SHIFTING DATES: The fall season of runway shows hasn't even kicked off, but the Council of Fashion Designers of America, British Fashion Council, Chambre Syndicale and Camera della Moda already are looking toward 2009 and 2010. At their meeting in Paris last week, the groups agreed to move the show days in February and September four days later starting in 2009. It will mean the New York shows in September will no longer start right after Labor Day. Meanwhile, Mario Boselli, head of the Italian Chamber of Fashion, said the move "will make the weekend less critical for Milan because it will fall in the middle of fashion week and will help draw those buyers and retailers who used to skip the opening or closing weekend shows."Boselli said CFDA president Diane von Furstenberg was hoping to push the shows a week later, but that the Camera preferred the four-day option. Next year will be a transitional one, with the show dates moving two days later. {{image1}}

GO EAST, YOUNG DESIGNER: Meanwhile, the New York Fashion Week slate this season includes several first-time showings by a range of Los Angeles labels: Morphine Generation, Pegah Anvarian, Linda Loudermilk, Twelfth Street by Cynthia Vincent and veteran brand Tadashi, which will premier its higher-priced evening gown line at the tents. Once West Coast designers reach a certain level of dollars and buzz, it's natural for them to seek the bigger stage of New York, as brands such as BCBG Max Azria, Monique Lhuillier, Jenni Kayne, Rodarte, Rock & Republic and Grey Ant have done. But many Los Angeles locals wonder if the migration is cannibalizing L.A.'s own fledgling fashion week. Currently, several of the city's most established designers, like Trina Turk and Michelle Mason, eschew the runways, though some believe their participation would be a galvanizing force for other designers to show here. It remains to be seen which names end up on the roster when Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at Smashbox Studios in Culver City, Calif., kicks off March 14.

THE SHOW WITHIN THE SHOW WITHIN THE SHOW: "Ugly Betty'fans will get a glimpse of the hustle and bustle of New York Fashion Week (via a Bryant Park facsimile in Los Angeles) on the network series'episode Thursday. The episode won't include appearances by actual designers, but Amanda (the sometimes-cruel receptionist at Mode magazine, where Betty works as an assistant) will attend a re-created Betsey Johnson show featuring a skirt that will be referred to as the "It"item of the season. Tim Gunn of "Project Runway"will play a reporter for Fashion TV " the show within the show that reports on the happenings at Mode.