Gucci celebrated the launch of its Tattoo Heart Collection on Wednesday, a line of products that benefits UNICEF. Rihanna, who is the new face of the campaign, was joined Gucci creative director Frida Giannini at a snowflake lighting ceremony at the Grand Army Plaza, which was followed by an event at Gucci's flagship and dinner at the Plaza's Oak Room. Guests included Madonna, Penn Badgley, Blake Lively, Adrian Grenier, Monet Mazur, Timbaland, Mary J. Blige, Erin Wasson, Becki Newton and Chris Diamantopoulos, Kelly Rutherford, Patricia Field, Charlotte Ronson, Shoshanna Lonstein Gruss, Jessica Joffe, Julia Restoin Roitfeld, Mamie Gummer, Eleanor Ylvisaker, Bethenny Frankel, Anja Rubik, Hal Rubenstein, Magnus Berger, Joe Zee, Kelly Killoren Bensimon, Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch, and Maggie Betts. [Style.com, NYO, PMc, Wireimage]

♦ Julia Restoin Roitfeld might call herself a designer, but apparently the fat fees from modeling are hard to resist: She's been cast in the new Mango campaign along with celebuspawn Dakota Johnson Griffith. [WWD]
♦ PR maven Kelly Cutrone may play a hard-nosed bitch on The Hills, but in real life she's all heart: After reading about Marie Conde, who fought with three muggers who snatched her purse, Cutrone collected gifts for the 26-year-old nurse's aide, including Longchamp purses, jewelry, and dinner at the SoHo Grand. [NYP]
♦ During an interview conducted, of course, lying down in a hotel room at Claridge's in London, Diane von Furstenberg is expansive on matters personal (such as her first and only female lover), her "naughtiness" during the seventies, and her political opinions: Barack Obama is "so intelligent and very detached... It gives him perspective." [Telegraph]

♦ Heidi Klum, Adriana Lima, Alessandra Ambrosio, and Karolina Kurkova were just a few of the models who took to the stage in Miami this weekend for the Victoria's Secret show where the company unveiled its latest publicity stunt at the celeb-packed event, the $5 million Black Diamond Fantasy Miracle Bra by jeweler Martin Katz. [Vogue UK, E!, ABC]
♦ Prada is gamely adapting to the economy by launching a new line of purses that are all—gasp—under $1,000. [Nylon]
♦ As if today's tiny fashion victims don't have enough to choose from, Jean Paul Gaultier has inked a licensing deal to make children's clothes. [WWD]
♦ Vanity Fair's fashion department tried to go on a $150,000 shopping spree à la Sarah Palin and discovered it's actually kind of hard to blow that kind of cash. [VF]

♦ Henri Bendel updated its window display this morning to account for the results of the election: "The cocktail-dress-wearing mannequins have been moved over to the blue polling booth, someone cracked a bottle of champagne (and drank it, leaving an empty bottle and glass), and there's a strange, lipstick-edged cake on the floor." [Racked]
♦ While most of the country was consumed by election fever, some fashionistas were all ready en route to support an equally important issue: Brazilian swimwear! The Claro Rio Summer show kicks off in Rio today, and Zani Gugelmann, Amy Sacco, Fiona Scarry, Natalia Vodianova and Justin Portman, and Michael Roberts are all there. [CR, CR, stylefile]

♦ It's just such a relief to know that as the economic situation reaches new levels of bleakness, fashion journalists won't lose sight of what's important: Bows are back! Julia Restoin Roitfeld is the trend's pioneer, on the off chance that you needed persuading. [Grazia]
♦ Not quite as earth-shattering, but still important news: Maggie Gyllenhaal has jumped on the short haircut bandwagon. [Elle UK]
♦ Is the Ice Queen melting? In this heartwarming urban fairy tale, a young fan happens to see Anna Wintour in a store, and he tells her "OMG, I could just cry," but she says, "No, please don't cry," and then has Bee take a picture of the two of them. [Fashionista]

♦ Earning millions as a top international model is apparently getting old for 22-year-old Jessica Stam: She's getting her pilot's license. "Being above everything gives you a natural high," she says. [WWD]
♦ How did Alessandra Facchinetti learn she was getting ousted as Valentino's head designer? She read about it in the press. [WSJ]

♦ Tom Ford would like you to know that he has not had any work done to that stubbly face of his: "I haven't had any plastic surgery—despite what people think, this is my nose... I have had Restylane and Botox, but I don't think of that as plastic surgery any more. It's true I can't really frown, but I can move my eyebrows." Not discussed: Ford's Piven-like hairline. [Guardian]
♦ Kate Moss's lipsticked self-portrait went for £33,600 at auction, while her ex Pete Doherty's self-portrait, also for sale, failed to find a buyer. He can soon look forward to her upstaging him musically, too: Moss has announced she's giving up modeling for music. [Holy Moly!, Now]

♦ As we've heard, the financial crisis isn't stopping the benefit crowd from turning out, and Tuesday night's New Yorkers for Children Annual Fall Gala managed to rake in $1.85 million with the help of Mariska Hargitay, Julianne Moore, Juliana Margulies, Christine and Steve Schwarzman, Andrew Saffir and Daniel Benedict, Campion Platt, Lauren Remington Platt, Annelise Peterson, Adam Lippes, Patti LaBelle, Annie Churchill, Oscar de la Renta, Moises de la Renta, Julie Macklowe, Nancy Jarecki, Hope Atherton, Olivia Palermo, Holly Dunlap, Denise Wohl, Frederic Fekkai, John Demsey, Jeff Zucker, Gillian Hearst Simonds, Kelly Killoren Bensimon, Zac Posen, Lola Schnabel, Tory Burch and Lyor Cohen, Robert and Nanette Lepore, Isabel and Ruben Toledo, Olivia Chantecaille, Gillian and Sylvester Miniter, Julia Restoin Roitfeld (pictured), Zani Gugelmann, Peter Davis, Lydia Fenet, Bettina Zilkha, Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, Dayssi Olarte de Kanavos, Meredith Melling Burke, Muffie Potter Aston, Jamee Gregory, Heather Mnuchin, Aerin Lauder Zinterhofer, Jamie Tisch, Amanda Cutter Brooks, Marjorie Gubelmann, Poppy de Villeneuve, Jennifer Creel, Marina Rust Connor, Sylvana Soto-Ward, Jessica Joffe, Taylor Momsen, Blake Lively, Jimmy Fallon, Kevin Liles, Beyoncé and Jay-Z, Gayle King, Gilles Mendel, Maggie Betts, Topper and Tinsley Mortimer, Monet Mazur and Alex de Rakoff, Joy Bryant, Kelly Klein, Sylvana Soto-Ward, Horacio Silva, Patrick McMullan, Fabiola Beracasa, and Angel Sanchez. [The Daily, Park Ave Peerage, PMc]

1) Of the many fashion parties over the weekend, none was bigger than Calvin Klein's 40th anniversary bash on the High Line last night. Among the fresh-from-Bryant Park faces present: Francisco Costa, Kimora Lee Simmons and Djimon Hounsou, Brooke Shields, Lindsay Price, Kim Raver, Eva Mendes, Halle Berry, Naomi Watts, Ellen Pompeo, Molly Sims, Alan Cumming, Aerin Lauder Zinterhofer, Anna Wintour, Bee Shaffer, Bryan Adams, Bijou Phillips, Claire Danes and Hugh Dancy, Fabien Baron, Ashley Olsen, Cynthia Nixon, Carlos Souza, Linda Fargo, Casey Spooner, Erin Fetherston, Ellen von Unwerth, Estelle, Rachel Zoe, Fern Mallis, Glenda Bailey, Jared Leto, Coco Rocha, Esther Canadas, Joy Bryant, John Leguizamo, Jay Manuel, Julia Restoin Roitfeld, Jessica Szohr, Kevin Bacon, Kelly Killoren Bensimon, Leighton Meester, Lydia Hearst, Martha Stewart, Ethan Hawke, Olivia Chantecaille, Padma Lakshmi, Rosario Dawson and Stephanie Seymour. [NYDN, NYO, PMc, GoaG]

1) One of many Fashion Week kick-off events was the Agyness Deyn-hosted, Thierry Mugler-sponsored bash last night at Christie's, where Chloë Sevigny, Henry Holland, Kelly Osbourne, Peaches Geldof, Yigal Azrouël, Kelly Cutrone, Paul Sevigny, Kate Schelter, Jennifer Creel, Holly Dunlap, Genevieve Jones, Jen Cohen, Dori Cooperman, Ellen Von Unwerth, Padma Lakshmi, and Mary Alice Stephenson previewed the auction house's fall sales of post-war and contemporary art, impressionist and modern art, and fashion. [The Daily, Wireimage, NYO]

1) The final big event of the season was the Robert Wilson-hosted concert benefit at the Watermill Center on Saturday. Rufus Wainwright, Kate, Anna and Martha McGarrigle, and Jessye Norman performed for a crowd including Isabella Rossellini, Calvin Klein, Amanda Hearst, Steven Klein, Daphne Guinness, Patrick McMullan, Bob Colacello, Jamee Gregory, Beth Rudin DeWoody, Luigi Tadini, and Lisa Anastos. [Paper/PMc]

• Michelle Obama wowed fashionistas with the print Thakoon dress she wore last night. [LAT, WWD]
  

• Michael Kors' Gossip Girl appearance? He'll be in the front row of Eleanor Waldorf's (in real life designer Abigail Lorick's) runway show along with Tinsley Mortimer. [NYO]

• The New York fashion scene will soon be bereft when Sean Avery heads off to Texas to join the Dallas Stars. But he'll remain a ubiquitous presence on the city's billboards and buses as one of the models in Gap's fall campaign, which launches today with Liv Tyler, Ginnifer Goodwin, Georgina Chapman, Julia Restoin Roitfeld, Scott Schuman, Leigh Lezark, and Cecilia Dean. [style file/Elle]

• Hold the phones: Liz Claiborne has released a glimpse of Isaac Mizrahi's new collection as creative director—the label! It has a different logo and everything. [WWD]

• The Gap is continuing its practice of using of-the-moment fashion figures in ads: The fall campaign includes Julia Restoin Roitfeld, Georgina Chapman, and Ryan McGinley alongside actual mannequins like Chanel Iman and Lily Donaldson. [Fashionologie]

1) The 303's new gallery in Chelsea was christened last night with a performance by The Virgins and partiers Lisa Spellman, Kirsten Dunst, Matt Creed, Thurston Moore, Serge Becker, Anna Sui, Byrdie Bell, Cynthia Rowley, Poppy de Villeneuve, Genevieve Jones, Julia Restoin-Roitfeld and Magnus Berger (left), Jessica Stam, Marilyn Minter, Sean MacPherson, and Rogan Gregory. [PMc/FWD]

1) After a Tuesday night Cinema Society screening of Transsiberian starring Kate Mara and Emily Mortimer at the Tribeca Grand, host Andrew Saffir, Ann Dexter-Jones, Annabelle Dexter-Jones, Eleanor Ylvisaker, Russell Simmons, and Becca Cason Thrash (who was "exhausted" after "buying from four collections" at the couture shows) went to hotel's Yard to drink themed cocktails and pose for pics. [Park Avenue Peerage/FWD]

• Contrary to breathless reports, Barack Obama was not the inspiration for Donatella Versace's latest collection, which he's probably relieved to hear. [FWD]
  

Contrary to earlier reports, Julia Restoin Roitfeld—who just photographed her younger brother Vladimir for a Rock & Republic campaign—will not be involved in her boyfriend Magnus Berger's magazine venture. Contributors to The Last, whose first issue is planned for September, will however include Genevieve Jones' main gay Derek Blasberg, model Tenzin Wild, and Brazilian photographer Marcelo Krasilcic. "Maybe one day I will contribute," said Julia in an interview, "and I'd love to, but right now I am involved in this project the same way a president's wife supports her husband!" What a sweetly inappropriate analogy.