Even Rooney Mara's dress didn't turn as many heads on the red carpet as Admiral General Aladeen, "Supreme Leader" of the Republic of Wadiya. The star of forthcoming fictional bio-com The Dictator, Aladeen (aka Sacha Baron Cohen) made headlines before he even arrived. The Academy reportedly threatened to revoke Cohen's invitation if he turned up in character, but backed down when Aladeen delivered a statement on Wadiya state TV threatening "unimaginable consequences", and complaining that his diary was now "as empty as a North Korean grocery store".

Creative director quits at Jil Sander – fuelling speculation he's set for the hot seat at Dior

From today, the biggest names in the fashion world will descend upon the capital for London Fashion Week 2012.

Whether in the cut-throat field of politics or the fashion industry's corridors of power, this year they left our planet a better place. Celebrate 10 of the best, nominated by Independent writers

The annual midwinter observance is upon us. I refer, of course, to Festivus – the "festival for the rest of us" created by the fiercely anti-religious Frank Costanza, the Christopher Hitchens of the sitcom Seinfeld. The appeal of its central rite, The Airing of the Grievances, speaks for itself. Yet this column seeks only the best in others, so let's begin with Kelvin Mackenzie. No article from 2011 delighted me like his Daily Mail blog of last week, headlined "Who Will Say Sorry To Rupert?" Oddly this wasn't a Kelvin mea culpa for picking a (superinjunction-related) fight with Jeremy Clarkson in front of a horrified Murdoch at a party last summer, days before he mysteriously vacated his Sun column.

Raf Simons would bring a more purist aesthetic to the grand French fashion house

What we love, we're not sure about, we're buying and can't wait for...

Despite the frenetic rumours surrounding the identity of the next creative director at Christian Dior, which dismissed the British designer John Galliano in February after he was arrested for anti-Semitism, the French fashion house demonstrated a cool head as it presented its ready-to-wear collections in Paris yesterday.

She may be ambassador for a fabric softener, but the Emmy-winning designer is not afraid to rub people up the wrong way. She supports the shamed John Galliano – and speaks her mind when it comes to our PM. Kate Youde meets Patricia Field

On the island of Tanna in Vanuatu, the Prince Philip Movement is a religious sect followed by the Yaohnanen tribe, who believe that the Queen's ill-tempered, short-fused consort is a divine being. I've never got this, but over the past decade, observing the honour(s) given in this country to the fashion designer Vivienne Westwood, I can definitely see how such misguided reverence comes about.

Kate Moss' wedding was inspired by gypsies.

Just as the designer "show piece" – anything from flashing shoulder pads to glow-in-the-dark jellyfish dresses, say – is rarely seen away from the catwalk, so various hair and make-up looks are unlikely ever to make it into real life. These vary from the extreme – think anything courtesy of Pat MacGrath for John Galliano – to the more deceptively usual, the kind of thing that innocent onlookers might think they'd like to emulate but do so only at their peril.

Troubled, yes, but there's no doubting John Galliano's genius. He was much missed at last week's couture shows, says Susannah Frankel

For the first time in almost 15 years, the autumn/winter haute couture season opened in Paris yesterday with a Christian Dior show that did not feature John Galliano.