PERFECT STRANGERS Shoji, Conner

It's hard enough to get the jaded fashion community out of bed on the weekend, when smaller designers tend to show their wares and the "big editors" are firmly planted at Sant Ambroeus brunches declaring how "over it" they already are. The Sunday morning slot is an especially taxing PR dilemma, and it doesn't help when the designer at hand specializes in low-wattage evening wear. (Shoji's mid-priced, conservative creations don't exactly scream "editorial.")

Although Shoji, the official designer for the Miss U.S.A., Miss Teen U.S.A., and Miss Universe competitions, wasn't expecting Vogue empress Anna Wintour to show up, he was able to get the gossip reporters out from under the covers with the promise that Miss U.S.A. Tara Conner and her face-sucking li'l sis, Miss Teen U.S.A. Katie Blair, would be "closing" his show.

Stunt casting is a familiar PR trick during Fashion Week, but this maneuver puzzled some onlookers, who expected Conner to stalk the runway in the final look, a jaw-dropping embroidered gown dubbed the "Snow Dress." Instead, Shoji took his bow flanked by the two beauty queens and left the final outfit to the pros. According to backstage sources, it turns out Conner simply couldn't fit into the narrow finale garment and had to be swapped into a forgettable black metallic number instead. Apparently Long Island ice teas just don't go with sample sizes, something we're sure she heard in rehab.

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