Cityfile: New York's Most Notable and Influential

• The inimitable Fug Girls were at Yigal Azrouël today and saw Elettra Rossellini Wiedemann (not sweating in leather pants, enthusiastically posing for a photographer), Miss J Alexander and Nigel Barker (chatting front row), Cory Kennedy (bored, disheveled), Alexis Bryan Morgan (still pregnant), Fabiola Beracasa (front row next to Katie Lee Joel), Nina Garcia (talking to reporters), and Kelly Cutrone (looking better in person than on TV). [The Cut]
• How bizarre that a designer with this much Fashion Week buzz is someone unheard of a year ago: Abigail Lorick (left), who designs the clothes for Gossip Girl's Eleanor Waldorf's fictional label, showed her collection last night and was rewarded with endless breathless coverage. [Elle, NYO, WWD, GoaG]

Parade Cancelled | The first victim of the Tropical Storm Hanna: Jeffrey Deitch's annual art parade on West Broadway, which was scheduled for tomorrow, has been cancelled. [Deitch.com]

1) One of many Fashion Week kick-off events was the Agyness Deyn-hosted, Thierry Mugler-sponsored bash last night at Christie's, where Chloë Sevigny, Henry Holland, Kelly Osbourne, Peaches Geldof, Yigal Azrouël, Kelly Cutrone, Paul Sevigny, Kate Schelter, Jennifer Creel, Holly Dunlap, Genevieve Jones, Jen Cohen, Dori Cooperman, Ellen Von Unwerth, Padma Lakshmi, and Mary Alice Stephenson previewed the auction house's fall sales of post-war and contemporary art, impressionist and modern art, and fashion. [The Daily, Wireimage, NYO]

2) Last night Interview celebrated their September issue (and new look) with a party at the still-under-construction Standard Hotel. Andre Balazs and his daughter Alessandra, Peter Brant and Stephanie Seymour, Glenn O'Brien, Fabien Baron and his daughter Arielle, Tommy Hilfiger, Donna Karan, Diane von Furstenberg, Patrick McMullan, Tory Burch, Julia Restoin Roitfeld and Magnus Berger, Kelly Killoren Bensimon, Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen, Tara Subkoff, Lydia Hearst, Lauren Hutton, Lara Stone, Jessica Stam, Hope Atherton, Gavin Brown, Genevieve Jones, Taylor Momsen, Lily Donaldson, Angela Lindvall, and Sam and Kathryn Shaffer ate Nobu sushi and dodged exposed wires and electrical tape. [The Daily/PMc]More

It's not so cool being a socialite, according to this Reuters article, which observes that women like Tinsley Mortimer and Fabiola Beracasa would rather be known as "designers" or "social activists" than by the S-word, which conjures up images of Paris Hilton. How this constitutes news isn't clear, although it follows a piece by William Norwich in this month's Vogue (not online, summary here) in which Lauren Remington Platt says she doesn't go out anymore (we're guessing last weekend was an exception?) and Maggie Betts blames the decline of the socialite on the economy and overexposure from the Internet. (It's probably worth noting that it was Maggie's dad who did more than anybody to insure George Bush got elected, so if she's looking for people to blame for the recession, well, she knows who to talk to.) But the worst thing about the Reuters piece? It lumps Tinsley and Fabiola in the same category as Debbie Trachtenberg (aka "Devorah Rose"), which may very well have sent the Tinz into a tizzy this morning.

• Inside The Libertine (left), Todd English's latest venture, which will open next week in Jason Pomeranc's Gild Hall hotel. [Eater]
• Johnny Utah's, one of the very few venues with a mechanical bull on the premises, is now being sued by an injured patron. [NYDN]
• Emeril Lagasse, who sold his company to Martha Stewart Omnimedia for $50 million in February, has signed a 10-book deal with HarperCollins. [Crain's]
• David Rabin says construction on the new Double Seven will begin next month. [NYM]
• Le Madeleine will be replaced by another French bistro. [NYO]
• A look at some of the restaurants that have tried to clone themselves and have failed in the process. [Zagat]
  
• Starbucks has a new line of healthier breakfasts, which won't reek like the chain's previous breakfast menu. [SeriousEats]
• A map of all the restaurants around town opening this month. [Eater]

It's Good Being an Olympic Champion | In case you haven't seen them just yet, photos of star Olympian Michael Phelps "massively skeeving on girls at the Playboy Club" at the Palms Hotel in Las Vegas. [Radar]

The Sun's Many Friends | The Sun may fold at the end of the month if it doesn't raise additional capital. But the paper has plenty of people who are voicing support! Among those recruited to give the neo-con paper a positive blurb today: Michael Bloomberg, Edward Egan, Glenn Lowry, Paul LeClerc, Herbert Pardes, Randi Weingarten, William Thompson, Betsy Gotbaum, Scott Stringer,Christine Quinn, and Robert Morgenthau. Now if just each of those people got one friend to pay for a subscription, they'd be in business. [NYSun]

Peer Pressure | Add Continental to the list of airlines—including American, Northwest, United, US Airways—that will begin charging you to check a bag on domestic flights. The only major airline that so graciously offers you a "complimentary first checked bag"? Delta, baby. [AP]

We always knew that using our brains too much was a bad idea—frowning causes wrinkles, for one thing—but now there's research to prove it. A study has demonstrated that not only does thinking barely burn any more calories than resting, but carrying out intellectual tasks triggers significantly greater hunger. "Caloric overcompensation following intellectual work," says the study's lead researcher, "could contribute to the obesity epidemic currently observed in industrialized countries." Finally, an explanation for all those obese people who turn up for the all-you-can-eat special at Red Lobster. The problem isn't that they were just handed a plate of 43 jumbo shrimp. It's they they just finished intellectually-demanding tasks like economics research and neurosurgery, so it's only natural that they're hungry.

• According to Nielsen, John McCain's acceptance speech at the RNC was watched by more people than Obama's speech last week. [TVWeek]
• Jeffrey Toobin on John McCain's speech last night: "The worst speech by a nominee that I've heard since Jimmy Carter in 1980." [HuffPo]
• Us Weekly's decision to take on Sarah Palin seems to have upset some subscribers. [MSNBC]
• Alessandra Stanley offers up her take on the O'Reilly-Obama match-up last night. [NYT]
• More trouble for magazine mogul David Pecker. [NYP]
• Jack Kliger will not be the chairman of Hachette after all. [Portfolio]
• One headline we never expected to see concerning Kathie Lee Gifford: "The Craziest (and Sexiest) Woman on TV." [Style.com]

Spotted | Model/actress Sofia Vergara having lunch with friends at Da Silvano ... a pregnant Naomi Watts with her baby in hand ... Katie Holmes getting out of a SUV ... a bronzed Claire Danes walking down the street ... Shannen Doherty signing autographs outside the Late Show with David Letterman ... an inebriated Mariah Carey getting a little help standing up from two bodyguards ... and Lindsay Lohan and Samantha Ronson kissing outside the Mercer Hotel last Sunday.

Not that you actually ever go there, but Coney Island will change forever this weekend when the Astroland amusement park finally closes once and for all. Now you can look forward to not buying a bunch of condos with beach views there in a few years.

Obama Does Fox | Did you miss Barack Obama's sit-down with Bill O'Reilly on Fox News's O'Reilly Factor last night because were watching the convention, or you had better things to do altogether? You didn't miss all that much. Video of the relatively gentle interview below.More

• Matthew Modine, who plays a developer on the TV series "Weeds," has picked up a condo for $1.7 million. [Real Deal]
• Girish Soni, the New Jersey pharmaceutical kingpin and political donor, paid $8 million for an apartment at 425 Fifth Avenue. [Cityfile]
• Anwar Zakkour, the former co-head of mergers and acquisitions at Citigroup and now top M&A banker at JP Morgan, has paid $8.2 million for two adjoining penthouses at 200 West End Avenue. [Cityfile]
• Photographer Albert Watson is paying $13.15 million for a three-bedroom penthouse in the Edward Minskoff-developed Tribeca building 101 Warren Street. [Real Deal]
  

The Times takes a look today at Woody Johnson, heir to the Johnson & Johnson pharmaceutical fortune, owner of the New York Jets, and Republican fundraiser extraordinare. Johnson was one of the most important men at the Republican convention this year and has been among John McCain's most loyal fundraisers. He was the only fundraiser, the Times tells us, who had his name "emblazoned" on his own hospitality suite. And he's successfully raised money from the likes of Donald Trump, billionaire oil mogul David Koch, and even former enemy Chuck Dolan, the man who thwarted his attempt to build a Jets stadium on the West Side. Of course he's also the father of Casey Johnson, who has been tabloids recently for having dated Courtenay Semel, the daughter of ex-Yahoo CEO (and Democrat) Terry Semel, although we're guessing Casey didn't come up very often in conversation, especially with those Sarah Palin social conservatives. But Woody always has something to talk about with Dick Cheney!