CFDA

• Vogue's Virginia Smith turned down the Barneys fashion director position last week, and now the other front-runner, Lane Crawford fashion director Sarah Rutson, has too. “I have no intention or plans to leave Lane Crawford,” Rutson said over the weekend [WWD]
• Tomorrow's British Fashion Awards will honor Alexander McQueen posthumously for Outstanding Achievement; McQueen's frequent collaborator Nick Knight made a short film of the designer's archives for the occasion, scored by Bjork: “It is being styled by Edward Enninful and will feature black models only” [Style File]
• The first image of Dolce & Gabbana's Spring 2011 campaign, which features Izabel Goulart, Alessandra Ambrosio, Maryna Linchuk, and Isabeli Fontana captured by Steven Klein, has leaked (pictured) [TFS]

• Giorgio Armani and Lady Gaga, who have a multimillion dollar partnership, finally met for the first time last night; Anna Dello Russo also met Gaga and brought her a doll [Styleite]
• See the Ann Taylor-inspired looks the 2010 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund finalists created as part of this year's competition [Fashionista]
• Hairstylist Didier Malige on Terry Richardson's childhood: "Now I see Terry as an adult, and at the time I knew him as three or four years old. His upbringing was totally liberal compared to a French kid of his age. They had a Fiat 500, which is a tiny little car, and he always had to share it with a huge poodle, like a royal poodle. And he always had to sit in the back with the poodle." [Into The Gloss]
• Juicy Couture co-founders Pamela Skaist-Levy and Gela Nash-Taylor, who favor vintage pieces, furry vests, black leather pants, and vertiginous heels, plan to launch a new label next year, and they're dropping hints: “It will reflect the way we dress now. We have outgrown our track suits and grown up” [WWD]
• Sasha Pivovarova, who likes to make dolls, opens up her Brooklyn loft for T's cameras [T]
• Watch the music video for a young Jean Paul Gaultier's 1988 single, "How To Do That," featuring Naomi Campbell [Jezebel]
• 23-year-old Central St Martins graduate Thomas Tait only does private orders so far, but he's already got fans in Giles Deacon, Daphne Guinness, Stephen Jones, and Manolo Blahnik [T]
• Intermission Magazine's website just launched, featuring interviews with the likes of Gaia Repossi and Hanne-Gaby Odiele [Intermission]

• Freja Beha Erichsen isn't just a Chanel face for Spring 2011 — she reportedly also posed for Louis Vuitton's Spring 2011 campaign, shot by Steven Meisel, alongside Raquel Zimmermann, and Kristen McMenamy [WWD]
• The Innovative Design Protection and Piracy Prevention Act, which aims to copyright fashion designs, was passed unanimously by the Senate Judiciary Committee and is headed for full Senate deliberation [WWD]
• Proenza Schouler's mochila totes ($225) and wallets ($145) are now available on their website [Teen Vogue]
• Missed the Alexa Chung for Madewell illustrated bat tee the first time around? It's back for sale online tomorrow, except this time, in tunic form ($58) [People StyleWatch]
• Casting director and Tales of Endearment blogger Natalie Joos sounds like she has a television project in the works: "More on that soon" [Fashionista]
• The sell-out J Brand Houlihan cargo pant was inspired by a vintage pair of army pants the brand's design director found in Japan [BoF]
• Roland Mouret sunglasses are on the horizon — they're one of the exclusive products he'll test at his first store in London's Mayfair, opening in February [WWD]
• Jewelry designers Ruby Kobo just launched their website, but won't do e-commerce — they prefer private appointments. They also hope to do a runway collaboration with Phillip Lim, Band of Outsiders, or Phoebe Philo [Fashionista]
• A street artist applied a cartoon Karl Lagerfeld decal to a New York taxi [Refinery29]
• The iPad inspiring print advertising: Vogue Russia's December 2010 issue has a video advertisement inside [Gawker]

>> Last night, Maria Cornejo, Jeffrey Costello and Robert Tagliapietra of Costello Tagliapietra, and Monique Pean were named the inaugural winners of the CFDA & Lexus Hybrid Living Eco Fashion Challenge.

Each had to demonstrate a commitment to ecologically responsible design, with a minimum of 25 percent of their collection produced in an environmentally-friendly manner: Pean uses recycled gold and sustainable buffalo horn; Costello Tagliapietra creates fabric dyes in an eco-friendly way; and Cornejo employs sustainable manufacturing practices and uses fabric like cupro, which is typically discarded during the production of cotton. In turn, each was awarded $25,000 from Lexus to use toward their Fall 2011 presentation in February.

The other 2010 finalists included Alabama Chanin, Behnaz Sarafpour, Libertine by Johnson Hartig, Marcia Patmos, Organic by John Patrick, Slow and Steady Wins the Race by Mary Ping, and Subversive Jewelry by Justin Giunta.

>> Wednesday evening, Vera Wang moved almost all of the furniture out of her vast Park Avenue apartment to toast this year's 26 new CFDA inductees. “It may not be as big as Donna Karan’s loft, but I can fit you all in,” Wang said of her duplex, which she estimated was hosting 300 guests. Tommy Hilfiger and wife Dee Ocleppo were impressed, however — The Cut caught them exclaiming: “It's amazing. The kitchen is sick. Our kitchen is like, a tenth of that size. That's like a restaurant kitchen.”

The new members include: Waris Ahluwalia — who said of the honor, “I feel like I almost should put this on my passport as my fashion visa. It's nice to make this baby official!", Steven Alan, Lisa Axelson of Ann Taylor, Lubov Azria, Shane Baum of Baumvision, Vicki Beamon and Karen Erickson of Erickson Beamon, George Esquivel, Robert Geller, Gary Graham, Ulrich Grimm of Calvin Klein, Sang A Im-Propp, Anthony Keegan of Commonwealth Utilities, Adam Kimmel, Nikki Kule of Kule, Kimberly McDonald, Rebecca Minkoff, Bibhu Mohapatra, Juan Carlos Obando, Monique Péan, Monica Rich Kosann, Pamella Roland, Robert Rodriguez, L'Wren Scott, Shelly Steffee, and Sophie Theallet, who just moved into a new office space.

>> Pregnancy rumors concerning Rachel Zoe don't seem to want to go away, but when the stylist was asked yesterday at the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund fashion show in Los Angeles if she wanted to address the issue, she replied: "I'm feeling great." She "opened her black Balmain blazer to reveal a flat stomach," People reports, and added, "Not at all. I'd be home sleeping [if I were pregnant]."

Zoe also denied the pregnancy a week and a half ago, but one guest who sat near her at yesterday's event noted: "Everyone was drinking champagne at her table but her."  And a source close to Zoe tells E! today that Zoe is four and a half months along and just found out in the last week that the baby is a boy.

While we're on the subject of Zoe, her former style director Brad Goreski has a solo styling effort in Harper's Bazaar's October 2010 issue.

>> The CFDA has had a busy last couple of nights. The 2010 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund finalists, which include Eddie Borgo, Pamela Love, Joseph Altuzarra, and Christian Cota, gathered at Anna Wintour's house on Wednesday night with their model muses for the design challenge cocktail party, which this year required a look for a working woman, inspired by Ann Taylor. Photos of the event can be seen here, and a video of the the finalists presenting to this year's judges can be seen here.

And last night, designers like Francisco Costa — with Bianca Jagger on his arm, Subversive Jewelry's Justin Giunta, Peter Som, and Yigal Azrouel braved the torrential rain to toast the CFDA and Assouline's latest tome, American Fashion Designers at Home. CFDA president Diane von Furstenberg didn't make it — she's been temporarily bedridden with a cold — but plans are already in place for the next CFDA and Assouline collaboration: American Fashion: Designers on the Go, due out in Spring 2011, which will encompass travel guide tips, suggestions, and personal photos of favorite vacation places from designers.

>> One week after launching a new logo on its website, Gap is back to its tried and true Gap-in-a-blue-box logo. Marka Hansen, Gap North America president, informed the company's marketing department yesterday afternoon that the new logo — which featured the retailer's name in a bold black font with a blue gradiated box perched atop the P — would be scrapped, even though it was intended to be a long-term commitment for the brand. Hansen acknowledged that the switch was a mistake and that the company would be tabling any changes for the foreseeable future. The logo was created by Laird & Partners, which also works with the CFDA. [AdAge]