>> Ashley Olsen wearing Balenciaga shoes: normal.  Not so normal?  Heidi Montag of The Hills was photographed wearing them first, then Sarah Jessica Parker, and now Ashley — doesn't it usually happen in the reverse order?

"Everywhere At Once” Cocktail Party and Screening Hosted by Harper's Bazaar; New York City, April 29.

*images: wireimage

>> Even online, sample sales create a frenzy.  In order to keep up with the proliferation of online sample sale sites like Gilt Groupe and HauteLook, Net-a-Porter founder Natalie Massenet announced today that she is launching TheOutnet.com (which I assume is a play on "outlet"), a high end designer sale site that is set to go live by the end of the year.  Let the games begin.

>>  Alber Elbaz is in town, divulging that he's in talks with Acne jeans to do a denim line starting in 2009, and hopefully also to dress a gal or two in those fabulous Lanvin party frocks of his for the Costume Institute Gala. 

But more imminently intriguing was the conversation he and NY Times critic Cathy Horyn had over a lunch of chicken dumplings:

[Alber] offered that, in his view, fat designers tend to have a lightness to their clothes (because they [want] what they are not), while thin designers, lacking the particular dream, seem to have the heavier hand. We didn’t mention any living names, of course. Let me say at the outset that we’re making a vast generalization, but the conversation, so typical of the barmy directions that Mr. Elbaz and I can go over a satisfying meal, got me thinking.

I threw out some names. Dior? He was a big fellow—died, I believe, after a powerful supper in Italy. You can’t say some of his New Look dresses were exactly light.

“But he loved a small waist,” Elbaz said, imitating a hand-span waist.

It would be especially interesting to apply this theory to before-and-after designer cases: Marc Jacobs, Karl Lagerfeld come to mind.  Did they have something before that they lost with the weight?

More fodder for thought from the Alber-Cathy lunch powwow:

The conversation made me think of another fashion challenge posed many years ago by Suzy Menkes while some of us waited in Paris for a Romeo Gigli show to start. Name five designers, Suzy said, who changed fashion and who were married. I can only remember two names that the group accepted—Pucci and Courreges. I tried to get Ralph Lauren’s name in there but, as I recall, I met some resistance. This was a purist group.

*image: gettyimages

>> Is Nina Garcia turning down the editor-at-large position and severing all ties from Elle after a 13 year tenure?  She was spotted leaving the Hearst Tower and avoiding all eye contact earlier today. 

This is especially notable, since Nina was reportedly courted for a director's position at Harper's Bazaar in 2005.  When contacted for comment about her presence at Hearst today, Nina downplayed the possibility of a position at Hearst, but did say that she was doing freelance work . . .

*image: wireimage

>>  The Ugly just got Uglier.  Just in time to coincide with Nina Garcia's guest appearance on Ugly Betty this Thursday comes the announcement that Elle editor-in-chief Robbie Myers and creative director Joe Zee are also filming a segment for the show. 

The season finale features a charity softball game between Elle and the fictional Mode magazine, during which both Myers and Zee will be up to bat wearing the requisite uniform (left).  Naomi Campbell, who is also guest starring on the season finale, will play their designated hitter — we can only guess the jokes that will come out of that.

In summary?  1) Elle is being obsessive about their TV face time (Ugly Betty, the upcoming Fashionista); and 2) Way to take the power plays on-screen, guys.

*image: source