Cityfile: New York's Most Notable and Influential

• The Carolina Herrera dress that Anna Wintour wore on Dave Letterman's show this week? She wore it to the CFDA Awards back in June. Uh oh! [Stylelist]
• Zac Posen is the latest designer to bid goodbye to Bryant Park this Fashion Week. He'll be staging his show at The Altman Building instead. [WWD]
• Another good thing about the recession: There are fewer crappy catalogs getting stuffed in your mailbox. [AP]
• The September Issue doesn't open in theaters until Friday, but it seems some people (above) are already sick of all the publicity. [NYShitty]More

Roberto Cavalli Goes Back to Basics | Roberto Cavalli spent the weekend "dancing in the desert" in Dubai. Why? The permatanned Italian just opened what he calls "the first designer club in the Middle East," that's why. The Cavalli Club, which cost $30 million to construct, includes an "opulent" Italian restaurant, sushi bar, and nightclub, and features "floors made of black quartz, 20-foot-high ceilings dripping with Swarovski crystals and furnishings in his trademark animal prints." The launch also seems to coincide with a new life philosophy. A month ago, he told a reporter he was actually kind of happy that the world was in the middle of a recession, since "too many people were making too much money." Now? He wants to "give a sign of optimism for the future." Consider the message received. [WWD]

• The government is in talks with Citigroup to raise its stake in the beleaguered bank to between 25 and 40 percent. [WSJ, DB]
• Federal regulators plan to review the financial condition of 20 banks this week as part of a round of "stress tests." [NYT, BN]
• Regulators have seized Allen Stanford's companies in Antigua and Barbuda; Stanford has also surrendered his passport to U.S. authorities. [Reuters]
• Shares in UBS have fallen to an all-time low as the bank continues to reel from allegations of tax fraud. [Reuters, DB]
• Even Dubai needs a bailout these days: The UAE said yesterday it will give the once-highflying emirate $10 billion. [WSJ]
• Steve Feinberg's Cerberus is closing down its Hong Kong office. [FT]
• Hedge funder Richard Perry is cutting fees to keep investors happy. [WSJ]
• The SEC is now in hot water over its handling of insider-trading accusations involving former executives at Lehman Brothers. [NYT]

While you may be feeling sorry for yourself now that you've been laid off from your job and you're spending afternoons watching reality TV reruns on your couch, at least your couch isn't located in Dubai. The Times reports today on just how bad the situation has become in the former construction capital of the world. At this time last year Americans were jumping on jets to move to the boomtown, attracted by cushy jobs, fancy digs (and perhaps tasty Middle Eastern cuisine). Now? Not so much. More

The recession didn't put a damper on Sol Kerzner's plans to throw one of the most lavish parties in recent memory. The South African casino mogul threw a $25 million fête in Dubai this evening to celebrate the opening of the Atlantis, his $1.5 billion hotel on the man-made island of Palm Jumeirah. (It's modeled on his Bahamas resort by the same name.) A long list of stars put in appearances (Lindsay Lohan, Mischa Barton, Robert De Niro, Charlize Theron, Mary-Kate Olsen, Albert Hammond Jr., Agyness Deyn), Kylie Minogue was paid in the neighborhood of $4 million to perform a 60-minute set, and a bunch of famous chefs (like Nobu Matsuhisa) were responsible for assembling the menu. Now Kerzner just has to figure out how to get people to rent rooms that begin at $800 a night (and go up to $25,000) and he can start making his money back. [WSJ, Daily Mail]

Dubai's Economic Future Depends on Paris | Paris Hilton is going to have a lot of work ahead of her if she expects to stimulate the Dubai real estate market. A survey issued today reports that residential prices there plummeted 19 percent during the month of October. [WSJ, previously]

Dubai Gets Desperate, Makes Offer to Paris Hilton | An Abu Dhabi-based developer, Hydra Properties, has reportedly offered Paris Hilton $2 million to lend her name to a set of apartment buildings in Dubai. (Naturally, the buildings will be named "Paris Hilton Towers" if she agrees to the deal.) This is the same company, we should point out, that tapped Antonio Banderas as a company pitchman a few months ago, which suggests either real estate developers in the Gulf are getting very desperate or there's a rich sheikh out there looking to get lucky. [Gulf News via Curbed]

Stocks were pummeled once again today with the Dow shedding 500 points and the S&P falling to its lowest level since April 21, 2003. Normally at a time like this, we'd direct your attention to the blog Sad Guys on Trading Floors, or even the more recent Brokers With Hands on Their Faces. In the spirit of diversity, though, we thought we'd mix it up and introduce you to a brand new photo feature, which we're officially calling Sad Arab Traders Wearing Kaffiyehs and Holding Their Hands to Their Faces. More pics after the jump.More

Coming to America | The very first Airbus A380 "superjumbo" jet is scheduled to fly into JFK tomorrow afternoon, filled to capacity with 489 well-heeled people from Dubai. (It's an Emirates flight.) Great news for the numerous New Yorkers who travel there frequently, sure. Even better news for the city's property owners, who will have likely unloaded half a dozen office towers in Midtown by tomorrow evening. [Crain's]

If it feels like every week brings news of yet another cash-strapped American company raising money from Abu Dhabi or Dubai or selling itself entirely to one of these emirates, it isn't your imagination. From real estate (the GM building) to finance (Citigroup), cash has been pouring in from the Middle East as of late. But the expressway of money goes in both directions. Today the Times covered many of the banks setting up shop in Dubai. But loads of other prominent New Yorkers are heading East to take advantage of the petro-dollar gravy train. Here's a look at the growing list of prominent restaurateurs, fashion designers, architects, and real estate developers setting up shop in one of the world's fastest-growing—and richest—regions.

Fashion
You don't have to manufacture diamond-encrusted burkas to get in on petrobillionaires' wives' ravenous appetite for designer duds. New York-based fashion gurus are opening boutiques in Dubai's constantly multiplying high-end malls (places like the famous Mall of the Emirates, which sports the world's largest indoor ski slope). So far Michael Kors and Betsey Johnson have gotten in on the action, there are two Calvin Klein boutiques in the emirate, an outpost of Saks Fifth Avenue recently opened there, and designer Karl Lagerfeld has signed a deal to design 80 limited-edition homes on Isla Moda, the world's "first dedicated fashion island." A Dubai outpost of Barneys seems likely in light of its 2007 takeover by Dubai-based investment firm Isthimar.More