Cityfile: New York's Most Notable and Influential

Who's benefiting from the collapse of the economy besides vulture investors, short sellers and bargain-hunting fashionistas? Blondes! Or, more specifically, blue-eyed blonde models, who are experiencing a renaissance now that designers are casting "wholesome-looking girls with flaxen manes" in their ads in an effort to "reassure" rather than "shock" the consumer.More

Filmmaker and Transcendental Meditation enthusiast David Lynch brought Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr together for the first time in years as part of the Change Begins Within benefit at Radio City Music Hall on Saturday night. A slew of celebrity performers and guests were on hand for the occasion, including Sheryl Crow, Laura Dern, and Ben Harper (with Ringo, left), as well as Jerry Seinfeld, Yoko Ono, John McEnroe, Martin Scorsese, Howard Stern and Beth Ostrosky, Matthew Broderick, Moby, Jennifer Aniston, Desiree Gruber and Kyle MacLachlan, Isabella Rossellini, David Arquette, Michael J. Fox, Robin Quivers, Eddie Vedder, Jason Bateman, Barbara Bach, Bettye LaVette, and Mike Love. [Wireimage, Getty, VF, NYO] More

Giorgio Armani celebrated the opening of his new Fifth Avenue flagship last night with a party at the store. The designer was accompanied by his niece Roberta Armani; guests on hand included Leonardo DiCaprio (left), Carine Roitfeld, Victoria Beckham, Martin Scorsese, Michael Bloomberg, Caroline Kennedy, Joel Klein, Cindi Leive, Fern Mallis, Andre Leon Talley, Ricky Martin, Rachel Zoe, Nina Garcia, John Mayer, Mario Testino,  Josh Hartnett, Liam Neeson, Richard Meier, Alicia Keys, Chace Crawford, Milla Jovovich, Thom Browne, Kevin Liles, Molly Sims, Mira Sorvino and Christopher Backus, Sally Singer, David Hershkovits, Jim Moore, Hal Rubenstein, Patrick McCarthy, Emile Hirsch, Natalia Vodianova, Zani Gugelmann, Kate Lanphear, Horacio Silva, January Jones, Elsa Pataky, Zoe Saldana, Solange Knowles, Marcus Schenkenberg, and Olivia Palermo. [PMc, Wireimage, Vogue UK, FWD, NYM]More

Happy Birthday | Keith Olbermann turns 50 today. Designer Narciso Rodriguez is celebrating his 48th. Actor Alan Cumming is turning 44. Mikhail Baryshnikov is 61. Hedge fund mogul Dan Och turns 48. Model Lily Donaldson is turning 21. Tom Cruise's first wife, actress Mimi Rogers, turns 53. Actor James Cromwell turns 69. Tricky is 41. The rapper Lil Jon is 38. Bridget Fonda is 45. And Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, who so spectacularly mangled Barack Obama's oath of office a week ago, turns 54 today.

• A new shade of lipstick created in honor of Michelle Obama is a "shimmery bronze that works with many skin tones." Alas, "adorable daughters and hot, incredible husband not included." [Nylon]
• Burberry's spring ad campaign features an all-Brit cast including Lily Donaldson. [Vogue UK] 
• Is ID Models finished? [Fashionista]
• The new Kelly Cutrone reality show will track her as she "tries to get clients into top-tier publications," makes phone calls, and books photo shoots. [NYM]
• More details on that cap André Leon Talley's been wearing: He purchased it from a man selling stuff off the back of a truck who was "wearing a peacoat embellished with no less than a diamanteé Obama silhouette." [stylefile]
• Photos of some of the YSL items going up for auction early next year. [VF]

♦  Barneys unveiled its '60s-themed holiday windows this morning, which Simon Doonan was quick to point out only borrow from "the cheery, upbeat aspects of the '60s! No overdoses, assassinations." [NYO]
♦  Downtown is being totally discriminated against by H&M: Only four stores are getting the Comme des Garçons line tomorrow: 51st and Fifth, 59th and Lex, 34th and Broadway, and 34th and Seventh. [Racked]More

♦  At yesterday's Fashion Group International panel on fashion retail, Simon Doonan chatted with Sally Singer, Bloomingdale's fashion director Stephanie Solomon, and InStyle's beauty director Amy Synnott about the pervasive doom and gloom in the retail industry. Doonan's take: "It's really terrifying. But I think my job is to sustain the idea that fashion is exciting and glamorous. We really need to do our best even if sales are plunging." [WWD]
♦  When deciding who should front its next campaign, did Louis Vuitton go for someone fresh, edgy, and exciting? Nope, it's supposedly Madonna. [stylefile]
♦  Because now every article on Michelle Obama's person must be identified, priced, and judged: She wore Maria Pinto to the White House, and those dangly earrings she wore on election night? White gold with diamonds, priced at $11,000, and designed by Loree Rodkin. [WSJ, The Cut]More

♦  Will The Rachel Zoe Project live to see a second season? Zoe doesn't know, but she hopes so. [The Cut]
♦  Charlotte Ronson is replacing Cory Kennedy as the face of Sebastian haircare. [Nylon]
♦  Charlotte was at Henri Bendel last night to help her future sister-in-law, Lindsay Lohan, celebrate the launch of her leggings line, 6126. [Marie Claire UK]
♦  Tory Burch's website is about to relaunch with content based "on her personal choices, from travel to entertaining to beauty." [WWD]More

• Amanda Beard denies she's dating Michael Phelps because that would be "nasty." Michael, however, isn't commenting on whether or not he's dating Lily Donaldson, or anyone else. [NYP] 
• Jennifer Aniston's agents have been calling around LA trying to find men to take her out. [R&M]
• Britney Spears feels super healthy thanks to a new diet that prohibits (among other things) any fruit. [OK!] 
• Angelina Jolie's dad, Jon Voight, has responded to Roseanne Barr's blog post about his daughter and Brad Pitt, calling the comedienne "sick of mind." [ExtraTV]

East Village residents could be in for a pleasant surprise when they see 6'4" Olympian golden boy Michael Phelps walking down the street in a few weeks. That is, if the rumors that he's dating British model Lily Donaldson (and not Amanda Beard, whom he's also been linked to) are true. Donaldson spends most of her time in New York these days: Back in May, she bought a two-bedroom pad on Avenue B for $2.2 million. For his part, Phelps has already said he plans to take a few months off from swimming now that he's done with the Olympics. What else is he going to do if not hang out with his supermodel girlfriend, who just happens to have a lovely new love nest? One (much less alluring) bonus: Lily is just a few blocks from the crummy public pool at the Hamilton Fish Recreation Center on East Houston Street.

• The Gap is continuing its practice of using of-the-moment fashion figures in ads: The fall campaign includes Julia Restoin Roitfeld, Georgina Chapman, and Ryan McGinley alongside actual mannequins like Chanel Iman and Lily Donaldson. [Fashionologie]
• Ralph Lauren came out on top of WWD's list of the highest-paid fashion retailers. He took home $34.2 million this past fiscal year, which was no doubt happy news to the ex-Polo employees suing the company for gouging them on pay. [WWD]
• Were you planning to stock up on satin frocks and pantsuits at Gianfranco Ferre this weekend? Too late: The Madison Avenue flagship just closed. [WWD]

• Lily Donaldson, the 21-year-old Vogue cover girl, plunked down $2.2 million on an apartment on Avenue B. Perhaps not coincidentally, she now has about six bars in a three-block radius. [Observer]
• View hostess Joy Behar paid $2.555 million for an apartment in the building she already occupies on 89th and Broadway. [Observer]
• Boyish model Agyness Deyn picked up a loft in Williamsburg. Or so says noted real estate expert Perez Hilton. [Perez Hilton]
• Michael Bloomberg transferred his Upper East Side home to a private trust in his name. Why? "Estate planning purposes," naturally. He also owns two $40 million townhouses on East 78th Street and a $41 million building on Madison Ave. that will serve as the HQ for his foundation. [Real Deal]
• Fashion tycoon Domenico Dolce is buying a 3,800-square-foot duplex apartment at the Annabelle Selldorf-designed 200 11th Ave. for $17.5 million. Now he can travel up to his apartment with his car in tow! Dolly Lenz brokered the deal. [NY Post]