In advance of New York Fashion Week, the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) did indeed issue a svelte two-page set of guidelines for the care and feeding of skinny models. Actually it's just one page, as the second page is dedicated to bios for the issuing committee. Predictably enough, the guidelines themselves are thin, bony, toothless, lethargic, and anemic. (Rumors that the CDFA guidelines were spotted puking up a lunchtime garden salad in the ladies' room may be exaggerated.) It's all about a "campaign of awareness," as opposed to the (curl lip in disgust) "policing" of model body weight. The committee that developed the guidelines included various fashionistas (e.g. Diane von Furstenburg) and their pet health professionals; strangely, though Vogue's Anna Wintour is mentioned in a few press reports, she didn't make it into the final committee roster. Look for her on the front lines of the awareness campaign for February's pre-Fashion Week public skinniness discussion/publicity event.

Beware, skinny bitches! After London, Madrid, and Sydney, it appears New York's Fashion Week may be the next to fall to fat-friendly forces. As always, note that when we say "fat" in this context, we mean "not painfully emaciated." Equipped with a new president, the Council of Fashion Designers of America will be issuing guidelines on too-thin models ahead of Fashion Week casting in February. (Asked about this issue, the previous CFDA prez said he "wouldn't touch it with a 10-foot pole.") Likely brought into sharp relief by the recent anorexia deaths in South America, the skinny debate, the situation may force even Karl Lagerfeld may have to hire a few fleshy types in 2007.

Technically only one actual Brazilian model has died so far — Ana Carolina Reston, shown here, who succumbed to anorexia-related infections after her tomato-apple diet kept only 88 pounds on her 5'8" frame. (This beat out the August death of Uruguay's model Luisel Ramos, 98 pounds at 5'9", who lived on "lettuce leaves and Diet Coke.") But three other young non-model Brazilian ladies have died from hyper-thinness in the last few weeks, causing the unwelcome sight of "awareness" rearing its ugly fat head among the international fashion set. Supposedly, Giorgio Armani's agents in Sao Paulo had even complained that Reston was "too thin," making Armani a veritable weight crusader in his field. Sao Paulo Fashion Week has no plans to adopt the draconian health requirements of Madrid Fashion Week, though they promise to only use emaciated girls age 16 or older. Progress marches on.

As if you needed reminding, Gawker is spending the week corralling media moles, the poor, pissed-on peons of the "glamorous" world that is New York media. Share your personal tale of bad behavior with us and become eligible for a prize that will only be tolerable due to the participation of foul-mouthed Post gossip Paula Froelich (or the rumored non-participation of Gawker editor Alex Balk). This morning's installment comes from the world of fashion; specifically, the world of Fashion Week, an event staged primarily for the snack-and-yack segment of the twiterati. After the jump, a stylist to the stars turns out to be - against all odds - something of a douchebag.

• On the scene at 72nd Street yesterday, Anderson Cooper looked just like a real reporter. Even off-camera, he's always in character. Intensity! [Flickr]
• Ellen Barkin is finally free of those troublesome jewels, netting herself over $20 million. Her 22.76-carat diamond ring was responsible for $1.8 million of that. Jesus, people — do you know how many African babies you could buy for that kind of money? [The Daily]
• Oh thank you, merciful God: Fashion Week is allowed to stay in Bryant Park. [Papierblog]
• If Ugly Betty is just too, well, ugly for you, don't give up: Fox TV Studios has bought the rights to The Devil Wears Prada and is developing it into a half-hour comedy series. From what we can tell, Lauren Weisberger is not involved in any way, so we've no objections to this new development. [Dark Horizons]
• YouTube hates vaginas. [The Apiary]
• So does the Tokion conference, for that matter. [Wooster Collective]
• Page Six's star map: a rousing success! [Star Map]
• That NYU tuition goes towards making porn available in an academic environment. [The Reeler]
• Con Ed finally places blame for July's massive blackout: not their fault. It was fate, they swear. [Crain's]
• Good, clean fun with gerbils. [Google Video]
• And finally, just because, our favorite lede of the day: "A woman has suffered severe burning to her anus after being struck by lightning which hit her in the mouth and passed right through her body." [News.com.au]

As a final farewell to Paris Fashion Week, which brought us the runway debut of "Velvet d'Amour's" monolithic talents for designer Jean Paul Gaultier as well as Karl Lagerfeld's dislike of fat French chicks, we present the climactic offering from oddball clothier Hussein Chalayan. It's a pretty funky hat, to be sure, but the real NSFW sizzle of the ensemble awaits after the jump.

Screw you, Karl Lagerfeld! Yep, we totally ran this with no warning, and no "after the jump," or anything. It's Jean Paul Gaultier's comment on the skinny model debate, as seen in the Daily Mail's coverage of Paris Fashion Week. Yowza.

We don't see anorexic (girls). The girls are skinny. They have skinny bones.

I think it's discrimination [to ban underweight models]. We are skinny, this is our work. There are lots of overweight people working in offices but I'm not going to say "This girl is fat, she can't work in an office."

When he wasn't busy blacking up Kate Moss for his editorial stint on Britain's Independent, designer and disembodied head/hand Giorgio Armani found time to weigh in — get it! — on the thin/fat model teapot-tempest that continues to rage. Well, maybe "rage" isn't the right word. Armani certainly plays the peacemaker, dismissing complainers as alarmists who "exaggerate the problem." And even though he admits his models have always been on "the slender side" (because his clothes must "hang correctly on the body"), the anorexic model trend ain't nothin' to do with him. As counter-example, Armani even takes time to gingerly trod on Gianni Versace's grave, all but calling his dead competitor a chubby chaser. The article's behind the Independent's subscription wall, so we present it for your delectation after the jump.

An item yesterday gave an account of how fashion publicist Kelly Cutrone of People's Revolution, unhappy with a Sydney Morning Herald gossip item about two of her clients, banned SMH journalist and blogger Patty Huntington from all of her clients' shows. Cutrone posted fliers (right) instructing staff to keep Huntington out of the Jeremy Scott show; she then called Huntington and told the writer that she would make it her mission to interfere with "the rest of [Huntington's] journalistic career," and, for extra measure, Cutrone would sue, as her father is a high-powered lawyer. Masterful PR work, that.

Even though it rarely has much in the way of bothersome words, we regularly return to the Confessions of a Casting Director blog just for the endless procession of candid model photos, all with the same neutral, medicated expression. Many of these snapshots would not look out of place accompanying a ransom note and a small, severed body part. One wrapup gallery of favorites from Fashion Week is particularly striking; COCAD dubs them the MySpace model generation, since they are "a bit wiser, a bit cooler and a bit real. They are a bit shorter, a bit smaller and a bit skinnier. They know the fashion, they know the magazines and they know the internet." Thank God someone is coming to the defense of even skinnier models here in the USA, unlike the porkers taking over in Spain and Australia. Ah, but they also know the Internet. Just look into the eyes of "Darla." She's wise. She's seen things, man. She's only "a bit" real, though. And unfortunately, as a MySpace model, she's the property of Rupert Murdoch.

As our final Fashion Week farewell gift, enjoy this clip from Project Runway contesant Zulema Griffin's show. Thrill to models just drippin' with 'tude. Why, one even flips off a photographer! Such sass. Also included: Bored runway watchers slacking their jaws, checking their Blackberries, checking their watches, and apparently doing the crossword. Bonus drunk-o-vision clip of the pre-party here.

Now that Bryant Park has returned to its natural state of refuge for cubicle bees on their breaks, we can look back on Fashion Week with a fond eye and remember the people who make it all possible, like People's Revolution flack Kelly Cutrone, who represents a number of popular, edgy designers and oversees a considerable handful of shows.

• Lindsay Lohan pays her fifth visit to the ER this year, having fractured her wrist in two places after slipping and falling in her Chanel boots. So much for being Karl Lagerfeld's BFF. [Us Weekly]
• Mel Gibson emerges to walk his only daughter down the aisle. If she'd married a Jew, however, he'd just have stayed home. [TMZ]
• Alec Baldwin tells GQ that ex-wife Kim Basinger's unkind words about him were so awful, he wanted to die. Calling the guy Saddam Hussein really cuts to the quick. [Page Six]
• A second autopsy is still inconclusive about the cause of death for Anna Nicole Smith's late son, Daniel. He was taking anti-depressants (wouldn't you?), though there's nothing to indicate a suicidal overdose. [R&M (bottom)]
• Bruce Willis will say just about anything so that you don't call him a Republican. [Lowdown]
• Mary-Kate Olsen protects her mystery dirtbag boyfriend from the Richards sisters' vaginas by aggressively sucking face at Bungalow. [Page Six]

Fake writer James Frey has been slowly reintroducing himself into society, emerging from the Tribeca loft he shares with his wife and daughter to attend a select few chic events hosted by artists or VH1. As part of the progression of returning to some semblance of public life, Frey allowed his wife, Maya, to drag him to the front row of Cynthia Rowley's show last Thursday, where the two were subjected to the rote "who are you wearing?" drill, courtesy of the Observer. Frey himself was decked in Lacoste, Hanes, J. Crew, and Adidas. Modestly attired, more or less (save for his street-cred friendly Tiffany earrings). The cheerful Mrs. Frey, however, was more upscale, sporting Prada and Hermes. Obviously, a marriage fractured by the tension of widespread disgrace and embarrassment isn't anything a generous shopping allowance can't fix.

• Fashion Week simply cannot go by without at least one perceived drama; dowdy City Hall folks are urging Hizzoner to terminate 7th on Sixth's lease on Bryant Park because the circus is too disruptive. Obviously, these opponents are very jealous and incredibly ugly. [Page Six]
• Meanwhile, Paris Hilton changes clothes between shows in her chauffered Bentley, where the driver gets an eyeful of our national nightmare. [Gatecrasher (3rd item)]
• Also? She's a retard. [TMZ]
• Jimmy Fallon gets drunk, acts like an ass in front of a bunch of lesbians. [R&M (bottom of page)]
• Sarah Michelle Gellar steals black Chanel nail polish. So bad ass, so street. [Lowdown]
• Your tax dollars keep Brangelina safe. [Us Weekly]
• We know you mean well, but OMG GEORGE CLOONEY STFU. [AP]

• Katie Couric's first week is accompanied by her first blog, a rambling, 10000-word treatment on the importance of being perky, complete with Karen Carpenter lyrics. Congrats, Katie. You're really done something. [Couric & Co.]
• Kazakhastan is now denying that Borat will be a topic during meetings with the U.S. This is just fantastic, isn't it? An international debate on whether or not a fictional character will be discussed at a diplomatic summit. No wonder the terrorists hate us. [The Blotter]
• If JK Rowling has to give up the manuscript for the final Harry Potter book, then the terrorists really have won. [BBC]
• Fashion Week is all about luxurious balls. [Coutorture]
• Lydia Hearst fashion porn: scary, and yet we can't look away. [Bastardly]
• Path to 9/11 producers depict American Airways personnel cheerfully letting Mohammad Atta on the plane; it was actually cheerful US Airways personnel who did so, and it's going to cost ABC some advertising dollars. [Consumerist]
• Jay McInerney has yet to master the art of walking while tipsy. You'd think, but you'd be wrong. [Belle in the Big Apple]
• Sure is hard to make friends in this town. [NYP]
• Watching a blogger get his first death threat is like watching your child take his first steps. He's not our baby, but we're still proud of him. [Goldenfiddle]
• Read the New Yorker and live to be 102. Yay, ancient people! Yay, Conde Nast! [EmDashes]
• Critics still really, RILLY love The Wire. [Test Pattern]
• Drinking = money. No, really. Rejoice! [AP]

• Whitney Houston files for divorce from her husband Bobby Brown, citing irreconciable differences over crack consumption and constipation relief. [Access Hollywood]
• Atoosa Rubenstein, editor of Seventeen and beautiful orchid lady, wears sunglasses because she's an urban warrior. You know, like Mel Gibson in Mad Max. Mel, Atoosa. Atoosa, Mel. [Slate]
• On 9/11, tragedy strikes Fashion Week as a Proenza Schouler mannequin falls. Don't bother with the tower metaphor, please. [Yahoo]
• You just know this guy is fucking Patrick McDonald [NYM]
• Meet CBS' new "wireless hostess," who will guide you through the CBS digital environment and, once you're done with that, help you rub one out. [TV.com]
• Anna Nicole Smith's son definitely did not die of a heart attack, but the coroner's going to cocktease this one as much as possible. [TMZ]
• W. schedules meeting to discuss crisis in Darfur and Borat threat. [Daily Mail]
• In other news from yesterday's primary, State Senator Ada Smith appears to have lost her bid for re-election. We'd stay out of Starbucks for the next couple weeks. [NYT]
• Media "would like a do-over" on its WMD reporting. Our dead and limbless soldiers presumably feel the same way. [On the Media]
• Paris Hilton skanks down the Heatherette runway. Not content to assault just your eyes, she did so to her own music, too. [Animal]

• Former Maxim UK editor and HuffPo devilkin Greg Gutfeld hits fashion week; misses Tuleh, but looks fabulous nonetheless. [Radar]
• Meanwhile, when the fashion establishment acknowledges bloggers and lets the pasty kids into the tents, it's good for the internerds — but with every blog post, the allure of the chic plummets. Who wants to wear a label that's accessible, for chrissakes?! [WSJ]
• An insider on the Today show's new set, to be unveiled tomorrow: "It reminded me of the Fortress of Solitude from Superman." [TVNewser]
• Describing Demi Moore with her "legs spread like Liza doing a Fosse work-out" is a really disgusting choice of words, timing-wise. [National Post]
• Living in a post-Crocodile Hunter world means STINGRAY RAGE. No, seriously. [Times UK]
• Johnnie Walker advertises in Beirut, but they really could've taken it a bit further and articulated the point. [Animal]
• Anna Nicole Smith's son seems to have died of unnatural causes. We'll keep the inappropriate jokes about Trimspa to ourselves, thanks. [TMZ]
• You've always known that celebrities are more narcissitic than the average American, but now there's scientific proof. [LAT]