And design guru Murray Moss clued in the audience on his move from fashion to home design: "Having come from fashion, I was always looking over my shoulder....I thought to myself that I was going to make a business plan that was so difficult and impractical, no one else would do it. And it helps being autobiographical. I don't have to worry about being on brand, because I'm just being me."

The hosts of a $1,000-a-head dinner event later that week could have said the same. Isaac Mizrahi and Mario Batali share more than outsized personalities — they're also among the savviest self-marketers out there. Gesturing with a wooden spoon around Mizrahi's atelier, Batali welcomed the two tables of guests to what he called "Isaac's sweatshop." Then, lifting his glass, he tossed out a trademark bon mot: "As we say in the Babbo kitchen, 'chin-chin, m-----f----r.'"

Mizrahi confirmed he'll executive produce a scripted drama set in the fashion industry, which is in the script-writing phase, with a pilot expected in the spring. He de-emphasized his biannual magazine and pointed to an upcoming Web site relaunch around the end of this year, with produced video segments. As for his dinner co-host's endorsement deal with the decidedly un-haute couture Crocs, Mizrahi said it was a smart call on the company's part, since Batali was already wearing them daily. "He gave me a pair of Crocs," said Mizrahi. "I wear them in the kitchen as a tribute."
— Irin Carmon

SHIFTING OVER: The Wall Street Journal's fashion-retail-luxury group bureau chief, Lisa Bannon, is moving on after a year in the position. She'll be a reporter and editor — an unusual dual role — on the page one section of the Journal, reporting to new page one editor and former Wall Street Journal Europe editor Michael Williams. Six reporters in New York worked under Bannon, with additional collaboration from the Paris bureau, and the paper put out an internal call for candidates for her former position late Tuesday.
— I.C.