Archive: December 4th, 2008

PA Photos /Landov

In this week’s installment of her newsletter Goop, Gwyneth Paltrow muses on the the spirit of the season and shares her favorite gift-giving secrets. “What is holiday spirit? For me, it means helping to create that atmosphere where loved ones feel full of cheer, like some happy secret is about to be revealed,” she says. “Holiday spirit is a feeling of warmth, of togetherness, of connectedness. We get that by giving. We get it by watching cheeks flush with color when something opened and in the hands conveys a message: I know you, I get you, I see you.” Her top gift choices to show she cares include the Flip Ultra Camcorder, ($149) — which is also one of PEOPLE.com’s choices in our Star Favorites: The Chicest Gifts. “This thing is genius,” she says. (We agree!) Gwyneth also loves Chris Bolton Jewelry Tag necklaces ($150) imprinted with a loved one’s name. “I personalized mine and I wear it everyday,” she writes. And while the star has been known for sticking to a macrobiotic diet, she lets us in on one of her favorite indulgences: Bridgewater Chocolates ($110), which are “My absolute favorite chocolate in the entire world. I send these out to special people every year.” Want more of her holiday favorites? Click here to read her full list. Then get the rest of your holiday shopping done in style now with PEOPLE.com’s exclusive gift guides, including Star Favorites, Best Gifts Under $50 and top 25 Holiday Deals and Discounts.

Courtesy Steven Meisel for Louis Vuitton

For weeks, rumors have been swirling that Madonna would be gracing Louis Vuitton’s new ad campaign. The French fashion house has remained mum — until now. Her Madgesty will indeed appear in the Spring/Summer ‘09 ad campaign that will hit magazines in February 2009. The star is shot by legendary photographer Steven Meisel (who infamously collaborated with Madonna on her Sex book) in a sultry French cafe setting. When it came to choosing the new face, designer Marc Jacobs wouldn’t have it any other way. “I wanted the campaign to be very bold, very sensual and very atmospheric. To carry off all these references and all its sophistication, we needed the ultimate performer — and for me, that is Madonna,” says Jacobs. We couldn’t agree more. Tell us: What do you think of Madonna’s Louis Vuitton ads? Do you think she was the best choice?

CLICK THROUGH TO SEE ANOTHER IMAGE FROM MADONNA’S CAMPAIGN!

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Amy Sussman/Getty

It’s no secret that Kanye West is one of high fashion’s biggest fans, attending shows in Paris and New York and shouting out everything from Baleciaga to Public School on his blog. When rumors started circulating last month that the rapper was looking for a fashion internship, we couldn’t help but think of Sean Avery’s stint at Vogue. But, it turns out that West has serious intentions of interning before his own clothing line Past Tell launches next year. The New York Times spoke with avant-garde designer Raf Simons, who tells the paper that “I was blown away from the planet when he told me.” But that doesn’t mean that West has the job just yet. Simons explains, “I know he’s very serious about this — I don’t take it as a joke — but how can I imagine him being my intern? It’s a very extreme situation.” We applaud Kanye’s interest in conquering another creative field from the bottom up and can’t wait to find out where the star end up interning.