KALINSKY KLATSCH: Nordstrom may well have a secret weapon come New York Fashion Week — Jeffrey Kalinsky. The department store owns a majority share in his Jeffrey stores, and Kalinsky works for Nordstrom in a design consulting capacity. Now he is said to be set to appear in a series of episodes for Nordstrom's Web site, dispensing color commentary on selected fall 2008 shows. A spokeswoman for Nordstrom said she could not confirm the speculation, but added a project is "in the works." Kalinsky did not return calls for comment. It's unclear what shows he might be chatting about, but last season he told WWD that Lisa Perry, Michael Kors, Oscar de la Renta and Rodarte were among his favorites.
FERRE OLE: In between sketches and fittings, Ferré's new designer, Lars Nilsson, is busy signing up a crop of seasoned image makers to raise the brand's profile. First he tapped Fabien Baron as a consultant to redefine Ferré's image, including the ad campaigns, logo and labels. Karl Templer will style both the men's wear presentation next week and the women's fall collection in February, while well-known production and set designer Michael Howells has created a chic and intimate installation for the performance Nilsson will use to present the men's line.
NAKED NO LONGER: The Naked Cowboy, the Times Square fixture who strums a guitar wearing only tighty whities and a cowboy hat, reluctantly accepted a Weatherproof jacket Monday at chief executive officer Freddie Stollmack's insistence. "First he resisted but then he decided to try it on," Stollmack said. "Whether or not he'll wear it we don't know." To draw attention to the intervention, Weatherproof had a few models on hand who were wearing surgical masks. It was too tough to tell if it was a case of Marc Jacobs copycats or one too many sightings of the Richard Prince poster for his Guggenheim show. "I'm not sure why they wore masks, but I loved the way they looked. We all looked like we were a little nuts," said Stollmack, who posed as a "coldologist" for the photo-op on a 60-degree afternoon. But those pics didn't come cheap. The Naked Cowboy charged tourists $2 a pop and he made Weatherproof cough up a grand for the publicity stunt.




