>> Proenza Schouler recently sent flat sandals down its Spring 2011 runway. "Sensible shoes," noted Lazaro Hernandez. "Tranny shoes feel old, everyone's wearing them." But that wasn't the case for the amped-up platform oxfords seen on its Fall runway, which apparently aren't going into production. Opening Ceremony has six pairs of the one-of-a-kind shoes, straight off the runway. They range $750 to $1,000 and come in size 39 or 41. [@openingceremony]

>> Marc Jacobs finally launched an ecommerce site today, featuring a trifecta of playful illustrations (of actual sales people dressed in Marc Jacobs clothes — their outfits and identities will change over time), runway videos, and photography. "It's going back to the roots of the Marc Jacobs brand, which is to be fun, entertaining, engaging and cool," said James Gardner, founder and CEO of Createthe Group, the online design firm that worked with Jacobs on the new site. Currently, only a small curated selection — chosen by Jacobs and his business partner Robert Duffy — covering both the Marc Jacobs and Marc by Marc Jacobs brands, is available for purchase — at least for now.

>> Hussein Chalayan has opted out of showing his Spring 2011 collection on the Paris runways; instead, he will present his collection to press and buyers individually. The conceptual designer has been busy showing two film installations in London galleries and says of his choice of film over runway this season: "There is always this performative element to my work, and film for me has been quite a natural medium. You can orchestrate the way the elements in a film connect, in terms of the choreography, the lights, the sound. In a way, it's what you ultimately do in a runway show, but obviously that's live and things go wrong. There's another beauty in that, but film was a natural progression for me." [WWD]

>> Head not brimming with quotes and opinions from Pop editor Dasha Zhukova? The New Yorker's Sept. 27 issue profiles woman-of-few-words Zhukova and explores her relationship with Russian oil billionaire Roman Abramovich, which blossomed while Abramovich was still married to his second wife with whom he had five children (although at the time, Abramovich's spokesman called Zhukova nothing more than "a family friend").

Since, The New Yorker's Julia Ioffe writes, "The pair" — who have a 9-month-old son together — "has kept a low profile. Abramovich, notoriously press-shy, has found a good partner in Zhukova. She will not discuss how they met, or even if they are married. In public, the couple barely interact, floating past each other without words or eye contact. Her press corps rivals his in obstructiveness and obfuscation. She gives few interviews, and when she does, her answers are studies in evasion. When I asked her about her recent art acquisitions — since becoming involved with Zhukova, Abramovich is said to have spent record amounts on paintings by Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon — her airy Southern California drawl turned to lead. 'I don't really talk about the collecting,' she said, and then, as if by way of explanation, added, 'it's something that's quite personal and doesn't involve just me.'"

Ioffe continues: "It's tempting to suppose that such vagueness betrays a neophyte's lack of confidence, and a wariness about being portrayed as a rich dilettante. But Zhukova's almost virtuosic uncommunicativeness seems to apply to all areas of her life, and her infinite unquotability has earned her a kind of fame among journalists. At a fashion show, a reporter for Women's Wear Daily asked her what she thought of the clothes. Zhukova responded, 'I liked them, but that's off the record.'"

While at a June art opening Zhukova was hosting at her Garage Center for Contemporary Culture in Moscow, Ioffe notes: "Periodically, she collapsed on the gray couches, looking like a sullen child, and searched her purse for a pack of cigarettes. (Abramovich disapproves of the habit, and Zhukova denies that she smokes.) She was tired of having a reporter follow her around all day. 'Do you always have to have that tape recorder out?' she asked. She developed a makeshift way of going off the record, covering her mouth and whispering to her friends." And: "At one point in the evening, I came across Abramovich as he wandered into the room with the MOMA exhibit. He walked slowly around, chewing on gum and staring blankly at the works. When I approached him and mentioned that I was writing about Zhukova, she leaped up from a nearby sofa and sprinted over on six-inch Louboutin heels. 'Can I talk to you for a minute?' she said to Abramovich, in Russian, and, grabbing him by the arm, led him quickly across the room and out the door."

"Ultimately," Ioffe concludes, "Perhaps Zhukova doesn't speak much because she understands that her money and connections speak for themselves."

>> Although the big Spring 2011 Burberry model story includes Burberry face Nina Porter's much-Tweeted runway fall while closing, industry insiders are buzzing about something else. According to rumors, last night, Gucci demanded all girls cast in their show fly into Milan, pronto. That means Burberry's usual all-star London lineup — Freja Beha Erichsen and Lily Donaldson among them — were already gone; Burberry did nab Jourdan Dunn and Lisanne De Jong, however.