Beth Ditto, on Mark's Love List,
on the cover of LOVE, a new
magazine from Condé Nast.

All is fair in love and fashion week, right? Below, the best--and worst--from Milan and Paris.

by Mark Connolly

Hate List:

I hate the drive from Malpensa Airport to Milan having not slept.
I hate the restaurant at the Hotel Amour in Paris.
I hate the freezing cold venues with hand warmers and foil blankets.
I hate super late shows.
I hate the winter weather in Milan.
I hate going to a show in the 13th arrondissement and then having to return to the same venue in traffic two hours later.
I hate jet lag.
I hate 9 a.m. shows.
I hate the bar at the Principe Hotel.
I hate not having enough sleep.
I hate being made to wait in Paris for the Louis Vuitton show on the last day.
I hate that the Louis Vuitton show started on time this season (unheard of) and that I saw the show with my face pressed against the plastic tent.

Love List:

I love the bar at the Principe Hotel.
I love having such a good time that I get no sleep.
I love Italian food.
I love the tight schedule of shows in Milan (Paris, take note).
I love being in Paris . . . it's Paris, for God's sake.
I love the Meurice Hotel.
I love being served macaroons and chocolates at certain shows.
I love the Ferré, Prada, Versace, Lanvin, Nina Ricci, and Vuitton shows.
I love the parties.
I love Willi's Wine Bar and Café Moderne.
I absolutely love Beth Ditto of The Gossip at the Fendi party, repeatedly diving into the audience wearing nothing but heavy perspiration and a black sequined bikini--and I adored Karl Lagerfeld's bemused expression.
But most of all, I just love fashion shows . . .  Au revoir!

PS. I'm finishing off fashion week with a dinner at the Costes brothers' latest venture,  the restaurant with no name, at 4 Place Saint Germain des Pres in a courtyard with no plaque. You need a special number to get a reservation--such an insider!
PPS. Just when I thought fashion week was over, tomorrow I have appointments to see the collections from Japanese designers Comme des Garcons, Junya Watanabe, and Tao, as well as Azzedine Alaia. Also going to check out the renovations at the Bristol Hotel . . . Get me out of here!

UPDATE: Hot from the dinner table! Am at the gray suede-walled, black glass interior of the latest Costes production in St. Germain. The space occupies the famous Le Bilboquet, which may well reopen, and a new Costes hotel may not be far off. Menu unfortunately is like the other Costes restaurants, but the space is elegant postmodern chic with a second empire twist. Still need the private number to book, though!

Check out where Mark went a couple of days ago.