>> In anticipation of her television debut on MTV's House of Style this weekend (more details here), we snagged Chanel Iman for a few minutes to chat about how she landed the coveted role of show correspondent (first peek at her in the show, left), her recent coup on the runway at Balenciaga, and about how she might have already landed a date to this year's Costume Institute Gala.  It also sounds like she has a career switch in mind — but Chanel will tell you all about it herself.

How did your role on House of Style come about?

Well basically, they called my agency, I went in to meet with them, I did an audition with all the rest of the girls, and they called — I was waiting for the phone call, I was hoping I got it — but I was waiting for about three months.  And when I got back from Paris — I was in Paris for ready-to-wear and did the whole fashion tour for Fashion Week — they told me I got it. I was really excited because it's just another way for me to express myself!

Tell me a little bit about your upcoming Gossip Girl appearance.

It's just experience — it was just for me to get an idea of what it would be like to be on set, to really see what happens since I've never been on a set before.

Are you looking for more TV appearances in the future then?

Yeah.  I'm kind of slowing down on the modeling right now and I'm branching out to other experiences and interests that I have. [Ed. note: She told Teen Vogue: "House of Style is definitely just the start. I want to do television, film, music and designing. I want to do it all!"]

Now about that Costume Institute Gala date . . . »

>> THE ZEITGEIST —Alexandra Shulman recently said that she looks to the recession to bring forward new design talent — last time around we got Alexander McQueen and John Galliano — and today, Cathy Horyn asserted that "the recession could turn out to make designers better designers.  Fashion houses, anticipating reduced orders, cut out the theatrics as they sought to appeal to a relatively new demand in luxury fashion: value.  By the end of the shows, retailers were praising the level of craft and fabric research — and complaining when it was obscured, as at Chanel, by French-maid ruffles. Out of necessity, a lot of designers put on smaller shows. It meant that they couldn’t flub a seam." [NY Times]
*image: source

>> INSIDER WIRE —Bringing the Karl Lagerfeld iconography to new levels?  A begloved, tuxedoed Karl Lagerfeld Ken doll, which the designer toted around at Colette's opening of the Barbie 50th Anniversary exhibit in Paris.  So far, it looks to be just one-of-a-kind. [Racked]

>> It was a surprise when Rochas reopened ready-to-wear for Fall 2009, just two years after unceremoniously closing down its fashion brand, leaving only a line of fragrances.  But it turns out those fragrances, moneymakers though they are, are part of the reason the clothes are back — without the fashion, a brand runs the risk of losing relevance.  "Fragrances have only a certain shelf life," says Robert Burke, an investment consultant and former Bergdorf Goodman executive, told The Wall Street Journal. "Fragrances are generally successful when they're connected to a living person."

So far, Marco Zanini's revival of the label has been well-received — Style.com's Nicole Phelps called his first collection for Fall 2009 "a promising start," and WWD ruled, "So far, so good."  But now is not the best time to restart a luxury brand — Christina Binkley of The Wall Street Journal noted that while she was in the Paris showroom for an hour during Fashion Week, she spotted only one buyer looking the collection over.  Ken Downing, fashion director at Neiman Marcus, says he picked up the collection, meanwhile, and named it as one of his favorites from Paris Fashion Week, because it "had great late-day and dinner dressing."

So will it succeed? »

Clutch 22 found Ann Demeulemeester-inspired shoes at lower price points.

I Heart Heels produced a trend report on bow bodices for spring. 

Kiss And Makeup reviewed a world class spa she recently visited in Spain. 

Mrs O posted photos of Michelle Obama wearing Zero + Maria Cornejo. 

>> INSIDER WIRE —On the same day Marc Jacobs announced his engagement to Lorenzo Martone, he also bought a house to share.  Apparently, the couple has been looking a downtown New York properties for a while, and finally settled on a $13 million, 4,500-square-foot West Village townhouse on Bethune Street — with private garden and roof terrace — designed by Robert A.M. Stern.  Sounds like Marc is now the proud owner of one of these babies. [Page Six]