>> IN PRODUCTION —Thakoon Panichgul's sportswear collection for Target will be out Christmas Day, and he promises plenty of those prints he's so well known for: "They were very easy to work with. They wanted a lot of prints, and I chose silhouettes that have done well in the past." [WWD]

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>> In honor of the US premiere of Valentino: The Last Emperor today at the Hamptons International Film Festival, two more clips from the documentary, this time focusing on Valentino and his longtime business partner Giancarlo Giammetti, rather than the designer's pugs.  Valentino pulls Giancarlo aside during the preparation of a show, angry: "Cheri, please, a bomb is going to explode here. Look at my hand shaking! I've been working for 40 hours straight." Giancarlo tries to remind him that the cameras are rolling, but Valentino says he doesn't care and threatens to quit the film altogether.  As Giancarlo sums up their relationship, "To be with Valentino as a friend, as a lover, as an employee, you need a lot of patience."  And patient Giancarlo is.

>> INSIDER WIRE —We've heard Marc Jacobs wax poetic on his recent choice of skirts, but why the heels for his bow at Louis Vuitton?  They were Rick Owens, natch, and he wore them to empathize with all the women who suffer for fashion: "Although I've always wanted to be taller, which is the real reason I wore them, I also thought I can show that I, too, will suffer for fashion." [The Cut]

We don't know what y'all are up to this afternoon but we're wholly distracted and experiencing something of a mid-week slump right here at five on the dot. Thankfully, our Network gives us the opportunity to both finish work and maintain our mental wanderings! The television program Stylista seems to have aired and Fashion Addict Diary has a clip of Creative Director Joe Zee giving some friendly style advice. J'adore Couture posted a picture of Marc Jacobs wearing the hottest trend off the Spring 09 runway and FashionFillers gives a shout out to some ankle boots that are a New Yorker's dream come true come rainstorm. Finally, and most substantially, Style...A Work In Progress talks about a personal denim crusade and the Built By Wendy pair that fits the bill. At least someone's getting something done around here! 

So, here we are reviewing Lauren Conrad's collection which may or may not be of interest to those of you who read our site. Nevertheless, it's there and it would be, well, awkward of us not to post on it. Good news first. The dress we have poised as the opening shot (left), which was actually jam-packed in the middle of the show, is a very chic dress indeed. "Sexy" and "jersey" and "Los Angeles Fashion Week" are not three terms likely to appear in the same sentence but that dress is in fact all three of those things. The maxi dresses are also quite nice although, last time we checked, Ella Moss didn't throw herself fashion shows when she made such things. There were also some mini-dresses that were chic however basic. The only real bad side to all of this is that "Conrad" doesn't seem all that interested in fashion as it exists in the world. Perhaps keeping an eye on the Paris shows might encourage her to come up with, oh, a concept. Alas, maybe we are being too harsh. Who knows, maybe she will sell a lot of these dresses because she is someone who knows how to market herself and maybe, given the state of our economy, that's actually saying quite a lot. 

>> Before the winner is announced Nov. 17, a CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund nomination will get you a piece of the twenty-page spread with Caroline Trentini in the November 2008 issue of Vogue, plus an invite to last night's celebratory cocktail party, hosted by Anna Wintour, of course.

But it's not all fun and games — the party doubled as part of the judgment process.  Each of the ten nominees were assigned a different species of butterfly, a L'Oreal eye-color palette, and an evocative word as inspiration for the custom creation they made for their assigned dates — sounds a little Project Runway, no?  Or maybe that's where Project Runway got the idea . . .

Alexander Wang brought Zoe Kravitz in a "barely-there dress," the Vena Cava girls dressed Raquel Zimmermann in a gown, Jason Wu paired Leighton Meester with a ladylike frock, Richard Chai was on a double date with Coco Rocha and Jamie Johnson, Swaim and Christina Hutson created an Obedient Daughters look for Chiara Clemente, and Alejandro Ingelmo put Lake Bell in some serious gladiators.

The designers presented their dates and creations to the judges, and then enjoyed the party.  Alejandro Ingelmo was even caught taking down Coco Rocha's number . . .
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>> THE MODELIZER —Karen Elson's vintage foray is almost open for business: Venus & Mars — The Showroom officially debuts Oct. 23 in Nashville, and will stock rare high-end vintage, with the option of custom tailoring in-house.  As Elson describes it, "The aim of the store is to encourage shoppers to think that vintage isn't just an old hand-me-down but a one-of-a-kind garment with a wonderful history." [The Pipeline]

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With Bridal Market nearly upon us we have big white dresses on the brain but if you are in the wedding party or just happen to be attending the wedding then more immediate help can be found via Bluefly's Wedding 2.0 site.

It's a cute if potentially unnecessary gimmick from Bluefly since the stock isn't any different than their regular site but it is somewhat better curated for the wedding crowd. But the most useful feature for the fashion averse is probably the break downs by type of wedding from civil service to black tie and even destination. Clever!