It is going to be an expensive campaign season for designer Tufi Duek. While Kate Moss was shot for his main label, Daria Werbowy was photographed by David Sims for the Forum line. The shoot took place last week in NY, with styling by Joe McKenna and art direction by Giovanni Bianco.

The recession apparently hasn't hit Brazilian jeweler Jack Vartanian either. He opened his first American flagship store yesterday on Madison Avenue.

Aline Weber closes the year with a double-feature in the latest issue of i-D, confirming that she was the coolest Brazilian girl to book in 2008.

Designer Rogério Figueiredo will host his annual White Party for over 4,000 people this Sunday at Clube de Regatas Tietê in São Paulo. The party is by invitation only, and guests are required to donate two toys each. The toys are distributed to charity institutions for Christmas.

Wanda Sykes talks Prop 8 and gay rights on The Tonight Show.

The Golden Globes nominations were announced this morning. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Frost/Nixon lead the pack with five nominations each.

Leona Lewis was named top new artist of 2008 by Billboard magazine. Her debut single Bleeding Love was the best selling single of 2008, as well as iTunes top selling single of the year.

Madonna is expected to land in Rio tomorrow afternoon. She will fly straight to the Copacabana Palace in a helicopter. Her first concert is on Sunday night.

Gus Van Sant, Cheyenne Jackson, Katy Perry, and Sam Sparro make the cover of the OUT 100 issue.

Newcomer Marlon Teixeira has been confirmed as the new face of Dior Homme. The campaign was shot last month by Karl Lagerfeld.

Busy blondes: Caroline Trentini had to skip the shows in Rio last week because she was shooting the Dolce & Gabbana spring 2009 ad campaign. Raquel Zimmermann is shooting the new Marc Jacobs campaign with Juergen Teller, and will not make it to this year's Victoria's Secret fashion show.

Kris Van Assche collaborated with photographer Jeff Burton for his spring laundromat ad campaign, which features three porn stars as opposed to Brazilian male models.

Ana Claudia Michels was hospitalized yesterday because of a kidney stone. The new face of Givenchy was the girl with most bookings last week in Rio, doing 13 of the 16 shows at Rio Summer.

George Clooney talks about gay marriage, and Andy Towle brings you all the news about the major protest against Prop 8 in New York last night.

Brazil has been selected to host the 25th International Lesbian and Gay Association World Conference in 2010.

The city of Rio has passed a law that prohibits and punishes sexual discrimination in public and commercial establishments. All acts that qualify as discrimination against gay and lesbian customers will result in fines or temporary closing of an establishment.

New York invasion in São Paulo: P.J. Clarke's opened its first Brazilian branch in Itaim Bibi, and Kiehl's opened a store at Iguatemi Mall this week.

According to a contest yesterday in Paris, the best asses in the world belong to French Saiba Bombote and Brazilian Melanie Nunes Fronckowiak.

I am not an American citizen, so am not allowed to vote, but if I were you bet I would have voted already. And if you want to keep a close eye on the election, Andy is live blogging today over at Towleroad.

Brazil's second-largest nonstate bank, Banco Itaú, announced yesterday that it will purchase its rival Unibanco in an all-stock transaction that combines about $260 billion in assets, making the new bank Latin America's biggest financial institution. Only five US banks have more assets.

The motorcycle craze in Tabatinga, northern Brazil, makes its way to the NYT.

The homicide rate in São Paulo has dropped to 10.3 cases per 100.000 people, a 67% drop compared to 2000 data. The acceptable rate according to the World Health Organization is of 10 cases per 100.000 people, a goal the city hopes to achieve by the end of the year.

Watch a preview of Adriana Lima in Ugly Betty. Her accent is so cute.

Bravo is developing five new fashion-themed reality shows.

I love Chanel Iman, but is this for real?

After Ford brought her back from the ashes and got her a Givenchy ad campaign, model Ana Claudia Michels went back to Women, the very same agency that dumped her back in the day.

Cindy Crawford makes a super sexy comeback in the November issue of Vogue Paris.

Kaiser Karl goes shopping in the streets of SoHo.

Elton John has already confirmed two concerts in Brazil in January. He will be playing São Paulo on the 17th and Rio on the 19th. James Blunt will be the opening act. Tickets go on sale this weekend at www.ingresso.com.br.

Leona Lewis has become the fourth best-selling artist worldwide in 2008. Her debut album Spirit is the seventh best-selling album in the US so far this year, and Bleeding Love is the best-selling single of 2008.

Adriana Lima takes a break from the Victoria's Secret catalog, and does French Vogue.

Rumor has it that Tyra Banks is headed to São Paulo for cycle 12 of ANTM.

The NY Post metioned yesterday that La Bündchen and Tom Brady are planning a wedding reception at Tavern On The Green. However, I highly doubt that if Gisele were to get married she would choose Tavern On The Green as a venue. On more Gisele news, she was in Paris last week shooting the spring 2009 Dior ad campaign. She was also shooting yesterday at the beach in Santa Monica.

The Zaha Hadid-designed Chanel Mobile Art is now open in Central Park. I can't believe I missed it by a day. With the amount of money people spend at Chanel in São Paulo, I am surprised the container is not making its way to Brazil as well.

Make sure to get a copy of the latest Arena Homme Plus. The Punished story by Steven Klein rocks. Warning: NSFW.

Chace Crawford lands the cover of the first ever winter issue of VMan.

Total Greek hotness on Ohlala Mag.

Caroline Trentini may not be doing any jumping in the October issue of Vogue, but she still gets a full feature posing with the CFDA nominees.

Style.com highlights the ten girls who made it big this season. No Brazilians made the list.

Got Milk? James Franco lands the cover of the latest issue of OUT, and talks to the magazine about his role in the movie Milk, and kissing Sean Penn.

OMFG: the Gossip Boys grace the cover of Details.

Will Project Runway go back to Bravo? Court stated that The Weinstein Company violated NBC Universal's right of first refusal to future cycles of the show, and issued an order prohibiting it from taking Project Runway or any spin-off to Lifetime.

Because being a little gay is still straight: Men's Vogue seems to think that a new tag line is what will save the magazine on newstands.

Lance Bass kissed a girl on Dancing With The Stars.

Jennifer Hudson's debut album is out today. Make sure to get a copy.

Cathy Horyn blogs about the Balenciaga spring show this morning in Paris. Mr. Ghesquiere covered all of his much coveted heels in hosiery, and included a few menswear looks in the mix this season.

La Zimmermann does Vogue Russia with Terry Richardson.

Brazilian Henzo Hülle has been confirmed for the upcoming Paul Smith ad campaign, shooting in London tomorrow.

Coming to Rio for Gay Pride weekend? Another edition of R:Evolution is taking place on October 10 at Sky Lounge with DJs Twisted Dee, Flavio Lima, and Gustavo Scorpio. Expect a full list of parties next week.

Openly gay Olympic gold diver Matthew Mitcham lands the cover of the latest issue of DNA magazine.

Yes, he is gay: in case you have been hiding under a rock, Clay Aiken came out on People magazine, and opened up to Diane Sawyer.

David Archuleta immortalized in corn?

Thanks to the issues with sales of tickets for Madonna's concerts in Brazil, tickets for three of the performances in December are available again online through Ticketmaster. Tickets for Kylie Minogue's concert in São Paulo on November 8 are already on sale.

Raquel Zimmermann and Jamie Burke are given a glam rock treatment in the latest Interview, courtesy of Terry Richardson.

Out magazine celebrates Tom Bianchi's polaroids of Fire Island in the 70s.

Paris will get its first skyscraper in 30 years, and it looks amazing.

A 26-year-old German tourist was robbed and assaulted yesterday morning at Avenida Atlântica in Copacabana. The aggressor managed to escape, while the victim was taken to a hospital. As much as I hate to report on the ugly side of things, incidents like this do happen in Rio and you should be careful if you are heading to the city for Pride on October 12. Last month four Chinese tourists were kidnapped, and earlier this year a Danish tourist was stabbed on the arm while being robbed in Copacabana as well.

If you are in São Paulo this weekend, make sure to stop by The Week on Sunday afternoon for the Gira-Sol pool party with super hot DJ Antoine 909. On October 4, Ralphi Rosario will be spinning at the club.