Karl Lagerfeld was signing a teddy bear dressed in his image for a Japanese fan on the stage of his couture show in Paris Tuesday night when he was asked about inspiration for his collection. "I could not make the big ball gowns this time," he said, "because there are no more balls."

The truth is that, even during the boom years, there were never many balls that demanded haute couture. The couture world is incredibly small, and now, in the midst of financial meltdown, it is growing even smaller. The tears streaming down the faces in the front row of Christian Lacroix — whose show went on but whose future is uncertain — could almost be for the whole charmingly old-fashioned notion that the world's most beautiful clothes are sewn by hand.

Whitney Port's City sidekick, Erin Lucas, announced last week she won't be part of the second season of the reality series. "I decided to do something different," she told us this week at the launch party for Alizé's online reality series, Concrete and Cashmere (on which Lucas is a guest judge). "I have a project in the mix, but I want to get into more hosting. That's really what I love." She also admitted she hasn't spoken to Port in months, though she claims there's no hard feelings and she'd give Port a big hug if she ever saw her again. "We were [close], but things change," she said. "There was a falling out" — reality-TV gold. However, we spotted The City crew filming at a Gen-Art benefit two weeks ago, which Erin attended along with Whitney. And you know what? There was no hugging. "I wasn't filming [that night], I was just there," Lucas tried to explain. She said running into the old camera crews and co-stars was awkward. "But Sammy's still one of my best friends." So why'd she give it up? "It was just hard," she said. "It was a chapter in my life and it was nothing but positive. I'm glad I did it, but on to the next thing. I'm kind of a gypsy. I released a statement a couple of days ago, but this is the first interview with people asking me about it, so I don't know what to say." Life is hard when no one gives you a script.

Cintra Wilson wrote a profile of Agyness Deyn, née Laura Hollins, for today's "Style" section in the Times. After asking her several questions like, "Do you have a collaborative creative process with designers and photographers with whom you work closely?" and getting answers like:

“I don’t know,” she replied. “I just like to experience different feelings, even if it’s, like, uncomfortable?”

Wilson concludes Deyn Hollins (dammit!) comes off as a bit "dim." But surely that means something. Hollins's rise from punky unknown fish-and-chips shopgirl in Manchester to famous model signifies important things about not only Hollins, but the times in which we live.

Pharrell Williams showed up to the Serpentine Gallery summer party in London today wearing knee-high brown boots over loose jeans.

Do you like knee-high boots on men?

Maryland native Lyle Lodwick got his big break in 2008 after starring in a Sigur Rós music video, in which he ran amok in a forest with no clothes on. The 21-year-old was then snapped up by Red Model Management in New York. Weeks later, he opened Lanvin's fall show and snagged Topshop's spring campaign. Then the eagle-eyed editors over at Dazed & Confused and Japanese Vogue Hommes booked Lodwick for two spreads each, shot by Venetia Scott and Magnus Unnar, respectively. He recently made appearances at the spring 2010 menswear shows, walking at Burberry, Tim Hamilton, and Dries van Noten. Can you say star in the making?

Model Profile: Lyle Lodwick

Plus: Browse over 520 of modeling's top stars in our Model Manual.

Kira Plastinina's Los Angeles–based clothing company filed for bankruptcy earlier this year. According to court papers, the company owed creditors $54.4 million. But, when you're Kira Plastinina, a $54.4 million debt is only a small speed bump in overtaking the American clothing market. After closing her U.S. stores, Kira Plastinina has reopened two in L.A., which are now called K. Plastinina. She's operating them under her new company, Pink Square, which is based in Russia, and is not bankrupt (should we add "yet" here?). Sneaky — but not sneaky enough. The people to whom that $54.4 million is owed happened to notice the 17-year-old's stores are back up and running, and they're not happy. Employees of Tom Rectenwald Construction, which built eight of Kira's original U.S. outposts in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and the D.C. area, are picketing outside the stores. Kira still owes them $2.5 million.

“The point of all this is that there are still people suffering because of what [the company] did,” [Co-owner Aaron] Rectenwald said. “We haven’t gotten the attention of management yet so we’ll be coming back until we do.”

And that's the beauty of operating from Russia. "Oh, you protested? We didn't see from over here." Kira was thinking about moving to New York to go to Parsons. We hope these protests don't hinder her desires to come live and go to school among us while, oh, say, filming her own Bravo reality show. Just throwing that out there.

Kira Plastinina's Return Draws Protestors [WWD]

Lifetime has revealed the cast of the sixth season of Project Runway. And they're pretty! These poor folks not only had to shoot the season in L.A. to accommodate Heidi Klum's schedule, but then they had to wait for ages for an air date, while the Weinstein Co. and NBC Universal worked out their many lawsuits over which network should get the show. Contestants range in age from 24 to 50 and hail from not only this country, but Russia and the Republic of Georgia, too. Tim Gunn recently said the season features some purported cheating. Been there, done that, Tim. Although that's never stopped us from tuning in before. Season six starts August 20 on Lifetime. [E! Online]

High-low collaborations are beyond all the rage, but waiting in long lines for limited editions went out of style long ago. Luckily, one under-the-radar pairing also happens to be our favorite — shoes from Contributor, Rachel Comey’s aptly named collection for Urban Outfitters. These t-strap sandals have Comey’s signature all over them — simple details (a riveted strap with post closures), buttery leather with a slightly rough edge, and the most comfortable rubber soles. Finally, a collab that we can get behind — and that we can find.

$60 at UrbanOutfitters.com.