On a cold, rainy afternoon in Nashville, Tennessee, supermodel Karen Elson, sequestered in the upstairs quarters of a pink-walled boutique, happily shows off a few favorite pieces. She pulls a long white tulle overdress from a rack laden with velvet bias-cut slip dresses from the 1930s.

Blame it on the economic downturn and the increasing push from high-fashion designers to appeal to a wider demographic: big name brands from Rodarte and Zac Posen to Derek Lam are getting into the fashion advertising game for the first time this season. According to Women’s Wear Daily, Derek Lam shot his first ad campaign in San Francisco last week -- the fruits of which feature model Karmen Pedaru in Fall 09 Lam, shot by seasoned fashion photographer Solve Sundsbo. But Lam is by no means the first designer getting his feet wet with advertising this year.

With the economic shitstorm showing no signs of clearing, innovative escapism comes courtesy of The Citizens Band, a politically-charged, cabaret-esque dance troupe led by trapeze artist and filmmaker Sarah Sophie Flicker. The Panic Is On, Citizens Band’s sixth show, will open this Thursday (October 23-25) at New York’s Henry Street Settlement, transcending mere death-and-taxes monologues. The show features an allegorical take on the nation’s social, economic, and political meanderings, reinterpreted through flamboyant showmanship and flush with lace and rubies reminiscent of Victorian and flapper fashion. We caught up with Flicker to converse about the political undertones of her upcoming show, what she really thinks of Tina Fey, and how exactly the word "consumerism" translates into a costume. Maybe it's not escapism, after all.

What the connection is between models and opening boutiques in Nashville, I may never know. But come October 23, redheaded runway star Karen Elson will follow in the footsteps of supermodel Niki Taylor, owner of Abbie & Jesse’s, and open a clothing store of her own in Tennessee’s capital city. Refinery29 notes the details.

In this digital age, lookbooks are largely archaic -- now it's all about the short-film lookbook. It's now often customary for hip designers to assemble their celebrity pals for a fashion-cum-performance art piece. Wren designer Melissa Coker is carrying the torch this season. She has her pals model Karen Elson, Sarah Sophie Flicker (of the Citizen's Band), and Julia Restoin-Roitfeld (daughter of French Vogue editor Carine Roitfeld) showing off her Spring 2009 collection. Coker and her filmmaker pal Alia Raza combined dialogue from Robert Altman's 3 Women and Woody Allen's Another Woman to create a short called "Another 3 Woman." Raza explains, "It's less about the literalness of what is occurring on screen and more about what remains in our minds and influences us after we've seen a film or a work of art."