• Lindsay Lohan's first collection as Emmanuel Ungaro's "creative director" was unveiled at Paris Fashion Week yesterday. And let's just say the reviews weren't overwhelmingly positive. Described as "cheesy," "dated," and "truly hideous," more than a few critics suggested she get back to acting. And the show ended with Lohan in tears, which probably isn't the most auspicious sign. [MSNBC, WWD, WSJ, Daily Mail]
• Chris Noth is engaged to his longtime girlfriend, Tara Wilson. [People]
• In other relationship news, rumor has it Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem are planning to get married, too. [NYDN]
• The David Letterman sex-with-staffers scandal was the butt of plenty of jokes on The Jay Leno Show, Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, and this weekend's SNL, not surprisingly. (Seth Meyers called Robert "Joe" Halderman's alleged $2 million extortion attempt a "stupid human trick.") Meanwhile, a second woman, Holly Hester, was identified as another one of the late night host's hook-ups and the tabloids reported Letterman keeps a "bachelor pad atop the Ed Sullivan Theater," although it might just be an office with a fold-out couch. [Us, NYDN, TMZ]

Have some info you'd like to share? Email us at tips@cityfile.com.

• The club atop Andre Balazs' Standard Hotel won't be known as the Boom Boom Room for much longer. It looks like it will be renamed "QT" instead, possibly because another venue by the same name raised objections. In other Standard news, the as-yet unopened bar across from the Boom Boom Room is going to sport a plunge pool and condom machine. [BlackBook, GS]
• Former Fiamma chef Fabio Trabocchi has been tapped as the new executive chef of the Four Seasons. He's succeeding Christian Albin, who died in June. [NYT]

• Time Inc. is "not for sale," says Time Warner boss Jeff Bewkes. [DF]
• Meanwhile, Time Inc., Condé Nast, and Hearst are looking to team up and create a "Hulu for magazines." Another winning idea, clearly. [FT, ATD]
• Miramax is fast approaching non-existence. Disney, Miramax's parent, is cutting 50 jobs at the company, leaving it with just 20 employees. [NYT]
• The pros and cons to a marriage between Comcast and NBC. [AdAge]
• The Washington Post and Bloomberg are launching a joint news service. [AP]
• TV Guide dismissed several execs yesterday, including its publisher. [NYP]
• Former Warner Bros. and Yahoo! chief Terry Semel was interested in buying the Nets, but he couldn't compete with Russian mogul Mikhail Prokhorov. [P6]
• Will the David Letterman drama ultimately hurt the show's ratings or send skittish advertisers running for the exits? That's unlikely, say observers. [THR]
• The cover of Sarah Palin's forthcoming (and already best-selling) memoir, Going Rogue, has been revealed. Try to contain your excitement. [AP]

Michael Bloomberg's reelection campaign is costing him $15,000 per hour, in case you were wondering. Of course, that's just a drop in the bucket for the richest man in New York. At that rate, he could afford to go on campaigning for the next 133.1 years. [AP]

When Irv Picard makes a promise, he keeps it. A few days ago, the trustee overseeing the Madoff mess said he planned to file a lawsuit against several other members of the Madoff clan—including Bernie's brother, two sons, and niece—for treating the family firm like a "piggy bank." And today he delivered, filing an action in federal bankruptcy court seeking the return of $199 million.

Michelle Obama has been beloved by the fashion community since the early days of the 2008 campaign, as you're probably well aware. But she's now in danger of losing a fan in Tim Gunn. It seems the First Lady made the disastrous decision to wear a pair of crocs a few weeks ago and the Project Runway host isn't having any of it. On the Bonnie Hunt Show yesterday, Gunn started off by saying he was prepared to give Michelle the benefit of the doubt just this once. "I'm trying to look at this positively," he says. "I'm trying to think she was doing a footwear experiment. And she's decided to put them aside."

So much for those reports about the economy showing signs of improvement. According to the Labor Department, the unemployment rate climbed to 9.8 percent in September, which is the highest it's been since 1983. Even more depressing: 7.2 million jobs have been lost since the recession began, which represents the biggest decline since the Great Depression. The good news? If you're fortunate enough to have a job, chances are you aren't spending nearly as much time there as you used to. The average work week for American workers—33 hours—now stands at a record low. [Bloomberg, WSJ]

The jury deciding the fate of Brooke Astor's son, Anthony Marshall, and Francis X. Morrissey Jr., the lawyer who handled her estate planning, has been at it for nearly a week now. (So much for those experts who promised deliberations would take an hour or two.) So it's no surprise that everyone connected to the case is pretty worn out and frustrated by now. But how is Marshall, himself, "coping with the uncertainty" that seems to be slowly driving everyone crazy? Pretty well, actually: "At one point last week, Mr. Marshall lay asleep on a wooden bench in the hallway outside the courtroom with a newspaper over his face." [NYT]

Jude Law heading to lunch at August on Bleecker Street with his assistant, Ben Jackson ... Eva Mendes and Will Ferrell shooting scenes for The Other Guys on Staten Island ... Kate Hudson going to lunch at Bar Pitti with son Ryder and A-Rod ... Kim Kardashian arriving at JFK, and later leaving the Ritz-Carlton in Midtown ... Taylor Momsen standing on the set of Gossip Girl in Chinatown ... Scarlett Johansson walking to the gym with Ryan Reynolds ... and Ed Westwick eating lunch at Tortilla Flats with Jessica Szohr and his parents.

Former Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain is no friend of Ken Lewis, the outgoing chief executive of Bank of America. Thain worked with Lewis last year to engineer the merger of Merrill and BofA, but was kicked to the curb shortly after the deal was complete and almost instantly turned into the fall guy for the messy merger, at least in the version of events that Lewis recounted to analysts, reporters, and government officials.

• A month after he received two offers on his Olympic Tower pad, Nic Cage has gone into contract to sell the 3,550-square-feet apartment. The 48th-floor condo, which Cage bought in 2004-5 for $5.5 million, had been most recently listed for $9.75 million. [WSJ, BHS]
• Well, that was fast. Houston Rockets owner Leslie Alexander has put his penthouse at the Superior Ink building back on the market less than one week after buying it for $25 million. The 6,321-square-foot apartment is now listed with broker Dolly Lenz for a whopping $39.5 million. [Curbed, PDE]
• Artist Bruce Robbins has dropped the price of his three-bedroom loft at 43 Clarkson Street for the second time since first listing it for $4.895 million back in 2008. The 2,800-square-foot apartment, which is located in the same building where fellow artist Julian Schnabel once lived, is listed with Elliman's Darren Sukenik for $3.249 million. [Cityfile, PDE]

Remember Ronald Tackman, the career criminal who was awaiting sentencing on fraud charges the other day, but who managed to slip out of court because he was dressed in a three-piece suit and officers assumed he was a lawyer? Tackman is back behind bars today; the police arrested him in Washington Heights last night. But his escape has already had an impact on the city's criminal justice system. As of today, Rikers Island inmates who are considered escape risks "are to be outfitted in bright orange jumpsuits whenever they travel from the jail to court." [NYT]

It's been a tough year for Annie Leibovitz, but maybe she can start fresh from here on out? The financially challenged photographer turns 60 today. Others celebrating: designer Donna Karan is turning 61. Kelly Ripa turns 39. Lorraine Bracco is 55. Sting is 58. Actress Camilla Belle is turning 23. '80s pop star Tiffany is 37. And two of Hugh Hefner's latest girlfriends, Karissa and Kristina Shannon, are turning 20. A roundup of a few people celebrating birthdays this weekend—including Al Sharpton and Liev Schreiber—is below.

• Kanye West and Lady Gaga's "Fame Kills" tour has been canceled. Was it because of Kanye's little incident at the VMAs? Because tickets weren't selling? No one's saying, although the name of the tour was pretty prophetic, wasn't it? [TMZ, NYDN]
• Kate Hudson isn't a huge hit with Yankee players' wives and girlfriends: "Kate acts like she and Alex [Rodriguez] are married, and no one gets it," said a source. "It strikes them as odd, and it seems suspicious." [MSNBC]
• Lauren Conrad has admitted she can't act. Really. "I think my acting is offensive!" she says. "I'm an awful actor, I'm not super comfortable with it." This it all very true, of course. But points for honesty! [People]
• In a new series of ads for her line of leggings, 6126, Lindsay Lohan can be seen modeling with a stripper pole. Naturally. [NYDN, Daily Mail]

As you may have heard by now, David Letterman took some time out of his show last night to describe how a man tried to shake him down recently, threatening to reveal that the married Letterman had slept with several women on his staff unless he agreed to fork over $2 million. Letterman contacted the authorities and testified before a grand jury yesterday, and the man—who happens to be a producer for CBS News' 48 Hours—was later arrested. But the really awkward part came when Letterman went on the air to describe the extortion attempt to his millions of viewers, and concede that he has been involved with women on his show, a confession he played for laughs at times, leaving the audience wondering at times whether they were supposed to be laughing or not. A clip of the weirdest ten minutes of David Letterman's career is below.

Bravo revealed today that it's giving Christian Siriano his own reality show which will feature the season 4 winner of Project Runway as "he sets up a new shop and markets his clothing line." Last night, however, Siriano was at Juliet, Todd English's new supper club in Chelsea, where he attended Moskova Affair, a party to celebrate the launch of Stoli's newest flavor of vodka, Gala Applik. As Jessica Szohr, Chace Crawford, Kelly Bensimon, and Richie Rich took in a performance by The Vau de Vire Society, an "acrobatic and aerial avant cabaret troupe," nightlife reporter Douglas Marshall took a moment to chat with the designer/realty TV personality (pictured here with his boyfriend, Brad Walsh) about New York's nightlife scene and how many gays it takes to make a venue too gay.

• Comcast denied the rumors yesterday, but it now appears the cable giant is involved in talks to take a controlling stake in NBC Universal. [NYT, NYT]
• It hasn't been smooth sailing for Jay Leno since his primetime show debuted—ratings have been slipping and the critical buzz has been lousy—but now it looks like NBC has another problem to worry about: CBS and ABC have both been actively discouraging their stars from appearing on the show. [LAT]
• Bravo reports it's developing solo series for three of its reality TV stars: Bethenny Frankel, Christian Siriano and Top Chef's Fabio Viviani. [Variety]
• Meanwhile, Logo is casting its gay version of the Real Housewives. [Gawker]
• Maybe the magazine industry isn't dead, after all: American Media plans to launch a new bridal title in early 2010 called Shapebride. [WWD]

This hasn't been a very good year for Ira Rennert, the shadowy tycoon who built a fortune by scooping up steel, magnesium, coal, and lead companies around the world. Rennert reportedly lost $100-$200 million by investing his money with Bernie Madoff (although considering the new installment of the Forbes 400 lists his net worth at $4 billion, it's not like he's going to have to start panhandling anytime soon). Today, however, there's a bit of good news for Rennert: According to Zillow.com, Rennert's ridiculously massive house in the Hamptons once again takes top honors for being the largest home in the U.S. Don't believe it? A few photos of Rennert's 66,395-square-foot, 29-bed, 39-bath Italianate mansion are below.

Outgoing Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis has $53 million in pension benefits waiting for him when he leaves. [Fortune]