>> The Lanvin for H&M collection short film debuts tomorrow, but Alber Elbaz wasn't always so keen on doing a high-low collaboration: “I never wanted to do it, because it seemed like giving ideas away — like giving a child for adoption. But everything in life is timing. I feel that the world is changing.”

He, too, is changing his tune, and sees the collaboration as "not merely a dress for less — it was more a laboratory for me to understand things." He continues: “It was an exercise for me to understand what is the relationship between high fashion and fast fashion. Ninety-five percent of women cannot afford [Lanvin], so let them have a taste. It’s like if I was living in a palace and opened some doors and said, ‘Have tea with me, taste the food.’ It’s not about giving away something that belonged to someone else; it’s about sharing.”

But don't expect a Lanvin diffusion collection — Elbaz says the H&M collection wasn't a test for anything like that: “No, the beauty of our business is that we can do things and then move on. This project with H&M was about being relevant to a moment. I have always said that we are not a cool brand. It’s not about being cool or not. We try to be relevant. I’m not going into the cool club. It’s not my address.”

>> When Lauren Santo Domingo tweeted last week, "It's been exactly six months since I quit smoking! And by 'quit' I mean wanting to smoke every minute of everyday but not," some were left wondering if it might be. But now there's confirmation. Peter Davis reports that she and her husband Andres Santo Domingo, who married in January 2008, are expecting their first child. The two were snapped out at Purple's Halloween bash at The Standard Hotel over the weekend. [Avenue]

>> Kate Moss's hair whims have set off hair trends in the past — after growing out the brow-grazing bangs she sported back in 2007, which launched a legion of fringed lookalikes at the time, she brought them back again late last month. So why the reversion? "I got bored one night and cut it — with kitchen scissors," she told Hilary Alexander at her Topshop collection launch this evening. [@HilaryAlexander]

>> Marc Jacobs and Lorenzo Martone confirmed that they were no longer together — and had split two months before — in July, and for a while, the two weren't spotted together at all. It seems like they've remained on good terms, however: During New York Fashion Week in mid-September, they were snapped at V magazine's party at The Standard, smiling, with arms over each other's shoulders (below, left), and then over Halloween weekend, they were captured by Terry Richardson — again at The Standard — getting even closer (below, right). Jacobs wore a pantless look with heels, horns, and a wig to the party. [Terry's Diary]

>> When it comes to Alber Elbaz's mantra at Lanvin, he sums it up as thus: “Editors can hate me; women — no." On that note, the prevalence of flat shoes on Lanvin's Spring 2011 runway could be interpreted as a nod to comfort, but Elbaz says it was actually a last minute decision backstage, and that all of the models were originally wearing vertiginous titanium heels.

“It was a nightmare,” recalls Elbaz. “We did the rehearsal and all of a sudden I saw the girls couldn’t walk. I saw the agony in their faces. They were shaking; they looked like alcoholic girls. Only 10 or 12 [of the models] said they could walk in the heels. But the ones that couldn’t were, like, 37 of them. I got very emotional — not that I got mad at them — but I got very emotional that they didn’t complain. You know what? Damn it with image. You can be stubborn and go after an image, but I’m not an image-maker; I’m a dressmaker. If you don’t feel good in something, you don’t look good with it.” And that's how the flat sandals from the label's Spring 2011 commercial collection were switched out for the heels.

Jacquelyn Jablonski, one of the few who wore the heels for the show, told Models.com: "One of my most memorable moments of fashion week was at the Lanvin show. Every time a girl came back after walking, they were out of breath and practically limping because the heels were super high (but gorgeous) and the runway was so long!"

But the heels will still be produced, Elbaz says: “We are rethinking the whole construction. I always say fashion for me is almost like contemporary art. When does the painter know the painting is finished? It’s not a house you built and say, ‘OK, is done.’”

>> Karolina Kurkova hasn't been in the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show since 2008, when she was ending her run as an Angel. But it sounds like she might be back onstage this year — she, along with girls like Jourdan Dunn, Jessica Stam, Caroline Trentini, Lais Ribeiro, and Lily Donaldson, were among those brought in for final casting callbacks for this year's Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, which tapes on Nov. 10. It's not unheard of for a former Angel to appear in the show again — Izabel Goulart, who was an Angel from 2005 to 2008, walked in last year's show (at the time, Kurkova had just given birth). [TFS]