♦ Alexander Wang was the big winner at Monday night's fifth-annual CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund awards at Skylight Studios. Wang and fellow nominees like Richard Chai, Jason Wu, Lisa Mayock and Sophie Buhai, Irene Neuwirth, Alejandro Ingelmo, Juan Carlos Obando, Albertus Swanepoel, Swaim and Christina Hutson, and John Patrick were feted by John Galliano (left, with Charlize Theron), Anna Wintour, Diane von Furstenberg, Sally Singer, Andrew Rosen, Reed Krakoff, Jeffrey Kalinsky, Julie Gilhart, Julie Macklowe, Daphne Guinness, Sasha Heinz, Tory Burch and Lyor Cohen, Andre Leon Talley, Narciso Rodriguez, Maria Sharapova, Penn Badgley, Zac Posen, Vera Wang, Chanel Iman, Juliette Lewis, Harvey Weinstein and Georgina Chapman, Tommy Hilfiger and Dee Ocleppo, Lauren Santo Domingo, Peter Som, Piper Perabo, Phillip Lim, Lazaro Hernandez, Maggie Betts, Calvin Klein, Damon Dash and Rachel Roy, and James Franco. [PMc, NYO, Style.com, The Daily]

Well, this will certainly soften the blow of a certain Gossip Girl actor thinking he was Vera Wang's husband: Last night, Alexander Wang won the $200,000 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund prize, awarded by a panel of judges including Diane von Furstenberg, Vogue's Anna Wintour and Sally Singer, Coach's Reed Krakoff, Jeffrey Kalinsky, Theory's Andrew Rosen, and Barneys' Julie Gilhart. At the 5th anniversary ceremony held at Skylight Studios, a crowd including André Leon Talley, Tommy Hilfiger, Vera Wang, John Galliano, Charlize Theron, and Juliette Lewis saw the 24-year-old New Yorker beat out the competition, including runners-up Lisa Mayock and Sophie Buhai of Vena Cava and Albertus Quartus designer Albertus Q Swanepoel. [WWD, Vogue UK]

Before Devil Wears Prada was filmed, before Project Runway made its reality television debut, before fashion grew beyond even the prominent role she had envisioned for it, Anna Wintour was compared in the Times to George W. Bush. It was one of Maureen Dowd's absurdly tortured analogies, but one of the rare ones that today sounds less ridiculous: If Page Six's source is to be believed, the Vogue editor is, like Bush, about to step away from the monster she's created, leaving to a more glamorous successor the job of revival. There is plenty to be done:

♦ Although her life looks like it's finally back on track, a new documentary suggests Britney Spears thinks her new life is like prison and lacks "excitement" or "passion." Hopefully she'll be in a better mood in two weeks when she makes an appearance at the Rockefeller Center tree lighting ceremony. [The Sun, OK!]
♦ Could Anna Wintour be planning to retire? Page Six says the Vogue editor is thinking about leaving the mag once her contract is up, and she's even been recommending possible replacements to Si Newhouse. [P6]
♦ Kiefer Sutherland may be planning to move to NYC so he can be closer to his girlfriend, Allure style director Siobhan Bonnouvrier. [Daily Star]
♦ Madonna is reportedly making $10 million to appear in her new Louis Vuitton ad campaign. [P6]

Vito Schnabel (son of Julian) and Olivier Sarkozy (half-brother of Nicolas) hosted Terence Koh's "Flowers for Baudelaire" exhibition on Wednesday night at Richard Avedon's former studio, where the unusual art was admired by the likes of Anna Wintour, Simon de Pury, Jeffrey Deitch, Allison Sarofim, Stella Schnabel, Olmo Schnabel, Lola Schnabel, Jacqueline Schnabel, Zac Posen, Ann Dexter-Jones, Nadine Johnson, Theodora Richards, Alexandra Richards, Byrdie Bell, Benjamin Cho, Cynthia Rowley, Salman Rushie, Lyor Cohen, Todd Eberle, Derek Blasberg, Genevieve Jones, Yvonne Force Villareal, Drena De Niro, Lisa Anastos, and Gilles Bensimon. [PMc, NYM, GoaG]

Can you pick out the ex-husband of the actress, socialite, singer, TV talk show host, political fundraiser, and magazine editor? Click on "More" for the answers.

What with the economy and all, Christmas is totally going to blow this year. Especially for those of you (us?) in the media industry. The precious holiday was already partially ruined when the Hearst Company cancelled their historically awesome annual Xmas bash, and now Condé Nast is following suit. A tipster tells us that their annual Holiday Luncheon has been shut the heck down. Probably because every company everywhere is hemorrhaging money. Why Condé itself axed dozens of employees just yesterday. The real shame in all of this, though, is now we won't get the valuable "who sat where" insight into the magazine giant's power structure. You see, whoever sits closest to head honcho S.I. Newhouse at the Luncheon is deemed to be the boy or girl du jour. No coal in their stockings! Because we would never be invited to such an event we've had to rely on the Post's Keith Kelly's annual kremlinology. Now how will we know where everyone stands?? (Though we can make a guess: everyone stands to get laid off). In lieu of the shindig, we imagine that Vogue editrix and Big Table mainstay Anna Wintour will quietly drink spiked eggnog in her office, thinking back on better days. When Christmas still meant something. Even to those on the brink of catastrophic financial collapse.

The Tribeca Film Institute hosted a benefit screening for the Quantum of Solace last night, which was followed by an afterparty at Tavern on the Green. Attendees included Daniel Craig, Becki Newton, Chris Diamantopoulos, Robert De Niro and Grace Hightower, Craig Hatkoff and Jane Rosenthal, Julia Stiles, Kelly Killoren Bensimon, Jeffrey Wright, Debra Messing, Andre Balazs, Andrew Saffir and Daniel Benedict, Hoda Kotb, Jill Stuart, John Sykes, Judy McGrath, Howard Stringer, Rob Wiesenthal, Liya Kebede, Stewart Rahr, Molly Sims, and Serena Altschul. [PMc, Wireimage, GoaG]

♦ Kate Moss is joining honorary chair Marc Jacobs as co-chair of the next Costume Institute Gala Benefit at the Met, along with Anna Wintour and Justin Timberlake. [Telegraph]
♦ Jacobs will also be hosting Housing Works Fashion for Action auction on November 13th. And it's not just his karma bank that's overflowing: He just signed a five year deal with Staff International SpA to produce a men's collection. [Fashionista, WWD]
♦ Mark your calendars: On November 25th, Sarah Jessica Parker's familiar voice will be the one you hear when you take the audio tour of the "Costume: The Art of Dress" exhibit at the Costume Institute. [The Pipeline]

If you hear someone announcing that their teenage daughter is "coming out" at the end of the month, you might want to look impressed rather than inquire if it might be just a phase. At the annual Crillon Ball in Paris, 24 girls from all over the world will be trussed up in haute couture and "presented" to society on the arm of a dashing escort chosen for them by the event's organizer Ophélie Renouard. Strictly invitation only, the ball has in past years included lucky debutantes like Amanda Hearst, Lauren Bush, Victoria and Vanessa Traina, and Bee Shaffer—whose mom, Vogue editor Anna Wintour, Renouard remembers fondly.

Ha. Daily Intel has obtained a photograph of Vogue editor Anna Wintour, the most important woman in fashion, standing in line to vote. This grainy image raises so many questions: Why does she seem to be hiding behind a concrete column? Why have her fellow voters turned their backs on her? And most importantly, is she in the tank? Anna, please write in with answers. This is what democracy looks like. [Daily Intel. Click to enlarge]

♦ André Leon Talley urged fashion students at the Art Institute of Philadelphia to vote, "no matter who your candidate is," and said of Anna Wintour: "She is not that person in 'The Devil Wears Prada.' She is like Catherine the Great of Russia. She has kept that magazine on top, raised money for the Met and for the Democratic party." [WWD]
♦ Election eve shocker! Donna Karan and Diane von Furstenberg are voting for Obama. [WWD]
♦ Michael Kors could care less which network Project Runway winds up on: "I just want people to watch the show." [The Cut]
♦ In the new Agent Provocateur campaign, Helena Christensen doesn't look very happy in cheap red lace, and we don't blame her. [The Mirror]

Vogue editor Anna Wintour is 59 today. (Condé Nast employees: consider yourselves warned.) Model Gemma Ward is 21. Playwright Terrence McNally is 69. Theater producer Tom Viertel is turning 67. Dennis Miller is 55. Roseanne is 56. Kate Capshaw—actress and wife of Steven Spielberg—is turning 55. Writer Joe Queenan is 58. And former Massachusetts governor (and presidential hopeful) Michael Dukakis is celebrating his 75th birthday today.

♦ Zac Posen posted a 15-second video online urging people to vote for Obama. Also: He'd really like you to dress for the occasion. "I think blue obviously is the color of choice, and red is a good accent color." Duly noted! [WWD]
♦ Anna Wintour choked up? We can't contemplate the thought. [Unbeige]
♦ Bravo has no less than five new fashion reality shows in the works. [The Cut]
♦ Sarah Jessica Parker has no less than three fragrances to promote these days—Dawn, Endless and Twilight. [WWD]
♦ Chanel creative director (and part-time Vermont resident) Karl Lagerfeld has unveiled Chanel Unlimited, a newline of bags and accessories. [Vogue UK]

Remember when people aspired to be magazine editors? So archaic. Editing a magazine has become pedestrian. Now one must be a magabrand curator, lording over an entire stable of loosely related titles that make up your own media mini-empire. Why should Anna Wintour settle for editing Vogue when she could become the "editorial director" of a whole slew of Vogue spinoffs? That was good aspirational thinking. Until yesterday. Yesterday, Men's Vogue folded. That was a major embarrassment for Anna Wintour. She was a force in the women's fashion world, but she thought she was destined to build her own fashion magazine empire in her own little corner of Conde Nast. MV was supposed to be a big part of that. Now it's dead, along with Fashion Rocks, the huge advertorial project that Conde Nast put on each fall. Teen Vogue is rumored to be shaky as well! That means fashion advertising is weak overall, and Anna's dream is deferred. If not dead. You know who this should be of concern to? Dave "Abs" Zinczenko! And every other aspiring magabrand mogul. Dave Z made his name editing Men's Health, but now he oversees a bunch of "Health" titles, writes ridiculous "Health" books, and goes on the Today show as an expert all the time. He's not an editor, he's a brand name. Until the advertising collapses! Then he's back to being just another dude checking copy and approving pages and hopefully getting out of the office in time to go to the gym, not so he can look good on TV, but just so he can feel good for himself. Don't worry. Pretty soon you'll be thankful just to have those editing jobs. [Pic via Reuters]

Quelle horreur: Conde Nast is cutting the budget of all their high-class rags by 5% across the board! Five percent of payroll and 5% of every title's expense budget. And that goes for the editorial and the business sides. The Observer calculates that it will be impossible to accomplish the cuts without layoffs. One less assistant for Vogue's Anna Wintour! A slightly less long tail for Wired's Chris Anderson! And, worst of all: could this be the end of the long road to oblivion for that emasculating Wintour plaything, Men's Vogue [UPDATE: Sort of!]?

• Fashion student Andrea Feick, 19, met U2 singer Bono in a club on the French Rivieria, met up with him later in St. Tropez, walked on the beach with him, posed for a picture in a bikini from his lap and rode on his yacht. She can't believe anyone would insinuate they might be more than friends. He's "much older than I am!" Think that will work on Bono's wife? [Mail]

Fashion Group International hosted its "Night of the Stars" gala at Cipriani Wall Street last night, where Kate Bosworth, Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony, Prince, Karl Lagerfeld, Ashley Olsen, Anna Wintour, Isaac Mizrahi, Donatella Versace, Allegra Versace, Georgina Chapman and Harvey Weinstein (left), Debra Messing, Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, Francisco Costa, André Leon Talley, Stephanie Seymour, Stefano Tonchi, Blake Lively, Penn Badgley, Alexander Wang, Bobbi Brown, Lindsay Price, Tom Florio, Christopher Bailey, Behnaz Sarafpour, Zani Gugelmann, Chanel Iman, Cindi Leive, Julianna Margulies, Christian Louboutin, Peter Som, Philippe Starck, Nina Garcia, Roopal Patel, Glenda Bailey, Tim Gunn, Jonathan Adler and Simon Doonan, Ruben Toledo and Isabel Toledo, Justine and Jeff Koons, Jonathan Newhouse, John Varvatos, Kimberly Guilfoyle, Patrick Demarchelier, Linda Fargo, Phillip Lim, Leigh Lezark and Max Minghella, Mary Alice Stephenson, and Mamie Gummer celebrated the industry. [InStyle, Wireimage, PMc]

More confirmation that reality TV's latest star, Stylista's Anne Slowey, is not really the queen of mean she plays on camera: The Transom meets her at the show's premiere and reports that she's "nothing like the icy, stern fashion editor mimicking Meryl Streep mimicking Anna Wintour whom we saw in the previews for the show." And contestant William Buckley reveals: "Anne can party, can party harder than anyone. Trust me, I've seen it. She can drink me under the table." [NYO]

♦ Last night Karl Lagerfeld was in town to celebrate the Chanel Mobile Art exhibition with a cocktail party in Central Park. Undeterred by the chilly weather and/or enticed by the chance to be photographed in Chanel: Kate Bosworth and James Rousseau, Glenda Bailey, Linda Wells, Agyness Deyn and Albert Hammond Jr., Zac Posen, Dasha Zhukova, Peter Davis, Helena Christensen, Terry Richardson, Eve, Ann Dexter-Jones, Boykin Curry and Celerie Kemble, Cory Kennedy, Victoria and S.I. Newhouse, Terry Richardson, Julie Macklowe, Debbie Bancroft, Katie Lee Joel, Tiffany Dubin, Kim Raver, Christopher and Amanda Cutter Brooks, Fabiola Beracasa, Amy Astley, Stefano Tonchi, Sarah Jessica Parker, Carine Roitfeld, Julia Restoin Roitfeld, Kate Schelter, Ferebee Bishop Taube, Luigi Tadini, Eleanor Ylvisaker, Jackie Astier, Fran Lebowitz, Justine and Jeff Koons, Genevieve Jones, David Hershkovits, Kate Schelter, Sophie Auster, and Vidal Sassoon. [The Daily, PMc, GoaG]