Your Morning Fashion and Beauty Report: January Jones gets attention at L.A. Lakers game. Gucci's new bag is a double Mother's Day gift. Daphne Guinness dresses for the Met Gala.

January Jones got a lot of attention when she attended Monday's Lakers' game -- partly because she was wearing very serious eyeglasses. She was also clearly showing off her pregnancy under a purple top -- and that was interesting too. [Daily Mail]

As promised, Daphne Guinness dressed for Monday's Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute Gala in one of Barneys New York’s Madison Avenue windows, in a staged piece of performance art. The beige feather-covered dress was designed by Alexander McQueen, who was being celebrated at the gala. [The Cut]

But I have to say, one of the most eye-catching gowns seen at the gala was worn by Christina Ricci, shown here with designer Zac Posen. I'm not sure how she walked in it, but love the attitude! 

See what others wore to the gala in our photo gallery here. 

Maxim's, the famed Paris eatery that has welcomed jet-setters and aristocrats since it was founded in 1893 -- and appeared in movies such as "Gigi" and Woody Allen's new "Midnight in Paris" -- is the subject of a book by Jean-Pascal Hesse. "Maxim's, Mirror of Parisian Life" will be published on June 16. The restaurant is now owed by designer Pierre Cardin. who was the subject of a book by Hesse last year. [WWD]

Amazon is getting into the flash sales game with the launch Tuesday of a members-only website called Myhabit. [WWD] (Subscription required.) 

Gucci's Frida Giannini created a special bag for Mother’s Day, designed to help babies. The limited-edition tote, available at Gucci.com through June 15, benefits UNICEF programs to stop HIV infections among newborns, and retails for $970 with 25% going to the cause. [WWD]

Celebrity fragrances seem to come and go, but some have real staying power. Elizabeth Taylor's White Diamonds, introduced 20 years ago, had $63.1 million in sales last year. Britney Spears' Curious, J. Lo Glow, the Paris Hilton Collection and Sarah Jessica Parker fragrances are all among the top sellers. [BellaSugar]  

Kate Bosworth will star in the third installment of Cotton Inc.'s "The Fabric of my Life" campaign. [WWD] (Subscription required.)

--Susan Denley

Photo: Designer Zac Posen and Christina Ricci at the Met Gala. Credit: Larry Busacca / Getty Images

Celebrities, designers arrive at Met ball

It's the fashion equivalent of the Oscars. The Metropolitan Museum of Art's annual Costume Institute Gala is underway in New York, where the line of black cars on 5th Avenue stretches as far as the eye can see. Guests have turned up to celebrate the exhibition, "Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty," which opens Wednesday.

Inside the museum lobby, an enormous tree has been installed, reaching toward the sky. Ushers dressed in Scottish kilts (a nod to McQueen's heritage) line the great staircase, where the swish of gowns is audible.

At the top of the stairs is an old-fashioned receiving line, with the evening's hosts -- Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour, actor Colin Firth and designer Stella McCartney -- shaking every well-manicured hand.

PHOTOS: Red carpet arrivals at the Met gala

Inside the exhibition, Daphne Guinness looks right at home in the "Cabinet of Curiosities" gallery. She resembles a delicate bird in a white feathered McQueen gown with panniers exaggerating her hips. Tory Burch has Kanye West in tow (he's wearing a custom Tory Burch tuxedo based on one that Burch's father, Buddy, had made-to-order). And Nicole Richie could be a 1930s starlet in her vintage bias-cut gown and wavy hairstyle.

Everywhere you look there's eye candy -- Diane Von Furstenberg in her own "Queen of Spades" sequin gown with Barry Diller on her arm; Calvin Klein escorting Donna Karan, who is dressed in power red; and It Brit designer Erdem Moraliglu snapping his own photos. Kenneth Cole, Olivier Theyskens, Christopher Bailey, Gisele Bündchen, Matthew Morrison, Alicia Keys, Emma Roberts, Leighton Meester, Chloë Sevigny, Madonna, Demi Moore and on and on. There must not be another red carpet in the world tonight.

Cocktails are served in the Sculpture Garden, but everyone seems to want to stay in the galleries, perhaps to bask just a little longer in McQueen's extraordinary talent.

-- Booth Moore, reporting from New York

RELATED:

Alexander McQueen opens at the Met

View ensembles from the Alexander McQueen exhibition at the Met

Photo: Bee Shaffer (left) and editor-in-chief of Vogue Anna Wintour attend the "Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty" Costume Institute Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 2, 2011 in New York City. Credit: Stephen Lovekin / Getty Images

Alexander McQueen opens at the Met

"We're experiencing a McQueen moment," Thomas P. Campbell said Monday morning in New York during a preview of the exhibition "Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

That's for sure. Opening Wednesday, the exhibition comes on the heels of McQueen successor Sarah Burton dressing Kate Middleton for the royal wedding last week.

Burton has certainly brought a softer sensibility to the brand since taking over after McQueen's suicide last year. But this is a show about McQueen himself, in all his dark and stormy glory.

Running through July 31, "Savage Beauty" features more than 100 ensembles and 70 accessories covering his 16-year career, from the majestic to the macabre. Clothing spans from his 1992 Central St. Martins postgraduate collection based on Jack The Ripper (a red-and-white, thorn-print silk coat lined with real human hair), to the final runway collection, "Angels and Demons,"  presentated after his death in February 2010, and steeped in religious imagery (a gilded feather shroud).

With haunting background music and darkened galleries, "Savage Beauty" mimics the "uneasy pleasure" of experiencing one of McQueen's runway extravaganzas, which Costume Institute curator Andrew Bolton likens to "avant garde installations" and "performance art."

Some of the exhibition's many treats are films of McQueen shows, including "It's Only A Game" (spring-summer 2005), which cast models as chess pieces in a battle of East vs. West, and "No. 13," (spring-summer 1999), which featured a model being spray-painted by two robots.

Bolton compares McQueen's tortured genius to that of the Romantic-era poets and painters in that the designer appreciated beauty through the lens of emotion.

"He reconstituted the romantic past for the post-modern future," Bolton said.

Illustrating the point are several ensembles from McQueen's final, fully realized runway collection, "Plato's Atlantis" (spring-summer 2010), about the devolution of the species. The strangely beautiful sculpted dresses and "Armadillo boots" made the models appear as if they were morphing from humans back into underwater beings.

PHOTOS: View ensembles from the Alexander McQueen exhibition at the Met

Your morning fashion and beauty report: New 'Twilight' book shows what Bella might wear for her wedding, Daphne Guinness shows how to dress for Met gala

Bella's getting married! And Stephanie Meyer’s new book, "The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide," gives some illustrations of what the bride-to-be might look like on her wedding day, which is coming up in the movie "Twilight: Breaking Dawn." The first installment of the two-part film is due in theaters Nov. 18. But Twihards can satisfy their "Twilight" cravings with Meyer's new guidebook, which hits shelves Tuesday. [People]

I'm totally intrigued by this: Artist and socialite Daphne Guinness plans to dress for the Met's Costume Institute Gala in the window at Barney's New York Madison Avenue flagship. It's part of a six-week collaboration between the retailer and the style maven that starts May 2 and will unveil a series of looks from Guinness’ fashion archives, including a selection of pieces from the wardrobe of the late editor and fashion icon Isabella Blow (famously purchased by Guinness last year to keep it from being split up at auction). [The Window] 

Model Agyness Deyn, known for her cropped blond hair and work on major fashion ads, editorial campaigns and runways,  has kept a low profile the last couple of years, but she's back now with a spread in the May issue of British Vogue. [Telegraph]

If you're heading for Coachella for the music festival at the end of next week, FabSugar has some ideas about what to pack. Floaty little sun dress? Check. Sunglasses? Check. Sunscreen? Double check. [FabSugar] And check in (get it?) with us here at Image later this weekend to find out about fabulous shopping in the area and to meet some of Coachella's most stylish female performers.  

Eva Longoria's wardrobe malfunction on David Letterman's show this week could have been prevented -- if she'd just worn a shirt and buttoned her tuxedo jacket more securely. [Huffington Post]

Dolce & Gabbana is throwing a party for Justin Bieber this weekend, following the teen star's concert in Milan on Saturday night. [Vogue UK]

The folks behind the blog whatcourtneyworetoday.com — Courtney Love's personal style blog — have put some of her clothing up for auction on eBay in a store called Courtney Love Couture. [The Cut]

Saoirse Ronan wore a Byzantine-inspired, embellished Chanel dress to the New York premiere of her just-released film "Hanna." It was a fairly bold choice for the young actress. [StyleList]

 --Susan Denley

Photo: Daphne Guinness, artist and socialite, who will dress for Met gala in Barney's window. Credit: Pascal Le Segretain / Getty Images

Met Gala beauty: Jessica Biel's grunge-style up-do and Claire Danes' smokin' makeup

The beauty looks at Monday night's Costume Institute at the Museum of Metropolitan Art's annual gala were as fashion-forward as the Calvin Klein and Halston frocks peppering the red carpet.

Case in point: Claire Danes, who's usually so buttoned-up looking, showed up to the the ball in a gorgeous strapless gold Burberry gown with va-va-voom makeup to match. Gucci Westman, the makeup artist responsible for the look, said she kept teasing Danes with the phrase "Get the London look," that Kate Moss utters in Rimmel makeup ads.

"She was wearing Burberry, so we wanted to give her a cool British girl look," explained Westman, the global artistic director for Revlon, adding, "She was more about the eye than the lip." 

Westman used a metallic gray shadow on Danes' lids and under-eye area, with black liquid liner also on the top and bottom to look "a little bit smudgey and rock 'n' roll," she said.

And because Danes "has the kind of skin that looks really good pale, I enhanced it," said Westman, who used Revlon's Age Defying Spa Illuminator to add a photo-ready glow to her skin -- on her face, arms and clavicles. Danes' lips were dabbed with a light pink gloss from Westman's gloss collection for Revlon. The actress was thrilled with the results, said Westman. "She was like, 'Gucci, this makeup's sick.'"

Fashion Diary: Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute's 'American Woman: Fashioning a National Identity'

American women were defining themselves through fashion long before Lady Gaga doffed her bottoms to get to the top and Michelle Obama wore a J. Crew cardigan and pencil skirt to telegraph that she's just like us.

Gibson girls wore split skirts and went cycling to proclaim their independence. Suffragists dressed in tricolors to signify solidarity. Flappers shimmied in chemise dresses to express sexual freedom.

This liberated approach to dressing is the focus of a historical exhibition that opens Wednesday and runs through Aug. 15 at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute. "American Woman: Fashioning a National Identity" looks at perceptions of womanhood in mass media from the 1890s to the 1940s, focusing on archetypes of femininity created through dress.

Galleries are devoted to feminine archetypes — the heiress, the Gibson girl, the bohemian, the suffragist, the patriot, the flapper and the screen siren — with period clothing culled from permanent collections at the Met and the Brooklyn Museum bringing those archetypes to life.

Your morning fashion and beauty report: 2010 Met Gala. Tony nominations. Pierre Hardy for Gap.

The 2010 Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute Gala was last night. [Ministry of Gossip]

This year's theme was "American Woman: Fashioning a National Identity." And here are 15 women not included on that list. [Huffington Post]

Lady Gaga performed at the gala, but why wasn't she on the red carpet? [The Cut]

The Met Gala by the numbers. [Fashionista]

Also the 2010 Tony nominations are out. [Culture Monster]

Video: London's Alternative Fashion Week. [Guardian]

May fashion magazine cheat sheet. [Style Section L.A.]

Marilyn Monroe's "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" gown is up for auction. [Daily Express]

How getting a haircut can help oil spills. [Allure]

J.C. Penney goes after mobile shoppers. [WSJ]

Five items to help any guy's wardrobe. [Esquire]

H&M's fall 2010 lookbook. [Refinery 29]

Sneak peak: Pierre Hardy for Gap shoes. [FabSugar]

Wardrobe warehouse: Items with the lowest cost-per-wear. [Guardian]

-- Whitney Friedlander

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Photo: Sienna Miller, in Emilio Pucci, with Jude Law at the Costume Institute Gala. Credit: Larry Busacca / Getty Images

Susan Boyle and the era of ordinary chic

There's been lots of Internet chatter about "Britain's Got Talent" breakout star Susan Boyle's new, darker, more relaxed 'do and plucked eyebrows. (Boyle's performance of "I Dreamed a Dream" during the show, when her hair was more frizzy and her appearance more frumpy, has gotten more than 13 million hits on YouTube.) But she's not going from ugly duckling to swan just yet.

"Maybe I'll consider a makeover later on," Boyle, 47, told the London Times on Saturday. "For now I'm happy the way I am -- short and plump. I would not go in for Botox or anything like that. I'm content with the way I look."

And why not? Isn't it funny that now, when the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute is getting ready to launch its annual fashion exhibition "The Model as Muse" on May 4, it's not models but mortals who are the focus of our attention? Welcome to the era of ordinary chic. After all, first mom Michelle Obama is the style icon of the moment, despite her toothy smile and sometimes awkward gait, not Kate Moss or Katie Holmes.  

Over the weekend, I watched a screener of the upcoming Fox show "Glee," about a group of high school outcasts who bond over show choir. There's something telling about the fact that this is Ryan Murphy's follow-up project to the plastic surgery show "Nip/Tuck," and that the most memorable line of the pilot is when the singing jock says to his football teammates, "We are all losers." 

The flip side of that is that we can all be stars, so long as we find our own voice. Maybe the collective embrace of Boyle is a sign that we are at last tiring of faux-reality and unattainable perfection, of the "happy couple" Heidi and Spencer, the airbrushed Kim Kardashian and the rest of Hollywood's incredibly shrinking celebrities. In this age of engineered attractiveness anyone can be beautiful, but oh, to be ordinary!

What do you think? Is Susan Boyle a style hero?

-- Booth Moore

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Photos: At top, Susan Boyle on April 21. Credit: Jeff J Mitchell / Getty Images. At bottom, Boyle on April 24. Credit: AP Photo / Andrew Milligan, PA