The Daily Transom

Justin Timberlake's line, William Rast, will be showing at the tents at Bryant Park this year, but don't expect a performance from the singer. [WWD] 

While her husband rescues the economy, Michelle Obama will save the fashion world. [NY Times] 

Vogue editor Anna Wintour is rumored to be in the running for a post within the Obama administration as an ambassador to England or France. [FWD]   read more »

Since its inception, the gossip Web site Cityfile has been buying the domain names of powerful New Yorkers, accumulating more than 100 names, including those of Bruce Wasserstein, Jonathan Tisch and Kelly Cutrone. (When a someone tries to go to ronaldlauder.com or richieakiva.com, they are directed to Cityfile's profiles of the billionaire and the nightclub owner.)

When the Web site pointed this out, founder Remy Stern told Page Six, "We did it to promote the site, but I won't object if someone comes along with outrageous sums of money and wants to buy his name back."  read more »

This morning, the Daily Transom received a invite to a party taking place this evening at the Midtown Loft, at Fifth Avenue and 29th Street, to celebrate the sort of beauty product we thought only existed in the world of 4 a.m. infomercials. According to the invite, socials will arrive for a cocktail hour to sample Talika's Bust Serum, which "after six weeks, increases the bra cup size by one cup, provides an 18% lift and, in many cases, improves tonicity."

While "Talika" may sound like a kooky potion-concocting quack, it turns out it is "a French skin-care company that specializes in specific treatments."

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While some fashion houses have had to trim down their staff and bow out of runway shows, Oscar de la Renta says that his company has had a good year. He's recently been able to hire even more staff and plans to put on two shows during New York Fashion Week--one for press and one for buyers. [FWD]

Celebrity stylist Rachel Zoe was responsible for actresses Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway being dressed up as a bride and groom at the premiere of Bride Wars on Monday night. [WWD]  

Designer Vivienne Westwood was so pleased with the response to the wedding dress that she designed for the Sex and the City movie that she wants to be more involved for the sequel. The designer has offered to help write the script and even phoned Sarah Jessica Parker to discuss. [Vogue UK]  read more »

This morning, we put up a post about how billionaires like Carl Icahn and Ron Perelman are selling off their megayachts, while others, like Paul Allen, are continuing to spend as much as $384,000 a week on the upkeep of theirs. This afternoon, the Daily Transom received a phone call with a clarification and update.

Apparently Mr. Perelman's sale of his Ultima III, was not due to financial distress. Mr. Perelman, it seems, is doing just fine! In fact, he is upgrading.

"Ronald is selling the Ultima III because he just got delivery of a new boat that has been under construction in Europe for the past few years.  read more »

In October--right around the time that the financial crisis began to seem a whole lot more real--hedge fund billionaire Carl Icahn put his 177-foot yacht, the Starfire, up for sale for $37.5 million. Then, Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, who has been so affected by the economic downturn that he reportedly had to call off his New Year's Eve party in Aspen, is reportedly about to make a decision about whether he will sell off his Chelsea soccer club or megayacht Pelorus that has a pricetag of $300 million. And just yesterday, billionaire Ron Perelman put his 190-foot yacht Ultima III--equipped with eight bedrooms and a jacuzzi in which Gina Gershon once soaked--for $67 million.  read more »

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Just in time for the recession, Roberto Cavalli has introduced an exclusive snakeskin credit card. [Luxist via Cityfile] 

Chicago-based designer Mario Pinto, whose designs are often worn by Michelle Obama, says the trick to designing the perfect dress is being able to wear the dress yourself. [Vogue UK] 

Adam Kimmel is latest menswear designer who plans to present his fall 2009 collection as an installation without the use of models. [WWD]   read more »

New York's eighth graders have just over a week left to apply to Greenwich Village High School's inaugural class. 

In September, when we checked up on the school—whose famous backers include Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter and deputy editor Aimee Bell, actor John Leguizamo, New School president Bob Kerrey and his wife, television and film writer Sara Paley—only a few scant details were available: Tuition would be on a sliding scale from $1,000 to $34,729; the first freshman class would have only 45 students. The school didn't even have a location yet.

But now, the school's website is up and running. So where do we begin?  read more »

At the New York Film Critic's Circle Awards on Monday, Jan. 5, NYFCC Best Actor honoree Sean Penn offered early clues as to how he'll approach this year's awards: He hammed it up for the cameras with Milk co-star Josh Brolin before blowing off a lengthy line of eager journalists. (Interestingly, Mr. Penn is something of a journalist himself these days, penning an eager travelogue for The Nation in December about his self-initiated chats with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Cuban President Raul Castro).

Wall-E director Andrew Stanton, the Best Animated Film honoree, was far chattier.  read more »

For someone who recently had to endure a very public, and very embarrassing, breakup from her felonious ex-boyfriend (Italian real estate developer Raffaello Follieri), the actress Anne Hathaway has been starring in an unfortunate number of films about marriage lately--the dark comedy Rachel Getting Married and Bride Wars, which premiered Monday evening at the Lincoln Square Cinema on the Upper West Side. And so Ms. Hathaway had to field some uncomfortable questions at the Bride Wars premiere about Mr. Follieri, with whom she ended things just as he was arrested on fraud charges and subsequently shipped off to prison.

At the premiere, Ms.  read more »