Luxury handbag designer Lana Marks.

Lana Marks – the Palm Beach handbag designer whose clutches have been carried by celebrities and British royalty – is on America’s Next Top Model tonight (8, CW).

Marks will sit in judgment of the girls after they take their pose-off to a landfill (talk about trashy television!).

By ROD STAFFORD HAGWOOD

Hundreds of South Florida’s beautiful women auditioned for America’s Next Top Model on Saturday at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale.

South Florida auditions for Cycle 17 started at 9 a.m. and were set to run through 4 p.m. Registration for the event ended at 2 p.m.

America’s Next Top Model returns on the CW on Wednesday, Feb. 23, from 8 to 9 p.m.

Cycle 16 includes two South Floridians: Angelia from Pembroke Pines (via Germany) and Mikaela from Boca Raton.

Model/reality TV star Adrianne Curry (Toby Canham / Getty Images)

By AMY L. EDWARDS

Model and reality TV star Adrianne Curry says she was inappropriately touched over the weekend outside an Orlando hotel while she was in town for the Star Wars convention.

Curry, who was the first winner of America’s Next Top Model, blogged about the incident on her MySpace page Monday.

Curry said she was outside the hotel talking to a woman when she felt as though a “breeze” lifted up her skirt.

“As I tried to push down my skirt I felt an arm underneath it. Then I was grabbed, hard …” Curry wrote. “Adrenaline kicked in and suddenly my heart was leaping out of my chest … I whirled around and elbowed whoever was behind me…”

Curry said a crowd gathered and people shoved the man who grabbed her. Many people, she said, called 911.
Read the full story

Oscar-nominated actress Gabourey Sidibe isn’t the only one in the family with talent.

In a segment that aired Tuesday night, her mom, Alice Tan Ridley, auditioned for “America’s Got Talent” and wowed the audience with her performance.

An NBC spokeswoman confirms the 58-year-old Ridley tried out for the reality show in late April. Her rendition of the Etta James classic “At Last” brought the audience to their feet, and the judges unanimously voted to send her through to the next round in Las Vegas.

NBC says it doesn’t believe the judges knew who Ridley was before the taping. She identified herself as a singer who’s been performing in New York subways for the past 20 years.

Sidibe made her acting debut in the critically acclaimed film “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire.”

Read the full story

Paulina Porizkova is putting the Internet-fueled rumors about her departure from America’s Next Top Model to rest.

Photos: Ageless Supermodels

In an appearance on The Wendy Williams Show set to air today, the supermodel, who appeared as a judge on Tyra Banks’s hit competition show from 2008 to 2009, insists that her firing — which she recalls as happening “a day before her birthday” — was strictly business.

Tyra Banks, Primetime’s Top Female Earner

“I got a call from the producers,” Porizkova tells Williams. “They didn’t actually say this, I paraphrase this, but basically said ‘the show needs to cut some fat, and you’re the fat.’ … this is the way I say it, because I thought it sounded cool. But two days later I see all over the blogs: ‘Paulina gets fired because she is fat.’ And I think, ‘Do people not know what a metaphor is?’ “
Read the full story

By MICHAELA HOOD

J. Alexander works the runway for a Zac Posen show in New York. (Steffan Gosatti / Getty Images for IMG)

Model and runway coach J. Alexander is used to dishing out advice to beautiful women.

The America’s Next Top Model judge says you don’t have to look like Giselle or Kate to be fabulous.

In his new book, Follow the Model, Miss J shares his story and offers tips on how to be more confident.

We chatted with the fashion guru about NYC’s fashion week and his bff, Tyra Banks.
Read the full story

right after the jump, so if you still haven’t watched it on your DVR, don’t click.

Read the full story