The Buzz
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 Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson have gone on a "private holiday" because we couldn't all fit on the jet plane and also they have stuff to talk about. But hey KStew! — anything you have to say to Robert, you can say in front of us. [CelebDirtyLaundry]
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Lady Gaga and Thierry Mugler are still like *this* so watch out for her, Paris Fashion Week junkies! [Fashionologie]
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Martha Stewart wants you to know she's totally close with Blake Lively, which is why she planned her wedding. Or something. [AmyGrindhouse]
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If you don't want to have undereye circles, you don't have to have undereye circles okay? [BellaSugar]
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Emma Watson wore a dress with her pants because she had a nasty bed bug infestation and all her tops are still at the dry cleaners. [FabSugar]
image: WENN.com
 Paris Fashion Week has officially begun but it won't really begin until Raf Simons shows his Dior Ready-to-Wear debut collection this Friday. As WWD observed in its front page feature this morning, the Paris fashion story belongs to the two newcomers on the scene: Simons and his "Saint Laurent" (which we're still, I think, allowed to call "YSL" for short) counterpart, Hedi Slimane, will both present collections that stand as new beginnings for two iconic Paris fashion houses. The upcoming shows are as highly anticipated as a cigarette is to a chain smoker after a twelve hour nonstop flight. We are all shaking for it.
All this pressure can't be contained, and it's seeped out into the rest of the Paris fashion scene. Alber Elbaz of Lanvin, for example, isn't nervous about the pretty new girl that threatens to oust his Queen Bee status: “You know, I’m not a jealous person. I’m only jealous of people who can eat and don’t gain weight." But he's not exactly checking his ambition at the door: "It motivates all of us to work harder and find solutions."
Simons seems too busy designing clothes and being a darling to play any head games with his fellow French designers, but Slimane's debut was never going to be all about the clothes. Not only did the former Dior Homme designer change YSL's name once he took the helm at the legendary brand, he also relocated it to Los Angeles and wasted a lot of breath talking up his big changes to the press. He allegedly also fired the manager of the YSL boutique in Los Angeles when the employee didn't recognize his new boss on sight. Slimane has a ruthless streak which is for sure going haywire in the days leading up to his Saint Laurent debut. According to WWD, the designer's booked a whole crop of brand new models to walk exclusively on his catwalk. And Fashionista separately reports that they heard that 18-year-old Lily McMenamy, daughter of the legendary Kristen Samelastname, will have her modeling initiation exclusively on the Saint Laurent runway in what'll be a highly scrutinized collection.
Her card (above) was included in Next Management's show package, alongside Arizona Muse's and Aline Weber's. Who knows how Lily walks or how consistently she photographs, but based on the photo above, she has the same creepy, alien grace which fueled her mother's career.
Canadian born, bred, and based, Calgary designer Paul Hardy has been crafting his delectable creations for 10 years. His first show opened at the 2002 Toronto Fashion Week, where it was welcomed with rave reviews. Regularly compared with the likes of Marc Jacobs and Stella McCartney, Hardy's aesthetic is eclectic sophistication, given his penchant for shredded silk evening skirts, shearling vests, and a trademark neutral palette.
 
Since the debut of that first collection in 2002, Hardy has designed for the likes of Bette Midler, Michael Michelle, Carrie Fisher, Diane Kruger, Keshia Chanté, Alanis Morrisette, U2's The Edge and Daniel Lanois, Kate Hudson, Goldie Hawn, and Sarah McLachlan.
He has slowly expanded his empire to include a limited-edition fine jewellery collection comprising Canadian certified diamonds and a handmade Irish knitwear line named Paul Hardy Kaille. In 2007, he opened his first freestanding boutique in Calgary, and in 2011 he designed the costumes for the Alberta Ballet’s Fumbling Towards Ecstasy.
More recently, he mixed his love for everything en pointe with his fondness for Celtic knits, creating a raw ballet outfit for the Design Exchange exhibits, 60 Years of Designing the Ballet and The Tutu Project. Inspired by cavemen, hunters and gatherers, the bodice explores the evolution of humanity and its development in refining the arts. The asymmetrical one sleeve top is composed of hand spun wool and is hand knit by knitters in St. Andrew’s, Scotland.
Earlier this year, Hardy was also commissioned to design a commemorative white hat for the centennial anniversary of the Calgary Stampede and to celebrate Tourism Calgary's iconic "white hat." The limited-edition hats were gifted to notable Canadians including Bryan Adams, Michael Buble, and Karen Kain.
Needless to say, he's a designer to watch and, if you've yet to feast upon his innate clothing, you won't want to miss the premiere of his 2013 Spring/Summer collection at an exciting fashion show in Calgary, the Culture Capital of Canada, on Saturday, October 20, 2012.
The one-of-a-kind event and runway show will celebrate the 10th anniversary of Hardy's successful design career and host entertainers, fashion aficionados and VIP guests from across the country. There will also be a musical collaboration by artists including country music superstar Paul Brandt, two-time Juno award winner Greg Sczebel, and an ensemble from the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra.
"In partnership with Tourism Calgary, I look forward to showcasing my collection and celebrating my 10th anniversary in the city that I'm proud to call home. It's an opportunity to show the rest of Canada Calgary's cultural gems of food, fashion, music and design. Calgary is truly evolving into a fashion and design destination, and I believe the city has been ready and waiting for this kind of event," explains the esteemed designer.
So if you live in the Stampede City, grab your Sarah Shell handbag and slap on your most discerning eye for a peek at what Hardy's conjured for his latest collection.
Images via PaulHardyDesign.com and NationalBallet.com
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 Another day, another high street mega store planning to stake its claim on a patch of Sydney soil. This time the sartorial emigrant is Japanese retail giant Uniqlo, who sent out reps to Australia earlier this year and has reached the verdict that we are indeed worthy of slipping our limbs into their good casual threads.
In an interview with The Australian last year, Tadashi Yanai, president of Uniqlo’s parenting company Fast Retailing, spoke of the brand’s plans to move further south.
“We would like to get into the Australian market. Hopefully by 2012, if not then by 2013 at the latest… We will be there as soon as possible. If we are going to be there, it is going to be on a huge scale.”
Evidently though, it takes a while to build up a satisfactory stock of Supima Cotton Crew Neck long sleeve T-shirts and meticulously arrange them into the three-dimensional equivalent of a Resene colour chart, because Uniqlo has now pushed the planned opening date back to 2014. So if you’re planning on replenishing your supply of superfine stretch fabric basics before then you’re probably best to keep an eye out for the imminent launch of their online store.
Since being founded in Japan in 1984, Uniqlo has opened more than 930 stores worldwide located, putting up sleek manga panels in China, France, USA, Singapore, UK, Thailand, Russia, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Korea. Their Australian outpost has been a long time coming and, as long as they don’t hike up the prices Zara-style while leaving our own designers in the dust in the process, it’ll be well worth lining up for.
We’ve been seeing a lot of Laetitia Casta on magazine covers this year, and I would be lying if I said that I don’t love it. The latest dose of Laetitia comes in the form of Vogue Turkey’s October cover, and (as expected) it is awesome. Photographed by Sean & Seng while perched on the edge of a Parisian bridge with her shapely leg exposed past the garter, Laetitia’s penetrating gaze stares right through the camera.
“Wow… she looks spectacular… and maybe no one noticed but the scenery behind looks pretty amazing too,” MulletProof laughed. As MulletProof implied, it’s tough to focus on the scenery when Laetitia's in your line of vision (is anyone sensing my girl crush yet?).
“I couldn't care less about the background, when she looks this great. Amazing pose,” Srdjan wrote. (We're totally on the same page, but Paris does look lovely.)
“This is their best cover of the year,” jmrmartinho posted. “Laetitia looks so stunning, amazing cover!”
*ana* posted, “They explored Laetitia's potential to look amazing. I like how she's showing her thigh but has a certain nonchalance in her eyes, as if she sat there pretending not to care how much she was showing. Independently of what the intention was, it turned out to be quite charming.”
I’m going to come right out and say that I think Laetitia’s sophisticated pinup type of cover for Vogue Turkey may well be one of the best covers of the year.
Images: Vogue Turkey
 When asked by Buzzfeed to make sense of New York Fashion Week, Fashion Police host and comedian Joan Rivers said this:
Trying to make sense of New York Fashion Week is like trying to make sense of a party at Charlie Sheen's house: tons of beautiful women, lasts for days, and it's a miracle that no one died.
The quote has been shooting around the Internet for the past few hours and everyone seems to think this joke is SO FUNNY and spot-on. And I don't want to be the joke police because really, you're allowed to laugh at whatever you want and Joan Rivers is totally the best, but I'm just a little offended by how fun everyone seems to think Fashion Week is*.
NYFW is a very specific kind of fun, which is less like "fun" in the classic sense and more like the fun of feeling important, looking at clothing, and worrying about how you look and what other people think of you. "Fun" in a party-at-Charlie-Sheen's-house sense is actually exactly what Rivers described: "tons of beautiful women, lasts for days, and it's a miracle that no one died." Because it's not a party, it's a bender; and it might be crazy, but I bet it's actually fun.
Zelda Kaplan actually did die at NYFW, but less because she overdosed on cocaine and more because she was 95-years-old and her time had simply come.
Image via WENN.com
*It's come to my attention that this post makes me sound like a "jaded fashion person" — which I'm not at all — I'm simply a Defender of Fun.
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