♦ Zac Posen posted a 15-second video online urging people to vote for Obama. Also: He'd really like you to dress for the occasion. "I think blue obviously is the color of choice, and red is a good accent color." Duly noted! [WWD]
♦ Anna Wintour choked up? We can't contemplate the thought. [Unbeige]
♦ Bravo has no less than five new fashion reality shows in the works. [The Cut]
♦ Sarah Jessica Parker has no less than three fragrances to promote these days—Dawn, Endless and Twilight. [WWD]
♦ Chanel creative director (and part-time Vermont resident) Karl Lagerfeld has unveiled Chanel Unlimited, a newline of bags and accessories. [Vogue UK]

It is true, as the Times magazine will tell everyone Sunday, that Bravo has put a distinctly urbane stamp on the schlocky genre of reality television, taking "contestants off primitive islands and placing them squarely in sophisticated corners of cities like New York and Los Angeles." The NBC Universal cable network has transmitted a winking, insidery sensibility through shows like Project Runway and Top Chef — and still made the programs look somehow effortless. This natural poise, Bravo Media chief Lauren Zalaznick must have anticipated, was bound to be undermined by the Times' profile of her, which pulls back the corporate curtains to reveal Zalaznick, in the mold of all television executives, as something of a frenzied grasper. Writer Susan Dominus' 16-page story includes this memorable scene of Zalaznick demanding to be kept up on trends:

♦ A first look at Charlotte Ronson's line for JCPenney, I Heart Ronson, and her new $30 dresses. [Nylon]
♦ Details on the cuts at Men's Vogue: The mag will be published just two times next year and publisher Marc Berger is leaving. The fate of other staffers is unclear. [Mediaweek]
♦ Damien Hirst's latest collaboration with Levi's includes pairs of jeans for $230 and $83 t-shirts. [WWD]
♦ Plastic surgeons report interest in cosmetic procedures is dropping fast. [NYT]

The most unintentionally hilarious video we've seen all day: This clip from the good folks at WCAX in Burlington, Vermont, who have been all over the arrival of Karl Lagerfeld in nearby Grand Isle. Karl purchased a home in the neighborhood a couple of months ago and this week he's using it for a Chanel shoot. And while some of the locals aren't entirely sure what to make of the ponytailed fashion icon in their midst ("It's hardly weather for sunglasses," the station's reporter observes), Mandy Hotchkiss, the owner of the Blue Paddle Bistro, is pretty excited. She's catering the shoot! Even Loomis Bean, Karl's new next-door neighbor, is willing to concede that having Karl in town is more exciting than duck hunting and fishing! [WCAX via The Cut]

♦ Armani has signed Victoria Beckham to appear in the new campaign for Emporio Armani underwear. You'll have to wait until spring '09 to see the Mert and Marcus-shot ads. [WWD]
♦ He's not crazy, he's just, uh, spiritual: Elton John apparently only eats off Versace crockery because he believes "the designer's spirit lives in every plate." [NYP via Racked]
♦ Narciso Rodriguez doesn't talk about his recent split with Liz Claiborne, but he does share a bit about his forthcoming book which will be published by Rizzoli later this month. [stylefile]
♦ Finally! Nicole Richie's jewelry line is now on sale. [The Cut]

Barack Obama t-shirts remain really popular in Union Square Park. (Just a few of the lines you can have emblazoned on your chest: "Obama for yo mama," "Barack's How I Roll," and "Bark for Obama.") Most are on sale for $20. Of course, if you're still searching for an Obama tee that summarizes your political beliefs, you can also just wait a week and pick one up for $0.50 on Ebay. [Urbanite]

Isaac Mizrahi appeared on CNN yesterday to promote his new book, How to Get Style. When a CNN anchor asked the designer about how the First Lady fashion has evolved over the years, Mizrahi used it as an opportunity to gush about how fabulous it will be to have Michelle Obama in the White House: "The First Lady that I'm thinking about is a smart and stylish person," he starts. "I don't think it's a moment to be flashy and way glamorous if you're the First Lady, but I don't think Michelle Obama will disappoint. She's going to be gorgeous." And how about Cindy McCain? Isaac has no interest in even contemplating such a horrible thought, thank you very much. Video after the jump.

It's been three years since Tom Ford announced plans to
make movies, but it looks like Ford will soon get a chance to take a seat in a canvas (gasp!) director's chair and scream at terrified PAs on the set of a major motion picture. His production company, Fade to Black, is set to start filming A Single Man in Los Angeles early next month, starring Colin Firth, Julianne Moore and Matthew Goode. [WWD]

After it was revealed that she doesn't write her own column for Page Six Magazine, socialite and self-styled "Freelance Journalist" Lydia Hearst took to her Facebook to announce she would devote her "eighteen-hour days" to a "new beginning." What will this fresh new start for the model entail? She's not really sure, but it's going to be awesome, because anything can happen in New York. After all, Krispy Kreme donuts were invented here!

Lesley Stahl of 60 Minutes has a new gig: She's promoting Little Barrel, a line of "clothing based on the love of drinking wine." The company was apparently founded by Stahl's daughter and neckties with images of little wine glasses go for $75. The site's tag line? "Enhance your vineyard lifestyle." [Fox News]

Once upon a time if a reality TV star was lucky enough to be granted a full 15 minutes of fame, he or she would grab every single money-making opportunity, regardless of where it came from. But Christian Siriano, the diminutive winner of Project Runway season 4, catchphrase coiner, and assymmetric haircut standard-bearer, represents a new breed: He's not for sale to just anyone. Well, not quite.

Promoting his new women's perfume White Patchouli, Tom Ford reflects on his decades in the fashion industry and dismisses suggestions that his success is only made possible by his being an impossible diva: "I don't think I'm a megalomaniac," he starts off. "Do I throw tantrums? Yes. But more with Richard [Buckley, his boyfriend] at home if he's forgotten to buy milk." [Times UK]

Sarah Palin has finally gotten around to addressing the $150,000 worth of clothing purchased for her by the RNC. The aspiring veep now says that $50,000 worth of clothes was returned after the convention, and another third "remains unwrapped and packed in the belly of the vice presidential candidate's campaign plane." She'd also like people to know that she's so frugal, she normally shops at consignment stores. Her favorite? It's in Anchorage and it's called "Out of the Closet." [Fox News]

When NBC Universal poached executive producers from TV fashion competition Project Runway in May, we wrote the move would "enable [NBC's] Bravo to create something very similar to Runway," which producer Harvey Weinstein was in the midst of moving to Lifetime. That seems to be precisely what has happened, per a Bravo casting call on Craigslist for "talented designers where the winner will win a large cash prize." The likes of Weinstein are none too happy that NBC is moving ahead with a copycat show while the Weinstein Company is enjoined by court order from doing anything with Runway. Poor Harvey is going to get clobbered! Says Page Six:

♦ André Leon Talley has joined the chorus of disapproval over Sarah Palin's wardrobe budget: "Wal-Mart hockey moms would never spend $150,000 on clothing." Then again, he's not so unhappy with what he's seen so far: "I thought that she was totally pro-Jackie in that knit suit." [The Cut]
♦ Meanwhile, that Louis Vuitton bag that Palin's daughter, Piper, was spotted with? It was quite likely a fake. [Fashionista]
♦ In tribute to Richard Blackwell, the UK Sun does its own worst-dressed list, honoring Rachel Zoe, Britney Spears, and Sharon Stone. [The Sun]
♦ The "luxury mall" in the basement of the Plaza has opened. [NYO]

The line on Sarah Palin's $150,000 shopping spree is that it, uh, hurts her blue collar cred. It's not very "Joe the Plumber" to spend more than three times the median American household income on a month's worth of clothes from elitist high-end stores. The woman's Real American authenticity has been her best asset, but that huge number, those receipts, the stores, all of those shocked everyone. Because she still looks exactly the same! Which is why this story isn't as simple as it's been painted. She's not beer heiress Cindy McCain pretending to be a woman of the people (which Cindy has obviously never done)—Palin was handed a blank check to go shopping, and she shopped exactly like a typical upper-middle class suburban mom would've shopped. And all the criticisms of her shopping are actually elitist! Seriously! Always hilarious Washington Post fashion critic Robin Givhan wrote all about Sarah Palin's "exceptionally ordinary" style just last month.

Everyone is extremely worked up about Sarah Palin's $150,000-per-month quest for the most elite finery in the land. Republican donors, for example, are upset their money is being spent so ostentatiously. (Just wait until they find out how much of the money is going to gay fashion moguls!) Lawyers and accountants are talking tax liability. But how much are "Hollywood" Barack Obama and wife Michelle spending on their radical chic? Well, you can start with a $1,500 suit for Barack, which contains an opulent 3 percent cashmere and comes from "the largest suitmaker in the United States," And as conservative blog Town Hall reveals, via Wonkette, Michelle may have spent tens of dollars more (or less, depending on whether she accessorizes properly):

♦ 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]

That's Piper Palin, Alaskan governor and vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin's 7-year-old daughter. In her hand is a $790 monogram Louis Vuitton handbag. That's over a hundred dollars per year of lil' Pipe's life! So maybe part of her mom's $150,000 Neiman Marcus shopping spree was picking up sweet ass designer shit for her chic and worldly seven-year-old. Or maybe Piper just saved her allowance for a real, real long time. Orrr... heh. It's fake. Who knows! [via Deceiver]

[The actress at a fashion show for her girlfriend Samantha's sister, Charlotte Ronson, yesterday; image via Splash] Meg's new line beats the original, Lindsay Lohan Encourages You To Keep Looking At Her.