Paul Birardi and Eddy Chai (brother to designer Richard Chai) are on a roll--before we even had the chance to check out their newest shop opening, the pair launched an e-commerce site and threw one of the most designer-clad parties to occur this season. Well, just to backtrack a bit, late last week we popped over to their new shop Pas de Deux, dedicated (finally, finally, finally) to just women. To explain our enthusiasm one must understand the Odin-culture in New York. Odin is, has been for some time, the store where girls who know how to dress take their boyfriends, fiances, husbands, so that they too, can dress. The go-to destination for every fashion forward scenester and no-nonsense guy's guy, Odin has long been a downtown retail landmark for all walks of male fashionista. So, when they opened the doors to their small but beautiful women's shop we were more than curious what lay, ahem, in store.

To put it simply the selection is well edited without being untrue to the designer's and their collections. This isn't the kind of place, in other words, where you'll find a blouse from one designer squashed next to a pair of trousers from another. However comprehensive are their buys, and small the space, there is still a nice mix of recognizable names and lesser known brands and a distinct nod to a woman's boyish sensibilities--no doubt inspired by Odin. Pas de Deux is a place for the girlfriends, fiances, wives to finally shop for themselves and that, in the end, is all we could ever hope for. 

Odin's e-commerce site will soon include women's items and we'll be sure to report on that when the time comes, until then, if in New York, check out Pas de Deux for Repetto, Karen Walker, Loeffler Randall, Clu, Phillip Crangi, Boyy and much, much more. 

>> ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL —Louis Vuitton doesn't appear to be hurting — word is they've shelled out $10 million for Madonna to be the face of the Spring 2009 collection, as captured by Steven Meisel.  The shoot appears to have gone down last Friday: Marc Jacobs was spotted in LA last Thursday, reports came that it all went down the next day at Cafe Figaro in LA, and Madonna was photographed Friday looking like she had just come from a photoshoot.  One thing's for sure: all those months of carrying that Richard Prince Louis Vuitton bag have paid off for Madonna big time. [Page Six]

The Lorick Spring 2009 presentation was so brimming with eye candy, we thought it might not be quite as brilliant to see the collection dangling from a rolling rack--au contraire. The Spring 09 collection can be most accurately described as playing with every vintage silhouette and fabric you always wished you'd dig from the racks of your local thrift store to no avail. These garments merit lace gloves and red lipstick and should (and will), among other things, bring ladylike fashion back en vogue for the twenty-somethings. Just like the vintage costumes they reference these pieces are heavy and substantial in person. These are not garments meant to merely resemble the clothing of another era--they actually rival them. There were, of course, some entirely modern pieces in the collection, like easy silk tanks and cotton shorts, and they mixed nicely with the costumery as neither category went too far down its own path. Check out the Spring 2009 Lorick presentation right here, and, our showroom photos below.