Photo-illustration: Everett Bogue; Photos: Getty Images, istockphoto

"I guess this is one of those situations where great word of mouth cuts both ways," mused designer Eric Niccoli of Orthodox last night as he watched the crowd jostling to get inside the packed after-party for his men's fashion week show. Cutting Niccoli's way: His fête at Lower East Side club 205 was the must-do of the evening. Cutting the other way: The party, co-hosted by Oak, proved so popular that the open bar ran out an hour into the shindig, and downstairs, DFA DJs Jacques Renault and Justin Miller were contending with some moshpit-like conditions. Niccoli couldn't have been more pleased—not least about the fact that so many of the revelers were women. No, it's not like that: Orthodox's hotly anticipated debut collection for girls hits stores next month, and if the scene at 205 last night is anything to go by, ladies eager to get their hands on Niccoli's shrunken leather blazers and low-slung tapered trousers should heed the advice on the party's invite: Show up early.

Superhero MIA From '08 Comic-Con

what's up, pussycat?

As far as we know, the Pussycat Dolls aren't auditioning at the moment, but the fashionable seem to be feeling feline these days. Spotted: bows cum cat's ears on the runway at Alexis Mabille's Couture earlier this month, an auricular headband at Glastonbury, and some big-eared specs from Jeremy Scott for Linda Farrow. Meow. Meanwhile, big cheese Coco Rocha was shot by Arthur Elgort for the August edition of Vogue Nippon in mouseketeer gear.

Red Hook Residents Already Groaning Over ‘Real World’ Invasion

Red Hook: We can see why people here don't want The Real World to come to their hood, though it probably will. But why would one guy say he'd rather have another Ikea? Would you really pick two massive Ikeas in the same neighborhood over a temporary MTV colonization? Are we reading too much into a throwaway quotation? [Brooklyn Paper via Gothamist]
Bushwick: Kim Hastreiter, of Paper magazine, we must say we agree with BushwickBK: This anthropological jaunt of yours to Bushwick, in which you use the word "hipster" at least three times (don't you know that they're called scruffles now?), makes you sound pretty tired and square. And we're also a bit ashamed to admit that some sick part of us thrills to the nasty neocon, pro-gentrification instincts of BushwickBK. [PaperMag via BushwickBK]
Chelsea: Good luck to the West 16th Street co-op dwellers who are bucking the creation of a twenty-story condo-hotel right behind them, on West 15th Street. We're not taking sides, but we're just saying that the big project has already bought the air rights from the adjacent Catholic school and the community board's signed off on it, too. [Curbed]

East Village: Neighbors of the bar Heathers, on East 13th Street, are apparently still complaining about the noise level, though the owner, Heather herself, appears to be keeping mum on the issue. Plus, Rosie Mendez will host a rat walk-through of the hood. The Nuyorican actress?! No, moron, the councilwoman! [East Village Podcasts]
Long Island City: It's hard working in this burgeoning office district when there isn't even a Burger King or a Wendy's, says Deborah, a Citigroup staffer on a smoke break outside Court Square One. Come on, Debbie, make some lifestyle changes and live to love your grandchildren. [NYO]
Manhattanville: The owner of Tuck-It-Away Storage, the last big landowner fighting Columbia's plan to expand over seventeen acres here, says he'll spend up to $2 million in a judicial battle to the death with the university. That's a lot of storage space! [NYO]
Rockaways: Eighty thousand "cubic yards of toxin-laden dirt" will be removed from here this fall by 30 trucks a day, even though locals begged for it to be hauled away on a barge. But enviro honchos say that would cost twice the $35 mil slated for the project and would be less safe. Rest easy, local schoolkids: That dirt'll have sealing foam and a tarp over it if those trucks fall over! [NYDN via Queens Crap]

Video: Britain’s ‘Top Model’ for Disabled Girls Is Quite Disturbing

A while back we told you about Britain's Missing Top Model, the reality show in which disabled girls compete for the chance to appear in a photo spread in British Marie Claire and representation by a top modeling agency. It's in its fourth week across the pond, and the Times reports it's "turning into the nastiest programme on TV." We almost didn't believe it until we watched it for ourselves. In this clip, one contestant is sleeping before her photo shoot and the other contestants — who are standing right over her — decide not to wake her up. And it only gets more disturbing! The deaf girl insists on signing in the TV-commercial challenge because she worries her disability won't show otherwise. Also worrying her disability won't be "good enough": a girl who has hereditary neuropathy with liability to pressure palsies (HNPP), which can cause her to be paralyzed at any time, and myalgic encephalomyelitis (a chronic fatigue syndrome) — and is deaf in one ear and blind in one eye. This is one you just have to watch.

Bonekickers; Riddle of the Romanovs: Revealed; Missing Top Model [Times UK]

Related: The New ‘Top Model’ for Disabled Girls Might Make Fashion People Look Really Ignorant

Luxe Holiday From Victoria's Secret (Fashion Wire Daily)

Fashion Wire Daily - Christmas in July? Well, not quite, but almost, as retailers around town showed off their holiday offerings this week for editors so that gift guides will be ready for roll-out come November.

Acrobats, Edible Elephants, and the Fantastic Four: Exclusive Excerpt From Eddie Campbell’s New Graphic Novel

The Amazing Remarkable Monsieur Leotard comes out August 5 from First Second Books.

The Amazing Remarkable Monsieur Leotard, by Eddie Campbell and Dan Best

Copyright © 2008 by Eddie Campbell and Dan Best. Published by arrangement with First Second, an imprint of Roaring Brook Press, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishing Holdings Limited Partnership. All rights reserved.

The ‘Observer’ Attempts to Part the Gays

Bob Saget, playing an old gay in The Drowsy
Chaperone.Photo: Getty Images

You Know You Are a New Gay When:
• You live in Williamsburg and the East Village.
• You wear pointy shoes and tight cutoff shorts.
• You studied queer theory and dabbled in heroin at Sarah Lawrence or Bard or Wesleyan.
• You hang out at bars like Metropolitan and Sugarland in Williamsburg or the Phoenix and Eastern Bloc in the East Village.
• You listen to Chromeo and Girl Talk and Le Tigre.
• You hang out at Brighton Beach.
• You do karaoke at Sing Sing.
• You watch America's Next Top Model.
• You are Christian Siriano, Jake Shears, or Rufus Wainwright.

You Know You Are an Old Gay When:
• You are old, fat, and can't, in all likelihood and despite your best efforts, get laid.
• You go to Musical Mondays at Splash and regular nights at Marie's Crisis.
• In fact, you love everything about musicals, especially Cheyenne Jackson and the guy from the Broadway production of Footloose, after whom you named your cat.
• You put together a reading of a Wendy Wasserstein play. [To certain of our gay friends, you are so called out on this one.]
• All of your friends are musical-theater fanatics, as well.
• You watch The Golden Girls. [R.I.P., Sophia!]
• You are Austin Scarlett.

We know we have some gay readers (hey, hey, hey! We don't assume, but when you contact us on Facebook, it's hard to ignore), and we'd love to hear what you have to say about these categories. But if you did try heroin at Bard, let's just keep that between you and Natasha Lyonne, okay?

The New Old Gays [NYO]

Artist Asako Narahashi Is Lucky She Sprung for the Waterproof Camera

Asako Narahashi’s Iwasehama (2004).Courtesy of Yossi Milo Gallery.

Opening Ceremony Turns Japanese, Houses Comme des Garçons Pop-Up

Opening Ceremony, where USA vs. Japan will soon be …Photo: Carmen Lopez and AJ Wilhelm for NYmag.com

• Comme des Garçons is doing a pop-up shop! The first-ever “Opening Ceremony presents Middle Space/Comme des Garçons shop” will feature the complete fragrance line, wallet collection, and assortment from the Play collection.
• The store is going to carry exclusive Japanese kicks from brands like Nike Sportswear, Pendleton, Converse, and Redwing.
• Opening Ceremony is collaborating with Sanrio to create toy-vending machines in the stores.
• Designers including Green, G.V.G.V, Hiromi Tsuyoshi, Lad Musician, Porter, Vlas Bloome, End Pin, United Arrows (Beauty and Youth), and Sabatino will make their U.S. debut exclusively at the store. Also, you'll find Cosmic Wonder, John Lawrence Sullivan, N. Hollywood, Nude: Mashaiko Maruyama, Toga, and Whereabouts.
• The Japanese stationer Postalco will create exclusive stationery.

Let the countdown begin. —Sharon Clott

prada's green scene

Yesterday evening saw the opening of the Prada flagship store in San Francisco, an event that socials such as Vanessa Getty (pregnant but still working her Prada), Sloan Barnett, and Tatiana Sorokko all turned out for. Most dramatic outfit of the night award goes to Sorokko, who wore a pale pistachio green embroidered cape that paid homage to the label's distinctively hued walls.

Did CBS and Katie Couric Conspire to Make McCain Look Better?

After Keith Olbermann pointed out the editing on Countdown last night, and the reaction of the liberal blogosphere was fast and furious and full of theories about a CONSPIRACY and can basically be summed up by this verselike comment on the Huffington Post

Nice job Katie and company.
I didn't know you were part of the McCain campaign.
The fact that the interview was cut and pasted to make McCain look better means Katie
and her producers heads should be on the block. They should be fired.

Except: The only reason anyone knows that McCain made that gaffe is that it appears in the transcript. Which CBS published on their Website. With the video like, next to it. So … not to sound like we're on the side of Big Media or Corporations or The Right or are totally naïve, but probably there's not much of a conspiracy here? Said CBS in a statement:

"As all news organizations do with extended interviews, last night’s Obama and McCain interviews were edited to fit the available time and to give viewers a fair expression of the candidates' major differences."

CBS splices McCain interview clip, expunging his false claim on surge timeline and falsely suggesting he gave different answer [Media Matters]
CBS Defends Obama Interview [Politico]

‘Yes Man’ Trailer: Jim Carrey Forced to Do Another Thing, for a Movie’s Entire Length, for No Apparent Reason

Tagline: This Christmas, Carl is about to discover what he's always been missing.

Translation: Carl is a once-cranky guy whose life will be changed forever by the transformative power of bungee jumping.

The Verdict: In Liar Liar, Jim Carrey starred as a lawyer forced by his son's birthday wish to always tell the truth. Now, in Yes Man, he plays a guy who challenges himself to answer "yes" to every question for an entire year. (Also, in Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls he was a pet detective bound by his contract with Warner Bros. to do most of his talking out of his butt.) What inexplicable repeatable action will Carrey be forced to take in his next movie? Will he scuttle his chances at employment when stricken with a mental condition that makes him honestly answer that job-interview question about one's biggest weaknesses? Or have his life ruined when he falls under an ancient curse that mandates he order sweet-and-sour pork every time he enters a Chinese restaurant? That said — and we know this is faint praise — this probably looks like his most promising comedy in more than a decade.

Siriano Fans Hate On Blayne Walsh and Girlicious

Christian Siriano and Blayne WalshPhoto: Courtesy of Bravo

"It sounds strange," says linguist Michael Adams, professor of English at Indiana University and author of "Slayer Slang: A Buffy the Vampire Slayer Lexicon." "It's got a stunt aspect, and stunt words remain stunt words."

…"Girlicious made me roll my eyes," says Robert Thompson, professor of TV and pop culture at Syracuse University. "It sounded like a self-conscious catchphrase created in the laboratory…Anything 'a-licious' has been so done," says Thompson. "It's so middle school. It's such an old suffix."

Thank goodness they called the experts to explain it "sounds strange" and is "so middle school." If we may, doesn't it feel like these people are omitting the most obvious point there is to make about girlicious? That it can't catch on because it will make many viewers think of the overmakeuped inappropriately dressed young girls from the reality series of the same name? If you need us, we'll be giving quotes to the Post (hair flick).

Blayne tries to fashion a new catchphrase on 'Project Runway' [NYDN]

News We Don’t Want to Hear: ‘Star’ Claims Matthew Broderick Cheated on SJP

This makes us queasy. Star covers are for Jessica Simpson and Brad Pitt and Heidi Montag — people who live in the make-believe world of Los Angeles (you think they call it la-la land for nothing?). But Sarah Jessica Parker is our celebrity. She's New York City's petite mother figure, if real moms wore Manolos and actually had the time to manage their curly hair in this humidity. And Matthew Broderick is our timid, slightly too pale, and henpecked dad!

Sure, it's fun to hate on SJP and what she represents now and again, but nobody wants her feelings to be hurt. Can we tell a celebrity weekly to mind its own beeswax?

Sarah Jessica Parker's Hubby Caught Cheating [Star]

What the Hell Is Tori Amos Talking About?

Photo: Getty Images

"I kind of wanted to almost reconstruct the foundation of the band. I wasn't happy with the way the band drifted into obscurity toward the end of the '90s." —Mick Jones, who believes Foreigner didn't drift toward obscurity until the end of the nineties [AP via Yahoo]

"Chris had a Border collie when we started and I had a half-Border collie, and I always thought of Mulder like a Border collie. He needed a job, so when you see him at first, he's like a Border collie who's a lapdog." —David Duchovny on Fox Mulder [AP via Yahoo]

"They told me I'm not actually that convincing when I'm running. Brad tells me that he really had to edit the hell out of the scene with me running away in the snow, because I look so bad." —Emily Mortimer, on her action-star debut in the upcoming film Transsiberian [PR-Inside]

"If you see him just go up to him and give him a big hug. He's a BIG hugger." —Rainn Wilson on Michael Bay [Movies Blog/MTV]

Simon Doonan and Jonathan Adler to Tie the Knot!

Simon DoonanPhoto: Patrick McMullan

Girl Talk’s Gregg Gillis on His New Album, Making Listeners Puke, and Why He’s Pretty Sure He Won’t Get Sued

Photo: Laura Buckman

I love your first record, Night Ripper, but sometimes when I listen to it, my head feels like it might explode. Do you ever worry about, like, seizures?
It’s funny because I think a lot people misinterpreted it as me trying to make the “ultimate party record” or something. But I like it to almost be disorientating and over-the-top. If it makes you nauseous, then that’s cool to me! I’d rather make an extreme piece of music than, like, an MTV Party to Go mix. If it makes someone vomit, then I made a pretty cool record, obviously.

Feed the Animals feels a bit less cluttered. Did you set out to make something more listenable this time around?
Yeah, I felt accomplished with Night Ripper and felt that I didn’t really have to prove that I could do something like that again. I’d rather just move forward and make something a bit more musical. So I focused on layering a lot of elements with more subtle juxtapositions. I think there’s more samples on this record, but you don’t hear it. I think Night Ripper was, to some degree, about a technical achievement, but with this one I wanted to use that template to make a really fun record.

How did you go about making the album? With so many samples involved I’d imagine it takes forever.
It’s a slow evolution. It takes me about a year or two to gather all the little pieces, then I edit it all together. I’ll think, ‘Okay, I want Big Country with 'Whoomp! (There It Is)' going into, say, Afrika Bambaataa going into the Cardigans. How do I make those transitions as smooth as possible?’ Even if I know how it will go, it might take me eight hours to make one minute of a song just to figure out different techniques to make it sound seamless.

What made you decide to release Feed the Animals using the “pay what you want” model?
To me, it just seems like all music is donation-based — you can download any song for free. Even buying a CD, to me, is just donating to the cause. After finishing the album, I just wanted to get it out as quickly and easily as possible and for people to hear it in the highest format. I live off people hearing it and coming out to shows, so this just seemed like the most efficient way to get high-quality MP3s out really quickly.

Have people been generous in their contributions so far?
I don’t really have any stats. The thing I have a gauge of is the Internet presence, the blog presence, press and stuff, which has been good. Radiohead legitimized the format so the album was reviewed in magazines within the same week it came out online. It feels like the people coming out to shows have all heard it. So it feels like everyone who should’ve heard it has heard it. Which is, in a simple way, the overall goal of putting out an album.

You sample some of the biggest artists in music on this record. How concerned are you about getting sued by one of them?
I feel morally sound that we shouldn’t be sued — I feel like the music’s transformative; it doesn’t negatively impact anyone. And there’s a thing called Fair Use that protects work like that. It’s definitely a concern, especially with the increased level of press this album is getting, but I feel sound about it and I think there’s a whole academic and legal movement supporting more creative and open exchange of culture and ideas.

You’re playing the All Points West festival here in a few weeks. How do you approach a big festival crowd like that?
Festivals are almost a lot easier for me, since the clubs are so chaotic. At my shows a lot of people jump onstage, toss drinks around. I’m cool with that and I love it, but it also increases the level of difficulty a good bit when people are running into me and screaming in my face. At a festival the audio’s usually crystal clear. There’s tons of people, but it’s not as nuts. So it makes it so much easier for me to physically perform. And a lot of the stuff I play is obviously pop hits, which can be refreshing for the crowd. You know, all the bands playing All Points West are great, but you’re probably not going to hear “Come On Ride It (The Train)” anywhere else that day. —Joe Colly

'I hate having the spotlight on me'

Music Review: Buddy Guy remains fiery on new CD (AP)

AP - Buddy Guy, "Skin Deep" (Silvertone/Zomba)

Music Review: Candlebox's first effort in 10 years (AP)

AP - Candlebox, "Into the Sun" (Silent Majority/ILG Records)

chez toledo, a hothouse atmosphere

Call it the Toledo metric: Henceforth, it will be possible to measure the fashion community's devotion to a designer by the number of minutes its members are willing to spend in her un-air-conditioned apartment, in the middle of a heat wave. To judge by last night's celebration in her honor, Isabel Toledo is adored indeed. "Ruben was painting, painting, painting until the very last minute," she explained of the hand-decorated fans making the rounds at the fête, which marked the announcements by FIT that Toledo is the winner of this year's Couture Council Award for Artistry of Fashion and that she will be the subject of a major retrospective in 2009. Co-hosted by FIT's Valerie Steele and Bazaar editor Glenda Bailey, the event saw devotees including Yigal Azrouël, Christian Cota, and Narciso Rodriguez braving the AC-free conditions at Chez Toledo.

President Bush Sums Up the Financial Crisis the Best Way He Knows How

W = wise. Photo: Getty Images

MEDIA
• Us Weekly is no longer up for grabs. Or maybe it wasn't for sale to begin with. [NYP]
• Esquire's 75th-anniversary issue, which will hit newsstands in October, will have the words "The 21st Century Begins Now" flashing across the cover. Could the magazine's editors not have been a little bit more, er, flashy than that with their scrolling cover line? [Folio]
• Viacom's Sumner Redstone has plans to live forever: "I'm gonna fight death as long as I can. I like it here. I don't want to go anywhere else." [MSNBC]

REAL ESTATE
• Donald Trump Jr., spawn of property magnet the Donald, is starting a real-estate fund that will invest in property in India. This is from the kid who started a mortgage company two years ago and watched it fail spectacularly. [Bloomberg via DealBreaker]
• The most recent addition to 15 Central Park West? Big surprise here: a Chase bank. [City Room/NYT]
• Tishman Speyer renovated and converted 560 rent-regulated apartments at Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village to market-rate rentals, but the plan might have backfired: The company's net income on the property dropped to $4.8 million, down to $108.3 million in 2007. Meanwhile, city councilman Dan Garodnick is calling on the company to pay the legal fees of the tenants who are legitimately occupying rent-stabilized Stuy Town apartments. [Curbed, NYO]

LAW
• There's been no big summer-associate drama this year. What gives? [NYO]
• Attorney general Andrew Cuomo is preparing to file civil-securities-fraud charges against UBS over the auction-rate-securities market. [WSJ]
• Brendan Sullivan, a trial attorney with Williams & Connolly, will be working on the defense team of indicted former Bear Stearns hedge-fund manager Ralph Cioffi. Sullivan also represented former New York Stock Exchange chairman Richard Grasso in his fight with the New York attorney general's office over his pay package. [DealBook/NYT]

Yves Saint Laurent's art collection up for auction (Reuters)

Avril Lavigne’s Juniors’ Line Hits the Sale Rack

Photo: Courtesy of Kohl's

Abbey Dawn Suspenders Tee: Love It or Hate It? [FabSugar]

Related: Video: Avril Lavigne Tries to Get Excited About Her New Clothing Line

Jarvis Cocker Shares Fluids With Front-Row Concertgoers

"Who's thirsty?"Photo: Ryan Muir

Cocker mused on everything from his 30 years in music (and the ensuing loss of hearing) to Bill Clinton being unfairly reprimanded for “spocking on a dress.” He apologized that “there’s no way I can fuck everybody in this room,” before “Just a Fucking Song,” and his disillusion with U.K. politics and admiration for Barack Obama was the windup for “Running the World” (Lyric: “Cunts are still running the world”). But care as he might for the world, last night was all about the ladies. —Vanita Salisbury

birkin bag ladies

The recession has hampered everything from automotive sales to the real estate market. But that most basic of necessities, the Hermès handbag, continues to fly off the shelves. Shrew purchase, ladies. When you can no longer afford gas, you can just ride your Birkin to work.

Say it ain't so, Ferris! Reports are swirling that Matthew Broderick is cheating on wife Sarah Jessica Parker with a 25-year-old youth counselor. The worst part? The lady in question supposedly refers to Broderick as "Matty Cakes."

A view inside London's Royal Opera House

free speech: hadley freeman on the look of love lost

Here's the thing about breakup outfits: I always thought they were dependent on context. You know, you finally get rid of that unemployed sponger who your best friend always told you looked like Gollum and you run out to get a fabulous new self-congratulatory outfit; the bastard leaves you for the aforementioned "friend" and you bury yourself in several layers of your father's old sweaters and tracksuit bottoms left behind by your ex-ex-ex-boyfriend. But it seems that I have been mistaken. Well, at least in the modern world of celebrity—and really, what more important world is there? This has been an interesting month for watchers of recently single celebs, mainly because the most prominent ones have been, for better or worse, the biggest style influences of the decade: Kate Moss and Sienna Miller.

Sienna, as surely everyone knows by now, recently left her boyfriend Rhys Ifans (a.k.a., the funny-looking one who posed in his underwear in "Notting Hill") and, apparently able to get over the break in about, ooh, five minutes, has been seen soaking up the sun with married father of four/former actor/current oil heir Balthazar Getty. Meanwhile, Kate, surely prompting a small sense of déjà vu for the lady, has reportedly hit an on-off patch with a dark-haired musician with a penchant for leather jackets. She was recently spotted recovering from an alleged lover's tiff with the Kills' Jamie Hince the only way she knows how: on her best friend's yacht in Ibiza.

These splits have very different contexts. Yet both have prompted the same style reaction. Though one might assume that Sienna might feel a small twinge of sympathy for Rhys (who I spotted in a London bar not too long ago, looking, shall we say, decidedly worse for the wear and no happier for it), or even for Balthazar's wife, she instead has been flaunting what Rhys is missing and her new beau is getting like nobody's business. Her attire of late has tended toward teeny tiny shorts worn with bikini tops and floppy hats (for hanging out with her new "just good friend" in L.A.), and bikini bottoms and nothing else while on holiday with him on the requisite private (save for the odd paparazzi) beach. Meanwhile Kate has been taking a similar approach: tiny black minidresses encrusted with gems for casual afternoons out with friends, tiny shorts and boots for drinks down the pub. Sartorial expressions of self-pity feature about as much in her wardrobe as signs of contrition do in Sienna's. Yet while some might object to these getups, it's hard not to feel that this is all a definite improvement on the wardrobe of another serially single A-lister, Jennifer Aniston. Say what you like about Sienna, but in my book, anything beats a mournful yoga outfit hanging off protruding hip bones.

Incidentally, a word about another star who may or may not be single soon: Madonna. Unlike pretty much every other celebrity watcher on the planet, I am not going to pretend to know what's going on between her and Guy because, strangely, she has yet to confide in me. But I will say that this woman is most definitely NOT having an affair with A-Rod. As Sienna would doubtless concur, any woman who's just starting an illicit romance would not wear bloomers. When Madge swaps the bloomers for hot pants, then Guy should call the lawyers.

A computer with the new Joost Chinese language website displayed in Beijing

General view of the opening ceremony at the 2005 edition of the Salzburg Festival

Herbert von Karajan in 1950

Omarosa: Wendy Williams is 'fake,' 'phony'

Stratford's 2 musicals offer a study in contrast (AP)

AP - There's a nice theatrical contrast — all-American wholesomeness vs. determined Teutonic debauchery — on display at the 2008 Stratford Shakespeare Festival.

of waistcoats, punting, and spanx

The Cinema Society and Victorinox gave guests--including Mamie Gummer, Jessica Joffe, and Hamish Bowles—occasion to revisit "Brideshead Revisited" last night, at the New York premiere of Julian Jarrold's new film adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's classic novel of class friction and forbidden love in interwar Britain. The after-party at the Gramercy Hotel rooftop was nice enough, but it had nothing on the impossibly posh bygone world depicted on-screen: waistcoats, white linen suits, and sybaritic afternoons spent punting at Oxford, where an aspiring artist (Matthew Goode) falls in with a glamorous aristocrat (Ben Whishaw) burdened by Catholic guilt. Goode seemed in awe of the period grandeur. "You'd have to go to Buckingham Palace" to find an English estate as majestic as Yorkshire's Howard Castle, the film's Brideshead stand-in, he declared. Co-star Hayley Atwell revealed that she donned an "itchy bob" wig for the role. Also, Spanx. "They were so restricting, and poor Julia is such a restricted character that it actually gave me a lot more to work with," she insisted—surely one of the most high-brow justifications ever given for covert curve control. But not a bad one, come to think of it.

Can you believe those new 'Gossip Girl' ads?

OMG! 'Gossip Girl' Promos Racier Than Ever

duane reade, officially part of the green movement

On a recent trip to Duane Reade, I was stopped in my tracks by what seemed like some kind of beauty mirage. There, taking up prime real estate at the end of the skincare aisle, was a bounty of creams, face washes, lip balms, and body butters from niche natural companies typically found in health food stores—not the sort of products I associate with a mass-market pharmacy. While the New York metro-area drugstore has stocked Burt's Bees for a while now, DR recently upped the ante with offerings from J.R. Watkins, Alba Organics, and Befine, the vegan skincare line that you could literally eat, if you were in the habit of consuming soap (to each her own). Most surprising to see, though, was the cult Israeli Dead Sea line, Ahava, which is typically hard to find stateside, let alone at your neighborhood pharmacy. The mere presence of the brand suggests a new "aspirational" stocking approach—to which I say kudos: Being able to buy toothpaste and specialty products in the same trip is a huge bonus. Fingers crossed DR buyers stumble upon Jo Malone next.

'Golden Girl' Estelle Getty Dies at 84

it's a mad, mad, mad, mad world

The second season of "Mad Men" won't be making its official debut until Sunday night, but yesterday evening, Michael Kors lifted the veil for a lucky few when he hosted a private screening of the first new episode of the Emmy-nominated period drama. Invitees not only got the scoop on the show's slow-burn cliffhanger, but they had the chance to down cocktails with cast members, too. Kors' reasons for throwing the shindig were simple enough: He's a huge fan, and he wanted a sneak preview. "Well, you know fashion people; we always want to see things first," he wisecracks. "But seriously, I just want to celebrate the show. It's so rare to see television that's both seriously smart and seriously stylish. I was hooked from the get-go." So hooked, in fact, that "Mad Men" was a key influence on Kors' Fall 2008 collection—which, in a lucky trick of timing, should be arriving in stores any minute now. In the meantime, Kors talks to Style.com about his guilty viewing pleasures, why specs are sexy, and the many reasons everyone's mad about "Mad Men."

A show about advertising executives set at the dawn of the sixties hardly seems the likeliest candidate for ruler-of-the-zeitgeist status. Why do you think "Mad Men" has struck such a nerve?

Well, I know why it's struck a nerve with me. I mean, I love television, but most of the shows I get into register at the level of guilty pleasure. "Ugly Betty," "American Idol," stuff like that is fun, but it's airy, there's nothing to it. And real style on TV, that's almost impossible to find, and in general, wherever you do find it, the content itself just isn't that smart. "Mad Men" is undeniably stylish—those super graphic titles, the Bernard Herrmann-esque score, the lighting…and then, obviously, I mean, the clothes. The show is like your terribly chic friend who was valedictorian. It gets you on every level.

I'm with you on all that, but it's like—there are shows everyone watches, and then there are shows that resonate with the culture in a very profound way. Right now, "Mad Men" is that show. Do you think there's something about that era of America that speaks to our present moment?

Absolutely. Look at what's happening in politics. Everyone's heard the Obama/JFK comparisons, but they're out there for a reason. And it's not just because Barack Obama is a fit young guy with a gorgeous, accomplished wife. In 1960, America was coming out of a deeply conservative period, at a time when it felt threatened, and that's the case again now. Our culture is schizophrenic in a way that wasn't true back then, but there are lots of echoes. We need a new Camelot. We need our optimism back.

On the other hand, if there's one thing "Mad Men" makes very clear, it's how different a world this was before feminism. I watch that show and thank God for Betty Friedan and Bella Abzug.

And Hillary Clinton came this close to being president, and on the other side of the coin, we've got the Pussycat Dolls. We live in strange times. But look at how much hasn't changed—everyone talks about the retro-ness of the show, because people smoked all day and drank three scotches at lunch, but you go to any country club in the United States, and believe me, the wives of the CEOs, they still look super-polished, super-put-together. That's the job. Only now, they have to keep that up at 50. Botox, yoga. Those women aren't allowed to age into graceful matrons anymore.

Speaking of age: One of the fascinating things about the fashion on "Mad Men" is how adult everyone looks. The youngest characters all dress to seem older; no one wants to be the kid.

Aren't we ready for that again? For some maturity? I have to tell you, I am sick and tired of hair down to there and crotch-high hemlines. It's so obvious. For Fall I was really trying to bring back buttoned-up sexy—think Grace Kelly. So cool, so poised. She never reveals a thing and you can't take your eyes off of her. I mean, watch "Rear Window." That's smart sexy; it's interesting sexy. And it's grown-up sexy. You want a tip on looking hot? Wear reading glasses and a fitted dress. Simple.

Do you think that tailored dressing will ever really work for a generation of women used to throwing on their clothes?

I do, because I've seen with my own eyes the transformation that happens when you take a girl out of her baby doll and her flip-flops and dress her in a beautifully tailored suit. It's revolutionary. It's like, suddenly she gets it—clothes are supposed to FIT. And the bonus is, if you start dressing that way when you're young, in 20 years, everyone will say you haven't aged a day.

Whatever happened to the family comedy?