Next week, Opening Ceremony will put American designers aside in favor of featuring young Japanese designers whom owners Humerto Leon and Carol Lim discovered on their travels through Tokyo. [WWD]

Naomi Campbell's billionaire Russian boyfriend, Vladimir Doronin, bought her a $18.5 million penthouse in Brazil. [P6]

Tom Ford is co-hosting a fundraiser for Barack Obama at the Beverly Hills home of the Creative Artists Agency’s Bryan Lourd, and Michelle Obama is slated to attend. [WWD]  read more »

Good God, is it Fashion Week again already? However did this happen?

In today's salmon sheet:

• Meredith Bryan meets rising designer Chris Benz, who's somehow making a name for himself without clothing big tacky celebrities (though he does know a few demi-socialites).

• Simon Doonan mourns the closing of The Noose, a kinky sex shop in Chelsea, wondering if it's somehow connected to the mainstreaming of sartorial sadomasochism.

• David Foxley meets Sudanese mannequin Alek Wek near the top of the Empire State building, resulting in an intense case of vertigo.

• Spencer Morgan deconstructs the millinery efforts of socialte Arden Wohl's mother, Denise.

• And let's not forget those beautiful bicycle girls—many of them, after all, are models.

Stay tuned for excited scribbles from the runways.  read more »