Christina Aguilera is on set for our July cover shoot, most likely naked, when hunger strikes. Surely the W staff would have obliged even the strangest of food orders to keep the songstress cooperating with Giovanna Battaglia’s strategically placed roses-and-chiffon ensemble. A full meal from Blue Hill at Stone Barns (still piping hot)? Sure. Jelly tagliatelle carbonara from the shuttered Il Bulli? We’ll call Ferran Adrià. But Xtina had a hankering for a thankfully, and almost puzzlingly simple request: a tuna fish sandwich.

Ruthy’s Bakery

The no-frills tuna-on-white from Ruthy’s Bakery not only hit the spot, but apparently was such a big hit with Christina that her agent emailed our intrepid sandwich-purchasing assistant bookings editor Ashley Consiglio the next day to get the name of the diner. Was it the sandwich that saved the shoot? That might be overstating it, but perhaps only slightly.

Newly-turned 17-year-old Zuzanna Bijoch (left) first entered the modeling world at 13, after entering D’vision Model Management’s modeling contest and winning grand prize. Fast forward a few years, and she’s hit quite a stride, bursting on the scene in a big way last season with the Prada Spring 2011 ad campaign. “It was around midnight, and I was studying for a big math exam the next day,” she says of when she got the phone call that Prada had cast her. “I was so shocked — it happened so quick!“ For Fall 2011, Bijoch scored another big campaign — Louis Vuitton. We caught up with her to chat about that photoshoot and find out what else she has up her sleeve.

Where are you right now?
I’m in London, at my agency, right now — I was just shooting [in London] for Interview magazine. But I’m only here for two more hours, and then I’m headed to Paris this evening.

Are you going for the couture shows?
I’m going to do Givenchy couture, but I’m going early to shoot with Patrick Demarchelier tomorrow. I’m not sure what exactly it’s for.

You just had your birthday! Did you do anything to celebrate?
I went out with my friend, Maddie [Kulicka] — we’re from same town in Poland — and we went to a swimming pool, to a restaurant, and had some cake.

From left: Jill Stuart Fall 2011; Marni Fall 2011

How was shooting the new Louis Vuitton campaign?
It was amazing. I was with Daphne [Groeneveld] and Anais [Mali], who I really like, and we were shooting in Brooklyn in some kind of old airport, with these old amazing cars, holding puppies. Marc Jacobs was there, and Pat McGrath.

Do you have anything else exciting coming up?
I’m going to go to New York, just to be there, and in August for holidays I’m hoping to go to Barcelona with my sister — but I’m not sure, because of the hot weather. I love Spain; it’s so beautiful.

Who’s your favorite designer to do a fitting with?
For sure I can tell you, it’s for the Marc Jacobs and Louis Vuitton shows. They have whole tables of sweets — all the sweets you can imagine — and everyone’s eating and talking. My favorite are the jelly beans, both sweet and sour.

Bijoch in Prada's Spring 2011 campaign, shot by Steven Meisel

Any other guilty pleasures?
Watching all the stupid stuff on TV. It’s kind of embarrassing, but it makes me relax. And it doesn’t take as much time as a movie. I like to watch Doctor Who, Gossip Girl, SpongeBob, and Sex and the City on DVD.

We also heard that you take shooting lessons?
I was taking them, but right now I don’t have time. It was something different after the school day that I wanted to try.

Besides heading to Paris, what else are you up to for the rest of today?
I have an appointment with British Vogue, and then I’m going to my room to change before I leave.

From left: Jason Wu Fall 2011; Haider Ackermann Fall 2011

What would you like to accomplish in the rest of the year?
I would love to do the Viktor & Rolf show — I haven’t done it yet and they’re my favorite designers. I would love to shoot with Tim Walker — his pictures are so amazing and dreamy and beautiful, and I can look at them for hours. I also want to take French lessons — I can’t speak it and want to start. And I want to relax for summer holidays; I still have two more years of school left.

And what about your long-term goals?
I always say I want to work on Wall Street — it’s kind of a joke, but I love math and political things, so maybe I would work as an economist. Or maybe be part of a design team — I really enjoy watching the design process.

Runway: Fairchild Archive

Nails get all the attention this season with summer-inspired pops of electric brights and Crayola colors.

Estée Lauder Pure Color in Hot Coral, esteelauder.com, $19

Dior in Paradise, dior.com, $22

Essie in Braziliant, essie.com, $8

YSL No. 138, Summer exclusive to shop.nordstrom.com, $20

Chanel in Mimosa, Chanel department and specialty stores and chanel.com, $25

Illamasqua in Radium, Sephora stores and sephora.com, $14

YSL No. 137, Summer exclusive to shop.nordstrom.com, $20

Perfect Formula in Pop Art, qvc.com, $15

MAC in Ocean Dip, maccosmetics.com, $15

Dior in Purple Mix, dior.com, $22

Borghese Rapido in Vigneto, ulta.com, $8

Rescue Beauty Lounge in Recherche, rescuebeauty.com, $18

Donna Karan and her Urban Zen foundation know seemingly no bounds when it comes to hosting events that educate New Yorkers on cultural enlightenment. Thursday night, for instance, the designer helped inculcate the likes of Candace Bushnell and Charles Askegard, Doo Ri Chung, Christian Cota, Zani Gugelmann, Keira Chaplin and actresses Jennifer Esposito and Nora Zehetner into the ways of the Shen Yun Performing Arts, on the opening night of the troupe’s four-day stint at Lincoln Center.

Donna Karan with Nora Zehetner

Shen Yun is a New York based group, formed in 2006 with the goal of reviving classical Chinese dance, singing and music. Since their inception they have toured the world and even performed earlier this year at the London Coliseum for an audience that included HRH Princess Micheal of Kent, HRH Duchess of Cornwall, the Duke of York and Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie.

The crowd gathered at the David H. Koch Theatre was a bit more, shall we say, mixed. There was one royal in the crowd, Prince Dmitri of Yugoslavia, who stood up to greet Salman Rushdie and his delicate date. Kelly Rutherford made an entrance carrying a mini black Hermès Kelly bag (so clever, right?) along with her date’s hand, while Paulina Porizkova arrived with her two nattily dressed, shaggy haired sons and her equally shaggy husband Ric Ocasek of The Cars.

The show’s start time was delayed thanks to President Obama (an announcement made in both English and Mandarin, how often does that happen?), but things soon got under way with the first of multiple vignettes, “When Kings Followed the Creator to the Earth,” a dance involving fog machines and an animated screen, depicting everything from ancient Chinese buildings to an intergalactic ride past planetary bodies.

And the bilingual action continued throughout the spectacular proceedings—which included the stunning “Plum Blossom” and “Nymphs of the Sea” and the energetic “Drummers of the Tang Court” and “Chopstick Zest” dances—as the first-name-only suited Jared and Kelly acted as game show-esque emcees, doling out instructional tidbits in both English and Mandarin.

A Mongolian chopsticks piece from the summer of 2010

“Jared, what happened in the Tang dynasty?” queried Kelly (who like Vanna White or Anna Hathaway at the Oscars, changed her dress during intermission). She later chided him on his pronunciation after teaching the audience how to say “there” and “not there” in Mandarin.

“They say it better than you,” she mocked.

The select group of guests got an even closer experience with Shen Yun at a post-performance party on the theater’s Promenade, where a small bar doled out wine, while two tables offered a somewhat beguiling selection of mozzarella sticks, burgers, chicken tenders and a few sushi rolls accompanied by Asian desserts (not a chopstick in sight, by the way). A central table, from the midtown eatery Radiance, gave out tea samplings.

Michelle Guyun performing in 2010

Select company members, in Asian dress, mingled through the crowd, each accompanied by a translator. Peter Marino and Karan took a considerable interest in two of the male performers after having a bit of a lovefest in which the leather-clad Marino humped Karan from behind and she declared, “This hottie is ready to dance.”

Marino, ever the architect, seemed especially curious about the dancers’ take on the environment.

“How did they like the theater?” he asked. “There’s no aisles down the middle. Could they see the audience better?”

Karan asked them about—what else?—Tibet and the Dalai Lama (remember, this was an Urban Zen event).

They, in turn, asked her, through the translator what she liked best about the performance.

“I love when it gets into the soul,” she replied. “It’s in respect to a higher self.”

“Oh my god, you are a really special, spiritual person!” exclaimed the delighted translator who quickly relayed this information to her guards.

Umm. I mean, Om.

Photos: Karan: Patrick McMullan; others: Courtesy of Shen Yun

The crowd spilled out onto the humid Lower East Side street last night outside of Half Gallery’s opening of Teenage Kissers (above), the latest offering from skateboarder-turned-photographer Ed Templeton.

The pictures, some adorably nostalgic, and some just painfully awkward (much like those first teen kisses) looked to be of some of the same skater kids that filled the tiny gallery along with a crowd including Heidi Bivens, Leo Fitzpatrick and Natalie Joos, who all looked far too cool to be grown-ups.

Stefano Tonchi and Ed Templeton

“Hey man, that’s me!” said one scruffy young patron to another. Laughter, prodding, finger pointing and mumbled comments about his choice of kissee ensued. It was a bit like being back in a high school cafeteria, just one that serves $1 grilled cheese made off of a camping grill on some guy’s bike and hands out mini-cans of Bud heavy.

Leo Fitzpatrick and Chrissie Miller

Natalie Joos

Photographs by Alexis Dahan

Music City may boast some of the country’s most exciting live-music venues, but when it comes to fun in the sun, you can’t beat the summer festival. Here are four worth traveling for.

Björk

Manchester International Festival (June 30 to July 17, various locations, mif.co.uk)
Lowdown: Like a love child of Performa, Humana, and Coachella, MIF combines art, music, theater, and live performance. This year brings the four-years-in-the-making, Robert Wilson–helmed play, The Life and Death of Marina Abramovi´c, and Snoop Dogg’s performance of his debut album, Doggystyle.
Must-See: Björk (above) gives six (relatively) intimate performances from her new album, Biophilia.
Sleeper: Three theatrical sets of Paul Heaton’s eight-chapter, seven deadly sins–invoking pop song, “The 8th.”

James Blake

Pitchfork Music Festival (July 15 to 17, Union Park, Chicago, pitchforkmusicfestival.com)
Lowdown: “It’s a real-life extension of our magazine, a way to directly create an environment that is friendly, inviting, and about the experience,” says Pitchfork president Chris Kaskie of the five-year-old fest run by the must-read music website. With 41 bands it found “interesting and exciting”—which is to say, about to blow up—Pitchfork drew 35,000 fans in 2006. This year it expects 55,000.
Must-See: James Blake (above).
Sleeper: Brit rockers Yuck, whose February debut drew a buzzmaking 8.1 rating on the site.

Foster the People

Lollapalooza (August 5 to 7, Grant Park, Chicago, lollapalooza.com)
Lowdown: Perry Farrell says he was “simply planning a summer adventure” when he launched Lollapalooza with the Violent Femmes, the Butthole Surfers, and a gun-toting Ice-T. Twenty years later, it’s still going strong.
Must-See: The Cars, hot off their first album since 1987.
Sleeper: Foster the People (vocalist Mark Foster, above), L.A.’s answer to MGMT.
While There: Catch Will Eno’s new play, Middletown, which drew raves in New York and runs through August 14 in the Steppenwolf’s Downstairs Theatre (steppenwolf.org).

Odd Future

Hard Fest (August 6, Los Angeles State Historic Park, hardfest.com)
Lowdown: Four-stage extravaganza (seen at New York’s Governors Island last year), with rap, rock, and an electro tent curated by James Murphy’s DFA Records.
Must-See: The critic-slaying rap group Odd Future (above).
Sleeper: DJ sets by Murphy and Miike Snow.
While There: Don’t miss the Gardar Eide Einarsson–curated punk show at Honor Fraser gallery (honorfraser.com).

Read Marshall Chapman's "Nashville Rising" here.

Manchester International Festival: Zipi/Epa/Corbis; Pitchfork: Rahav Seger/Retna Ltd./Corbis; Hard Fest: Michael Tulberg/Stringer/Getty Images; Lollapalooza: Karl Walter/Getty Images.

To say that Julien d'Ys is a hair stylist seems woefully inadequate. Sure, d'Ys helped launch Linda Evangelista's career with a masterful haircut in the '80s, but it's the fantastical, otherworldly coiffeurs and wigs that he creates for everyone from Comme des Garcons' runway to Met Costume exhibits, and even W fashion spreads that have made him an icon.

Julien d'Ys work at the Comme des Garcons' Parisian retail space

Now, for the first time, his expressive, often hair-centric paintings will be on display alongside his most striking wigs in a brilliantly chaotic exhibit at Comme des Garcons' Parisian retail space. "There is absolutely no differences. Doing hair and painting, for me they are the same," says d'Ys. "When I'm working on a photo shoot, it is like being in front of a canvas." There are the sparkly Met exhibit wigs under cloches next to Christy Turlington's red confection from the 1992 Chanel haute couture show, next to a sky-high white Spring 2009 CDG runway wig...if only you could try them on.

Creations by Julien d'Ys

The exhibition runs from June 23-July 13 at Comme des Garcons in Paris: 54 Rue du Faubourg St Honoré.

Photos: Sketchbook: Arno Frugier. All others: Ilker Akyol

Style, protect, and maintain hair against summer’s best (and sometimes worst) elements.

Fekkai Marine Summer Hair Beachcomber Leave-In Conditioner, $24, fekkai.com

Nexxus ProMend Split End Binding Overnight Treatment Crème, $14.99, drugstores

Carol’s Daughter Monoi Repairing Hair Mask, $28, sephora.com

Alterna Summer Hair Rx After-Sun Hair Quench , $20, drugstore.com

Kérastase Soleil Huile Céleste, $37, kerastase-usa.com

John Frieda Sheer Blonde Go Blonder Controlled Lightening Spray, $10, drugstore.com

Dove Nourishing Oil Care Leave-In Smoothing Cream, $5.99, walgreens.com

Sally Hershberger Glam Waves Texture Spray, $12.50, select Walmart, Duane Reade, Ulta and Ricky's NYC locations

RickyCare Wet Hairbrush, $7.99, rickycare.com

Davines Su Sun Oil Body & Hair Moisturizing Oil with Argan Oil, $28, davines.com

Now that Brazil is enjoying a seemingly unstoppable boom, it seems like a good time to remember that during the 1950s and 60s, the country was at the vanguard of architecture and design. Brasilia, its gleaming new capital, was being inaugurated, and architects like Oscar Niemeyer and Paulo Mendes da Rocha—who both went on to win the prestigious Pritzker Prize—were earning international accolades. Their newfangled buildings also demanded new types of interiors, and so designers like Sergio Rodrigues, Jorge Zalszupin, Joaquim Terneiro and Jose Zanine Caldas, among others, used indigenous materials like Jacaranda, rosewood, and leather to create some of the most iconic modern furniture anywhere.

A leather teddy bear chair by the Campana Brothers.



Taking advantage of this important legacy, cultural entrepreneurs are determined to capitalize on the country’s creative past, while promoting a new generation of talent. Design São Paulo, which just had its first iteration from June 15 to 19 at Niemeyer’s famous Oca building in Ibirapuera park, brought together 17 of the best design galleries in the country (plus one from Portugal), as well as special exhibitions by the Campana Brothers and international guests Maurizio Gallante and Tal Lancman. (The Campanas also hosted a series of talks with Ingo Maurer and Gijs Bakker.)

A chaise by Oscar Niemeyer, at Artemobilia gallery

The fair, which will be held yearly, only showcases unique or limited-edition pieces, such as vintage items by Lina Bo Bardi and Sergio Rodrigues, and new works by up-and-comers like Rodrigo Almeida and Zanini de Zanine. The event serves as a commercial platform for the design community in Brazil, and also promotes cross-pollination of disciplines: fashion designer Gloria Coelho, for example, created totemic lights reminiscent of her structural clothes, while jewelry designer Antonio Bernardo blew up one of his signature earrings into a swirling, golden chandelier. “When design is good, it all works together regardless of whether it’s from the same time period or follows the same direction,” said curator Maria Helena Estrada, editor in chief of ARC Design magazine.

Oscar Niemeyer's famous Oca building, where the fair took place.

Click here for a few of the show’s highlights

While best known for hosting the Sundance Film Festival and a recent Winter Olympiad, Park City also happens to be ideal off-season—especially for the outdoorsy and adventurous, which aptly describes my family (and, sometimes, even me). We hiked, zip-lined and snow-shoed. But our favorite activity was eating, which we did quite well.

Grappa Restaurant

Grappa, Park City: Great Italian food in a cozy and relaxed atmosphere. The pastas are plentiful and flavorful, but a must is the Grape and Rosemary Piadina.

From left: Talisker on Main; a dish from The Farm at The Canyons

Talisker on Main, Park City: Even in the town’s fanciest restaurant, you can still wear your hiking pants. They just had better have an expandable waistline for this gastronomic dream.

The Farm at The Canyons: You can’t pick a bad choice on the menu of this new farm-to-table spot, whose offerings change constantly for that very reason. However, the burger should be a constant, and it does not disappoint.

Monty, the Montage's mascot

The Montage: Nestled deeply into Deer Valley’s many mini valleys, the massive Montage looks like some old-world chalet hidden up in the Swiss Alps. Still has a cozy lodge vibe, though. All rooms have fireplaces, and with a location like this, no room has a lousy view. Another plus: They allow dogs. Meet the resort’s mascot, Monty.

Spa Montage

Spa Montage: After all that eating, nothing like a massage to redistribute the fat cells! Spa Montage offers every kind, including The Surrender. Every Surrender is custom designed according to each client’s needs. I kept it simple: I. Need. A. Massage.