>> After a disappointing Spring 2009 runway season, Austria Alcantara saw a turn for the better when she returned home to the Dominican Republic for a couple of days.  Dominicana Moda, the local Fashion Week, was going on and Austria booked 12 shows, getting the opportunity to open and close for the first time ever.  She was treated like a celebrity, with applause every time she appeared on the catwalk, and as her agent, Socrates McKinney, described it, "Every single girl in the Dominican Republic wants to be like Austria."  It just keeps getting better: Austria has booked her first New York campaign, and her compensation is $9,000 for three hours of work — quite a hefty salary for a girl from a country where her agent says the average salary is $200-$300 a month.

Next week for the season finale, we'll see how Cato van Ee is doing — and she's expected to be doing well.

We kindly request that you click over to our Network Partners before you close down the laptop for the weekend--we promise there is fashion yet to be had.

FashionFillers, put up some scans from the A/W 08 issue of Commons and Sense and boy does it make us nostalgic for the early-Madonna years. And lace gloves.

Makeup And Beauty Blog gives readers a lesson on how to wear red lipstick and which tubes will get you where you need to be.

It's been a while since we drooled over a pair of Blahniks but out Network Partner, Hello, Lover...Shoedaydreams (clearly not afraid of dropping a SATC reference here and there) brings us back.

And then she said something we all agreed with and wished we said ourselves, "If you've never worn a wig, you haven't lived.". The Budget Babe goes where Halloween will take us anyway. 

>> ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL —She was a runway exclusive, was rumored to have the campaign, and now it's confirmed: Anna Selezneva will be the only girl for Calvin Klein Collection Spring 2009 — Carine Roitfeld, who uses her consistently, must be proud.  I wonder if that means the rest of the rumor — that they asked Christy Turlington and Kate Moss, but both declined, is true, too? [TFS]

*image: source

We can't say we are quite as familiar anymore with the clothing by L.A.M.B., but maybe that's just because those handbags seem to be jumping out at us on every corner. In the beautifully arranged accessories room we jumped straight for the L.A.M.B. handbags because we knew people would want a better look at the prints and shapes to deliver this summer. Our favorite were the chic 70's block print bags that look as sophisticated as any vintage hand-me-down from your mom's designer storage. To see some of the Fall 08 L.A.M.B. handbag options click here, and to build some Spring 09 excitement, click below. 

The embroidery on the Spring 09 pieces from Naeem Khan were outstanding, in fact, they look like they could have been, you know, behind glass. Naeem Khan is one of those designers, after all, who outfits very wealthy, very put-together women, but who you don't hear name-dropped all over town. There is no wild buzz around his runway shows at New York Fashion Week, there are no mass-market knock offs. This Spring 09, everything that Khan sent down the runway was absolutely stunning--he's just one of those designers that's kind of beyond trend, that just is who he is and designs how he does and people wear his dresses on the red carpet and that's, you know, that.

>> INSIDER WIRE —As one door opens, another door shuts for Anne Slowey: Just as her starring role in Stylista debuted this week, Hachette Filippachi has suspended publication of Elle Accessories, of which she is editor.  The magazine will allegedly return in Fall 2009, but in the meantime, four staffers were let go. [FWD]