>> New York Fashion Week is a little more than a week away, and the tidbits are flowing freely — a compilation of the highlights from the past few days:

Launches

• Marchesa is launching its first accessories — 28 clutches and evening bags (above); They will retail $995 to $5,000 and are made to coordinate with the mainline dresses. [WWD]

Peter Som is making his way back, Ruffian goes Picasso »

>> Scott "The Sartorialist" Schuman, whose first book came out last week, is about to add another Vogue edition to his resume: Vogue Italia.  Schuman has photographed for Vogue Paris in the past — Carine Roitfeld is a fan — and seems to have won over Franca Sozzani: he recently shot Rachel Rutt for Vogue Italia.

His girlfriend and fellow streetstyle photographer Garance Dore has also been amping up her reach: this Fall, she will have more frequent contributions on Vogue Paris's website and perhaps in the magazine, focusing on the magazine's "Une fille, un style" ("A girl, a style") column, plus "behind-the-scenes coverage of fashion shoots, profiles of stylish women around the world in collaboration with French Vogue editor in chief Carine Roitfeld and other subjects of her choosing."

And last week, Patrick Robinson announced that Garance would be collaborating with Gap on an exhibit in their London pop-up next month, with her sketches (like the one above, left) on T-shirts.

>> Scott "The Sartoralist" Schuman has been racking up gigs — an ad campaign for Australia's SABA Denim, teaming with Adidas, not to mention that impending book — which he says "make it possible for me to go to fashion weeks in Milan, Paris, London, New York, Stockholm, Australia — but also to places like Peru, Laos, Tibet."  But Schuman, who made a stop in Toronto last Wednesday before an undisclosed "commercial gig" for Burberry on Thursday, had some other wisdom to share with Canada's Globe and Mail.  

It's all about the brand.

"When I had my showroom in New York, that's what I was telling guys like Peter Som and James Coviello: 'You have to build your brand' – and they didn't listen. I started The Sartorialist in 2005. By late 2006, I had a serious brand. A brand that meant something."

And his girlfriend, Garance Dore.

"I'm pretty good at the sex. And pretty good at picture taking. That's about it. Garance is pretty happy. And the hotel-room neighbours are pretty pissed. You can write that; that's totally fine with me."

>> INSIDER WIRE —Men.Style.com chose their 2009 "Women of Fashion," including Garance Dore, Pamela Love, Julia Restoin-Roitfeld, and Alexa Chung. Olivier Zahm snapped all their portraits at the party and accompanying interviews have been posted.  The Cut argues that instead of naming some — like three-time winner and Michael Bastian's publicist Eugenia Gonzalez Ruiz-Olloqui — room could have been made for the likes of Kate Lanphear, Dree Hemingway, Kate Young, or Jen Kao. [Men.Style.com, Style.com, The Cut]

>> Streetstyle photographers Garance Dore, Scott Schuman of The Sartorialist, and Tommy Ton of Jak & Jil have all turned their blogs into further industry opportunities — Garance now shoots editorials for the likes of Glamour Italy and guest blogs for Vogue.fr, Scott has photographed two seasons worth of DKNY Jeans campaigns and has a compilation book coming out in September, and Tommy did the Spring 2009 Lane Crawford campaign.  And style blogger Susanna Lau's time on Style Bubble allowed her to transition from digital media planner at an ad agency to commissing editor of Dazed & Confused's DazedDigital.com.

In the past week or so, a handful of other fashion bloggers have seen their blog time become currency for further opportunities: Yvan Rodic of Facehunter just announced a compilation book of his streetstyle photography is coming out in early 2010.  Julia Frakes of BunnyBisous and Paper's Fashion Schmasion is doing some lookbook time — first in Rachel Antonoff's Fall 2009 set and yesterday, she apparently shot the Chloe Sevigny for Opening Ceremony lookbook, complete with '90s hair; the last round of which Chloe starred in herself.  And finally, Rumi Neely of Fashion Toast just signed with Next, is appearing in RVCA's campaign, and has further upcoming editorials and styling work already in the pipeline.

>> ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL — Is Scott Schuman of The Sartorialist repeating his DKNY Jeans campaign gig for Fall 2009?  At the Topshop opening this morning, he was snapped photographing Gracie Carvalho and a male model in two different looks, in what Refinery29 identified as "a DKNY campaign."  Girlfriend Garance Dore was also spotted in the vicinity — she's in town for an "ultra-secret mission" — could they be collaborating on the campaign? [Refinery29]

>> INSIDER WIRE —It's a match made in street-style photography heaven: if you've noticed the recent chumminess of Scott Schuman of The Sartorialist and Garance Dore around Fashion Week, plus the appearance of his photos on her site, there's a reason why.  They recently became a couple after several years of friendship; in fact, the camera she shoots with is a gift from Scott, after he realized she was using a small, everyday digital one.  Project next?  She's set to style some of his upcoming photography projects. [Metro]