Secret Garden... Kors Gets Outdoorsy... The Family Burch

SECRET GARDEN: On Tuesday night, Louis Vuitton will transform its new in-store boutique in Saks Fifth Avenue’s flagship into a garden. Le Jardin Louis Vuitton will feature various vignettes exploring the craftsmanship that is signature to the 155-year-old house, amid abundant flora. Guests, including co-host Maggie Gyllenhaal, will be directed to an elaborate “wishing tree.” The in-store boutique is the first location within a leased department to carry the firm’s ready-to-wear, and it is also the first women’s concept store in North America. Cruise is being launched there, as well. “We are pleased to be able to hold the worldwide launch of the 2010 cruise collection in this exciting new boutique and to continue our long-standing partnership with Saks,” said Daniel Lalonde, president and chief executive officer of Louis Vuitton North America, who also is hosting the event alongside Saks chairman and ceo Stephen I. Sadove. In tandem with the event, Vuitton will make a donation to the organization Partners in Health.

KORS GETS OUTDOORSY: Admittedly no nature boy, Michael Kors used his recent four-day trip to Utah to get in touch with the great outdoors, going horseback riding and taking a 45-minute hot air balloon ride. “I was freaked out,” said the designer, noting that at one point he chose to kneel instead of stand in the basket, which he called “tiny,” the size of a laundry basket. What possessed Kors, who’s been known to have a touch of vertigo? “Face your fears,” he said. Kors did, however, enjoy horseback riding, joking: “Maybe I’ll give Nacho Figueras a run for his money.”

THE FAMILY BURCH: A longtime fan of Tina Barney, whose work has frequently depicted the stilted and sensational lives of the East Coast upper crust, Tory Burch has enlisted the photographer to shoot a series of images based on the quintessential Upper East Side family (albeit one in which Polly Mellen is the matriarch). The photos will be used in marketing materials for the designer’s spring collection. “I have always admired Tina Barney’s work and thought it would be interesting to collaborate with her,” Burch said. “She has an incredible eye and a quirky, unexpected style that I was immediately drawn to. Our spring collection is an eccentric take on classic American sportswear and I thought Tina could capture that feeling better than anyone.” The shoot, scheduled to take place today in Burch’s own Upper East Side pad (at The Pierre, to be precise), will include child models as well as models Noot Seear and Trish Goff, and the aforementioned Ms. Mellen.

DOLL FACE: Barbie has some highfalutin fashion competition in Paris. About 100 designers have created dolls that will be auctioned Nov. 19 at Drouot Montaigne in Paris, with all proceeds going to UNICEF’s vaccination efforts in Darfur, Sudan. The likes of Christian Dior, Giorgio Armani and Carolina Herrera have created the collectible high-fashion dolls, along with some major artists including Damien Hirst and Jeff Koons. They go on display Tuesday at the Petit Palais for six days before hitting the block.

DENIM DUDE: At 22, Zac Efron is meticulous when it comes to his clothes. Consider his raw denim jeans by G-Star, which he wore continuously over eight weeks to weather the stiff dungarees for the too-cool-for-school look, complete with dusty yellow whiskers on the front pockets. “They’re my favorite jeans,” the actor said Wednesday at the dinner G-Star threw for him at XIV to celebrate his turn as cover boy of Nylon Guys’ November issue. “I wore them all throughout ‘High School Musical 3.’ I even wore them hiking. You have to wear them everywhere to get them right.” Joined by “High School Musical” co-star Ashley Tisdale, actress Brittany Snow, local “It” girl Cory Kennedy and DJ Steve Aoki, Efron paired his dirty denim with a striped sweater by Marc Jacobs. It’s too bad he didn’t have much to say about the jeans he wore on the cover of the magazine. Instead of G-Star, they were crisp, clean Levi’s.