Men's fashion is really hitting its stride with artist and designer collaborations this fall. Just yesterday I posted on Michael Stipe teaming up with Maison Martin Margiela, as well as John Bartlett and Alex Carlton's soon-to-debut collaboration. Now comes news that both musician Pharell Williams (no stranger to fashion or furniture design) is teaming with iconic French fashion brand Moncler, while avant-garde artist Terrence Koh is partnering up with Converse. Williams is following in the footsteps of quite a few designers (Thom Browne has designed a capsule collection for Moncler in the past, as has Visvim, a Japanese streetwear brand), designing a special edition of men’s jackets. "The all-black lineup will make its debut for fall 2010 and includes a 'pacifist' version of the bulletproof jacket, with Velcro-ed side slits, reversible matte/shiny down vests and elongated puffers," says Women's Wear Daily.

Take the Picture - There seems to be a never-ending plethora of artists dabbling in the at times indulgent art of self-portraiture these days, but few ever rise to the fierce degree of established and still relevant talents like Cindy Sherman or Robert Mapplethorpe. Photographer Gregory Moon is that rare exception, and though his work is way different from the aforementioned art greats, he adds his own singular touch to his work, which veers from the ultra-sexual to the uber-sexy. Constantly revealing and evolving, he shows absolutely no fear in expressing his unique vision of himself and gives pause to those seeking only an unhealthy dose of counterfeit astonishment.

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.

The Spot: Santos' Party House (Chinatown) - Big, sweaty, hot bi-level boite with sick sound and killer acts for dancing downtown darlings.

Patron Saint of Style: The Victim of Circumstance girl, the most amazing imaginary girl I've ever met, thought up by the creative mavericks behind the Victim of Circumstance line, a division of the contemporary knitwear company Qi Cashmere. Their VOC girl is a made-for-press-releases dream girl, a fake muse who happens to be a freelance fashion photographer living in SoHo and partying at Santo’s, mainly because her hip-hop idol Q Tip from A Tribe Called Quest DJs there (she takes him with a side of Zeppelin and Hendrix). She is also a regular voyeur at The Spotted Pig, Botanica (where she trades stories with Sandy the bartender), the Anchor, and Sweet and Vicious.

Tiffany Gong and Christina Rodriguez are fashion freelancers and jewelry designers for their line, Triskaidekaphobia (which means fear of the number 13) by day and the Six Six Sick girls by night. After hosting a Tuesday night party at New York’s Happy Ending bar, the girls started a following full of fashion panache and eccentric party-goers. Their current gigs include heading up private events and weekly parties at the Tribeca Grand and Webster Hall, BEast . They'll be throwing a Chictopia fashion week event at BEast this evening, and will have a night at Butter starting Friday, September 25th.

Fashion is going prep, and I don't just mean the fact that Harvard is moonlighting as a fashion house. Just in time for "back to school," collegiate nostalgia seems to be sweeping the fashion community here at New York Fashion Week. Saturday, Alexander Wang showed an entire SS10 collection whose inspiration was seemingly sourced from a high school football locker-room, albeit with looks intended for ladies only. (To boot, his after-party was held in a gas station on the West Side Highway -- spending Saturday night partying at a gas station? Hello high school.) Meanwhile, both Opening Ceremony (via a collaboration with Pendleton) and Balenciaga are offering up varsity jackets for FW09.

Shopping for Japanese fashion in Los Angeles is not new. Nonetheless, it's fair to say that these days, Japan's innovative style is taking LA by storm a la Godzilla vs. Tokyo. Comme des Garçons, Junya Watanabe, and Issey Miyaki are must-have designers for every West Coast girl-on-the-go. Whether it's the heavy use of black, reshaping of the female form, or bright graphics, Japan's looks have become practically iconic. And lucky for Hollywood, there's no army to take down this monster.

● decadestwo (Hollywood) - Wham, bam, thank you decadestwo! Only the best vintage collection of the best designers to ever walk the face of the planet. Nothing says Saturday night like a rockin' vintage Comme des Garçons skirt and ensemble.
● Opening Ceremony (West Hollywood) - Charlie Chaplin's old dance studio transformed into a futuristic boutique where designers are separated into different rooms by country. Using geography to shop makes finding killer Japanese lines a no-brainer.

Opening Ceremony seems to be getting in touch its inner cinephile. In just this past week the retailer has launched two distinctive cinematic endeavors. One, which debuted just last week in conjunction with the opening of Opening Ceremony's new Shibuya, Tokyo boutique, revolves around Chloë Sevigny's collection for OC. Definitely more in sync with avant-garde cinema than anything Blockbuster would stock, the short film, directed by Joe Danada, includes narration in Japanese (subtitles are in English) courtesy of an absentee robotic voice, as well as disjointed shots of Sevigny getting dressed and anonymous hands assembling some sort of abstract collage.

Not one but two major New York boutiques are expanding their repertoires this week. Opening Ceremony's new digs in Japan have debuted; the boutique already has outposts in both NYC and LA. Men's Style.com has a first look at the whopping eight-story wood-heavy shop Tokyo's Shibuya district. Like Opening Ceremony's LA abode, in Tokyo designers will essentially be allotted small shops within a shop: "the megastore will house shop-in-shops from Nom de Guerre, Band of Outsiders, D.A.P. Books, New York cult record shop Other Music, and more." Needless to say, the space is sure to be an international shopping destination and one that will confirm Opening Ceremony's rise to the ranks of mega retailer on par with Barneys, Bloomingdales, and the like.

Loeffler Randall, the brand that began creating covetable women's footwear and, more recently, equally drool-worthy clothes, has relaunched its website. The suped-up porthole now includes a significantly sleeker design as well as an online shop hawking a select grouping of Loeffler Randall's goods (which distinctly channel Chloe circa Phoebe Philo with regard to the latter's menswear-infused yet feminine, weightless, and infinitely wearable designs). Designer Jessie Randall hosted a breakfast at the Cooper Square Hotel yesterday morning in honor of the launch, herself sporting a roomy LR black romper and beige, suede studded booties from her recently completed SS10 collection for the event. Randall showed off her new e-commerce site as well as Loeffler Randall's new editorial features: namely a blog. And to make purchasing something even easier on your conscience, Loeffler Randall is donating a portion of its proceeds made between now and October 1 to the charity Living India.