Christensen and the Galaxy... Lavender Lane... A Margiela Barbie...

SPACE TRAVELER: Helena Christensen’s fame isn’t just global — it’s galactic. “I got a call from outer space today,” said Christensen at the Tommy Hilfiger flagship in Milan. “I couldn’t believe it. I was at the hairdresser’s and my phone rang. It was my friend Charles [Simonyi] calling from a space station.” While software billionaire-cum-space tourist Simonyi continues to tour the stratosphere, Christensen is focusing on more down-to-earth matters. The model and photographer dropped into town to help promote Hilfiger’s limited edition bag, profits of which will go to nonprofit organization Breast Health International. The bag will retail for 349 euros, or $452, half of which will be donated to the organization, along with proceeds from an auction of some of Christensen’s photography and works from Tommy Hilfiger’s private art collection. Fresh from snapping the world’s tallest tower, the Burj Dubai, for the Burj Dubai Opus book due out in the fall, Christensen said she had been commissioned by the publisher for another book on Ferrari. “When we got to the top, the sheik said, ‘I did this for my mom,’ and I thought, What have I done lately for my mom?” To wit, she is heading to India this month with Elle U.K. for the White Ribbon Alliance, which combats maternal mortality.

LAVENDER LANE: Speculation was swirling late Wednesday that Vera Wang had rethought her contemporary Lavender Label and decided to pull the plug. Not so fast, said the designer. Wang downplayed the rumors and reiterated she was still in the process of figuring out Lavender’s future. She is evaluating fall orders of the line, which could well morph into something new, whether it is licensed, repositioned with a new pricing strategy or transformed into a dress line. She called it a “work in progress.” “We will decide, but based on what the orders are coming in,” Wang said, assuring she is going forward with Lavender shoe licensee Brown Shoe Co. Plans for a handbag collection in a license with Accessory Network Group were put on hold last fall. “I didn’t want to launch a bag line in this economy,” Wang said. And whatever happens going forward, Wang took full responsibility for its hiccups. “The truth is that there is really only one designer, and that is me,” she said.