Karen O, center of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Just in time for Halloween, the art world’s optical illusionist moves his life sized boulders and giant Balenciaga shoe sculptures into the New Museum on the Bowery. Urs Fischer, who hails from Switzerland but lives in NYC with his American girlfriend likes to have fun constructing life sized skeletons. In this round, he’s built textured prints of the Empire State Building and mounds of Swiss cheese on blocked mirrors. The head of LVMH, Bernard Arnault, was sniffing around the opening as were big chip artists like Chuck Close, who grinned while running his wheel chair in between works. But for the birds who can’t envision bringing home a large piece of Urs, his silk scarves will do. Two limited editions are now up for sale at the New Museum gift shop. And the night of the opening, I spotted Yeah Yeah Yeahs front woman dancing around in one — a top a slim sweater and gray trousers — at the Interview Magazine’s after party. Two varieties ($350), in silk, rumored to be from the same mills that supply Hermes. Ooh, la, la! Exhibit and scarves at the New Museum, 235 Bowery. Urs Fischer until February 2010. Silk scarves, while supplies last.

Cool Urs Fischer scarf, likely a collector’s item

Barely there but beautiful chains by designer Bliss Lau, for women and men

Don’t know about you, but I’m SICK to death of bird skull necklaces, claws, and nasty decaying bits on the body. That trend has run its course despite Halloween. Bliss Lau — one gal who just signed her line to Barney’s– represents the opposite of the decaying animal trend with her chain accoutrements for guys and girls. There’s nothing like a hot guy with nickel chain suspenders going directly from his denims to his pecs. Or Bliss’ antique brass chain necklaces on a feminine form, just outlining a curve here or there. She makes them in the form of necklaces, bracelets, face nets, and even small chains to tie around boots for guys and girls. Rumor has it that Erin Wasson ripped off Bliss’ concept for her own line. Hmmmn… looks fishy! I predict Bliss will be here for a long time. Buying one of her pieces represents art and a touch of class that can be fashioned into a totally individual look. Much better than dead pigeon cadavers. CLICK:www.blisslau.com

Katherine Heigl featured wearing Hudson in PEOPLE STYLE WATCH.

“Black Power is 100 Years Old” by Hank Willis Thomas

`69 was a hot year. Race riots, Vietnam looming, Woodstock. All kinds of energy bounced around and people voiced their prejudices almost as openly as their higher convictions. In the Moma show now open at PS1, curator Neville Wakefield brings together noted artists from the Sixties — big names like sculptor Richard Serra and painter Robert Rauschenberg — with younger artists, like Hank Willis Thomas, whose work is pictured here. Willis Thomas lifted images from popular black magazines like Ebony and Jet and superimposed them with vinyl on windows. Take for example, the headline above “Scandalously Good,” with Jackie O, former first lady and a socialite with a smiling James Earl Jones. It may seem pedestrian now, but so do a lot of other things in this telling expo, an open refrigerator with a television set and a box of Arm & Hammer baking soda inside. A lady cleaning her drapes to pull back an image of Vietnam fighters. The weekend opening party drew art loving fans like R.E.M’s Michael Stipe and actor James Franco. The exhibit is all incredibly eerie. We’ve come a long way baby! On view through April, 2010 CLICK: 302

Hank Willis Thomas

Music dude and deejay Mark Ronson, despite Gucci, he’s not a sneaker kind of guy

A motley New York rent a crowd — actress Claire Danes, hip hop producer Andre Harrell, Phantom Planet lead singer Alex Greenwald — showed up at a white walled pop up store on Crosby street last Friday to toast the launch of Mark Ronson’s sneaker for Gucci. The sneaks, all in white and green and black plus boat shoes in middle of the road blue, go for $500 to $1400 a pop. Thing is, they don’t really seem Gucci. And they certainly don’t seem Ronson, who nine out of ten times distinguishes himself by suiting up to perfect custom measurement, often care of Gucci. The only time I spotted Ronson, a famed music producer (Amy Winehouse), in anything but tailored was in late August at his sister Charlotte’s BBQ, where he donned a neon green polo and jeans. (Get this man a pair of Hudsons!) Perhaps that was the precursor to the Gucci GG sneaker, commissioned as part of the designer Frida Giannini’s “Temporary Icon” campaign — eighteen styles of shoes, only two for women — available in NYC for the next two weeks before heading to Art Basel Miami, then London, and Tokyo. Yeah, Ronson wore white sneaks with green stripes on Friday, but I’ll be checking his feet for the next several months since he prefers slick black shoes! Gotcha Gucci!

One of several Christopher Walken paintings… this one up for auction starting at only $250

Now at the DVF (Diane Von Fursternberg) Gallery, a Wall Street trader donated his paintings of just one actor, Christopher Walken, to raise money for cancer patients and their families. John William Codling found himself dealing with a lot of economically depressed friends in the past year and a half so he picked up a paintbrush when laid off pals stopped wanting to meet for Sunday brunch. His only education as a painter came from an eighth grade class. The results — giant pop art Walkens in the style of Warhol — drew a hipster crowd to the opening night auction last week, including rock n’roll photographer Mick Rock who told me, “I”m bloody impressed!” Why Walken? “I just like him.” Said Codling. Best bit is that the giant colored Walkens start at $150 and go up to ten times that amount according to the generosity of the bidder and all of it goes to Team Continuum, the charity that helps cancer victims. (Gallery show and bids open until November 1st at 444 West 14th Street NYC. It’s worth a peek after brunching at Pastis! Donations can also be made to www.teamcontinuum.net )

Chris Walken as Farrah

Singer Rufus Wainwright and artist E.V. Day at Lincoln Center opening

I remember the first time I encountered some haughty haute couture bird who worked in a vintage shop in Paris. She trilled when she used the word “prrrovenance!” The word provenance basically means origins or history, much in the same way a crest or precious heirloom can represent a family. “What a bunch of bullocks!” I thought originally. But as I’ve come to understand art and fashion that requires a certain craftsmanship, the word has grown on me. And a couple nights ago, renowned artist E.V. Day — who famously breaks female stereotypes by making objects overtly sexual or in essence, turning a detailed looking glass on objects of fetish — bastardized a bunch of opera costumes at NYC’s Lincoln Center. Dresses, all lace and baubles, a few with money dripping from folds and one (from the opera Don Giovanni) with a black glove reaching straight for the costume’s bloomers, hung from the rafters. The New York City Opera handed E.V. their costume archive for this special exhibit. (Exhibit opens to the public at the David H. Koch Theater on November 6th.)

Hats from several operas — the Magic Flute, Casanova, Turandot — reinterpreted by E.V. Day

Guy about town Tim Goossens shines on

It takes a ballsy guy or a glam rocker to pull off a metallic shirt. The man pictured, Tim Goossens, a curator at PS1 and art enthusiast, dons a shirt by Nicolas Petrou, a Cypriot and grad of Central St. Martins in London. A bloke who can pull off this kind of shirt mixes a part of the Clash and Bowie and even more modern groups like the one minute hits, the Hives, the Killers, and Franz Ferdinand.

I like the groovy charm of it. In fact, such a shiny bit would rock with a pair of black Hudson jeans. However, I followed the glitter packed inspiration and checked out designer Petrou’s website. It’s tres weird, as in he’s king of the “man blouse.” You know the man blouse: what straight men who tend to work in offices wear on the weekends, an often loose fitting button down, slapped loosely over a pair of denims. Petrou even goes a step further and adds a blocked design in the middle of the buttons that resembles a faux bib. Oh baby! And I don’t mean that in a sexy way… Guys with the right hard bods, should give his glitter number a try, but kill the rest. PLEASE. The “man blouse:” detail_shots

Alexandra Richards signs a heart on the wall in the basement of the Whitney

In a sea of suits, you spotted them. The plunging backs of long Versace gowns, lent to famous social girls at the gala for the Whitney Museum of American Art, co-hosted by Donatella Versace and actress Penelope Cruz. I ran into neither of them, although my posse’ arrived shortly after start time of 9 pm (bloody early rush to get dressed!) But, Lindsay Lohan in a slinky Versace gold number and gold shoes practically flew down the stairway just around midnight. Still, her yellow hair shone brighter than her holiday wrapping dress. Why do pretty girls make themselves look so costume-y? (One cool looker, Alexandra Richards, above does it right…)

Some style gangs could be detected in and out of the yuppie strongholds of young collectors, you know those thick waisted guys in jackets and their dates with blown out hair. All guests were invited to draw on the walls with markers, many penning hearts and Versace graffiti. Designer Behnaz Sarafpour weaved through, wearing her own version of a tutu dress all in black. I smacked right into the terrible twins, photographer Terry Richardson with his mag bookend, Purple Mag editor Olivier Zahm. A few of us chosen ones, meandered to the after party at the Gramercy Park Rose Bar, having been given the password for the night, “Bully.” No worries though, all the nerds were safe. They just didn’t get in the door.

Purple Mag Editor in Chief, Olivier Zahm, stylist Masha Orlov, and photo Terry Richardson

Georgia-May Jagger featured in VANITY FAIR.