• Victoria Beckham might be adding shoes and accessories to her dress collection, because she's apparently sick of advertising other designers' goods. [Sun]
• Fergie says she wanted her Avon scent to smell "fresh, and yet modern at the same time." [People]

• There is one image from Sonia Rykiel's lingerie collection for H&M on the Internet. The collection, modeled by Caroline Trentini, Anne Vyalitsyna, and Lara Stone, features a lot of rosettes, some in perhaps ill-considered places. (Rosette nipples, anyone?) [Nitrolicious]
• Lady Gaga says during the filming of Beyoncé's video for the upcoming single "Video Phone," she aped Beyoncé's style and choreography so well the crew took to calling her "Gee-yoncé." Gaga also says she and Beyoncé are working on music together next. [People]
• Meanwhile, if anyone were ever destined to receive an Accessories Council Excellence Award, it's Gaga. [WWD]
• Fashion's Night Out: becoming an annual event, according to Mayor Bloomberg. Who should know. [WWD]
• Christian Lacroix says, in this annoying all-caps interview, "THE TRIBUNAL WILL DECIDE ON OCTOBER 27TH WHICH « DOSSIER » THEY'LL FAVOR. FALICS SUBMITED ONE, SOME OTHER FINANCIAL PEOPLE DID TOO AND I CHOSE TO GIVE MY SUPPORT AND SIGNATURE TO THE SHEIKH OF AJMAN WHO SEEMS TO BE THE STRONGEST SOLUTION. WE'LL SEE...WHATEVER WILL BE THE NEWS ON NEXT TUESDAY IT WILL BE A RELIEF." The designer also said, of his house's erstwhile collaborations with Pucci and Hermès, "IT WAS NO MORE POSSIBLE WITH OUR LAST AMERICAN BACKERS. WE'LL SEE WITH THE NEXT. IF I'M STILL PART OF THE VENTURE." If? If? If he's still part of the venture? It's too early in the morning for this heart-rending inconstancy. [UnNouveauIdeal]
• And with that, hearings on the $100 million Emirati bid to take over the house of Lacroix have been delayed until November 17. The bankruptcy judge nonetheless says it is "likely" the sheikh's bid will be the one approved. [AFP]
• Don't expect a Givenchy H&M collection anytime soon. Although the brand put together a capsule collection, at 40% off its regular astronomical pricepoint, for Barneys New York, designer Riccardo Tisci says of mass-market diffusion collaborations, "It's too early. I'm still building the brand, and we want to stay on image." Tisci also revealed he's in New York to work on costumes for a secret show. "I'm here for work on an upcoming show in 2011, which I'm doing all the costumes for. I can't say much more, but the performance is a combination of music and opera, and will travel worldwide. A project like this has been my dream." Sounds intriguing. [Fashionologie]
• Julianne Moore says working with Tom Ford as a director was easy. "Tom is incredibly, incredibly meticulous and has a work ethic like nothing I've ever seen," says the actress. "He works very, very hard and is always very prepared and cares about every tiny detail." [People]
• Eric Ripert, chef of Le Bernardin, on Roberto Cavalli's habit of sitting down at Italian restaurant Serafina and ordering from Manana, the Mexican place next door: "I would find that very insulting. And I won't let him! It's like me going to Roberto Cavalli and then asking the designer next door to bring a dress for my wife, and then dress her in his boutique. I would not do that. I would go to Hermès." Burn, Cavalli! [Grub Street]
• The Sun has its nose out of joint about the press copy accompanying Kate Moss's new perfume. "The fragrance opens with illuminating pink pepper, white freesia and invigorating mandarin. Warm base notes of tonka bean, vanilla and skin musks add a depth and refinement," is kind of disgustingly over-the-top as PR speak goes. But anything that prompts a cranky old Englishman to write the words "Nobel Prize for shit-erature" goes back to being OK in our book. [Sun]
• Steve Madden, everybody's favorite just-like-the-runway-but-made-of-pleather-and-still-over-$100 shoemaker, is getting into the clothing business. It will be women's wear, made under license, and expect to see its "Bohemian flair" in department stores early next year. [Crains]
• There's now a bullshit term for world leaders wearing jeans: Power Jeans. [WSJ]
• And there's a new bullshit term for idiotically priced jeans, too. $300-and-up denim will no longer be known by that hideous pre-recession term, "Premium Jeans." It is, instead, "Artisanal Jeans." [NYTimes]
• Ellen Von Unwerth says, of her favorite shot, "I took this maybe three years ago, on a fashion shoot for Italian Vogue. We developed a romantic story to go with it: a woman comes back to the place where she grew up, and finds it all dusty and falling apart. We shot it in a chateau in Paris. The girl was a model, and it was the only time I worked with her. After this, she disappeared. She was from eastern Europe, Romania maybe, and even the agency couldn't find her again. So she's like a ghost. The picture certainly has a ghostly feeling." For some reason, we find this really disturbing. And sad. What happened to this girl? [Guardian]
• Carlos Falchi sure seems like an upright guy. Reports the Times: "Once he said to a girl, 'That's my bag.' She didn't care for the remark, but then it sank in that this pot-bellied, gray-haired guy with silver bracelets was really him, the designer Carlos Falchi. Maybe in an age of brands and manufactured nostalgia she didn't even think he was real. She called her mother, who bought the bag 30 years before, and put Mr. Falchi on the phone and then closed the celebrity moment with a photo." Falchi's Target line debuts on November 1. [NYTimes]
• Duckie Brown co-designer Steven Cox got to thinking about men's and women's fashion after Miuccia Prada said recently that men's wear should be more influenced by women's wear. "Originally we had this whole conversation about using women's fabric. I don't really agree with that," said Cox, of the Duckie Brown collection. "Because what makes a fabric women's? You know, there is no penis or vagina in a fabric. Like, why is chiffon women's and why is it not men's? I don't know." [The Cut]
• Saks, eyeing the success of sample sale e-tailers like Gilt, is looking to replicate their tactics, and host its own online sample sales. [WSJ]
• Avon earned $156.2 million in the third quarter. Last year, during the same period, the company made $222.6 million. [Crains]

• "I go to the same Starbucks every day in Beverly Hills and they're like, 'Can you please tell them that we want to have new outfits?'...I sit in American Airlines, same thing. I get it all the time. Those chains or big companies, they always come to me." Imagine: the entire American service industry remade in the image of Heidi Klum! [Sassybella]
  
• Every time we read an interview with Kate Bosworth, she talks about high school and sort of ups the ante in terms of the profound alienation she supposedly felt there. Here's the latest installment. [Vogue UK]
  
• "Four kids later, I'm a 32D, but my entire life I was told I was a 34B." And there you have things we never wanted to know about model-cum-Interview fashion director Stephanie Seymour. [Chic Report]

• Best protest sign outside of the new John Varvatos store in the old CBGB's space: "$1,600 used jackets destroy communities." [Does someone still care about CBGB closing, is that the issue here? Because guess what, guys, there's a global food crisis on and Al Qaeda is bombing countries you've never heard of, stagflation is upon us and we're in danger of electing a president who doesn't know the difference between Sunni and Shiite, so get over it, thanks. -Moe] [Fashion Week Daily]
• Fun contest! Giorgio Armani is sponsoring a contest where the little people can pitch him concepts for the new ad campaign for his latest fragrance. Ten finalists get to meet Mr. Armani, though only one will have their ideas usurped for the perpetuation of Mr. Armani's own wealth. [Vogue UK]
• Why isn't one of the options for this "Do You Wear Religious Symbols" poll "Only as tattoos"?! [FabSugar]
• "Wow! It just seems like the next step to our larger goal. Every time we conceive a collection, we try to think of all the elements that would go along with our designs. And bags are next! We want to conquer that next year," says Proenza Schouler's Lazaro Hernandez. Oh really, bags! What a novel idea. [Fashion Week Daily]
• Says Duckie Brown co-designer Steven Cox, "I've always had this fantasy of making a dress out of bricks." Aren't you just ill that Duckie Brown only does menswear? [Washington Post]
• Apparently there is no "right" hemline this season, but if there were, it would involve pairing a long skirt with a long sweater. We don't make the news, we just report on it! [Guardian]
• The color blue: It's important. [Washington Post]
• Showing off your baby bump is so totally out of fashion. Duh. [IHT]
• Crocs is shutting down its factory in Quebec City, meaning 669 people now are out of work. Which also means there is a whole new demographic of people who really hate Crocs! [NYT]
• I actually don't believe anything I read about ELLE's fledgling reality show (which may or may not be titled Fashionista) anymore, but some say that editors at the mag are calling in sick to avoid having to work on it. [Jossip]

1:10 PM
Ok in my seat @ duckie. Swag is a men's shaving kit (with a brush and everything) and a box of RIT dye. Mine is kelly green. I am going to try to spy in other people's bags to see what color they got.

Hmm, Guy next to me got green too. He seems super puzzled by the dye. Dude, aren't we all.

In the front row are these people I was chatting with before: A middle-aged-ish woman and her 13-yr old niece. The older cousin is friends with the designers and they met her cousin and invited her to the show
This is her first-ever fashion show, she told me, and the other kids in school are all really jealous. I am glad her first show is menswear. Now she'll just think fashion is cool and fun and quirky and not about anorexia. Also this crowd seems more...oh, how shall I put it? It's more gay men and less bitchy women.
As opposed to the usual 50-50 split at most shows. Subsequently, there is an air of bonhomie, as opposed to silent judgment, in the air

1:15
Ooh the music is starting. It almost sounds funereal; Lots of organ, think fast-paced phantom of the opera. Ok they're taking the plastic off the runway...

If I were a gay man, this music would make me want to dance around in a g-string and do poppers. Everyone's swaying in their seats to the music. If I didn't know better, I would think this was an episode of Pinky & The Brain. And that the music is here to make us never want to stop swaying in unison so the Brain can take over the world.

1:30
Ok lights are going down...it's starting...They turned the music all the way down. There's a very slim, tailored suit with an full blouse underneath. Very cool. And a wool coat I want for myself! Ooh and this hooded grandpa sweater in green. I would totally wear that.

Everything's in black and grey and green is the only color. Haha, someone just whistled at one of the male models - and considering we're sitting here in silence, it was awkward.

Ah - a purple hat! And a purple suit that almost looks like a dress from behind?

These slouchy knit caps are fierce. I even think I could talk my boyfriend into one of those

1:35 PM
A sheer crochet sweater, however? Not so much. Same goes for the glittery sweater. And the blouses being shown underneath the suiting

And...it's over. I think my straight man would wear the plaid shirt, the windbreaker-puffy jackets, and I would beg him to try one of those hats. And I want a hat and that green sweater for myself, all the way!
Gender roles: who needs 'em?

P.S. Overheard by a fellow attendee exiting the show: "I loved all the papery weirdness!"

• Further proof that there may really be a ELLE curse: WWD reports that actress Michelle Williams had already been shot for the April cover of the ladymag, but asked to have it and a related story pulled after the death of Heath Ledger. She's since been replaced with Natalie Portman. [WWD, 1st item]
  
• Eva Mendes is the face of the still-unnamed, still-unlaunched new Calvin Klein fragrance. Given that Mendes is the mascot, we assume the scent smells like a hot bod and forgettable acting career. [WWD, sub req'd]
  
• Kimora Lee Simmons also has a new fragrance out, called Fabulosity. (Of course.) Says Simmons, "Yes, I'm over the top, and yes, I'm unapologetic, and yes, I have really big diamonds, but I have an equally big heart and an equally big spirit." [WWD, sub req'd]

• Most exciting of all? Celine Dion has a new fragrance! It is called Sensational, and we think, in the words of Kathy Griffin, that it smells like equal parts "magique," "musique" and and inflated sense of self. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Radar magazine clearly has a death wish, as it has ranked Lauren Conrad as the #1 most influential person in fashion, with Vogue's Anna Wintour coming in at a piddling #17. [Radar]
• H&M's profits are up by 14%. [WWD, sub req'd]
• That green dress that Keira Knightley wore in Atonement t is going to be auctioned off for charity. Bids start at $1,000, so if you're one of the many salivating, get crackin'. [UPI]
• I want a jacket that doubles as a LiteBrite! [Technology Review]
• Erin Fetherston (whose F/W 2008 show we'll be live-blogging tonight) is now designing a capsule collection of jewelery with designer Sasha Primak. We expect it to be hyper-feminine and beloved by hipsters everywhere. [Fashion Week Daily]
• And funky menswear designer Duckie Brown (we'll be there too) has been tapped to design a shoe collection for not-funky Florsheim. [WSJ]
• Ooh must get into the Derek Lam show! Swag bag full of Kiehl's products! [Fashion Week Daily]
• Michael Kors described his upcoming F/W 2008 collection as having an "urban, investment-oriented theme with not a baby-doll in sight." Um, okay So confused. [Fashion Week Daily]
• Why, God, why? New York socialite Tinsley Mortimer is designing her own clothing line, Riccime by Tinsley Mortimer. [Fashion Week Daily]
• Heatherette designer Richie Rich on what he loves about Old Navy: "The clothes are great... I wear their socks and I wear their underwear!" [Fashion Week Daily]
• Please, please get us Prada tarot cards. [Chic Report]
• Kate Moss is on the cover of the March issue of British Vogue, making it her 25th cover with the Brit fashion book alone. Wow. [Sassybella]

Womenswear Winners: Oscar de la Renta and Proenza Schouler
This award was awkward. Sure, it's cool that the old-guard and new-guard tied for "first place". But, uh, that leaves only one nominee in the category who didn't win: Marc Jacobs. While Jacobs is definitively "middle-guard" — he could have been the Proenza Schouler boys' baby-sitter, and Oscar De la Renta is old enough to be his dad. Also, you're gonna not give the award to the one dude who just got out of rehab (or, er, plastic surgery?) — way to kick a man when he's down (or just waiting to remove his bandages). Is this the beginning of Marc backlash? Is such a thing even possible? Who will the NY Times' Cathy Horyn love on if Marc falls out of fashion???

Menswear Winner: Ralph Lauren
It seemed impossible, frankly, for Ralph Lauren not to win. After all, it would've been really, really, really embarrassing if the lifestyle mogul lost for design the same year he got a lifetime achievement award. Like, even more embarrassing than being the only one of three nominees not to win Womenswear Designer of the Year.

Accessories Winner: Derek Lam
We're happy Derek won, beating out Marc Jacobs and Michael Kors. Jacobs' accessories are, frankly, a little hit or miss. We mean, you either really want to wear a giant red plastic star necklace circa 1984, or you really don't. And Kors' pieces can veer a little mumsy. But Lam's looks are both fresh and fashion-forward and totally wearable. Also, he was once super nice to one of us on the phone once. Sue us!

Swarovski Womenswear Winner: Phillip Lim
While we're happy Derek Lam won for accessories, we're over the moon that Phillip Lim won the Swarovski Womenswear award (Swarovski awards are given to up-and-coming designers). We're a little skeptical, though, of pegging him as an "up-and-comer". Lim's sleek designs and genius cuts are the real deal: He isn't waiting in the wings with looks like those, he's arrived.

Swarovski Menswear Winner: Rag and Bone
Actually, we take it back: Marc Jacobs' loss for Womenswear Designer of the Year wasn't the most awkward event of the evening: The Rag & Bone kids winning the Swarovski award for menswear when they were the only nominees in the category was.

Swarovski Accessories Winner: Loeffler Randall
We were also seriously pulling for a Loeffler Randall win. We have never seen a pair of shoes or a bag designed by Jessie Randall that we haven't wanted. Plus, her stuff has always reminded us what our New England mom might have sported in the 70's... if some of us had moms from New England or were even born in the 70s.

De La Renta, Proenza Tie For CFDA Award [Guardian, via AP]