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Aircrews in World War II decorated their planes with nose art—pictures of pinups and pretty girls—as an in-flight good luck charm and the glamorous Dita Von Teese has been tapped to resurrect the famous talisman. The volumptous star will be immortalized on Virgin Atlantic planes nonstop from London to Las Vegas in celebration of the flight’s ten year anniversary. “London to Vegas Virgin plane now has me as the flying lady painted on the side,” Von Teese tweeted during her photo call with Virgin CEO Sir Richard Branson. “I wore Louboutins to the max!”

Last night, InStyle, Handbag Designer 101 and Parson’s School of Design hosted the 2010 Independent Handbag Designer Awards, and emerging designers from all over the world, including Asia, South America and Europe, flew in for the honors. Thirty-five hopefuls were chosen from hundreds of entrants to compete in a range of categories including most eco-conscious and best overall for covetable prizes including the opportunity to design a Kate Spade bag or a capsule collection for Saks Fifth Avenue, and an apprenticeship with Carlos Falchi. The night’s highlights included inspiring winners’ speeches (and lots of happy tears) and a surprise appearance by Tim Gunn, who presented Kate Spade’s Deborah Lloyd (left) with the Iconoclast Recipient Award. Click on the gallery to see all the winners, including the InStyle Fan Favorite!

Legendary accessories designer Carlos Falchi, known for his pretty much perfect exotic skin satchel, has a secret weapon: For the third time, he’s called upon his 25-year-old Parsons-educated daughter Kate to help him design his next lot of must-have bags. The Painted Leaf collection features tiger-snake-skin handbags hand-painted with Kate’s leaf designs, which were inspired by their tree-lined street in Manhattan’s West Village. “Bright green leaves would sprout and a beautiful array of flowers would soon follow,” remembers Kate of her childhood home. More

Inspired by the success of their charitable T-shirt line, R&B icon Mary J. Blige and designer Catherine Malandrino debuted their new clothing collaboration, Malandrino + FFAWN, at N.Y.C.’s MoMA this week. 100% of the evening’s ticket proceeds ($1,000 a pop!) were donated to Blige’s FFAWN foundation (The Foundation of the Advancement of Women Now, Inc.), with a goal of raising enough funds to send a graduating class of seniors from the Women’s Academy of Excellence to college. Malandrino told us that the decision to expand their charitable efforts was “inspired by how music and fashion empower women.” The collection, which will be sold in Malandrino stores this November, was a combination of both women’s styles—sophisticated, rock and roll Blige and uber feminine Malandrino—and featured “strong minidresses, high-waisted pants, studded leather jackets and cool jersey tees.” Click on the gallery to see some of our favorite looks from the show.