SAINT PAUL—Ray Vanyo, the general manager of a popular Italian eatery called Cossetta’s that sits right at the security perimeter entrance surrounding the Xcel Center here, wasn’t happy as he stood outside the shop Wednesday night.

Partly by virtue of being so near the place where tens of thousands of people entered the compound housing the Republican National Convention this week, he had been expecting as many as 700 people at a time to show up demanding Italian subs and pizzas and buying Italian delicacies at his adjacent store. To that effect he had erected a giant tent in the parking lot, in which he had created a lively-looking outdoor wine-garden complete with cigar and cigarettes on sale, checkered tablecloths, and piped Italian music.  read more »

Robert Giroux, who discovered and edited some of the most unusual and paradigm-shifting voices in 20th century fiction, died today at his home in Tinton Falls, New Jersey, at the age of 94. Here's the obituary from the New York Times, for now:

If the flamboyant Roger Straus presented the public face of Farrar, Straus, Mr. Giroux, as editor-in-chief, was its quiet mover, working behind the scenes to shape its list of books and establishing himself as the gold standard of literary taste. The publisher Charles Scribner Jr., in his memoir, “In the Company of Writers: A Life in Publishing” (1991), wrote, “Giroux is a great man of letters, a great editor, and a great publisher.

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On Thursday, September 4, NBC Universal threw a party on the rooftop of Gramercy Park Hotel in honor of Rachel Zoe's new show on Bravo, The Rachel Zoe Project, and invited her dearest fashionable friends for the occasion.

One of the first guests to arrive was designer Gilles Mendel of J. Mendel, who this year has opted for a still life presentation instead of a runway show. 

"For many, many years people have told me that would be great for them to look at my clothes closely," said Mr. Mendel. "It's about showing clothes in a museum so that you can look closer and longer. For the kind of clothes I make there is a need for more interaction."  read more »

Victoria Beckham is launching a collection of dresses featuring “comfortable and supportive” corsets and belts. [WWD] 

Italian designer Mila Schon has died at the age of 91. [Reuters]

Dominican model Arlenis Sosa, who is 19, will be the new face of Lancome. [WWD]  

The Observer’s own Simon Doonan thinks that Sarah Palin is more “LensCrafters Lady” than “Ms. Congeniality.” [The Cut]

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It hasn't even been 24 hours since Republican Presidential candidate John McCain's speech in St. Paul and already a tribute site has been created to the protesters who disrupted him on stage.

The site, The Ground Noise and the Static, derives its name from the response Mr. McCain offered to supporters after members of the anti-war group Code Pink heckled him onstage:

My friends, my dear friends ... Please, please don't be diverted by the ground noise and the static. I'm going to talk about it some more, but Americans want us to stop yelling at each other.

Another McCain heckler, Adam Koresh, was interviewed by The American Prospect's Dana Goldstein.

Two magazines are preparing profiles of The New York Times' Arthur Sulzberger, Jr.

New York magazine has assigned Joe Hagan to write a profile, and David Margolick is preparing a piece for Portfolio. Both articles are write-arounds, and neither author has scored an on-the-record interview with Mr. Sulzberger, according to a source familiar with the situation, who also says that Mr. Sulzberger has no plans to talk to either of the writers.

Mr. Margolick's story was scheduled to run in the October issue of Portfolio hitting newsstands on Sept. 23, but it was dropped at the last minute, sources said. The story may need to be recast.  read more »

Not content dabbling in stunt journalism and celebrity profiles, Joel Stein has decided what he really wants to do is use his writing to make a difference.

Actually, that's not quite right. He wants to use it to drum up fake controversy, as he admits in his latest Los Angeles Times column.

Mr. Stein was in Denver covering the Democratic convention (or something) when he spotted the following scene:

I was at a party thrown by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom featuring a bunch of indie bands, including Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, which played its catchy new song 'Satan Said Dance.  read more »

Back in March, this reporter was dismayed to discover that charming restaurateur Toney Edwards had finally lost his long, drawn-out legal fight to protect his beloved French bistro Le Madeleine from the wrecking ball.

Landlord Mark Scharfman was reportedly planning to tear down the single-story structure on West 43rd Street and replace it with a multi-story residential building.

Now, adding insult to injury, I come to find out, via the blog Lost City, that Mr. Scharfman has installed a new tenant in Le Madeleine's place -- specifically, another French bistro called Le Petit Un Deux Trois. Incroyable!

"...it has to make you wonder by the landlord insisted on kicking Le Madeleine to the curb. Was it personal between the landlord and the restaurant owner, Tony Edwards, who always insisted Scharfman couldn't legally tear the building down. Did the economy foil Scharfman's plans? Or maybe Un Deux Trois just offered more money."

At this morning's Yigal Azrouel show in West Chelsea, attendees received gift bags stuffed with T-shirts, nail polish, and—this was new!—prophylactics. Sheathed in feminine floral packaging, the condoms (pictured above) were designed by Mr. Azrouel himself for condom manufacturer Proper Attire ("PROPER ATTIRE Required for entry," read the boxes). The color palette roughly complemented Mr. Azrouel's earth-toned runway looks.

Attendees such as Lancome model Elettra Wiedemann, socialites Fabiola Beracasa and Zani Gugelmann, Vogue's Andre Leon Talley, Katie Lee Joel, interior designer Nate Berkus, and Internet-famous teenager Cory Kennedy are now in possession of the high-end condoms, which will be sold in Mr. Azrouel's New York store.

(Disappointingly, the objects themselves were not floral, but greasy and nude-colored like more mass-market Trojans).

Nothing to Be Frightened Of
By Julian Barnes
Alfred A. Knopf, 244 pages, $24.95

I’m borderline obsessed by Philip Larkin’s poem “Aubade.” It’s a pitiless meditation on death; a frank confession of fear; a swift rebuke to religion (“That vast, moth-eaten musical brocade”); and a weary recognition that despite the dread moment of personal extinction, life will go on—dawn will come again:

Meanwhile telephones crouch, getting ready to ring
In locked-up offices, and all the uncaring
Intricate rented world begins to rouse.

I’m particularly hung up on the word “rented.” We live in a rented world—and the landlord, alas, can evict us without any notice whatsoever.

In Nothing to Be Frightened Of, his own meandering, book-length meditation on mortality, Julian Barnes calls “Aubade” Larkin’s “great death-poem.  read more »