Thanksgiving is for being with family, stuffing yourself full of turkey and cranberries, watching cartoon characters float in a parade, and maybe enjoying the broadcast of violent sports. But this year, you'll be able to start your Christmas shopping even earlier: Some stores will be open on the holiday.

• Tyra Banks has signed a deal to write three YA novels that will marry modeling with Harry Potter — the protagonist having been accepted into an academy for "intoxibellas," or supermodels-in-training who "harbor unknown powers." What, no vampires? [Galleycat]

• Jourdan Dunn returned to the catwalk at London Fashion Week two months after giving birth. [Vogue UK]
• Alexa Ray Joel is the new face of Prell shampoo, 24 years after her mother, Christie Brinkley, had the same gig. [Daily Express]

• There were rumors that Sarah Jessica Parker would be the face of Halston, the brand people just can't keep themselves from reviving. And she wears Halston in the poster for SATC2. But is she actually seeking a design role? [E!]

• Diane Kruger nabbed a L'Oréal contract. [Elle UK]
• And yes, Siriano provides the contractually-obligated fierceness. [Racked]

• Dana Thomas — author of Deluxe — wrote an excellent feature on the quagmire of the house of Versace. Thomas takes aim at Donatella and Santo Versace's resistance to change and ham-handed business decisions. It's a thrilling read. [Newsweek]

• One of Annie Leibovitz's Louis Vuitton ads with astronauts Sally Ride, Buzz Aldrin, and Jim Lovell is out. (Gorby was busy that weekend.) [WWD]
• Karl Lagerfeld: "Ballet is an extraordinary art: this torture of the body to make something so graceful. All this hard work, to look effortless."

• This shoe is made by Christian Louboutin, out of python skin, leather, cobbler's glue, and, we assume, diamond-plated unicorn farts. Because what else could justify a $2,875 price tag? Happy recession! [The.Life.Files]

Exiting a go-see in the garment district this morning, I happened upon a very unusual sign in the window of the Fifth Avenue Lord & Taylor.

• Packing for tedious summits as a political wife must be that much harder knowing that Michelle Obama will be there, ready to rock some gorgeous outfit at the drop of a discussion paper. [Telegraph]

• "Think of the brightest shades of neon you've ever seen. Sparkles galore. Sequinned aerobics pants with scrunchy socks. Lions and tigers wearing vintage early '90s Cross Colors ensembles." In other words, exactly what you hoped MIA's clothing would look like. [NY Observer]
• Sex addict David Duchovny dropped as the…

• More rumored changes for The Greatest Show On Earth, Project Runway: Season 6 of the show, the first to be broadcast on Lifetime, may feature "More Than A Pretty Face" magazine Marie Claire in lieu of Elle as the affiliated fashion magazine sponsor. [WWD, 1st item]
  
• Whoah: Are New York Times fashion critic Cathy Horyn…

• It's official: Nina Garcia is officially a has-been. The recently-fired Elle fashion director is now partnering with Bayer and Yaz to judge a contest in which people submit designs for a new little case to hold birth control pills. I don't know about you, but I like the purple faux-suede "wallet" that my Yasmin comes…

• "We'll get her," says Harvey Weinstein of ELLE's Nina Garcia (Weinstein) is being sued for breach of contract for taking Project Runway from Bravo to Lifetime. While Weinstein is probably the first person to say anything about wanting to continue to work with Garcia, we find his statement more creepy than…

• Kate Moss's fifth collection for Topshop launches today. It's inspired by "travel." Oh, bite me. [Vogue UK]
  
• Spanx bras — to flatten your back fat, of course — in stores now! [WWD, sub req'd]
  
• You will be so proud of Eva Mendes! She overcame that whole nasty rehab debacle to be chosen as the face of Calvin Klein…

• It is with just a twinge of resignation that we give to you....[sigh] images from Lauren Conrad's clothing collection. [FabSugar]
  
• Designer Philip Lim says that he frequently finds inspiration from "[p]rivate moments in the restroom. It's all about that intimacy that allows you to reflect." Uh, we thought the restroom…

• Those Sisley cocaine-snorting ads? Not exactly real. Which makes us sad because we really wanted to see something realistic in a fashion magazine. [Sassybella]
  
• You know how sometimes we read too quickly and make up, like, an alternate news story? Um, we didn't with this. You actually can turn peanuts into diamonds. […

Over at the NY Post, the fashionistas are raving about new kid on the style block, Chris Benz. And we agree, his clothes are hot, and he's almost hot except maybe just a bit too serial killer with the sideburns thing.