Above Allen, or AA, had its soft opening on Friday -- but since it’s a terrace where being outside is most important, don’t expect things to completely pop for a couple of months. The first thing that struck me was the couches with their Stephen Sprouse print. I did a triple-take and caught up to my friend Jim Walrod, the designer, and asked him about them. Med Abrous is putting this insanely downtown chic joint on the map. I know Med from the Mark Ronson days of Life, and after an hour of catching up, I asked him a few questions to clarify what’s going to happen here.

A “new nostalgia” is pervading the fashion world, says the Financial Times. Specifically, the recession has induced a resurgence of seasoned styles as varied as looks from “the 1930s and 1940s,” to “a flurry of lace, frills taffeta and demure Victoriana.” And let’s not forget the Joan of Arc. According to a buyer for Topshop, the high street retailer’s spring 2009 fashions are chock-full of “a more muted, washed-out palette ... and there's a big nod to old English culture.” In other words, the unfamiliar and envelope-pushing is out. Recession chic is all about comforting fashions by way of the tried-and-true.

● Everyone’s favorite sleazy-cotton-shirt-purveyor Dov Charney talks sexual harassment, JFK, and the key to AA’s success in this downturn. [WWD]
● Harriet Mays Powell interviews Marc Jacobs in bed about his new Stephen Sprouse collection and his awesome leggings. [TheCut]
● Guerilla advertising alert! Check out this video of Gossip Girl's Taylor Momsen trying to escape the paps. Looks less like TMZ than a covert ad for Nike. [Youtube]

A quick scan of the room: Anna Sui, Patricia Field, Gabi from threeASFOUR, Kembra Pfahler, Inez and Vinoodh, Agyness Deyn (radiant in her day-glo sequined Sprouse jacket), and Marc Jacobs all in black with a splash of color from his Sprouse Vuitton leggings. The scene was fittingly neon-hot as the downtown all-stars came out in full force for the opening party for the Stephen Sprouse exhibit at Deitch Projects last night. The show, a mix of his eternally cool punk fashions, towering neon rock ’n’ roll paintings, and a spectacular tableaux of Polaroids, could have held our attention all night.

With a new coffee table book, an art show, and a limited-edition collaboration with Marc Jacobs for Louis Vuitton all out at once, the pop-punk genius of the late Stephen Sprouse shines brighter than ever. Sprouse’s muse, transgender model Teri Toye, has her own opinion regarding how the shy visionary would react to his ascendance to modern legend status. “Stephen Sprouse did not want to be a star,” says Toye, whose elongated frame and deadpan glamour proved a potent inspiration for many a Sprouse Day-Glo ensemble or sleek erogenous cutout. “He just wanted to create. His life was about producing work. He was driven to produce. And if you were his friend, you went along with that.”

● Rumor has it that Si Newhouse is in Paris having final talks with Carine Roitfeld to take over American Vogue. Looks like Wintour's life is taking a page from The Devil Wears Prada. If true, wouldn't that be life imitating art, imitating life. [Gawker]
● Liked Carrie Bradshaw's Vivienne Westwood wedding dress from the Sex and the City movie? Well, Gabriella Risatti is making knock-offs -- I mean, "reproductions" -- of the dress today and tomorrow for $15,000. [NYP]
● Just in time for your recessional Christmas, Louis Vuitton is paying homage to Stephen Sprouse by releasing a limited edition of his highly successful graffiti collection. [WWD]

"To me, Stephen was kind of a rock and roll Halston,” Marc Jacobs says of Stephen Sprouse, a defining genius of ’80s fashion and art, whose legacy and still-fresh style gets the deluxe picture book treatment (four different Day-Glo covers!) by Rizzoli. Authors Roger and Mauricio Padilha, two of the world’s most voracious collectors of all things Sprouse, were given access to the late icon’s archives by his family for The Stephen Sprouse Book, due out in February, which delineates the wild creative’s life in chapters with titles like “Cyber Punk,” “Future Rave,” “Legend” and “Andy.”