When I tell the young Marie Claire assistant seated next to me at the Reem Acra Fall 2013 fashion show that I write for Gawker, she becomes very excited because she attended Northwestern and sometimes Gawker writes about Northwestern.
Serial employee-assaulter, probable perjurer and popularizer of the phrase "I'm not here for that" Naomi Campbell is a "coach" on and executive producer of Oxygen's new modeling show The Face. Per the series' brazen ads, the reality competition combines the guts of America's Next Top Model with the team-oriented angle of The Voice. Basically, this means that supermodel mentors Campbell, Karolína Kurková and Coco Rocha are creating sororities out young (but not, you know, young enough) aspiring clothes hangers.
Madonna leaving the Kabbalah Center in Midtown ... John McEnroe sitting in the stands at a Knicks game with daughter Ava ... Ex-Gov. Eliot Spitzer walking home from a jog on Saturday afternoon, accompanied by one of his daughters ... Ethan Hawke driving a car with his wife and kids on the UES ... model Coco Rocha walking with boyfriend James Conran ... Renee Zellweger heading to the airport en route to Sundance ... Tina Fey filming scenes for 30 Rock ... Sarah Jessica Parker getting out of a car in front of son James' school ... and Lady Gaga signing autographs for fans outside Rockefeller Center.
Bill O'Reilly is celebrating his 60th today; we're counting on you, Keith Olbermann, to make sure O'Reilly's big day is a very special one. Fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld is turning 76. Just in time for Fashion Week, model Coco Rocha is turning 21. Movie director (and Madonna ex) Guy Ritchie turns 41. Ryan Phillippe is turning 35. Actor Colin Firth is 49. Golfing legend Arnold Palmer is 80. Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry is 59. The Post's Keith Kelly is 55. And NYC nightlife veteran Tracy Westmoreland celebrates his 53rd birthday today.
• Coco Rocha may have only been "observing" at Vogue a few weeks ago, but Chanel Iman says she actually spent past of last week interning at Teen Vogue. [Fashionologie, Grazia]
• Is the Costume Institute Gala planning a new approach next year? Some insiders tell the Daily it will be a "much less splashy affair" the next time around, with more benefactors in attendance and fewer models and celebrities. [FWD]
• A couple of weeks ago, it seemed Esteban Cortazar had decided to split with Emanuel Ungaro. Now it looks like he's staying put. For the moment, at least. [WWD, Cut]
• An interview with Stacey Bendet, whose alice + olivia line now rakes in more $50 million a year, she says. [ObsessedTV]
• Coco Rocha may not be interning at Vogue this summer, but Tallulah Belle Willis, the 15-year-old daughter of Demi Moore and Bruce Willis, is spending the next couple of months "shadowing" at Harper's Bazaar. [FWD, WWD]
• Goodwill stores are experiencing a boom, as you may have heard. Sales were up 7 percent in the first three months of 2009 compared to the same time period last year. [NYT]
• The fragrance industry introduces an average of 250 scents ever year. And you know what? That's probably a few too many. [NYT]
• It looks like it's over for Paris Hilton and boyfriend Doug Reinhardt. Please excuse us while we go get a big box of tissues; we really weren't mentally prepared for news this upsetting this morning. [People, Sun]
• A couple of weeks ago, it was Gwynnie Paltrow who was getting blamed for setting A-Rod up with Kate Hudson. Now real estate "superagent" Adam Modlin is taking credit for brokering the transaction. Go figure. [NYDN]
• Maybe Kanye West and Amber Rose didn't break up, after all. Or maybe they did break up, but they're spending a lot of time together anyway? It's a mystery, really. [P6]
• Coco Rocha is not going to be an intern at Vogue this summer. She's just spending a lot of time there so she can "learn more about the business." [WWD]
The New Yorkers for Children benefit attracted a predictably star-studded crowd to the Mandarin Oriental on Wednesday night. In addition to Zac Posen and Coco Rocha in matching ensembles, guests included Josh Hartnett, Emmy Rossum, Andre Balazs, Christine and Steve Schwarzman, Rachel Roy, Rachel Zoe, Topper and Tinsley Mortimer, Lucy Sykes Rellie and husband Euan Rellie, Andres and Lauren Santo Domingo, Alexis Bryan, Fabiola Beracasa, Gillian Hearst Simonds, Diane Kruger and Joshua Jackson, Gillian and Sylvester Miniter, Olivia Palermo ...
We cannot imagine why, but Paris authorities decided, of all the weeks in the year, to pick Fashion Week for a series of drug raids! Even more surprising, the chief executive of Elite Models' parent company Elite World, Bertrand Hennet, has been arrested for buying, possessing, and transporting cocaine. Police said that the 35-year-old "openly admitted that he had just bought £120 worth of cocaine, but consumed it before we got to him." The true mark of a dedicated junkie: When police are hammering at the door, don't throw your stash down the toilet, just snort it as quickly as possible!
Click through for a recap of the shows, parties, and gossip you've missed at Fashion Week thus far.
A recap of the shows, parties, and gossip you've missed at Fashion Week thus far after the jump.
Click through for more pics of some of the famous faces in the front row at Fashion Week over the weekend.
amfAR kicked off Fashion Week with a gala at Cipriani last night, where the long list of attendees included Donna Karan, Mary J. Blige (left), Anna Wintour, Calvin Klein, Rachel Zoe, Julia Restoin Roitfeld, Liza Minnelli, Candy Pratts Price, Robbie Myers, Jessica Stam, Lily Donaldson, Kenneth Cole, Stefano Tonchi, John Demsey, Stacy Bendet, Andrew Saffir and Daniel Benedict, Lisa Dennison, Terence Koh, Vito Schnabel, Noemi Lenoire, Harry Belafonte, Mary Alice Stephenson, Jennifer Creel, Natasha Richardson, Stanley Tucci, Taylor Momsen, Maggie Rizer, Doutzen Kroes, Robert Verdi, Mario Cantone, Eliza Dushku, Kipton Cronkite, Derek Blasberg, and Howard and Cindy Rachofsky. [PMc, Wireimage, WWD, NYO]
♦ Model Coco Rocha has been filming a series for Style.com called the "Insider's Guide to Backstage." Her invaluable tips include how to steal shoes from runway shows and how to dodge cameras. [Fashionologie]
♦ Could Marc Jacobs be opening a store in the East Village? That's the rumor. [Fashionista]
♦ Norwegian designer Peter Dundas is taking over from Matthew Williamson as the artistic director for Pucci. [WWD]
♦ Vivienne Westwood's show was the event of London Fashion Week, with Dita Von Teese, Pamela Anderson, Emma Watson, Kate Moss, Mischa Barton, and Tilda Swinton front row. [Daily Mail]
♦ By the end of the night, however, Moss was snapped looking completely wrecked as she emerged from a nightclub with Allegra Versace, who isn't keeping the best company for a recovering anorexic. [Mirror]
1) Of the many fashion parties over the weekend, none was bigger than Calvin Klein's 40th anniversary bash on the High Line last night. Among the fresh-from-Bryant Park faces present: Francisco Costa, Kimora Lee Simmons and Djimon Hounsou, Brooke Shields, Lindsay Price, Kim Raver, Eva Mendes, Halle Berry, Naomi Watts, Ellen Pompeo, Molly Sims, Alan Cumming, Aerin Lauder Zinterhofer, Anna Wintour, Bee Shaffer, Bryan Adams, Bijou Phillips, Claire Danes and Hugh Dancy, Fabien Baron, Ashley Olsen, Cynthia Nixon, Carlos Souza, Linda Fargo, Casey Spooner, Erin Fetherston, Ellen von Unwerth, Estelle, Rachel Zoe, Fern Mallis, Glenda Bailey, Jared Leto, Coco Rocha, Esther Canadas, Joy Bryant, John Leguizamo, Jay Manuel, Julia Restoin Roitfeld, Jessica Szohr, Kevin Bacon, Kelly Killoren Bensimon, Leighton Meester, Lydia Hearst, Martha Stewart, Ethan Hawke, Olivia Chantecaille, Padma Lakshmi, Rosario Dawson and Stephanie Seymour. [NYDN, NYO, PMc, GoaG]
(1) Attendees at Sephora's party at the Angel Orensanz foundation last night included Lydia Hearst, Kelly Osbourne, Kat Von D, Nicky Hilton, Dani Stahl, Ali Wise, Jason Preston, Mike Satsky, Olivia Palermo, and Shoshanna Lonstein Gruss. The crowd, though, was more impressed by the presence of out-and-proud couple Lindsay Lohan and Samantha Ronson (above, with half-sister Annabelle) than by performances by Ashanti and Natasha Bedingfield. [Elle/PMc]
