A look at Phillip Lim's virtual moodboard. “Phillip’s a very private person,” explained one of his publicists this afternoon, as a sort of excuse for Phillip Lim‘s new blog.  Though it lacks a single written word, it doesn’t need an excuse, just a curious eye to skim the calmly arranged images that create his virtual mood board (images which are often directly translated into the products you can now click to buy).  On Lim’s new site, shoppers will find men’s and women’s ready-to-wear, as well as his full range of accessories and a line of online only exclusives.  Beyond that, there’s a news section full of behind the scenes videos of shows and parties, as well as Lim’s Twitter feed and Facebook timeline offering all of the intimate shots and close up details the brand’s collected, waiting for a platform on which to share the photographs, videos and songs.  Both Lim’s section, as well as the news tab, will be consistently updated with new content. In celebration of the site’s launch this morning, take %20 off everything 3.1 Phillip Lim with the code N31R5WQ67T6.

Chefs preparing dinner at Versailles last year.

On April 16th, 45 of the world’s best chefs will prepare dinner for 200 guests.  Last year, the inaugural meal was served at Versailles; this year, it’s at at New York City’s Gotham Hall. The chefs will gather from all over the world, from Northern California to Singapore, with plenty of French and Italian names in the mix.  Among the most famous are Daniel Boulud, Gary Danko, Michael White and Jean-Georges Vongerichten.  Only three women made the cut, however, and just one from the Americas.  Menton’s Barbara Lynch (Boston) will prepare chilled lobster with pickled ramps and pea greens for the first course. Annie Féolde from Italy’s Restaurant Enoteca Pinchiorri, will wrap scallops in pancetta and serve them with sautéed morels and garlic flavored pea cream for the second course and finally, Lanshu Chen form Le Moût in Taiwan is making veal tenderloin with morels and radish.   If you’ll be in New York, hurry up and buy your tickets!  If not, a flight to New York is probably worth it for anyone who calls themselves a foodie.

Photo: Getty Images

The fall debut of ICB marked a few firsts: it was the first collection Prabal Gurung designed under a name other than his own, the first time a collection debuted via KCD’s Digital Fashion Show initiative, and thus the first time just four models showed off a collection of 32 looks.  Last night, it made its celebrity debut on no less an A-list star than Malia Obama.  The first daughter paired one of Gurung’s brightly printed skirts with an ASOS belt and a grey t-shirt.  Her mom, the First Lady, went a bit edgy for the Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards in LA last night, wearing shiny, silver Helmut Lang jeans and a brocade jacket.  As for Sasha, you can snag her dress on ASOS!

At left, Yigal Azrouel. At right, Carolina Herrera. On April 20th, GLSEN, the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network, will hold a National Day of Silence to call attention to the silencing effects of anti-LGBT bullying and harassment in schools. Students across the country are taking vows of silence in support of the project’s mission to end the persistent bullying of LGBT youth.  ELLE partnered with GLSEN during Mercedes Benz Fashion Week to host the GLSEN Lounge as an advocate of the cause. The goal was to attract fashion’s elite—celebrities, tastemakers and media movers and shakers—like Brad Goreski, Jill Zarin, Johnny Weir and Miss J Alexander to the top of the Empire Hotel where they could sketch messages showing their interpretation of GLSEN’s Day of Silence. The sketches were displayed at the lounge over the course of the event and, as April 20th approaches, GLSEN and ELLE are continuing to rally participation from the industry’s most powerful voices. As posted here, designers Donna Karan, Carolina Herrera, Prabal Gurung and Yigal Azrouel drew their own sketches in solidarity.
At left, Prabal Gurung.

At right, DKNY. With so many industries, luminaries and just plain good-hearted people rallying support for GLSEN’s Day of Silence, how can you not do your part to help eradicate the horrible epidemic sweeping America’s youth? Lend your support on April 20th by visiting GLSEN’s website to learn more about the wonderful work they are doing to end LGBT discrimination in schools, and click here to enter ELLE’s GLSEN Fashion Lounge Gift Bag Sweepstakes.

Photo: Babycakes

If you live in New York or LA chances are you have a gluten-free friend, and chances are that friend’s a fan of Babycakes. Erin McKenna’s vegan bakery offers one of the largest—and most delicious—selections of gluten free baked goods (though you’ll find plenty of gluten, too!).  McKenna’s known for getting into the spirit of things—Jameson soaked doughnuts on St. Patrick’s Day, black and white cookies for the premiere of Mad Men—so we’re anxious to find out what her “super secret” new project is. The baker just posted a picture of herself with Mad Men actress Kiernan Shipka.  Shipka, who plays the nearly teenage Sally Draper, tweets often of her love for Babycakes.  “Kiernan Shipka guest starred in a video with me demonstrating the waffle recipe for a super secret BabyCakes project,” McKenna writes on the bakery’s blog.  “How adorbs is she in the uniform?!” Now if someone could just get Don into uniform…

Backstage at McQueen's show. Photo: Anne Deniau

Assouline and Rizzoli may lay claim to most fashion tomes, but Abrams has just announced its plans to publish a new book of never before seen photos of Alexander McQueen’s fashion shows.  Love Looks Not With the Eyes: Thirteen Years with Lee Alexander McQueen will debut over 400 images, shot by Anne Deniau, of McQueen working with his design team and frequent collaborators on both his collections and the production of twenty-six different fashion shows from 1997 to 2010. Deniau, who still shoots for the house of McQueen, has photographed editorials for magazines as diverse as The Face and Vanity Fair, as well as newspapers like the Times and the Independent, and this will mark her fourth book.  It will be released this fall.

Costume designer Edith Head, one of Time's 100 Fashion Icons. Photo: Getty Images

TIME’s just published their list of the 100 greatest fashion icons since 1923, when the magazine launched.  The big number’s broken down into different categories: designers, models, photographers, muses, editors & stylists and the vaguely named style & design. The only real surprise in the first category is the inclusion of Sara Blakely (though the Olsens earned a double take).  Blakely’s brand, Spanx, certainly revolutionized the world of underpinnings, but her products aren’t actually fashionable, certainly not with a capital ‘F’.  She’s lumped in with Coco Chanel, Cristobal Balenciaga, Tom Ford and Marc Jacobs, or brands like Hermes and Louis Vuitton. As far as models go, it stops at Gisele, leaving out younger faces like Daria Werbowy, Lara Stone or Coco Rocha.  Claudia Schiffer, Elle Macpherson and Christy Turlington were left off, too.  Muses run the gamut from Brigitte Bardot to the Beatles, probably marking the first (and last?) time that Michael Jackson and Michelle Obama will earn such a title.  Bruce Weber, Ellen Von Unwerth, Mario Testino, Steven Meisel lead the brigade of contemporary photographers while Patricia Field shakes up an expected list of iconic stylists and editors. Click here to see the full list.

Dries Van Noten last night at FIAF. Photo: Getty Images

In a rare appearance, Dries Van Noten spoke at the French Institute Alliance Française in New York last night as part of the organization’s Fashion Talks series. There, he admitted that although his pieces are admired for their beauty, he, like Miuccia Prada, starts designing by looking at the ugly: “I’m more inspired by things which I don’t like … nothing is so boring as something beautiful. I prefer ugly things, I prefer things which are surprising … You force yourself to ask yourself questions. Quite often I make a collection and I say, ‘Here’s a color I really don’t like.’ … My assistants will say ‘Okay, you don’t like lilac,’ [that means] this season will be lilac. It’s like you see a color, and you think, ‘Why don’t I like this color?’ Maybe the composition is wrong, maybe the lighting is wrong — it would be beautiful in silk, but not the synthetic fabric … That for me is the fun, to play with all the [fabrics].” As for fast fashion and knockoffs, he opined: “It’s the reality. I don’t want to live in the old world, like 35, 30 years ago when people had prêt-à-porter and that was it. I think fast fashion is good. I think modern people combine vintage with designer clothes, with a piece they buy at Zara or other stores—why not?”

Photo: Getty Images

Lizzie McGuire’s Hilary Duff’s a mom! The 24-year-old actress and her hubbie Mike Comrie welcomed their baby boy named Luca Cruz Comrie on Tuesday. Us Weekly. Even the White House Staff appreciates a good mani-pedi: Luxury cosmetics line Le Metier de Beaute was reportedly paid by the Obama campaign to release a collection of Obama branded polishes—in red, white, and blue of course. ELLE. American Idol is getting a makeover: First Tommy Hilfiger joined the show as “image advisor,” and now Idol is debuting a new clothing line, Authentic Icon (AI), in partnership with Kohl’s. People Stylewatch. If you’re dying to shop that favorite overseas boutique online, you may be in luck: The new website Shoptiques allows readers to do just that (it even cleverly organizes the shops by neighborhood!). Paris, anyone? Stylecaster. If you’re wondering what Mischa Barton’s been doing since The O.C., she’s been trying to break into the fashion industry. After launching a line of handbags in 2008, Barton is now releasing a new line of apparel, cosmetics, accessories, and bath products called “Mischa’s Place.” Huffington Post.