>> Anna Wintour walked out to David Letterman's couch last night, Madonna's "Vogue" playing in the background, wearing Carolina Herrera and her trademark sunglasses — she subsequently took them off to give Dave a hard time about his socks, referring him to Thom Browne, since the designer's elevated pant hemlines show off a man's socks.

She definitely brought her witty side out last night — when Letterman asked if it was a fair assessment to say she's bigger than what she does for a living, she referred to Maureen Dowd's recent column:  “I read in the New York Times this week that I'm an ice queen, I'm the Sun King, I'm an alien fleeing from District 9 and I'm a dominatrix. So I reckon that makes me a lukewarm royalty with a whip from outer space.  What do you think?"

Later, Letterman compared fashion models on the runway to "beautiful women who look like the Neptunians have released them. But nobody buys that stuff, do they? Is somebody walking around like they’re from Neptune?”  Wintour laughed: "Lots of people. I'm an alien, remember?"

She suppressed giggles after the clip from The September Issue in which she berates Vogue style director Elissa Santisi was played, and chastises Letterman for calling her last-minute to appear on the show.  When he asked if The Devil Wears Prada was made about her, she was coy: “Well, I seem to remember that actually the movie was a work of fiction and we really like fiction at Vogue.”  When prompted about what percentage of decisions she makes at the magazine, she replies: "100 percent." And when Letterman notes that The September Issue leaves Vogue seeming as if it's run by people his age, she quips: "Vogue is not only run by senior citizens."

Videos: The full interview! »

>> New York Fashion Week is still over a month away, but Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week just released its official calendar today and the Fashion Calendar — which shows all of the shows not included in the Bryant Park festivities — has appeared online, so we can get an idea of what will be going down in that crazy time period between Sept. 9 and Sept. 17.

Despite the industry's economic doldrums, a few designers are adding an extra show for Spring 2010 — Ralph Lauren is upgrading from two showings to three in his usual morning-of-the-last-day spot; Phillip Lim is following in close friend Richard Chai's footsteps, doing a two separate shows this season, one for men's and one for women's, rather than combining them like he usually does; and Thom Browne, who chose to show his Fall 2009 collection in Florence instead of at New York Fashion Week, is back on the schedule with not one but two shows.

Vladimir Restoin-Roitfeld is hosting an event again »

>> The CFDA has been busy lately, discussing the possibility of sponsoring sample sales for designers who don't have enough resources to do it on their own, commissioning books — including a fashion-related cookbook, and announcing an upcoming three-year partnership with Mattel.  But Monday night, we'll learn which of the 2008 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund nominees will take home top honors, $200,000, and business advice, who will score one of the two runners-up titles and the $50,000 that comes with them, and who will try again next year.

The first award was given in 2004, with top honors going to Proenza Schouler; since then, Trovata (2005), Doo.Ri (2006), and Rogan (2007) have taken the top prize, and the likes of 3.1 Phillip Lim, Philip Crangi, Rodarte, Thakoon, Derek Lam, and Thom Browne have all been runners-up.  Without doubt, the winner generally has name recognition — and is in favor at Vogue — but tends to not be the biggest name in the group (i.e. Rogan over Phillip Lim last year).

So who will take all? »