A suitcase filled with $15,000 worth of Russell Simmons jewelry was reportedly stolen when one of Mr. Simmons' employees left it in the hallway of a Bleecker Street building for about 30 minutes. [P6]

Heidi Klum says that Project Runway will get a facelift on Lifetime that will include more catch phrases and a "Hollywood flair." [Forbes via The Cut]

Jennifer Lopez stopped by Obama's offices to talk about "matters close to her heart." [People  read more »

The newest fragrance called Secret Obsession from Calvin Klein is having a little trouble launching.

First Women's Wear Daily reported that television networks were refusing to air the provocative ads for the perfume starring Eva Mendes whispering something about having a very sexy secret. Then, last night's celebration in honor of the launching fragrance—which was perhaps doomed from the start when it was scheduled to take place at 421 Broome Street, the site of Heath Ledger's death—didn't exactly work out.  read more »

Francisco Costa, the Brazilian-born creative director of Calvin Klein Collection, was all boyish grins—he somehow manages to make dental braces look cool—after his fall 2008 collection debuted yesterday evening. As soon as all the attendees had taken their places in an I.C.U.-clean, boxy space at 205 West 39th St., sounds of approaching footsteps and solitary piano notes entered the room through mounted speakers—a kind of sensual contrast to Mr. Costa’s pragmatic pieces and warm demeanor.  read more »

The Michael Awards—the big black-tie fashion-industry smoochfest that gives out awards and raises money for the National Children's Leukemia Foundation—won’t be held until May 7th, but at this early date! The Transom can now exclusively reveal 2007’s model of the year: Lydia Hearst.

“It’s basically the Oscars of fashion,” she said, while picking away at a lobster roll yesterday at a café in the Time Warner Center.

Okay so, had she prepared her speech?  read more »

Despite what may sometimes seem like a growing anti-fur trend in fashion, the Times of London reports today that global prices for mink pelts have never been higher, reaching record levels over the last two years. The primary source of such growing demand reportedly comes from China and Russia, where the soft stuff is considered hotter than mod. But in North America, too, the cost of mink has more than doubled since the late 1990s, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Despite fashion labels that have publicly boycotted the use of fur—Calvin Klein, Polo Ralph Lauren and Tommy Hilfiger—there are still plenty of others who favor using real fuzzy flesh in their garments. In our November interview with Ingrid Newkirk, the president and co-founder of PETA, she questioned the ethics and motives of fashionistas like Alexander McQueen, Karl Lagerfeld and Jean Paul Gaulteir, calling them “desperate.”  read more »

In the wonderful world of fashion, 2007 was the year designers sent up a collective chorus, begging, “Look at me!”—or, so says today’s Styles section in the Times. Revisiting disastrous runway trends that add up to a mere style-free cesspool, the piece points specifically to the hard-to-ignore lack of non-white models, Dolce & Gabbana’s atrocious “fantasy-rape” ad and a gaggle of designers who had cameos on lowbrow T.V. shows.

Perhaps Vera Wang’s bizarre appearance on Ugly Betty rings a few bells? Marc Jacobs on The Hills?

What’s more, 2007 was also the year when Tom Ford demanded that his spread for Out magazine’s November issue be re-shot because—why else?—he thought it seemed odd to appear fully-clothed while showering with two naked dudes.  read more »

There were so many parties riding on the back of Art Basel Miami Beach, according to the Times, that “anyone without a crib sheet, or the power publicist Nadine Johnson on speed-dial, was lost.” So legion were the corporate-scented art-design-fashion fêtes, in fact, that Manhattan socialite Lee Schifter’s speech pattern was reduced to something akin to gibberish. “Did you Pucci or Choo?” she asked at one point, referring to a pair of concurrent parties—one given by Jimmy Choo founder Tamara Mellon and the other by Emilio Pucci’s daughter, Laudomia.

And those who didn’t Pucci or Choo were able to Swarovski, Audi and Cartier. Oh, and a few lucky people could also Klein, if they so desired, by dining with the 65-year-old designer, Calvin, at his new, art-free, Greece-or-something manse. No lazy affair, the planning for Mr. Klein’s party reportedly took several weeks and included “casting” and “importing” actor-waiters from New York. Art for promotion’s sake? It’s safe to say that Andy Warhol would be quite pleased. [NYT]

Nothing comes between Calvin Klein and his white walls. The 65-year-old fashion designer, whose clothes epitomize a clean, sleek aesthetic, has a new home in North Miami—and roughhousing is probably not allowed inside. “It’s all white, of course,” Mr. Klein told WWD on Saturday night at P.R. kingpin Paul Wilmot’s dinner party during Art Basel. “And there is no art on the walls, but a few people on Friday night said they were relieved that they didn’t have to look at any more art!” (Yes, what a relief that must have been!) The minted digs, a 1920s-style Spanish Villa that took a year to renovate, apparently have a prime spot from which to peep the bay.

Though Mr. Klein spent much of the weekend visiting various high-minded fairs and fêtes, he likes to collect things that “you wouldn’t hang on the wall.” Instead, he wants to give his home a Mediterranean feel, as if it were “in Greece or something.” But when Greece or something seems too far from the action on South Beach, he can simply crash at his nearby apartment on Collins Ave.

For anyone but Calvin Klein, having two homes in the same Floridian city might indicate a lifelong love for the Sunshine State. Not so, apparently. “I used to have a house in Palm Beach, but I had decided I never wanted to be in Florida again. After five or six New York winters, I changed my mind." The designer added that he would be spending the holidays at his home in Rio de Janeiro.

Lance Armstrong seems to be working very hard to snuff rumors of a fling with Ashley Olsen. Both guests were at last night’s Calvin Klein-hosted “First Look” party—held to celebrate the opening of the Bowery’s New Museum—but the once-lappy couple avoided each other like SARS. Sadly, we couldn’t be there to recoil. But Jim Shi was! The Fashion Week Daily reporter, who manages to be everywhere at once, offered a dynamic recap of the artful affair.

Apparently, the seventh-floor party space, a “custom-made Calvin Klein lounge,” presented some problems for those who only wear heels (a likely majority). While Roopal Patel, Linda Fargo, Rachel Feinstein and Yvonne Force Villareal decided to hang out and wait for an open elevator to whisk them skyward, Jennifer Creel mounted the steps, huffing and puffing her way to Partyville. “We didn’t eat Thanksgiving four days ago for nothing,” she said, while getting plenty of use out of her suede Prada boots.

Plus: co-hosts Julianne Moore and Maggie Gyllenhaal waxed on art, sporting brows alternately high and low. Ms. Moore looked around and mused, "It's all very transgressive, but this is not fashion lighting." Responding to the fellow actress, Ms. Gyllenhaal, who recently wowed us with her gray matter, remarked while laughing, “I finally gave up trying to remember each piece by artist and name … I figured it out. Wanna know the trick? You look for a guard and you say, 'Ok, now tell me who everybody is.'"

In this week’s Observer, our very own Simon Doonan writes about how he was strongly encouraged by Barneys brass to lend the store’s holiday windows a “green” theme. But after style bloggers at Fashionista gave the street-facing displays the old once-over, they apparently became concerned about all the blinking lights, which, as they put it, “seem to suck energy the way we devour Skittles.”

“I don't know the specifics on how much energy the windows use," Julie Gilhart, fashion director at the store, told the blog at a Calvin Klein party last night. "But of course we use electricity, we use energy—but nobody can decide to go totally green overnight. It's a process. We're making a huge effort to be as green as possible, and to spread awareness to our community so they can start making adjustments, too. And we're really proud and excited about that... isn't the reindeer fun?"