Stephanie Winston Wolkoff

>> Those stories and more in our daily news roundup.

• Today is Kirsten Dunst's 30th birthday, and what better way to celebrate her acting and modeling career — which she started at age 3 in a commercial for Kix cereal — than by taking a look back at her style transformation? [InStyle]
  

• Nick Wooster, who was fired from his position as men's fashion director of Bergdorf Goodman last year, has landed a new job as the creative director of menswear at JC Penney. Wooster was let go two days after GQ published an interview in which he said, "I am just an old midget queen who, you know, had the good fortune to get this job and it's like, 'How did that happen?'" [NYP]
  

• Former Vogue special events director Stephanie Winston Wolkoff is leaving her current position as fashion director at Lincoln Center to start her own agency. With SWW Creative, Wolkoff's goal is to "forge new partnerships in fashion, beauty and entertainment." [WWD]
  

• Victoria Beckham's 9-month-old daughter, Harper, is still in diapers, but she's already received her first modeling offer. In an open letter to the youngest Beckham, baby clothing company My First Year wrote, "Both your parents are fashion icons, and we can see no reason why you shouldn't start your own career in the fashion industry even at your young age . . . You were therefore the immediate first choice for our campaign." Whether Victoria and David sit Harper in front of the camera remains to be seen. [Stylelist]
  

• Is it harder for female designers to succeed in New York fashion than it is for men? In a new column, Nicole Phelps analyzes why many of the woman-oriented industry's most celebrated talents are men. "Part of the story seems to be that male designers strive for art while female designers strive for humanity, and this difference influences, even defines, the success they achieve," she writes. [Style.com]

  Photo: Kirsten Dunst at the London premiere of Melancholia

>> Lincoln Center has bigger plans for fashion than just Fashion Week, according to the space's fashion director Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, who coordinated the Costume Institute Gala at Vogue for a number of years and is now responsible for pulling together Fashion Week at Lincoln Center. "I want to see fashion on par with all of the other cultural activities here — the ballet, the opera," she told the Wall Street Journal. "I really do think that it's going to be very important that fashion at Lincoln Center becomes a year-round initiative."

Lincoln Center is planning fashion-focused events, like lectures and film series, after the Fashion Week tents are gone, and on Oct. 14, its New York Public Library for the Performing Arts space will host "On Stage in Fashion," an exhibition exploring collaborations between fashion designers and performing artists, including Calvin Klein and Halston for Martha Graham, Isaac Mizrahi for Mark Morris and Marc Jacobs for Lar Lubovitch.

>> Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, Lincoln Center’s new fashion director, wasn't kidding when she said there will be no crashers at this year's New York Fashion Week. This season, instead of sending out paper fashion show invitations that require check-in with publicists at the show doors like seasons past, designers will instead send email invitations with bar coded confirmations ahead of time, so attendees can check in and receive their seating assignments from airport-style kiosks at the venue.

Marc Jacobs has used the system in seasons past »

Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week is getting a new look and some additional features this September. Yesterday, IMG Fashion (minus Fern Mallis who resigned Wednesday after nine years as global ambassador to start her own consulting firm) announced plans for the new and improved New York Fashion Week at Lincoln Center.

Say goodbye to Bryant Park's Tent, Salon, and Promenade; the spring 2011 collections will be shown in one of five new venues: The Theatre (with all black interior, it can seat 969 people), The Stage (slightly smaller, decorated in white and gray), The Studio (the smallest runway space), The Box (a presentation room), and The Courtyard (a glass-encased outdoor space for events and presentations).

Lincoln Center, with the help of director of fashion Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, promises to offer designers more options for runway configuration, lighting, and stage sets this season and is partnering with Fashion GPS to manage guest lists and RSVPs. A brand new website with designer and press contact information is also part of the plan.

Above: A rendering of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at Lincoln Center

>> During Paris couture next week, Anna Wintour will meet with French Industry Minister Christian Estrosi to discuss ways to promote and finance up-and-coming French designers.  But Tuesday night, she was all about the impending venue change for New York Fashion Week.

Next month will be the last time the Tents go up in Bryant Park; Spring 2011 in September will be centered at Lincoln Center. While celebrating the move with the CFDA at Diane von Furstenberg's studio, Wintour noted that she was ready to leave Bryant Park: “I’m looking forward to it. I wish it was next week.” Von Furstenberg chimed in: "They didn't want us anymore, so we found a better place. The only way to deal with rejection is by shining."

"Not one party crasher, and it won't happen here either." »

Natalie Portman the current V magazine cover girl, shot by Mario Testino in London.

The son of Escada founder enters bid to bail out the company.

Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, formerly head of events at Vogue, has been named director of Lincoln Center fashion week.

Vogue.TV stylist, Louise Roe, on new ways to wear the classic snow boot.

Victoria's Secret announces Chanel Iman among the new angels.

Anna Wintour is appointed to the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities along with Sarah Jessica Parker and Edward Norton.

Source: WWD

>> In the wake of Stephanie Winston Wolkoff's resignation last week from her position as Vogue's director of special events — where she helped grow the Costume Institute Gala from a charity function to the "East Coast Oscars" — rumors about the fate of the Vogue-sponsored Costume Institute Gala continue to circulate, despite a denial of any changes from a museum spokesperson: "This is completely untrue, and Vogue's role is unchanged."

Sylvana Soto-Ward, who started at Vogue as Anna Wintour's assistant in 2003 and has recently been functioning as the magazine's accessories editor, inherited Winston Wolkoff's position earlier this week, the Costume Institute Gala planning and rumored slashed event budgets along with it.

Two insiders say: "The 2010 Costume Institute Gala will be a much less splashy affair" »

>> On Friday, it was announced that Vogue's director of special events, Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, had resigned with no replacement named. Today, Fashion Week Daily reports that insiders are buzzing about the future of the Costume Institute Gala — Winston Wolkoff organized the event for the past decade.

According to one source, "Events budgets have been slashed across the board at Conde. The Costume Institute has got to be the company's most expensive event, and Stephanie built it into what it is today. It makes no sense to pass it off to someone else."

This year's event brought in $2 million less than the previous year, with a number of fashion brands declining to sponsor tables due to the economy.  At this time last year, we already had clues about the designer co-host and theme for the upcoming Costume Institute Gala, but so far, there has been nothing about the 2010 event.  FWD suggests that "perhaps just cocktails are in order," but the Gala is still Anna Wintour's party, and it doesn't seem like her to let go without a fight.

>> INSIDER WIRE —Vogue-helmed events could be a little different from now on: Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, 11-year Vogue veteran and the magazine's director of special events who oversaw the Costume Institute Gala and CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund, resigned to spend more time with her husband and three children; no replacement has been named. The move marks the loss of one of the magazine's many pedigreed names: Winston Wolkoff is granddaughter of Harry Winston. [FWD]