NO MILAN, BUT MAYBE PARIS: After making front-row appearances at several New York Fashion Week shows, Ingrid Sischy and Sandra Brant have decided to skip the collections in Milan this season. It makes sense, since the deal for Brant to sell her stake in Interview magazine to her ex-husband, Peter Brant, is expected to close on Feb. 22, toward the end of Milan Fashion Week. "We are not attending the Milan shows this season because we are thoroughly engaged in doing our work for the transition involved in the sale of the company," Sischy told WWD.

Looking back, Sischy estimates she's spent a total of three years staying in either the Hotel Le Bristol in Paris or the Hotel Principe de Savoia in Milan, to view the men's and women's collections. She always stays in the same room, in both hotels, to make the trip more comfortable for her cat, Cassidy. "He's part Milanese, part Parisian," she added. "He's speaking Italian right now!" So will Cassidy get to stay in his favorite Parisian hotel in a few weeks? At this point, Sischy and Brant have not decided if Paris is in their travel plans. However, she teased that "we do love it in the springtime." — Amy Wicks

RUPERT'S NEW CULTURE: Media observers already are noticing the changes in a Rupert Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal — a British editor for the glossy magazine launch, talk of a sports section, a move to Midtown. Now word around the Journal newsroom is that a prototype is being developed for a culture section, possibly to run weekly. The project is in the very early development stages, and a spokesman for The Journal declined comment Tuesday.

Former House & Garden editor in chief Dominique Browning, who is said to be overseeing the prototype, confirmed she was consulting at The Journal but said she could not discuss further details. Sources said she was holding meetings internally to brainstorm for the section.

If given the green light, the culture section would be another move toward Murdoch's stated goal of competing with The New York Times. As Journal managing editor Marcus Brauchli told The Times on Monday: "In the news department here, we believe there is no reason that people should have to go to another news source beyond The Journal to find news of consequence to them in any sphere — politics, economics, even culture and the arts."