With Raf Simons showing his first ready-to-wear womens collection for Dior and Hedi Slimane doing the same at the newly revamped Saint Laurent Paris, the Balenciaga show this week was a compartively quiet affair. For Nicholas Ghesquière, though, it was business as usual. Over the years he's mastered the ability to tap into Balenciaga signatures without becoming a slave to its archive and this season he continued to move things forward while taking a considered look back.

The collection was more sexual than we've ever seen from him. Inspired by a dress designed by Cristobel Balanciaga in 1968, ruffles appears on asymmetric skirts that came short at the front and long at the back with enough thigh on show to make both Anja Rubik and Angelina Jolie happy. But as you would expect, it wasn't straight up sexy in a Pucci kind of way. The sensuality was offset with boxy cropped tops and oversized coats and masculine tailored waistcoats that had K-Stew's name all over them. The moral of the story? It's not just a two man race in Paris.

See the collection after the jump

As much as it keeps people buying them, working with celebrities on covers isn't a complete bed and roses for magazines. Earlier on this year US InStyle had to go ahead and release a loved-up cover interview with Heidi Klum after her separation with Seal was announced and the same was true of Marie Claire with Kim Kardashian. The latest victim of the problem is British Vogue.

Over the weekend this image of their September cover starring a Gucci-clad Kristen Stewart was leaked online. While it hasn't been confirmed, it's pretty safe to say that the cover interview took place before the whole affair scandal went down and isn't likely to have the same impact or go down quite as well as it would have done.

US ELLE is one of the few magazines that actually benefited from this happening with their September issue starring Katie Holmes, with everyone bagging a copy to see if there were any tell tale signs that her marriage with Tom Cruise was on the rocks. Something tells me that Vogue won't be so lucky.

Are you a fan of the cover?

See more from the shoot after the jump

Despite the fact that the news of Kristen Stewart's affair with film director Rupert Sanders has been public knowledge for a few weeks now, it's a story that just won't disappear. That wasn't helped by the fact that RPat had his first post-announcement interview yesterday on the Daily Show. But despite all of the negative attention surrounding her, things are still all good for KStew.

Yesterday rumours began to circulate that the actress had been dropped by Balenciaga as the face of their upcoming fragrance, Florabotanica, after the Twilight star was notably absent in the scent's campaign video but the reports are false. Today the brand told Grazia Daily that she is still very much the face of the fragrance and the controversy hasn't impacted on their relationship. The video that was released was actually an internal one and not a TV commercial as people had initially thought.

Mario Testino/Vanity Fair

Cast your mind back to January and you'll remember that photo I posted showing what looked like Kristen Stewart holding up the middle finger behind Karl Lagerfeld's back. The pair were together at the time as the designer was directing her for Vanity Fair's July cover and now it's finally here.

The actress, who is known for sporting trainers with her gowns on the red carpet, looked transformed in what is definitely the most glamorous we have ever seen her. Naturally then the cover line reads, 'Kristen Stewart: Twilight's punky vampire gets an ultra glam makeover.' The accompanying editorial also touches on the flack she's received for her appearance and miserable expression. She told Vanity Fair‘s Ingrid Sischy:

I have been criticized a lot for not looking perfect in every photograph. I get some serious shit about it. I’m not embarrassed about it. I’m proud of it. If I took perfect pictures all the time, the people standing in the room with me, or on the carpet, would think, What an actress! What a faker! That thought embarrasses me so much that I look like shit in half my photos, and I don’t give a fuck. What matters to me is that the people in the room leave and say, ‘She was cool. She had a good time. She was honest.’ I don’t care about the voracious, starving shit eaters who want to turn truth into shit. Not that you can say that in Vanity Fair!

Robert Pattinson defends her in the piece. 'People have decided how they are going to perceive her,' he told the magazine. 'No matter how many times she smiles, they'll put in the one picture where she's not smiling.'

Watch a behind-the-scenes video and see more images after the jump

Kristen Stewart was out and about this morning in Cannes promoting her movie, 'On The Road' at it's photo call during the Cannes Film Festival. For the occasion she mixed her statement printed Balenciaga trousers with a simple tee and classic black blazer from Rebecca Minkoff. The look isn't the best we have seen from the Cannes photo calls but it definitely taps into her laid back aesthetic.

What do you think of her look?

ELLE UK have been experimental when it comes to their cover stars recently. This month they gave us small clues over Twitter before announcing that David Beckham will be the first male solo cover star on the women's title. Before that, they used Twitter again to reveal that Kristen Stewart would be on their June cover.

Some criticised the move for removing the excitement and suspense about who the various cover stars would be but I don't think it detracts away from the issues at all. Far from taking something away, the news actually got me excited about what they would do with both stars and Kirsten's cover finally dropped. For the June issue cover, which hits newsstands on May 2nd, she appears wearing a white Jil Sander look on what is her second cover for the magazine. The actress definitely looks fresh and pretty but whether this is a cover that will stay in mind is another thing.

What do you think?

Yesterday was the day of Louis Vuitton. In the morning Marc Jacobs failed to disappoint with his fall 2012 collection at the brand but last night was all about their much anticipated exhibition, which helped close Paris Fashion Week.

Two floors of the Louvre were taken over as guests including Sarah Jessica Parker (who flew in especially for both events) and fashion folk like Miuccia Prada and Anna Dello Russo explored the event dedicated both to the history of Vuitton and Jacobs' work at the house. While the first floor was dedicated to the classic trunks and heritage, the second floor featured Jacobs' partnerships with artists like Takashi Murakami alongside several of his big campaigns and memorable collections.

See who attended after the jump

Image via Hollywood Life

Earlier on today Hollywood Life released this shot of Kristen Stewart holding up the middle finger behind Karl Lagerfeld's back. While the image looks like she's swearing at Kaiser Karl, lets face it, it's more likely to be a friend in the distance. The actress is allegedly with the designer as he is photographing her for the June cover of Vanity Fair.