>> Socialista may have been a fashion week hot spot earlier this month, but something not so hot went down.  Turns out one of the bartenders was infected with Hepatitis A, and health officials are warning anyone who visited the establishment Feb. 7, 8, or 11 — i.e. right at the tail end of fashion week — to get vaccinated. 

Those who attended fashion week events at Socialista early on in the week — Nicole Miller (Feb. 1), Miss Sixty dinner party (Feb. 3), Betsey Johnson (Feb. 4), Matthew Williamson (Feb. 5), or the Phillip Lim party (Feb. 6) lucked out — but those who attended the Tony Melillo showing on Feb. 8 are not so lucky.  Roberto Cavalli and Francois-Henri Pinault, head of the Gucci Group, who both attended Ashton Kutcher's birthday celebration at Socialista on Feb. 7, also not so lucky.

This is one fashion trend that I hope doesn't catch on . . .

*image: wireimage

ShoeBlog takes a step back in time to introduce us to the Spring-O-Lator, a shoe designed for Herbert Levine's line by his wife.

Raging Rouge finds a nude based eyeshadow even the most aurophobic (fear of gold) person could enjoy.

If you happen to be in London (perhaps on your way back from Milan) this exhibition is worth a peek. The National Portrait Gallery is a far stretching museum with low ceilings, red carpeted hallways, and old wooden banisters. It's quiet but not in the static manner of large museums with cafes and viewing towers. It's the perfect place, actually, for the Vanity Fair Photo Exhibition (pictures even a twelve year old would find interesting) as the space will likely bring some contemplative calm to the collection. From LeCool, a London-based city mailer,

"This is a show of two halves. Vanity Fair launched in 1913 to major in celebrity photography, even before thespians took to film, but closed in 1936. The portraits were often contemplative, but caught flashes of the Jazz Age’s exuberance and toyed with the avant-garde – Man Ray left a surrealistic mark. Condé Nast revived the mag in 1983, and the big, bold, colour shots have been top of the game ever since and dominated by Annie Leibovitz compositions. The subjects are not just Hollywood, but also artists, writers, and musicians - check out Buckminster Fuller and his Dymaxion design, a perfect mad-scientist shot. There’s sexuality in many shoots (see Helen Mirren © Snowden 1995), yet Helmut Newton himself captures gravity in Margaret Thatcher. This is a feast of fame and photography, insight and glamour - simply gorgeous."

Article by Herbert Write for LeCool London

The Coutorture Community has their eye on the Milan Fall 2008 shows as well as the latest Spring fashions hitting the stores. The Fashion Bomb, Fashion Indie, ShinyGloss, The Shoe Goddess, and Pink Rock Candy keep you in the know.