>> Last night, Bravo aired a preview for The Rachel Zoe Project, and it turns out to be pretty "bananas amazing" — her words, not mine — in a guilty pleasure kind of way. The 21-minute segment features cameo appearances by Zac Posen, Donna Karan, Peter Som, Marc Jacobs, and Oscar de la Renta, not to mention the overload of dresses, shoes, bags, and jewelry panned and pawed across. 

I could do without all the drama between Rachel's two assistants, Taylor and Brad, but the show definitely catches some moments that give you a look at the unstyled stylist: Rachel doing so much credit card damage on designer vintage, AmEx calls with a fraud alert; Rachel dealing with her studio flooding and waterlogging the bottoms of all the one-of-a-kind designer dresses she stocks; Rachel breaking down and crying while her makeup is being done. But she seems to think it's worth it: "At the end of the day, it's a pretty glamorous, fabulous life."  The first full episode airs September 8.
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Full video preview after the cut. >>

At an Elle photoshoot with Jennifer Lopez; New York, July 14.

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>> TIP JAR —A fun little blind item from Oscar de la Renta himself:

One of my assistants, who is a wonderful girl, worked for quite a long time at another couture house. The designer used to make really unbelievable clothes. And it's not that he's not making beautiful clothes now, but I think that their emphasis is not really on selling the clothes, but on selling the accessories and selling the brand. When she saw me working, she said, 'Oh my goodness, you work very differently,' because, you know, every single dress I fit, I work on it. She said [the other designer] never touched the clothes, and I said that's not the designer I knew.

>> THE MODELIZER —Arlenis Sosa Pena, who hails from the Dominican Republic and just got signed to Marilyn in March, doesn't speak a wink of English.  The girl is hot — she's already joined Oscar de la Renta at his Costume Institute Gala table and appears in the July issues of both Vogue Italia and Vogue.  Funny, though, she was interviewed for Vogue's July article "Is Fashion Racist?" but they didn't bother to get her a translator; Models.com, on the other hand, had no problem rustling up a translator for their impromptu video with Arlenis . . . [The Cut, Models.com]

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>>  She really does have her personal preferences —Prada and Oscar.

L: In Oscar de la Renta Resort 2009 with Vera Wang, Tommy Hilfiger's Engagement Party; New York, June 9.

R: Sex and the City Premiere After Party; New York, May 27.
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»Marc Jacobs' business partner Robert Duffy and Kate Moss were spotted chatting near a Marc Jacobs store in New York yesterday [Fashion Addict Diary]

»Oscar de la Renta is upsetting the competition by running their Fall ads a month early in the July issue of Vogue [FWD]

»Sean Avery plans to work as a celebrity stylist, and he's "already incorporated [his] company name" [The Cut]

»Sigerson Morrison is selling bracelets similar to the straps on their highly in-demand gladiator sandals [The Pipeline]

»Phillip Lim hand-wrote the invitations for his LA store opening [Chic Report]

»Freja Beha Erichsen nabbed the Pre-Fall 20o8 Emporio Armani ad [Models.com]

»Peeks at Burberry Prorsum, Brian Reyes, Narciso Rodriguez, Giorgio Armani Resort 2009 collections [WWD, WWD, WWD, WWD]

»Thierry Mugler is being resurrected for couture week [FabSugar]

»Newly-minted Vogue intern Sean Avery is rumored to be starting a fashion company . . . already [FWD]

»Peter Som reveals all about what the CFDA does (ok, not really, but he is facetious about it) [The Cut]

»Vintage Oscar de la Renta pictures, right this way [Oscar de la Renta]

»The chicken at Jean Paul Gaultier's perfume launch last night was dressed in his trademark sailor stripes [Cafe Mode]

»Vivienne Westwood guest edited the July 2008 issue of Dazed & Confused [Nicola Formichetti]

»Yohji Yamamoto's daughter Limi was "uncontrollable" growing up [Prestige HK]

»Donna Karan is obsessed with Madonna [Prestige HK]

»Peeks at the Erin Fetherston, Celine, Anna Sui, Thakoon, and Costume National Resort 2009 collections [WWD, Style.com, Style.com, WWD, Style.com]