Marion Cotillard is having a New York moment. The new face of French cinema, who took home a treasure trove of gold statues from far-flung corners of the world for her memory-searing role as Edith Piaf in 2007’s La Vie en Rose, is slathering cream cheese on half a bagel as she readies for our daylong cover shoot. So much for the spread of organic salads, fresh vegetables and hot water with lemon she’d requested.

Armed, dangerous, and ready to riot. See full gallery. Photography by Seiji Fujimori. Styling by Elizabeth Sulcer.

A slate runway under blackness began as merely nothing and curved into a broken path of that less traveled at the Aguri Sagimori show for Japan Fashion Week. The theme immediately established was one of power, communicating a warrior in the trenches (see full gallery). Girls with wildly big hair and bangs covering their eyes clad in black military combat boots marched with stone-white faces to strangely eerie music.

Quite a scene at the Dress & Co. show for Japan Fashion Week. Girls layered in creams, peach, and a palette of pastels in cotton, chiffon, and silks paraded down a wooden runway with a smoky incense burning overhead from authentic Japanese paper lamps, all set in a dim light (see full gallery). The collection featured tweed and cotton coats with a prairie-meets-military theme, all layered with oversized, cotton smock-like tops and long, billowy chiffon gowns just sweeping the ground.

The glorious and glamorous new issue of French Vogue, shot by wonder team Mert& Marcus and styled by the genius Carine Roitfeld, speaks to a time when power suits ruled and jewelry was bigger than a woman's hand. Such were the days of dynasty, androgyny, and pure decadence. The issue pays homage to all that is (new) and was (vintage) Chanel and manages to capture the allure that Coco Chanel herself once infused into this legendary house. Cover model Iris Strubegger looks so incredibly alluring and staggeringly powerful, I can't but turn the page without having felt the power from within.

The scene at Louis Vuitton for Paris Fashion Week: an army or what seemed to be endless girls parading in mile-high patent leather and metallic lace up thigh-high boots, ruffled miniskirts, and dresses made of sheer lace, velvets, taffetas, and silks. Fabulous oversized suit jackets, glamorous one-shouldered poofy 80s-inspired gowns topped with oversized geometric jewelry, bouffants, and fabric that resembled rabbits' ears.

Henry Holland, the mastermind behind this collection at Paris Fashion Week, showed shift dresses all perfectly matched with gradated colors and striped ensembles in fur, knitwear, and wool blends. The shoes were a mile high, with strapping and offset in more bright colors. Holland's power comes through when he plays with fantasy, and therein lies the magic. And in times like these, we can all use a little magic.

The new issue of Self Service is out, and I must say Raquel Zimmerman has never looked more beautiful channeling Jerry Hall in her late-70s heyday. Ezra Petronio has once again outdone himself and wooed us all with glossy pages filled with awe-inspiring images presented as art. Another highlight is Mario Sorrenti's 98-page story featuring the ever-so lovely Malagosia Bela.

John Galliano's store in Paris has never looked so beautiful as it does this Fashion Week. With colorful gowns on silver mannequins and fabulously oversized feathered hats, one begins to wonder why we don't still dress the way we used to back in the Victorian age. Surely we would all be having a lot more fun and a bit of glamour, and childlike innocence may be just what we need to turn the days back into the sun.

Another fresh face from London, MariaFrancescaPepe (she likes the run-on name) is making heads turn at Paris Fashion Week with her powerful oversized graphic star-shape jewelry pieces. The 2009 collection featured incredible chestpieces, cuffs resembling armor, and even headpieces fit for a Greek god.