Irina Aleksander

It used to be that if a grown woman were wearing shorts, it would be for purely utilitarian, counter-style moments: jogging, errands on a hot Saturday, a trip to the Laundromat. That is no longer the case.

There is the return of the ’60s high-waisted hot pants, sent down the runway this season by Erin Fetherston and L.A.M.B. There is the Bermuda short that reaches right above the knee, from Tory Burch ($195) and BCBG Max Azria ($138), for the BlackBerry clutching gals in midtown, and the neat little cuffed and expertly tailored Fanciful Short by Alice and Olivia ($165) and Badgley Mischka ($138), preferred by those going for a Lower East Side look, like the actress Kirsten Dunst.  read more »

This morning Boy George announced that he's canceling his tour and will not be able to perform for New York City's Department of Sanitation workers as he had planned.

Last week his managers said that the singer was denied a visa to the States because he was awaiting trial in London on charges of falsely imprisoning a man. Boy George, whose real name is George O'Dowd, reportedly pleaded not guilty to accusations made by a 28-year-old man who claimed he was imprisoned in the singer's home.

In a statement sent out to press outlets, Mr.  read more »

Hamptons-vacationing New Yorkers have been getting emails in their inboxes inviting them to join a website called Hamptons Undercover.

According to the site, it is "an exclusive social networking website for jet-setters who summer in or visit the Hamptons."

Created by Danielle Scherman, founder and president of Sioree Events, Hamptons Undercover also pormises invitations to private events, "V.I.P. access," and discounts—an odd offering given its wealthy target audience—to clubs and restaurants. It even features something resembling a dating service. Think: Craig's List-meets-JDate for weekend sharers.

The site has Marketplace, Rideshare, Events, Concierge, Accomodations, and Member services where users can find other "Hampton offerings—whether they be private tennis lessons, extra dinner reservations, or singles looking for a date.  read more »

According to an Associated Press report, Angelina Jolie is currently at a hospital in the South of France where she will give birth to her twins.

Unlike last month's falsified report, this one might actually be real as a Nadine Bauer, a spokeswoman for the Lenval Hospital in Nice was able to confirm Ms. Jolie's admittance to the hospital's maternity wing.

Ms. Bauer told AP that Ms. Jolie is doing fine and will remain in the hospital until she gives birth.

Stephen Baldwin, a born-again Christian and brother of Alec, whose most recent "role" was an apprearance on Donald Trump's Celebrity Apprentice, told Fox News' Laura Ingraham that he will leave the country if Barack Obama becomes the next president (fingers crossed?), yet another reason for Hollywood to keep making campaign donations to the Senator.

Watch the clip to see Mr. Baldwin's rant against Hollywood's support of the Democratic candidate and the reasons why he's backing John McCain.

In an effort to name promising newcomers so that they can later say, "We Told You So!" Vanity Fair has come out with its Bright Young Hollywood package for its August issue.

The spread of young men and women features their answers to a hard-hitting questionnaire about their lifestyle preferences: Levi's or J Brand? BlackBerry or iPhone? Jimmy Choo or Christian Louboutin?

And what do we learn?

They love shoes!

Seventeen year-old Emma "Julia's Niece" Roberts, tells the magazine that she owns a little under 50 pairs of shoes and hopes to imitate the Olsen twin look.  read more »

Amidst divorce rumors, Madonna may be having an affair with Yankee, Alex Rodriguez. [Us Weekly]

In a freak year at The Dalton School, not a single student got into Harvard and many are finding themselves attending non-Ivies like Syracuse, Vanderbilt, and Tulane. [Page Six Magazine via Daily Intel]

Gossip Girl's Blake Lively politely asks you not to compare her to Paris Hilton since she doesn't go to clubs, dance on tables, or like sex tapes, she says. [P6]

Christie Brinkley and Peter Cook's divorce hearings begin in open court tomorrow. The New York Daily News has a detailed round-up of their divorce proceedings thus far. [NY Daily News]  read more »

Despite employing teachers who are members of the Church of Scientology and using teaching methods developed by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, administrators at Will Smith's new private school insist that it isn't a Scientology school.

Both Mr. Smith and Jada Pinckett Smith say they do not belong to the church and the New Village School's director, Jacqueline Olivier, told The Los Angeles Times' Carla Rivera that while some of its staff members are Scientologists, the school has no religious affiliation. Members of its staff are also Muslim, Christian, and Jewish.

"We are a secular school and just like all nonreligious independent schools, faculty and staff do not promote their own religions at school or pass on the beliefs of their particular faith to children," she said.  read more »

When Steven Tyler released a statement last month, saying that he entered Las Encinas rehab center to recover from foot surgery, some in the press connected his treatment with that of Kirsten Dunst, who that same week said that she spent time at Cirque Lodge for depression.

Both clinics publicly stated that they don't offer post-operative care for foot surgeries or treat depression.

Now, the Aerosmith singer is clarifying that he entered rehab for his dependency on pain and sleep medication that he was prescribed after having the foot surgery, the result of injuries from years of active stage performances.  read more »

Jim Shi, the bow-tie wearing Fahion Week Daily news editor, sent out an email to close pals and colleagues on Friday informing them that he is moving on.

"Yes, Monday is my last day at The Daily. It's been a phenomenal ride, and I couldn't have asked for a better boss or company to guide me in this industry," Mr. Shi wrote the Daily Transom on Saturday. "What am I up to next? You'll have to wait and find out."

Hmmm. You might remember that Mr. Shi had some aspirations a while back to appear as a contestant on CBS' Amazing Race, a reality show where two-person teams race around the globe.  read more »

Although his rep denies it, Entourage actor Adrian Grenier is reportedly shopping around his own birthday, asking Hamptons clubs for up to $50,000 for the honor throwing him a party. [P6]

Ben Kingsley's co-stars in The Wackness say he had to be taught how to properly smoke from a bong. [NY Daily News]

Patrick McMullan and son Liam, were scheduled to host a party at Dune on Friday night, but the event was cancelled after the younger Mr. McMullan and his music producer, Chris Young, handed out invitations depicting them smoking pot. [P6]

Lindsay Lohan may have an 11-year-old half sister that Michael Lohan fathered during an affair while still married to Dina Lohan.  read more »

The first thing you noticed Wednesday night when you walked into Hugh Hefner's old Playboy suite on the 23rd floor of 730 5th Avenue were the dozens of fur coats hanging from hooks like racks of lamb and the blasting Russian rap music.

Between this and the elaborate pastries imported from the jungles of Brighton Beach and the severe blonde woman dressed like an alien (slicked-back hair, reptilian Armani sunglasses) smoking a cigarette right there, inside, even though there was a spacious balcony overlooking the park three feet away, you could tell right away that at this party you weren't going to be served any hamburgers or hot dogs.  read more »

Uma Thurman is reportedly engaged to financier Arpad Busson. [NY Daily News]

Those awkward photos of Sean Avery standing shirtless in a fashion closet at Men's Vogue mysteriously disappeared from the magazine's Web site. [Radar]

Graydon Carter, Jann Wenner, Tom Wolfe, Jimmy Buffet, Gay Talese and others gathered at the Waverly Inn on Wednesday to celebrate Gonzo, a Carter-produced documentary about the life and work of Hunter S. Thompson. [WWD]

Raffaello Follieri's friends reportedly want Anne Hathaway to come get the chocolate lab the couple bought together.  read more »

Earlier this month, Ok! reported that Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen are trained to say the word "Prune" every time they smile for the cameras to achieve that effortless, pouty half-smile. And now that they've been found out, they're changing up their technique!

Posing alongside co-star Olivia Thirlby at last night's screening of The Wackness, Ms. Olsen's puckered lips parted, and out came her tiny teeth, which suddenly took away all of her heroin-chic sex appeal and brought back the Michelle Tanner we always hoped would return someday.

HuffPo has more close-ups.

Isaac Mizrahi is annoyed with having to do jury duty. [P6]

Real Vogue interns say their jobs were nothing like Sean Avery's in that they were not flown to L.A. or given their own desks. Shocking. [The Cut]

Bill Murray and wife, Jennifer Butler Murray, who alleged that he abused her, drank too much, and was addicted to marijuana and sex, quietly divorced on June 13. [TMZ]

Barack Obama has Sheryl Crow, Yo Yo Ma, and Howlin' Wolf on his iPod. [RollingStone]

Regarding her mother's high profile divorce from Peter Cook, Alexa Ray Joel told People magazine her mother "is standing up for herself, I think that's admirable.  read more »

Unnamed sources are telling New York Magazine's culture blog Vulture that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are trying to sell a movie version of that New York Times City section piece, "This Strange Thing Called Prom" by Brooke Hauser.

The piece is about Brooklyn International High School's first-ever prom and how students from Liberia, Haiti, China and Tibet--unlike their Upper East Side private school counterparts--try to figure out what it is exactly and how to tackle dates, dresses, hair, and etiquette.

The sources tell Vulture that the couple, under the auspices of their Plan B entertainment company, have brought the option personally to Paramount. 

"Plan B's such development hell right now," sniped one unnamed insider to Vulture, "maybe Maddox and the twins can star in it."

The Johansson twins are quite the Barack Obama enthusiasts. Hunter Johansson has recently left Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer's office to be a campaign organizer for the Obama campaign, while Scarlett has publicly said that she regularly e-mails with the candidate.

"You'd imagine that someone like the senator who is constantly traveling and constantly 'on' - how can he return these personal emails? But he does, and in his off-time I know he also calls people who have donated the minimum to thank them," she told Politico earlier this month, adding that he once wrote about the infamous ABC debate, that the questions he was asked were "silly.  read more »

Club 1Oak reportedly tried to cover up a gay-bashing incident that left one victim with visible wounds and sent another to the hospital. [Gawker]

Lindsay Lohan is showing up on time to movie shoots and being nice to her co-stars. Apparently, it's all thanks to Samantha Ronson. [P6]

Vogue contributing editor, Julia Reed, says that Hillary Clinton's campaign ultimately dropped out of doing a Vogue cover story because they thought they already had the women's votes in the bag. "This was right before Iowa. What an idiot!" she said of Ms. Clinton's communications director, Howard Wolfson. [WWD]

In an interview in the current issue of InStyle, Anne Hathaway says she and Rafaello Follieri are house-hunting and putting off getting engaged. Since that interview, they broke up and Mr. Follieri got arrested. [P6]

Madonna and Guy Ritchie are reportedly splitting up. For real this time. [NY Daily News]

A couple of weeks ago, Hunter Johansson, then a community organizer employed by Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, stopped a co-worker, Greg Kirschenbaum, in the lobby of 1 Centre Street.

“Hey, so I think I’m leaving the office and going to work for the Obama campaign,” Mr. Johansson, the twin brother of actress Scarlett Johansson, told Mr. Kirschenbaum.

“I remember, for a while he was asking all the community liaisons where would be the best place for him to go, and I actually recommended Colorado because I thought it would be a good place for him,” said the latter man, who sometimes walked over with Mr.  read more »

The second of Arianna Huffington’s New York parties for her subtly titled book, Right Is Wrong: How the Lunatic Fringe Hijacked America, Shredded the Constitution, and Made Us All Less Safe, published by Knopf, took place at the Upper East Side store of Italian designer Domenico Vacca on the evening of Monday, June 23. (The first was on May 9 at the Chambers Hotel, co-hosted by Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner and former Viacom CEO Tom Freston.)

Ms. Huffington, who was dressed in a tan pantsuit and an off-white silk blouse designed by Mr. Vacca, said she met the designer one year ago at a Tribeca Film Festival dinner, where she was introduced to him by friend and TFF president, Jennifer Maguire Isham.  read more »

Jacob Arabov, better known as "Jacob the Jeweler," who has made custom jewelry for hip hop artists, Rudy Giuliani, and Bono has been sentenced to 30 months in Detroit today for lying to investigators about a multistate drug ring.

Mr. Arabov was ordered to pay a fine of $2 million to the government and will report to prison on January 15th.

He was originally arrested in June 2006 in his Upper East Side store for conspiring to launder about $270 million in drug profits for a Detroit-based drug ring called the Black Mafia Family. But the charges were later dropped as part of a plea deal.

Mr. Arabov told reporters: "I feel ashamed that I broke the laws of this country, a country that has been so good for me. I will carry this shame for the rest of my life."

This afternoon, the Daily Transom rang up Peter Davis, Tinsley Mortimer's brother-in-law, to inquire about Ms. Mortimer's upcoming role on Gossip Girl. It turns out that unlike Lydia Hearst, who played a character in the show, Tinsley's role is a cameo!

So What's Tinsley's role on the show?

She's playing herself. I think it's sort of tongue-in-cheek. Tinsley lives the life these kids portray on the show only they're much younger of course.

Where was it shot?

It was at a soundstage in Brooklyn, not the Hamptons.

What was the context of the scene?

She said it was a sort of party scene, some kind of party where everyone is in all white.  read more »

In more pop culture auction news, former tennis great, John McEnroe, is selling a portrait that Andy Warhol made of him and his then wife, Tatum O'Neal at Sotheby's in London next week.

The acrylic and silk-screen portrait, based on a Polaroid of the couple taken by Mr. Warhol himself, was purchased by Mr. McEnroe at a charity auction for approximately $30,000 in 1986. The work is now expected to fetch up to $687,000.

Mr. McEnroe is now a television commentator at major tennis tournaments and Ms. O'Neal was arrested for scoring crack on the Lower East Side earlier this month.

Don't forget! You can still go bid on Tony Soprano's signature short-sleeved button down shirts for $500 at Christie's tomorrow for a better bargain.

Italian businessman Raffaelo Follieri, 29, who was recently dumped by Anne Hathaway has been arrested (again!) this morning on charges of wire fraud conspiracy and operating a money laundering scheme, the The New York Post reports.

Mr. Follieri is accused of duping investors by claiming that he had been appointed as the chief financial officer of the Vatican and promising that he could obtain properties of the Catholic church in the United States at bargain prices.

His only actual connection to the Vatican turned out to be merely attending meetings with members of the clergy in Italy arranged by an administrative employee that he paid off.  read more »

Michelle Williams is reportedly feuding with Heath Ledger's family over the late actor's will. [P6]

Ron Perelman and his ex, Patricia Duff, are back in court because a court-appointed lawyer for their 13-year-old daughter says that the girl has been subjected to emotional abuse. [NY Daily News]

Ashley Dupre thanked her fans and critics on her MySpace page yesterday. [NY Daily News]

Helena Christensen will not shake your hand if you cross her. [P6]

Larry King's wife, Shawn Southwick King, has reportedly gone to rehab for her addiction to painkillers. [P6]

Bravo's Shear Genius stylists will give New Yorkers free blow-outs in Times Square today. [The Cut]

On Wednesday, June 25th, Christie's will hold its Pop Culture auction, selling off clothing worn by the Sopranos cast, early Dick Tracy cartoons, and Bert Stern shots of Marilyn Monroe along with clothing and props from films like On the Waterfront, Superman III, and Planet of the Apes.

But flipping through the catalog we noticed a couple of things that didn't quite add up. Like Tony Soprano's signature black, olive and cream, short-sleeved, button down shirt starting at a measly $500-700, while a painted rubber sword used by Brad Pitt in Troy is going for $1,000-1,500. Did that many people care about Troy?  read more »

Tinsley Mortimer was spotted shooting an episode of CW's Gossip Girl this morning, wearing a white dress alongside co-stars Blake Lively and Taylor Momsen.

Of course she's not the first of Manhattan's "socials" to appear on the show: Lydia Hearst was in last season's finale. But then it's not Ms. Mortimer's first time filming for television: Page Six recently reported that MTV shot a reality show featuring Ms. Mortimer that was then killed because the producers thought that her life wasn't interesting enough.

Click here to see photos of Ms. Mortimer on the set.

Olivia Thirlby has been busy since her appearance as Ellen Page's best friend in Juno.

There is her role opposite Ben Kigsley and Mary Kate Olsen in The Wackness (out July 3rd), Safety Glass with Steve Coogan and The Dream of the Romans with Lauren Graham, both in post-production, the delayed Kenneth Lonergan drama, Margaret, and the yet-to-be-greenlit Jack and Diane, a lesbian picture to be done with Ms. Page.

But then there is also Judd Apatow's Pineapple Express for which Ms. Thirlby was briefly cast and then dropped.

In an interview with New York Magazine this week, Ms. Thirlby says, “I don’t know if I’m going to see it.  read more »

At her Spring/Summer 2009 Men's wear show on Saturday, June 21st in Milan, Donatella Versace reportedly dedicated the collection to Senator Barack Obama, calling him "the man of the moment."

Ms. Versace said that the look inspired by Senator Obama was designed for a "a relaxed man who doesn't need to flex muscles to show he has power." Later, while talking to reporters at the after-show dinner party at her private palazzo in Milan, she offered some styling tips for the presidential candidate: "I would get rid of the tie and jazz up the shirt," she said.

Unfortunately, Senator Obama doesn't look like the type to wear sheer scarves tucked underneath silk T-shirts, a look that dominated the designer's collection. And we would seriously have to question his commitment to the presidential race if he started riding that bike around in strappy man-sandals, another staple in the show.

Tony Kushner and his partner, writer Mark Harris, are headed to California for a marriage license. [Intelligencer]

Heather Mills has reportedly been invited to do Celebrity Apprentice because Donald Trump likes her. [P6]

New York Ranger-turned-Vogue intern Sean Avery attended R.E.M.'s concert at Madison Square Garden on Thursday wearing all black and a newsboy cap. A "spy" said, "he looked like he was straight out of a 1998 J.Lo. video." [P6]

Cynthia Nixon didn't have breast augmentation surgery as was reported by Page Six (and linked by Daily Transom) last week. She was at the hospital for a check-up following the removal of her breast cancer.  read more »

"It's going to be before Obama, 'B.B.,' and after Obama—'A.B.'—and some folks need to get used to this," director Spike Lee told Reuters at the Silverdocs film festival outside Washington, D.C., last night. "And I'm going to be at the inauguration—getting my hotel reservation now."

Mr. Lee is predicting that not only will Barack Obama take the White House, but the nation will be a decidedly different place under his leadership.

"It's not an if ... he changes the world. He changes how the world looks at the United States," he said. "It's going to be a new day.  read more »

First, David Chang limited our access to his 12-seat Momofuku Ko by instituting the online only reservation system that one must return to at 10 a.m. every morning for weeks--and be quick with the mouse--in order to even have a chance of reserving a seat.

Now, Mr. Chang won't even allow us to get a glimpse of this precious food!

Eater reported yesterday that Mr. Chang has banned all cameras inside Ko and Serious Eats followed up by calling up some of New York's noteworthy restaurateurs to ask them about their policies towards camera-toting restaurant goers.

Mario Batali and Drew Nieporent, founder of the Myriad Restaurant Group that owns Nobu, said that while they don't stop people from taking photos, they ask guests to be considerate to the diners around them and not disturb them with the repeated flashes.  read more »

MTV reportedly shot a reality show featuring socialite Tinsley Mortimer, but the project was killed because she just got dressed and went out to parties every day. [P6]

Kelly Cutrone responded to The Observer's commenters' questioning of her age by scanning her driver's license. She is, in fact, 42-years-old as she had told Meredith Bryan. [The Cut]

Christie Brinkley went to New York Supreme Court yesterday to ask that her divorce from Peter Cook be made public. The documents reportedly contain details about Mr. Cook trolling porn and swinger websites for young women. [Access Hollywood]

Chuck Schumer will appear on Law and Order: Criminal Intent as himself on Sunday night.  read more »

“Park Avenue is a state of mind, not a location,” said Dr. Stuart Fischer. The graying founder of the Park Avenue Diet Center, with his small, intense eyes and professional tan, looked the part of socialite-whisperer as he stood in the foyer of a fifth-floor room at Townhouse 2 at 807 Park Avenue Tuesday night, his blue shirt and tie accentuated by the blue-brown zebra striped curtains against the windows, greeting his guests.

They had come to celebrate, or to help him publicize, the launch of his book, The Park Avenue Diet.

“I decided to concentrate on people’s overall image as residents of Park Avenue do,” he told the Daily Transom as he stood near a table displaying stacks of the book.  read more »

Cynthia Nixon and Kristin Davis have both reportedly paid a visit to the doctor shortly after Sex and the City's release, opting for a breast augmentation surgery and a varicose vein removal, respectively. [P6]

Barack and Michelle Obama appear on the cover of Us Weekly this week with Mrs. Obama depicted as a "down-to-earth mom." Never mind the fact that she graduated cum laude from Princeton followed by Harvard Law. [Us Weekly]

Exes Anne Hathaway and Raffaello Follieri stayed at separate residences in New York yesterday—Ms. Hathaway at Gramercy Park Hotel and Mr. Follieri at his rental in Trump Tower—but were reportedly planning to meet up for dinner at Cipriani's.  read more »

A "source" at last night's Obama fundraiser hosted by Michelle Obama, Anna Wintour, Calvin Klein, and Andre Leon Talley says that Mr. Talley might have his sights set on styling Mrs. Obama. [P6]

The Trump kids found out about their parents' marital troubles when they saw covers of the Post, one of which read, "Marla Boasts to Pals about Donald: BEST SEX I EVER HAD." [P6]

Taking a cue from Katherine Heigl, Lindsay Lohan has taken herself out of the Emmy race in hopes of improving her chances next year for her appearances on Ugly Betty. [US Weekly]

Kate Moss, Daria Werbowy, and Lara Stone posed for a group "summer camp" spread in W Magazine that doesn't look like any kind of summer camp we've ever been to.  read more »

At Barnard College’s spring gala, held at Pier Sixty at Chelsea Piers on Monday, June 16, the Transom found alumna and former Seventeen editor, Atoosa Rubenstein, eight months pregnant with a daughter she plans on naming Angelika, wearing a pink dress, a beaded belt and steep, strappy sandals. “For my first day, I got my nails especially air-brushed with blue lightning blots,” she said, of arriving freshman year from Malverne, Long Island. “I wore torn bicycle shorts and had a huge Jon Bon Jovi poster on my wall. I was not one of the many cosmopolitan women that went to Barnard”—or did she mean Cosmopolitan women?—“but I learned how to be amongst them.  read more »

Billy Ray Cyrus went on the Today show this morning and reportedly spoke about his daughter, Miley Cyrus' Vanity Fair photo spread that made everyone unusually enraged about her naked back: "I wasn't there at the time. [Miley's] publicist was there, and everyone seemed in control. I didn't know they (were) gonna strip her down and wrap her with a blanket."  read more »

Steven Dann, owner of a shoe boutique in Great Neck, thought that maybe he could improve sales by carrying a variety of items featured in the Sex and the City movie.

He stocked shoes (including the Giuseppe Zanotti Crystal Fishbone Shoe, pictured here), belts and bags seen in the film, some retailing for as much as $4,295. And to advertise this, Mr. Dann designed an elaborate window display featuring a Manhattan skyline and pink neon sign that read, "Who's having sex in this city? Either way you need the shoes."

Unfortunately, not many residents in Great Neck found it cute.  read more »

According to the Daily Mail, Anne Hathaway has broken up with her businessman boyfriend, Raffaello Follieri.

An "insider" tells the daily that 25-year-old Ms. Hathaway "made the painful decision to end their relationship because of the effects his controversial business dealings could have on her career."

Mr. Follieri, 29, recently made news when New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo revealed that he was investigating Mr. Follieri's charity, the Follieri Foundation, and issuing subpoenas for various financial records of the children's organization.  read more »

Mariann Florio, widow of former Condé Nast C.E.O. Steve Florio, is reportedly in a dispute with the company over payouts following her husband's death last December. [P6]

Gossip Girl had a casting call in Southampton this past weekend and no one showed up. [Daiyl Intel]

Jay-Z dined with Governor Paterson at the Spotted Pig. [P6]  read more »