Well, its January 15, and Natalie’s shoe collection for Té Casan is now available for pre-order at the label’s official site! The site now features previews of the shoes and their respective prices, and you can place your order(s) here. From Té Casan:

Natalie Portman, Academy Award nominated and Golden Globe winning actress, fashion muse, style icon and humanitarian, was born in Jerusalem. A Harvard grad, noted for charitable pursuits, noticed the absence of fashionable animal-friendly footwear and collaborated with Té Casan for her debut collection.

Not one to merely lend her name, Portman worked closely throughout to maintain the quality standards and an exceptional design aesthetic. Dazzling, playful, elegant and free of animal products, each shoe exudes the starlet’s own personal style. All of Portman’s proceeds will be donated to the Nature Conservancy, a non profit that works tirelessly to protect ecologically fragile lands and bodies of water.

“As a vegan, it’s been challenging finding designer shoes made of alternative materials. This collection offers a great selection without compromising quality or style.” - Natalie Portman

The updated Té Casan website also came with a new promotional photo of Natalie, a preview of which you’ll find above. For more information on the Nature Conservancy and their work, please visit www.nature.org.

We have an update on Natalie’s upcoming vegan-friendly shoe collection for Té Casan, which you can begin pre-ordering at the label’s website starting tomorrow, January 15.

First off, Natalie and the aforementioned collection are briefly featured in the January 2008 issue of Vogue (US); scan(s) will be added soon alongside a larger scan update, which is currently in the making.

Furthermore, Fabsugar have a wonderful preview of the collection at their website in addition to a better quality version of that beautiful promotional photo for the collection we’ve seen. If you are interested in purchasing Natalie’s vegan-friendly shoes, I highly recommend checking them out at Fabsugar! (And personally, I am in love with some of the shoes. If only I had $200 to spare…)

Finally, Fabsugar also reports that 100% of the proceedings will go to The Nature Conservancy as opposed to the 5% many other sources have advertised. Go figure.

Several news sources (e.g. Starpulse) are reporting that Natalie has designed a collection of “vegan-friendly” shoes for Té Casan. The collection will be out in February 2008, but will be available for pre-order already from January 15 2008 onwards. 5% of the proceedings will reportedly go to charity.

The Té Casan official site has also published the news regarding the upcoming collection. The company’s announcement is accompanied by an absolutely gorgeous campaign photo of Natalie, a preview of which you’ll find to your right. Enjoy!

Natalie has been chosen the 2nd Sexiest Movie Star Ever by EmpireOnline, beaten only by a hair by none other than Angelina Jolie. Visitors of EmpireOnline were earlier in the year asked to pick the Sexiest Movie Star Ever, with their choice of screen star being unrestricted by age, gender or silver screen era, and over 20,000 votes were reportedly cast. From EmpireOnline:

Sexy, but in a ladylike ‘doesn’t flash her gusset at the paparazzi’ way, Portman is the pin-up for those who like their women as smart as they are slinky. Plus, she’s beautiful enough to make even baldness hot in V For Vendetta.

Sexiest Moment - There’s no denying the appeal of pole dancing in Closer. But the moment in Attack of the Clones when the Nexu revealed some toned royal midriff was Princess Leia and the gold bikini for a new generation.

Did You Know…? - There is a band named Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head.

Other celebrities that made the list’s top 20 include Daniel Craig, Johnny Depp, Jessica Alba, Eva Green, Brad Pitt, Scarlett Johansson, Keira Knightley, Halle Berry, Marilyn Monroe, Hugh Jackman and Kate Winslet.

Several news sources, such as TopNews, are reporting that Natalie has “slammed” Hollywood’s red carpet fashion fixation. According to sources, Nat was quoted saying she find it annoying that she should have to dress up for e.g. a film premiere and then have to discuss her style rather than her film at the event itself, and only wears designer clothes to silence the fashion critics. From Top News:

“I get pissed off that I go to a premiere to talk about my movie and the first thing they ask me is what dress I’m wearing. And look, I buy into that because I play along - you have to, in a certain way. If you don’t dress up then they’ll talk about that!” Contactmusic quoted her, as saying.

“It almost becomes less of an issue to play along with it, because then it doesn’t become a conversation topic. But that’s annoying.”

Well… she has a point there. Actors do attend film premieres and other related events primarily to promote their work, not to promote a fashion label they’ve happened to choose for the event. On the other hand, people are interested in celebrity fashion - inescapable fact, that.

AskMen.com is once again holding their annual Top 99 Women vote - and Natalie is one of this year’s nominees! Scroll for her name under “Celebrity Actresses” and cast your vote; the names are organized in an alphabetical order on a first name-basis.

The results of the poll will be published on January 31, 2008, so get voting! Detailed instructions, if such are needed, are available on the voting page.

Thaindian News reports Natalie tops InStyle magazine’s select Top 20 Most Stylish Women in Hollywood. According to the website, Natalie was chosen most stylish for exhibiting “unwavering faith in the cut and quality of a great dress.” Here’s the top 10 list from Thaindian News:

01. Natalie Portman
02. Drew Barrymore
03. Cameron Diaz
04. Penélope Cruz
05. Jennifer Lopez
06. Anne Hathaway
07. Cate Blanchett
08. Sienna Miller
09. Helen Mirren
10. Joy Bryant

Also, a beautiful, new promotional still of Natalie as Anne Boleyn in the upcoming The Other Boleyn Girl has surfaced online. Thanks to hires_hotties for this new hi-res promo still. Enjoy! Do check back for another The Other Boleyn Girl oriented media update later this week.

Natalie’s beloved dog Charlie (with the one and only famous ear-muscle), who made an appearance on e.g. the Late Show with David Letterman in July 2004 as Natalie was promoting Garden State (as “the only man” in Natalie’s life), has sadly died. From Daily Telegraph:

In the past, she joked that the only man in her life was Charlie, her dog. But when I ask about him, she pulls a sad but sweet face. “My dog died.”

I’m so sorry, I tell her. “That’s OK. I’m sorry, too. I love dogs. They’re better than people.” She’s smiling, as if only half serious, but for someone as private as she is, it’s a telling comment.

Our most heartfelt condolences from Portman Source to Natalie for her loss.