>> Where art goes, fashion is soon to follow, and with the contemporary arts Biennale going on in Venice right now, there are plenty of designers, editors, and even models in town.  On Wednesday, Olympia Scarry’s installation brought out Patrick Demarchelier, Vogue Russia's Aliona Doletskaya, and POP's Dasha Zhukova, as well as Justin Portman and Natalia Vodianova, the latter whose face was reflected in a luminated, aged sketch on display called Dorian Gray, by artist Dasha Fursey.

Naomi Campbell and boyfriend Vladislav Doronin stopped by a lunch for the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, and popped up again yesterday at the opening of Francois Pinault's new museum, the Punta della Dogana. Stella McCartney was there with husband Alasdhair Willis to support her financier in his new endeavor, as were Franca Sozzani and Marc Jacobs, always the fan of contemporary art, who apparently kept exclaiming, "This place rocks."

Meanwhile, down the river, Angela Missoni held her annual party on boyfriend Bruno Ragazzi's yacht.  It was quite the family and friends affair: Angela's daughters Margherita and Teresa, plus son Francesco were all mingling, Franca Sozzani brought son Francesco Carrozzini, and Vladimir Restoin-Roitfeld arrived with Carine Roitfeld, who neglected to follow the rest in taking her lace-up shoes off: "It would just take too long to undo them." Bee Shaffer was sans Anna Wintour, but Jefferson Hack brought fiancee Anouck Lepere.

Even those who aren't in Venice in person are there in spirit — Mario Testino sent one of his art consultants to scout the exhibition.

>> In honor of Lanvin's first London store, Alber Elbaz — who is apparently on a post-show, protein-only diet — flew in to give a guided tour of his Spring 2009 collection.  During the day, there was a "girls only" policy, but at night, the ladies — Alexandra Shulman, Yasmin Le Bon, Anouck Lepere — were joined by the menfolk — Jefferson Hack, Juergen Teller, Jonathan Newhouse.  Microphone in hand, Elbaz had the audience "in stitches," according to WWD, as he cracked jokes while presenting: “I dress women. I don’t undress them — unfortunately. My mother would be happy if I did.”

As for his denim collaboration with Acne: “It’s so nice when Acne tells me, ‘No problem, we can do that.’ I live in Paris, where you ask a cab driver to take you somewhere and he says ‘No.’”  When he introduced Anna de Rijk, hot off the runway, as his bride, he joked on his decision to carry wedding dress in the store: “I have friends — Liz Taylor types — who are on their third and fourth weddings. They tell me they need a different dress for each one.”  And to wrap it up, a little comment on what women want: “Next to chocolate or a rose, I think the only thing that can make a woman happy is maybe a pink dress.”
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>> Kate Moss caused a paparazzi scrum of a calibur we haven't seen much of this season this morning at Chanel.  As she emerged from backstage wearing the label, a frenzy of photographers four-deep surrounded her, which she apparently found hilarity in, embarking on a fit of giggles and wiping tears from her eyes.  She waved to Jefferson Hack across the way, gave Beth Ditto an enthusiastic hug, and then settled down between Mario Testino and boyfriend Jamie Hince, right down the way from Claudia Schiffer. The photographers ended up breaking off a section of the black-and-white runway in efforts to get a shot of Kate.

The set wasn't a monstrous tweed jacket or organ set this time — but rather, a simply branded split scenario; and as promised, the collection was dubbed "Belle Brummell," an ode to Beau Brummell, inventor of the modern suit, with plenty of black suiting, removable white cuffs and collars, and splashes of mint and baby pink thrown in.  Karl Lagerfeld pushed the limit with a few looks — slits up to here and down to there, plus a few printed leotard-and-legging ensembles — but for sales, he's really depending on that little black dress in hard times, just like Givenchy, Yves Saint Laurent, and Christian Lacroix.
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>> Last year, Kate Moss tried to ring in 34 by partying one hour for every year since her birth — she only made it 18, but she did it in starry Chanel, no less.  This year it's all about the big 3-5, which marks twenty years since her first modeling job for The Face; Kate's supposed to celebrate all weekend, with the big house party tonight involving a pig on a spit, but we're celebrating with a look back at old-school Kate — think the glorious '90s.
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>> They made a public appearance together on Friday and again yesterday, so I think it's safe to say that Jamie Hince and Kate Moss are back together — especially since Jamie had his arm around Kate.  The two looked like everything was peaches and cream, smiling as they left the launch of Tracey Emin's new Travelling Chess exhibition at RS&A Gallery in East London. Lila Grace was nowhere to be seen, but she was all that was keeping it from being a Moss-Hack family affair: Jefferson Hack and his fiancee Anouck Lepere — fresh from walking Paris Fashion Week — were sitting on the steps outside the opening, chatting and sipping tea.
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>> A couple that plays together, stays together, and for Anouck Lepere and Jefferson Hack, it looks like that means playing records. The engaged duo were snapped DJing together at the Albion Gallery Summer Party in London last night; This is Jefferson's second DJing gig for the week — on Wednesday he participated in Nick Knight's Fashion DJs event. 

The two look like they're having a good time, keeping things light . . . unlike the August 2008 issue of Dazed & Confused, with its "Dark Magick" theme and kinky cover editorial.
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