Lauren Santo Domingo is one of the chicest woman I know. If not the chicest. Which is why, when we were sat next to each other at the Proenza Schouler show this season, I was shocked when she plopped down next to me in a white one-pocket T-shirt. After all, this was fashion week. This was our dear friend’s fashion show, which turned out to be one of the best fashion shows of the New York collections. Why so blasé? The reason, she explained, was the spectacle of fashion week dressing and fashion week street style photography had become such a monster she had lost interest in pumping a look. With so many girls, some of whom had no business being at a fashion show other than to be photographed at a fashion show, wearing everything and the kitchen sink, her instinct was to slip into something simple.

I was reminded of our chat when I was working on my Mr. Blasberg’s Best Dressed list for the week, which you can see here. My favorite looks from fashion week were all simple, monochromatic and minimalistic. Only Kate Moss and Nicole Richie embellished themselves a little: a straight-off-the-runway Saint Laurent sparkle and a Givenchy ruffle, respectively. Jessica Chastain was in a black dress I would have called conservative; Milla Jovovich wore simple black slacks and a white blouse to the Chanel show. This is a major departure from the Paris fashion week’s of yester-years, when my favorite looks were the sorts of things that would pop up on street style blogs around the world: Veils and headbands and bows and tongue-in-cheek handbags and girls wearing flourescents and bright colors and mismatched plaids and textures and more furs than a zoo. That’s what we all thought passed for fashionable in seasons past.

My friend Dasha Zhukova was recently thinking about the spectacle that has become fashion week when her magazine, Garage, produced the below documentary, ‘Take My Picture,’ which debates the issue of street style photography as both an annoyance to the people there to do their job and a celebration of the democratization of this industry. In the film, Tim Blanks wonders what it’s all for, and wonders if one day someone is going to get hit by a car posing for the perfectly unposed fashion shot. The video also speaks to the divine Tommy Ton, and the likes of Susie Bubble and Phil Oh. I like the documentary because it helps identify the mayhem, and shows that there is a difference between the bloggers (who everyone likes) and a pack of women who borrow bright, clashing clothes in hopes of being photographed (who some people like and some people don’t).

I am torn who to support because, yes, I’ve been shoved by photographers outside of fashion shows, and it’s annoying and insulting to those of us doing their job during fashion week. But on the other hand, I adore what many of these street style photographers have created, an entire industry onto themselves that has created its own celebrities and drawn more attention to an industry that I love. The ‘bloggers walk,’ which is how many call the stroll from the gates of the Tuilleries to the tents where a fashion show is held, can be the most irritating, invasive, aggravating walk there is. But it would be elitist and arrogant for anyone, including me, to think they have a right to be there more than someone else. To be fair, many of the people in this video are friends of mine, and this is not a judgment to be passed on their style or their social skills. But it does beget the question: When will too much be too much?

Trends happen for a variety of reasons. Sometimes it’s a social commentary, sometimes it’s a reaction to other things happening in other places of the world. Remember when Christophe Decarnin introduced Balmain’s new shape a few years ago? Those short, sparkly skirts and those giant, football player-sized shoulders? In 2009, I wrote an article for Bazaar that said it was a direct result of the recession. When times are tough, sex sells. (This article is on Bazaar’s website, and you can read it here.) When Helmut Lang and Calvin Klein reinterpreted minimalism at the end of the 1990s, it wasn’t because people were showing up at their fashion shows dressed in turbans and fluorescent gypsy skirts. It was a reaction to larger social gratuitousness. But is it possible that minimalism is creeping back into the zeitgeist because so many of this industry’s creative minds are getting overloaded with the pictures we see on every blog of overstyled show crashers? Will someone please ask Phoebe Philo why she is making such clean, well cut fashions all my girlfriends are obsessed with?

While I am curious to see how this pans out in another six months, when the industry will be again trudging up to Lincoln Center for another round of fashion shows, it’s interesting for me to hear from so many of my friends how “over it” they all are. It used to be a thrill (even to those who won’t admit it) to be recognized, stopped and photographed walking into a fashion show, but not any more. I know many girls who would rather sneak in unmolested.

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Well, that’s a wrap, fashion fans. With Paris done, my fashion month odyssey has drawn to a close. But what a trip it was: I was inspired, I was wowed, I was shoved by bloggers and after London I was told by my doctor I “needed an effin’ nap.” But it’s so hard to get worn down during fashion week, darling.

Paris was a sensation for the senses: Karl Lagerfeld took us around the world, quite literally, at Chanel. Jessica Alba and Nicole Richie took me around town, quite literally. Alexander Wang started his own journey at Balenciaga. And Hedi Slimane took everyone for a ride at Saint Laurent, creating one of the most controversial and buzzed about shows in recent memory. (For the record, I don’t know what all the fuss is about. Who doesn’t like sparkle tight?)

Back at home in New York – where, much to my dismay, it is snowing – going through my photos was nostalgic. Once again, Carine hosted a ball of legendary proportions. Once again, Karlie Kloss proved to be the perfect wingman (or should I say wing-woman?) And once again, Kate Moss proved why she’s so super. Scroll down to see all the festivity from Paris’ fall collections.

Captions, from top: Jessica, me and Karlie at the Kenzo party; Paris at sunset; Queen Carine and King Karl; Alice Dellal and the new prince of Paris, Alexander Wang; the coolest couple I know, Josephine and Mark Ronson; Margherita is back and better than ever; me and my date, Vanessa Traina, at the Purple dinner; Nicole cruising; Hanne Gaby and her doppelganger Kelly Sawyer; Princess Elisabeth von Thurn and Taxis with the Emporer, Valentino; Vincent, Malgosia and Edita at the Purple dinner; more doppelgangers: The New York Times’ Kate Lanphaer and Robyn; Lady Miss Kier live; a secret admirer taking a whiff of the roses; Coco and LSD; DJ Alison Mosshart has had enough; Valentino’s Pier Paolo and Gio; Olivier Zahm in a pensive pre party moment; Joan Smalls giving banquette glamour; Natalie Massenet and Carine; the chicest Italian women since Sophia Loren: Margherita and Maria Carla; Jessica Diehl, Giancarlo and Kristina O’Neill; secret sisters Jess Stam and Leigh Lezark; the chicest novelist there is, Danielle Steele, flanked by Gaia Repossi and her daughter Sami; a crown at Dior; me and Giovanna Battaglia cleaning up our acts; Magnus and George; gift wrapped and gorgeous Jess Alba; Jefferson and Jamie taking Lila Grace to see Momma Kate Moss in a fashion show for the first time; Kate the great getting a kiss from Marc the marvelous after the Louis Vuitton show

So it turns out James Franco and me have more in common than I thought. I’m not a wildly handsome, successful, world famous modern Renaissance man with their fingers in the film, art and publishing worlds, mind you. But, when we were both little boys, we had a fascination with those ‘Chose Your Own Adventure’ books. Remember those? The books where you, the reader, decide what the characters would do as the story unfolds. (James preferred the Tunnels & Trolls series, whereas I was more into the Lone Wolf.) My mom ended up refusing to read me these books when I was little because I never had the confidence to fully commit to one choice. I guess that says a lot about me.

But back to James: There is a similar concept to the new Seven Jeans for All Mankind advertising campaign, called ‘A Beautiful Odyssey,’ which James directed. You, the viewer, can decide what happens to the characters in the story, which include Elise Crombez as a bride choosing between her happy fiancé and a bad boy ex-boyfriend, the latter of which is played by my buddy and former Ranger rabble rouser Sean Avery. All of the footage is shot, but it’s up to we viewers to decide how it’s played out. It’s up to us to decide if the bride gets her happy ending or if she jilts her man at the alter. (This is sort of like therapy: What you chose will say a lot about you.)

When I speak to James about the project, he reads me a laundry list of references for this project: From the Romantic poet William Blake to Guns N Roses’ November Rain, from Kenneth Anger’s art videos to scenes from Jim Morrison’s movie HWY. (Feel free to Google all of these, kids. They’re worth it.) “They wanted a wedding, that was fine with me. Who doesn’t like a wedding?” James explains. “But I wanted more of a variety. And I like to bring in references of all levels, both Hollywood or literary.” When he looked at William Blake’s Marriage of Heaven and Hell, the concept began to fully take shape. Morrison’s HWY was the finishing touch: “It’s just Jim waking up near this waterfall and he walks thru the desert and hitchhikes from LA to Malibu and there might be a murder involved, but it’s very vague. It’s really a good metaphor, and an inspiration for the way that we shot it.”

James is no stranger to art projects. In addition to starring in both independent and blockbuster films, he has created video works and collaborated with contemporary artists on video series for years. But he told me this specifically was an exciting prospect. “It’s one of the most fun shooting experiences I’ve been able to have. We get all the great things about making a film as far as performers and equipment, but there aren’t the same kinds of requirements to make an entertaining narrative,” he said. As opposed to the Hollywood system, this success isn’t measured in the box office but rather in viewer entertainment, which is what should really be the point of moviemaking in the first place. “It needs to be appealing, we’re not selling tickets. That’s not how success is defined, so that the narrative and the experience can be more unusual.” Just how unusual? Well, that’s up to you.

Get involved in the odyssey on the 7 For All Mankind’s Facebook page. (Am I the only one hoping for a little pre-wedding drama?)

Another month, another Mr. Blasberg’s Best Dressed list. In the March issue of Harper’s Bazaar, I talk about three important things: Menswear, a good haircut and the superest supermodel, Kate Moss. It was over New Years, when I was maxing and relaxing in St. Barth’s that I noticed the first trend of the spring season. Although, as any self respecting Marlene Dietrich fan will tell you, women borrowing from a man’s wardrobe is nothing new. My kid sister and 2013 Valentine Karlie Kloss inspired my second sartorial observation this month, which was about chic ladies bringing back the bob. (Vogue and the New York Times were also all over this new ‘do, and my brother even forwarded me an article that said Michelle Obama had ganked Karlie’s look at the inauguration.) And finally, I ended on Ms. Moss. (Click here to see a gratuitous shot of the super sitting on my lap and telling me about her knickers.) I’ve been having a real Kate moment, begging her for an autographed copy of her new book and then chatting with her and Rihanna for their couple’s cover of Vmagazine. When you’re done with this article, you have to read that one too. 

PS. I’m working on next month’s column now, so leave any favorite fashionable moments in the comments! And to read my weekly Mr. Blasberg’s Best Dressed list, go to www.harpersbazaar.com/bestdressed

It was a story too hot to hold. Or at the very least, too hot to keep under wraps. Mario Testino’s pictures of Kate Moss and Rihanna, the bad girls of fashion and music, respectively, naked and laying on top of each other were taken months ago and stored away for our March issue of V magazine. But some hackers broke into the files and released them, which got Rihanna in a stir and she ended up posting them herself. We at V magazine were in a tizzy, but for no reason: Even with this sneak peek, the story behind the pictures was just as good as the visuals themselves. How the girls met, what they like about each other, who are their favorite designers? (Who would have thought Rihanna was a big Michael Kors fan?) I had the divine pleasure of speaking to these two icons. Scroll down past the covers and Testino’s backstage video for my entire article, and go to www.vmagazine.com for more from the shoot and our March issue. 

Last November, my phone was cha-chaing across the table with unnerving frequency. What was the dilemma? Family drama? Saucy gossip? The vibrations, I discovered, were a direct result of the countless music and fashion blogs erupting over the images that you see here. Hacked from an insider’s computer, the saucy pairing of Rihanna and Kate Moss engaged in S&M-esque poses melted everyone’s brains and even Rihanna’s Instagram account. “I posted them because I was so excited,” she revealed during our interview, adding that she deleted them when she realized it was the result of hackers. “I was so bummed because I thought they were so sick. It goes to show how badly people wanted this cover. I guess it was as big a deal to them as it was to me!” We received requests from all over the world for the rights to reproduce the pics, but weren’t ready to give them up or the story behind them, until now.



The truth is that someone unexpected is to thank for this blessed pairing of fashion’s and music’s favorite bad girls: Kate Moss’s young daughter, Lila Grace. “I was a fan,” recalls the model of the pop star, “but what really started it was my daughter and her friends running round the house singing all the words to her songs.” So when Moss cohosted the 2009 Met Gala with Marc Jacobs and found herself sitting next to Rihanna, she did what any mother would do and whipped out her phone and sheepishly asked for a picture together. “I was, like, Are you fucking kidding me?” remembers Rihanna. “I was so starstruck. I’m not going to lie.”



When Moss explained that the photo was for her kid, Rihanna was even more gobsmacked. “I didn’t know she had a child, and she still looks like this? So there’s hope for people who want babies and still want to be sexy,” she laughs. Moss remembers Rihanna that night too—“those amazing eyes”—and got her shot for Lila. Rihanna took a picture of them on her phone too, which she still proudly shows off today.

The two bumped into each other again last February at another fabulous fête: Stella McCartney’s presentation for a one-off dress collection, held at an old London church. Stationed at different tables, models and dancers had secretly learned a choreographed number, which turned into a surprise flash mob that included Amber Valletta, Shalom Harlow, and Yasmin Le Bon perched on dinner chairs and vogueing to Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song.” That should have been enough excitement for the fashion-heavy crowd, but an equally thrilling collusion was developing nearby. The chemistry between Kate, in a body-hugging cutout minidress, and Rihanna, sporting a long bias-cut slip dress, was brewing.

Mario Testino had a front-row seat to their girlish antics, and when the photographer asked Rihanna when they could schedule a shoot, Moss was keen to participate. “Kate overheard us talking and she said, ‘I want to do it with you!’ Again, I was like, Are you fucking kidding me?” says Rihanna with a laugh. “I was dying on the inside. All my fantasies were coming true all at once: Mario, V, Kate Moss. I was like, This is an amazing threesome!” (On the subject of that night, Moss is a little more cryptic. “I can’t remember what we talked about,” she says, then with those trademark wide-set eyes dancing, adds, “It was a really good night.”)

Moss—famously discovered at 14 by a modeling agent at New York’s JFK Airport and then revolutionizing the concept of high fashion and beauty—and Rihanna—the Barbadian babe turned pop sensation and nonstop hit machine—might not at first seem a likely pairing. One is the queen of London cool, the other a hip-hop fantasy. But it turns out the two have more in common than fashion-icon status: meager beginnings, careers that started in the trenches of industries only the toughest can survive, and climbing to the absolute tops of their fields amid both cultish worship and criticism.

Both women have made entirely their own choices, and done a terrific job at keeping writers for high-fashion glossies and down and dirty tabloids extremely busy. They have been bold, beautiful, and unapologetic. They are, put bluntly, our culture’s favorite badass bitches. Though when I ask Moss if she would call herself a bad bitch, she shuts me down: “That’s not very English, darling.” Rihanna, not surprisingly, was a little more into the classification. “That is true!” she cheers. “I know for sure I’m a control freak. I am definitely in control. That’s the kind of woman I am.”



Moss is notoriously tight-lipped when it comes to the media, and though she loosened up a little to grant a few interviews last year, in conjunction with the publication of her eponymous book, she remains mum today on the topics of tabloids. Rihanna’s personal life has always been part of the public domain. “But I don’t read it anymore,” she says, adding that all the opinions coming at her via the Internet and her active social-media streams can sometimes overwhelm her. “I already have too many voices in my head right now! I don’t have room for that other stuff. If I let that other stuff in, it’ll take the space of productive shit, and that isn’t good.” Has she ever posted anything on the Internet that she wanted to take down, or tried to correct a rumor? “It wouldn’t make a difference. There’s nothing we can do about that. There will always be them, and there will always be me.”



The two love fashion as much as fashion loves them. How does Rihanna describe her personal style? “It’s an expression of my mood. I’m more of a spontaneous girl. I find myself drawn to the things that come together at the last minute. I hate when a look looks over-thought. I hate when fashion looks too contrived. I just throw myself in the closet and see what happens.” When asked who her favorite designers are, Rihanna cites Tom Ford and Michael Kors. “Tom Ford is just pure sex,” she explains. “Only the baddest bitch can wear that. And he knows how to tailor things to women to make them look so desirable. Michael Kors is just easy fashion that works for any age group. A girl can look sexy in the same dress when she is 20 as when she is 50. He is timeless.”

Asked what designer inspires her now, Moss offers only one: “Hedi [Slimane]’s new collection for Saint Laurent. Obviously. Living for…”



On the set of the shoot, these bad girls kept it playful. “That was hilarious,” Moss says, her nose scrunching up like a feline vixen. Afterward, they’re still gushing about each other. “She is just an awesome, cool little rock star,” Rihanna says of Moss. The concept of playing with each other using masculine and feminine identities evolved organically, she says, and then, naturally, at the end, they got naked. “And that was the best shot,” Rihanna laughs. “Take her top off and put that bitch in my lap!”

So the obvious question: would they get topless with each other again? Kate’s response: “In a heartbeat.” Rihanna: “That depends on the terms,” she laughs. “But I’m sure Kate knows them.”

An obligatory tourist shot in the guard station outside St. James Palace following Tom Ford’s show in the Palace’s Stables

London fashion week wore me out. Literally. In fact, I’m whipping up this text whilst wearing a full body of thermal clothing and two scarves tightly wound around my neck. Somehow, between my aggressive New York fashion week and then the festivities you’ll see here, my immune system was beat up and I’ve succumbed to the evil germs of strep throat. Not that a little thing like painful swallowing (feels like glass shards, guys) will keep me from reporting from the highlights of this year’s collections.

Perhaps I should start with what was undoubtedly the biggest highlight for me and my St. Louis sister Karlie Kloss, which was a little photo op with Mick Jagger at the small dinner the rocker threw at the recently opened Café Royal Grill Room for his girlfriend L’Wren Scott after her show. Can you imagine, us two little ladies from some small town in Missouri eating grilled chicken with a Rolling Stone? Rita Ora was a big part of this season too. I had met her a while ago when she performed at a swanky Cartier party, but the Yugoslavian-born, London-based singer has absolutely blown up since then, showing up at shows like Henry Holland and Burberry. (She’s so lovely I’ll even forgive her for calling me Dave on Twitter.) Henry’s show was on the first day of the collections, and his afterparty was perhaps what set the pace for my immune system’s destruction in London. Can I blame it on jet lag? Or should I just blame Nick Grimshaw and Alexa Chung, who are the real culprits here?

Let’s talk about the fashion’s now. The best analogy of the London fashion spectrum was seen on the second to last day of the collections, with a 7pm Tom Ford show at St. James’ Palace followed by an 8pm JW Anderson show in the basement of the Tate Modern. For the record, both shows were memorable and sensational, from men with points of view. But how different were they? Tom’s was decadent, beaded, drenched in furs and beads and exotic everything in an actual palace with gilded chairs and spotlights featuring suited male models at the entrance and a runway full of supermodels. Jonathan’s was sharp, short and minimal, held in the basement of one of the most important modern art museums in the world. See, London has something for everyone! Erdem and Christopher Kane reminded why they’re at the top of their game in this town, and I loved Giles’ gilded girls. Burberry’s show too was one of my favorites, with their heart patterns (which I’m convinced were taken from the Instagram ‘like’), rubber trenches and sharp tailoring.

And finally, I have to give major props to Net A Porte’s Natalie Massenet, the recently elected president of the British Fashion Council. She didn’t mess around this season, making sure visiting journalists were well taken care of and that the schedule was running smoothly. (I won’t say which show it was, but there was one that was starting too late and I watched her march backstage and crack the whip, much to everyone’s gratitude.) I have spent a large part of my life in London, so I’ve always been a big proponent of the creativity and the people who work in this town. So it’s been exciting to see the city regain its position on the international fashion scene. Cheers!

Captions, from top: Rihanna’s stylist Mel Ottenberg (woop woop, big boy!), Henry, Nick Grimshaw, Miss Rita and me at the House of Holland after party at the Graucho club; Alexa at the Another Magazine party at Café Royal; Two Guinnesses and Glenda: Daphne, Glenda Bailey and Lulu; Two of the best Brits, Erden and Chris Kane; A Rolling Stone with me and Karlie Kloss; the charming and well choreographed lunch service at L’Wren Scott’s show; Carine and Olivier; Hanne Gaby at the Giles show; Kristina showing off her beloved Balenciaga rings; a beloved phone booth in Primrose Hill; me and one of my first bosses, Vogue’s Andre Leon Talley; Natalie and Rita flanking Will.I.Am at the Café Royal; Miss Aimee Phillips, who may be my favorite person alive; Harley and Leigh in bright colors at Burberry; Anja on the Tom Ford runway; Tom’s bow; Eugenie and Noor at the club LouLou’s, which is pretty fabulous and fabulously pretty; my drinking partners at Jonathan Saunders’ afterpaty, Jack and Alice Eve, and the Oscar-winning film director Tom Hooper; Cesar, Lily, Charlotte and me at the Another Magazine party; Annabelle Neilson and Sophia Hesketh in similar but not the same Alexander McQueen dress, narrowly avoiding a fashion disaster; Atlanta and Daisy at Giles; Yasmine Le Bon, who looks just as heavenly as she did when she ruled the runway in the 1990s, and Alice Temperley; the last supper of London fashion week, when Jonathan and Panos and I started dozing off at a dinner at Café Royal

For the January issue of V magazine, I met my newest fashion obsession: The saucy, sweet and utterly Australian Bella Heathcote. Below are some of Ben Weller’s images of the actress and my story.

When the bright-eyed and impossibly gorgeous 24-year-old actress Bella Heathcote made her red carpet debut in a splashy Gucci dress at the Cannes Film Festival last May, many assumed it was her Cinderella moment. Here was this fresh-faced new thing from Australia who got lucky and scored a part in cult filmmaker Tim Burton’s Dark Shadows, as the love interest of none other than Johnny Depp. But to hear Heathcote tell it, the experience was hardly a fairy tale. “Oh, yeah, I remember that,” she laughs with a hearty twang. “The Gucci people didn’t want me to move off the carpet because they wanted a shot of the dress, but the photographers wanted me to get the hell out of the way because they wanted pictures of the famous people. It was hysterical and humiliating, which is how I think it should be.”

It’s a relief to hear some self-deprecation in her voice, to offset the beautiful-girl cliché. (Burton actually cast Bella after he saw her runway-caliber looks in a magazine.) Not only that, but she’s fun! Asked to define Australian culture, she deadpans: “We like to drink.” And she’s discreet. When pressed—and I mean really pressed—on some juicy Johnny Depp gossip, she’ll only profess that “he has a dark sense of humor, he’s really generous, he’s really normal, and he doesn’t have any pretensions. Look, he’s just a nice guy, okay?”



Heathcote grew up in Melbourne with a lawyer father who was hardly impressed by filmmaking and not much interested in his daughter making a vocation of it. “So I did a year of college, and he was happy I tried,” she sighs. Then she was off, making a few independent films and doing a brief stint on the cult TV program Neighbours. “That was a good learning experience. It’s a soap opera, so it’s a pace I’d never seen. One take, two takes if you’re lucky. They churn it out.” She played Amanda, a school bully. “That’s a tip: if you’re going to be on a soap opera, be the baddie. It was hilarious.”



Her road to Hollywood was a quick one, helped in no small part by a compatriot that she never had the chance to meet. In 2010, she won the Heath Ledger Scholarship, a fund for Australian performers set up after the actor’s death, in 2008. She credits the scholarship—for which she applied online, first sending in her reel and then meeting with a jury panel—with igniting her career: an unofficial benefit of the contest is the opportunity to network with nearly every Aussie in the business. The prize was $10,000 and a round-trip ticket from Sydney to L.A. “But, luckily,” she says, “I never had to use the return leg.”

She currently stars in Not Fade Away, which, ironically, she filmed before Dark Shadows. (Only in Hollywood can time be so warped that an independent film takes twice as long to finish as a big-budget production.) The film is set in the 1960s, and Bella plays Grace, the pretty, popular girl living in a New Jersey suburb who dates the football player in high school but falls for the moody, broody rocker when they graduate and their real lives begin. “I was drawn to her humanity,” she says. “She has real reactions to real things.”

When the actress first got to L.A., she went out for everything that came up. “But this was the first script that stood out, and kept getting better and better with every read. It was a part I really wanted.” What she liked most about it was the feeling of wonderment. It’s a tale of adolescence and the baffling process of growing up. “It makes you feel anxious, a bit anxious, unresolved. And that’s what growing up feels like.”

When we talk, Heathcote is prepping herself for the film’s promotion, a media ritual she would have liked a little more practice with back in her Dark Shadows days. She remembers another stop on the Dark Shadows premiere circuit, the one in London, where she had to trot down a never ending red carpet in a Pucci minidress, facing her own likeness on a jumbo screen, in the middle of Leicester Square. “I felt like I was in Hunger Games. It was surreal and so full on, and I was in a state of shock,” she says. “And then I had a drink. Remember, I’m Australian.”

That’s a wrap, fashion fans! After more than a couple dozen shows, about that many parties and countless air kisses and compliments I probably didn’t mean, the fashion pack is rolling out of New York. It was a whirlwind week, to say the least. I don’t even know where to start. On the tip of my mind is Marc Jacobs, because his postponed show took place last night and he made me want to wear silk pajamas every day all day. Riccardo Tisci was in town this season, and I saw him out and about (a cameo at Alex Wang’s unofficial afterparty and then with Ciara at his arm at Carine Roitfeld’s CR party) and in a more official capacity (when he made a very early presentation with Anna Wintour and Lauren Santo Domingo to kick off the new Punk exhibit at the met’s Costume Institute). I would never deign to say I had a favorite show, but I have to give a shoutout to my buddies Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez because their Proenza Schouler collection was so stellar and sophisticated it made me want to move to the Upper East Side. The two people I fell in love with this week? Net A Porte’s Natalie Massenet, because she not only didn’t squirm when I asked for a bottle of tequila at dinner but joined in on me; and Cheyenne Jackson because he give me the juice on playing Michael Douglas’ boyfriend in the new Liberace movie when we were sat next to each other at the Michael Kors show. (He also said there are some intense sex scenes with Matt Damon, but I’m not sure I’m ready to think about that yet.) The week ended in an appropriately fashionable way: Valentine’s Day with Valentino. Giancarlo Giammetti had a few friends over for a decadent Italian dinner at his house, which was the perfect way to wind down after the festivities. Not that I’m taking time off just yet. In fact, I’m off to London (literally, I’m at JFK airport), so be sure to check back soon to see what’s happening on the British fashion scene. Until then, enjoy these snaps from my New York fashion week.

Captions, from top: Marc and Cara goofing off after the designer’s show at the close of fashion week; Alexa and I goofing off at amFAR, which signaled the debut of fashion week; Giovanna (with Luisa in the background) at her and Vlad’s housewarming party; Lauren and Nessie are smoking hot; Riccardo getting kisses from Carine and Ciara; Paola, Sasha and Anja at the dinner for 25 magazine; my new favorite person, Net A Porte’s Natalie Massenet, at the 25 magazine dinner; Samantha, Kelly and Marjorie doing their best impressions of downtown girls; my favorite fashion week couple, the artist Cyprian Gaillard and Terry Richardson; a pair of Lily’s: McMenamay and Donaldson; perhaps the highlight of my fashion week, sitting next to Cheyenne Jackson at Michael Kors; Karolina Kurkova twirling on the Bowery; Kristina O’Neill, the new editor in chief of WSJ. Magazine, with Stephen Gan; My Missouri next of kin, RJ; Carol and Humberto from Opening Ceremony with Vanessa Hudgens, the star of my not-so-secret High School Musical obsessions; Alessandra with Chelsea Handler, who is a genius; Andre and Tom at the Purple magazine dinner; Boys night out: Harry, Lazaro, me, Jack and Petey; Alison Mosshart after her DJ set at the Marc Jacobs afterparty; Trish and Michelle at Marc’s party; Natasha Lyonne, who is back and better than ever, or so I have proclaimed; Hilary Swank and Karlie backstage at the Michael Kors show; Dan, Jen and Nate and the Proenza Schouler show; Lazaro and Jack with Lizzie and Liv after their stellar show; Lily vamping it up at Acme; the cutest man in fashion, Bill Cunningham, still shooting at the Ralph Lauren show; and my Valentine’s dinner companions, a true Italian fashion trilogy: Giancarlo, Franca and Valentino

The fine folks at Opening Ceremony have been rounding up this city’s real world Valentine’s. Now, I’m a lucky guy who has the joy of having a few ladies in my life. But this year, my special someone on the 14th of February will be my St. Louis sister Karlie Kloss. (It helps because it’s also the last day of New York Fashion Week, so I would have been with this leggy lady anyway.) Team O.C. found us on the street last night on our way to a date night, and got to the bottom of our friendly love. And in case anyone is wondering what the perfect Valentine’s Day gift would be, can I suggest a handwritten letter in the mail? Conveniently, I can even help you out in sending them: Buy my special line of Derek Blasberg for Opening Ceremony stationery Valentines at a store near you, or here on line.

Name: Derek Blasberg
Occupation: Writer
Neighborhood: Tribeca
Describe the first time you and Karlie met? Although we grew up in the same neighborhood back in St. Louis, Missouri, we didn’t meet till she was living up here in New York. Everyone said I had to meet this sweet girl from St. Louis because I’d love her, and they were right! We were instant family—she’s the little sister I always wanted!
What is she currently obsessed with? Cookies. Or, should I say Kookies? Have you tried her Karlie’s Kookies yet? Mmm, good.
What is her pet peeve? People who expect her to be on time.
Favorite celebrity couple of all time? Bacall and Bogey, of course.
Describe the best first date you’ve ever been on: It’s been so long since I’ve been on a date, they all seem good.
On Valentine’s Day, we’ll find you: Attending New York fashion week. Romance isn’t dead, but it’s work. I’ll get to see my Valentine, though, so there’s a silver lining!

Name: Karlie Kloss
Occupation: 6-foot-tall giraffe (aka model)
Neighborhood: West Village
If Derek was a song, what song would he be? ”Meet Me in St. Louis” by the one and only Judy Garland. We are both from the same small town in Missouri, so it is practically our theme song.
What is he currently obsessed with? Spin class. Not exactly a bad obsession, hey? These days, he has better legs than me!
What is his pet peeve? Tardiness, which happens to be my specialty. Maybe that’s why we get along so well. Opposites attract, right?
Favorite celebrity couple of all time? I have to agree with my big bro on this one. You can’t beat Bogey and Bacall. They’re the ultimate power couple.
What’s the most romantic thing you’ve ever gifted or been gifted? I recently received a very special Valentine in the mail from Derek! It was written on his fabulous new stationery line.
On Valentine’s Day, we’ll find you: Hopefully, spending the entire day with my Valentine, Mr. Derek Blasberg. And maybe a few runway shows somewhere in between.

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Photos by Brayden Olson

In the January issue of V magazine, which stars Kristen Stewart on the cover shot by Inez & Vinoodh with an article written by my buddy Sarah Cristobal, I debuted a new column on the last page: ‘Bon V Vants.’ (I also interviewed an icon of mine, Penelope Tree, but more on that another time.) Since the theme of the entire issue was inspired by women of influence, for this debut column I dug through my personal photos to find the sorts of people I thought had inspired me. So, who did I come up with? First was my Mom, of course, and I had a shot of her with another influential female, Chloe Sevigny, which was taken at a fundraiser at the St Louis Contemporary Art Museum when Chloe came home to Missouri with me in 2010. Then there was the fash pack that included models Natalia Vodianova and Kate Moss (taken at the Love Ball in London with Mario Testino), and muses Amanda Harlech and Daphne Guinness with Courtney Love (at the reopening of the Chanel Soho store). Lady Gaga (at a MOCA gala), Mary J Blige (at Michael Kors 30th anniversary party at the Residence of the US Ambassador to France in Paris) and Grace Jones (at the launch of a Viktor & Rolf perfume) have left an indelible impression on both music and fashion, and I think Lisa Eisner (with Tom Ford at a gala in LA in 2009) is the ultimate stylish artist. And when it comes to female designers, is there anyone more influential than Miuccia Prada, who I snapped with Francesco Vezzoli and Marc Jacobs at Dasha Zhukova’s 29th birthday party in Venice? Last but not least, I had to include Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Olsen, seen here with Karl Lagerfeld in his studio at Chanel headquarters on the rue Cambon. Whenever I hear the word Influence I think of those smart little ladies because I helped them with their book of that very name way back in 2009. Jeez, time flies when you’re dealing with women of influence.