While most designers scramble to line their front rows with celebrities during Fashion Week and would cut off their pinkie fingers to dress Hollywood types for the Oscars, Miuccia Prada has lately preferred having "intellectuals" at her shows and in her clothes, The Wall Street Journal tells us today.

"She only dresses people who interest her," says a Prada staffer, noting that Ms. Prada's marketing team has tried unsuccessfully to persuade her to chase the easy hype that a Hollywood front row offers the likes of Giorgio Armani, who had Janet Jackson in his front row on Thursday.

Well, it's about time that the gift of pro bono fashion was taken away from the beautiful people and given to those who really need it. Like, why give Padma a beautiful outfit when the one who really needs a little doing-up is Salman Rushdie? And while Malcolm Gladwell clearly doesn't need to do any more peacocking, remember Paul Krugman's linty scarf on the cover of Newsweek last year? It's no wonder his colleagues have taken to publicly disagreeing with him. In something like the above ensemble from spring 2010, he would probably get a lot more respect.

Prada Mixes Rich and Poor [WSJ]
A Slideshow of Prada's Spring 2010 Collection