Unlike Paris, New York Fashion Week isn't known for its spectacular couture extravaganzas or avant-garde designers (except for Marc Jacobs, of course).

So you can imagine all of the "Oohs" and "Aahs" surrounding the garments from American label Rodarte, which is known for its whimsical and unreal designs: Their Fall '08 collection was inspired by bloody Japanese slasher flicks and featured torn gothic knit wear with spiked Christian Louboutin heels.

This year, sisters Kate and Laura Mulleavy -- the designers behind the frighteningly amazing brand -- have been nominated for the Swarovski Award for womenswear in this year's CFDA awards.

New York Magazine recently caught up with two ladies to discuss clothes, inspirations, and fabrications. Enjoy.

"The dress is a rousing red, the color stroked on a white surface. But just as this rose-sweet outfit passes out of sight, there is a frisson of the horror movies that inspired it. Why is the lacy hose wrapped round the legs like a torn spider's web? Are those toothy fangs edging the pristine white shoes? And isn't this colorful dress drenched in blood?"

The Vogue Diet ... What is that like water, asparagus, and chewing gum? Nah not so much, it goes more like this "lose some weight or you can't be on my cover."

That's exactly what happened to Kate and Laura Mulleavy of Rodarte. The two designers received a call from a Vogue editor who suggested they get on a diet and see a personal trainer. Kate and Laura were actually fine with it because they wanted to get healthier anyways (uh huh). The 'Vogue Diet' consisted of four months of personal training and a meal delivery service.

The fashionable diet paid off as they lost a combined total of 50 pounds. They even kept a diet diary that will appear in the April issue. Of course Vogue got a lot of heat for asking the sisters to diet, and this isn't the first time. Back in 1998 Oprah actually agreed to drop 20 pounds before her cover shoot.

I don't know what to think about this. On one hand if Vogue paid for all of my weight loss needs and I kinda wanted to drop some weight anyways it wouldn't be a big deal. However on the other hand ... Vogue is straight up calling people fat. What do you all think?

The May cover of Vogue is now out and it features those gorgeous white shirts from the Gap's Design Editions collection. The shirts are paired with high-fashion items on a big sprawling gatefold cover. This marks the first time the Gap has hit the cover of Vogue since 1992.

If you want to get your hands on one of these shirts, conceived by designers such as Doo.Ri, Thakoon and Rodarte, get thee hence to a Gap asap. These shirts are already sold out online in many sizes. The good news is that if you are a bigger girl you have the best shot at ordering these. Online the XL and XXL in all the styles are still available. Prices range from $68 to $88.

I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm an all-year-round t-shirt loving kind of girl. And with this week's "Fashion Gives Back", a design/charity movement spearheaded by Glamour magazine and six young, all-female design houses, I have more reason than ever to add to my ever-expanding collection of cute tees.

Jenni Kayne, Rachel Roy, Rodarte, Sari Gueron, Thread Social, and Vena Cava will each produce a special, limited edition design to be screened onto a $68 Splendid tee, with each design signed personally by the designer. The shirts will be sold exclusively at Shopbop.com, and 30% of all proceeds will go to the designers' respective charities.

The short descriptive previews of the tees sound super cute, from Sari Gueron's watercolor owl to Jenni Kayne's rough sketch of a Grecian-gowned woman surrounded by poppies. At the very least, you can be sure your top is one of a very few: each designer will only produce 250 tees.