>> 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? »

>> Before the winner is announced Nov. 17, a CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund nomination will get you a piece of the twenty-page spread with Caroline Trentini in the November 2008 issue of Vogue, plus an invite to last night's celebratory cocktail party, hosted by Anna Wintour, of course.

But it's not all fun and games — the party doubled as part of the judgment process.  Each of the ten nominees were assigned a different species of butterfly, a L'Oreal eye-color palette, and an evocative word as inspiration for the custom creation they made for their assigned dates — sounds a little Project Runway, no?  Or maybe that's where Project Runway got the idea . . .

Alexander Wang brought Zoe Kravitz in a "barely-there dress," the Vena Cava girls dressed Raquel Zimmermann in a gown, Jason Wu paired Leighton Meester with a ladylike frock, Richard Chai was on a double date with Coco Rocha and Jamie Johnson, Swaim and Christina Hutson created an Obedient Daughters look for Chiara Clemente, and Alejandro Ingelmo put Lake Bell in some serious gladiators.

The designers presented their dates and creations to the judges, and then enjoyed the party.  Alejandro Ingelmo was even caught taking down Coco Rocha's number . . .
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>> IN PRODUCTION — Richard Chai is the twelfth, Jonathan Saunders is the thirteenth, and Thakoon Panichgul has just been named the fourteenth Target Go International designer — his collection will be available in late December. Maybe that makes Alexander McQueen the fifteenth? [Slaves to Fashion]

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>> The CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund has determined its ten finalists for 2008. 

Last year's winner, Rogan Gregory, was announced in November and received a monetary award of $200,000, with two runners-up reiving $50,000 each.  For the past couple of years, the nominees have worked with Gap as part of a limited Gap Design Edition collaboration to gain more exposure, and many have also gone on to work with Target in limited-edition runs. 

This year's nominees are:

Richard Chai

Jason Wu

Alexander Wang

Irene Neuwirth

Albertus Q. Swanepoel of Albertus Quartus

Alejandro Ingelmo

Juan Carlos Obando

Swaim and Christina Hutson of Obedient Sons & Daughters

John Patrick of Organic

Sophie Mayock and Lisa Buhai of Vena Cava
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»A Spring 2008 Gap ad features Chanel Iman, Julia Stegner, Coco Rocha, Du Juan, Vlada Roslyakova, Anja Rubik . . . and a shoddy Photoshop job [ONTD_FF]

»Is Lily Cole edging Kate Moss out at Rimmel? [The Cut]

»An unnamed male designer had a face-lift gone wrong last year [Page Six]

»Models had to practice walking on a simulated dirt runway before doing Givenchy Fall 2008 couture [Style.com]

»A first look at Heidi Mount in Bally's Fall 2008 campaign [FWD]

»Meredith Melling Burke wears a mustache! [Fashionista]

»The full Richard Chai for Target collection [FabSugar]

»Roberto Cavalli: Taking his company off the market [The Cut]

»Calvin Klein may be using Kirsten Owen, Guinevere van Seenus, and Agyness Deyn in a new CK One campaign [Fashionista]

»Full Givenchy and Loewe Resort 2009 collections [Style.com, Style.com]

»The hair extension Kate Moss lost a couple of weeks ago is now being auctioned on eBay [BellaSugar]

»Behnaz Sarafpour is celebrating her first wedding anniversary with a trip to Bermuda [Style File]

»Hye Rim Park is rumored to have gotten married last month [TFS]

»Lazaro Hernandez wigged out at his birthday party on Thursday [Style File]

»More previews of Eva Herzigova for Louis Vuitton, Claudia Schiffer for Chanel Fall 2008 campaigns [TFS, TFS]

»More preview pictures of Richard Chai for Target [Nylon]

»Two Yves Saint Laurent documentaries are being shown this weekend on the Sundance Channel [LA Times]

»Full Jill Stuart, Giorgio Armani Resort 2009 collections, previews of John Galliano and Viktor & Rolf Resort 2009 collections [Style.com, Style.com, WWD, WWD]

»Past Vogue interns relate their experiences as compared to Sean Avery's [The Cut]

»Gérard Marie, who once lost his senior exec job at Elite Models after being filmed propositioning a reporter who he thought was a model, is back at the helm [Jezebel]

»Look out, New York!  Daisy Lowe is aiming to walk in Bryant Park this September [Refinery29]

»A spotlight fell and hit a male model at the Tom Ford party [Fashionista]

»Speaking of fashion week, the party schedule is already shaping up [Chic Report]

»First peek at Vlada Roslyakova's Fall 2008 ads for DKNY [Women Management]

»Karl Lagerfeld rides around Paris in a Hummer [Jezebel]

»Bee Shaffer is spending her Fourth of July in Ibiza with her dad [Chic Report]

»No surprise here: Freja Beha Erichsen loves her Alexander Wang [Fashionista]

»A first look at Richard Chai for Target [Fops and Dandies]

»Marc Jacob's latest limited-edition tee is offending the gay community [Out.com]

>> At last night's CFDA-hosted "Beauty of Health" discussion, Michael Kors, Coco Rocha, and casting agent James Scully all stepped up to the plate to address the waning weights of models. 

Kors threw in a designer's perspective, suggesting that his peers should "stay away from child-size clothes unless [they're] designing for children," and pointing out that when designers offer such small sample sizes and celebrities starve themselves to fit into them, their super-skinny aesthetic has a far-reaching impact on the general female population.  He also advised agents to only send the most suitable girls to castings:  “Sending a girl when there's little chance of her being booked throws a 16-year-old into a tizzy.  The odds of a girl being booked for my show and Rick Owens’s are slim.”

Next up to the podium was Coco Rocha, who just like Natalia Vodianova and Ali Michael before her, admitted that the job comes with some very unhealthy habits.  Two years ago, she weighed 108 pounds (at 5'10"), and yet people were stilling telling her "you need to lose more weight.  The look this year is anorexic.  We don't want you to be anorexic, we just want you to look it."  Even crazier, an agent once advised her to throw up after meals. 

Eventually, she submitted to the pressure.  "Last season I took diuretic pills. Once I took so many on an empty stomach that I was doubled over for hours. That's the last time I ever did something so terrible to my body."  She asked designers to provide healthier food at their shows — "No one wants to be caught with that photo 'Model Eats Cake'" — and to make their fit models, and therefore their sample sizes, bigger — models are humiliated when zippers won't zip up at castings. 

Finally, casting agent James Scully advised insiders to consider the weight of their words.  "Let's stop treating models like greyhounds we plan to shoot after a race. We have to remember we are dealing with real people who have real feelings."

Francisco Costa, Georgina Chapman, Keren Craig, Donna Karan, Richard Chai, Marcus Wainwright, David Neville, Derek Lam, Doo-Ri Chung, Diane von Furstenberg, Phillip Lim, and Anna Wintour, plus several other Vogue editors, were all in attendance at the event — which leaves quite a few American designers unaccounted for.  But as Michael Kors pointed out, designers aren't the only people responsible. "The next one we need to do is about skinny people who work in fashion: editors, buyers, stylists. That’s called ‘Why Does This Sample Fit Me?”

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