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Fug Girls: At Badgley, Shenae Grimes Learns a Hard Lesson About Arriving Late

The first thing that leaped out at us Tuesday morning at Badgley Mischka was the fact that adjacent seats had been reserved for 90210’s Jessica Stroup and Shenae Grimes. Our evil hearts leaped: We’d get a prime glimpse of the dynamic between the two co-stars, probably be able to interpret whether one secretly wants to throttle the other, and maybe, just maybe, answer our burning curiosity about how much of Grimes’s prodigious mane is actual real hair. Licking our chops, we settled in to observe.

Stroup arrived first, shortly after Kellie Pickler. “Oh, look, Pickler’s out again. Woo,” deadpanned a photographer. But she looked a thousand percent better than when we spied her at BCBG, having scrapped the electrocution-themed coif in favor of tamer straight locks and looking tiny but great in a gold sparkly dress. She and Stroup sat down together and both promptly did a quick boob check to make sure nothing had bounced astray — clearly Stroup is getting the hang of this fame thing — before posing together for pictures.

Stroup, clad in a strapless white number with bust beading and a floaty ruffled skirt, told reporters she picked her dress (out of a large collection sent to her) because “it reminds me of a bird, and both my tattoos are birds.” She then explained she readied for the 10 a.m. show by waking at seven, showering, and then welcoming in her glam squad. “I had a whole team come in, I have steamers in my room, piles of shoes on the floor, racks of clothes — it’s like a girl’s idea of paradise,” she said. Whipping out our smelling salts to keep from fainting with closet envy, we heard her talk about leaving soon: “I love New York, but I have GOT to get some sleep!” Sing it, sister.

Sisters Khloe and Kim Kardashian tottered out next, followed by rapper Kat DeLuna and her enormous hair helmet. What motivated DeLuna to come out today? “Uh, this DRESS, HELLO!” she duh-ed, gesturing at her flesh-tone beaded frock. Khloe K., to whom photos are not always kind, is quite pretty and normal-size in person, and for all the brouhaha over Kim’s bodacious derrière, we didn’t even notice it. The soft-spoken sisters wore semi-coordinating one-shoulder black cocktail dresses; Kim explained to a reporter that they hadn’t planned it initially, but once they accidentally and separately picked similar gowns, “we decided we wanted to go together.” Khloe was more all-business, talking about how they mostly attend Fashion Week as buyers for their boutique, Dash, but “we needed to go to at least one show of stuff we WISH we could carry.” We’re guessing the rumors are true that within the House of Kards, Kim is the least involved in the store. She instead told an anecdote about bringing Reggie Bush backstage at a show yesterday. “There were all these models getting naked and changing and he was like, ‘Oh my God, what’s going on? Don’t they get changing rooms?’” You’d think Reggie, being a football player, would be used to naked people chatting in a small room while they get dressed, but maybe all the boobs (and the lack of rolled-up towels being snapped at unsuspecting, exposed bums) threw him out of his comfort zone. Although … well, see again the bit about him being an NFL star.

Next inside: Aisha Tyler, who you’d never know had been up since 4 a.m. working on her new Comedy Central show. She was stunning in a black sheath and gray cashmere elbow-length gloves. “These are, like, 90 percent fashion statement, and 10 percent ‘Oh my God I don’t have a jacket, pull them UP!’” Tyler laughed. She sat near the new Mrs. Howard Stern, Beth Ostrosky. Those two ladies are probably the people we are most bowled over by in person, due to a combo of their potent hotness and (seemingly) ceaseless good manners and spirits. See? We like people!

Then, suddenly, the runways cleared. The lights dimmed. The show started. Not only had a PR girl been asked to fill in Anna Wintour’s conspicuously empty seat (what gives, Dubbie? Broken hair dryer?), but a random dude had taken the berth earmarked for our own personal white whale, Shenae Grimes. Would we NEVER get the scoop? Despairing, we commenced ogling all the pretty red-carpet-ready gowns … until we spied a small figure in a cream trench and pearls standing up near the entrance. “GRIMES,” we hissed. Turns out she’d run so late, the show started without her and she couldn’t get to a seat. First lesson of Fashion Week: Never assume EVERY show will start 45 minutes late, so arrive early enough to time your dramatic entrance properly. But just as we thought we had Nae-Nae in our sights, the show ended and the crush swallowed her whole before we could scurry down and listen for the dirt. Thwarted again! Fine — you win this round, Grimes, even without a seat. But know this: It’s not over. We’ll get you eventually.

Watch a slideshow of the Badgley Mischka collection.
See backstage photos of Shenae Grimes and Kim Kardashian at the Badgley Mischka show.
See close-up details from the Badgley Mischka collection.

Fug Girls: At Badgley, Shenae Grimes Learns a Hard Lesson About Arriving Late