Cityfile: New York's Most Notable and Influential

• Madonna's interest in Alex Rodriguez appears may have waned (she's been spotted with a young Brazilian model in recent weeks), but there's another rich, older, equally Kaballah-obsessed woman happy to take her place. At a New Year's party in Parrot Cay last week, Donna Karan seemed smitten with the slugger, although A-Rod "refused Karan's advances" since he's "still hung up on Madonna." [P6]
• Not only are most people on Mustique happy the Noel family stayed off the island this year, but a bar even created a "No Noel" cocktail to celebrate. [P6]
• Lindsay Lohan says on her MySpace blog that she and Samantha Ronson have not broken up, just in case you've been up all night worrying. [People]
• Officials in the Bahamas have completed an autopsy on John Travolta's son, Jett, and claim the death was caused by a seizure. [CBS, NYP]More

• This will be the bleakest holiday shopping season for retailers in years, but it's not too late to make a bad situation a little bit better. There's still have time to get out there and shop. Do your part and help keep America the consumerist paradise it was designed to be! [AP, WSJ]
• One spot that doesn't appear to be suffering: The Ugg store in Soho. [Racked]
• Kate Moss will appear in an ad campaign for the jewelry brand Fred. [WWD]
• Rock & Republic is planning to launch a new (and cheaper) denim line. [NYM]
• David Chu is parting ways with Tumi. [WWD]
• More job cuts are expected at Liz Claiborne. [WWD]

• Whitney Port explains why she named her new clothing line "Whitney Eve" (it's complicated), and explains why it is that the world really needs another celebrity clothing line. [Nylon]
• The year's best and worst windows, fashion PR stunts, pop-up shops and more. [Racked]
• More on the messy meltdown at Kira Plastinina. [Shophound]
• The recession may be putting a damper on plastic surgery, but injectables like Botox remain as popular as ever. [WSJ]
• It's well worth braving the cold weather and crowds: Panicked retailers "are practically giving the goods away with last-minute sales in a desperate bid to save the so-far-disastrous season from catastrophe." [NYP]More

• That was quick. After making a splashy debut in NYC back in May (and after paying Nicole Richie to come to Moscow two weeks ago), 16-year-old Russian heiress/designer Kira Plastinina now says she plans to close most of her 12 locations in the U.S. [FWD]
• In related news, retail sales in Russia are reportedly down 30 to 40 percent. [WWD]
• Coco Rocha's new look. [Fashionologie]
• More on Betsey Johnson's "smaller, friendlier" plans for Fashion Week. [WSJ]
• Sadly, this week is likely the last for Bill Blass. [NYT]
• Kate Moss has re-signed with Topshop for another three years. [Telegraph]

• Sean Avery may be spending a lot more time in New York in the near future: Hockey's preeminent bad boy has been cut loose by the Dallas Stars just 23 games into a four-year contract. [NYP]
• Jennifer Aniston was supposedly so desperate to have a boyfriend during the promotional tour for Marley & Me that her camp started "shopping for potential dates." [P6]
• David Paterson was not at all pleased with the impression of him on SNL this weekend. [NYP]
• Naomi Watts and Liev Schreiber had a second son on Saturday. [People, E!]More

• Shopping for high-end luxury products during a recession must be done covertly and in private, and must not be discussed with outsiders under any circumstances. [NYT]
• Stefano Gabbana has lots to say about the fashion biz. And seasonal fruit. [WWD]
• Saks is closing 16 of its bridal salons. [WWD]
• It looks like Agyness Deyn has a fresh fur scandal on her hands. [Daily Mail]
• Why did Tara Subkoff celebrate her birthday last night at the Carlyle? "I'm getting a little bit older and figured I needed to start making the shift." [SF]
• Diptyque and amyl nitrite: Kate Moss's winning combo. [ModelsBlog]
• Model Alessandra Ambrosio has launched a YouTube channel. [YouTube]
• Fashion mags: More nudity, less fashion. [R29]
• Two FIT students were busted last night for running a coke ring. [NYP]

• Donny Deutsch has been caught fooling around with a married woman. Or at least that's what hedge fund manager Andrew Sandler claims, who hired a private detective to follow his wife Lisa around and eventually scored pics of the two of them making out. [P6]
• Jennifer Aniston appears naked on the cover of the new GQ, and in the accompanying article she says her relationship with Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie is like an "insane Bermuda Triangle." Meanwhile, Brad admits to the new Rolling Stone that he fell in love with Angie while he was still married to Jen. [NYP, Daily Mail]
• Rachel Zoe's rep says the only reason she's been looking so thin lately is because she "just got over the stomach flu." Right. [OK!]More

♦ Haven't seen Giuseppe Cipriani around town lately? There may be a reason for that: He's believed to be outside the U.S. since he's on probation and because Andrew Cuomo is investigating how the family managed to keep its liquor license earlier this year. [P6]
♦ Angelina Jolie has been undergoing secret fertility treatments in the hopes of becoming pregnant with twins within the next two years. At least that's what Star says. [Star] 
♦ Everyone on Gossip Girl may be hooking up with each other, but at least one relationship isn't going so strong:  Blake Lively was spotted making out with a guy who was not Penn Badgley. [E!, P6]
♦ Leonardo DiCaprio lost his wallet at Rolf's on Third Avenue, and Tom Cruise lost his Blackberry somewhere in Toronto. [P6, P6] More

♦ Either Mariah Carey is pregnant or she's determined to do whatever it takes to stay in the spotlight. The diva was spotted looking "ebullient" on her way out of an OB/GYN's office in LA, where she was greeted by a cheering entourage and seen clutching "what looked like a sonogram." [P6, Mirror]
♦ Kate Moss skipped champagne and wore a loose dress to a Vogue event in China, which means she must be pregnant, too. [The Sun]
♦ In an upcoming issue of O, Oprah says she's "fallen off the wagon" and now weighs 200 lbs. But she blames it on her "out-of-balance thyroid," which gave her "a fear of working out." [AP]
♦ Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich watching soccer at Nevada Smith's in the East Village with girlfriend Dasha Zhukova? We can hardly believe it. [P6]
♦ Steve Schwarzman insisting on remaining centerstage at yesterday's Vanity Fair photo shoot? That sounds likely. [P6]More

♦  Madonna and A-Rod are reportedly shopping for "love nests" on the Upper East Side. They're looking for something between Fifth and Park, from 60th Street through the 80s, in case you have any suggestions. Oh, and they're looking for retreats in Hamptons, too. [P6]
♦  The blame game begins: Ivana's friends say her split with Rossano Rubicondi was his fault because he's been dating a model. Rossano, meanwhile, says Ivana is to blame because she's been dating a model. [R&M]
♦  Robert and Blaine Trump are scheduled to make their first appearance in Manhattan Supreme Court this morning as the couple looks to end their 25-year marriage. Prepare for things to get "exceptionally ugly." [NYP]
♦  Uma Thurman's parents unknowingly hired one of the bookers from Ashley Dupre's escort agency to run their upstate yoga center. [NYP]More

Terrible news for sun-worshippers and tanning salon habitués: Mahogany-hued skin is officially a fashion no-no, so drop that bottle of sunless tanner, pull the blinds down, and be grateful we've brought this breaking news to your attention. Make-up artist Charlotte Tilbury—who confesses to being partially culpable for the bronzed craze after she gave Kate Moss a dark tan for a 2002 Vogue shoot, a look that was replicated in the model's campaigns for Roberto Cavalli (himself a walking cheese doodle) and Louis Vuitton—is deadly serious when she warns: "The backlash is going to be huge." Not convinced? Listen to Simon Doonan, whose word on such matters is not to be trifled with: "What once looked healthy and lush now looks cheesy and has baaad connotations... I associate a tanned look with skin cancer." Say no more, we're canceling our Christmas trip to St. Barts as we type.

♦  Alex Rodriguez won't be eating turkey with his tots. His estranged wife Cynthia says her "6-foot-3, 220-pound soul-less, soon-to-be ex-husband is abandoning his kids on Thanksgiving to be with Madonna." [P6]
♦  Amy Winehouse is back in the hospital after yet another "reaction to a medication." [NYDN]
♦  Ann Coulter broke her jaw. And now her mouth has been wired shut! [P6]
♦  Kate Moss was spotted leaving a party with "some mysterious scratches on her cheek." [Daily Mail]
♦  Fashion designer Stacey Bendet and her husband, the son of former Disney CEO Michael Eisner, had a baby. [P6]More

♦  The Condé Nast memo concerning budget cuts seems to have failed to make its way to W. Last week Kate Moss arrived in NYC to do a shoot, only to discover it had been canceled and no one had bothered to tell her before she left. So, after stopping to smoke a cigarette outside JFK, she hopped back on another first class flight home, at the cost of $12,000 to the magazine. [Mirror]
♦  The latest casualties of the recession: Holly Dunlap, whose shoe line is no more, Fred Leighton jewelry, which might be going into liquidation, and even, maybe, expensive fashion shows. [NYP, WWD, WWD]
♦  Fashionistas in Moscow are coping with the plunge in the market the way any good Russian would: They're drinking lots of vodka. [stylefile] More

As if cokeheads weren't annoying enough with their obnoxious personalities and endless occupation of club bathrooms, now they can consider themselves victims of their DNA, too. A genetic basis for cocaine addiction has been found by German psychopharmacology researchers, who say that a particular gene variant causes an increased likelihood of becoming addicted to the drug. Getting hooked on the white stuff is 70 percent genetic, the study suggests—cheerful news for the likes of Lila Grace Moss. [Guardian]

♦  Kate Moss is joining honorary chair Marc Jacobs as co-chair of the next Costume Institute Gala Benefit at the Met, along with Anna Wintour and Justin Timberlake. [Telegraph]
♦  Jacobs will also be hosting Housing Works Fashion for Action auction on November 13th. And it's not just his karma bank that's overflowing: He just signed a five year deal with Staff International SpA to produce a men's collection. [Fashionista, WWD]
♦  Mark your calendars: On November 25th, Sarah Jessica Parker's familiar voice will be the one you hear when you take the audio tour of the "Costume: The Art of Dress" exhibit at the Costume Institute. [The Pipeline]More