Was Kanye West really booted from shows during Paris Fashion Week?

Hey, Kanye West, the diligent workers in the Ministry's Department of Not a Good Look have been running wild investigating the curious case of your Paris Fashion Week exploits -- in particular a claim that you attempted to attend a couple of shows with no invitation.

Needless to say, not a good look.

Reports have West rolling through the highly guarded runway presentations by houses Balmain and Alexander McQueen, where he was denied admission.

West had asked for a seat at Balmain's Le Grand Hotel presentation in advance and been shut down, according to the New York Post, but turned up anyway with his entourage at the March 3 show.

"Mr. West requested to attend and we let him know we would not be able to accommodate him. He chose to come to the door anyway and we kindly let him know we could not accommodate him," said a production representative for the show.

The same company handled the Tuesday McQueen runway, where West reportedly pulled the same stunt without even having asked for a seat in advance. Initially denied entry, West eventually got "venue management" to let him in a side door, "not through the front door."

While we wouldn't put these egomaniacal stunts past him, it's strange that someone like West -- a clothing fanatic, avid tweeter and walking billboard for global fashion -- wouldn't be accommodated. Also, he was photographed in the lobby of Balmain, right, something we can't imagine him submitting to if he was refused a seat.

Thoughts on the Kanye kerfuffle?

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-- Matt Donnelly
Twitter.com/MattDonnelly

Top photo: Kanye West attends Chanel's Paris Fashion Week show as an invited guest. Credit: Reuters

Bottom photo: Kanye West in the lobby at the Balmain presentation, where he was not on the list. Credit: Joel Ryan / Associated Press

Lady Gaga makes runway debut for Thierry Mugler in Paris

Walk, walk, fashion baby -- Lady Gaga has made her runway debut.

In news that we're frankly surprised hasn't come earlier, the Lady walked for close pal Nicola Formichetti and his creative charge Theirry Mugler on Wednesday in Paris.

In Cruella de Vil-inspired blond ponytails and raven dome, Gaga strutted in her normal, impossibly high heels, a super-constructed bustier and flowing skirt. She also gave show-goers a slice of one of her new tracks, "Government Hooker."

Formichetti isn't just creative director at Mugler, he's also Gaga's personal stylist and prolific contributor to her notorious Haus.

What do you think of her runway look? Tell us in comments.

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-- Matt Donnelly
Twitter.com/MattDonnelly

Photo: Lady Gaga struts her stuff and unveils new music at Wednesday's Paris Fashion Week presentation of Thierry Mugler. Credit: Reuters

Celebs hit Britain's National Movie Awards [pics]

It's always nice to see Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes squeeze in a date night -- and if they've got to multitask with an award show, so be it. 

That's precisely what the pair did this week in London, attending Britain's National Movie Awards ceremony where Cruise won a Screen Icon Award.

The actor was praised by presenter Gwyneth Paltrow, in a constructed pink Prada dress, who said for over two decades Cruise has had "a bold eagerness to take risks, engaging and enthralling audiences.”

While Tom stole the spotlight inside, Holmes commanded the red carpet in a slinky dress of her own design (a collaboration with pal Jeanne Yang). 

DIane Kruger and Joshua Jackson turned up, as well as "Harry Potter" beauty Emma Watson in Karl Lagerfeld, "Sex and the City"'s Chris Noth and Orlando Bloom.

Never to be forgotten when an awards fete comes around, "The Twilight Saga" sent  Peter Facinelli to represent. "New Moon" scored best fantasy movie, and Robert Pattinson won the year's best male performance.

Check out the view on the red carpet by clicking on the photo gallery.

-- Matt Donnelly

We've got more Red Carpet headlines, and we're tweeting the latest International Chic and sharing it on Facebook.

Gwyneth Paltrow lights up Louis Vuitton Maison opening [pics]

We'd say Gwyneth Paltrow deserves to treat herself to a little luxury following the worldwide success of "Iron Man 2."

That's precisely what the actress got in London Wednesday, when she attended the opening of Louis Vuitton Maison on Bond Street.

A temple to luxury shopping, the flagship offers updated showrooms, a "bag bar" with stools and rotating purse racks, men's and women's quarters and even a VIP apartment above the retail store.

Paltrow, in a Vuitton keyhole dress and satin bow pumps, mingled with the likes of Catherine Deneuve, Thandie Newton, Elle Macpherson, Kirsten Dunst, Alexa Chung and Jerry Hall.

Vuitton designer Marc Jacobs acknowledged a presence bigger than Paltrow in the shop -- the recession.

"Clearly it’s gross if you carry on spending in an insensitive way when people are being laid off or having a hard time," he told the Daily Mail. 

"On the other hand, wanting to shop and experience the finer things in life are both natural instinct."

See more pictures from the event after the jump.

-- Matt Donnelly

Jennifer Lopez shines at annual amFAR benefit in France [pictures]

You've got to hand it to Jennifer Lopez -- stopping the show on any given red carpet is always a viable plan for the Latina diva.

In a pink Roberto Cavalli creation, Lopez (with husband Marc Anthony) owned the annual amFAR Cinema Against AIDS benefit, held at the Hotel du Cap Eden-Roc in Antibes, France. 

Lopez was joined by an embarrassment of her famous pals, including Kate Beckinsale, Harvey Weinstein and Georgina Chapman, Benicio Del Toro, Mary J. Blige, Marion Cotillard, Gerard Butler and Michelle Williams, all in town for the 63rd Cannes International Film Festival.

Young Hollywood made a showing as well, with gals like Paris Hilton, Rachel Bilson and Mischa Barton dropping by in their evening wear, alongside designers Karl Lagerfeld, Kenneth Cole and Tom Ford.

Let us not forget Elizabeth Banks, Kirsten Dunst, Ryan Gosling, Emily Blunt and Grace Jones.

The annual benefit raises millions for AIDS research thanks to its high-stakes auction, previously hosted by the likes of Sharon Stone.

Get more glam pics after the break ...

-- Matt Donnelly

Salma Hayek, Jennifer Lopez toast Martin Scorsese in Cannes with Gucci, Vanity Fair

Sure, Vanity Fair throws a decent bash stateside, but we can't help but feel a twinge over its insanely chic party Saturday at the Cannes International Film Festival.

The magazine, in conjunction with fashion house Gucci, honored director Martin Scorsese at the Hotel du Cap Eden Roc in the south of France -- along with guests Jennifer Lopez, Salma Hayek and Francois-Henri Pinault, Naomi Watts, Benicio del Toro, Meg Ryan, Tommy Hilfiger, Josh Brolin and Diane Lane, and Jennifer Hudson.

Gucci creative director Frida Giannini and VF's Graydon Cater hosted the famous bunch for dinner, followed by cocktails with the likes of Harvey Weinstein, Christian Louboutin, Tim Burton, Catherine Deneuve, Karolina Kurkova, Pharrell Williams, Oliver Stone, Naomi Campbell, Gael Garcia Bernal and Joan Collins.

Talk about a turnout only Scorsese could draw -- although many of his glittery guests are also in town to work, including Watts, who earlier had debuted her Woody Allen-directed flick "You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger."

For a gallery of more pictures from Cannes, click here and enjoy the beautiful people.

-- Matt Donnelly

Photo: Frida Giannini, left, creative director of Gucci, with Salma Hayek in Cannes, France, on May 15, 2010. Credit: WireImage

Get more Cannes International Film Festival coverage from the Los Angeles Times, and stay tuned to the Ministry for updated sightings, among our many offerings on Twitter (we're @LATcelebs) and Facebook.

PREACH IT! Claudia Schiffer poses naked and pregnant, Earth continues to rotate on axis

Celebrity survival rule No. 86: No more posing naked and pregnant on a magazine cover.

This week the cover of the new issue of German Vogue emerged on the Interwebs. Claudia Schiffer is there, naked and about to pop any second now.

"There are probably not many other women who have been photographed as often as Claudia. But she has never been seen in such a different way," said the magazine's editor, Christiane Arp.

Yes. Danke, Claudia. It’s very pretty. It also looks a little too not different to belong on the cover of a high fashion magazine -- even safe nowadays. In fact Schiffer’s pose is almost precisely the same one we saw from Britney Spears, when she sat preggers and in the buff for Harpers, and Monica Bellucci, when she covered Vanity Fair, and Cindy Crawford, when she got knocked up and posed for W.

Yes, Demi Moore posed naked and pregnant once, and it was considered very daring and fresh. The world just went all kinds of crazy. But that was in 1991. “The Simpsons” was considered dysfunctional and disturbing. People spoke in hushed whispers about that new “e-mail.” And that baby that you saw in Moore’s naked belly is now 18.

Now, if Schiffer had posed naked inside one of those controversial airport X-ray machines? That would be a different story.

-- Leslie Gornstein

Photo: Hey you, wake up! Claudia Schiffer posed naked for fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld for the June "Claudia by Vogue" issue of the fashion mag's German edition, which is dedicated entirely to the 39-year-old model. Credit: CLX Europe / Karl Lagerfeld / VOGUE / EPA

Designer Marc Jacobs and partner Lorenzo Martone split -- or did they?

Say it ain't so -- Marc Jacobs and his longtime boyfriend Lorenzo Martone have broken up, according to a new report.

"They've both been telling people that they broke up," friends of the couple told the New York Post's Page Six, also alleging that Martone was absent from the wedding of Robert Duffy, Jacobs' business partner, last Tuesday in Provincetown, Mass. 

The Boston Herald, however, has a full party report on Duffy's nuptials saying that Jacobs did bring Martone as his plus one. Gawker helpfully adds that grainy paparazzi pics of the event do not confirm Martone's attendance. 

Wedding date or not, Marc and Lorenzo started dating in 2008, making their public debut at New York's annual Met Gala. They were later engaged, then rumored to be married over the holidays in December 2009.

While no confirmation was ever given, Martone did fess up to an "intimate ceremony" between him and Jacobs in St. Barth's, as covered by the Ministry in a lengthy profile of their luxurious maybe-married life just two months ago.

Do you think Marc and Lorenzo are dunzo? Tell us in comments.

-- Matt Donnelly 

We've got plenty of dish on fashion movers and shakers. Strut with us daily on Twitter and Facebook.

Photo: Marc Jacobs acknowledges applause at the end of his Fall-Winter 2010-2011 ready-to-wear presentation for Louis Vuitton in Paris on March 10. Credit: Francois Mori / Associated Press

Report: Prince William, Kate Middleton on verge of engagement

Prince William of Wales, the son of Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana, may announce his engagement to Kate Middleton in June, a new report says.

Daily Beast editrix and British royal expert Tina Brown reports that June 3 and 4 have been "mysteriously blocked" on the palace's calendar. The dates will be used to announce a fall wedding for the young pair, according to Brown's source.

Middleton, the daughter of an airline pilot and flight attendant, met William in college in 2003. Barring a brief split in 2007, the pair have enjoyed a successful (and extremely public) seven-year courtship. 

As in all royal affairs, this union is nothing short of complicated. Brown notes that the British press is always quick to reference Middelton's working-class roots. And then there's the tragic shadow of the last royal wedding to capture the world's attention. 

"More important in planning a winter wedding for the royals is to avoid any throwback seasonable resonance with the legendary February engagement and July wedding of William's parents, Charles and Diana," Brown writes.

Indeed, William and Kate have expectations to meet, namely ...

Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt take the gang for an Italian playdate with Johnny Depp's family

Talk about mixing work with play -- Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie took a hefty portion of their brood to the Venice home of her new costar Johnny Depp (and his longtime partner, Vanessa Paradis) for a playdate with Depp's two little darlings.

In the Italian city to film the thriller "The Tourist," Jolie and Depp were bound to get their A-list babies -- or at least most of them -- in one room. Depp's 10-year-old, Lily Rose, and Jack, 7, came face to face with Maddox, Pax, Zahara and Shiloh on Sunday.

Shiloh continues to generate wee fashion excitement with her original ensembles. Clad in a ski cap decorated with skulls and crossbones, the tyke brought in a Western motif with a leather gun holster.

Though we imagine playtime was memorable, the famous moms and dads went right back to work Monday morning. Depp flew to Tokyo, where he was on hand for the Japanese premiere of his massively successful "Alice in Wonderland."

-- Matt Donnelly

Photos: Angelina Jolie, top, waves to fans Tuesday in Venice while filming "The Tourist." And Monday in Japan, Johnny Depp shakes hands with fans -- he also signed autographs -- at the Tokyo premiere of "Alice in Wonderland." Credits: Top, Andrea Pattaro / AFP / Getty Images; left, Franck Robichon / EPA.

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