Kelly Killoren Bensimon

We learned that Michael Bloomberg and Vera Wang are intimidating enough without costumes.

Kelly Killoren Bensimon is not a housewife, she just plays one on TV. 

We went underground with some models at the opening of the Plaza's new mall.  

Susan Sarandon voiced her fears about the impending Bloomberg dictatorship. 

We got to know Anne Slowey at the Stylista premiere. 

It seems that Kelly Killoren Bensimon, the newest addition to Bravo's Real Housewives of New York City cast (the second season, which is now filming, will air sometime in 2009), is at once the most and least qualified woman to be on the show. A longtime fixture on the Manhattan and Hamptons social scenes, the former model used to be married to fashion photographer and longtime Elle creative director Gilles Bensimon and has been a columnist for Hamptons and Page Six magazines. But, as she told the Daily Transom, “I’m not really a housewife. I own a house, but I’m not a wife.  read more »

Lindsay Lohan turned down an offer of $700,000 to do an eight-page spread in Playboy's 55th anniversary issue. [P6]

Comedian and host Russell Brand isn't giving details on Britney Spears's plans for opening the 25th MTV VIdeo Music Awards, saying only that she will not be "serving canapés or doing a bizarre haircut on herself." [US Weekly] Ms. Spears's mother Lynne is being less discreet—her tell-all book, Through the Storm: A Real Story of Fame and Family in a Tabloid World," is coming out next week and salacious details have already been leaked. " [NYDN]

The reality show starring social people Devorah Rose, Teddy John, Kristian Laliberte, Annabel Vartanian, Brianna Swanson, Kerry Cassidy, and Timo Weiland will be called Social Heights and is being described as "Like The Hills but in Manhattan .  read more »

In addition to picking up Sarah Jessica Parker's American Artist, Bravo has also reportedly signed on a U.K. import called Fashion House to fill the void left by Project Runway. Fashion House will have contestants living in one house and working together to create an entire fashion line. [EW]

Meanwhile, Eli Holzman, creator of the show Stylista (premiering on the CW this fall), said he got the idea for the show after being rejected by Anna Wintour. [The Cut]

Al Reynolds, still dismissing gay rumors, has moved his campaign from YouTube to Miami Fashion Week, parading around with a woman who looked exactly like his ex-wife Star Jones.  read more »

The recent Louis Vuitton party celebrating the final day of Richard Prince’s exhibition at the Guggenheim was, by all accounts, well-attended. Arguably, one of the main draws was the opportunity to pre-order those spring collection bags Mr. Prince designed with the French impedimenta-maker. Denise Rich, Helen Schifter and Lizzie Tisch were reportedly among the guests lining up to nab ones of their own.

Some guests apparently did find the whole thing a little odd, according to Fashion Week Daily. Artist Todd Eberle, for one, said: “A Louis Vuitton promotion at the Guggenheim? It's the end of the world!”  read more »

Open-access Facebook profiles are totally hot—primarily because they can be viewed without going through the whole ‘friending’ rigmarole. In fact, one needn’t even 'poke' them! And that’s sweet, because 'poking' is completely out of the question.

So we decided to celebrate those peeps with the gumption to announce their, say, religious beliefs to the whole world. And what better way to kick things off than with a profile breakdown of one of our all-time fave New York socials—Kelly Killoren Bensimon!

First, some background info: Ms. Bensimon, founding editor of Elle Accessories, became Ms. Bensimon when she married Gilles Bensimon, the celebrated fashion photographer, whose work for Elle put him at the forefront of the industry. (The 63-year-old shutterbug, also the onetime creative director of the glossy, has appeared a couple times on America’s Next Top Model.) The high-profile couple, who have two children together, split in 2006.

Now, on to the nitty-gritty…Ms. Bensimon, a Taurus who had a column in Page Six Magazine for a spit, is apparently “In a Relationship,” also billing herself as both a conservative and Catholic. Holy moley! She lists only one, rather curious activity—“riding all day long”—though her list of interests is suitably varied: “my kidlets / my horse / cars / watersking / jack russells / whatever peeks my interest.” [Oh, and ‘sic’ on all accounts here.]  read more »

Page Six Magazine has run two columns by fashion guru and party gal Kelly Killoren Bensimon, and since she's in the life she's reporting on, "The Socializer" already seems well-placed to give her friends a leg up in the world. The founding editor of Elle Accessories takes us back to about 1997 with her complaint about people who talk loudly on their cell phones in restaurants, and touted Anthony Martignetti’s eponymous prepster-haven, Bar Martignetti, as a place where she can enjoy her "steak and a Heineken" in peace. Luckily Mr. Martignetti is also her good friend and fellow Trinity College alum!

One Saturday night visitor might have been surprised to see the item, having been at the popular (and, we think, noisy!) upstairs dining room the night before when several horrified regulars looked through the massive windows to see an over-served reveler tumbling out of the bar and violently throwing up all over the sidewalk as a friend massaged her back and shoulders.

Another Heineken, please!