Now Screening | ‘Dance of the Golden Axe’

Agyness Deyn: platinum-haired pixie, Kate Moss scion, voodoo goddess? Now, thanks to Gordon Hull, a director and contemporary bricoleur of sorts, the fashion model Deyn can add a new credit to her résumé: Erzulie, goddess of love. In our latest T-commissioned film, Hull, founder of the SoHo-based global creative collective Surface to Air, appropriates elements of Afro-Caribbean culture. What emerges is an atmospheric portrait of a pine grove, and a group of soldier-initiates entranced by an ursine coyote who are pushed to perform what the director terms “the desperate act” — all it takes it one puff of Deyn’s (errr, Erzulie’s) magic dust. We’ll have what they’re having.

Invitation Only | Tom Cruise on The Moment

Tom Time — tune in here tomorrow at 6:30 p.m. (EST) to watch Mr. Cruise live. (Solve Sundsbo)

We’d love to have you over tomorrow night, when the Golden Globe Award-winning actor-producer and T Holiday poster boy Tom Cruise will reflect on a quarter century in show business, from his breakout adolescent sexcapade in “Risky Business” to his recent portrayal of a would-be Hitler assassin in the much anticipated “Valkyrie.” Unfortunately, our colleagues over at the TimesCenter tell us that the conversation with T’s editor at large, Lynn Hirschberg, is sold-out. But, thanks to the marvels of technology, if you tune in tomorrow starting at 6:30 p.m. (EST) you’ll be able to catch a live video feed of the tête-à-tête right here at The Moment. In the meantime, watch our latest exclusive Screen Test video to learn the secret to Cruise’s iconic dancing in skivvies (hint: it involves grease) — think of it as our preshow party favor.

Updated: Watch the live interview here!

Now Screening | Suzy Menkes on Giuseppe Zanotti

Pragmatic: it’s probably not the first adjective you would use to describe fashion’s ubiquitous shoes-on-steroids, so overwrought that sometimes even veteran models can’t operate them. As Suzy Menkes points out in a new IHT video interview with the shoe designer Giuseppe Zanotti, some of the latest designs are “on that borderline between something you’d find in a sex shop and something you’d find in a shoe shop.” But for Zanotti, who apparently has 800 styles in his spring collection, it’s not about the fetish — it’s about striking a balance.

Scorecard | Men’s Spring/Summer Fashion 2009

Welcome to Scorecard, Round 2, our seasonal wrap-up of fashion’s critical winners and losers. Just as the shows start to fade from memory, we bring together critics’ sound bites and runway images for nearly every men’s show. We’ve taken excerpts from reviews from The New York Times, The International Herald Tribune, the men’s-wear trade weekly DNR and men.style.com. You can read the fall 2008 edition of the men’s Scorecard here.

To read the full review, click on the name of the publication.

Band of Outsiders | Designer: Scott Sternberg | slide show

• “There were no rips in Sternberg’s stuff, but the spirit of warped prep lived on.” (men.style.com)
• “like going to the Apple store — a big white box where a whole lot of the same thing is shown over and over in multiple displays” (The New York Times)

Paris Fashion Week Catch-Up | Suzy Menkes, Eric Wilson and Cathy Horyn

Get up to speed on 2009 fashion with the Times family critics. (Getty/Getty/AP)

Did real-world matters like the yo-yo-ing markets, the presidential race and the war steal your attention away from Paris fashion week? If they did, you missed spring-summer 2009 clothing made of wigs (at Margiela), dresses of deconstructed soccer balls (at Comme des Garçons) and camel-toe footwear (at Balenciaga). Which collections were chic? Which were ugly? Which were ugly but in a chic kind of way? To help answer those questions, we’ve culled a few bon mots from the Times family critics Suzy Menkes (SM), Eric Wilson (EW) and Cathy Horyn (CH). If you’re still craving fashion, you can flash back to our critics’ roundup from Milan or New York.

To read the full review, click on the name of the collection.

A.F. Vandevorst: “had a sexy schoolgirl look about it” — SM
Alexander McQueen: “used computer images of crushed crystals, wood grains, animals, human skeletons and the iron grid of the Eiffel Tower as the basis for dazzling digitalized prints on silk jersey” — CH
Alexander McQueen: “The rumble from the jungle that has been echoing through the international collections was given meaning” — SM

Now Screening | ‘Suzy at 20’

Designers from around the world say congratulations to Suzy Menkes for 20 yars of reporting at the IHT. (Produced by Guillaume Desjardins and Jessica Michault)

We’re sorry you couldn’t make it to the fete at the Palais Galliera the other night, where one of our favorite T columnists, Suzy Menkes, was honored for her 20 years as fashion editor extraordinaire at the International Herald Tribune. Well, here’s a funny little party favor from the IHT’s promotions department. Press “Play” to watch the fashion world’s ode to the inimitable “Suzy” by A-listers like Marc Jacobs, Karl Lagerfeld, Donatella Versace, Alber Elbaz, Anna Wintour and T’s own editor, Stefano Tonchi.

Screen Test | Alber Elbaz

He once dreamed of being a doctor and hates Botox, so it makes sense that the Lanvin designer Alber Elbaz has a more clinical approach to fashion. “I don’t know if I’m making sexy clothes or not making sexy clothes,” Elbaz tells Lynn Hirschberg in our latest exclusive Screen Test video. “I don’t know what is the definition of sexy.” But give the bespectacled Elbaz a moment to offer a diagnosis on his designs — he’ll tell you all about the ability of fashion to make the surreal real and the inherent emotionality of color, for example — and you’ll see why we (politely) beg to differ.

Milan Fashion Week Catch-Up | Suzy Menkes and Cathy Horyn

Get up to speed on 2009 fashion with the Times family critics.

By now the stilettoed set covering the shows in Europe has traded caffè latte for café au lait. For the rest of the world, however, last week had some distractions (a worsening global financial crisis, for example), so a Milan fashion refresher is probably in order. Here is an ultrasimplified digest of all the reviews written by Suzy Menkes (SM) and Cathy Horyn (CH) from Milan. Teetering models and teetering markets — two of a kind, sort of.

To read the full review click on the name of the collection.

Alberta Ferretti: “a sophisticated peekaboo perforation” — SM
Antonio Marras: “too sophisticated to make romance sugary” — SM
Aquilano e Rimondi: “a front/back look at fashion with the focus often on the exit line” — SM
Bottega Veneta: “Ah, a leather sundress — just the thing for summer!” — CH
Bottega Veneta: “maiden freshness was often pretty” — SM
Brioni: “all calm and voluptuous elegance, proving that whatever the state of the economy, modern classics are always a good investment” — SM

Sneak Peek | T’s Fall Design Issue

Look what we found: T’s fall design issue!

Our editors have really got to be more careful what they leave lying around the office. There’s an embargo on T’s fall design issue for another 15 hours or so, but, well, we’re drawn to clean lines like a moth to a flame, and couldn’t help but sneak you a peek. From our quick perusal, a brightly hued stack chest of drawers by Shay Alkalay stars on the cover, the leather-clad architect and interior designer Peter Marino makes his cameo on the last page, and there’s about 150 pages of great design in between. With those tantalizing details, we’ll leave you till tomorrow, when you should really check back for your all-access pass to the whole issue.

Screen Test | Stefano Pilati

Wanna learn the secret to style? It’s quite simple, or so says Stefano Pilati. “It’s all about how curious you are about, like, constantly observing beautiful things,” the Yves Saint Laurent creative director tells Lynn Hirschberg in our latest exclusive Screen Test video. Easy enough to say when you’re hailed as the true heir to one of the few true icons of fashion. And as it turns out, the dapper Pilati has been displaying his style cred since he used to shop for himself at Fiorucci in Milan —