Thom Browne

>> Thom Browne took his menswear show from New York to Paris this past June, but he's returning to New York Fashion Week in February — in a different capacity. Browne plans to stage his first proper women's show for Fall 2011: “I’m ready now, I know what to do. The show will be very much like my men’s wear ones — not traditional.” Regardless of the fact that he will be showing in two different cities — Paris for men's and New York for women's — he explained: “There’s no disconnect — and it all starts with a tailored point of view.” [WWD]

>> Thom Browne has dabbled in womenswear in the past — he sold a capsule collection at Barneys in 2007 and 2008, and his made-to-measure business caters to a coterie of female clients — but for Fall, he's designed a small collection to be sold at Barneys, Colette, 10 Corso Come Seoul, and his own shop.

“This time I have more time to focus on it,” Browne told WWD of the relaunch. “For September, it will be a bit bigger than before, with more styles within the categories, but very focused. In the next couple seasons it will become a fully developed collection . . . This is something I really want to do and Cross [which owns a majority stake in Browne's company] is definitely supportive. I want to develop it the same way men’s developed — small at first, and evolving slowly.”

Is a runway show in the future? »

>> Anna Wintour walked out to David Letterman's couch last night, Madonna's "Vogue" playing in the background, wearing Carolina Herrera and her trademark sunglasses — she subsequently took them off to give Dave a hard time about his socks, referring him to Thom Browne, since the designer's elevated pant hemlines show off a man's socks.

She definitely brought her witty side out last night — when Letterman asked if it was a fair assessment to say she's bigger than what she does for a living, she referred to Maureen Dowd's recent column:  “I read in the New York Times this week that I'm an ice queen, I'm the Sun King, I'm an alien fleeing from District 9 and I'm a dominatrix. So I reckon that makes me a lukewarm royalty with a whip from outer space.  What do you think?"

Later, Letterman compared fashion models on the runway to "beautiful women who look like the Neptunians have released them. But nobody buys that stuff, do they? Is somebody walking around like they’re from Neptune?”  Wintour laughed: "Lots of people. I'm an alien, remember?"

She suppressed giggles after the clip from The September Issue in which she berates Vogue style director Elissa Santisi was played, and chastises Letterman for calling her last-minute to appear on the show.  When he asked if The Devil Wears Prada was made about her, she was coy: “Well, I seem to remember that actually the movie was a work of fiction and we really like fiction at Vogue.”  When prompted about what percentage of decisions she makes at the magazine, she replies: "100 percent." And when Letterman notes that The September Issue leaves Vogue seeming as if it's run by people his age, she quips: "Vogue is not only run by senior citizens."

Videos: The full interview! »

>> New York Fashion Week is still over a month away, but Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week just released its official calendar today and the Fashion Calendar — which shows all of the shows not included in the Bryant Park festivities — has appeared online, so we can get an idea of what will be going down in that crazy time period between Sept. 9 and Sept. 17.

Despite the industry's economic doldrums, a few designers are adding an extra show for Spring 2010 — Ralph Lauren is upgrading from two showings to three in his usual morning-of-the-last-day spot; Phillip Lim is following in close friend Richard Chai's footsteps, doing a two separate shows this season, one for men's and one for women's, rather than combining them like he usually does; and Thom Browne, who chose to show his Fall 2009 collection in Florence instead of at New York Fashion Week, is back on the schedule with not one but two shows.

Vladimir Restoin-Roitfeld is hosting an event again »

London-based designer Marios Schwab will become the creative director at Halston effective July 1st. His first collection at the helm will be Fall 2010. 

The team at POP just launched a new website for the magazine, which promises to be full of original content. 

Gap plans to launch online stores in Canada and the U.K. by 2010, followed by Japan in 2011. They will also open stores in six new countries this year. 

Thom Browne's skirt suit might not have sold out at its original price of $4,370 but on Gilt Groupe, it flew off the shelf.