Paper’s March issue stars Milla Jovovich and Carmen Hawk, with a story called “How to Succeed in Fashion – While Really Trying.” The piece has seven gorgeous photographs of the girls in their own clothes, plus an explanation of how the Jovovich Hawk line came into the loght – when Milla was offered an Emporio Armani modeling gig, her contract came with an option to “guest design.” That never panned out, but a new desire to make clothes did.

Meanwhile, author Mickey Boardman plainly reveals that the team had some work to do:

“Both girls were armed with lots of fabulousness and cute taste, but neither had much design experience. (To that, Milla says to Carmen, “Well, you took a class at Parsons.” Carmen responds, laughing: “In printmaking!”)

Compare this article to yesterday’s Times piece on Marchesa questioning whether the label’s success is due to talent or to Harvey Weinstein – the boyfriend of Marchesa designer Georgina Chapman.

And also, there’s this: during Fashion Week, we remember running to the Jovovich-Hawk for Mango presentation. Directly ahead of us was a harried English journalist. “Hello,” she said to the PR girls at the front, “I’m here to see Marchesa… I mean Jovovich Hawke… I’m sorry, which is it?”

Milla’s electric shadow at the back of the room let her know.

The designers sent out a last minute A.P.B., demanding their models to arrive 2 hours earlier for hair and makeup.

The reason?

Anna Wintour wanted to view the collection privately, an hour before other editors arrived.

But most of the models were already walking in afternoon shows, and others were tied up in castings. Their mad dash to the Marchesa presentation meant way less time in hair and makeup, and – according to a source backstage – a very pared down version of their original starlet looks.

Fortunately, they’re all quite gorgeous anyway…

Paper’s March issue stars Milla Jovovich and Carmen Hawk, with a story called “How to Succeed in Fashion – While Really Trying.” The piece has seven gorgeous photographs of the girls in their own clothes, plus an explanation of how the Jovovich Hawk line came into the loght – when Milla was offered an Emporio Armani modeling gig, her contract came with an option to “guest design.” That never panned out, but a new desire to make clothes did.

Meanwhile, author Mickey Boardman plainly reveals that the team had some work to do:

“Both girls were armed with lots of fabulousness and cute taste, but neither had much design experience. (To that, Milla says to Carmen, “Well, you took a class at Parsons.” Carmen responds, laughing: “In printmaking!”)

Compare this article to yesterday’s Times piece on Marchesa questioning whether the label’s success is due to talent or to Harvey Weinstein – the boyfriend of Marchesa designer Georgina Chapman.

And also, there’s this: during Fashion Week, we remember running to the Jovovich-Hawk for Mango presentation. Directly ahead of us was a harried English journalist. “Hello,” she said to the PR girls at the front, “I’m here to see Marchesa… I mean Jovovich Hawke… I’m sorry, which is it?”

Milla’s electric shadow at the back of the room let her know.

The designers sent out a last minute A.P.B., demanding their models to arrive 2 hours earlier for hair and makeup.

The reason?

Anna Wintour wanted to view the collection privately, an hour before other editors arrived.

But most of the models were already walking in afternoon shows, and others were tied up in castings. Their mad dash to the Marchesa presentation meant way less time in hair and makeup, and – according to a source backstage – a very pared down version of their original starlet looks.

Fortunately, they’re all quite gorgeous anyway…

Well, we know who bought it.

ELuxury commissioned a pretty random group of people to decorate the classic Fendi shape. Marchesa’s is to the left, but the rest won’t be up until April 17th.

We picture Kim Cattrall’s to be orange suede, with orange paillettes and pink sequins. Chris March will definitely use human hair, maybe supplied by Sally Hershberger who’s already completed her markered version?

We bet on a half retro, half Stella McCartney design for Scarlett Johannson, maybe navy with a floral print? And the Misshapes, well, theirs will obviously be black with black embellishments.

The blank one in Vogue costs $5,500 but the celeb DIY’s a bargain at $2,500.

The question is, would you rather pay more than twice the amount of money to make the bag your own, or less than half to carry around someone else’s vision?

When we think of Spring, we don’t usually think black and white. But given the Spring 09 collections, this might be about to change. An overwhelming amount of designers showed black and white outfits and many had entire shows based on the shades. The graphic above is just the short list. We swear. We had to leave out Dries Van Noten, Balenciaga, Prada, Versace, Christopher Kane, Rag & Bone, Rock & Republic, YSL, Stella McCartney, Giambattista Valli, Cynthia Rowley, Band of Outsider, Philip Lim.. And we have a feeling the list could go on..

On a side note, this black and white thing could be well used as a background to some neon pieces you might have purchased for Spring 08, no?

– HAYLEY PHELAN

*editor’s note: the dress in the top row, labeled Sonia Rykiel, was actually designed by Michael Kors for Sonia Rykiel.

Stripping!

It’s true – Tonight, Rose Charities, a volunteer-led organization that provides critical care for people in critically affected areas of the world, is hosting a fashion event, aptly named Be Bare, at Milk Studios at 7pm.

Best part (other than helping the world)? Models will be walking a runway in clothes provided by Vivenne Westwood, Zac Posen, Alexander Wang, Marchesa, and Sue Stemp.

Funniest part? The models (Noot Seear’s headlining) will be auctioning the clothes right off their backs, right down to their Kiki de Montparnasse knickers.

The people at the door are expecting at least $50 per person, but we bet Noot can convince you to give back, right?

–HAYLEY PHELAN

The long term partnership starts now, but the first collection drops during Spring 10’s New York Fashion Week, probably around the necks and wrists of models wearing very pretty dresses.

Georgina said, “Jewelry is so interesting because, like fashion, it has a history. People have long been ornamenting their bodies.”

We picture the jewels big and extremely girly – the kind of thing that screams costume but costs millions. They will pair well with the dresses, whatever they’ll look like a year from now, but we kind of wish Georgina would separate the two and continue to feature new, and sometimes contrasting, jewelry designs on her runways, (or in her presentation spaces).

Also, on an entirely different note, isn’t this when Rachel Zoe’s jewelry line will debut? She and Georgina will make for the most glamorous competition ever.

Who: Both Marchesa and notte by Marchesa

What: A “sample and stock sale” (somehow, the way they worded that makes us think there’ll be actual samples..)

Where: The Warwick Hotel, 65 West 54th St, at 6th Ave. The Essex Suite, 2nd Floor.

When: Tomorrow, 8am – 7pm; Thursday, 8am – 6pm.

Why: Prices are marked down between 50 – 80% off, at $195 – $3,500.

No exchanges. No refunds.

Stila’s following in the footsteps of Behnaz Sarafpour/Gucci Westman and Tinsley/Dior, and giving the Marchesa girls their own lipstick shades.

After doing the makeup for Marchesa’s last four seasons, Stila’s finally let Georgina and Keren try their hand at picking out some colors for the face.

The Georgina will be a sheer red, the Keren’s a nude color, and the very fall-appropriate berry is named after Talia Shobrook, the makeup artist who helped create Backstage Beauty Collection, the limited-edition line Stila’s made using the colors from Marchesa’s Fall 2008 show.

The Marchesa lipsticks are permanent additions for Stila, retailing at $22 each.

Look for them in seriously every magazine ever come August – Stila is a well-known beauty editor favorite.