>> Now that he's relieved of his duties at Emanuel Ungaro, what's Esteban Cortazar up to?  He was spotted at jewelry line Fenton/Fallon's boutique opening party in New York Tuesday night, where he said he is town for two weeks.

In today's hard copy of The Daily, he divulges that this New York Fashion Week is his first in two years.  He's definitely been getting around; he chatted recently with The Daily as he was checking into a Paris hotel for a long-term stay: "I can't give specifics, but I'll definitely be in Europe, and hopefully in Paris."

>> Frankie Rayder to Walk Alexander Wang; Erin Wasson's Mysterious A-List Guest, Musical Act — Alexander Wang is known to bring familiar model faces back into the runway mix for his show, and this season, rumors are going around that Frankie Rayder — who walked Michael Kors last season — will do his catwalk; her sister, Missy Rayder, recently posed for Wang's lookbook.  Style.com promises that Erin Wasson's RVCA show tomorrow, too, will be "memorable . . . for reasons we mostly cannot elaborate" — she has a mysterious band playing and a mysterious A-List guest attending. [Style File, Style File]

>> Tom Ford's directorial debut A Single Man — and the first project from his newly-minted production company, Fade to Black — premieres in competition at the Venice Film Festival tomorrow; Variety notes that he's been super secretive of the movie those far, "forgoing interviews, press screenings and, perhaps most notable of all, advance sales."  

Stuart Ford, who is handling the film's sales, says that interest is "huge," but they "made a decision not to do pre-sales, the principal reason being that we want the film's eventual distributor to make a decision based on the film itself, after seeing it. Even though Tom is an unproven quantity as a director, the film will play for itself — it's a high-class piece of filmmaking."

>> Kai Kuhne On Why He's Missing from the Fashion Week Calendar —One designer missing from New York's Fashion Week Calendar?  Kai Kuhne, who last season had "strong financial backing," according to Style.com, is no longer feeling the love. "An investor was pretending," he cryptically told The Cut last night. [The Cut]

>> Olivier Theyskens Not Making Friendly; Which Up-and-Coming Designer Has a Mystery Backer? —Is Olivier Theyskens alienating colleagues?  A blind item in today's Daily indicates so: "Which now-unemployed Belgian designer refused to look his underlings and overlings in the eye? It earned him few fans on Seventh Avenue . . ."  Also of interest: "Which high-profile industry icon is believed by many to be the main investor backing one of fashion's youngest — and brightest — stars?" [FWD (hard copy)]

>> Anna Wintour Has A Shopping List for Tonight's Fashion's Night Out — In between kicking Fashion's Night Out off tonight at Macy's in Queens, stopping by Intermix to see Sienna Miller, Oscar de la Renta to see the designer sing, and Saks for the William Rast pop-up (she loves that Justin Timberlake), among other things, Anna Wintour does indeed plan to shop.  She's looking to buy "something in red, some new boots, and some kind of savage fur." [Times UK]

>> Alexander McQueen to Stream Spring 2010 Show Live — One of fashion's most anticipated shows of the season will now be watchable live worldwide: Alexander McQueen — who recently finished a "killer twisted jacket," presumedly for the Spring 2010 collection — is collaborating with ShowStudio to stream his Oct. 6 show as it's taking place on AlexanderMcQueen.com. [McQueenWorld Twitter, McQueenWorld Twitter]