Don’t bother denying it, you’ve been trying to dress like Blair and Serena for months now. Well, your days of attempting to make $50 dresses look like Chanel are over, courtesy of Anna Sui. The quirky chic designer has just released images of her Gossip Girl-inspired collection for Target and we’re definitely getting the appropriate level of Blair vibes from the dress all the way on the left.  Check out the whole collection here before it launches September 13. [The Cut]

Oh, Lauren Conrad, your demented life could have turned out differently if only your high school back in Laguna Beach, CA, had had the presence of mind to ban kids from starring on reality TV.

The New York Times didn’t actually get to the bottom of whether any of the New York City prep schools whose students were filmed on Bravo’s “NYC Prep” might forbid students from going on reality TV. But since Bravo is damned if “NYC Prep” is not going to be a “real life ‘Gossip Girl’,” well, it would be safe to interpret the letter written by the chancellor of Dwight School, an Upper West Side prep school which two students on the show attended, as a big ol’ warning shot.

There’s lots of literary esteem to be held for classic coming-of-age stories like Little Women or Jane Eyre. And while The Babysitters Club and Sweet Valley High may not qualify for a place in the cannon of American literature, there’s no denying the iconic impact of the YA series you grew up with. If you feel like you’ve outgrown those paperbacks of yesteryear, consider these picks, some old, some new, that are surprisingly grown up.

Gossip Girl author Cecily von Ziegesar reminded us of how petty and jealous high schoolers can be. Now, she’s tackling college campus life in a series of adult novels, but she’s not taking Blair Waldorf or any other familiar character back to school, despite what some have written. Von Ziegesar has created a whole new gang who meet Freshman year at a fictional Maine college and soon find themselves wrapped up in interpersonal drama. The first of the two books published by Hyperion should be out this year and is titled Cum Laude—with a title like that there should be some steamy college sex. Like Gossip Girl, the new novels will be based on von Ziegesar’s life. “I’ve mined my high school years for all they’re worth, and now I’m moving on to college,” she admitted.

“To me, to pick the right blouse with the right sensibility feels in some ways like art. I’m an artist, but I’m painting with clothes.”

That’s totally the sort of obtuse thing Karl Lagerfeld would say, but it’s actually a quote from Eric Daman, the costume designer for “Gossip Girl.” Good, because we’d expect nothing less than putting Michaelangelo-esque precision into dressing Chuck Bass!

The New York Times‘s Television section [interviewed costume designers from hit shows like “Gossip Girl” and “Mad Men” and shook them down for some secrets. Our favorites after the jump…

Last night, I got a sneak peek of Bravo’s upcoming show “NYC Prep,” and heard a little about the lives of the rich and young in a Q&A with the cast. Man, is this show going to be juicy.

Headbands, headbands, headbands. From thin and satiny to chunky and plastic, this popular accessory seems to be taking over the world. While a pretty headband can add a nice touch to a cute outfit, some of the styles out there are a little too much. Meet the Extreme Headband. It includes head wear that’s bursting with feathers, overflowing with massive bows, or suffocating from fist-sized fabric flowers. While Blair Waldorf may be able to pull off these dramatic pieces, most of us cannot—and we shouldn’t try! Nobody above the age of 12 should be wearing giant pastel-pink ribbons on their heads. Still, I see thirtysomethings trying to pull it off every day. Will this fashion mistake ever go away?
   
Maybe. On the season finale of “Gossip Girl,” Jenny Humphrey declared headbands “out.” (Except hers, of course!) While I’m not ready to see all head wear take a leave of absence (a simple one can be fabulous), I wouldn’t complain if the outrageous ones disappeared. Would you? Leave your thoughts on crazy headbands below.

“Gossip Girl” Blake Lively attended the 2009 CW upfronts at Madison Square Garden. [NYC, 5/21/09]

Our usual “Gossip Girl” recapper, Sara B., is off this week, so Simcha stepped in to analyze the season finale’s style.

Finale, it has happened to me! Last night was the last episode of “Gossip Girl.” As if the writing hasn’t already gotten patchy (honestly, if “GG” was hackable, why wouldn’t you delete the rumors you didn’t want published?), now they’re heading into the dreaded college years. Sigh. On the upside, the death knell was the hot jam “Zero” by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. But while the teens may have graduated high school, there were some major fashion fails on the show. Like Serena lazily tacking her tassel into her hair. WTF? So, let’s rich bitch it up together, shall we?

Bravo decided to combine “Gossip Girl” and “The Real Housewives of New York City,” and the result is “NYC Prep.” On this reality show, which premieres June 23, cameras will follow five wealthy teens as they navigate Manhattan’s social scene, shop, apply for college, and work on charity events. They lead lives unfamiliar to most New York kids—or adults, for that matter—despite Bravo’s claims to the contrary. What will be familiar to you are the I’m-not-in-the-cool-crowd feeling you had in high school because your parents didn’t consider how their features would mesh into one face and didn’t see fit to replace your silver spoon with a Black AmEx. “Gossip Girl” is fun because it’s fiction, and the characters, although teens, deal with adult issues. I don’t think “Gossip Girl” would have been a success if we had to watch Jenny Humphrey sketching and sewing her designs or Blair Waldorf filling out her Yale application. “The Real Housewives” is entertaining because it provides all the fun of gossiping without the guilt. “NYC Prep” will have to bridge the gap between making teen life entertaining to adults and ensuring the kids don’t become too adult-like in order for this show to be successful. And Bravo has to get these kids to stop ending every statement with an inflec-tion?

Last night, “Gossip Girl” was awesome fun! It was weirdly sentimental, and sweet, and No Doubt was there covering Adam and the Ants, and Brittany Snow actually charmed my dang pants off with her turn as Young Lily, and the ‘80s fashion was ADORBZ, and they played Men Without Hats, and there were actual nice parallels between the dual storylines! I feel like someone sat the writers down and gave them a talking-to.

“Gossip Girl” will give you a tempting taste of Lily van der Woodsen’s life in L.A.‘s fast lane when it flashes back to the ‘80s next Monday, but you’ll never be able to satisfy that craving because the show has been canceled. “Valley Girls” starred Brittany Snow as a young Lily, whose past will now remain a secret. I’m kind of bummed because I’ve liked Brittany Snow since she starred as Meg Pryor on NBC’s “American Dreams.” I guess I’ll have to catch her in “Black Water Transit,” a crime drama set to be released this year. [Celeb TV]

We kind of hate it when starlets decide they don’t want to limit themselves to acting. Being famous for one thing isn’t enough. Tthey have to be actresses-singers-songwriters-models-writers-producers. In addition to Ed Westwick, who has a band called The Filthy Youth, two more “Gossip Girl” cast members are adding “singer” to their resume. Leighton Meester and Taylor Momsen have signed record deals. A couple tracks Leighton has been working on have leaked, and a video of Taylor performing earlier this week hit YouTube. But are they any good?

OMFG this episode was actually F-U-N in spots! Can you believe it? Neither can I! Well, don’t worry. I’m sure next week’s episode will be supreme crossover lameness to pimp the new Lily-is-young-in-the-‘80s series. But today it’s still 2009, and I’m still basking in the afterglow of a sorta-good episode.

To review: Serena’s ugstown boyfriend Gabriel stole a bunch of money through a Ponzi scheme and disappeared. In this episode, Serena lures him in with a false pregnancy claim and then gets him to admit everything. He’s wearing softest powder blue and has a weird sudden fake tan. Because she’s stupid, she doesn’t involve the police but instead tries to play Encyclopedia Brown.

OMG! As we told you last week, for $40 dollars you can take a “Gossip Girl” tour of New York’s Upper East Side, the glitzy concrete playground of Blair, Serena, et al. Offered by On Location tours, purveyors of the mega-popular “Sex and the City” tour, this one will take you past the Palace Hotel, home to the Bass and Van der Woodsen clans, as well as other places you can’t afford, like Henri Bendel. [On Location Tours]

“Gossip Girl” joins Carrie & Co., “Seinfeld,” and “The Sopranos,” which have all inspired their own tour franchises. Here are five more TV tours we wish existed.

Last night paired up Blair and Chuck once again as a duo willing to stoop low to achieve a high goal: save their girl Serena from heartbreak at the hands of a sociopath. Only this time, their route actually finds them seeking help from last season’s worst character, Georgina. In fact, I was so enraged at Michelle Trachtenberg’s presence on the show that I coined the term “to Trachtenburgle,” i.e. to appear on a formerly great show and ruin it (by way of historical reference, see her performance as Dawn “The Key” Summers on “Buffy”). And I’ve held it against MT ever since. But this season, it looks like she gets to play Georgina for laughs, and oddly enough, she’s good at it.

It was only a matter of time before people started trying to make money off of “Gossip Girl.” A New York City company that hosts “Sex and the City” bus tours has added a “Gossip Girl” outing to its offerings. For $40, you can visit the Palace Hotel, see the mansion where Lily and Bart got married, shop at Bendel’s, and get “spotted by that most ubiquitous blogger.” A complete list of locations isn’t included, but it doesn’t look like the tour visits Rufus’s Williamsburg gallery or Vanessa’s coffee shop. Just like on the show, Brooklyn gets marginalized. How authentic! [via Cityfile]

After an excruciating hiatus, “Gossip Girl” is back! On last night’s episode, Passover was in the air, and Blair’s Jewish stepdad was back onscreen for Seder in the latest installment of your favorite meaningless teen dramedy. Also, other things happened.

A poster for the “Gossip Girl”-spinoff “Valley Girls” has been released, and it doesn’t make us at all excited for the show. Instead, it reinforces the poor casting of Brittany Snow as the young Lily van der Woodsen. [Videogum]