>> September Issue Leaves Grace Coddington in Newfound Limelight, Lauren Santo Domingo Feeling "Really Surpised" —Grace Coddington has enjoyed a new sense of recognition since her turn in The September Issue — four pages of Vogue Paris's September 2009 issue are devoted to her, in which she quips: "[Anna Wintour and I] have a real mutual respect for each other, even though sometimes I feel like killing her.”  She was spotted dining twice yesterday with the film's director RJ Cutler — perhaps as a thank you?  Meanwhile, Vogue contributing editor Lauren Santo Domingo "was really surprised at the amount of access" the filmmakers were given. "There were even things I'm not privy to or I'm not aware of — things that go on in the art department, in the photo room. I've never been in any of those meetings." [WWD, FWD, The Cut]

>> INSIDER WIRE —There were a lot of designers missing from last night's festivities — Karl Lagerfeld, Stefano Gabbana, Domenico Dolce, Christopher Bailey among them — but even more notable was the lack of certain designers on the red carpet: Balenciaga, Prada and Miu Miu weren't represented at all (though Dasha Zhukova wore vintage Prada), and typical heavyweight Giorgio Armani had one sole wearer — Claire Danes.  Meanwhile, Phi emerged as a dark horse — watch out Proenza Schouler, Andreas Melbostad is taking over your crowd — Erin Wasson, Natasha Poly, Lauren Santo Domingo, and Vanessa Traina all chose the label last night. [Style File]

>> INSIDER WIRE — Lauren Santo Domingo has earned plenty of fans for her personal style and put in her hours as a sittings editor for Vogue; now, she's lending a show-styling hand to at least two-and-coming designers in two days — J.Mendel alum Bibhu Mohapatra (Fall 2009 look, left), and Christian Cota, Fashion Group International's 2009 Rising Star (Jason Wu was 2008's): "I think you’ll see a new edge to Christian’s always impeccable uptown polish.” [Hint, Style File]

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»Fashion is fun!  During a shoot in Egypt for the September issue of Elle, the crew ate parasite-laced baba ghanoush and had to argue with the Cairo airport staff for 2 days before they could have their 14 trunks of clothing to photograph [Elle Tell All]

»Vivienne Westwood was not impressed by the Sex and the City movie [Fashionista]

»Tom Ford may be returning to womenswear . . . in two or three years [The Cut]

»Diane von Furstenberg speaks fluent Italian "thanks to [her] Italian husband and boyfriends" [WWD Blog]

»Topshop will be sponsoring the runway shows for Louise Goldin, Danielle Scutt, MeadhamKirchhoff, House of Holland, and Peter Pilotto at London Fashion Week this Fall [FWD]

»Lauren Santo Domingo, she speaks!  (So do Bonnie Morrison, Lawren Howell, and Kathryn Neale Shaffer) [Style.com]

>> It has already been well-reported that Sarah Jessica Parker wore the same Nina Ricci dress to the New York Sex and the City premiere last week as Vogue contributing editor and socialite Lauren Santo Domingo wore to the Costume Insitute Gala on May 5. 

More interesting, however, is the story behing the mix-up — as Cathy Horyn reports, both Nina Ricci designer Olivier Theyskens and Mario Grauso, the president of the fashion division at Puig, which owns Nina Ricci, assured SJP that the gown had not been worn in anything but magazine shoots.  When she came to find out that wasn't the case, she felt deceived:

In the big picture, this is not important, but there is a relationship between the entertainment industry and fashion . . . my affection for the dress hasn’t changed, but what they did was so short-sighted. It’s just unethical and disappointing that they would allow the dress to be worn again.

Parker says she mentioned to Olivier during the fitting that she was surprised the dress hadn't already been worn:

He didn’t say, ‘Well, actually I just escorted Lauren down the red carpet at the Met.’  I just wish it had been handled differently and they had been straight about it.

When Cathy asked Grauso for a response, he of course said, "I’m upset that she’s upset.”  But then he went on to fumble for excuses — he clearly knew that Lauren had worn the dress to an event before, because he said he had no reason to mention Santo Domingo:

'Is Lauren a celebrity?  It depends on how you look at it.' He said he and Theyskens mainly thought of her as a friend. He then asked—somewhat incredulously, I thought—“Does everybody look at Style.com?'

A bad move on Nina Ricci's part, especially when they were just becoming red carpet gold.  I wonder what Anna Wintour, who so strongly favors Olivier, thinks about it?

*images: source