Maria Grazia Cucinotta is really wearing one of the breast best colors for a gown. Yes, the color is the most striking thing about her ensemble.


Eva Mendes pulls off this profusion of leopard. A bit confused by the rock headpiece.


One thing I love about Vogue Italia editor Franca Sozzani (with Alain Elkann) - besides her mermaid hair - is that she's always smiling.


Does actress Nicole Grimaudo pull off Studio 54 Schoolgirl?


Svetlana Hodchenkova looks like a (wicked) fairy princess. And it dips in the back. Gorgeous!


Carla Fendi seems to have dressed around her Fendi. This is, as a rule, a very tricky
proposition.


Afef Jnifen's gown suffers from "beaded caterpillar syndrome." It also suffers from Rami syndrome, in which you can tell how much work went into something, but still don't like it.


I'd comment on Patrizia Pellegrino's Vegas costume, but I'm too busy keeping my eyes fixed on her face. Where does "cleavage" end and just..."breasts" start?


I get what Laura Chiatti's doing here - but also, that it's objectively unflattering.


Sandrine Bonnaire has also been attacked: by a sequin snake!


Margareth Made has the right idea: get in as much white as possible before Monday! And she does look bridal-perfect...

[Images via Getty]

It is Barbie's 50th birthday, after all, and Mattel does have those new black Barbies to promote. And while this supplement is not full-sized like a regular magazine (it's about 6 inches wide; 7.5 inches long) somehow the doll scale makes sense.

Is it a little sad that instead of gorgeous black models, we only get to see plastic dolls propped up in poses? Sorta. But the issue is elaborate, fun, detailed and enchanting, with absolutely stunning photography.

The supplement is divided into many sections, this one is called "Hat Mania."

What is not to love? I might frame this one.

This is from a section called "The Tourist Glam." Notice how the dolls are toting tiny issues of last year's Italian Vogue!

Not for chewing, for admiring only: Shoes.

According to the index in the back, this is "Pop Life!" Barbie in this "Sixties Fever" spread. She looks swinging, but did the editors mix up the '60s and the 70s? Isn't it "Disco Fever" and disco balls?

This diva is Diana Ross Barbie.

In an elegant series of photos titled "Red Carpet," this image stood out as the worst.

The "Shape Up" story included swim, track and tennis spreads.

I have mixed feelings about the "Ethnic Chic" photo shoot. While I appreciate the effort, one of the dolls used was the "Fantasy Goddess of Africa Barbie" by Bob Mackie. Not sure how much is authenticity and how much is just a love of feathers.

Diversity in hair textures are a thumbs up, however.

From "The Royal Way" spread, immediately following the "ethnic" spread, which doesn't say anything about colonialism, does it?

Another really gorgeous image suitable for framing.

This image is in "Tribute To Horst." Teeny tiny furs.

Another Horst tribute, with great hair.

The hairdo spreads are my favorite, and show how playful working with a doll model can be.

Especially when she has flirty eyes.

I wish I could say that this fun, colorful "Street Style" spread was the last one in the supplement.

It would be great to end on an upbeat note.

Instead, the last spread is "Fetish Icons," which isn't very fun, and not a great way to end.

But all in all, for a Barbie or magazine collector, it's an exciting, well made and enjoyable little publication.

Earlier: Mattel's New Black Barbie A Step In The Right Direction

• Eva Mendes got all verklempt at a Cartier press conference talking about a charity that matches actors and musicians with sick kids. "Thank God for waterproof mascara," said the star of such films as Ghost Rider and 2 Fast 2 Furious. [WWD]

• Marc Jacobs, man of 31 tattoos, on his latest: "Elizabeth Taylor in Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf with 3-D sunglasses on." [Style.com]
• Add Jacobs-helmed Louis Vuitton to the list of brands that are sticking with what works: Australian model Catherine McNeil, face of last year's resort campaign, will shoot this year's campaign tomorrow in St. Tropez. [Karen Kooper's Twitter]
• The First Lady's deputy press secretary, Semonit Mustaphi: "Mrs. Obama does not wear fur." [Washington Times]
• Reese Witherspoon is releasing a fragrance with Avon. It's gonna be called "In Bloom". [WWD]
• And Claudia Schiffer is to be the face of Alberta Ferretti's as yet untitled first scent. [Elle UK]
• The Sun is reprinting Karl Lagerfeld's four-month-old dis of Heidi Klum as news. (Either that or the Kaiser still doesn't know who she is, German Vogue or no.) [Sun]
• Kanye West, on life fashion: "I've made some mistakes, some good moves, some bad moves, and I've just grown every day. I think just learning from my mistakes, and the amount of exposure that I've had, has made me become a very influential person." [NYObs]
• Kanye text-buddy and model Chanel Iman gave a more or less brain-dead interview to The Cut, in which she asked, "What's the day today?" [The Cut]
• Diane von Furstenberg settled out-of-court for an undisclosed sum with the owners of Mercy, the Canadian label whose floral jacket her fashion house copied. As CFDA president, von Furstenberg has been an advocate of greater protection for fashion designers' intellectual property, including lobbying for the passage of the Design Piracy Act, which would extend copyright protection to fashion designs. "While this is an isolated incident for DVF, it is unfortunate that way too many others intentionally build businesses by stealing the work of other designers," said von Furstenberg. "I greatly appreciate DVF coming forward to resolve this issue in such a forthright manner and for acknowledging our ownership of the jacket design," said Jennifer Halchuk, of Mercy. [WWD]
• When André Leon Talley is over something, boy is he upfront about it: "Designers with an obsession for towering torture chambers, often poorly designed for the well-being of the foot, must get a reality check. I, for one, am over the mania for the high, high heel. Too many career women look like a herd of fashion beasts, aping one another in impractical shoes." [Vogue]
• In a strange conflagration of fashion nepotism, the son of Jeremy Irons became the face of Mango's menswear line. He replaced the son of French Vogue editor Carine Roitfeld. The photographer who shot the campaign? None other than the son of Italian Vogue editor Franca Sozzani. [WWD]
• The Gap's CFDA Design Editions collaboration — wherein designers nominated for a Council of Fashion Designers of America Award redesign something ubiquitous to the chain, generally a white shirt, which tends to be boring — launches in stores today. This year is different: Vena Cava, Alexander Wang, and Albertus Swanepoel all took yards of Gap's typical khaki fabric and turned it into hats, printed dresses, shorts, and a bitchin' motorcycle jacket. [Fashionista]
• Ecko has sold its Avirex brand to Kids Headquarters to raise some cash. How much was not disclosed. [WWD]
• The bankruptcy of men's clothier Hartmarx takes another odd turn with the announcement that Hickey Freeman, one of the labels owned by the company, plans to open a "pop-up" store at 545 Madison Ave. in Manhattan. Hickey Freeman had to vacate its 666 Fifth Ave. flagship last month when it couldn't pay the rent. [WWD]
• Prada has been approached by private-equity funds wishing to buy a minority stake in the brand, but the family-owned label has rebuffed the interest. Prada apparently owes around €600 million in total debt, €350 million is set to expire in mid-2010 — a sum it would struggle to repay. The family holding company has begun talks with banks to renegotiate terms. [WSJ]
• Joseph Abboud has won back the legal right to use his own name in relation to his men's wear line, Jaz. [WWD]
• A kind of chenille robe made by Blair and sold through its catalog is being recalled after six deaths. The robes, made in Pakistan, can easily catch flame. Five of the six victims died while cooking. The recall affects 162,000 robes. [CBS]

• It's too early for this heartbreak. Pixie (Pixie!) Geldof got the March Italian Vogue cover. Have Franca Sozzani and Steven Meisel lost their minds? The cover line is "So young, so cool." So barf. [Telegraph]

• Maria Sharapova for Cole Haan is now a reality. The new campaign looks pretty good, and for fall, Sharapova herself will create a line of shoes and bags for the brand. Assuming, that is, that we've started buying celebrity fashion lines again by fall. [Sassybella]
• Alexander Wang has designed a limited-edition run of condoms called Proper Attire. They're for sale in Thompson hotels, and all the proceeds will go to Planned Parenthood. Wang, whose fall/winter show is, appropriately, on Valentine's Day, said of the collaboration: "I used a spare design that felt sexy, modern and empowering; after all, women should always come first!" Yes. [The Cut]
• Prada, meanwhile is concentrating on objects that are intimate in a different way: The next edition of its LG phone launched last week. "You carry it with you and it tells something about you," said Prada's director of licensing. I'd go through the specs, but if you're buying a Prada phone, you probably don't care about any technical point of difference so much as you do about it being a Prada phone. [Business Week]
• The Paris show schedule was just released. At Balenciaga, Nicolas Ghesquière is changing his venue, and there's no mention of the troubles at Nina Ricci — Olivier Theyskens is on the calendar. (Allegedly, creative director Theyskens is to be replaced at Nina Ricci before the end of his contract by Marc Jacobs' second-in-command at Louis Vuitton, Peter Copping.) [WWD]
• Manish Arora, a London-based, Indian-born designer who showed last season in Paris (you remember — it was the show both Madeline and Austria booked in Paris) has a Q&A where he discusses his use of color, the influence of his homeland on his designs, and his upcoming projects. Which include a deal with Swatch. [Style.com]
• And Fashionista has a sit-down with Elise Overland. Her fall collection is all about food — sushi, to be exact. "It's very sexual, almost macabre," says Overland, "the way they show all the sushi and how the fish is all cut up, up close. If you look at like it like a small human, kind of." That was not a pleasant image this early in the morning, but, carry on I suppose. [Fashionista]
• New York talked to Jason Wu at his little soiree the other night. Unsurprisingly, still riding the post-inaugural boost, he was upbeat. "You know, you have to give someone a legitimate reason to purchase something," he said, of the current economic climate. "And that can only help the market." [The Cut]
• Which fits right in with Women's Wear Daily's view that young designers should find the brave new economy "invigorating." [WWD]
• The WaPo's Robin Givhan is more sobering. Read her thoughtful and considered expectations for fall/winter 09. "The conversation is focused on survival," Givhan writes. "There's palpable anxiety about the economy and how the fashion industry — the part dominated by razzle-dazzle dresses, hand-stitched embroidery and Italian cashmere — will weather the storm. And there's confusion over what sort of tone the industry should strike as it muddles through the worst of it. Magazine editors are running through their list of synonyms for budget and bargain while trying to maintain the fairy dust of glamour and élan. Big retailers have been discounting everything but the light fixtures." [Washington Post]
• L'Oreal has stopped shipping supplies of its cosmetics — including brands like Lancôme — to a leading Russian retailer. The store L'Etoile has been late on its payments due to the credit crunch. [WSJ]
• A tipster tells Racked.com that Gucci has disbanded its in-house architecture firm, which would normally be responsible for store interiors, and set designs at shows. So, that could be true. Or not. [Racked]
• More news on the potential bankruptcy of the IT Holdings SpA division that owns luxury labels Gianfranco Ferre and Malo, and ready-to-wear licenses from Versace Sport and Just Cavalli, among others. The group hit trouble because of the credit squeeze and falling demand for luxury products (duh), which cause it to run out of money to operate those licenses. The company says it hopes to restructure and come out of bankruptcy. [WSJ]
• A pressure group called the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics tested 33 well-known brand-name lipsticks over a year ago to find that 61% had lead levels of 0.01 - 0.65 parts per million, and a third had lead levels that exceeded the FDA's safe lead limit for candy. Twelve months on, the FDA still has not released the results of their own, independent lead tests. Lead is a neurotoxin and pregnant women are particularly vulnerable to it. [UPI]
• The 18 million items L.L. Bean ships annually will now go via UPS. FedEx lost its contract with the brand after 12 years as their exclusive shipping agent. [The Street]
• JC Penney is advertising its most "fashion-forward" lines this spring, instead of its basics. Which lines might those be? Kimora Lee Simmons' and Charlotte Ronson's, for example. [WSJ]
• There's a cool-sounding exhibit called "Vreelandesque" up in Rome about Diana Vreeland's connection to Italian fashion. The co-curator says of the magazine spreads from the 40s to the 60s, "What you see nowadays on fashion magazines implicitly references these photo shoots, this is why 'Vreelandesque' should also be conceived as a reflection on yesterday and today's fashion, as the past is of fundamental importance to rethink what is fashionable nowadays." [Dazed Digital]
• Mandy Moore's new album was kind of a co-creation with Coach. She had company president and creative director Reed Krakoff style her cover shoot, and she played a private concert in Tokyo to open a new store there. Moore just closed her fashion line, Mblem, but says "I love the fashion world. I'm fascinated by it. I'm humbled by it." [WWD]

Givhan writes that Sozzani:

…wanted to focus on people, projects and ideas. She did not want to make an aesthetic statement about Africa. So she didn't fill the magazine with images of Western models in overpriced vaguely ethnic frocks. And unlike a recent issue of India's Vogue magazine, which sparked outrage among activists and humanitarians, this one won't show peasants posing with $5,000 handbags.

Says Sozzani: "I think it's ridiculous to see a 16-year-old wearing clothes he'll never afford at his age." The issue will feature men — and some women — in their own clothes, showing off their own style: Forest Whitaker, Quincy Jones, John Legend, Matt Damon and Michelle Obama. All will be expressing their personal connections to Africa.

As Givhan points out, L'Uomo Vogue is an insiders' magazine that designers, photographers and creative directors read. "It speaks to the folks who define beauty and who then tell us whether we meet those standards." So even though Sozzani's not making a statement that a mainstream audience would consume, tastemakers for those people will see the magazine. But is Sozzani's "Africa" issue a gimmick to generate buzz? Or an honest effort to address issues besides the "it shoe"? And if half the money is going to charity, does it matter?

Deeper Meaning Below A Glossy Surface [Washington Post]

Earlier: Italian Vogue Shocks, Awes, Makes Civil War Sexy
LOLVogue: Sheez Over Ayteen, I Sware
Italian Vogue's "All Black" Issue: A Guided Tour

"I'm not trying to be provocative," she says. "It's just that, like everything else we do in fashion, the idea started from watching the shows. It's got to the point where I can't tell one model from another, except for [Liya] Kebede (pictured), who started me thinking. In the early Nineties, we knew all the models' names, recognised even the less famous ones. Liya was reminding me of Iman. And then I was in New York for Super Tuesday, seeing what was happening in America." Because how is it that we can have a black man running for president when only 1% of models on Milan's runways are black?

As previously discussed in summits held by model mogul Bethann Hardison, things were not always so bad. Black models were part of the fashion industry's fabric for decades. Telegraph has a quote by Brigid Keenan, from her book The Women We Wanted to Look Like, written in 1977 (when Naomi Sims, Donyale Luna, and Beverly Johnson were ubiquitous): "Women like [Naomi] Sims prove that the battle for black beauty has been fought and won."

Perhaps, as they say, the battle was won, but not the war. Another summit is being held in Paris this week, and the lack of black models in couture shows is the issue, reports Breitbart. There's a blame game, of course: "I asked the modelling agency for black girls for our next show but there simply aren't any," says Mario Lefranc, of the Lefranc-Ferrant design duo. An assistant to Jean-Paul Gaultier says: "It's really very difficult at the moment. There are no black models on the market, the agencies have none." But the agencies probably don't have any because designers and magazines won't book them, correct? At least one person was extremely frank: Renee Dujac-Cassou, head of Paris's Crystal model agency says:

"Blue-eyed blondes have always been the dream type. It's as simple as that. A beautiful African woman is not the dream type, neither is a Tibetan or a Chinese princess. [The number of non-white models] will always be extremely limited."

And here we have the true problem: People think that people don't like diversity. Experts claim that "the market" demands a uniform, pale, Euro-centric look. (For the record: I love to shop, I love fashion, I love diversity. Raise your hand if you can say the same.)

But what about going "all-black"? Like Italian Vogue? Or the recent Dsquared men's show, which featured an (almost) all-black cast of male models? Over on Stereohyped, a post reads, "As much as it delights me to glimpse the gorgeous pics in Italian Vogue and peep the gorgeous men in the Dsquared show, collectively, these efforts at diversity seem to be more like a passing fad instead of something that will actually change the industry. Sort of 'Let’s do all black guys this time! It will be fabulous!' Having all-black magazine issues and all-black fashion shows isn’t going to solve any problems." Agreed. But. Having all-black issues and runway shows does call attention to the problem. Having all-black issues and runway shows also gets black models working. Having all-black issues and runway shows allows editors, designers, stylists and mere mortals to see that, indeed, beautiful people come in all colors. That being in style or high fashion is not merely the territory of fifteen year old Estonian children. If black people can model, so can Asians! And brown people! While there's a danger in having an all-black cast becoming a fad or a trend, anything that calls into question the recent and pervasive whiteout in the fashion industry can't be bad. Now if we could just get our hands on that July issue…

Naomi Campbell, Iman And Jourdan Dunn Grace Vogue Italia's All Black Issue [Telegraph]
Is Going The “All-Black” Route A Superficial Answer To Fashion’s Deeper Problems? [Stereohyped]
Prêt-à-rapporter: A Black And White Vision Of Modelling [Telegraph]
Vogue Italia, Thanks Cathy [Fashionista]
Conspicuous by Their Presence [NY Times]
Beautiful Is Beautiful (slideshow) [NY Times]
Discrimination On The Catwalks? [Breitbart]

Earlier: On The Runways Of Milan, Color Just Wasn't Considered Chic
Fashion Week Runways Were Almost A Total Whitewash
Vogue's Not Racist; Three Black Models Prove It!
Is Prada To Blame For the Lack Of Black Models?
Where Are All The Black Models? Let's Start By Asking Anna Wintour
We're Still Looking For Black Models
Most Ladymags Continuing To Experience Whiteout Conditions
Modeling Matriarch Continues To Demand Diversity On The Runways
Black Fashion Industry Insiders Ask: Where Are The Black Models?
Will Italian Vogue Break With Fashion Mag Tradition, Feature Black Models?
Italian 'Vogue' Shocks, Awes, Makes Civil War Sexy

[Image by Steven Meisel for Italian Vogue via The New York Times.]