• Europeans are always more progressive than Americans. Rumor is, Italian Vogue may be producing a cover featuring only black models. [Fashionista]
  
• Oh. My. God. High School Musical and Hannah Montana-inspired Crocs, soon available at a store near you. [Yahoo]
  
• Francis Ford Coppola and Sofia Coppola will be the next faces of Louis Vuitton's "core values" campaign (the very same campaign in which Keith Richards agreed to participate in exchange for a LV monogrammed guitar case.) What do you think the Coppolas get out of this? An LV director's chair? An LV vinyard? [WWD, 1st item]
  
• "Boyfriend" jackets are big for spring. But Peter Som says the ones he designed for Bill Blass are inspired by Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama. [WSJ]

• Elle editor-in-chief Roberta Myers has decided not to assume the role of president of the American Society of Magazine Editors, most likely because she is too hell-bent on becoming a reality TV star. [WWD, 1st item]
• Rumer Willis, Kristin Cavallari, Christina Milian, Josie Maran, Pete Wentz, Corbin Bleu and Wilmer Valderrama have all apparently gotten desperate and all collectively facing Wal-Mart's Op line's latest ad campaign. [Just Jared]
• If you are dying to know what's in Kimora Lee Simmons' makeup bag, well, here's an itemized list. [Marie Claire]
• The rumors are true: Linda Evangelista will be the face of Prada's Fall 2008 ad campaign. [FabSugar]
• Tory Burch refers to her employees as her "family". [WWD, sub req'd]
• Kanye West-endorsed, Damien Hirst-designed t-shirts to benefit Bono's Product (RED)? Oh my. [Chic Report]
• Uber fashion publicist Kelly Cutrone likes chopping vegetables and washing dishes. [WSJ]
• Moby: Wants you to design a t-shirt for him. [USA Today]

From the Blender cover where Britney's head was attached, Frankenstein-style, onto another body, to poor Faith Hill — readers are misled. Constantly. Take the new Marie Claire: We all know that Tina Fey has a prominent scar. So why can we barely see it?

As a reader pointed out, in this ad for Gossip Girl, Blake Lively's waist has been whittled down to the size of her neck. Screen shots from behind-the-scenes at the shoot prove how drastically she was chopped.

Some magazines in the UK claim that they're altering photographs to make models fatter. Well not fat, of course, just less emaciated. "It is now deemed just as negative to be too thin as too fat," says Belinda Coleman of retouching agency The Shoemakers Elves. "Every­one is scared of being highlighted as the magazine or label that promotes very thin girls, so they are being a lot more careful about the images they present." But this means that the model is still frightfully thin and getting paid. "Retouching skinny girls doesn't help anyone except advertisers, and least of all the models in question," writes Kate Finnigan, the style editor of Stella.

To be honest, when I think of a PhotoShop ban, what comes to mind is the scene in Batman where the news anchors can't use any makeup or cosmetics products because the Joker has tainted them all. The faces of the reporters are ashen, pale, craggy and uneven. It's shocking because we know what people on TV are supposed to look like: Smooth and perfect. Even if they're just reading the news. Magazines are the same; we're so used to the lies, the forgeries on the covers. How would we handle it if covers suddenly started revealing the truth? On the other hand, if magazines continue to lie and continue to have their lies exposed, are they fools for persisting? Are we fools for buying? Are the stars fools for aiding and abetting the lies?

ASME Plans To Address Photoshopping [Foilio]
Now Fashion Mags Make Models 'Fatter' [Telegraph]
Airbrushing Fears Under The Carpet [Telegraph]

Related: Britney Spears Blender Magazine March 2008 Cover [PopCrunch]
Tina Fey - "Marie Claire" May 2008 [JustJared]
Earlier: America Ferrera's 'Glamour' Treatment, Revisited
Vogue Cover Girl Drew Barrymore Has Been Powerfully Photoshopped
The Five Great Lies Of Women's Magazines
Here's Our Winner! 'Redbook' Shatters Our 'Faith' In Well, Not Publishing, But Maybe God

• Indie pop band Tilly and the Wall announces Nebraskan style-revolution from the stage of the Coachella Music Festival, saying of their home state: "...you don't really have anywhere to buy clothes except for thrift stores so you just create it yourself, which has led to a ton of crazy style in Omaha." [WWD]
• Glamour editor-in-chief Cindi Leive re-elected president of American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME); Elle editor-in-chief Robbie Myers transitions from secretary to vice president of the organization. [WWD, 1st item]
• Liz Claiborne has gifted a $350,000 scholarship in honor of their new Chief Creative Officer Tim Gunn to his former employer, Parsons, to help budding designers in their journey to "make it work." [WWD]

• Silvia Venturi Fendi, brand accessories director of the family business, sings "We Are the World," and insists that open office and eschewing of traditional, regimented design process yields more creativity and better products. [WWD]
• TopShop head honcho Sir Philip Green tended to customers and fetched different sizes during Kate Mosspalooza at the TopShop on Oxford Street yesterday. [Vogue UK]
• Furniture makers Kartel teamed up with the best of the best in the world of fashion design to create chairs that are supposed to embody femininity. Or something. The girly chairs will be on view in the windows of Barney's flagship store on Madison Avenue sometime in May. [Fashion Week Daily]