>> 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.

>> One of Valentino Garavani's favorite models, Natalia Vodianova, missed the big premiere of his documentary; she was in London for the launch of the 2009 Fashion Fringe search for emerging British design talent — the UK's version of the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund award — instead.  In celebration of this year's honorary chairperson, Donatella Versace, who flew in from Milan for the event, guests like Claudia Schiffer, Roland Mouret, Jonathan Saunders, and Jacquetta Wheeler were served "Donatella Delight" cocktails.  Net-a-Porter founder Natalie Massenet is also on the judging panel this year, as is Jimmy Choo founder Tamara Mellon, who is overseeing the introduction of Fashion Fringe's first accessories prize.  The four as yet unnamed finalists will show capsule collections during Spring 2010 London Fashion Week, and the winner — who in the past has been Basso & Brooke and Erdem — receive upwards of £100,000 for a follow-up show.
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>> Natalia Vodianova has been chatting up her collaboration with Etam for a while — and last night, the French lingerie company shelled out for their newly-signed three year ambassador, staging a full-blown show at the Ritz in Paris that drew the likes of Eva Herzigova, Emmanuelle Alt, and Charlotte Casiraghi in the front row and Edita Vilkeviciute, Sigrid Agren, Flavia Oliveira, and Sessilee Lopez on the runway.  Natalia pour Etam, which encompasses swimwear and lingerie, including a silk nightgown inspired by one in Natalia's own wardrobe, runs $20-$80 and hits stores in April.  The line will be reoccurring, with Natalia designing a new collection every season over the period of her ambassadorship.
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>> Today, Valentino: The Last Emperor, Matt Tyrnauer's fly-on-the-wall documentary that follows the designer from June 2005 to June 2007, debuted at the Venice Film Festival. Valentino favorite Natalia Vodianova was in attendance, and Valentino successor Alessandra Facchinetti even showed up for support. 

The designer says that during filming, he didn't try to hide anything from the cameras, even when he got into a disagreement with his longtime business partner Giancarlo Giammetti:

When I work and I create, I am not very approachable. To . . . know everything I say was being recorded did irritate me. There were moments of anger, when somebody says something that I don't like, but I was completely myself from the beginning to the end and nothing was edited.

Director Tyrnauer praised Valentino for his willingness to be "wired" for two years and allowing himself to be depicted on film "warts and all," adding that there were very few times when he asked that the cameras be turned off: "They only screamed at us occasionally and we put most of it in the film."

One such moment?  When Valentino, exasperated by the chaos backstage at one of his shows, proclaims, "People must learn that they have to follow me. They must be down on their knees in front of me!"

Valentino had no editorial control over the film, and apparently isn't always portrayed in the best of lights, but Karl Lagerfeld seems to think the world of his fellow designer: “Compared to you, darling,” he says in the film, “the rest of us are making rags.”
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