Ditto, who explains that she was "really butch" in high school, says she "loves to break all the rules," in terms of fashion. That's why she wears horizontal stripes, floral patterns and clown-ish ensembles. But while it's interesting to see her gush about seeing designers as "artists," the best thing about this video is the idea that a non-thin person has been given such a platform — allowed to voice her thoughts about fashion on a Condé Nast website.

With buzz about plus-size models and Precious star Gabourey Sidibe rocking fantastic ensembles on the red carpet, it seems that we may finally be getting some positive coverage of larger women — and maybe the idea that fashionable = thin is beginning to break down.

Style Studio: Beth Ditto [Style.com]

• "No one wants to see curvy women," says Karl Lagerfeld, who has struggled with his weight. "You've got fat mothers with their bags of chips sitting in front of the television and saying that thin models are ugly." [News.com.au]

• Meanwhile, Christian Louboutin gave Barbie a much-needed slimming treatment. The three dolls the designer is releasing will have an all-new morphology, because the shoe man "found her ankles were too fat," reports a spokesperson. [WWD]
• Heidi Klum says becoming a Barbie was "a dream come true." There's a horror movie in that somewhere. [People]
• Tom Cruise says sweet, underminey things to Katie Holmes about her clothes, like, "I think that dress might be wearing you." The only question remaining is: Is he responsible for Suri's clothing choices? [NYDN]
• Trovata and Forever 21 have settled their copyright infringement lawsuit, just days before a second trial was to begin. The terms are confidential. Despite being sued more than 50 times, Forever 21 had never faced a jury prior to the Trovata case; Trovata had sought a multi-million-dollar judgment against Forever 21 for knocking off its shirts, but the first trial in May ended in a mistrial when six jurors sided with Trovata and one sided with Forever 21. [WWD]
• The Daily Mail did a hilarious write-around on Dov Charney, The Sleazy Sexual Predator Behind High Street Store American Apparel. Wait till they realize that the "model" in the lace bodysuit ad they hold up for particular condemnation — "it is the kind of photograph which would send shivers down the spine of anyone with a teenage daughter" — is in fact an actual porn star named Faye Valentine. We can't wait for the blistering, "exclusive" follow-up. [Daily Mail]
• Marc Jacobs: "I think the idea of people being exposed, whether it's stylists who have their reality shows or whatever, is just the way of the world. It's every chef, every stylist, every hairdresser, everybody who's doing plastic surgery. We're in a period where people are entertained by what they consider to be the real lives of people in different professions, etc. And fashion has also reached this kind of proportion like football or sport, you know — a spectator sport." [WWD]
• W magazine is reducing its frequency from 12 to 6 issues per year. This is fueling rumors that Condé Nast might be interested in buying American Elle. [FWD]
• Ugg Australia is releasing a "limited-edition" kids collection as a tie-in for the Where The Wild Things Are movie. Half the proceeds will go to St. Jude's Research Hospital. Which means half will go to making more ugly Uggs. [WWD]
• Levi's is snapping up young(ish), hip(ish) artists of both coasts in the scramble for sales: after having Ryan McGinley shoot its new ad campaign, the company has announced that printmaker extraordinaire Shepard Fairey will have a capsule collection in stores by the end of this month under the label Obey x Levi's. [WWD]
• Turns out that with the move to selling exclusively at J.C. Penney, Liz Claiborne isn't closing the Claiborne by John Bartlett line — it's just firing two-time CFDA-winner John Bartlett less than halfway into his three-year contract. [WWD]
• Meanwhile, the Upper East Side has hatched another fashion label. Two people who really need the money — socialites Gigi Mortimer and Courtney Moss — want us to buy $199 rabbit fur neck warmers and $315 fox fur gloves. Oh, look: Kelly Killoren Bensimon is all over their website! [WWD]
• Women's Wear Daily puts on its thinking cap to investigate this question for the ages: Has fashion lost its mystique? Is it the reality television? Is it the Internet? Is it Marc Jacobs inviting reporters to work out with him? The story quotes an Internet commenter, and Valentino. [WWD]
• Diane von Furstenberg is mounting an exhibition of her life's work in Moscow later this month. It will include garments she designed, artifacts, and portraits of her by artists including Warhol and Horst. [WWD]

• Creator of this season's mightiest shoes, Alexander McQueen, is suing Steve Madden. McQueen's lawyers say the only reason the Madden is a knock-off and not a pure counterfeit is the omission of the logo'd zipper pull. (L-R: McQueen, Madden.) [WWD]

• There are pictures and renderings of Domenico Dolce's just-bought $29 million Manhattan penthouse. It looks predictably lavish; it even has an elevator for the designer's car. [FWD]
• Christian Lacroix will design another day! Al Hassan Bin Al Nuaimi, a United Arab Emirates sheikh, has worked out a deal to buy the bankrupt company from its owners, the Falic Group. If the deal is approved by the French bankruptcy court, it is understood that the house will continue to produce the couture collection for which it had been known. [WWD]
• Strokes member Albert Hammond, Jr., finally has pictures of his suit line. It looks pretty snazzy, albeit laughably priced, at $2,100-$2,400. [Style.com]
• Before Mounir Moufarrige, the CEO of Ungaro, hired Lindsay Lohan as the house's "artistic director," he asked her how long she planned on spending in prison. That's due diligence! [ToL]
• Speaking of non-formally-trained designers: "I cannot drape. I mean I cannot cut patterns. But I know exactly what I want and where the shoulder should be and where the seams should be," says 70-year-old Carolina Herrera. "And it's the eye you have to have for the colours, to mix colours, or proportions ... It was born in me. Because I didn't go to fashion school." [Canadian Press]
• The mood among the American press at the Paris shows was said to be grim. Top editors were absent entirely, and those who did come to the continent were spending the hours between shows wrestling with decisions about the layoffs and budget cuts they will have to make upon their return. Every Condé Nast editor has been asked to reduce his or her budget by a quarter; layoffs are expected to begin tomorrow. [FWD]
• Some see signs of the budget cuts in the fact that Anna Wintour repeated an outfit three times in ten days. But she repeats outfits all the time. [CityFile]
• Since Prince is in Paris for fashion week anyway, he just announced two shows this week at the Grand Palais. [WWD]
• Hot on the heels of Claudia Schiffer's announced intention to visit Iraq comes news that Roberto Cavalli is going to Chechnya. [FWD]
  
• The staff at the Marikina Shoe Museum were able to save Imelda Marcos's footwear collection from the knee-high waters of the most recent Tropical Storm. Three hundred people may have died, and thousands may have been left homeless — but they got the shoes! [AP]
• Gavin James Bower, a Dazed & Confused intern who became a male model for two years, has written a book about his experiences, called Dazed & Aroused. He tells the Sun: "For all the press about female models being forced to conform to an unhealthy body image, and all the horror stories about apple diets and the like, the pressure to remain a certain 'look' is just the same for male models. It's just not talked about." [Sun]
• Lily Cole says acting is like walking a tightrope. "The good actor is the one who always has a moment when they nearly fall off." [Telegraph]
• Peter Brant, in divorce filings, alleges that Stephanie Seymour spends $50,000 a month on clothes. And also that she destroyed his Kentucky Derby trophy. [p6]
• Lucky Brand's holiday shopping bags are designed specially by Sir Peter Blake, the artist who did the Sgt. Pepper album cover. Guess we're over that whole hide-your-shopping-in-the-plain-paper-of-shame thing. Happy recession everybody! [WWD]
• Liz Claiborne is going to be sold only at J.C. Penney, starting next fall. [WSJ]
• Louis Vuitton says it's on track to rise over the holiday period. [Reuters]
• Carrefour, the French retail giant, denies it is even considering selling its Chinese and Latin American operations. Because, while troubled right now, those are growth markets. Rumors are flying that investor Bernard Arnault — the head of LVMH — to cut its losses in those regions. [WWD]

There must be amazing stories about offices full of ridiculously priced gowns; mysteriously "missing" Waterford crystal vases; hilariously awful reader letters; Vegas photo shoots gone awry and cake ideas no one would ever really dare to serve guests. Former staffers: Time to fess up! Email me at dodai@jezebel.com with your tales. I'll keep you anonymous, and you can finally get that story about the "misplaced" engagement ring off your chest.

Note: If your story is particularly juicy, we're open to publishing it as freelance contribution — and will offer a fee.

Roitfeld, the editor of Paris Vogue, is the subject of a fawning profile by Lisa Arnold in today's Times of London. "The Ultimate Style-Setter" traces Roitfeld's immense influence over the look of the coming season, from the high street to fashion's top lights. Not only are designers Roitfeld champions personally — like Christophe Decarnin at Balmain, and Riccardo Tisci at Givenchy — experiencing success, writes Arnold, but chain stores like Marks & Spencer are imitating Roitfeld's signature style.

It almost goes without saying that they are all pushing big shoulders and a whole lot of black.

Then there is the British high street. From Oasis's fitted dresses and Mango's outlandish furry coats to Topshop's leather jackets and Miss Selfridge's strong-shouldered blazer, white shirts and leather leggings, they are all referencing her. Even M&S is at it, juxtaposing sequins, leather and Roitfeld's trademark smoky eyes.

Roitfeld, who was rumored briefly late last year to be in the running to take Wintour's job, once compared Wintour to "a puppet" in the pages of New York magazine.

Anna Wintour is known not to love the press, and will likely retreat happily into her fortress of solitude on the 12th floor of the Condé Nast building as soon as the ink is dry on her contract. (Should, of course, the negotiations be successful.) What we've seen in recent months, with the public events and the film promotions and the television appearances, is the charm offensive of someone who is neither naturally very charming, nor easily charmed. Roitfeld could have merely looked on while her rumored rival twisted in discomfort; but instead, she made sure the Times of London just happened to have all these lovely things to say about her.

Because the thing is, this whole people-imitate-Carine thing is not news. We've read this very story before. So why did Roitfeld make sure this piece ran right now, the week of The September Issue's release?

Carine Roitfeld: The Ultimate Style Setter [ToL]
The Anti-Anna

Earlier: Anna Wintour: "I Reckon That Makes Me A Lukewarm Royalty From Outer Space With A Whip"
Being Anna: "Sometimes You Don't Love The Press"
3 Reasons We Hope The Wintour/Roitfeld Rumor Is True

• The details of Fashion's Night Out — aka Anna Wintour's Plan To Save Retail — have been announced. Over 700 stores in all five boroughs will be participating in events that range from sewing circles to cook-ins to rock shows:

• Celebs and designers who will be in attendance at the various festivities include Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen, Francisco Costa, Manolo Blahnik, Isaac Mizrahi, Kate Mulleavy, Diane von Furstenberg, Liev Schreiber, Stephanie Seymour, and Anna Wintour herself. Although all the tee shirt customization and free music will be enough to drag us around to at least a few stores come September 10, we're also tremendously excited by the idea of taking salsa lessons taught by Juan Carlos Obando. [WWD]
• As is to be expected, Vogue is apparently attracting a lot of attention from cost-cutting consultants McKinsey. Dare we hope that McKinsey will shake things up at the tired mag, and shake them hard? In other Condé Nast news, Teen Vogue's very stylish accessories editor, Taylor Tomasi Hill, is leaving to take a position at Marie Claire. There are no plans to replace her. [Fashionista]
• Agent Provocateur is launching a new line of super-expensive lingerie it's calling couture. Agent Provocateur Soirée will launch with an in-season show at New York Fashion Week on September 9, and hit stores in November. Prices top £2450. [Elle UK]
• The second issue of Love is out, and it turns out the preview image that surfaced online last month actually is one of the covers — editor Katie Grand chose Alex Hartley, and 18-year-old bass player she found on the Internet, for one cover, and Sting spawn Coco Summer for the other. [Fashionologie]
• Katie Grand had 35 guests at her recent wedding. Thirty-five guests who finished 28 bottles of vodka. Our kid of woman. [ToL]
• Dasha Zhukova, the 28-year-old heiress, art gallerist, and Grand's replacement editor at Pop, is rumored to be pregnant by her 42-year-old boyfriend, Roman Abramovich. [P6]
• An image of Scarlett Johansson which might be part of the ad campaign for a Dolce & Gabbana perfume launching later this year has leaked. The perfume is called Rose The One, and the picture is very soft and rosy looking, plus Johansson is already confirmed to be the face of the scent, both of which are signs that point to yes. [SassyBella]
• Tori Spelling has launched a children's clothing range. Little Maven will cost $26-$88, and is designed for kids up to 4 years of age. [Daily Mail]
• Naomi Campbell and Queen Rania of Jordan were introduced while holidaying in the south of France. There's no word on what they discussed upon meeting. [Daily Mail]
• The mayor of Kennesaw, Georgia, which is male model Sean O'Pry's hometown, is today giving the 20-year-old an official proclamation, because O'Pry speaks highly of Kennesaw in the interviews he does between gigs for Armani and Calvin Klein. [P6]
• Comme des Garçons and Converse are giving their collaboration wider distribution this fall. Four styles of the Comme des Garçons-designed sneakers will go on sale in select cities at the end of this month, and worldwide in October, for $100 a pop. [WWD]
• When asked about the person who irrevocably changed the way she looked at fashion, Heidi Klum generously named Karl Lagerfeld, despite the designer's stated dislike of her. [Newsweek]
• Everybody is wearing Lolita glasses. And by everybody, we mean Madonna, Drew Barrymore, Katy Perry, Nicole Richie, Kelly Osbourne, and Kim Kardashian. Clearly we ought to be wearing them, too. Or something. [NYDN]
• If you are a man who wants to buy Levi's jeans that are "re-created using the original techniques from 1873" for $395, you can do so, at J. Crew's downtown men's stores. [WWD]
• Riam Dean, the young woman who was asked to work in the stockroom by Abercrombie & Fitch because of her prosthetic arm, has sold the full, terrible story of her experience of discrimination to the Daily Mail. Dean says the £9,000 she won from the company in damages hasn't covered her legal fees. [Daily Mail]
• Hats are back, again. This story gets re-written every six months. [WSJ]
• The alligator "harvest" begins later on this month in Florida, but wildlife experts expect the number of the creatures that will end up as purses this year to be drastically reduced: while revenue from alligator skins topped $71 million in Florida in 2007, a mere $10 million is this year's industry estimate. What doesn't make sense about all these stories about exotic skins, whether alligator, crocodile, or python, losing their marketplace appeal, is the fact that among luxury categories, the bridge products — wallets, keychains, and other "aspirational" branded baubles — are the ones that are experiencing the steepest decline in sales. Brands from Hermès to Louis Vuitton have reported that their most expensive offerings, like exotic skinned bags, are still experiencing strong sales — if not actually leading sales across the whole brand. So what gives? Are the pythons and gators going to be left to their own devices in the Everglades this season, or not? [MSNBC]
• H&M's same-store sales fell 3% on last year during the month of July; analysts had expected a more modest 1% drop, since the fast fashion chain has been performing relatively well in the recession so far. [Reuters]
• Following another disastrous quarterly result, Abercrombie has announced it plans to further cut its prices. [WSJ]
• Escada USA filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in New York, one day after the German parent company opened bankruptcy proceedings there. [WWD]

• Barneys' Simon Doonan: "Criticizing Ed Hardy for being cheesy is like saying that Elvis was 'flashy' or that Liberace was 'tacky.' It's a giant case of DUH! Of course it's cheesy! That's the whole point, you doo-doo heads." [NY Observer]

• "Ed Hardy is fromage-y and hedonistic and naughty and badass and-the ultimate crime in the world of haute fashion — Ed Hardy is FUN!" Doonan, in his entertaining op-ed dissection of the concept of "good taste," paused to riff on Christian Audigier's design efforts. "The unrestrained, bedazzled, heavy-metal-goes-Bollywood aesthetic rivals the gaudy heyday of Gianni Versace. Instead of knocking it, the style arbiters of the world should be grateful. Monsieur Audigier has done a real mitzvah to the insecure fashion cognoscenti: He has given them something about which to feel superior. If Ed Hardy did not exist, they would have to invent it in order to get their snooty fix." Also, "popped his sabots" is the best euphemism for dying, ever. [NYObs]
• Cynthia Rowley is starting a kids' line. [Stylelist]
• Comme des Garçons' Osaka store is inaugurating a floor that will serve as an art gallery with a show by Yayoi Kusama. [WWD]
• Kate Moss's fourth women's fragrance, Vintage, launches this September, and the ads are coming out now. [NowSmellThis]
• Apparently, when a woman cuts her hair after a breakup, that's called a "breakover." Who knew? [Glamour]
• All those who remember fondly the extraordinary 26-page Daphne Guinness spread from Vogue Italia's September, 2008, issue, rejoice: the couture-loving heiress and photographer Steven Klein have teamed up again, and have another 20+ page editorial coming in Vogue Italia's September issue. Guinness says this one will be "moodier" and is inspired by a cult French film from the 60s, though she won't name which one. [Style.com]
• "Everybody thought they had to spend money. They thought it was a new way of life. Now they're rubbing the dust out of their eyes. ‘I don't need that handbag. What was I doing?' " said a brave, but anonymous, Condé Nast editor to Cathy Horyn. [NYTimes]
• Christina Binkley of the Wall Street Journal reports on a well-known industry secret: that the same firms who supply raw materials, and in some cases manufacture, for high-end brands also sell the same items to more down-market brands. Binkley compares a $1,750 cardigan sweater made in Italy by the Quarano, Piedmont, wool company Loro Piano, and a $145 J. Crew cardigan "spun from supersoft, luxurious Italian cashmere from a world-famous mill in the foothills of Piedmont." Lesson: some less-expensive brands still take immense care in their sourcing. [WSJ]
• Which may just be why CFDA executive director Steven Kolb became a J. Crew fan on Facebook. [FWD]
• A gaggle of minor celebrities — some dude who was in a Britney Spears video, the guy from North Dakota who plays Emmett Cullen in Twilight, etc — availed themselves of a pre-season event at French Connection in Los Angeles. Instead of merely being given bags of free clothes to wear when waiting for the paparazzi, the store embarrassed them by making them all play French Connection-themed Twister, whatever that is. [WWD]
• Dania Ramirez, a.k.a. Maya on Heroes, is a newly minted Covergirl. [People]
• Footwear brand Penny Loves Kenny has filed for bankruptcy protection. The company founder, Kenny Robinson, explained the filing as a tactical move in a 6-year legal battle with two China-based agents, and said he expects the brand to emerge intact in 3-6 months. [WWD]
• Philip Lim stepped into his SoHo boutique last weekend and helped some customers find the right sizes and pick out flattering items — all without telling them who he was. Then some fashion-savvy shoppers blew his cover. If more designers did thoughtful things like that, they'd certainly sell more clothes. [Fashionista]
• Burberry's second store in Canada, and its first in Toronto, opens this Friday. [WWD]
• Benetton's profits fell 63% in the first half of this year. [WWD]
• Barneys New York is putting a brave face on its 13 months — and counting — without a C.E.O., its double-digit sales declines, and its recent credit rating downgrade, to Caa3, for "very high investment risk." The company recently received $25 million from parent company Istithmar World Capital to shore up liquidity, and this week it hired an asset management company to help it restructure its $500 million debt. [WWD]

As Cathy Horyn writes in today's New York Times, the September 2007 issue of Vogue was the largest issue ever: 840 pages. The cover proclaimed, "Fearless Fashion." Horyn says the issue, in the film,

...has all the gaiety of the "Titanic" two miles out to sea, with a spread on Sienna Miller in Rome, pages of models leaping in the new fall clothes, and a reflective piece by Plum Sykes on brooches.

Obviously times have changed. Today, NY Post media columnist Keith Kelly reports:

Conde Nast is reeling from what is expected to be a loss of 5,000 ad pages this year, translating into a revenue shortfall of between $275 million and $350 million — and very likely pushing the publishing giant into the red.

Vogue is one of the magazines whose ad pages are down; and in The September Issue, viewers see Anna Wintour spend, spend, spend. When Wintour cuts a photo shoot, the magazine's creative director, Grace Coddington sighs, "They've probably thrown out $50,000 worth of work," according to today's Gatecrasher column. And, notes Horyn, magazines like Vogue have always "readily projected a spare-no-expense mentality to help maintain their status." She continues:

A fashion shoot at a magazine like Vogue, or Vanity Fair, or W, can easily cost $150,000. Anna Wintour, the editor of Vogue, has killed shoots that didn't meet her standards and ordered them reshot. Such creative excess serves Vogue's star image, like the Town Cars waiting outside Condé Nast, and apparently has been condoned by management so long as revenues are high… It may be difficult for outsiders to appreciate the logic in fashion shoots that require a team of 30 photographic assistants, digital producers, lighting experts, hairstylists, makeup artists, a manicurist, editorial gofers and caterers to feed everyone. It's not uncommon at a top American magazine, editors say, to spend $5,000 a day just on food at a shoot.

But these days, there's a recession afoot. And last we heard, Vogue's September 2009 issue will only be around 450 pages — almost half of what it was 2 years ago — making The September Issue not only a documentary of what it takes to make a fashion magazine, but, quite possibly, evidence of the end of an era.

Still Fearless at Vogue? [NY Times]
Vogue's Anna Wintour's Power On Display In Film 'The September Issue' [Gatecrasher]
Sea Of Red At Conde [NY Post]

Earlier: September Ladymags: "Looking Thin"
5 Guesses Why Vogue Is Hurting
In Vogue: Things Learned From The September Issue, September Issue Trailer
The September Issue Less Than Flattering?

As readers, we've gotten used to thick magazines. And more pages mean more ads, and more ads mean more revenue. But. Compared to a year ago, Elle is down 21%, MediaWeek claims. Marie Claire is down 20%. WWD is reporting that Harper's Bazaar will probably have between 275 and 285 pages — about 25% fewer ad pages than last year.

One magazine with good news to share? People StyleWatch, which is up 10%. Perhaps it seems more down-to-earth, more approachable than Vogue? Last we heard from Vogue, it would be around 400 pages. Sounds hefty, but, as AdAge notes, "Landing at 400 exactly would mean a 41% decline from last September. Getting to 450, one rumor going around, would mean a 33% drop." How bad will it be? We'll find out soon: Condé Nast, home to Vogue — as well as W, Glamour and Allure —will release its numbers tomorrow.

They say you can never be too rich or too thin, but it seems it's only half true, if you're a glossy mag.

Fashion Titles' Fall Issues Looking Thin [MediaWeek]
Publishers Fret Over September Issues [AdAge]
Early Look [WWD]

Earlier: 5 Guesses Why Vogue Is Hurting
September Glossies: Same Sh*t, Different Year

Everyone wants to know what exactly goes on around the 12th floor of 4 Times Square. As the trailer states, one in ten U.S. women will get Vogue's September issue — which is a fantastically broad reach for a fashion title. How the sausage is made is a question that R. J. Cutler's documentary will, one hopes, answer in full. What we can tell from the trailer is this:

Wintour's legendary editorial nit-picking is not an exaggeration. In addition to replacing stylists, trashing finished shoots (including one with Hilary Rhoda and Chanel Iman, which never saw the light of ink), pre-approving all styling choices, and demanding a full, un-edited selection of shots from the photographers Vogue works with, she nay-says fonts. "This type seems so large, and pretentious," she mutters. "It looks like it's for blind people."

The trailer also makes clear that Wintour's interventions do not always redound to her title's benefit. The camera lingers over an image from stylist Grace Coddington and photographer Steven Meisel's 1920s-themed shoot, which Coddington reports her boss killed and re-shot at least three times.

Even in grainy online video, this double-page picture — a witty take on "Déjeuner dur L'herbe", with picnicking models in pageboys and flapper dresses — looks better than what actually made it into the magazine nearly two years ago.

As for the actual September, 2007, issue, it mostly sticks out in my mind as the point at which Vogue basically ate itself. In addition to relying on model Caroline Trentini, a perennial Wintour favorite, to do three editorials, there were numerous other embarrassing juxtapositions that proved the paucity of Vogue's ideas. For instance, accidentally publishing a shot-by-shot re-make of a David Sims editorial which had been perfect-bound by the magazine only seven months before.

That's Patrick Demarchelier's September, 2007, story with Trentini, "Brights! Camera! Action!" on the left, and Sims' February, 2007, story with Gemma Ward, "Park Avenue" on the right. In case you couldn't tell them apart.

And Raquel Zimmerman appeared for a Craig McDean edit in a head-to-toe Balenciaga runway look, which was also identical to the David Sims-shot Balenciaga campaign of that season, starring Anabela Belikova.

Advertising and editorial images which are not just indistinguishable, but actually mirrors of one another — just a few pages apart.

I suppose that kind of overlap is the risk you run when all your styling decisions are taken straight off the catwalks of six months prior, and your inch-thick magazine is 87% ads, anyway. To date, the September, 2007, issue remains the biggest Vogue ever printed — a monument to pre-recession thinking, advertiser largesse, and hamstrung creativity that we may never see surpassed.

The September Issue [Yahoo! Movies]

Earlier: The September Issue Less Than Flattering?

Anna Wintour has this dress which she just loves to talk about. At every public appearance, she relays the story of how Steven Meisel wanted to photograph it, but when she found out the masterpiece retailed for a lot of money — sometimes she says $50,000, sometimes she says $25,000 — she, the fashion magazine editor with a conscience, and a firm grasp of what regular people are prepared to pay for their few, hard-won items of luxury during These Economic Times, took her protégé kingmaker fashion photographer in hand, and told him (sternly, we imagine, and also very arch and British-ly) No!

And also the dress was very little. She publicly compared it to the size of Graydon Carter's shirt. And a Wall Street Journal reporter who also was treated to the Saga Of The Sequined Dress came away with the impression that it might have been just "a bedazzled shrug," so attenuated was Wintour's gestural representation of its size.

So knowing what we do about this dress, we A) Really want to figure out what it might be, and which designer experienced the snub and B) Wish Wintour would just let Steven Meisel shoot it, so everyone at Vogue could quit mourning the lost opportunity and find something new to talk about. (Like weight loss by the "bulk-heating" method, which we hear is totally now.)

Only one of those things being within our particular bailiwick, we set our minds (and our mice) to tracking down The Dress. Let's peruse the possibilities!

Balenciaga featured this dress in its spring campaign, and it costs $65,000. (But it's on sale for $35,000.)

And this one runs to $52,000. (It's currently reduced to $27,000.) Both would, naturally, be well above the $50,000 figure Wintour originally gave for her dream dress; and we know the editor loves to feature Nicolas Ghesquière's work. (Frequent Vogue cover girl Keira Knightley wore an all-Balenciaga look on the front of the all-important September issue last year, to give just one example.) These are strong contenders.

Plenty of readers pointed to Balmain as a leader in both the provision of embellishment-encrusted dresses and outrageous prices. ("$2500 for a pair of bleached jeans"!) While basically all of the label's Fall/Winter 2009 collection would qualify in the size and the sequin measures, none of it would have been available for Steven Meisel to photograph in December, 2008 — because, of course, the collection didn't exist yet. Limiting the search to the Spring/Summer 2009 samples, which would have been out for editorial consideration in the Fall of '08, two obvious choices emerge. Both are shinier than just about anything else we've seen. But this one is tinier.

And this one is getting a lot of attention — Jennifer Connolly wore it to the premiere of He's Just Not That Into You, and Vogue-owned Style.com has it currently up as one of its banner ads.

Is a Style.com banner ad a likely consolation prize for being cut from an editorial in the magazine itself?

Brian Réyes, thanks for playing. But nothing you make costs $25,000. (And thank God for that!)

This is certainly the one of the briefest of the entrants our little search attracted. We couldn't find pricing information for Hussein Chalayan's clothes anywhere online — but a lack of U.S. stockists is a sure sign of outrageous prices. We'd consider this little number a distinct possibility. Nobody at Jezebel can recall ever seeing a Hussein Chalayan campaign in a magazine — it would be easiest of all for Wintour to cut a non-advertising designer from an editorial.

Frankly, to get into $25,000-$50,000 dress territory, you have to strongly consider couture. Chanel's spring couture runway, a tipster notes, was full of sequins and sparkling embellishment. Although couture is made-to-measure and therefore POA, this little handmade baby could easily cost 25 large. Or a lot more.

Ditto this one.

Colette Dinnigan, an Australian designer who traditionally shows in Paris, used an inordinate amount of sequins in her Spring/Summer 2009 collection.

These are just four of her many tiny, shiny, and pricey dresses.

But would Dinnigan really have the name recognition necessary for consideration in a Meisel shoot for Vogue?

We find that proposition doubtful.

Marchesa specializes in extremely expensive, beautifully crafted, red-carpet-ready gowns, most of which are so expensive and limited in production that, like couture, they don't even make it into department stores. An embroidered silk organza dress by the label costs $6,600 at Neiman Marcus; rest assured that was probably the very cheapest item from the whole collection. This piece, with its extensive beading and sequins, could well enter $25,000+ territory.

Peter Som's dresses mostly retail in the $1200-$2000 range, so it seems unlikely that even one with such heavy embellishment as this would tilt the scales at $25,000+.

Phillip Lim, your dress is beautiful, and it has the costly double-whammy of sequins, and a fabric-use-intensive bias cut. But could it possibly run to $25,000? A quick phone call to the 3.1 Phillip Lim boutique in Manhattan reveals that this baby retails for $1,500 — but it's currently 40% off. In this lineup, that's a steal.

Sequined or otherwise embellished garments are inevitably some of the most expensive pieces from any given collection, and therefore among the most unlikely to be selected by major retailers, especially during this season of financial discontent. The memory of last Fall's nightmare of inventory-clogged racks and 85% discounts stays many a buyer's ordering impulse. Sequined items from this Proenza Schouler collection that were picked up by retailers are extraordinarily expensive — $1,050 for a t-shirt, $1,350 for a skirt — and the label's regular dresses can top $3,000. But while this beaded tunic, without the pants, certainly looks as though it's not much bigger than Graydon Carter's shirt, we doubt it could actually cost more than $25,000.

Ralph Lauren Collection is pricey stuff. Regular, non-embellished day dresses retail for over $3,000; tailored pieces like jackets fetch nearly as much. We wouldn't be blown away if this offering, with its heavy beading and all around sequin-encrusted lacy good looks were retailing for $10,000-$15,000. But $25,000 might be pushing it.

The tipster who sent in this worthy contender from Versace's Spring/Summer 2009 collection called attention to its briefness and the enviable shininess of its sequins. Dresses from the Italian fashion house generally hit the $3,000-$5,000 price point, with a few "bargain" options at $1,500 thrown in for good measure; we couldn't get anyone at Versace to answer our pricing questions, but given this one has sequins, we'd expect it to go for a lot more than the usual. Versace has steadfastly refused to even consider lowering its prices even as the recession has bitten hard into sales. A contender.

An Yves Saint Laurent silk/polyester blend sleeveless dress costs $5,250 at Neiman Marcus. So how comparatively unusual would it be for this sequined baby to top $25,000? But we just don't think it's short enough.

Which contender do you think edges out the others? Balenciaga 1 or 2, Versace's little number, Chanel Couture Silver Superhero or Chanel Couture LBD, Balmain Space Cadet Y or Z? Marchesa's beaded slip? Hussein Chalayan's stiff-looking frock?

We are simply dying to know.

Earlier: What Piece Of Apparel Is Anna Wintour's Fashion "Rosebud"?
Being Anna: "Sometimes You Don't Love The Press"

A&E IndieFilms, in addition to bringing us documentaries like Jesus Camp and co-producing The September Issue, is owned by Hearst Entertainment and Syndication. Hearst Entertainment and Syndication, as the name might suggest, is owned by Hearst. What else is owned by Hearst? Vogue competitor Harper's Bazaar, Glamour doppelganger Marie Claire, and a raft of other direct pendants to Condé Nast media properties. It's not clear that A&E IndieFilms' ownership status meant that anyone at Hearst enjoyed editorial control or creative influence over The September Issue, it is surprising that Condé Nast would accidentally put itself in its rival's hands.

And it does fit with reports that the documentary is notably harsher on Anna Wintour than previously thought.

Fashion Week Daily acquired a copy of the documentary, which isn't to be released in the U.S. and U.K. until September 11, and posted a detailed recap of its contents on the Friday before the long U.S. Memorial Day weekend. Cutler opens with a long discourse from Wintour, defending fashion on intellectual grounds, and calling people who criticize the fashion industry frightened:

"What I often see is that people are scared of fashion — because they're frightened or insecure, so they put it down. On the whole, people who say demeaning things about our world, I think it's because they feel in some way excluded or not part of the "cool group." Just because you like to put on a beautiful Carolina Herrera dress of a pair of J Brand blue jeans instead of something basic from K-Mart doesn't mean you're a dumb person. There is something about fashion that can make people very nervous."

It's often those who themselves are most desperate to be taken seriously who are quickest to project "insecurity" onto others. Perhaps it isn't a coincidence that Cutler, when he succeeds in getting Wintour to talk about her family, admits that her fellow high-achieving siblings — Patrick Wintour, political editor of the Guardian, Nora Wintour, deputy-general secretary of the Public Services International union, and James Wintour, an official with the Gravesham Borough Council who works in low-income housing — all regard her work with, she believes, "amusement."

What seems to emerge as a theme of the film, however, is Anna Wintour's relationship with Vogue stylist and former model Grace Coddington. Coddington, unhappy about the documentary team, threatened to quit the magazine and resisted Cutler's attempts to film her for months, the director recalled. (Coddington eventually relented, and Cutler's team's presence at one of her shoots led to a charming picture of Caroline Trentini and a cameraman, jumping together for an editorial.)

Wintour says that the cameraman's stomach needs retouching. "You need to go to the gym!" she says, not remotely in jest. (This is the woman who ordered Oprah to drop 20 lbs before shooting her for the cover, and who bullied André Leon Talley into taking up tennis, a sport he is filmed pursuing while decked out in Damon Dash pants, a Polo Ralph Lauren shirt, a vintage diamond Piaget watch, a Louis Vuitton towel, a Louis Vuitton racquet cover, and a Louis Vuitton gym bag.) Coddington rejects Wintour's criticism of the cameraman's body — "Everybody isn't perfect in this world. It's enough that the models are perfect. You don't need to go to the gym" — but she waits for her boss to leave the room before airing her disagreement.

The film also apparently gives an unprecedentedly detailed look at Wintour's managerial style and her level of involvement with the magazine. Wintour retains absolute creative control over every editorial shot. She does not shy from killing spreads by talented and proven long-time collaborators, such as Edward Enninful (Coddington's story with Trentini is a re-shoot of an Enninful effort) and Coddington herself. "I'm in a really foul mood right now because they've just killed another spread of my '20s story, and they're about to kill another one," says Coddington, at one point. "And they're all lying to me about it. It's just incredibly boring."

She also kills a spread with models Hilary Rhoda and Chanel Iman, jumping. (This was during Vogue's long, just-ended drought of faces of color on its editorial pages — it's interesting to note that Iman, who is black, was even in the running for inclusion in American Vogue in September 2007.)

It's no wonder, really, that her publication's creativity so often ends up channeled into the inevitable jumping editorial, the inevitable lavish-but-boring set piece. Wintour's nit-picking leaves even the talented eyes and minds around her too hamstrung to function.

If the full film is as critical as FWD maintains, then that means Anna Wintour has made one move worthy of respect: allowing Cutler to film her, no-holds-barred. But will Condé Nast be pleased at the results?

The September Issue, Revealed! [FWD]
More Details from The September Issue Vogue Documentary Featuring Anna Wintour and Grace Coddington [Fashionologie]
Hearst Takes On Condé [FWD]
Film reveals soft side to Vogue's icy style queen Anna Wintour [Guardian]

Earlier:
Vogue Documentary Is Delicious & Devil-ish

That low barrier to entry might just be what left the septuagenarian Canadian Vietnam war correspondent feeling entitled to come to some very definite opinions about other sartorial matters during the course of his reporting on Anna Wintour for last night's 60 Minutes. I edited the juiciest examples of Safer's judgments on his newfound area of expertise into the clip at left.

Exposure to the month-long rigmarole of the international ready-to-wear season made Safer so cranky he seems to have forgotten the London shows even existed, as he blithely elides them from his list of fashion weeks. But seated there in the front row, with Wintour as his guide, Safer at least learned enough to confidently diss Karl Lagerfeld's "Dracula" look, and accuse Italian Vogue's legendary Anna Piaggi of being "campy." He calls models "as angry as they are emaciated" while footage of Alyona Osmanova in the fall/winter Prada show rolls. Then his camera zooms in on the straining sleevecap of John Galliano's suit as Safer, in perfect underminey ladymagspeak, intones that "some might say" the designer would benefit from "a better tailor." Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy chief executive Bernard Arnault, whom Safer later interviewed, definitely had that tailor, so the journalist gives him props. But wait! As we find out in this clip, when Safer gets a tour of the Vogue accessories closet, there's a whole lot more to style than just picking the right suit.

"I guess all of this constitutes accessories," says Safer warily, peering at rows of hats and bags. "Right!" explains a Vogue worker bee, helpfully. "Everything that is not a piece of clothing is an accessory." So much to learn, and so little time. Keep working on it, Morley!

Anna Wintour, Behind The Shades [CBS News]
More Anna Wintour Clips And Outtakes [CBS News]

This 45-second clip, complete with the typical plodding Morley Safer voiceover, hints at the main newspeg of the whole segment: that four-syllable word that starts with "E" and rhymes with "nobody has any money anymore." At an editorial meeting with André Leon Talley and Grace Coddington, among others, Wintour states that the September issue has to be about "value." Yawn.

Looking over proofs for what would become the May issue, Wintour criticizes the subhead for a Stephen Meisel portrait of some of the photographer's current favorites models, Isabeli Fontana, Natasha Poly, Raquel Zimmerman, Liya Kebede, Karen Elson, Sasha Pivovarova, Natalia Vodianova, Lara Stone, Coco Rocha, and Caroline Trentini. An editor wanted to headline the photo "The Faces of the Moment," because that's the issue's cover tagline — even though these models are a slightly different group than the cover gang — but a nonplussed Wintour replies, "Keep thinking." (I just checked Vogue. The picture ends up getting called "Divine Inspiration.") Snooze.

Ever the hard-hitter, Safer also apparently gets Wintour to explain why she wears sunglasses indoors. Snore.

Watch CBS Videos Online

There was that documentary she allowed to be made, and even did publicity for; that "conversation" with fellow Condé Nast editors-in-chief David Remnick and Graydon Carter; the Wall Street Journal interview; the 60 Minutes special, dedicated to her, that will finally air this weekend. An awfully full dance card for a woman who otherwise seems to regard the press as an impertinent gnat.

In her interview last night with Jonathan Tisch, Wintour, much like her magazine, addressed a limited number of exquisitely soft issues in predictable ways. Shockingly, she thinks Michelle Obama is fantastic. Wintour also denied advertisers exert any sway whatsoever over Vogue's editorial content (explain, then, why the ladymag feels the need to present head-to-toe runway looks that exactly duplicate designers' own ad campaigns, month after month and year after year?) Wintour of course denied she had any plans to retire: "Mostly I'm thinking about the next day. I think that I have the best job in the entire world." She weathered a vocal attack from PETA protesters who threw a banner from a balcony — "As I was saying, fashion means different things to different people," she said mirthfully, before continuing — and hinted that more models may be seen on Vogue covers in the near future. (That's probably no red herring: not only has scuttlebutt of that exact nature hit fashion blogs and forums as of late, but at one of her last public appearances, in December, Wintour said she hoped to have Michelle Obama on the cover — and that came true this March. The lady does not mess around with cover talk.)

But what seems to be on her mind more than anything else is a certain dress with sequins. At the Y, she said that before the economy cratered last fall:

I probably didn't delve as deeply as I should have into what things cost. Now I ask the price of every single outfit that comes into the office, and I think a lot of my editors have been quite surprised about what a little sequin dress from an unnamed designer might be, and if it's $25,000, we'll say, ‘Okay, well, not this time.'

You might remember that in February, she told the Wall Street Journal:

Without naming names, we had a little sequined thing that wouldn't come down to here on you [points to chest.] And I said, 'How much is it?' $25,000. I said, 'No. We're not going to photograph that right now.'

And, at the December editors' conversation, she related that when a $50,000 dress "not much bigger than your shirt, Graydon" came through the Vogue offices, she said:

I'm sorry, but we're not putting that in the magazine, no matter how magical Steven Meisel thinks it is.

This dress — and I'm confident it is a dress, even though the Wall Street Journal reporter, Rachel Dodes, came away with the impression that it might have been nothing more than "a bedazzled shrug" — is Anna Wintour's rosebud. It's the MacGuffin of the recession! This slinky sequined mini-thing, which costs either $25,000 or $50,000 or some other similarly absurd sum, which may or may not have been requested for a Meisel shoot, which may be by "an unnamed designer" or alternatively a designer Wintour wishes not to name (odds-on it's an advertiser, then) — this dress is the key to understanding the new fashion economy. Surely Anna wouldn't just be wasting our time with tired talking points and six-month-old stories about nothing.

Now all we have to do is identify the sucker. You know where to send the candidates.

Earlier: Being Anna: "Sometimes You Don't Love The Press"

Related: Anna Wintour Getting Ready For Her 60 Minutes Close Up [Gawker]
Anna Wintour Gets Chatty At Sundance [The Cut]
Anna Wintour Adresses Rumors About Leaving Vogue, Michelle Obama, The Recession, And More [The Cut]
In Which We Offend Anna Wintour And She Shoos Us Away [The Cut]
Just Asking: Anna Wintour [WSJ]

Sischy and Brant, who spent 18 and 23 years with Interview, respectively, struck out for other pastures at Condé Nast last year, becoming international editors at Italian Vanity Fair and Spanish Vanity Fair. Now, according to a press release for Condé Nast, they are taking on the same positions at German Vogue and Russian Vogue.

Fabien Baron, who replaced Sischy as co-editorial director of Interview (along with Glenn O'Brien), was pushed out of his position after less than a year at the magazine. Baron, an accomplished fashion photographer in his own right, and creative director Karl Templer had revamped Interview and focused on better photography and more fashion content. The April issue is the first Interview produced under the leadership of the creative team M/M Paris, who put teen star Zac Efron on the cover.

Related:
Breaking News: Ingrid Sischy and Sandra Brant Resign [FWD]
The Interview Backstory [WWD]

Earlier:
Interview Magazine Cover Sparks Existential Crisis
Calvin Klein, TSE & Originality In Fashion : Not So Black & White

• 80s supermodel-turned-businesswoman Elle MacPherson will star in the CW's Beautiful as an 80s supermodel-turned-businesswoman. The show revolves around models living in agency housing. It'll be MacPherson's first television gig since her stint on Friends. [THR]

• Barack Obama started wearing a Jorg Gray wristwatch instead of his Tag Heuer — and the private label, which had only been marketed on the corporate gifts market, promptly launched Barackswatch.com to make the best of the endorsement. Stay classy, Jorg Gray! [WWD]
• Robin Givhan, longtime Washington Post fashion critic, is departing New York City for Washington in order to cover the First Family beat. She'll still write a weekly column on fashion, but in her new surroundings, the scope will widen to include "politician[s] looking especially appalling." [WWD]
• Anna Wintour, who has always been a strong supporter of designer Olivier Theyskens, lashes out at Puig fashion group in her April editor's letter. Puig fired Theyskens before his contract with the house of Nina Ricci was even up. Of course, Wintour's support doesn't mean Theyskens will automatically ascend to a similarly good position: Phoebe Philo, who left Chloé in 2005, has always enjoyed Wintour's good graces, and she's only just about to settle into a design role at Celine now. [FWD]
• Jessica Joffe is going to be in Katy Rodriguez's fall campaign. [Vogue UK]
• Agyness Deyn and Albert Hammond, Jr., they of the Vogue Valentine's Day photo spread, are no longer an item. [Daily Intel]
• Is it still news to anyone that editorial work is not remotely remunerative? Here is yet another industry person, Betty Sze of Models.com, to give the good word about the bad pay. Condé Nast, says Sze, pays new models about $150 a day, and more experienced girls can expect to net about $250. Those rates actually set the curve for editorial pay in the rest of the industry: three of the last half-dozen eds I've done didn't pay at all. I will say this of Condé Nast: if one of their titles is shooting you in an out-of-the-way location, unlike other media conglomerates, they send a car to take you to the airport. Which is rad, because LIRR and MTA are two acronyms you do not want on your mind when you're trying to make a 7 a.m. departure at Kennedy airport, and dropping $100 on cabs to take you to and from a job that's gonna pay $200 (after your agency's cut, when you get paid in three months, if other expenses your agency assesses in the meantime don't eat it up entirely) makes no sense. The idea is to do editorials to work with good photographers and generate enough buzz to book campaigns (or, at least, catalogs) but that second, crucial step to financial solvency is a lot tougher than anyone makes it sound. [Fashionologie]
• Collabs between designers and mass-market retailers are on the rise this season — I'll give you one guess as to why. (Starts with "R"!) [WWD]
• Urban Outfitters has been unveiling an unusual number of collaborations, particularly with lesser known, cutting-edge designers, this season. But that didn't stop their design team ripping off a sandal design by Hayden Harnett. They even copied the name. The New York designers called their shoe the "Camille" — Urban's offering is the "Camilla." [Fashionista]
• Palm Beach's retail environment is struggling under the twin curses of Bernard Madoff and The Recession. [WWD]
• Lakme fashion week in Mumbai has a bunch of designers — and a Barbie-themed show. Because what world fashion week is complete without that? [FWD]
• The Lauren Conrad Collection is no more. Funny to think that you couldn't sell an entire line of boring jersey dresses produced by a girl whose claim to fame is playing herself on television in this economy. [P6]
• In somewhat more disappointing news of reality star fashion projects, House of Harlow, Nicole Richie's jewelry line, sold out online before it even reached stores. Alas, she plans an empire: "I'm focusing on my brand right now. There will be a maternity line, a clothing line, shoes, belts, everything!" [People]