“I wanted the clothes to really do the talking,” explained Rebecca Taylor about her new flagship boutique in the Meatpacking District. Hence the pared-down aesthetic of the new shop, more streamlined and modern than her seven-year-old Nolita boutique. The brand is celebrating its 15-year anniversary, and Taylor wanted to reboot and refresh her sensibility—starting with [...]

“I hate the crazy women—you know the ones at samples sales,” Rebecca Minkoff said. “If it’s a sale in a civilized environment, then I will go.” And despite the lure of a discounted Vena Cava wool cape or a Nicholas K leather jacket, shoppers at Lucky’s Lucky Shops VIP preview last night remained relatively calm. [...]

Three hundred yellow canaries were used in Tim Walker’s first short film, The Lost Explorer, but for Harry Potter fans anxiously awaiting installment seven, the real draw may have been Lord Voldemort. “He’s my neighbor,” Walker told us last night about actor Richard Bremmer. “I saw him walking outside and I thought, ‘There’s my lost [...]

“I feel like I’m having my bar mitzvah all over again,” jewelry designer David Yurman joked last night at the grand opening party of his new Madison Avenue flagship, the Townhouse. “Almost everyone here is a friend who has watched me grow through the past 30 years.” A bevy of Southern belles even came north [...]

Valentino Garavani’s “farewell tour” has been as epic as anything Barbra Streisand could dream up, and judging by last night’s DVD signing of Valentino: The Last Emperor, the retired designer is still pulling in the crowds. Daphne Guinness, Molly Sims, Michelle Trachtenberg, Zac Posen, and Anja Rubik all turned out to see Valentino and Giancarlo [...]

Instead of throwing a big, loud party where nobody can hear anybody else over the tracks some celebrity DJ is blasting, designer Max Azria and his wife/creative designer, Lubov, held a post collections sit-down dinner at Mr. Chow. At the head table sat Olympic gymnast Nastia Liukin, Gossip Girl star Michelle Trachtenberg, and lovely Zoe [...]