• Behold actress Rene Russo, doing moderately fetishistic things with designer Brian Atwood's shoes and a hunky model, for a limited-release book, which sounds suspiciously like a fancy lookbook. [NY Mag]

• Nordstrom is recalling about 31,000 pairs of girls' shoes sold under their store brand. The shoes, which were made in China, do not meet new federal standards for lead levels. Girls shoes affected by the recall were sold between September, 2006, and February, 2009, and can be returned to any Nordstrom store for a full refund. [WWD]
• And in more news of the increasing weirdness of lookbooks — seriously, a couple years ago these were just collections of snapshots intended to document the coming season's line for buyers, not even everybody bothered doing them, and now they're as ubiquitous and heralded as campaigns and as lavishly shot as editorials — Band of Outsiders picked Sarah Silverman to model their offerings for their other label, Boy. [The Moment]
• In a blast right from 1997, Liam Gallagher is launching a fashion line. "I'm doing it cuz [sic] there's a lack of stuff out there of the things I would wear," said the ever-articulate rock star. [Telegraph]
• Writer Rowan Pelling held a panel discussion at the Victoria and Albert museum in London to discuss the greening of fashion. After talking with such luminaries as Dame Vivienne Westwood ("don't wash your clothes, thus saving water and reducing the flow of harmful chemicals into our rivers"), Pelling remained unconvinced that the fashion industry could ever do any real good for the environment. Perhaps someone who admits to sending really special clothes to "expert" drycleaners in Florence, Italy, wasn't the best choice for an environmental consciousness-raising? [Telegraph]
• Bold words from Council of Fashion Designers of America president Diane von Furstenberg at the party celebrating this year's nominees. "We will surf the tsunami and do very well," announced the designer. Executive director Steve Kolb explained the CFDA's decision to give Michelle Obama a special award in June, saying that the First Lady was eligible for nominations almost across the board for categories like Style Icon. But, "the board wanted to give her a serious award. As part of the award, we will establish a grant in her name to support young talent, because she has really epitomized that." No word yet on whether the Obamas will attend; I'm sure the CFDA can only hope. [WWD]
• A reporter for The Cut witnessed the taping of Valentino's Martha Stewart appearance — and says that the audience was more interested in Martha's demonstration of lemon cleaning copper than in anything Vava had to say. It airs Friday, so, uh, mark your calendars. [NY Mag]
• Women's Wear Daily reports that Valentino also used the opportunity to shoot down the rumors that he had a designing hand in the collection that just walked in Paris. All while referring to the new designers, Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli, as his "assistants." [WWD]
• Jil Sander is just settling in to her new position overseeing men's and women's wear at Uniqlo. And she has some grand ideas for the brand. [WWD]
• An 18th Century masterpiece by the German-born British painter Johann Zoffany — a royal portraitist and a favorite of Geoge III — has been withdrawn from the auction of items from Gianni Versace's Lake Como villa. The portrait of Major General Maule was described as the centerpiece of the art sale, but descendants of the army officer featured say that the painting was stolen 30 years ago. Versace, who is believed not to have known the work's value, bought it 15 years ago. The painting had been estimated to fetch £40,000-£60,000 at auction. [Independent]
• Also selling cast-offs is Rachel Zoe. 50-100 pieces of costume jewelry will go on sale to a crowd of invited guests at L.A. vintage institution Decades Two next Thursday. However, any unsold items will be put on eBay, so you can overpay for gold-toned owl necklaces and chunky beads from your own home. Some of the proceeds will go to charity, and the in-store melee will be filmed for, what else, Bravo's The Rachel Zoe Project. [Fashionista]
• Katy Perry, on being a fashion 'Don't' for her outrageous(ly unfortunate) style: "I like experimenting and I'm totally OK with ending up in the ‘worst dressed.'...I have my own look, which I call ‘Lolita meets old Hollywood Glam.' " So is she in on the joke, or not? [People]
• British ex-model and television presenter Alexa Chung: gets invited to Paris to see the Louis Vuitton show ("I was presented with a pair of severe skyscraper heels for the event which I smugly paraded about atop of until the cobbled streets outside of the Louvre betrayed me") and DJ the Fendi party ("almost like a scene from Zoolander.") Then she runs into Beth Ditto and shares a nervous laugh about the whole scene. [Independent]
• Tattoo artist Scott Campbell is responsible for most of Marc Jacobs' torso. He's a sucker for romantic declarations in permanent ink — he should know, he has four women's names on his body already. [Observer]
• Amber le Bon, daughter of Simon and Yasmin le Bon, is the new, er, face of Myla lingerie. [Sun]
• Tamara Mellon of Jimmy Choo has designed a series of makeup bags for this fall — which Fashionista says could easily double as clutches. Everyone likes a bargain! Unfortunately, the Jimmy Choo/Hunter croc-embossed rubber rainboots pictured cost $395. Which is ridiculous. (There's already a waiting list.) [Fashionista]
• Pretty boy Zac Efron got down and dirty in a sandbox with Lithuanian model Edita Vileviciute for Interview. Edita didn't know who he was. [E! Online]
• L'Wren Scott, the towering ex-model/stylist/designer/Mick Jagger consort, says her line is all about timeless pieces — and power. "Women of every age and size really just want to look sexy, while retaining their power and dignity," she says, noting that her line is produced in sizes up to an Italian 48 (approximately a US 14). Which ain't great, but I've met designers who wrinkle their noses at the thought of making a size 8 dress, so at least it's not just lip service. Perhaps the 6'4" Scott has a more intrinsic grasp of the frustrations of having a body that is unnecessarily hard to fit in conventional stores' offerings? [Daily Beast]
• Following the announcement of a 45% fall in net profits for 2008, Alberto Nathansohn, the CFO of Bulgari has unexpectedly resigned. Flavia Spena, who has been with the company for 20 years and currently holds the position of head of human resources, will take over Nathansohn's duties. Shares fell 5.27% in the remainder of the day's trading in Milan as many analysts downgraded their ratings to "sell." [FT]
• French Connection, owner of the brand FCUK, has posted a £17.4 million annual loss for the year to January 31. [Telegraph]
• Guess? Inc. is doing comparatively fine. Fourth quarter global revenues increased by 9%, and 18% in Europe. However, same-store sales for the quarter in North America decreased 6.5%, and 1% for the year. [Breitbart]
• Susan Kellogg has resigned her position as chief executive at Tahari. [WWD]
• Azzedine Alaïa's 9-month-old St. Bernard puppy and his four cats all sleep together in one big pile. Nomnomnomnomnommmmm. [Paper]

Marie Claire tries, it really does. Unlike other women's magazines of its kind, it features affordable clothes and accessories. It acknowledges that there's a world beyond the 9,800,000 square kilometers between the coast of California and the coast of Massachusetts. And it has more of a love-to-hate relationship with regards to dieting and exercise than the hateful, love-to-love tone we find in titles from Cosmopolitan to Harper's Bazaar.

For all its good intentions and powerful-woman motivational-speak, the magazine's March 2007 issue lost us only a fifth of the way in, thanks to its I LOVE LUCITE Shopping Wish List on page 66. (We won't even get into the horrendous cover photo of Hilary Swank clad in what looks to be the Ralph Lauren dress Gwyneth Paltrow wore when she won the Oscar in 1999).

We'd expect something like this from Vogue. But it looks like even Marie Claire's realistic-minded editors have collectively lost their heads over this season's new Lucite trend in accessories. Apparently, all you have to do to get past the magazine's fashion police is slap Marc Jacobs' or Brian Atwood's names on a set of clear-plastic heels, charge $900-1200 for them, and you're good to go, stripper-aesthetic be damned.

In other news, we're proud to introduce MAGHAG STICKERS, in which we rip-off Lucky magazine's popular advertiser-friendly page of adhesives so that you can print — and then mark and read — the only pages worth reading in every women's monthly magazine. To download your girly-hued, non-advertiser-friendly YESes and MAYBEs, click here, then read on for a list of page numbers and our corresponding votes.

Page 34: MAYBE. (No mention of Hilary Swank's trailer-park beginnings! Plus: Pretty peonies!)
Page 36: YES. (Free shit!)
Page 56: YES. (Cute shoes!)
Page 74: MAYBE. (Three design-names from the past, resurrected!).
Page 90: YES. (Learn about women from different parts of the developing world while maintaining holier-than-thou feeling!).
Page 104: MAYBE. (Cringe as essayist/comedian Ali Wentworth use way too many question marks in attempt to be funny!)
Page 115: YES. (Cheer on Susie Orbach as she rails against the dieting industry!).
Page 142: YES. (This fashion spread is purely for laughs!)
Page 154: MAYBE. (Stew with jealousy over fact Hilary Swank can eat fried cheese sticks and maintain figure! Roll eyes one page later when trailer-park beginnings are brought up!).
Page 190: MAYBE. (Rejoice in whole spread of dresses under $100! Deflate once you realize most are ugly!).
Page 193: YES. (Nice layout!)
Page 218: YES. (Collage! Makeup!)