Cityfile: New York's Most Notable and Influential

It's such a dilemma: You want to acquire several new designer handbags, but in the current economic climate, will it be seen as tacky, insensitive wealth flaunting? As marketing strategist James Chung tells Forbes: "We're way beyond the days of conspicuous consumption," which means it's more essential than ever to know the brands to buy so it doesn't seem like you're showing off.More

♦  André Leon Talley urged fashion students at the Art Institute of Philadelphia to vote, "no matter who your candidate is," and said of Anna Wintour: "She is not that person in 'The Devil Wears Prada.' She is like Catherine the Great of Russia. She has kept that magazine on top, raised money for the Met and for the Democratic party." [WWD]
♦  Election eve shocker! Donna Karan and Diane von Furstenberg are voting for Obama. [WWD]
♦  Michael Kors could care less which network Project Runway winds up on: "I just want people to watch the show." [The Cut]
♦  In the new Agent Provocateur campaign, Helena Christensen doesn't look very happy in cheap red lace, and we don't blame her. [The Mirror]
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♦  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

♦  The election, the economy, and Madonna and Guy all faded into insignificance last night when MTV aired the first clip of The City, and we saw our girl Whitney stepping inside Diane von Furstenberg HQ and getting ambivalently eyeballed by Olivia Palermo (who seems to have a weirdly strong screen presence). [NYO, NYP]
♦  The sixth season of Project Runway has wrapped: Rebecca Romijn, Eva Longoria and Lindsay Lohan reportedly make guest judge appearances, although regular judges Nina Garcia and Michael Kors earn less airtime than before. Yet due to legal issues we can't wrap our mind around much less summarize, no one knows when or where the show will air. [WWD]More

» 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

• 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]

• Michael Kors' Gossip Girl appearance? He'll be in the front row of Eleanor Waldorf's (in real life designer Abigail Lorick's) runway show along with Tinsley Mortimer. [NYO]
• Cathy Horyn gives the new improved Interview a thumbs-up, and wonders if it'll pose competition to the likes of Vogue and W. [On the Runway]
• With Style.com to offer runway shows on iPhones within hours of the show taking place, why would anyone actually want to brave the crowds and the endless waits? [NYT]

Everything's come up roses for Michael Kors is the theme of his profile in today's Times, which details how the designer has gone from surviving Chapter 11 in the '90s to being recognized by starstruck young girls in restaurants today. While quotes are wheeled out to testify to his talent—Bette Midler describes his clothes as "clean... but they have that little bit of edge," and Allure's Paul Cavaco says they're "chic but not neurotic"—reality TV is clearly responsible for making Kors the bankable brand he now is, a depressing indictment on the world we live in if ever there was one.More

Thompson LES, the latest addition to Jason Pomeranc’s hotel franchise, recently opened its shiny doors. (Well, prematurely half-opened: Before you book a room or head over for a drink, bear in mind that the pool, outdoor bar, and restaurant are still under construction.) The luxe lodge's rooms are equipped with mini-bars stocked by Dean and Deluca, Sferra linens, and Frette robes. But most importantly, guests won't be offended by badly-dressed staff, thanks to their Rogan Gregory-designed uniforms. But Gregory, who collaborated with Bono on the eco-friendly clothing line Edun, is far from the first designer to cash in by dressing the help. Employees at other swanky hotels, waitstaff at restaurants, athletes, and even the Boy Scouts can boast of high-end names on their uniforms' labels. For example:More

Happy Birthday | Celebrating birthdays today: Real estate broker Deborah Grubman—who also happens to be the wife of Allen and stepmom of Lizzie—turns 56. Party planner extraordinaire David Monn is 45. Designer John Varvatos turns 54. Dustin Hoffman is 71. Two former boy band-ers, Drew Lachey and JC Chasez, both turn 32 today. Tennis star Roger Federer is 27. And Robin Quivers is 56. Saturday is the big day for Chris Cuomo (left) who will be celebrating his 37th. Michael Kors will be turning 49. Allure's Linda Wells will be 50. And real estate broker Larry Kaiser and designer Peter Marino will be a year older on Saturday, too. On Sunday: Fashion icon Betsey Johnson will be 66, actress Angie Harmon will be 36, and real estate developer Harry Macklowe will turn 71.

• Kate Moss might be heading to China as part of a deal with Topshop that could net the supermodel as much as $48 million. [Telegraph]
• Erin Wasson has a good reason for not styling Alexander Wang's show this season: She's busy starting her own line for Rvca. [WWD]
• Beverly Johnson is returning to modeling. The first stop on her comeback tour? An appearance on Tyra Banks' talk show tomorrow. [Page Six]
• Michael Kors will make a guest appearance on Gossip Girl. [WWD]
  

1) The 303's new gallery in Chelsea was christened last night with a performance by The Virgins and partiers Lisa Spellman, Kirsten Dunst, Matt Creed, Thurston Moore, Serge Becker, Anna Sui, Byrdie Bell, Cynthia Rowley, Poppy de Villeneuve, Genevieve Jones, Julia Restoin-Roitfeld and Magnus Berger (left), Jessica Stam, Marilyn Minter, Sean MacPherson, and Rogan Gregory. [PMc/FWD] 

2) On Tuesday night, Isabel and Ruben Toledo's home was the venue for a celebration of Isabel's award from the Couture Council of the Museum at FIT. Museum director Valerie Steele and Harper's Bazaar's Glenda Bailey hosted guests including Vera Wang, Stan Herman, Marylou Luther, Joe Zee, Joanne Pailey, Yigal Azrouel, Pamela Fiori, Michael Vollbracht, Simon Doonan, Kai Kühne, Kristina O'Neill, Marjorie Gubelmann, Carmen Dell'Orefice, Liz Peek, Narciso Rodriguez, Helen Lee and Tim Schifter, Matthew Modine, Mickey Boardman, Linda Fargo, Douglas Hannant, Threeasfour's Adi and Gabi, Iris Apfel, and Bill Cunningham, who cooled themselves in the un-air-conditioned loft with cocktails and handpainted fans. [PMc/FWD]More

If it feels like every week brings news of yet another cash-strapped American company raising money from Abu Dhabi or Dubai or selling itself entirely to one of these emirates, it isn't your imagination. From real estate (the GM building) to finance (Citigroup), cash has been pouring in from the Middle East as of late. But the expressway of money goes in both directions. Today the Times covered many of the banks setting up shop in Dubai. But loads of other prominent New Yorkers are heading East to take advantage of the petro-dollar gravy train. Here's a look at the growing list of prominent restaurateurs, fashion designers, architects, and real estate developers setting up shop in one of the world's fastest-growing—and richest—regions.

Fashion
You don't have to manufacture diamond-encrusted burkas to get in on petrobillionaires' wives' ravenous appetite for designer duds. New York-based fashion gurus are opening boutiques in Dubai's constantly multiplying high-end malls (places like the famous Mall of the Emirates, which sports the world's largest indoor ski slope). So far Michael Kors and Betsey Johnson have gotten in on the action, there are two Calvin Klein boutiques in the emirate, an outpost of Saks Fifth Avenue recently opened there, and designer Karl Lagerfeld has signed a deal to design 80 limited-edition homes on Isla Moda, the world's "first dedicated fashion island." A Dubai outpost of Barneys seems likely in light of its 2007 takeover by Dubai-based investment firm Isthimar.More

The public face of PETA, Dan Mathews, has been flying around the world as usual, but instead of focusing solely on orchestrating wacky animal rights stunts, he's promoting his book, Committed: a Rabble-Rouser's Memoir, in which he describes PETA's public enemy no. 1, Anna Wintour, as looking "like she has constant, painful gas." Attacks on the Vogue editor have created some of the biggest headlines for PETA, but she remains intransigent in the face of gay ex-model Mathew's inventive campaigns:

In 1992, the group invaded and occupied her offices. In 1997, her Manhattan town house was daubed with blood-coloured paw prints and the slogan 'fur hag'. During lunch at the Four Seasons a woman threw a dead racoon onto her plate with the cry, 'This is for the animals!' In response Wintour has increased the amount of fur on her pages, encouraged young designers to use it, refused to run anti-fur ads, and displayed an icy disdain: hit full-face with a tofu cream pie outside a Parisian fashion show, her only response was, 'Tofu is very good for the skin.'

Other fashion figures, Mathew tells journalist Alix Sharkey, are a bit more susceptible to his persuasion:More

• Gruesome twosome or match made in heaven? Karl Lagerfeld and Lady Bunny wowed the crowd last night at Visionaire and Lacoste's Paris couture fashion week party on a yacht on the Seine. [Elle]
• Recession? What recession, asks the chairman of Van Cleef and Arpels, who brags that his company's sales are booming, citing an emerald necklace that he sold for more than $1m to an American couple for the wife's 50th birthday. Who's the lucky lady? [WSJ]
• Has your summer wardrobe been woefully incomplete without swimwear by Michael Kors? Well, thankfully he has a new licensee and his bathing suits will again be available from Neiman Marcus and Saks this fall. [Vogue UK]
• Salvatore Ferragamo's granddaughter Vivia, an FIT grad and Ungaro alum, is soon to launch her womenswear and accessories lines stateside. [JC Report]