• NYC will be the last stop for Chanel's space-like mobile art pavilion. [WSJ]
• DKNY is the latest brand to bow out of Fashion Week in February. [WWD]
• Narciso Rodriguez's second fragrance debuts this spring. [WWD]
• Rodarte designers Kate and Laura Mulleavy love Pasadena, miss their record collection. [SF]
• Bergdorf Goodman's holiday windows: grotesque or genius? [Racked]
Bernie Madoff won't be seeing much sunlight for the forseeable future. A judge modified Madoff's bail conditions late this afternoon and ruled that unless he has to make an appearance in court, he'll be subject to round-the-clock home detention in his Manhattan apartment. He'll also required to pay out-of-pocket to have a security firm keep watch in order "to prevent harm or flight" (which may be tough for him to do considering his assets were frozen earlier today), and "video monitoring" of his apartment doors was also imposed. He is, however, still free to sit in front of his TV set. And, naturally, he's more than welcome to call us if he's in the mood for Chinese food.
Still searching for a place to stay during the inauguration next month? New York Philharmonic director Lorin Maazel's country house in Virginia is available in exchange for a modest $50,000-a-night donation to his charitable foundation! Maazel's Castleton Farms has room for 40-50 guests and comes with indoor pool, bowling alley, "commercial-sized movie screen," Turkish steam room, and petting zoo. Unfortunately, one thing it doesn't offer is close proximity to Washington, which is still a 90-minute drive away. [Chateauville via Luxist]
• A handful of top NYC chefs recount their favorite meals of 2008. [Metromix]
• Chinatown's HSF dim sum house is no more. [Zagat]
• The Standard is supposedly opening for friends and family on Sunday. [Eater]
• Only a holiday miracle will keep Via Delle Zoccolette in business. [Eater]
• Free sliders at Morton's tomorrow from 5-6, if you're interested. [GS]
• Boqueria is now serving lunch; breakfast at the Oak Room begins 1/1. [GS]
• A few food trends you can look forward to in 2009. [Gourmet]
You know this Madoff thing is out of control when you have socialites huddled outside Bernie's apartment waiting for him to make an appearance. Peter Davis (Tinsley Mortimer's honest-to-God half-brother in law!) reports that he's "obsessed" with the case—"It's all I can read or think about"—and says he turned up at 8:45 am, coffee in hand, hoping to get a glimpse of Bernie leaving his building when his 9 o'clock curfew expired. Unfortunately, he came up empty, but he did get a chance to talk to the owner of a local newsstand, who revealed to Davis that Madoff occasionally stopped by to pick up a copy of Forbes. (We're sure the staff of Forbes will be thrilled to hear the news.) Davis also says that he plans on "staking out" Madoff's building "all weekend." So if you have nothing better to do, you can head over there yourself. You might get lucky and meet both Peter and Bernie in person! [Paper Mag]
Some people dream of owning a castle; Calvin Klein wants to tear his down. Five years after the designer paid nearly $30 million for a gaudy 50,000-square-foot Southampton estate known as Dragon's Head, Klein filed an application this week to demolish it so he can replace it with a more modest (and much more minimalist) 17,500-square-foot number. To lend credibility to the plan, Klein had neighbors Ian Schrager and Aby Rosen write letters to the Southampton Village Board of Historic Preservation and Architectural Review on his behalf. We're not exactly sure how having someone who was in trouble for destroying an endangered bird habitat on his property this past summer bolsters his cause, but we'll keep a good thought for you, Cal! A few more photos of what's been described as "Disneyland on LSD" after the jump.
As if it wasn't bad enough that Bernie Madoff is accused of carrying out the biggest financial fraud in the history of the world, there's evidence that he may have cheated at golf, too. "They say you can tell a lot about a businessman from his golf game," explains Catherine Rampell on the Times' Economix blog. "Perhaps golf partners should have paid more attention to Bernard Madoff's handicap." What does Madoff's handicap tell us? Well, it seems his scores were "eerily consistent," even after he took a year off in between games. But there's more to chew on, conspiracy theorists: His handicap was a 12, which correlates to the 12 percent annual return that he promised many of his investors. On a related note, we've been informed he had precisely 12 candles on his birthday cake the year following his 11th birthday. Just so you know.
Julia Stiles walking in the snow ... Cameron Diaz and Paul Sculfor shopping in SoHo ... Naomi Campbell walking to lunch in Midtown ... Natalie Portman filming scenes for her new movie downtown ... Katie Holmes and Suri visiting a pre-school ... Dustin Hoffman crossing the street ... Liam Neeson walking in Central Park ... Jessica Szohr carrying presents in Midtown ... Richard Chamberlain leaving the Trump International hotel ... Renee Zellweger leaving a building with a coffee cup in a hand ... and John Mayer and Jennifer Aniston going to dinner at La Esquina, around the same time Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos turned up, too.
• Tough times for Sumner Redstone: His debt issues haven't been resolved, he's feuding with his daughter, and he's a lot poorer, too. Once worth $8 billion, "today it is questionable as to whether he is worth even $1 billion." [NYT]
• It's about five years too late, but the music industry has finally decided to stop wasting its time suing people who download music illegally. [WSJ]
• A few predictions of what's in store for the movie biz in 2009. [THR]
• Fox Business is mocking CNBC again; this time it's via a TV ad. [HP]
• Further evidence that Malcolm Gladwell has reached his tipping point. [BG]
• Mark Felt, the man better known as Deep Throat, is dead at 95. [WaPo]
Jane Rosenthal, Beth Ostrosky, and Julia Szabo hosted a canine-friendly screening of Marley & Me on Wednesday night as part of the Tribeca Cinemas Series. Accompanied by her bulldog, Bianca Romijn-Stamos, Ostrosky was joined by guests like Rosenthal's husband Craig Hatkoff and daughter Isabella (with their dog Buddy), Cece Cord (with her pooch Tiger), Kiera Chaplin (with Jezabelle), Douglas Hannant (with Ava), Abigail Breslin, Cindy Adams, Ellen Ward and Chuck Scarborough, Rachel Roy, Denis and Ann Leary, Hoda Kotb, Pat Duff, Jill and Allie Zarin, Richard Kind, Alison Becker, Jennifer Missoni, and Wendy Diamond. [PMc, Wireimage, VF]
It's been a rough week for real estate billionaire Sheldon Solow. On Monday, it came to light that Marc Dreier, the lawyer now accused of defrauding investors to the tune of $380 million, had been trying to sell fake Solow Realty promissory notes to investors. (It was Solow, in fact, who first tipped off the authorities back in October.) Now he has a new headache to contend with. Citibank filed suit against Solow this week, claiming Solow has thus far failed to pay back $67 million in loans and $18.5 million in letters of credit. The funds were part of a half-billion loan that Citi extended to Solow in 2004 to finance the development of a series of buildings along the East River waterfront. Unfortunately for Solow, construction on the project hasn't even started yet and it appears he's already running into financial difficulty. The nitty gritty from Citibank, N.A. v. Sheldon H. Solow after the jump.
The next time someone tells you you're high maintenance, point them in the direction of Marie Douglas-David, the estranged wife of United Technologies chairman George David. The Swedish countess and former employee of Lazard Asset Management is asking her elderly husband—he's three decades her senior—to cough up $53,000 a week to pay for her living expenses, including $8,000 for travel, $4,500 for clothing, and $600 for weekly flower deliveries. (Oh, and she'd also like to hang on to the couple's 10,000-square-foot penthouse at 740 Park Avenue.) It's reassuring to hear that the economic meltdown hasn't disrupted everyone's spending habits. We were beginning to worry! [NYP]
So in light of the inevitable squeeze on cosmetic enhancement spending, how's everyone's favorite diminutive derm Patricia Wexler doing? Just fine, she tells Wowowow: Not only are her patients still coming in for treatments, they "feel it is critical to keep up appearances right now," although some are cheeky enough to ask for discounts, which, just so you know, will certainly not be granted. But, more importantly, Pat is thrilled about Obama's new presidency for the obvious reason: Democrats have more tasteful surgery!
• Writer/director John Ridley paid $6.65 million for a three-bedroom apartment at 15 Central Park West in July, relisting it just a few days later for $13 million. He seems to have had a reality check: He's dropped the price down to $9.995 million. [WSJ, Corcoran]
• Scott Kleinman, a partner at Leon Black's Apollo Management, has paid $5.8 million for a 20th-floor apartment at 15 Madison Square North. [Cityfile]
• Goldman Sachs managing director Tim Furey and his wife Catherine paid $3.145 million for a seventh-floor condo at 215 West 88th Street. [Cityfile]
It seems that all the apocalyptic predictions of the economic crisis triggering societal breakdown and moral dissolution are coming true! Customers of New York boutiques—we're talking about upstanding, mid-tier designer label-wearing citizens, not hardened criminals or warped celebuspawn—are abandoning their scruples and straight-up lying in order to snag bargains. At the Shoe Box, for example, people have come in saying that Bloomingdales has Uggs on sale when it doesn't (not that we'd expect any better from those still voluntarily wearing Uggs, frankly), or brazenly pretended that Saks has a $535 boot for $150.
Considering he's spent the last couple of days fending off accusations he's a slumlord, this probably won't be the most cheerful day for hotel/restaurant owner Eric Goode: He celebrates his 51st birthday today. Others born on the 19th of December: Jake Gyllenhaal is 28 today. Alyssa Milano is 36. Tyson Beckford turns 38. Lady Sovereign is turning 23. Criss Angel turns 41. And real estate developer Doug Durst is turning 64. Weekend birthdays after the jump.
• Both Katie Holmes and Nicole Kidman have active cases of herpes, reports Page Six, something you should probably keep in mind in the event either woman tries to plant a kiss on you. [P6]
• William H. Macy will take over for Jeremy Piven in Speed-the-Plow now that the Pivster has overdosed on sushi and will need to take time off to cleanse his sacred temple from mercury. [NYP]
• Marci Klein, SNL producer and daughter of Calvin, is calling it quits with her husband of eight years, Scott Murphy. [P6]
If you missed Ashley Dupre's performance in that "Girls Gone World" video a few months back, all you have to do is go to the Post's website and take the Ashley Dupre "pop video quiz"to view some extended clips. You'll just have to put up with two little photos of Spitzer's face covering up Dupre's breasts. Classy! [NYP]
• President Bush announced a rescue plan for General Motors and Chrysler that will provide $13.4 billion in federal loans. [CNN]
• Jamie Dimon and Bob Rubin will go bonus-less this year. [Reuters]
• Not surprisingly, Credit Suisse's plan to pay out bonuses with "toxic" securities has "elicited livid reactions from senior bankers." [WSJ]
• A former Lehman employee has been charged with insider trading. [CNN]
• One person who will profit from the Madoff mess: Bruce Wasserstein. Lazard has been appointed to sell the trading operations of Madoff's company. [WSJ]
• There are two—yes, two—books already in the works about Madoff. [TBS]
