Cityfile: New York's Most Notable and Influential

♦  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

Although the fortunes of Russian oligarchs have shrunk a tad in the past few weeks— the richest of them all, scandal-hit Oleg Deripaska, may be forced to give up a stake in his mining empire if he doesn't come up with $2 billion in the next few days—that's no reason to stop lavishing attention on the new breed of Russian it-girls or "tusovshchitsa." The London Times brings us up to speed on the women who have taken full advantage of their country's sudden wealth to step into the limelight, and who are unlikely to want to relinquish it just because there are slightly fewer billions floating around.More

And Then They Came for the Oligarchs | Experts believe that Vladimir Putin may use the credit crisis to "destroy" Russia's oligarchs once and for all. Uh oh! Who's going to buy all our overpriced real estate now? [Bloomberg]

You may have heard about Russian mogul Valery Kogan and his wife Olga when they purchased a mansion in Greenwich for $18.5 million and then applied for permission to raze the house to build their 27,000-square-foot "dream home." In May Greenwich's planning commission denied the Kogans a permit following complaints from residents, who voiced concern that the mammoth manse would—gasp!—dwarf their own mansions and be a "vulgar" addition to the neighborhood. But Valery and Olga haven't given up on the dream. They resubmitted plans for a scaled-down version of the home just last week. And what exactly does "scaled-back" mean in rich Russian-speak? The new plan features 25 percent less square footage and just 15 bathrooms, down from the 26 they initially proposed. Alas, the revised application does not indicate if some of the other amenities they said they planned to install—like Turkish and Finnish bathing facilities and a "dog grooming room"—made the final cut.

Art Review has issued its "Power 100" list of the industry's most influential figures, and manages to make it semi-relevant in these troubled economic times: Erstwhile major art sponsors UBS and Deutsche Bank are conspicuous in their absence, and the list's compilers say that the murky economic climate has made established artists more desirable to big-name collectors. As a result, Damien Hirst is number one—the only other artist in the top ten, Jasper Johns, is number nine—followed by Larry Gagosian and the MOMA's new associate director Kathy Halbreich. More

♦  Citigroup dropped efforts to block a deal between Wachovia and Wells Fargo yesterday afternoon; it will, however, continue to press ahead with its $60 billion lawsuit. [NYT, WSJ]
♦  Morgan Stanley CEO John Mack is back on the defensive today after the bank's shares dropped nearly 26 percent yesterday to $12.45, the lowest closing price in a decade. [DB, WSJ]
♦  Barclays, which acquired the assets of Lehman Brothers last month, now plans to cut another 3,000 jobs. [Fortune] More

You'd think that a Russian billionaire could do pretty much whatever he wants regardless of the current state of economy, right? Not so much, says Roman Abramovich, who has postponed his wedding to Dasha Zhukova—patron of arts and soul of discretion—because of the financial crisis. The 41-year-old Russian mogul, who came in at No. 15 on Forbes' list of the world's richest earlier this year, was due to tie the knot with 26-year-old Dasha this month. Now he's reportedly told her that, "Now is not the time to party." Not that we would ever suggest that Roman's decision was based on anything other than a well-developed sense of restraint and a need to keep a close eye on his global business interests, but he's provided a handy excuse for much poorer commitment-phobes!

Russians Keeping Larry Gagosian in Business | Wall Street's masters of the universe may be fixated on a government bailout/handout, but Russian oligarchs have picked up their slack in buying up the world's priciest houses, dating supermodels and amassing all the Faberge eggs and Damien Hirsts the global art market can offer. The director of London's Gagosian Gallery says that buyers from Russia and the former Soviet Union now make up nearly half of Gagosian's total sales worldwide. Maybe it's time for Larry to start brushing up on his Russian? [Bloomberg]

The art world was all aflutter last night when its newest patron Dasha Zhukova, the comely and unloquacious consort of Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, opened the Garage, her Moscow exhibition space in an 8,500-square-foot former bus shelter just outside the city center. Ever discreet, she wouldn't reveal how much it had cost to bring the gallery to life, although, reports Reuters: "When asked if he had sponsored Garage, Abramovich broadly smiled, smoothed out his blue suit, but did not answer." We're going to take that as a yes! Meanwhile, a Guardian journalist ever so tentatively says to Zhukova: "Could I be so bold, perhaps, as to ask if Mr. Abramovich was supportive of your idea?"  To which her cool (but podcasted!) response is "I don't comment about Mr. Abramovich." Oh, Dasha, such gallant protectiveness only makes us more curious!

Russian Magazine's Title Only Slightly Tongue-in-Cheek | Russians are "not afraid" to call themselves snobs, says the spokewoman for a new magazine called, yes, Snob. Slated to debut next month and backed by playboy oligarch Mikhail Prokhorov (left), it's aimed at well-to-do, educated Russians, including those in New York, London and Paris, who, we're guessing, will be thrilled by the prospect of getting their fix of Dasha Zhukova news in actual Russian. [Independent]

Have you heard of Marina Deripaska and her older brother Pyotr? Probably not, since they're only five and seven years old, but rest assured we'll be hearing a lot more about them in the future considering they stand to inherit $20 billion each from their father Oleg, an aluminium magnate who is currently the richest man in Russia. Other miniature megabuckses listed on a magazine's "minigarch" league table include, naturally, Roman Abramovich's children by his second wife Irina. But because there are five of them, they'll have to somehow scrape by on an inheritance of barely a billion each, unless Roman gets his act together and makes some more money.More

It isn't always easy being a billionaire. Especially if you happen to be Russian. Sure, you've got plenty of cash and you can afford spectacular estates in the South of France. But then some snooty maitre d' refuses to give you a table at a restaurant and your vacation is ruined! Yes, it seems the outrageous ostentatiousness of these mega-rich Russian invaders has rankled locals in Italy and France and they're showing their disdain the best way they know how: by denying them entrance to bars and restaurants.More

Take a gander at the most expensive residential real estate purchase in history. An unnamed Russian billionaire is paying $748 million for Villa Leopolda on the French Riviera, acquiring the property from Lily Safra, the widow of Edmond Safra. What do you get for all that cash? In addition to everything else, you inherit a staff of 50 full-time gardeners. [NYP]

This isn't shaping up to be an especially good year for New York's ultra-rich. According to Forbes, Moscow recently overtook NYC as the city with the most billionaires per square mile: Moscow had 74 people worth ten figures compared to New York, which had just 71. But those smarmy bazillionaires aren't staying put in Moscow or even in the de-facto Russian mogul ghetto of London. Many of them are spending time right here in New York: Real estate, oil, and metals scions from Russia and other former Soviet republics have been busy snatching up some of the most expensive apartments the city has to offer. Last month, a 42-year-old fertilizer kingpin named Dmitry Rybolovlev agreed to pay $100 million for Donald Trump's Palm Beach mansion, Maison de l'Amitié. The 59th richest man in the world, worth some $12.8 billion, his purchase includes a 33,000-square-foot home and 6.5 acres of land. But he isn't the only one. After the jump, a list of the novi Russki who spend time in New York—just who these Soviet oligarchs are, how they made their money, and what exactly they're up to in town.More