Zac Posen went to the Met Gala long before he made his name as a designer. In fact, Posen was a teenage intern for the Costume Institute the first time he attended fashion's biggest party.

"The Met Ball was sort of my first experience as an intern, when I was 16, of seeing what a ball would look like. I was an intern there, so I bought my staff ticket for the Gianni Versace exhibition. I saved up my money for like, three weeks to buy my $50 ticket. It was a really dreamy experience. So when I then became a designer and started going, it just has a very personal significance. I try to make it the most fun possible for me and my date and anybody that's around me. And it's an amazing cause and has an incredible history around it."

Posen also told us about what it was like to see Diana Vreeland's old office at the Met.

"When I was there, Diana Vreeland's office was still intact, and that's where I did my interview. It's no longer there. It was changed to a video archive while I was there, but it was an amazing experience to see all the stuffed peacocks and the Maria Callas photos on the wall. It was just like a closed time capsule, and it all had sort of a '60s vibe to it. All the clothing was archived between Venetian blinds. It was very cold. You have all the Christy Turlington mannequins and tons of vertical filing. And that was where I sort of got the fashion bug — for the history."

Photo: Zac Posen with Christina Ricci at the Met Gala in 2011.

Francois Henri Pinault and Linda Evangelista both took the stand in a child support hearing on Friday, the second of four days in court that will determine whether Pinault will have to pay child support for their 5-year-old son Augustin.

After being asked why he provided financially for his 5-year-old daughter Valentina (whose mother is Pinault's wife, actress Salma Hayek), but did not extend the same courtesy to Augustin, Pinault told the court that he offered to pay Evangelista child support in 2007. Evangelista didn't respond until 2010.

"The way I work is that I make an offer and if someone doesn’t respond, I think the answer is no," he said during the testimony. "That no money was needed for the care of Augie. That was my understanding."

When Evangelista took the stand, her lawyer William Beslow asked her to recount her childhood picking cherries for "50 cents a basket" in Canada, and how little she was paid after she was discovered as a model. He also asked her about the kind of work she does now.

"In 2010 I was asked to walk in Jean-Paul Gaultier's final show for Hermés in Paris," Evangelista said. "It would have paid close to $100,000," she said, adding that she had to turn down the job because she had an early court date concerning the current child support proceedings. The court date was cancelled the evening before Evangelista was set to meet with the judge, and by that time it was too late for her to get back on the Gaultier runway.

"I couldn’t magic myself to Paris," she said.

Evangelista revealed that Pinault was Augustin's father late last year and was rumored to be asking for $46,000 a month in child support. Beslow shot that notion down on Thursday, saying that figure was part of a PR campaign by Pinault's lawyers.

Evangelista's testimony will continue Monday.

Photo: Linda Evangelista leaving Manhattan Family Court on Thursday.

Those stories and more in our daily news roundup.

• Hermès doesn't sell its Birkin handbags online, but flash sale sites like Gilt, Rue La La, and MyHabit do. Here's a look at how they ensure authenticity. [BuzzFeed]
  

• A new deal with Sandow Media will expand Fred Segal beyond its Southern California roots. The retailer is expected to set up shops in New York, Miami, Las Vegas, as well as in Europe and Asia, with the first of the new stores opening some time next year. [Racked]
  

• Karl Lagerfeld has signed on to give the exterior of Monaco's Hotel Métropole a redesign. The first part of the project, which involves refreshing the hotel's pool, terrace, gardens, and a new restaurant, will be unveiled in July. [The Daily Telegraph]
  

• Paco Rabanne's artistic director Manish Arora is leaving the brand after designing just two season's worth of clothing and despite the fact that Arora's designs had gotten favorable press coverage. Lady Gaga even wore one of his dresses to the 2011 MTV Europe Music Awards. [The Cut]
  

• Iris Apfel will debut her own handbags in collaboration with HSN, which also sells her jewelry line. The bags are made from Mongolian lamb's wool, snakeskin, and calf hair, and will retail for $228 to $398. [WWD]
  

• Greg Kessler's latest installment of Model-Morphosis shows off Chanel's most popular lacquers. Nails go from unadorned to coated with the flick of a mouse. [T Magazine]
  

• Nicola Formichetti will debut an eponymous fashion label next year. The clothes will be "digitally oriented and high-tech . . . Why do you have to have a zipper when you can have a jacket that's molded to your body?" Formichetti explained. [Styleite]

  Photo: A Birkin snapped on the streets during Milan Menswear Week in January 2012.

Marc Jacobs has had a very busy week: he presented Germany's Design For Tomorrow Award — which honors talented student designers — in Berlin and also took time to reflect on the worldwide presence of his brands in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. Read on for his thoughts on Louis Vuitton, working for Bernard Arnault, and more.

On the difference between Marc Jacobs and Louis Vuitton: "For me, sexy is not about a tiny waist or a heaving bosom. I suppose Louis Vuitton is more overt as a brand than my collections for my own brand, Marc Jacobs. But when I say Marc Jacobs is not about sex I mean that from a fashion perspective, it's not based on vulgarity."

On working for Arnault: "I've said before that working for Mr. Arnault is like working for the farmer in the movie Babe. I mean, he's never going to jump up and down with exuberance, and the most he can say has often been the equivalent of 'That'll do pig.' But now he does praise me, which is great."

On his aesthetic: "Sometimes I think I'm very old-fashioned in my approach. Where fashion is concerned, I like to tell a story. I don't like anything to be obvious and I think there should always be an element of surprise about the way one dresses."

On moving into China: "When we built the train for my last show, I said to [LVMH CEO Bernard] Arnault, 'If we are going to take anything to China, then this is it.'"
Photo: Marc Jacobs at his Fall 2012 runway show for Louis Vuitton.

Newly appointed Dior couturier Raf Simons will grace the cover of i-D magazine's Summer 2012 issue. The cover photo, lensed by Willy Vanderperre, features Simons breaking through a wall of black and white flowers wearing clothing from his eponymous menswear label, styled by Olivier Rizzo. The one cover line of the "Lights, Camera, Action"-themed issue reads, "It's Show Time! Starring Raf Simons." An online teaser for the issue promises a story written by i-D contributor Holly Shackleton. The issue is available for preorder on May 7 and hits newsstands on May 10.

Photo courtesy of i-D magazine.

Those stories and more in our daily news roundup.

• Tracy Feith has signed a deal to be a full-time designer for TOMS shoes, his first high-profile job since unexpectedly shuttering his business in 2011. Feith has been a consultant for the brand's founder Blake Mycoskie for a few months now and in his new role will be focused on the higher-priced TOMS+ line of shoes. [Fashionista]
  

• Cindy Crawford, her mother, Jennifer Crawford-Moluf, and her daughter, Kaia Gerber, all star in a new JC Penney commercial designed to remind viewers about Mother's Day on Sunday, May 13. In it, Kaia — who recently starred in a campaign for Versace's children's wear line — says Cindy is "just the best mom in the world. I mean, she's so nice and I can actually hang out with her and have fun." [The Daily Telegraph]
  

• Vena Cava's Lisa Mayock says that her brand's expansion deal with Li & Fung means that the brand is going to change and grow sooner than expected. "We're working on more collections and a few surprises in the next couple of months; maybe some lower price points." [Daily Front Row]
  

• Neon nail polish technically isn't approved for use by the Food and Drug Administration, which has to authorize new beauty products before they hit the market. "Colorants used to create, neon, day-glo or glow-in-the-dark nail polishes have not gone through the FDA approval process, so technically they are not allowed for use for nail polish applications," said Doug School, chief scientific officer for Creative Nail Design. [Fashion Etc.]
  

• Salvatore Ferragamo is renewing its It brand status thanks to its clothing and shoes being seen on the backs of stars like Lady Gaga. "You can not just decide one day you want to target a younger customer, but it's just something that we see happening," said the brand's CEO Michele Norsa. [Forbes]

  Photo: Neon nails on Christian Dior's Spring 2011 runway.

Peter Pilotto and Christopher De Vos will head to Florence this Summer to show their work at the 10th edition of the trade show Pitti W.

Lapo Cianchi, chairman of the influential seasonal Pitti trade shows, said his team invited the design duo because they "were looking for a modern approach to feminine elegance that is constant, profound and has the ability to think about itself. We saw this in the evolution of their collections, a knowledgeable process that develops around surprising colors, body-conscious draping and light sculpting. It was also interesting to see how the designers' two distinct spirits come together and reinterpret fashion's classic elements."

Pilotto and De Vos met as students at Antwerp's Royal Academy of Fine Arts and started Peter Pilotto together in 2008. In 2009, the two won the British Fashion Council's Emerging Talent Award, and since then its collections have gotten favorable reviews. In the past, Pitti W has selected Diane von Furstenberg, Gareth Pugh, Haider Ackermann, and Proenza Schouler as guest designers.

Pitti W runs in conjunction with its menswear counterpart Pitti Uomo from June 19 to 22.

Photo: A look from Peter Pilotto's Fall 2012 collection.