Cityfile: New York's Most Notable and Influential

♦  Heidi Klum, Adriana Lima, Alessandra Ambrosio, and Karolina Kurkova were just a few of the models who took to the stage in Miami this weekend for the Victoria's Secret show where the company unveiled its latest publicity stunt at the celeb-packed event, the $5 million Black Diamond Fantasy Miracle Bra by jeweler Martin Katz. [Vogue UK, E!, ABC]
♦  Prada is gamely adapting to the economy by launching a new line of purses that are all—gasp—under $1,000. [Nylon]
♦  As if today's tiny fashion victims don't have enough to choose from, Jean Paul Gaultier has inked a licensing deal to make children's clothes. [WWD]
♦  Vanity Fair's fashion department tried to go on a $150,000 shopping spree à la Sarah Palin and discovered it's actually kind of hard to blow that kind of cash. [VF]More

♦  One of the recession's teeny silver linings: In an unprecedented move, luxury brands like Chanel and Louis Vuitton are cutting prices for US customers. [WSJ]
♦  Supermodels—they're just like us! Helena Christensen braved the crowds in London yesterday to grab a polka-dot Comme des Garçons cardigan from H&M, and proudly wore it out that night. [Grazia]
♦  Does Agyness Deyn care about the fate of fluffy animals or not? On Wednesday, she DJed at the Humane Society's Cool vs. Cruel ceremony with boyfriend Albert Hammond Jr. But she's apparently not averse to wearing fur on the runway or to non-animal rights events. [Fashionologie]More

♦  Present at Bette Midler's Hulaween benefit gala for the New York Restoration project: Suze Orman (dressed as big pile of money, left), André Leon Talley, Gloria Estefan, Gloria Gaynor, Donna Karan, Kathy Griffin, Michael Kors, Pink, Jimmy Buffett, John McEnroe and Patty Smyth, Ray Kelly, and Cindy Adams. [PMc, Wireimage, NYO] More

Spotted | Karl Lagerfeld looking over a street vendor's wares on Prince Street this weekend ... Chace Crawford hailing a cab in SoHo ... Jennifer Garner and daughter Violet leaving Matt Damon's apartment building on Lafayette Street ... Kelly Ripa leaving ABC studios in Midtown ... Jessica Alba holding hands with husband Cash Warren while carrying baby Honor ... Heidi Klum and Seal walking on the street on Friday... Naomi Watts and Liev Schreiber taking a stroll in NoHo ... Matthew Broderick walking son James to school in the West Village ... Kate Winslet standing on the sidewalk ... America Ferrera sipping coffee on the set of Ugly Betty ... Agyness Deyn walking with some friends ... Julianne Moore taking her daughter trick or treating on Friday afternoon in the West Village ... Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise going to lunch at Balthazar ...  and Ryan Reynolds crossing the finish line yesterday in Central Park.

♦  Don't get your hopes up, but supposedly Madonna and Guy Ritchie are hoping to settle their divorce by early next week. Until then, though, we'll be treated to lots more gossip about their wacky marriage, including the set of rules Madonna posted on the wall of their Central Park West apartment and how she wanted to fill up their Olympic-size swimming pool with Kabbalah water. [NYP, Daily Mail]
♦  You think your house is complete chaos? For their stay in Berlin, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have six full-time nannies and a fleet of 20 Volkswagens (provided to them by the car company gratis, of course). [NYDN]
♦  Elizabeth Edwards, the wife of former presidential contender John Edwards, was spotted without her wedding ring at an event Monday night. Now the talk is that the couple isn't living together anymore either. [P6]
♦  Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen are supposedly feuding because Ashley wants a boob job, but doesn't want to get one unless Mary-Kate goes under the knife at the same time. [Star]More

Stylista debuts tonight, and all the mildly-enthusiastic reviews reveal something more important than whether or not the show is actually worth watching: Apparently, we live in a world so ironic, where the line between reality and fiction has been trampled on to such an extent, that we can't even watch a woman pretend to do her job and dole out abuse to eager victims on a set created to resemble an office without suspending our disbelief for one second. Stylista's star, Elle's fashion news director Anne Slowey, is playing a part, you see, and although she's playing it quite well, that won't stop everyone from pointing out that she's doing Meryl Streep doing Anna Wintour:  More

♦  Isaac Mizrahi went on Leonard Lopate's radio show yesterday to offer advice on how to be stylish during a recession. His counter-intuitive tips? Go to expensive hairdressers, buy expensive shoes, and "never buy anything that's on sale." [The Moment, WNYC]
♦  Suri Cruise has a pair of one-off, custom-made red Roger Vivier pumps, even though the brand doesn't do children's shoes. Somehow, we have a feeling that no amount of shoes will reduce the therapy in her future. [People]
♦  The fact that Kate Moss rarely does interviews or goes on TV is looking like a wise move considering her appearance on British TV last night, for all the excitement, pretty much blows her mystique. [Fashionologie]More

• Jennifer Lopez competed in a triathalon in Malibu, then flew to New York to throw Marc Anthony a birthday party at the Bowery Hotel. It's unclear, though, if she ever had an injured foot, which was the reason she gave for pulling out of the Project Runway finale last week and now some are wondering if a fight with Harvey Weinstein over a movie role was the real reason she cancelled. [People, NYDN, MSNBC]
• As if life didn't suck enough for Jeffrey Epstein, the imprisoned money manager: now some of the girls he paid for sex are suing him. [P6]
• Lindsay Lohan isn't a fan of Sarah Palin. Via a post on her MySpace page, she told the VP contender that she could "suck it." [NYDN]
• In other Lindsay news, she punched a paparazzi outside the Bowery Hotel last night because she thought he tried to trip her. [TMZ]
  
• Eliot Spitzer was spotted in Cambridge dropping off daughter Elyssa at Harvard. [R&M]
• Mark Ronson and Daisy Lowe have split up. [Mirror]

» The scene at Michael Kors was inevitably the central portion of the fashion industry/magazine world/reality TV venn diagram: Nina Garcia, Rachel Zoe with her client Joy Bryant, Heidi Klum, Joanna Coles, and Joe Zee drew the limelight away from Kelly Killoren Bensimon, Aerin Lauder Zinterhofer, Blake Lively, Bette Midler, and Kors' mom Joan. On the runway the (smiling!) models, who were told "you are the most glamorous beach bums in the world," showed off middle-of-the-road, cheerful outfits with polka dots and gingham aplenty. [NYO, NYDN, IHT]

» Doesn't Harvey Weinstein have any clout in this town anymore? At the presentation of his wife Georgina Chapman's label Marchesa—as usual a load of frou-frou formal dresses with no connection to trends or the real world—A-list celebs were conspicuous in their absence. The lack-lustre guest list included Tinsley Mortimer, Fabiola Beracasa, Beth Ostrosky, Rachel Zoe, Joy Bryant, Guiliana Rancic, and Amanda Bynes (whose name we're even embarrassed to type). On the plus side, however, the new president of LVMH, Renard Dutreil, was there, raising the possibility that he's eyeing the label for his fashion roster. [Guardian, Wireimage, WWD]More

• New revelations from the legal battle between The Weinstein Co. and NBC over Project Runway: It turns out that Tim Gunn didn't get paid a dime for his participation during the show's first season (he got paid just $2,500 per episode for the second), Harvey Weinstein hates Bravo chief Lauren Zalaznick, and Bravo didn't send Heidi Klum a respectable thank-you gift, even after the show became a major hit. [R&M]
• What's financier Jeffrey Epstein doing now that he's behind bars? He's using his free time in a Florida jail to email models back in New York and send them chocolates. [Page Six]
• The bartender who was serving Shia LaBeouf the night of his DUI arrest says the actor was pounding shots and acting a bit crazy. But now cops are suggesting he may not have actually caused the car crash, because the other driver ran a red light. [Page Six, People]

• Ron Perelman isn't interested in quietly settling his custody dispute with Patricia Duff. Not surprisingly, he's not interested in going to therapy with her either, despite a judge's recommendation. [Page Six]
• Christian Bale was arrested and released by the police in London over his alleged assault on his mom and sister, and he's returned to the Dark Knight premiere circuit. [People] 
• Some of the Real Housewives of NYC are nervous about Kelly Bensimon joining the cast, possibly because she's "too blond and beautiful and energetic." [R&M]
• Matthew Broderick might be cheating on Sarah Jessica Parker with a 25-year-old redhead he met at a bar. [Star]
  

Spottings | Star Jones eating lunch outdoors at BLT Market .. Kirsten Dunst with coffee and a cigarette downtown ... Kanye West chatting on his cell in the West Village ... Rachel Bilson cooling off with a smoothie ... 50 Cent showing up to court in Islip, NY ... Aaron Eckhart coming back to his hotel after a sweaty afternoon jog ... Heidi Klum leaving her Village apartment building with zebra print luggage ... Richie Sambora showing up in Midtown with his daughter ... Meg Ryan taking a solo stroll through SoHo ... and Pink licking her arm during an outdoor lunch at Cipriani Downtown.

Spottings | Maggie Gyllenhaal and Aaron Eckhart showing up at the Today show to promote Dark Knight ... John Mayer hamming it up for the cameras downtown ... Natalie Portman carrying a doggie bag in the Village ... Kanye West with a Louis Vuitton backpack waiting for his car ... Gabrielle Union crossing the street on Central Park South ... Heidi Klum leaving her West Village apartment in a hurry ... Everybody Love Raymond's Brad Garrett at Columbus Circle with a female friend ... Whoopi Goldberg taking a walk near her apartment in SoHo ... Restaurateur Drew Nieporent sitting in the first row at the All-Star Game last night ... Kelly Osbourne leaving a lunch downtown ... Kimora Lee Simmons arriving at a party to promote Fabulosity, her newest clothing line.

• After an uncharacteristic bit of good PR, Harvey Weinstein is behaving in comfortingly predictable ways, haranguing his wife and firing people. The creative director of Halston, the label bought by Weinstein a year ago, has been ousted after designing one collection. [WWD]
• As scary as it sounds, in addition to Mark, Charlotte, and Samantha, Ann Dexter-Jones has more children who are now getting old enough to annoy you: Annabelle and Alexander can be seen in Charlotte's Fall campaign video. [style file]
• Heidi Klum confirms to Conan that her legs are insured for different amounts, because one of them has a scar. Some would suspect her boobs also have scars, but we'd never be so rude. [Pop Crunch via The Cut]
  

Spottings | Alex Rodriguez leaving his apartment building en route to All-Star Game festivities at the Hyatt in Midtown ... Heidi Klum leaving NBC and posing with fans after a Today appearance ... Cassie eating lunch outside at Bar Pitti with a friend ... Naomi Watts and Liev Schreiber packing up the SUV with luggage outside their Noho apartment ... Blake Lively and Penn Badgley filming a Gossip Girl makeout scene on the Upper East Side ... Christian Bale signing autographs on Park Avenue during an afternoon walk with his wife Sibi.