Kim Kardashian's birthday on October 21st was the event it always is—she went to Hawaii, did a paid appearance at a Las Vegas nightclub, and went shopping. This year was extra special, however, because Kanye West let baby North ruin a morbidly expensive purse just for Mom.

Yes, an anonymous bidder paid $203,150 at auction for a purse. Well, not just any purse, a Birkin, the hard-to-get handbag fetish of celebrities and needy rich ladies the world over. And not just any Birkin, a Hermès Exceptional Collection Shiny Rouge H Porosus Crocodile 30 cm Birkin Bag with Solid 18K White Gold &…

For this week's "What I Wore" personal style column, the New York Times features Park Avenue socialite Muffie Potter Aston, whose life is exactly as you'd guess it would be, based on her name.

Kim Kardashian and fiance Kris Humphries went shopping for their wedding registry at Gearys yesterday, a store that specializes in severe lampshades and angry-looking napkin rings. Come, let us tour the online registry for their Wedding of the Century. We seem to have a Wedding of the Century every month now, no? […

Parker, pictured with a mystery woman from his Facebook profile, ran a Madison Avenue accessories boutique, between socialite-ing. He was arrested for allegedly using stolen credit cards for designer purchases. He also funded a porn film called Trust Fund Sluts!

Alligator farmers in Florida are struggling, and it's not just because of the economy or even, you know, the vicious predators they farm. An evil luxury fashion brand is hoarding skins and distorting the market.

[Sean Lennon escorts his corpse bride Charlotte Kemp Muhl to the Hermes show in Paris yesterday. Image via Bauer-Griffin]

• The September Issue debuted at the Museum of Modern Art on Wednesday night and the fashion set turned out en masse, not surprisingly. Just a few bits from the big event: Anna Wintour couldn't stop talking up Fashion's Night Out; Thakoon gushed that Anna is now "bigger than Madonna"; the film's unlikely star, Grace…

• Christian Lacroix saved? Possibly! Although Lacroix is keeping mum, a bidder for the struggling fashion house may have emerged. [WWD, Reuters]
• More depressing news about the state of the retail: Manhattan's vacancy rate is 6.5% and rising. [NYT]
• Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen are on the list of the 31 new…

• Here's a sign that people are shopping again (or else Victoria Beckham has gone on another shopping spree): Hermès says it's experiencing such "massive over-demand" for its handbags, it's been forced to set up its own crocodile breeding operation in Australia just to keep up. [Reuters via Cut]
• Esteban Cortazar…

So you've probably been hearing that the recession has eased a bit, and there are signs the U.S. economy is finally turning the corner. Fewer people are losing their jobs! The stock market had its best April in years! People are spending money again! We have absolutely no idea if this is true or it's all part of…

• Kelly Cutrone's forthcoming reality show has a name: Kell on Earth will be a "no-holds-barred look into the life of one of America's most legitimate tastemakers," according to Bravo. [Fashionista]
• Project Runway is looking for contestants for the show's seventh season. Unfortunately if you make the cut, you'll…

• At long last, Karl Lagerfeld has his very own Ken doll "complete with matching black suit, high white collar, white ponytail, silver leather gloves." The doll-like photo to your left? That's the genuine article. [Racked]
• Either Adele suddenly dropped a ton of weight before her Annie Leibovitz photo shoot or Vogue…

Fabulously rich people are nothing if not sensitive. Take Kathy Fuld, who still goes on once-a-week $5,000-10,000 shopping sprees at Hermès, but nowadays, so she doesn't offend anyone, she tries to keep quiet about it.

Not that Padma Lakshmi needed any help in ensnaring her next billionaire boyfriend, but this can't hurt: Indian models are apparently the next big thing in the modeling world, an industry that is finally recognizing "their potential and versatility in selling high fashion," reports ABC News. Willowy Brazilians …

♦ Pat Field's debuted her line for HSN today. The Carrie-like dresses cost $150 a pop and each order comes with a subscription to Vogue. "If only Anna Wintour would go on the air and shill along with Pat Field." [The Cut]
♦ Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen might be feuding, their neighbors might hate them, but their…

♦ The first painting of Kate Moss ever to be sold at auction—"a self-portrait in lipstick marked with her own lip prints and stains of her former boyfriend Pete Doherty's blood"—is expected to go for between £30,000 and £40,000 in London on Saturday. Meanwhile the subject of an upcoming show at Les Arts Décoratifs…

In "Deluxe," Dana Thomas, Newsweek's culture and fashion writer in Paris, writes about how the luxury market went mass market. In this little excerpt, she looks at the swelling and obsessive handbag market—and takes a trip to an Hermes workshop. (By the way, the book is blurbed by both Fareed Zakaria and Richard…