It’s that time of year again boys and girls, time to see how many celebs, socialites and Royal members have squeezed their way into the Vanity Fair Best Dressed list 2008. The epitome of style, to be ‘crowned’ (hint hint) at the top spot is to cement your standing in the fashion world. Of course on the flip side, to be removed from the list can be social suicide. To some this is a very big deal.

There are a few surprises in this years list and of course a few obvious choices, with the womens top ten saturated with the likes of model/actress/first lady of France Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, New York heiress and socialite Ivanka Trump, fashion pariah Sarah Jessica Parker, quirky Brit actress Tilda Swinton and potential US first lady Michelle Obama.

The elusive top spot may surprise you when it comes in the form of HRH Crown Princess Mathilde of Belgium - but simply imagine her wardrobe, European Royalty surely have it the best?

As for the men, the British contingent are doing us proud with a rather stylish Mr Beckham snagging the top spot (I wonder what Mrs Beckham will have to say about this), with Mr Daniel Craig filling up the second spot and Zac Goldsmith squeezing into the top ten too. Fellow list-ees include Europeans, Count Manfredi della Gherardesca (uhuh i knew who he was too) and H.S.H. Prince Heinrich von und zu Fürstenberg.

Maybe a surprising addition to this years top ten includes music industry mogul Kanye West, but maybe this is not so surprising as Mr West has declared himself for years as ‘the Louis Vuitton don’ - enough said.

I nearly choked on my tea this morning as I caught the little box dedicated to Sarah J P’s latest facial modification in this morning’s paper. Yes folks, we no longer need to run and hide from ‘the mole’. Her unique look, often described using power words like ‘horse’, has celebrated unconventionally pretty things like curly hair and pale skin. I personally have often been tickled by her sense of style and the outfits she wears - as have many SATC fans. But the mole was a bit of a focal point and stole too much of the limelight.

So yes the second most popular mole in celeb history (after Cindy Crawford, who in her day made moles seem like the thing to have) is no more. Others are lining her up behind Enrique Iglesias who de-moled to up his sex appeal. And while some celebrate the step to rid themselves of these very human eye-sores (how on earth they made it to fame with them in tact is a mole ‘nother story, ha ha) I have news for those snivelling into the tissue of betrayal. This is not the first move gutsy SJP has made to fit better into the celeb scene as seen in the picture below:

But through all this I can’t help but wonder if it sends the wrong message to people who have their own little moles? Does it change how they are perceived by fans and followers who ‘loved them for who they were’? And more to the point if you can step out wearing the gaudiest of outfits, how dare you shun your mole?

Perhaps it’s an affirmation that celebrities are actually, cue the violin, people too and, like us, conform to the pressures to look as prototype as possible to fit the mould. I’m tempted to go off on a soliloquy here about loving what we were given, but then again as I do not have a facial mole that wouldn’t really be fair. Congratulations SJP, may you be just as charismatic without your little friend.

The fashion world was saddened today, on hearing the news that the much loved French icon Yves Saint Laurent died last night in his Parisian home.

(Photo taken in 1966 with actress and muse Catherine Deneuve)

Reports suggest that he died after battling a year long fight with brain cancer.

The sad news came as a shock to designers and fashionistas alike with, Stella McCartney, Vogue’s Editorial Director Nancy Pilcher and SATC star Sarah Jessica Parker expressing their condolences today.

YSL had, to those on the outside, a fabulous life. Credited for changing the face of women’s fashion, Yves Saint Laurent would go on to create the infamous 1966 ‘Le Smoking Suit’, that essentially liberated a woman to be able to wear trouser suits without the loss of her femininity.

YSL’s designs were unique and inspired, with his work regularly emulating the current art scene, a trait that didn’t go unnoticed by New York’s, Metropolitan Museum of Art, who honoured the designer for his creations.

With a fan base loyal and strong, Yves Saint Laurent had dressed everyone from celebrities to dignitaries, fashionistas to royalty. Even when troubling mental health issues looked like they would get the better of the designer, he refused to succumb to them, preferring to throw himself into his designs and his love of fashion.

For the man who once said:

“All a woman needs to be beautiful is a black pullover, a black skirt and to be arm in arm with a man she loves”

His passing leaves an empty space in the fashion world, which right now, seems near impossible to replace.

‘Le Smoking’