Romanian Holiday - Well Played, Mr. Whitledge!

At the Rock & Republic party on Saturday night, I crashed into Trovata's lone ranger, John Whitledge. I asked about his fall line.

"It's a lot more controlled," he said proudly. "There's less filler clothes; the focus is there." We exchanged cell numbers so I could come to his showroom before he went back to Cali. I drunk texted him at 3 am and told him I'd better see the clothes and laughed at how Fashion Week reduced me - instead of calling boys with booty calls, I was calling to see actual boots, and dresses, and jeans, and whatever. Sad.

The next day I crammed into the packed presentation for Jovovich Hawk. I had the pleasure - seriously, she's awesome - of gabbing with Style.com reporter Jess Ramakrishnan. Lou Doillon and Carine sailed by, but we were most interested in a stuffed looking couple. The boy looked like Ryan Adams playing Clark Kent and the girl had a weird Empress- Anastasia-goes-to-Sarah-Lawrence vibe. They carried a giant persian cat.

"What is that?" shrieked Jessica, and I shrugged. "Rock stars?" That was my guess, and I felt slightly annoyed I couldn't place them. No one else could either - before long, WWD and Gawker were buzzing about "The Petrescus," a pair of royal Romanians who were apparently fabricated. But why?

Everyone thought it was a Borat-like stunt, and their mystery intrigued me less than another more realistic one - what does Trovata's Fall line look like? I texted John again: "Clothes?" I wrote. "You'll see!" he answered.

And I did - on The Wall Street Journal's blog. Apparently, the Romanians were a hoax by Trovata. They got photographed all over town - wearing Trovata's new line - without actually paying for a look book, a presentation space, or a show.

Meanwhile, I feel like a total idiot, but I'm massively impressed by this stunt. I texted: "You bastard! I can't believe you're behind the silly Romanian people! You're like Fashion Borat! Cute clothes."

John's response?

"Hey! ??? Romanians? I don't know what you are talking about? Come out to a party tonight that's hosted by the Petrescu's for Waris!"

Uh huh. I'm actually going to go, too, because the whole thing is so hysterical.