>> Amber Valletta Doesn't Want to Play the Girl Next Door Any More— Amber Valletta's fashion line with Monrow — of which she says "I didn’t just sign off on [the pieces], I went in and designed them" — comes out in November, but she's also got two movies in the can: Gamer, in which she plays a wife and mother trapped in a virtual-reality social-networking game opposite Gerard Butler, and The Spy Next Door, a family film with Jackie Chan out next year.  She tells V61 — for which Hedi Slimane photographed her — of her acting: "Now I know I don't want to be pigeonholed as the girl-next-door.  There's nothing wrong with the girl-next-door, but I'd like to be the psycho killer and the warrior princess and the sex bomb and do serious material like [David] Mamet or Shakespeare." [Telegraph UK, V]

>> Amber Valletta becomes the latest in a list of models-turned-designers — including Elle Macpherson, Kate Moss, Liya Kebede, Erin Wasson — by collaborating with LA-based contemporary sportswear brand Monrow.  

Amber Valletta for Monrow, which came about when she was introduced to Monrow's founding designers through mutual friends, covers thin layering tanks and tees, day dresses, a blazer, scarves, a cape, a smoking jacket, and a romper, which Valletta insisted upon because she "lives in them." The color palette runs through neutrals — navy, cream, black, gray, blush — with muted silver and gold, and the line, out in November, wholesales at $65 to $80, because, Amber says, “I’m not interested in making clothes that are not accessible.” 

The idea initially came as a surprise to Valletta: “I never thought about designing at all. If anything, maybe I would have done some kind of a children’s line because I love shopping with my son.”  But she's "already started working on next season."

>> INSIDER WIRE —Television's fascination with all things fashion continues — MTV is said to be reviving House of Style, the '90s show that focused on all things fashion and was hosted by Cindy Crawford, Amber Valletta, and Shalom Harlow throughout its 11-year run.  Contracts have gone out to Bar Rafaeli and Chanel Iman — maybe her ChanelImanTV channel was a tryout? — but neither has officially signed on yet.  If one falls through, Coco Rocha would be an entertaining option, as her Style.com videos prove. [Page Six]
*image: source

>> Hints at the 2009 Costume Institute Gala theme have been swirling since May — first, it was thought to be an ode to Marc Jacobs, and then an ode to fashion muses.  Now that the official announcement has come out, we learn that both subjects are involved, just not quite in the way that was originally thought: the May 4 gala rings in "The Model as Muse," with Marc Jacobs as honorary chair, and Kate Moss, Anna Wintour, and Justin Timberlake as co-chairs.

The accompanying exhibit, which runs May 6 to Aug. 9, will explore the evolution of models and "their roles in projecting and sometimes inspiring the fashion of their respective eras," with special focus on one of the first publicly known models, Marion Morehouse; the first supermodel, Lisa Fonssagrives; fifties mannequins Suzy Parker, Dovima, Sunny Harnett, and Dorian Leigh; sixties icons Jean Shrimpton, Moffitt, Twiggy, and Veruschka; Seventies faces Jerry Hall, Iman, and Janice Dickinson; the supermodel trinity of Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington, and Naomi Campbell; Nineties “It” girls Kate Moss, Amber Valletta, Nadja Auermann, and Shalom Harlow; and more recently, Gisele Bundchen.

As Harold Koda, curator of the Costume Institute, explained: "We look at the power of clothing, fashion photography and the model to project the look of an era. With a mere gesture, or the line of her body, a truly stellar model can sum up the attitude of her time, creating an alluring synergy between herself and the clothing to communicate a designer’s message to the wider world."

Seventy haute couture and ready-to-wear looks, plus photography, runway images, and video footage of models, rock stars, socialites and actresses who set the tone for each era will emphasize the theme, but most exciting of all — think of all the models who will be representing at the gala.
*image: source

»Amber Valletta, her son and husband get LOLVogued [Jezebel]

»This morning's Barneys warehouse sale: Not as crazy or marked-down as in the past [Racked]

»Mary-Kate Olsen is obsessed with Diane von Furstenberg [Page Six Magazine]

»Sean Avery's Gap ad overlooks Vogue headquarters [Fashionista]

»Victoria Bartlett commissioned Lizzie Fortunato jewelry for her Spring 2009 VPL collection [The Pipeline]

»Cato Van Ee shot a commercial for D&G with Mario Testino last week [Dazed Digital]

»A "loose size 2" seems to be the modeling size of choice right now [The Cut]