New York 11/19/09. WireImage

Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen are having a mud-paint-and-twigs-as-accessories moment in their spring 2010 look book for The Row. Despite the distracting dirty limbs, we are loving that they did indeed introduce denim into the collection and, as reported, the jeans do look like vintage Levis. The knits are superb as are a pair of black leather trousers, a red leather skirt, a satin night shirt, and perfectly wrinkled blazers in white and nude.

Source: Fashion Copious via Supreme

Today Yoox.com is launching exclusive, one-of-a-kind items from Maison Martin Margiela as part of the online retailer's holiday gift guides. A series of Margiela jackets and tops (available for the first time online November 30) have been created using only recycled materials—think pink holiday tinsel, auburn-colored wigs, leather sandals, tiles from a disco ball and white elastic bands. It's a Project Runway-style challenge finally gone right.

Check out Margiela's recycled looks and some of our other favorite items from the gift guide—Yoox exclusives in high design home decor and rare vintage jewelry—in the gallery below.

Alicia Keys has founded a jewelry line, called The Barber's Daughters, with accessories designer Gisèle Theriault, whom Keys met backstage during one of her performances.

The collection is made up of sterling silver and gemstone necklaces and bracelets inscribed with the poetry and prayers of Masaru Emoto. Emoto is a Japanese author best known for his conviction that  human thoughts can be directed towards water droplets which will in turn be beautiful or ugly when frozen, depending on the nature of the words, of course. His most recent book, "Messages from Water," contains photographs of these water crystals next to the words which transformed them.

According to Keys, the idea is to “to give people beautiful, unique pieces with messages that ignite them to find the best within."

“I fell in love with the individuality of the pieces, but more than that, the words that were written on them really resonated with the songwriter in me,” said Keys. “I knew at that moment, for the first time, that through a whole other medium I would be able to spread inspiration and that’s what got me started.”

Well, there's that, and she's always wanted to design accessories. Keys also states, "jewelry is a great first step." Meaning we can expect more product offerings from her newly created company, AK Worldwide.

[WWD]

A section of the 700-page Prada tome, "Prada: Creativity, Modernity, Innovation" documents decades of Miuccia Prada's iconic advertising campaigns—including a geek chic look from 1996, the pleated lip prints from 2000, and vintage Naomi Campbell and Kristen McMenamy. Click the gallery below for serious flashbacks.

Source: Prada via Grazia

We've long been obsessed with Shelly Steffee's sharply cut, inventive brand of fashion and often pass through her Meatpacking District boutique/showroom/salon to shop, peruse her vintage jewelry collection, and check out the new design talent she's currently supporting. (Right now Steffee is selling Patrik Muff of Nymphenburg's porcelain pendants—of which we purchased the black wing charm on rose gold.)

Since forgoing her usual in-store presentation for spring 2010, Steffee took us through the collection personally. "I knew I wanted to do prints and address something primal by getting back to the basics," she said, "to return to tailoring but mix that structure with draping techniques."

For Steffee back to the basics meant more of what her loyal following love to wear—reversible jackets, tailored riding coats, mesh tanks, and shirt dresses and tops that can be worn multiple ways. The aforementioned spring prints were inspired by a book of fish x-rays, which Steffee digitally collaged to create geometric textures on chiffon and jersey in shades of blue, gray, and white.

In addition to Steffee's always covetable array of blazers, lingerie-style bra tops and perfect tees, two dresses caught our eye during the visit—a black asymmetrical sheath with subtle cut outs at the shoulder and a red, draped-yet-tailored cocktail number with a back slit.

Although Steffee has been doing the thoughtful, multifunctional fashion thing for a long time, it's never seemed quite so relevant and felt quite as urgent. Call us fans.

Maria Cornejo's capsule menswear collection, available next spring, is full of the types of directional silhouettes her womenswear clients have come to love. For the tightly-edited 28 piece line, Cornejo distills her signature shapes down to a few key looks for men—a textured double-layered shirt, a concave rain jacket, soft blazers, and a pair of tailored slim pants—all with classic Zero + Maria Cornejo detailing, namely asymmetric lines and plays on volume.

Zac Posen is launching a lower-priced bridge collection exclusively with Saks Fifth Avenue next spring. According to Posen, the line—called Z Spoke—has an "urban hipster quality." He added that he could see the collection on Lower East Side girls.

That's a long way from Posen's designer collection, which is heavy on dramatic party clothes and over-the-top evening dresses. Posen says it's not a change of design philosophy as much as an answer to retailers' demand for more American sportswear—meaning he needs to sell some clothes.

Z Spoke will retail from $78 (for a t-shirt) to $675 (for a knit dress) and launch in 17 Saks stores on the same floor as Tory Burch and Elie Tahari.

“To me, it’s more appropriate to build a whole brand and collection around this price point," said Posen. "Chic sportswear should be at this price point. Designer dresses and cocktail pieces should be at a more expensive price point.” Zac Posen's designer collection retails for $900 to upwards of $12,000.

[WWD]

The CFDA and Vogue magazine held the sixth CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund awards ceremony last night at Skylight Studios, where Sophie Theallet beat out Alabama Chanin’s Natalie Chanin, Esquivel Shoes’ George Esquivel, Gary Graham, House of Waris’ Waris Ahluwalia, Monique Pean, Ohne Titel’s Flora Gill and Alexa Adams, Patrik Ervell, Spurr’s Simon Spurr and Wayne’s Wayne Lee. Theallet took home the grand prize—$200,000 and a year of mentorship by an industry veteran. Runners-up, Monique Pean and Patrik Ervell will each receive $50,000 and a business mentor.

Cathy Horyn for one feels Theallet deserved the honor, writing this morning, "Her clothes are not flashy or arty; she’s not everybody’s darling. But if you appreciate hand-done details like pin-tucking, if you like a certain friendliness in clothes, and if you’re surprised and delighted by non-generic reds and blues, then you are surely on Sophie’s side."

Albertus Swanepoel, Irene Neuwirth, Philip Crangi, Michael and Nicole Colovos, Alexander Wang, Phillip Lim, Peter Som, Lisa Mayock, Sophie Buhai, and Thakoon Panichgul were among the former fashion fund-ers who came out for the big night; joining Nicole Kidman, Francisco Costa, Anna Wintour, Diane von Furstenberg, and keynote speaker Alber Elbaz.

New York 11/16/09 Getty, WireImage

The Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles spared no expense for its 30th anniversary celebration over the weekend. Lady Gaga performed her new ballad, "Speechless" in an art-meets-entertainment spectacle masterminded by Italian artist Francesco Vezzoli. The production featured a dance by the Bolshoi Ballet, Gaga on a pink piano painted with butterflies by Damien Hirst, and costumes by Miuccia Prada.

Hosted by POP magazine's Dasha Zhukova and Larry Gagosian the event was attended by 1,000 guests from the worlds of fashion (Carine Roitfeld, Cameron Silver, Kate and Laura Mulleavy), art (Takashi Murakami, David Hockney, Jeff Koons), music (Gavin Rossdale and Gwen Stefani), and film (Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, James Franco).

"My wish is that the entertainment industry makes love more often with the art industry," said Vezzoli of the production. "I love that," replied Gaga. "Having my fans watch the [performance] video and be exposed to a level of art and a level of installation is so beautiful and so important."

Click the gallery below to check out photos from the red carpet and inside the event.

Los Angeles 11/14/09 Getty, Wireimage