• That was quick. After making a splashy debut in NYC back in May (and after paying Nicole Richie to come to Moscow two weeks ago), 16-year-old Russian heiress/designer Kira Plastinina now says she plans to close most of her 12 locations in the U.S. [FWD]
• In related news, retail sales in Russia are reportedly down 30 to 40 percent. [WWD]
• Coco Rocha's new look. [Fashionologie]
• More on Betsey Johnson's "smaller, friendlier" plans for Fashion Week. [WSJ]
• Sadly, this week is likely the last for Bill Blass. [NYT]
• Kate Moss has re-signed with Topshop for another three years. [Telegraph]

• Anna Wintour has earned a spot on Time's "Top 10 Fashion Faux Pas" list. Congrats! [Time]
• Zac Posen is shelving his plan to launch a secondary line "in light of current economic conditions." [WWD]
• Add Betsey Johnson to the list of designers skipping Fashion Week in February. [WSJ]
• Vera Wang isn't cancelling her show; she's moving it from the tents to her Mercer Street store to "convey a more intimate mood." [WWD]
• Miu Miu has "quietly" shuttered its uptown boutique at 831 Madison Avenue. [FWD]
• A list of the top 10 clothing-related crises in history. [VF]
• More Americans say they're planning to make their own Christmas presents this year as opposed to purchase them. Bad news for retailers, good news for those of you hoping for a knitted cell-phone cover. [Reuters]

Crazy old Betsey Johnson can't afford a runway show during New York's big February Fashion Week, nor can Carmen Marc Valvo. Meanwhile, black is the new black. Depressing.

♦ Do Sam Ronson and Lindsay Lohan ever actually stay in one city for more than five minutes? Today they're in Tokyo for Charlotte Ronson's runway show, and to the delight of the audience, LiLo made an appearance. [The Cut]
♦ Don't knock the Real Housewives of Atlanta, pleads Simon Doonan: "Despite the jarringly superficial materialism exhibited throughout this show, Nene and Co. are performing a profound and vital function: It's called consumer confidence." [NYO]
♦ One benefit of the recession? Plentiful sample sales, like Betsey Johnson and Castle Starr. [Missbehave, Fashionista]

♦ Rihanna appeared in the front row at the Gucci show in Milan yesterday and said she plans to launch a clothing line of her own. [WWD]
♦ Robin Givhan reports on a Tod's dinner in Milan with Gwyneth Paltrow (the face of the brand), Derek Lam, and Thakoon Panichgul, who, reports Givhan, was "still giddy" from seeing Michelle Obama in his dress at the convention, especially since she had bought it herself and hadn't been "styled into it." [WaPo]
♦ The Comme des Garçons line for H&M, which is about to hit stores, kind of negates the point of a mass market-designer collaboration: one of the dresses is $350. [Fashionista]
♦ Jonathan Adler's retail empire will expand to Columbus Avenue by the end of the year. [WWD]

When money's tight, what makes women spend thousands on clothes? No one knows, but that's certainly no impediment to authoritative-sounding speculation when there are column inches to be filled. So, even though fashion designers plan fabrics and colors many months in advance of their shows, everyone has been eagerly interpreting new collections in light of the economy, mostly claiming that the bright, cheerful designs seen on the runway—like Betsey Johnson's—reflect a desire to detract from the gloom of dire financial prospects.

Naomi Watts doing some pre-baby shopping with a friend in Union Square ... Sarah Jessica Parker taking a walk downtown ... Petra Nemcova walking into the Diesel show ... Rosario Dawson crossing the street outside Balthazar ... Julia Stiles shopping in the West Village ... Bette Midler hugging her daughter outside the Bryant Park tents ... Betsey Johnson walking through the rain in Midtown ... Jessica Alba carrying her baby ... Mary-Kate Olsen sitting front row at the Proenza Schouler show ... Adrian Grenier having lunch outside with friends ... Jessica Simpson getting out of a taxi with pal Ken Paves ... Kanye West and Jay-Z making their way into the Marc Jacobs show ... Natalie Portman showing up to the front row at the Derek Lam show ... Martha Stewart leaving Bryant Park after attending Marc Jacobs' show ... and Marc Jacobs and Victoria Beckham leaving the Waverly Inn.

♦ At Betsey Johnson, the front row—Kelly Osbourne, Perry Farrell, Miss J Alexander, Bow Wow, Ugly Betty's Mark Indelicato, Jason Lewis, Mickey Boardman, Lynn Yaeger, and Patrick McMullan—sat at little tables festooned with frosted cupcakes and lollipops for a Peter Pan-themed show in which Liam McMullan played a pirate "throwing gold coins at the audience and pinching the models' exposed bottoms as they walked by." Betsey did her customary finale cartwheel, showed off her granddaughter (left), and went off on vacation with her boyfriend (an Italian decades her junior, of course). [NYO, The Cut, Fashion Wire Daily]

[The tail end of the Betsey Johnson show at Fashion Week today; image via Getty]

• Betsey Johnson's penthouse apartment at 45 Fifth Avenue is hers no more: JP Morgan managing director Kemal Askar has closed on the place for $2.5 million. [Real Deal]

• Amanda Beard denies she's dating Michael Phelps because that would be "nasty." Michael, however, isn't commenting on whether or not he's dating Lily Donaldson, or anyone else. [NYP]

• Shoshanna Lonstein Gruss and Charlotte Ronson, who have been friends since their Nightingale-Bamford days, are joining forces to create a swimwear/resort line due to hit stores in February. [WWD]

Celebrating birthdays today: Real estate broker Deborah Grubman—who also happens to be the wife of Allen and stepmom of Lizzie—turns 56. Party planner extraordinaire David Monn is 45. Designer John Varvatos turns 54. Dustin Hoffman is 71. Two former boy band-ers, Drew Lachey and JC Chasez, both turn 32 today. Tennis star Roger Federer is 27. And Robin Quivers is 56. Saturday is the big day for Chris Cuomo (left) who will be celebrating his 37th. Michael Kors will be turning 49. Allure's Linda Wells will be 50. And real estate broker Larry Kaiser and designer Peter Marino will be a year older on Saturday, too. On Sunday: Fashion icon Betsey Johnson will be 66, actress Angie Harmon will be 36, and real estate developer Harry Macklowe will turn 71.

Katie Holmes heading to rehearsals for her new Broadway show ... Sheryl Crow performing onstage at Rockefeller Plaza ... Rihanna getting a mani-pedi at a salon in the Village ... Disney star Selena Gomez walking with her handlers through Midtown ... Diane Kruger leaving lunch at Bar Pitti on her bike ... Agyness Deyn and Albert Hammond Jr. kissing on the sidewalk ... and Jay-Z and Beyonce heading into the Spotted Pig.

1) Lisa Salzer had a party last night for her jewelry line Lulu Frost, where hosts Alexis Bryan Morgan and Elettra Rossellini Wiedemann were joined by Erin Fetherston and Hedi Ferjani, Derek Blasberg, Luigi Tadini, Kathryn Neale Shaffer, Peter Davis, Kate Schelter, and Carole Radziwill, who were rewarded for walking up the five flights of stairs with a live Cuban band and cocktails. [Paper/style file]

1) Donna Karan's annual designer garage sale in support of the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund was co-hosted by InStyle and Kelly Ripa on Saturday. Betsey Johnson, Lydia Hearst, Euan Rellie, Lorraine Bracco, Jessica Stam, Katie Lee Joel, Debbie Matenopoulos, Hana Soukupova, Charlotte Ronson, and Nanette Lepore browsed stalls manned by the likes of Rachel Zoe and Shoshanna Lonstein Gruss, raising $3.6 million. [FWD]

• Betsey Johnson's Tribeca apartment has gone into contract for $2.495 million, nearly a year after the 1,660-square-foot, two-bedroom pad was first put on the market for $3.6 million. Betsey has already settled into a new home: In May, she closed on an apartment on the Upper East Side, in the same building as her daughter and granddaughter. [NYM]

• Ruffle-loving fashion designer Betsey Johnson closed on a one-bedroom, 850-square-foot condo on the 10th floor of 30 East 85th Street for $1.854 million.

[(L'Épouse Muzzy's Apprécie Une Nuit Dehors) Fashion designer Betsey Johnson at Fashion Week in New York last night; image via Bauer-Griffin]