Cityfile: New York's Most Notable and Influential

Fashionistas Are All Foodies at Heart | Why did the Council of Fashion Designers of America just publish a cookbook? Because "food and fashion both start with an 'f,'" explains Diane von Furstenberg, adding that "all designers love to cook," which may very well be true but fails to explain why these designers haven't been sharing their creations with the stick-thin models that appear in their fashion shows up until now. More

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

Fashion's Night Out went down last night. Did you take part in the "largest single shopping event in the city's history" and actually do some shopping? Or did you just marvel at the spectacle of it all: Anna Wintour, Michael Kors, Diane von Furstenberg, and Kate Hudson stepping foot inside a Macy's in Queens; Justin Timberlake greeting fans at Saks; Charlize Theron putting in an appearance at Dior; Oscar de la Renta belting out a few tunes with Sarah Jessica Parker, Barbara Walters and Bette Midler; the Olsen twins bartending at Bergdorf, not far from where Posh Spice was signing t-shirts and Padma Lakshmi was judging a cook-off. (And on and on and on.)

If you missed the big event, you'll have to hope Wintour organizes a repeat performance next year. In the meantime, you'll find recaps of the most elaborate retail pep rally ever here, here, here, and here. Or skip the words and take a gander at a few photos of last night's festivities below.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

Spotted | Steven Spielberg walking in SoHo ... Sarah Jessica Parker leaving her West Village townhouse ... Alec Baldwin filming scenes for 30 Rock at Tao ... Michael Kors walking near Bryant Park ... Hugh Grant having dinner last night at the Standard Grill ... Rihanna eating lunch at Da Silvano with her assistant ... Taylor Momsen hailing a cab with her mom in the West Village ... Blake Lively and Chace Crawford filming scenes for Gossip Girl in the meatpacking district and Hilary Duff exiting her trailer nearby ... Kevin Federline leaving lunch at Cafe Metro with girlfriend Victoria Prince ... Jamie Spears walking in Midtown ... Nia Long talking on her phone outside her hotel ... America Ferrera shooting scenes for Ugly Betty in Times Square ... and Courtney Love shopping with a friend in SoHo.

• Marc Jacobs' wedding to Lorenzo Martone, which the designer says will happen "soon," is going to have a ridiculously exclusive guest list. Not a single friend or family member will be getting an invite, since it's just going to be the two of them. [Cut]
• Project Runway finally returns to the air on Thursday evening. So will the Lifetime iteration be the same show you remember from its run on Bravo? Not so much, it seems. [NYDN]
• Meanwhile, Nina Garcia will be making an appearance this fall on the new CW series, The Beautiful Life. [FWD]
• The website and schedule for Fashion's Night Out is now online. The retail pep rally, which goes down on Sept. 10, will include Anna Wintour and Michael Kors signing t-shirts at a Macy's in Queens, believe it or not. More

Michael Kors: Tan and Proud | From George Wayne's chat with Michael Kors in the new issue of Vanity Fair:

Wayne: G.W. will go there and declare that the next Kors accessory ought to be called Michael Kors L'Orangerie Tanning Butter.
Kors: Now that Valentino has retired, I believe someone must wave the too tanned flag.

Happy Birthday | Twins Charlotte and Samantha Ronson turn 32 today. David Duchovny is turning 49. Charlize Theron is 34. Author and radio personality Garrison Keillor is 67. Conservative political commentator Alan Keyes turns 59. Wayne Knight, the actor best known for playing Newman on Seinfeld, is turning 54. And Jimmy Wales, the co-founder of Wikipedia, is 43 today—at least according to his Wikipedia page. A handful of weekend birthdays—including that of Michael Kors, Chris Cuomo and Dustin Hoffman—follow below.More

• Not to be outdone by Gwyneth Paltrow and her GOOP newsletter, Rachel Zoe is launching a lifestyle e-newsletter of her own tomorrow. [RachelZoe.com]
• Is Kanye West designing a line for the Gap? That's the rumor. [Cut]
• Thom Browne has had a rough time recently, but it looks like that may be all behind him. Japan's Cross Company has taken a stake in his company and plans to help him expand. [Style.com]
• It looks like the fashion set will be dividing its time between the tents in Bryant Park and Milk Studios this coming Fashion Week. [Fashionologie, FWD]
• Gisele Bundchen is lending her voice to a new children's cartoon. She'll play Gigi, "a supermodel by day, environmental superhero by night." [Elle]
• Ready for retailers to start Christmas promotions? No? Too bad! [WSJ]
• Related: Retailers have gone discount-crazy, as you may have noticed. [NYT] More

• Michelle Obama wore a magenta Michael Kors dress to the White House Correspondents' dinner on Saturday, in case you were curious. Even more exciting: Donatella Versace penned her first blog post from the event. [WWD, NYM, HuffPo]
• Rachel Zoe has a line of accessories for QVC that will debut this fall. [WWD]
• Carine Roitfeld is not a nymphomaniac, nor does she insist on weighing the staff of French Vogue daily, you'll be relieved to hear. [Fashionologie]
• Abercrombie & Fitch is opening another store on Fifth. The retailer is taking over Hickey Freeman's flagship to open a kids store. [Racked]More

Unless you've been sequestered at a religious retreat/padded cell/otherwise media-free zone for the past month, you'll know that The Fashion Show, Bravo's knockoff of Lifetime-bound Project Runway, is debuting next week. And like a replacement child born after the tragic loss of its sibling, Bravo's new baby will struggle to escape comparisons to its beloved predecessor, especially since it's been molded so faithfully in the other's image. More

If you had any doubt that style, and indeed gayness, is genetic, listen to Michael Kors: His first commission was designing his mom Joan's wedding dress for her second marriage when, as he reveals in an interview, he was five years old. It was definitely in the blood: Even though the "Swedish Lutherian" side of his family "couldn't have given a fig about fashion," the Jewish side "loooved it. My grandfather's idea of a really great afternoon out was being fitted for a suit." More

The Savannah College of Art and Design held its Style Etoile Awards at the James Cohan Gallery on Monday night. The evening's honorees included Russell Simmons, Amanda Burden, Cornelia Guest, Robin Givhan, and William Ivey Long (left), and attendees at the event included Cynthia Rowley, Agnes Gund, Michael Fink, Yigal Azrouël, Mario Buatta, Bobby Zarem, music exec Michael Mauldin and his wife Judy, producer Tom Fontana, SCAD president Paula Wallace, Ann Slater, designer Lars Nilsson, and Russell's brother and girlfriend—Danny Simmons and Julie Henderson. [PMc, Wireimage, WWD, NYSD] More

• Pamela Anderson hit the catwalk at Vivienne Westwood's show in Paris today. Her boob popped out of her dress at the very end, which was totally an accident, you can rest assured. [SW, HP]
• Reports from various shows at Paris Fashion Week. [WSJ, NYM, T, Telegraph] 
• You can credit/blame Barack Obama's inauguration in January for the recent resurgence in fur. [WSJ]
• Michelle Obama is wearing Michael Kors for her new O cover. [Fashionista]
• Ikram Goldman, Michelle's fashion guru, is in Paris for the shows. [FWD]
• Madonna is teaming up with Ed Hardy on a new clothing line. [Mirror]
• What's it like to be Bernard Arnault, France's richest man and "arguably the most influential tastemaker in the world of luxury"? Quite nice, actually. [WSJ]
• Try not to fall out of your chair—we'd hate you to get hurt—but Esquire has named Prince Charles the "best dressed man in the world." [Guardian]

• No one seems to know why, but a model at the Jill Sander show in Milan appeared on the runway with tears streaming down her cheeks. A new trend? An allergic reaction of some sort? A reaction to the stress and anxiety hanging over the industry? You decide. [WSJ]
• Reviews and recaps of the recent runway shows in Milan. [NYT, IHT, Times UK]
• Barneys' makeup department seems to be holding up despite the recession. [NYT]
• The appointment of Dasha Zhukova as editor-in-chief of Pop is ruffling some feathers, not surprisingly. [Fashionologie]
• Michelle Obama went with Michael Kors for her official portrait. [WWD]
• A roundup of 10 trends from London Fashion Week. [Pipeline]
• The French magazine Femmes is relaunching and the new issue is devoted exclusively to Lydia Hearst, you'll be thrilled to hear. [Fashionista]