New From Milan: Pringle’s Baggy Sack, Emporio Armani’s Furry Man PurseGet your fashion while it’s hot — from the Milan runways, we mean. Please do indulge in today’s latest shows; they’re calorie-free, of course.
• Have you heard about the black lace at Prada? Everyone is raving, and with good reason.
model tracker
The Cheat Sheet: Tell Your Models Apart!Models are supposed to blend into the background and let the clothes grab the attention. But after yesterday’s mini-kerfuffle, in which it was discovered that some glazed-over soul at Style.com had confused photos of Chanel Iman for those of Jourdan Dunn, we were reminded that perhaps mannequins do the job a little too well and fashion insiders can’t tell the girls apart. For shame!
developing
The General Motors Building Is Still Up for GrabsWhich city billionaire will get his chubby white hands on the General Motors building? The Observer the other day suggested Daily News owner Mort Zuckerman was in the running to acquire the iconic midtown building, but his people told the Sun today that it wasn’t so. (Could he be feeling so diminished by Rupert that he spread the rumor to make himself look cool? Just asking!) Quoting “sources with knowledge of the proposals,” the Sun says ground-zero developer Larry Silverstein has made an offer, possibly in partnership with the California State Teachers’ Retirement System, of more than $3 billion. That would not only be a record-breaking price for a building in Manhattan, but it would go a long way toward easing current GM-building owner Harry Macklowe’s credit woes — he currently owes various lenders around $7 billion. And you thought your credit-card bills were high.
Silverstein Bids Above 3 Billion for GM Building [NYS]
Related: Harry Macklowe Takes It on the Chin
cult of personality
Anna Wintour Continues to Wear This One Prada DressThis morning in Milan, the Met’s Costume Institute held a press conference on its upcoming … oh, whatever, doesn’t matter, it’s something about superheroes. What matters is that Her Vogueness Anna Wintour attended, wearing the bright little Prada number pictured above. Cute, but is that not the exact same Prada dress she wore twice in weeks past at Armani Privé and Peter Som? Why, yes, yes, it is. If it works for Anna, then we suppose Anna can work it all she wants.
in the magazine
Lindsay Lohan As Marilyn Monroe: Five OuttakesIn New York Magazine’s current Spring Fashion issue, Lindsay Lohan is reborn as Marilyn Monroe, posing for photographer Bert Stern as Monroe did in 1962 for what was the last shoot before her death. But many of you probably knew that already. And many of you have already seen the pictures. So because the shoot’s historic, beautiful, and no one is done talking about it, we’re pleased to share five outtakes that did not appear in the magazine. We’re particularly fond of the photo shown above, which might be the most Marilyn-esque of all. The new images are numbered 10 through 14, and you can find them here.
Alex Kuczynski Uses Her Socialite Magic on Our ‘Real Housewives’When grappling with how to handle the advent of the new Bravo show The Real Housewives of New York City, the Times was faced with a conundrum: Here is a show that will purportedly expose a sector of society that the newspaper, in its “Style” section and in its T magazine, regularly covers. But it’s also trashy reality television. How to cover? Thankfully, the geniuses at T came up with a solution just in time for the show’s March 2 debut. They took matters into their own hands, and, for one photograph, at least, they grabbed the cast of the show and classed them up. They put on a “lingerie party” organized by the owner of upscale boutique La Petite Coquette in the West Village. They styled the ladies, thrust Champagne glasses into their hands, and sent in Times style icon Alex Kuczynski to moderate it all for their Women’s Fashion Spring 2008 issue. Above, you’ll see the fruits of their labors, an image from their story coming out this Sunday in the paper (it’s not online yet). Don’t they look sophisticated? The T people are really geniuses. Nothing makes a person look classy like sticking them next to someone in her undies.
T Magazine [NYT]
NewsFeed
René Pujol Closes, Victim of the Times (and Theater Strike)File this under the It Was Bound to Happen Department if you must, but we still feel bad about it: Theater-district mainstay René Pujol, which served heavy French food to happy customers for more than 30 years, went out of business Sunday. “We needed a strong fall, and it was a little weaker than we hoped, and the Broadway strike really hurt us,” explains executive chef Vincent Purdy. “We were an established, mature business, but Sunday was our last night.” Purdy and René Pujol’s other employees ran the restaurant as a cooperative for three years, and such arrangements tend to ward off potential backers. We have lost yet another one of the formal, conservative, vaguely geriatric French restaurants that used to dominate midtown.
Related: Marxist Meals Served at Co-op Eateries
fashion calendar
Sales & Events: Theory Exclusive at Bloomingdale’s!EVENTS:
Bloomingdale’s is showing off a new style of Theory pants exclusive to the department store. A D.J.’s spinning too so try ‘em on and dance around. Bloomingdale’s, 1000 Third Ave., at 59th St. (212-705-2000); 6–8.
in other news
The Naked Cowboy Flaunts His AssetsWe knew we loved the Naked Cowboy, but we had no idea that we should be trying to marry him. His Nakedness discussed his potential multi-million-dollar settlement against Mars with Main Street.com today and revealed some of his other assets. “I have a financial advisor at Merrill Lynch,” he said. “I buy real estate. I’m investing in the seventeenth floor of one of my friend’s hotels in Panama City Beach and bought a yacht for celebrity tours.” Wait. The Naked Cowboy has a yacht? Of course he does! “Basically, I invest in high-visibility assets,” the Cowboy explained. “High visibility — the way I do everything in life.”
Naked Cowboy Has High-Visibility Assets [Main Street]