Madonna's got balls. The material girl reportedly rebuffed Anna Wintour's Fashion Rocks advances. Says Portfolio's Jeff Bercovici:

The chameleonic singer, I'm told, was the Vogue editor in chief's first choice to appear on the cover of Fashion Rocks, Conde Nast's annual supplement about music and style. Only after she declined did Wintour turn to Jennifer Lopez.

In other words, the former Fly Girl is still a backup dancer.

Straight Bercovici's certainly got some bitch in him, huh?

A Conde Nastie, meanwhile, denies the rumors, saying Madonna never agreed to perform at the Fashion Rocks concert and, thus, proved ineligible for the cover.

We're not sure if you've heard, but it's Fashion Week here in New York. It's absolutely glorious. The streets are absolutely overflowing with scrumptious male models. They're everywhere! Hanging from the rafters, even!

And, of course, these attractive specimens are strutting their shit on the catwalk, speading designer love all over the Big Apple.

We've included some of today's shows - Band of Outsiders, The Cast and Carlos Campos - after the jump. Oh, and Lance Bass does his best model imitation on the Nautica plank.

Don't worry, we included real models, too.

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New York's absolutely, positively buzzing with Fashion Week excitement. To prepare for all the happenings, we had a little sit down with Valerie Steele. If you're not familiar with Steele, you should be.

As a thinker, Steele's elevated fashion from the simply material to the theoretical. Her journal, Fashion Theory, exploded the closet doors to challenge academics and fashionistas alike. Now in its tenth year, FT's just launched Russian and Brazilian edition. In addition to her ever-growing intellectual influence, Steele's published a number of books on fashion, including the titilating Fetish.

Steele's currently the curator for the Fashion Institute of Technology's Museum, which has turned its eye to the ever-present, seemingly contradictory concept of "luxury". Steele took some time from planning the next show - Gothic Dark Glamour - to chat about the connection between queer and fashion theories, who decides what we'll wear and how Calvin Klein shined a light on male vanity.

Read all about it, after the jump.

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Our friends over at Refinery29 have been preparing their stylish selves for NYC Fashion Week, which officially begins tomorrow. Get prepped and ready to go with this look at Rag & Bones' new collection - and the sexy designers!

• They may not have been able to get fingerprints from the blade that killed porn producer Bryan Charles Kocis, but police are hoping his computer's hard drive and telephone records will lead to his killer. We love a good mystery!

• Rumor has it American Idol's looking to replaced Paula Abdul due to her wacky ways. Why, then, would they ask Courtney Love to take her place? Seriously, someone please explain…

• Also, someone explain John Galliano's fall 2007collection to us, because we don't really understand the whole smeared lip stick, stocking thing. In fact, it sort of makes our heads hurt.

• Wait, the Bush Administration lied about global warming? We feel so…well, yes, deceived, but, honestly, we saw that coming.

• Speaking of government mistakes, The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and the National Coalition for the Homeless say the government has not done enough to address the "epidemic" of homeless gay youth. (That's because they don't care…)

• In other mistake-related news, Kate Moss and Pete Doherty have apparently grasped the mistake that is drug addiction and have checked into rehab. Together.

• Lily Allen's "debut" album comes out today. As if you don't already have it.

As the minutes tick by and the weekend approaches, you're most likely planning your nights, days, and afternoons. And, of course, you're racking your pretty little heads for the perfect outfit. Well, luckily for you JC Report - the in-the-know style website and newsletter - just unveiled their 100th Issue! Yeah. 100. They're old.

If you have no idea what's in, out, or in-between, mosey on over and get some tips. While there, check out the clever recap of New York fashion week by Robert Cordero (who, we must say, may be one of the most attractive homo-journos in history). Also, get the scoop on the rise of the long t-shirt - like this offering from Rick Owens - the new staple for all fashion forward homos

So, what are you waiting for? Get your ass over to JC Report! But, don't stay away for too long, we get lonely.

If there's one thing we hate, it's when people wear sunglasses inside. Aside from being strung out, recently beaten, or some sort of spy, there's no excuse other than an inflated sense of importance. Or, that's what we thought until we read this piece from Slate, the grand-daddy of online magazines. In it, Troy Patterson takes to the tents of Bryant Park and gets to the bottom of some optical obsessions. Our favorite response comes from Starr Micheli. When Patterson asks her why she's wearing sunglasses inside, she snaps back, "'Cause I don't want nobody to see me. Why, you got a problem?"

No. No problem, except for the fact that sunglasses don't make you invisible.

The oh-so-fashionable horrors of Fashion Week are upon us here in New York. Aside from all the dazed models (they're hungry, do not approach), pretentious editors, saavy drug dealers, and dazed, pretentious and saavy designers, you may actually get a chance to see some new clothes. Imagine.
Our friends over at Made in Brazil blog sent us some pics from the John Bartlett show this morning. We've always like Bartlett, but like him more after he marched All-American Rejects' front man, Tyson Ritter (pictured), down the runway for the finale.

Check out some more pics at Made In Brazil

While the New York Times' Guy Trebay asks that you "Just Say No" to the 2006 Autum/Winter Menswear shows in Milan, we're less concerned with the cuts and hemlines than with the fellas strutting down the catwalk. Sure, some of them look less "man's man" than "underage characters in Larry Clark films," as Trebay puts it, but the shorty shorts and bathing trunks are making it a season of legs. And we're quite fine with that.

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Chloe may have won the big event, but we melted over all three designers' collections for their own uniquities. Santino's crepes, Daniel's coats, and Chloe's couture, the entire event made our hearts pound in our chests.

Audience members of the actual Fashion Week show certainly had a special treat–not only because they got to see all the collections in full, but also because they saw Kara Janx's "decoy" collection, which ran to throw off those pesky reporters who would otherwise spill the beans.

To see what Kara had in store, take a peek:
The Kara Janx Collection [New York Metro]

This will be the question on many a gay New Yorker's mind this weekend. Oh, who are we kidding? Olympus Fashion Week IS the gay man's Super Bowl. And while not everyone will be as lucky as Bradford Shellhammer and his gaggle of gays attending show after show this week, *everyone* can catch the latest fall fashions from the famed and flamed Bryant Park runways. IMG, whose 7th on Sixth division is the mastermind behind Fashion Week in NYC, Los Angeles, and Miami, has launched a site that is streaming every fashion show and then archiving them for one to watch day or night. Go to imgfashionworld.com to experience Fashion Week live. And keep your eyes peeled for Bradford who will undoubtedly try to weasel his way into the front row.

Sent in from Conor McGill.

Fashion Week Live Streaming [IMG World]

Fashion Week ends here in Manhattan tomorrow and Kate Moss has been awake the entire time. Thanks Gawker.