PACK THOSE BAGS: "Confessions of a Shopaholic" drew some pint-size spectators to the set last weekend, when the movie filmed scenes at the Hearst Tower in Midtown Manhattan. Sacha Baron Cohen, who is married to the film's star, Isla Fisher, showed up with their baby, Olive. Also, Wendi Murdoch, wife of News Corp. chief Rupert, visited with her six-year-old daughter, Grace. The crew took over the Hearst Tower this weekend to film scenes for the Disney/Jerry Bruckheimer movie, and transformed the atrium level of the building into the lobby of Dantay West, the fictional publishing company where Fisher's character, Becky Bloomwood, works. The bottom floor had been dressed as fake boutiques of Anna Sui, Valentino, Catherine Malandrino and Alberta Ferretti for the film, which also stars Hugh Dancy and Leslie Bibb, but the retail space will go back to black once filming wraps early Tuesday morning. Meanwhile, Fisher wore clothes from Prada, Balenciaga, Vivian Westwood and Ferragamo, among others, during the scenes.

— S.D.S.


V BY FOUR: Last year, V Magazine partnered with Supreme Management Inc. for its first model search and the winner, Amanda Laine, was subsequently hired to walk in several runway shows such as Balenciaga, Louis Vuitton, Alexander McQueen and Prada. Now, V's brother publication, VMan, is holding a male model competition with Ford Models Inc. and the winner will appear on the cover of its fall issue, photographed by Hedi Slimane. The designer was asked to judge the competition and photograph the winner due to his experience in finding new talent, said editor in chief (and Harper's Bazaar creative director) Stephen Gan. Slimane used to randomly approach men on the streets in Paris and ask them to walk in his shows, noted Gan. "And he's been doing a lot of photography projects recently so this fits perfectly for us and for him."

The men's magazine also is getting ready to change its frequency from twice a year to quarterly, beginning with the fall issue. "We have a 65 percent sell-through rate on newsstands," said Gan. "It slides off stands quicker than V does." In addition to increasing its frequency, V Magazine has started accepting subscriptions online. Gan said that six issues online (which will include the entire current issue, ads and all) will cost $20 for one year. "Quite simply, our goal is to get V out there to a bigger audience," said Gan. "We get over 100,000 unique users now a month, and 1.5 million page views online, on vmagazine.com, and that's before Digital V."

— A.W.