Earlier this week at Mao Pr we checked out the Aurelio Costarella Spring 2009 collection as part of our In The Showroom press preview series. Costarella, as was explained to us in the preview, did sequins before they were a 'thing' and so we saw two shining examples of his skill in this area. Forget thoughtless costumery, these frocks were adorned with sequins of different sizes, shapes, and colors creating a fabric of their own and making those high street versions feel way off the mark in comparison. Otherwise, Costarella kept with super-tailored but still feminine coats and cocktail dresses and added in some brilliant marker-color separates that gave life to his new collection. Check out our photos from the showroom below, and, his entire Spring 2009 collection on the runway right here. 

The magazine industry suffered greatly this week with major layoffs at Conde Nast and Time Inc and significant restructuring within those companies. Mens Vogue, for instance, will be 'absorbed' into it's parent magazine, Vogue. The men's magazine retained only its Editor and Chief, Jay Fielden. 

Zaha Hadid, architect du jour thanks to the Chanel Mobile Art Exhibit in Central Park, has opened an installation exhibit at two venues in Manhattan. The installations show Hadid's interest and talent in large-scale, organic shapes--not to mention, business sense. 

Photos of Charlotte Ronson's collection for JC Penney have surfaced, calling a lot of attention to the somewhat celebrity designer and her ability to strike while the iron is hot. Her collection for JC Penney, called I [Heart] Ronson, will retail between $15 to $65. Pictured above.

If you're a window person, you'll be happy to hear that holiday concepts for Selfridges (the Macy's of London when it comes to tourist-attracting windows) have been released. There will be a window designed by Alexander McQueen and an overarching theme of Santa as urbanite. 

>> After the second episode of Elle's Stylista aired last night, I think it's safe to say that it's not going to get any better.  Fashion news editor Anne Slowey still can't walk on a pair of heels — never good when you're acting as omnipotent fashion editor on national TV — and her show has been relegated to the bargain basement with the label of "tremendously silly and kinda boring fashion magazine editor competition show."  Even with some of The Devil Wears Prada furniture on-set, the show remains a sad shell of the real thing; Anne Slowey is no Meryl Streep.

There are numbers to prove how unimpressed watchers are — the second episode lost 30 percent of its viewership from last week, and while it's lead-in show, America's Next Top Model, attracted 4.4 million in audience, Stylista "fumbled all but 2.4 million of the viewers, which is barely better than The CW was doing in the time period with repeats of the next generation of 90210."

The jury is still out on whether Stylista will drive up newsstand sales and ad pages, which is it's main purpose, but it's looking like Anne Slowey is no Nina Garcia, either.
*image: photo courtesy the cw

>> There have been a lot of big model-agency switcharoos lately, with both Agyness Deyn and Snejana Onopka moving to Women, but conspiracy theorists have a new model on their minds: Tanya Dziahileva.

In the past few days, she has gone missing from her agency IMG's site; when you add that information to the fact that she left IMG's Milan branch for Why Not Models, and IMG's Paris branch for Marilyn, some are calling foul, especially since shedidn't walk New York Fashion Week because of a lost passport, but made it to Milan and Paris just fine.

Was the lost passport an excuse because she didn't have New York representation?  Was she dropped by IMG, did she quit, or is her disappearance from the site all a mistake?
*image: source

>> INSIDER WIRE —Don't ever expect to see Stefano Pilati give Yves Saint Laurent the Tom Ford treatment.  When asked about sex last night at his London College of Fashion lecture, Pilati offered to take his clothes off and then replied, "I never touch the idea of sex. Sex one of the most complicated things; it's too subjective. And if you have subjectivity, you have to balance it out - with you skills, your knowledge, the values of your brand. Sex for me is personal."  Guess he's just continuing in his anti-Tom Ford ways . . .

*image: source

Our bloggers never cease to amaze with their ability to ferret out the unusual, take for example Trend De La Creme who has managed to discover a beauty product is disturbing it is almost cool. In her feature Just Nosing Around she found this shower gel dispenser. Trust us there is more where that came from.

The Fashionable Housewife has solved our pale face tan body problem just in the nick of time. Its nice to know we aren't the only ones that cover up on the beach.

Temptalia stretches the boundaries of affordability with La Mer holiday giftsets.

Scented Salamander reviews the Dictionary of Perfumery, Cosmetology & Beauty Products - English-French/French-English which may be the most useful thing ever.

The Coveted asks if we remember the first cosmetic we ever used. We think ours was a Clinique concealer that we stole from our friend Lena.

Style Goodies has some unique ballerina inspired looks.

>> Anna Wintour is stepping out into a new, less plentiful, world: Conde Nast editors have been told to cut their staffs and budgets each by five percent, which means Vogue, Teen Vogue, and W will all be trimming some fat.  In the past, the Conde Nast philosophy has been to place the burden of cutbacks on the titles performing least well, but this time, it's not so — "This has a little more urgency on some level," a source told The New York Observer — so Vogue is definitely included.

Meanwhile, one of her pet projects, Men's Vogue, is being scaled back from ten issues to two issues a year, with its operations being folded back into Vogue, it was announced today.  Before the official word came, a source predicted that Men's Vogue would be a "small, small, small version of what it is.  And the small version will exist for nothing more than for Anna to save face."

The other magazine Anna is editorial director of, Teen Vogue, is trying out a new way to keep those ad dollars coming.  Nov. 28 through Dec. 26, the magazine is hosting a pop-up shop, The Haute Spot, in the Mall at Short Hills in New Jersey, where girls will be able to relax, try on clothes, drink smoothies, and charge their cellphones and iPods; over twenty of their advertisers are participating.  If it's successful, maybe it will ease some of the the burn Anna is feeling after the Men's Vogue fiasco.
*image: source

American fans of British handbag line Mulberry can now shop the brand directly as the brand has finally launched a full functional ecommerce site for America complete with customer service and regional content. Since its debut in 2001, Mulberry.com has become the second highest grossing Mulberry store out of the 50 worldwide locations and we have no doubt that adding a U.S presence will help grow their presence.

The site will offer an extensive range of accessories like the Mabel, the Roxanne and the Bayswater which have become extremely popular. In celebration of the launch, Mulberry is also offering four shades of ostrich Bayswaters – in limited numbers and exclusively for U.S. customers.