This evening Coutorture is hosting an exclusive MINT Jodi Arnold sample sale complete with cocktails, music, and heavily discounted art-inspired clothing. We've extended the invitation to our New York Network Partners and thought to pass the info on to our NY readers as well! A while back we posted on the amazing, mouth-watering deals at MINT Jodi Arnold this season and, thanks to our shout out, we've teamed up with the ladies at MINT Jodi Arnold to plan a shopping event. Between the zippered leather dress, ruched sleeve blouse, and cocoon coat, we're not sure how we're going to control ourselves. If you're in New York stop on by and stock up on family-appropriate, New York-approved outfits. The sale runs tonight from six to eight, RSVP to dhartzog@jodiarnoldnyc.com for details! Until then!

Last Friday we popped over to the new Billy Reid shop on Bond Street to check out their Spring 09 offerings and brand new Fall-stocked store. An interesting thing is happening to that pocket of downtown New York as menswear shops are opening every time we turn around. A few years back Nolita became the go-to destination for gentlemanly attire and now, just across Houston, the likes of Rogan, John Varvatos, and now Billy Reid are expanding on that draw. The Billy Reid shop, which shares the old Bowery Theatre space with Rogan (who opened up this summer), is as nostalgic and country-themed as the hotels (The Bowery Hotel) and restaurants (Freeman's) it shares the neighborhood with. The catch, in this case, is that Bill Reid himself is actually a red-blooded Southerner. Suddenly the rustic atmosphere appeared to us as more dynamic once we realized that it was, gasp, authentic.

In case you don't remember, Louisianna native, Reid, won the CFDA Perry Ellis award for menswear in 2001. His first New York store marks his fourth brick and mortar opening, and boasts the full mens and women's wear collections in stock. Check out our gallery of the new space below, and, if you're not in New York, be sure to shop Billy Reid online. A Southern gentleman gone e-commerce? Call us smitten. 

What inspired us to rent a van and bring two freezing models, eight grilled cheeses, and a few hungover crew members to the Meatpacking District on a weekday? Well, we'd been intoxicated by the influx of street style postings and trend reports that came just after the Paris shows commenced. All around us were young well-dressed girls on the websites we all know, like Face Hunter, The Sartorialist, and Garance Dore, and definitive statements about what was in for Spring 09 and what was out. Street Seasoned is kind of a jumbled up mix of some of the things we saw this from the Spring 09 happenings. From round shades to the longest boyfriend blazers in town, to Alice Dellal hair versus the post-YSL cut, from all the young girls walking into the Paris shows...to the nonsense of it all in the wake of a collapsed economy. All we can say is that there's no lack of content in the fashion industry these days...and, well, at least we have that. 

This weekend economic loses increased causing, over the whole of last week, the stock value for both Liz Claiborne Inc and Jones Apparel Group Inc, to decrease by over 50 percent. This was, to varying degrees, across the board. 

Australian label, Zimmermann, go-to brand for jet setting women who love to wear Resort year-round, is coming out with shoes and lingerie for Spring 09. Expect just as colorful and free-spirited an offering from the brand. 

Elle magazine is having its best year, according to Fashion Week Daily. The magazine sold just a few hundred ads less than Vogue has this year and it is assumed that the two books will be neck and neck for what will be a challenging 2009. 

And it looks like Anna Wintour, despite rumors of retirement, hasn't lost her fire...NY Mag has been shoo'd.