>> In the wake of Stephanie Winston Wolkoff's resignation last week from her position as Vogue's director of special events — where she helped grow the Costume Institute Gala from a charity function to the "East Coast Oscars" — rumors about the fate of the Vogue-sponsored Costume Institute Gala continue to circulate, despite a denial of any changes from a museum spokesperson: "This is completely untrue, and Vogue's role is unchanged."

Sylvana Soto-Ward, who started at Vogue as Anna Wintour's assistant in 2003 and has recently been functioning as the magazine's accessories editor, inherited Winston Wolkoff's position earlier this week, the Costume Institute Gala planning and rumored slashed event budgets along with it.

Two insiders say: "The 2010 Costume Institute Gala will be a much less splashy affair" »

>> On Friday, it was announced that Vogue's director of special events, Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, had resigned with no replacement named. Today, Fashion Week Daily reports that insiders are buzzing about the future of the Costume Institute Gala — Winston Wolkoff organized the event for the past decade.

According to one source, "Events budgets have been slashed across the board at Conde. The Costume Institute has got to be the company's most expensive event, and Stephanie built it into what it is today. It makes no sense to pass it off to someone else."

This year's event brought in $2 million less than the previous year, with a number of fashion brands declining to sponsor tables due to the economy.  At this time last year, we already had clues about the designer co-host and theme for the upcoming Costume Institute Gala, but so far, there has been nothing about the 2010 event.  FWD suggests that "perhaps just cocktails are in order," but the Gala is still Anna Wintour's party, and it doesn't seem like her to let go without a fight.

>> INSIDER WIRE —Vogue-helmed events could be a little different from now on: Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, 11-year Vogue veteran and the magazine's director of special events who oversaw the Costume Institute Gala and CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund, resigned to spend more time with her husband and three children; no replacement has been named. The move marks the loss of one of the magazine's many pedigreed names: Winston Wolkoff is granddaughter of Harry Winston. [FWD]