Cityfile: New York's Most Notable and Influential

• The Carolina Herrera dress that Anna Wintour wore on Dave Letterman's show this week? She wore it to the CFDA Awards back in June. Uh oh! [Stylelist]
• Zac Posen is the latest designer to bid goodbye to Bryant Park this Fashion Week. He'll be staging his show at The Altman Building instead. [WWD]
• Another good thing about the recession: There are fewer crappy catalogs getting stuffed in your mailbox. [AP]
• The September Issue doesn't open in theaters until Friday, but it seems some people (above) are already sick of all the publicity. [NYShitty]More

• Vanity Fair's rather dubious "International Best-Dressed List" is now online. Take a few minutes to browse through the slideshow to see the obvious picks, close personal friends of Graydon Carter, Condé Nast employees, precious Vanity Fair advertisers, as well as a few exciting new entrants such as Michael Bloomberg, who, as you can see above, always dresses to impress. [VF]More

• Coco Rocha may have only been "observing" at Vogue a few weeks ago, but Chanel Iman says she actually spent past of last week interning at Teen Vogue. [Fashionologie, Grazia]
• Is the Costume Institute Gala planning a new approach next year? Some insiders tell the Daily it will be a "much less splashy affair" the next time around, with more benefactors in attendance and fewer models and celebrities. [FWD]
• A couple of weeks ago, it seemed Esteban Cortazar had decided to split with Emanuel Ungaro. Now it looks like he's staying put. For the moment, at least. [WWD, Cut]
• An interview with Stacey Bendet, whose alice + olivia line now rakes in more $50 million a year, she says. [ObsessedTV] More

• Topshop is offering free bike rentals beginning this Saturday, strangely. [SF]
• Jimmy Choo is the latest brand to climb into bed with H&M. [WWD, SW]
• Helena Christensen is designing a linens line, apparently. [Cut]
• Sophia Kokosalaki is taking over Diesel's Black Gold line. [Vogue UK]
• Is Vera Wang really going to be on Dancing With the Stars? Maybe! [Cut]
• Simon Doonan on the state of things: "Fashion is currently going through a John the Baptist hair-shirt kind of period. Self-indulgence has been replaced by self-flagellation. All I can say is, 'Stop it, girls! Stop it before it's too late.'" [NYO]

Things to Be Thankful For: Tourists in Midtown | And you thought Manhattan's retail market was struggling. Fifth Avenue in the 50s is doing just fine thanks to tourists with foreign currency to blow on discounted American goods. The former Brooks Brothers store at 666 Fifth Avenue is now up for grabs and five major chains are currently vying to take over the space (which costs $30 million a year to rent): Uniqlo, Topshop, Zara, Century 21, and Forever 21. So instead of sneering at the next camera-toting German couple who bumps into you on Fifth, thank them for their patronage and move along, okay? [NYP]

• Kate Moss's latest collection for Topshop hits stores (and the web) tomorrow. [Fashionologie]
• Anna, Oscar, Vera, and Carolina—among others—joined Mayor Bloomberg at City Hall this afternoon to announce Fashion's Night Out, which is scheduled for Sept. 10. [NYM]
• A former assistant to Karl Lagerfeld (and the author of a tell-all about the designer) is making waves once again with his descriptions of life inside the house of the Kaiser. [Fashionologie]
• A chat with French Vogue editor Carine Roitfeld. [Guardian]
• Halston's new creative director is Marios Schwab. [Vogue UK]
• Nordstrom be eyeing the Virgin Megastore space in Union Square. [WWD]
• It's Fleet Week! Why not get dressed up for the occasion? [Pipeline]

• Photog Todd Selby has a fab set of photos taken inside Julia Restoin Roitfeld's Noho loft. If you've ever wanted to take a look at her expansive shoe collection—or peek inside her medicine cabinet—now is your chance. [The Selby]
• Sir Philip Green is still looking to establish another Topshop outlet in NYC. Where, exactly? "Basically, anywhere H&M has a store." [NYO]
• Marc Jacobs and Lorenzo Martone won't be moving into their new $13 million townhouse for awhile. The house is a "shell" and doesn't even have walls yet and will take a year to renovate, says Jacobs. [NYM]
• J.Crew's new men's-only store opened today. [Style.com]More

• Salma Hayek wore a lovely gown by Balenciaga for her wedding to François-Henri Pinault, an entirely appropriate choice given Pinault's PPR happens to own Balenciaga. [Vogue UK, NYDN]
• Diane von Furstenberg says she's absolutely "mortified" that one of her jackets resembles an item designed by the Canadian label Mercy. A full investigation is underway, however. [WWD]
• "Washington, D.C., is the new New York," or so says Vogue's Billy Norwich. [Style.com]
• Sad, possibly true: "The client most crucial to luxury goods purveyors is no longer a Rockefeller but a Real Housewife of New York." [NYT]
• If your boyfriend/husband's birthday is coming up, be advised that Barneys is having a massive menswear sale next Monday. [Racked] More

• Barneys' owner pumped more cash into the struggling retailer today, which will allow it to pay for its shipments for the rest of the year. And thank goodness for that! [Reuters]
• Rumor has it Madonna will return as the face of Louis Vuitton this fall. [NYM]
• Rocawear's roving pop up shop—a 50-foot-long tractor-trailer filled with zebra-striped furniture—rolled into town today. [Racked]
• Getting married? Bridal dresses at Vera Wang are now 50 percent off. [NYM]More

• Were you looking forward to that Kate Moss cookbook that was rumored to be in the works? It ain't happening, according to her rep. [SW]
• Topshop is scouting for a second location (possibly near 34th Street), and Nordstrom is looking to crack the Manhattan market. [NYM]
• Simon Doonan on Michelle Obama's edgy fashion choices last week: "What's next? Lady Gaga zippers on the eyes?" [NYO]
• The owner of Christian Lacroix is in talks to sell a stake in the company. [WSJ]
• Designer Samantha Pleet has a fashion-centric reality show in the works. And Bee Shaffer was approached to do a show, too. [Pipeline]
• Spa Week runs from April 13 to 19, if you're interested. [Metromix]

• How much did Topshop's insane publicity blitz cost the company? Let's just say a lot. [FWD]
• It looks like Anne Hathaway won't be Marc Jacobs's next muse after all. "Marc and Annie are good friends, but there are no plans of her appearing in our ads," says the designer's rep. [SW]
• Good news, Roberto Cavalli fans: It seems Just Cavalli won't be disappearing after all. [NYM]
• Gisele wore a John Galliano gown to her bullet-riddled wedding last weekend, just in case you were wondering. [SW]
• For the second time in a week (and despite a bit of backlash the first time around) Oscar de la Renta is still complaining about Michelle Obama's fashion preferences. [WWD, Fashionologie] 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

• Retailers in Soho who were expecting to see a boost in sales thanks to the opening of Topshop were greatly disappointed this week. [Crains, photo via Flickr]
• Some fashion insiders are a bit miffed that Michelle Obama has shown "zero interest in the big guns of American fashion" in favor of the "new and niche." [WWD]
• Daisy Lowe is getting her own show on MTV. [Pipeline]
• Victoria's Secret has signed up Christian Siriano to do makeup. [Fashionista]
• Nina Ricci's new designer will probably be Peter Copping. [FWD]
• A day in the life of Thakoon Panichgul. In Hong Kong. [Style.com]
• The beauty brand Stila may have gone bankrupt. [Fashionista]

A few more pics from the crazy Topshop opening in Soho today—starring Kate Moss standing next to Topshop owner Sir Philip Green in a lovely green dress—are below.More

• Topshop opens tomorrow, in case you haven't heard. [NYT, Racked, NYM, Glamour, Pipeline] 
• If you wish to bypass the madness in Soho, the first-ever Balenciaga outlet in the U.S. opens tomorrow at the Woodbury Commons. [NYM]
• The British media just about melted at the sight of a J. Crew-clad Michelle Obama today. [WWD]
• The Costume Institute gala is a mere four weeks away but getting people to sponsor tables hasn't been easy work for Anna Wintour. If you notice fewer mentions of Burberry, Versace, and Gucci in future issues of Vogue, now you know why. [FWD]
• Dowdy retail chains are trying to spiff things up in order to appeal to "modern women who are now shopping for style within their means." [NYT]
• Resort season isn't quite what it used to be. [WWD]
• Why is Lorenzo back in NYC? Where's Marc? It's a mystery! [Fashionologie]