Cityfile: New York's Most Notable and Influential

The few dozen people who still read print magazines will have noticed that the January glossies are more anorexically skinny than ever before. Elle is no exception, so it's no wonder that the mag is determined to pin its fortunes on a medium that remains relevant: TV. But since Joe Zee and Anne Slowey's uninspired (and lightly-viewed) Stylista has officially failed to make up for Elle's loss of Project Runway, Hollywood powerhouse agency CAA has just been tasked with finding new shows for Elle. So if you've got a concept that's brilliantly novel but still involves the humiliation of striving wannabes, elimination rounds featuring dramatic pauses/clunky music, and plenty of tears and tantrums, you now know where to pitch.

♦  If you have the nerve to approach Anna Wintour at a public event and ask her an uncomfortable question, don't be the least bit surprised if tells you to get lost. [The Cut]
♦  Madonna's latest fashion faux-pas? A green Louis Vuitton dress by Marc Jacobs, which "looks as if someone poured a wheelbarrow of lawn clippings all over her," bitches fashion critic Hilary Alexander. "Just another horrific hiccup in the wardrobe of a woman of wealth, but no taste." [Telegraph]
♦  Karolina Kurkova is the world's sexiest woman, according to E!, belly button or no belly button. [Reuters]
♦  Yes, it's 30 degrees outside, so why not distract yourself by watching footage of Brazil's Clara Rio Summer event, including Natalia Vodianova and Byrdie Bell showing off on the dance floor? [Vogue UK]More

♦  The Times has the skinny on "Martin Eisenstadt," the supposed McCain consultant who leaked info to the press. (He's an aspiring filmmaker, not surprisingly.) In the meantime, MSNBC's retracted its story. [NYT, AP]
♦  You might be enjoying CW's Stylista, but the ratings thus far haven't been especially encouraging. [NYO]
♦  Two new cast members, Michaela Watkins and Abby Elliott, will join Saturday Night Live beginning this weekend. [NYT]
♦  Showtime is developing an hour-long show by Stan Lee about a gay superhero. [Variety] More

Anne Slowey Likes a Party | More confirmation that reality TV's latest star, Stylista's Anne Slowey, is not really the queen of mean she plays on camera: The Transom meets her at the show's premiere and reports that she's "nothing like the icy, stern fashion editor mimicking Meryl Streep mimicking Anna Wintour whom we saw in the previews for the show." And contestant William Buckley reveals: "Anne can party, can party harder than anyone. Trust me, I've seen it. She can drink me under the table." [NYO]

Stylista debuts tonight, and all the mildly-enthusiastic reviews reveal something more important than whether or not the show is actually worth watching: Apparently, we live in a world so ironic, where the line between reality and fiction has been trampled on to such an extent, that we can't even watch a woman pretend to do her job and dole out abuse to eager victims on a set created to resemble an office without suspending our disbelief for one second. Stylista's star, Elle's fashion news director Anne Slowey, is playing a part, you see, and although she's playing it quite well, that won't stop everyone from pointing out that she's doing Meryl Streep doing Anna Wintour:  More

♦  Last night Jessica Stam hosted an impossibly chic soiree in Paris, which was attended by Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen, Emma Watson, Leigh Lezark, Lauren Santo Domingo, Kate Bosworth, Lazaro Hernandez, Tinsley Mortimer, Alexander Wang, and Ryan McGinley. [stylefile]
♦  Stylista has released a preview, and the most interesting details are: They've cast a fat girl for dramatic tension, and Anne Slowey, for all her Ice Queen imperiousness, can't walk in her four inch heels. Oh, and it looks like Joe Zee's going to be a big bitch to the contestants. [Jezebel]
♦  What does the fashion world think of Sarah Palin's outfit choices? It's a chorus of "no comment," except for Simon Doonan, who offers some advice: "Nothing she wears will cause anyone to budge, so she might as well enjoy her clothes and go for a little flamboyance. I'm seeing a little Jackie Rogers, a little vintage Mackie." [WWD] More

♦  Milan Fashion Week's climax was yesterday's Dolce and Gabbana show attended by Jennifer Lopez, Dita Von Teese, Petra Nemcova, Eva Herzigova, Claudia Schiffer, and Naomi Campbell, who relapsed slightly from her recent all sweetness to yell at paparazzi: "Leave me alone!" [WWD]
♦  Norma Kamali has designed a collection for Wal-Mart: Nothing will be more than $20 and you can catch an early look at the T-shirts, dresses and skirts at Kamali's West 56th Street store. [NYDN]
♦  The CW has released contestants' bios in advance of the October debut of Stylista. One lucky winner will get an apartment, an editorial job at Elle, and a clothing allowance at H&M. A lifetime of therapy to get over the public humilation? Not provided. [The Cut]More

Not that fashion magazine jobs have traditionally attracted shy, retiring types but if you're going to work at a glossy, you should probably bear in mind that it means signing up to be on TV. Since Elle's massively successful collaboration with Project Runway—which saw both circulation and ad sales leap—other publications are viewing TV-tie-ins as integral to future success, reports AdAge. As well as Elle's new show Stylista, next March will bring Running In Heels, a show about the "inner workings" of Marie Claire featuring Nina Garcia. As long they uphold the high standard of no-holds-barred realism set by Whitney and Lauren in the Teen Vogue closet, they're sure to have a hit.

• Judith Regan has been slapped with a suit by the law firm that repped her in her spat with News Corp. [NYDN]
• Days after Viacom launched its own celebrity gossip site, the AP has announced plans to start celebrity news service, too. [E&P]
  
• Shepard Smith has slipped up again, this time uttering the word "cunt" on live TV. [Jossip]
• L'Oréal is sticking to their story and denying that they lightened Beyonce's skin in their magazine ads. [E!]
• TREsemmé is ditching its Project Runway sponsorship once the show heads to Lifetime. They'll sponsor the new CW show, Stylista, instead. [Advertising Age]
• Real estate titan Doug Durst's family saga—his brother, Robert Durst, was accused of three murders over the years—is being made into a movie with Kirsten Dunst and Ryan Gosling called All Good Things. [NYO]

• The fact that Marc Jacobs is "brazenly gay, has a messy love life and can’t stop posing half-naked in front of people" means that a branch of his store is a perfect fit for Provincetown, Mass, says Mike Albo. [NYT]
• Heatherette designer Richie Rich's date for the Ed Hardy show in Miami was Madonna's narrowly-escaped baby daddy Dennis Rodman, who "winced" when one of her songs came on. [The Awful Truth]
• Elle creative director Joe Zee (left), who'll be dashing dreams this fall as a judge on Stylista, says he doesn't care for pushy, entitled interns who announce which celebrity shoots they want to work on. He also confirms—big surprise!—that he hasn't spoken to Nina Garcia since she left. [MediaBistro]

• Tom Ford may or may not adopt a child, but if he decides to do so, he says that the unwashed public will never gaze upon the lucky creature. "No one will see the child and the child won’t be photographed." [FWD]
• Regarding the firing of Marco Zanini from Halston, Cathy Horyn says what everyone else is thinking: "Is it entirely inconceivable that Georgina Chapman, from Marchesa and the wife of Harvey Weinstein, might be the next designer of Halston?" [On the Runway]
• Just in case you had doubts, Anne Slowey, Elle's fashion news director and one of the stars of Stylista, is human! "On the weekends I wear flip-flops and jeans and T-shirts like everyone else." [Broadcasting & Cable via The Cut]
• Behold the stylist who manages to achieve more fame than the stylistee: When America Ferrera and Pat Field meet in the street, "a pair of tourists descends upon Field, asking for her autograph, oblivious to the other pop culture phenomenon in their midst." [BlackBook]
• Diesel has acquired Viktor & Rolf. [WWD]