At the New York Film Festival premiere of Broken Embraces:

● PENELOPE CRUZ - Favorite restaurant in New York? "Oh, I have many because I love food so much!" And in Madrid? "I go to many that are out in the countryside, but whoever goes there for the first time should go to Botin. It's the oldest restaurant in the world." What did you like about it? "Everything!"

● PEDRO ALMODOVAR - Favorite restaurant in New York? "Mr. Chow's -- we had dinner there the other day, and it was really very impressive." And in Madrid? "In Madrid, there are many. Casa Lucio is one of my favorites."

After the sun goes down, the makeup brushes come out in full force. Beauty junkies can get away with a lot when roaming New York's Lower East Side: the bars are dark, the drinking is heavy, and people look good in that uncombed, rolled-out-of-bed way. Just Cavalli sent this LES bar-hopper down the S/S 2010 runway the other day in Milan. She looks exactly the girls we know who shop at Blue&Cream and Opening Ceremony, hang out at White Slab, Darkroom, and Gallery Bar, eat at Les Enfants Terribles, and wear a ton of MAC. Appropriate, since MAC was in charge of creating the look. Maxine Leonard, the artist in charge, describes the look as "rock n' roll to reflect the collection. The girls look a bit like they did their makeup themselves and had a great night out.” Here's how the pros captured the LES girl.

It seems Michelle Obama's influence over sartorial trends has reached new lows ... just below the ankle that is. The First Lady became famous within the fashion community for wearing kitten heels, a style that's not been popular for quite a few terms of office. However, in Mrs. O's case, given expectations that she dress to accommodate certain sartorial conventions (not to mention the fact that stilettos would send her towering over the president), her preference for 1"-2" heels at max is highly understandable. But the fact that high-fashion heavyweights are embracing the trend is a bit more surprising. According to Style.com, from Marni and Missoni to Dolce & Gabbana, kitten heels are garnering new found acceptance. And "if yesterday in Milan is any evidence, the look may have legs."

If you're combing the back alleys of Twitter for sentience, you may notice two things. First, you're looking in the wrong place; and second, #MFW is now trending. And with the trending of #MFW, we can put the kibosh on London Fashion Week and vault ourselves head first into the wild, fiery throes of Milan Fashion Week. How is Milan Fashion Week different than LFW and NFW? Well, apart from being a wholly different acronym, in Milan, risotto falls from the sky like rain. In Milan, fat little children do butterfly strokes in ponds of pasta sauce. In Milan, romance sparks and dreams do come true. But more important than your dreams is Anna Wintour. She's already started making the rounds, thereby rendering those other two metropoli -- so splattered with pigeon shit, they are! -- passé. And as far as designers go, some of the top contenders have already sent their latest designs down the runway. And the dapper rabble, they're pleased.

Lock up your daughters: Inked, but sharly attired, a band of sartorial punks inject the mean streets of Milan with edge. Photography by Pieter Henket. Styling by Chris Benns. See full gallery.

Did we mention they were dirty old man eyes? Randy right winger Silvio Berlusconi has a lot on his mind these days. There’s the matter of Italy’s shrinking economy. And keeping those dreaded immigrants out of racially pure Italy. Pissing off the Queen of England ate up a chunk of the calendar. Oh, and callously offending earthquake victims taxes a 72-year-old body. These things take time and work. So it should come as no surprise that his soccer team (that’s right, in Italy you can own a giant sporting enterprise like AC Milan and run the damn country at the same time!) has been slip-siding away while he lusts after 18-year-old models in Naples.

Jethro Cave (a.k.a. Jethro Lazenby) is fast becoming one of the most interesting faces to watch in the world of male modeling. The scion of legendary rocker Nick Cave surfaced on the scene last year with an impossible-to-miss look -- namely, his half-shaved/half-long-locked coif that mimics it-girl Alice Dellal. At men's SS10 Fashion Week, which just wrapped up in Milan and is well under way in Paris, Cave is proving his personal style to be as interesting as that shown on the runway.

Don't get your tropical lightweight wool panties in a bunch -- Zegna's not the latest fashion monolith to fall prostrate to the crumbling economy. In the wake of the needle-wielding couturiers at Christian Lacroix tearfully forfeiting their craft 'cause they're running out of money, Zegna's ciao'ing out of New York Fashion Week and returning home to Milan, where they'll show the hipper Z Zegna line at the sartorial epicenter's Pitti Uomo men's fashion week alongside big brother brand, Ermenegildo Zegna.

When you think of Veuve Clicquot, a number of things come to mind. Sweet, bubbly champagne. The iconic marigold color of the wrapper. The celebratory clinking of champagne flutes. The audaciously stocked wine chiller in Eddy’s basement in Absolutely Fabulous. Maybe even the wickedest hangover you’ve ever endured. But what probably won’t ring a bell right off the bat is innovative design, and we’re not talking about the traditional champagne bottle.

● Circle (Porta Ticinese) - Diesel's circle of lifestyle branding in the form of a day and night eatery.