresses they'd like to design for Michelle Obama for the Inauguration Ball on January 20. [WWD]

Zac Posen is reportedly at work on several lower-priced diffusion lines. [FWD]

Té Casan, which used to carry Natalie Portman's vegan line of shoes, has officially gone out of business and closed for good on November 30, a store associate has confirmed. [The Cut]   

Claudia Schiffer has succeeded Naomi Campbell as the face of Yves Saint Laurent for the label's spring/summer 2009 campaign. [Vogue UK]  

Here's a slideshow of Thakoon's full collection for Target, which launches Christmas day. [The Cut] 

Elle creative director and Stylista judge Joe Zee and designer Karl Lagerfeld became Facebook friends on December 1. [FWD]  

"Will success tear Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos' marriage apart?" asks the National Enquirer in the first line of a cover story about how Live with Regis and Kelly host Kelly Ripa and her husband, actor Mark Consuelos, have reportedly split up.

According to the story, Mr. Consuelos is on the brink of success ever since landing a job with The Oprah Winfrey Show, and Ms. Ripa has been picking fights about their future. Mr. Consuelos might want to move to Chicago, but Ms. Ripa is refusing to leave New York. One recent spat escalated so much that Mr. Consuelos "stormed out," flew to Chicago, and left Ms.  read more »

Yesterday afternoon, the Daily Transom received an emailed invite for a cocktail party taking place on Thurs., Dec. 5 to "celebrate the holidays" with Harvey Weinstein's online community A Small World (a.k.a. Facebook for millionaires) and the luxury diamond brand Leviev at the brand's Madison Avenue boutique.The email's subject line was, "Socials Buck the Recession with Champagne & Diamonds,"

Young socials like Dalia Oberlander, Jennifer Creel, Gillian Hearst-Shaw, and actress Kiera Chaplin, will be modeling some of the jewelry while socialites Amanda Hearst, Annelise Peterson, and Annie Churchill play hostess.

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In November, the employees at Barry Diller’s media conglomerate, IAC, were unsure whether the company would throw a holiday party.

The season, after all, has not been kind to media employees used to a year-end bacchanal on the company dime. In October, the Hearst Corporation canceled its annual party at Tavern on the Green. Then the president of ABC News, David Westin, made a similar announcement. Then came Viacom. Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. was rumored to be scaling its party back. By Election Day, even designer Marc Jacobs had announced that his annual holiday masquerade would not happen this year.  read more »

Kate Moss is collaborating with London textile designer Liberty—not to be confused with her ex Pete Doherty's band The Libertines—for her upcoming Topshop collection. [WWD]

There is a rumor going around that Si Newhouse flew to Paris to meet with French Vogue's Carine Roitfeld about replacing Anna Wintour come January. [Gawker] 

Gabriella Risatti, owner of the Gabriella New York bridal salon in the Meatpacking District, will make reproductions of the Vivienne Westwood wedding gown featured in Sex and the City for $15,000. But there is still an air of exclusivity as she will be taking measurements for only two days—tomorrow and Thursday—and will create a maximum of 30 dresses. [P6]   read more »

“Beyonce has the voice and she’s got the attitude,” declared the rap artist Akon at the Monday night premiere of Cadillac Records, a film about the rise of Chess Records and its recording artists in which Beyonce Knowles plays the blues singer Etta James.

Curiously, the venue selected for the premiere was the AMC Loews on East 19th Street, a relatively tiny theatre where celebrities like Adrien Brody, Mos Def, and P. Diddy had to walk the carpet practically elbow to elbow.

“I’m a big fan of Mos Def and Beyonce and the whole cast,” said P. Diddy. The entrepreneur and rap producer showed off a Gucci coat with a bulky fur neckline, but was not the sole rap artist making a flashy entrance.  read more »

Project Runway contestant Christian Siriano has signed a deal with Payless to design a line of affordable shoes and handbags. [NY Post]

Designer Roberto Cavalli has been cleared of all tax evasion charges brought against him in Italy in 2002 when he attempted to write off taxes on renovations to his Tuscany home. [Vogue UK]

Louis Vuitton is re-releasing Marc Jacobs' collaboration with graffiti artist Stephen Sprouse for a new limited edition collection that the designer will advertise by posing nude painted in Mr. Sprouse's graffiti. [WWD]

Heidi Klum's father, Gunther Klum, who also acts as her manager, has sent a $275,000 bill to a German party promoter who used the supermodel's image on a flyer and on his Web site. [Vogue UK]

Italian video artist Francesco Vezzoli has created a fake ad for a perfume he named Greed, starring Natalie Portman and Michelle Williams filmed by Roman Polanski. [NY Mag]

Despite Mayor Michael Bloomberg's 5-year-old ban on smoking in bars, patrons are still lighting up after hours. If you've ever been to the Beatrice Inn or Rose Bar at Gramercy Park Hotel last at night, this isn't exactly news. But rarely is it pointed out—with 1,800 or so words devoted to the topic—as it is in this week's Page Six Magazine.

A spokesperson for the Rose Bar told the magazine, "The Rose Bar is extremely vigilant in preventing smoking by our patrons. There is a full-time staffperson whose sole responsibility is to monitor and prevent smoking within the bar." But Page Six's Sara Cardace, visiting the bar on a Thursday, spotted several patrons puffing, and quoted other sources pointing fingers at celebrity-hosting places like Citrine, SubMercer, and GoldBar.  read more »

Richard Fuld Jr., who recently sold off 16 works of art at Christie's, is not the only former Lehman Brothers executive selling off his assets. The financial firm's former president, Joseph Gregory--who has already sold his apartment at 610 Park Avenue for $4.4 million and the private helicopter that he used to commute to work every day from Huntington, N.Y.--has had no luck getting rid of the eight-bedroom Bridgehampton mansion he placed on the market in September for $32.5 million (half a million dollars less than his 2007 salary), reports Page Six Magazine. And now, desperate to make a profit off the property, Mr.  read more »

Before Penn Badgely acquired his sarcastic smirk, before Leighton Meester had a stylist, before Blake Lively's breasts became the lead characters on Gossip Girl, before Taylor Momsen's '80s glam hair, and before Ed Westwick mastered the Chuck Face, the young actors on the CW show were, shall we say, not quite as polished.

Digging through old photos of the cast, the Daily Transom discovered that the group of twentysomething lead actors--or teenage actors in Ms. Momsen's case--that have become the beautiful young fixtures on red carpets over the past year were once just goofy teenagers with bad skin and terrible fashion sense.  read more »

British socialite and Nylon magazine columnist Peaches Geldof has unveiled her 10-piece capsule collection for the label PPQ that, according to yesterday's Women's Wear Daily, is made up of "chiffon, velvet and lace dresses with a Gothic edge." (The collection does not appear to include decorative headbands.)

The Williamsburg-based Ms. Geldof told WWD that the collaboration came about through a guy she dated (before she married Harvard grad/musician Max Drummey) who was signed to PPQ designers Percy Parker's and Amy Molyneux's music label, 1234. The socialite says the designs are heavy in lace and include capes (!!) inspired by the novel Dracula, which she recently read. 

When the Daily Transom contacted Ms. Geldof in September, after she relocated to New York and made a debut at Fashion Week, the socialite explained a few things about the way she dresses.  read more »

The boys of Proenza Schouler are launching their first bag collection in December, named PS1 after the New York City public school system. [Vogue UK]

H&M has teamed with up with Matthew Williamson for its latest designer collection, which will arrive in stores in April. [WWD] 

Alice & Olivia designer Stacey Bendet Eisner gave birth yesterday to a baby girl named Eloise Breckenridge Eisner. [P6]   read more »

On April 29, 2007, Socialite Rank—the menacing website that stacked socialites against each other in a controversial weekly rating system—closed for business. A month or so later, after much speculation and finger-pointing, its founders were exposed to be nearly identical Russian step-siblings Olga Rei and Valentine Uhovski (sometimes called Valentine Rei) , who were both 23 at the time.

Immediately after the site shut down, the duo, who identified themselves as former child stars in Russia, talked about making their clever social experiment into a book. They planned to call it The Year of The Rank; a documentary was rumored.

Instead, earlier this month they launched an astrology website called Astro Crack.  read more »

“Hugh [Jackman] is so at peace with himself—like a John Wayne or a Clint Eastwood—and she’s like electricity. Together, they are such a classic couple. And, well, he is the sexiest man alive!” said Australia director Baz Luhrmann, glancing in the direction of actors Nicole Kidman and Mr. Jackman (who People magazine recently deemed the "Sexiest Man Alive") at the premiere of his new film on Monday, Nov. 24, at the Ziegfeld Theatre. 

Mr. Luhrmann revealed that during filming on location, the temperature was so high, and the scenes so action-filled, that both actors suffered fainting spells. Ms. Kidman, wearing a black and gold sequined dress, confirmed her director’s story.  read more »

Diane von Furstenberg on plastic surgery: "I know that a lot of people look at me and think, 'Why doesn't she do something to that face?' But I made a decision. I do yoga and I hike, but I won't do Botox. I know if I start doing things I will get insecure. You wear your own face. It is a little bit of your history, a little bit of who you are." [Vogue UK]

An email from a PR employee at Holly Dunlap's Hollywould line sent out to press earlier seems to indicate that the line is closing: "Many of you have heard that Hollywould is up for sale. Sadly, the press office is closing, and today is my last day... As of now, I do not know where I will be going, but I will stay in touch." [P6] 

Marc Jacobs has designed a limited edition Bugaboo stroller that sells for $1500. [Racked]   read more »

It's no longer enough just to wear a headband--now everyone wants to lay claim to having started the ubiquitous trend. According to PopCrunch.com, actress Mischa Barton, who has been working on a line of headbands (apparently in lieu of a successful acting career), is peeved that her friend Nicole Richie has announced that she will too design a line of decorative headbands under her line, House of Harlow 1960.

These are not the sorts of adorable headbands that Blair Waldorf (Leighton Meester) wears on CW's Gossip Girl. The headbands at the center of this conflict are the headbands that are worn straight on top of one's hair, in the style of a 1920s flapper meets 1970s hippie meets 2008 downtown "it" girl.  

But the West Coast's young Hollywood gals will have to compete with the East Coast's headband girls, who continue to enthusiastically wear the trend on a daily basis despite it reaching a tragic saturation point.  read more »

Last we heard of Silda Wall Spitzer, she was back to lunching at Michael's with her old friends, gracefully leaving that messy little scandal involving a hooker and her husband behind. We thought it was a good sign and predicted that her public outing meant that she was done hiding and would reclaim her spot in the world of charity committees. 

Turns out, we were wrong--Ms. Spitzer was preparing for a much greater comeback. In fact, by the time she made an appearance at Michael's in October, she was probably already in the last stages of interviewing for--if not settling into--her new job with Metropolitan Capital Advisors, a Manhattan hedge fund, as  read more »

Target has announced two new collaborations: a handbag line with Felix Rey designers Lily Band and Sulaika Zarrouk to launch on March 29 and a shoe collection with footwear designer Trish Carroll, called Miss Trish of Capri for Target, for April 5. [WWD] 

When asked about her possible retirement, Anna Wintour asked a reporter from The Cut to leave her alone and please go away. [The Cut] 

Stylista contestant Kate: "What you see on television is a 100 percent accurate depiction of me and the entire cast." [Racked]   read more »

This morning, 25-year-old Georgina Bloomberg—daughter of Mayor Michael, little sister to 29-year-old Emma, accomplished equestrian—made a Page Six headline for claiming she was "not rich" despite owning nine horses and a BMW. Naturally, she got teased by a few websites for saying this. 

The quote was pulled out of an upcoming profile of Ms. Bloomberg in Page Six Magazine, to be published Sunday. But it also prompted a question: What do we really know about the young Ms. Bloomberg?

We've read things over the years about her being a professional equestrian and, oh yes, she was part of Jamie Johnson's Born Rich documentary.  read more »

According to The New York Post, a 31-year-old woman is suing Upper West Side nightclub Brother Jimmy's after suffering second- and third-degree burns at the bar in March when a bartender failed to execute a stunt with Bacardi 151. The bartender was reportedly prompted by the song Great Balls of Fire coming on the jukebox, at which point he poured the rum across the bar and set it on fire. The flames blew back into the bottle and into Lauren Sclafani's face. Ms. Sclafani was rushed to the hospital and treated for burns on her hands and face.

The spokesman for the bar chain happens to be Berk Communications President Ron Berkowitz. This is not the first time Mr. Berkowitz has had to deal with public litigations at the various nightlife spots he reps, which have included Crobar, Libation, Pink Elephant, PM and Jay Z's 40/40 Club.  read more »

Avon has signed former Mademoiselle editor Mandi Norwood to write the Michelle Obama Style Guide for next spring. [P6]

There were rumors that Anna Wintour might leave Vogue for a "cultural" position in Barack Obama's administration, but Ms. Wintour's rep says it's totally not true. [MSNBC via Gawker]

Gwyneth Paltrow graciously approached PETA vice president Dan Matthews at the Fontainebleau Hotel opening in Miami and apologized for wearing fur in her ad for Tod's. [Us Weekly]  read more »

According to the Wall Street Journal the art market has officially burst. With prices dropping 30 percent and auction houses' stocks plummeting, layoffs are inevitable. Galleries are closing. And the effects are rippling through the community of collectors, dealers, and the artists themselves.

Mary Boone keeps telling us that last week's disappointing auctions were actually relatively encouraging. Only 20 percent of works sold at auction '89 she says, so this, in comparison, is not so bad.

But what does this all mean for those who have funneled money into outrageously priced contemporary and modern art works in the past decade, hoping to flip them?  read more »

Wednesday evening at Pier 60, the dedication of the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge (formerly known as the Triborough!) attracted a long list of high-profile guests—Sarah Jessica Parker, Carl Bernstein, Matt Dillon, not to mention gaggles of politicians and Kennedys. And Archbishop Desmond Tutu! The Daily Transom wondered what kinds of Manhattan landmarks this sort of crowd would like to be named after them.

"A dog park!" replied actress Glenn Close, who during the dinner would be reading alongside Matthew Broderick and Harry Belafonte from Ariel Dorfman's play Speak Truth to Power: Voices From Beyond the Dark. "Or maybe a theater, that would be nice. Or the Empire State Building! But I guess that should actually be named after a guy."  read more »

Chicago-based Hart Schaffner Marx, the suit retailer favored by Barack Obama, has added this to its homepage:  “Dressing Presidential. Pick Your Power Suit. President-elect Barack Obama Found His at Hart Schaffner Marx.” [WWD] 

Marc Jacobs would like to marry Lorenzo Martone, if the latter will have him. [The Cut]  

Karl Lagerfeld has released a Chanel bag based on the house’s quilted 2.55 classic released in the '90s and celebrities like Katie Holmes, Milla Jovovich and Lily Allen are already wearing it. [WWD]  read more »

Last week, we told you about 50 new retail locations (or expansions) opening up all over the city, as was detailed in a brochure from Prudential Douglas Elliman. We discovered that companies like Burberry, Rock & Republic, West Elm, and Vera Wang are fearlessly trudging ahead with new outposts despite current economic conditions.

Following this somewhat encouraging news, in the last week we've heard about small boutiques struggling to stay alive, and Macy's and Saks Fifth Avenue reporting $44 million and $42.8 million losses respectively in the third quarter. But this didn't seem to faze Elliman chairman Faith Hope Consolo and executive vice president Joseph Aquino of the firm's Retail Leasing and Sales division, as they are now marketing five new retail spaces to the few companies that currently have the means to expand.  read more »

So you know how Marc Jacobs' shows are really cool because they take place at the 69th Regiment Armory instead of the tents at Bryant Park? 

Well! In February, New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo was considering charging the designer with bribing Armory officials in order to secure the space for his shows. Back then, Mr. Jacobs was reportedly refusing to cooperate with the investigation. But now, according to TMZ, Mr. Jacobs has agreed to pay a $1 million fine after being investigated by Mr. Cuomo. 

The documents acquired by TMZ indicate that Mr. Jacobs has been giving bribes to James Jackson, the former Superintendent of the Armory, and others over an eight-year period to use the space run by the state.  read more »

At the Moth Ball on Tuesday, Nov. 18, Salman Rushdie was awarded the 2008 Moth Award for his storytelling abilities and everyone wore silly hats in the tradition of the whimsical literary organization. But the cocktail chatter centered around the question of: Was she or wasn't she? 

"Well, has she been yet?" Mr. Rushdie asked when the Daily Transom inquired what he thought about Barack Obama offering the Secretary of State job to Hillary Clinton. "I have no idea. But I think it's very interesting that he's looking for ways to involve his former rivals and create that kind of unity. In that sense, it's good. But until I know it's real, I can't really say."  read more »

Socialite Maggie Betts hoped that there would be a secret photo shoot with a wind machine at the CFDA awards dinner last night and there totally was! [FWD]

Former Project Runway contestant Christian Siriano was asked to make a guest appearance on Gossip Girl, but he's still considering. [E! via The Cut] 

British design couple Mary Eley and Wakako Kishimoto have departed as the design duo behind Cacharel, citing creative differences and brand vision as the reason. [WWD]   read more »

"I have only one criteria for putting things into the quarterly, which is that the writing is good. It's not so much about it being academic," declared Lewis Lapham, editor of Lapham's Quarterly, at a reading hosted by the literary journal at the National Arts Club on Monday, Nov. 17.

Mr. Lapham, his round tortoise-frame spectacles resting firmly on the bridge of his nose, was talking about his recent efforts to get more young people to attend readings and events hosted by the quarterly. "For the fun of it," he explained.

"My editors are young, they are all under 30, and I trust them," said Mr. Lapham. "When people get to be of the older demographic, when they get to be 50, they tend to read history and watch the History Channel. When I conceived the quarterly I thought that would be the audience, but I was surprised to find out how many young people liked it."  read more »

In an ideal world, if Leighton Meester and Ed Westwick, the young actors who play the evil but secretly good Blair Waldorf and Chuck Bass on Gossip Girl, were to appear in an ad campaign, it would be for Marc Jacobs or Miu Miu or even Chanel; those are just the kind of labels we imagine Chuck and Blair promoting. 

But somehow, Mr. Westwick's and Ms. Meester's agents don't seem to get all of this. And instead of a high-end, Chuck-and-Blair-appropriate ad campaign, both Ms. Meester and Mr. Westwick are promoting sneakers. Sneakers!  read more »

Those rumors that Pamela Anderson would be featured in ads for Vivienne Westwood were correct. Ms. Anderson has reportedly signed a six-figure deal to be the face of the designer's spring 2009 campaign. [Vogue UK] 

Trays of shots replaced birthday cakes at the joint birthday party at Indochine for Julia Restoin Roitfeld and her father Christian Restoin hosted by mother Carine (editor of French Vogue) and brother Vladimir. [WWD] 

Tallulah Harlech, daughter of Karl Lagerfeld's muse Lady Amanda Harlech, has been cast in a short film for Chanel by the designer. Her mother's words of advice? "Don’t pout like Keira Knightley." [WWD]   read more »

When we saw Lydia Hearst’s French Playboy cover last week, we wondered what the extended Hearst family might think of the young socialite's nude spread.

According to Ms. Hearst's publicist, who stressed that he only represents Ms. Hearst, not the whole family, the Hearst bunch is in fact very supportive of her modeling gigs. Nude or not. 

"Her family is very close and has always been very supportive of Lydia," wrote Ms. Hearst's publicist in an email to Daily Transom. "French Playboy is very prestigio