>> INSIDER WIRE —Last night, Diane von Furstenberg celebrated her Wonder Woman-themed holiday collection and the special DC Comic that goes with it — The Adventures of Diva, Viva & Fifa, about three women superheroes whose initials conveniently coincide with DVF.  Diane penned the story herself, and proceeds go to her women's empowerment cause, Vital Voices. [The Cut, Fashionista]

New York Bridal Market Week is nearly upon us and your editors are preparing for the frenzy of tulle, chiffon, and crinoline that is sure to overtake the showrooms of New York and this morning we had a chance to get amped for the festivities with a trip to a taping of The Martha Stewart Show.

Darcy Miller, the editorial director of Martha Stewart Weddings was on hand to give audience members tips  on one-of-a-kind ways to personalize your fall wedding. You can check out all of her tips right here. We applaud their emphasis on personalization and hope that as we go through Bridal Market we can showcase the amazing array of options fashion brides have when it comes to what is arguably their the designer purchase they will ever make. But until then enjoy the fun crafty projects and cool ideas from the the editorial team of Martha Stewart Weddings.

Finally, a Spring 09 collection from Los Angeles Fashion Week we can say something really nice about...finally some really beautiful clothing to go with all of those beautiful houses over there! The Crispin & Basilo collection was so nice in fact, that we think there would be a place for it among the offsite happenings during New York Fashion Week, or maybe we should hope that they don't follow in the footsteps of the countless other designers who have come to the Big Apple in search of some self-respect. Maybe Crispin & Basilo will continue to grow in California and serve as a lesson for how to make pretty, laid back (i.e. West Coast) clothing without having to come to New York just to prove it. Bonus points for the sequin and jersey combos, Crispin & Basilo, and ...THANK YOU!

In case you haven't noticed, we've been kind of obsessed with the Fall 08 look books this week--you see, after all of the Spring 09 shows, it's the only thing that has us excited about the current season again. A lot of people think look books are boring, and the Lover Fall 08 look book is certainly done in a style that can only be called "traditional", but we think it's a great chance to just see the clothing as it is--sometimes without even a runway to influence your opinion. Lover, this season, designed quite a few pieces that make it worth the extra money. A sweatshirt cum minidress, a gauzy black dress, a pair of leather just-perfect-for-hosiery shorts (left) were on our favorites list at first glance. Lover, to us, always does better with the warm weather clothing and although we really like this collection we don't think we'll ever get over their famed Spring 07 collection that showed all of that high waisted denim we'd never forget about. 

We're going to skip right over the blouse catastrophe that was this collection and point out that it had some really cool denim offerings that were more than redeeming. Some were not very good at all...and some were great. The problem with baggy, distressed denim is that it can so easily veer into "fashion don't" territory and lose its modern feel. In the show, a cropped pair of light washed jeans were torn at the knee and looked quite cool as did a more traditional pair that were merely worn thin---though why the stylist cuffed in the way that he/she did is beyond us. Let's just say that the collection was a mixed bag of contemporary assets and liabilities and that we're impressed with some of the denim and wonder if it's a lower price from that which we might expect from Alexander Wang.