Media Whore D'Oevres



"Squeezed in among the hundreds of guests at Prada's Soho store on Tuesday night was a slew of gorgeous catwalkers. 'I like Agyness Deyn,' said Heatherette's Richie Rich, who exchanged phone numbers (we're pretty sure it's a platonic thing) with his fellow platinum-haired club kid. 'She's what a model should be like. She's fun. She smiles.' Indeed, Deyn seemed to be having a blast rocking out to the experimental beats of the night's musical guest, CocoRosie. The party, which drew the likes of Jermaine Dupri, Brett Ratner, Chace Crawford, Amy Smart, and Angie Harmon, doubled as the premiere of Trembled Blossoms, a dreamy illustrated short created by Miuccia Prada. 'I want those animated shoes so badly,' said Ginnifer Goodwin." (Style)

"Seventeen Palestinian missiles were fired by midday Thursday, Feb. 7, after Israeli Golani tank and engineering units with helicopter cover drove into northern Gaza in another bid to stem Palestinian cross-border missile attacks. They have since pulled back, while the missiles keep coming and Hamas broadens its targeting radius. A dozen Palestinian missiles were fired by midday Thursday, Feb. 7 ... DEBKAfile’s military sources report: Israel defense minister Ehud Barak has more than once threatened firmer and broader military action to stop the missile blitz from Gaza. But so far he has kept the military on a tight leash." (Debkafile)

"The question now for Mr. McCain is how far he needs go now in reaching out to conservatives who have been wary of him – if not flat out opposed to him – given his history on issues like easing immigration restrictions and changing campaign finance laws. critics. Mr. Romney was arguably Mr. McCain’s greatest threat on the right and his greatest impetus for moving right; now that he is gone, some of the motivation for moving right is gone. Mr. McCain, who will address the Conservative Political Action Committee later in the afternoon, has a slightly different task now. He cannot win a general election without having the unambiguous support of conservatives around him – especially going up against a Democratic Party that is so, to borrow a phrase from Barack Obama, fired up and ready to go." (NyTimes)

"Last night, New York’s ambassador of Good Will, Good Works and Most Famous Columnist, the indefatigably eternally youthful Liz Smith hosted a little birthday party for herself (84 years young – and I’m not kidding –- as of February 2) over at the Russian Tea Room. Liz celebrated her actual birthday at a dinner on that date with two other Aquarians born on the same day: Elaine Stritch and Barry Diller. Last night’s 'birthday bash' served up lots of caviar (a favorite dish of La Liz) with all the garnishes and little crepes as well as pigs-in-a-blankets and a 'very pure vodka' and/or champagne." (NYSoaialDiary)

"With their friend Graydon Carter having cancelled Vanity Fair's annual post-Oscar bash, it appears that Barry Diller and Diane von Furstenberg have sought to follow suit, confirming via a Diller spokesperson that the couple's annual pre-Oscar luncheon has been cancelled as well. In years past, the Diller/von Furstenberg soirée at their Coldwater Canyon estate, which, ironically, started out as an intimate lawnside barbeque lunch 13 years ago, had grown into a 'mini V.F. Oscar party,' attracting everyone from Warren Beatty to Ari Emanuel--at least according to Vanity Fair itself, which touted the event in a special guide to the Oscars in its March issue (out this week) under the title, "The Coveted Invitation." In it, the magazine, which shipped well before Carter was able to pull not only the copy on the Diller/von Furstenberg picnic, but on his own party as well, continued, 'Somehow the whole affair seems very personal, and for a brief, shining moment you actually believe you're surrounded by good friends.'" (Fashionweekdaily)

"The French Air Force (FAF) has been engaged in reconnaissance and intelligence-gathering flights over Chad throughout early February 2008, despite having to redeploy to Gabon as the fighting between the government of Chad and the anti-government forces of the Unified Military Command intensified. Combined French air assets deployed in Chad include six Mirage F1s believed to be the 'CR' reconnaissance variant, a pair of Breguet Atlantique NG reconnaissance aircraft from the French Naval Air Arm, two FAF C-160R Transalls and three French Army SA-330Ba Puma helicopters. French statements on 2 February said that the Mirages were dispatched to Libreville, the capital of Gabon, when their base at N'Djamena airport came under attack. The FAF has since confirmed that two of the six evacuated Mirage F1s have returned to N'Djamena. These aircraft have been patrolling the Chad-Sudan border and gathering intelligence on 'any self-styled foreign intervention'." (Janes)

"There have been some strong shows this season so far and here's a short list of some of my fave items: 1) Isaac Mizrahi's clever fur jacket in the preppy Fair Isle sweater pattern. Fabulous, no? 2) Maria Cornejo's little beige criss-cross dress. I love Cornejo's sensibility. 3) Narciso Rodriguez's orange coat (Rodriguez's show was fantastic this time around!)
4) Rodarte's tattered knitted dress. It was amazing and lovely show... but this dress just hit the bull's eye for me." (KimH/Papermag)