Cityfile: New York's Most Notable and Influential

• London Fashion Week kicked into high gear over the weekend. Given LFW is celebrating its 25th anniversary and a handful of designers who have been absent in recent years have returned, it's shaping up to be London's biggest year yet. Further proof of LFW's resurgence: Vogue editrix Anna Wintour (seen here fumbling with her BlackBerry) is attending the shows following a two-year hiatus. [Telegraph, LAT, NYT, Guardian]
• While many top NY-based fashion editors are turning up to the shows in London, many mags are saving cash by divvying up editors between the shows in London, Milan, and Paris. Or by making them stay at cheaper hotels. [WWD]
• More highlights and reviews from LFW's first few days. [NYT, NYT, Pipeline] More

You'll find a recap of the last day of New York Fashion Week after the jump.More

Douglas Hannant previewed his spring collection in the Terrace Room of the Plaza on Monday night, which is located just upstairs from the designer's brand new, Geoffrey Bradfield-designed boutique. Given Hannant's popularity with the Upper East Side moneyed set, a long list of society fixtures turned up to pay tribute to Hannant, including Tinsley Mortimer, Cece Cord, Bettina Zilkha, Jennifer Creel, Annie Churchill, Alexandra Lebenthal, Gillian Hearst, and Valesca Guerrand-Hermès. Roving party reporter Douglas Marshall caught up with Beverly Johnson, legendary model and the first African-African woman to appear on the cover of Vogue, to ask her about the modeling biz today and Tyra Banks. More

You'll find a recap of the last 24 hours or so of Fashion Week after the jump.More

Ashley Dupre Does Fashion Week, Switches Sides | At Fashion Week back in February, Ashley Dupre sat in the front row at Yigal Azrouel's show. He didn't want her back this time around. But she made other arrangements to make sure she gets noticed this Fashion Week. She's now modeling, apparently. Dupre walked the runway for designer Bahar Shahpar's "eco-friendly" line yesterday afternoon. And whatever self-image issues she has (and she has many), set the girl down in the dysfunctional world of fashion and she manages to come off as healthy: "It was nice to see a model with a slightly more normal, a.k.a. curvy, body type." [Ecouterre via Gawker]

You'll find a recap of the last 24 hours or so of Fashion Week after the jump.More

Dani Stahl Will Take the Stairs, Thank You | Stacey Bendet showed off her Alice + Olivia collection for Spring 2010 on Saturday evening in a raw gallery space in the meatpacking district. (How raw? So raw that wooden boards had to be placed over the metal grates on the floors so that a socialite or celeb in 7-inch heels wouldn't be maimed at the show.) The all-female French rock band Plastiscines performed; the crowd included the likes of Lindsay Lohan, Jared Leto, Nicky Hilton, Mena Suvari, Shenae Grimes, Kristin Cavallari, AnnaLynne McCord, and Tinsley Mortimer. Party-hopping reporter Douglas Marshall struck up a conversation with Nylon style director and girl-about-town Dani Stahl, Nylon publisher Jaclynn Jarrett, and Eleanor Ylvisaker, a co-founder of Earnest Sewn and the denim brand's former PR queen.  More

Below: A recap of what you've missed at Fashion Week the past couple of days.More

Fashion Week heaps tons of attention on designers (who design the clothes), editors (who ostensibly review them), and the actresses and socialites who attend the shows (and serve as front row decoration). One group that gets precious little attention during the industry's biggest event of the year: the photographers who document it all and take the millions of photos that circulate around the world. They're often ill-tempered, unkempt, and pushy, sure. But you probably would be, too, if you had to crouch down all day next to 300 of your peers and snap picture after picture of a never-ending stream of stick-thin models. Another pic of these unsung heroes of Fashion Week below. More

Ali Wise Returns to Fashion Week | Ali Wise, the socialite/ex-Dolce & Gabanna publicist accused of hacking into the voicemail of interior designer Nina Freudenberger, hasn't been completely MIA since her arrest back in July. But she has been keeping a lower profile in recent weeks, supposedly because she's been looking to "protect her supportive parents from public humiliation," according to Page Six magazine. She made an exception on Friday, though, when she turned up at the Fashion Week show of her good friend Charlotte Ronson hidden behind dark sunglasses. (Somewhat ironically, she held up a copy of The Daily with the headline "How You Cope!" for a passing photographer.) A couple of photos of Wise's return to Fashion Week below:More

Below: A recap of Fashion's Night Out and the first two days of Fashion Week.More

Lizzie Grubman appears to have landed a hot new PR client: Vince Shlomi, the man better known as Vince the ShamWow guy (and someone who, like Lizzie, has faced his share of high-profile legal trouble in the past: As you may recall, Vince was arrested earlier this year for beating up a hooker in a Miami hotel room.) Over the summer, Shlomi said he was planning to branch out with a swimwear line, which probably explains why he attended Fashion Week shows both yesterday and today accompanied by Grubman (and managed to leer at the models on the runway both times). But if anyone can redeem the dishrag/blender huckster and ex-Scientologist and turn him into a hot ticket on fashion scene, it's probably Grubman! A couple of additional photos of Lizzie and her new BFF (and a special bonus!) below. More

A few more photos from the first day of Fashion Week are below.
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• Is Barneys headed for bankruptcy? Once again, some are suggesting the retailer may go bust, or at least be forced to partner with another company. And once again, Barneys' owner, Dubai-based Istithmar, is reiterating that it remains "fully committed" to the chain. [BN, AP]
• Every other celebrity has a clothing line. Now news personalities are getting in on the action: Al Roker is reportedly in talks with Weatherproof to start up a line of "rain jackets, coats, footwear and cold weather accessories." [WWD]
• A PR agency staffer is accused of ripping off nearly $100K in jewelry. [NYP]More

• Some luxury fashion companies think (or are hoping, at least) that the recession has "bottomed out," and the tide is "slowly turning." Let's hope so! [WWD]
• Related: Saks is hoping to now "wean wealthy customers from discounts" and "re-educate" them to pay full-price again. Good luck! [NYP]
• How are fashion mags hoping to remain relevant during the turbulent times? By hitching their titles to TV shows, naturally. Not that the strategy always pays off as editors might have hoped, as Elle (Stylista) and Marie Claire (Running in Heels) have discovered. [AdWeek]
• Homelessness is now "having a fashion moment." Make a note of it. [Cut]More