>> Rumors of slashed budgets and diminished celebrity attendance have already plagued the 2010 Costume Institute Gala for months, but we've finally got some concrete details about the first Met Ball that recently-appointed Vogue director of special events Sylvana Soto-Ward will spearhead.  Themed "American Woman: Fashioning a National Identity," the gala will take place on Monday, May 3, 2010, with Gap's Patrick Robinson and Oprah Winfrey co-hosting alongside Anna Wintour.

The theme is already drawing questions of whether Michelle Obama will make an appearance, but for sure populating the exhibit are roughly 75 outfits, culled based on the idea of "how the American woman initiated style revolutions that mirrored her social, political, and sexual emancipation."  The pieces include designs by Coco Chanel, Jeanne Lanvin, Elsa Schiaparelli, Madeleine Vionnet, Madame Gres, and Paul Poiret and come exclusively from the new Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection; many haven't been on view to the public in over 30 years.

>> Anna Wintour to Host The September Issue Premiere —Although the status of her big annual bash remains up in the air for next year, Anna Wintour will be making a splash at the premiere of The September Issue. She plans to host the opening and follow it all with a private dinner; Could this be Sylvana Soto-Ward's first big project? [FWD]

>> Even More Concerns About the Costume Institute Gala's Future Surface —The 2010 Costume Institute Gala rumors keep coming, and we don't even have a theme yet.  There will supposedly be slashed budgets and less star power — both celebrity and designer-wise — and a newly-appointed Vogue director of special events, Sylvana Soto-Ward, to oversee it all.  But the reservations don't stop there: According to an insider, Soto-Ward has never done any big event planning: "Sylvana didn't even plan her own engagement party — Anna Wintour had the in-house events team produce it for her. They've even pushed out [former director of special events] Stephanie [Winston Wolkoff]'s assistant and hired a consultant and some other assistants to operate as the real workhorses and pick up the slack." A Vogue spokesperson voiced no concern: "Anna has every confidence in Sylvana, and when anyone new comes in, departments are restructured." [NY Post]

>> 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" »

>> INSIDER WIRE —Vogue accessories editor Sylvana Soto-Ward has been doing a little event planning of the personal kind — she's getting married in Portland in August — and Anna Wintour must have liked what she saw.  Soto-Ward, who has acted as ambassador for the magazine in a number of its online red carpet videos, just got promoted to be the magazine's director of special events, with the Costume Institute Gala among her new responsibilities.  So the question becomes: How will she handle the gala with all the slashed budgets for next year? [WWD]

>> The months-in-the-making 60 Minutes profile of Anna Wintour finally aired last night, and besides the tired Devil Wears Prada and unauthorized biography references, a snarky Morley Safer provided a candid look at "Darth Vader in a frock" — except for the instances when she purposely evaded his question.  He even asked her if she thinks of herself as a b*tch: "I hope I'm not . . . I try not to be, but I like people who represent the best of what they do and if that turns you into a perfectionist than maybe I am."

She laughs when asked if it's true that Vogue staffers are not allowed to speak to her on the elevator:

Oh yeah, I heard that, you're not allowed to get in the elevator with me. That's a complete exaggeration.  I guess in response I can only say that I've have so many people here that have worked with me fifteen, twenty years, and if I'm such a b*tch they must really be a glutton for punishment because they're still here.

She credits part of her success to her failures elsewhere: "I wasn't academically successful and maybe I've spent a lot of my career trying to make up for that."  But she's still the Anna whose daily hair and makeup bill, plus a rumored $200,000 annual clothing allowance, is all picked up by Conde Nast — and her view of "reasonable" clothing prices reflects that.  She visits Alexander Wang's showroom for a runthrough, and as a silver sequined minidress passes by, she asks Alexander how much it is. "This one retails for $1,200." Her reply?  With a little smile: "It's very reasonable."

But designers can irritate her: "If you see a collection that you feel the designer has been lazy or is taking inspiration from other designers, it doesn't as much as bore me as anger me."

Even Andre Leon Talley, one of those figures who have been at Vogue for years, feels the Wintour chill:

It's not like a tea party here, we work very hard.  Let's say that Anna can be intimidating, I think that's her armor, to intimidate, to give people a sense that she's in charge. She is not a person who's going to show you her emotions ever. She's like a doctor.  When she's looking at your work, it's like a medical analysis.  Some of us can't cope with that . . . we need to be loved.

But it's something to get used to — if Anna has any say, she'll be sticking around a while longer. "To me, this is a very interesting time to be in this position, and I think it would be, in a way, irresponsible not to put my best foot forward and lead us into a different time." Morley prods, asking her if when the time comes, she'll go quietly? She smiles. "Certainly, very quietly."

The full segment, plus outtakes! »