1. Fewer Celebrity Covers
The formula for a typical American Vogue cover under Wintour goes like this: A celebrity, probably with a film to promote, posed in some self-conscious location, often outdoors, photographed full or 3/4 length, with an awkward expression, PhotoShopped to approach the point of plasticine unrecognizability. The styling is stagey, overproduced, and 80s.

Since Wintour took over in 1988, American Vogue began featuring more celebrity covers than ever before—a cancerous, fashion-averse trend that has since spread through the women's magazine industry. At first, the covers were said to improve sales: readers were motivated to pick up the issue to read the profile of the celeb within more than they were by cover images of models, who have always held a much more circumscribed kind of fame. You could even make the argument that for a magazine such as Vogue, which seeks out the independent, successful, working reader, giving more covers to women for what they do as opposed to what they look like was an empowering step of sorts.

But the celebrity cover has had two negative effects: firstly, it's made Vogue's fashion dumber, since celebrities inevitably go about posing for fashion magazines as though it's a promotional drudgery they only put up with for the benefit of the latest terribly important film they starred in, and they always come phalanxed with minders whose entire purpose in life is to insure that the celebrity never cede too much control of her image. It limits the creativity of all involved, and drains the resulting images of the drama and charisma that resides in the best fashion photography. Secondly, the prevalence of the celebrity cover has caused an inevitable gerrymandering of the definition of "celebrity"—meaning that instead of our magazines periodically serving up interesting in-depth profiles of only the best actresses, singers and public figures, we get puff pieces that examine the inner musings of Kate Bosworth and Jessica Simpson faster than they can think them up. And according to circulation figures, readers have grown weary of being told 23-year-old Keira Knightley's life story several times per annum.

Vogue shouldn't be a promotional arm of the film industry: it should be a luxury fashion magazine. And Carine Roitfeld understands this. Paris Vogue's covers are striking and evocative; there's no formula in evidence. Models frequently take the honors, because whose image is more easily molded to suit the story of the moment than a model's? A Hollywood ingénue, like as not, has neither the look nor the inclination to pull off, say, an all-black avant-garde ensemble. Or a wacky couture gown constructed out of 15 yards of orange silk. But you can find a model who can. And Roitfeld consistently does just that.

And when she does feature a celebrity on her cover, Roitfeld doesn't put her through the generic setting, lighting and retouching that makes American Vogue covers so sameish. Behold Charlotte Gainsbourg, whose magnificent aquiline nose would've been doubtless rhinoplastied into submission with the liquify tool over at American Vogue:

Or what about this 2004 Madonna cover? It's a vivid shot of a legitimately interesting icon — and it's not easy to find a compelling way to shoot and style a woman who's been photographed millions of times. Roitfeld, unlike Wintour, does not fear the close crop. I want to travel back in time just so I can buy this magazine.

Under Carine Roitfeld my bet is American readers would finally be treated to more interesting and more varied covers, featuring singularly striking images of whoever embodied the given moment best — not just more portraits of some pretty so-and-sos who can give empty quotes about a (probably average) movie.

2. Diversity
In March of 2007, Jennifer Hudson became the first black woman to grace a cover of American Vogue since a 2005 Liya Kebede cover. Under Wintour's leadership, readers ought not expect more than one black woman on a cover every 2-3 years. All told, 14 black women have made the cover alone, and another 4 have been included in group covers, in the publication's 116-year history.

As for Vogue Paris, I can bring to mind several very recent black cover subjects. Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss had a cover together in February.

Noémie Lenoir had a solo cover in June/July. (Half the print run featured a Laetitia Casta cover with identical lighting, styling, and pose.)

And who can forget the cover that introduced the world to André J, a bearded drag queen who was chosen after a chance meeting with Bruce Weber and Roitfeld? (Which shows the kind of freewheeling spontaneity that can go into a Vogue Paris cover, and which American Vogue's triangulated, procedural covershots under Wintour conspicuously lack.)

Obviously people of color are a part of Carine Roitfeld's conception of fashion in a way they simply aren't at American Vogue. Fashion as an industry still struggles with racism, despite the fact that black women spend more than $20 billion a year on apparel, despite the fact that closing issue after issue without a single editorial page devoted to a model of color ought to be a source of shame for any editor-in-chief, and despite the fact that it is the damn 21st century. Roitfeld's approach would be a welcome change.

3. Creative Freedom

At virtually every shoot I do, the photographer and the fashion editor come prepared with materials for inspiration. Sometimes it's as elaborate as a bulletin board covered in location snapshots, iconic art photography, historic or news shots, and tear sheets from magazines, where the images together inform the story of the shoot, or even just the mood. (Other times it's as simple as a post-it in a Tim Walker book that points to the picture the client would most like to rip off.) Either way, there are always a million magazines on set for supplementary inspiration, or just to stave off boredom. And during the hours it takes to set up, everyone flicks through the titles, searching for an image that might help inform the inchoate ideas. Fashion people are rarely highly verbal, and to aesthetes, the right picture means a lot.

At the danger of putting words in her mouth, I believe this was what Anna Wintour was getting at when she said that "If you look at any great fashion photograph out of context, it will tell you just as much about what's going on in the world as a headline in the New York Times." One can talk all day about how fashion reflects the world; the million little tells it betrays to anyone who cares to notice, like how a certain kind of soutache embroidery became popular in Europe in 1919 only because the Communist revolution, which expelled skilled workers, temporarily depressed the wages of the Russian garment workers who produced it, or any of the other myriad ways styles have points of origins the way wines have a terroir. When you work in fashion, pictures start off being in your world, then they define your world, then they become your world. You live in pictures. You communicate in pictures. Pictures are everything.

So it's perhaps telling that, for as long as I have worked in fashion, I don't recall ever being directed to an American Vogue image as an exemplar of something to aim for.

Stylists and photographers, they thumb through Vogue Paris, Vogue Italia. British Vogue. Because what are you going to find inside an American Vogue? We already know. A Craig McDean editorial, shot in a studio with a neutral background, of Caroline Trentini jumping. A boring profile of a celebrity you cared about three years ago. A showpiece editorial shot by someone like Steven Klein or Steven Meisel where the great photographers try and work dumbed-down versions of ideas they explored at greater length and with greater freedom—more suitable props, edgier locations, maybe a surrealist touch or two, or a reference to an obscure film—seasons ago in Vogue Italia's pages. Or in Vogue Paris's. Wintour reportedly demands a full selection of images from every photographer she works with, so that she can make the final photo choices herself (it's much more normal for a photographer to do a first edit, and for the eventual images to be something of a compromise between the photographer and the magazine). This level of control has hamstrung her publication, which consequently recycles the same tiny list of models, stylists, and photographers virtually every issue. American Vogue has, for far too long, been deficient in that most fashionable quality, surprise. Carine Roitfeld would breathe in some life.

Of course, S.I. Newhouse quickly denied the Roitfeld replacement rumor through a spokesperson. And Roitfeld herself has always claimed that she is not gunning for Wintour's job: Last year, she told a reporter, “My best quality is to be stylist. I never think about this career, this big job [...] I never wanted to be what I am today, and I will not die in the position.” Roitfeld is said to dislike New York. She spends as little time in the city as possible, and her daughter says she loves her home in Paris too much to ever leave. It's also possible that Roitfeld might not be keen to sign up to fill Wintour's shoes because in the current economic climate, it's a virtual certainty that Wintour's successor will never be granted the leeway Wintour carved out for herself, which includes vast editorial control, a reported 2 million dollar salary, a $50,000 annual clothing allowance, and a personal chauffeur. When Wintour wanted to buy an apartment in Greenwich Village, Condé Nast cut her a $1.6 million loan, interest-free. S.I. Newhouse will probably never grant a single editor-in-chief such extraordinary freedoms again.

It's possible that these rumors are unfounded, and perhaps the challenge presented by American Vogue—a mass-market title with a circulation of 1.3 million—might itself wreck all it is that's so inspiring about Roitfeld's editorial vision. A Roitfeld who could not change Vogue would be instead changed by it, and not, I would wager, for the better. And Roitfeld is, after all, comfortable overseeing a small-but-mighty 133,000 circulation magazine more loved by the fashion crowd than the wider world.

But even if the next in line proves not to be Roitfeld, it will be someone else, and sooner rather than later. Anna Wintour is nearing 60; the flurry of varying replacement/retirement rumors reported in different titles from different sources might at least be pointing in the right direction. Change is long overdue.

Related: Anna Wintour Said Replaced By French Counterpart [Gawker]

The Anti-Anna [NY Mag]

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Vogue is stale. The covers are static and lack energy; the photo shoots are repetitive. Even though the December issue, with Jennifer Aniston, has attracted a lot of attention for the "What Angelina Did Was Very Uncool" cover line, doesn't that kind of thing seem beneath Vogue? It is so very Star. Photo-spread wise, the December issue tries to branch out with a "Romeo & Juliet" shoot — costarring, uh, John Lithgow. But the following spread is six pages of a blonde model posing and jumping on a grayish-beige background. Which was done in the November issue. And the July issue. And the September 2007 issue.

French Vogue shakes things up with edgy concepts, like devil worship, breathtaking colors and crossdressers; when there is a photo shoot set in a studio, it still manages to be interesting, with black and white photography, animated models or baby animals.

As for Italian Vogue, the magazine's experimental photo shoots are often bizarre, but never boring. And the July edition, dubbed the "All Black" issue, was such a success that it sold out in many cities.

There's no doubt that Condé Nast would never allow American Vogue to be as edgy or fashion-forward as its international editions; it's a mainstream fashion and lifestyle magazine. But other American magazines manage to make fashion seem fun and fresh: Marie Claire had a goofy gameshow shoot, in addition to visiting Vietnam and finding romance in Rome.

Of all of the women's magazines out there, Vogue disappoints more than any other. Possibly because it has the most legendary reputation to live up to. But. Month after month, it ignores models of color, celebrates the untouchable lifestyle of the rich and manufactures ridiculous insecurities (like when Vera Wang called armpits "nasty". I guess we should just amputate our limbs?). Vogue needs to ditch the overly Photoshopped covers, discover diversity, quit featuring the same old people (Kate Bosworth may be thin and blonde, but she is not interesting) and take some risks. And I don't mean putting LeBron James on the cover. And maybe in order to get a fresh new look, you've got to clean out the closet. And if that means trying someone new, so be it. No one doubts that Anna Wintour is an icon, an editor who would leave behind a legacy. But she's been edior-in-chief since 1988, and we've seen what she can do. Let someone else give it a shot. Maybe when we get a new President, we should get a new Vogue as well?

Restelss Anna [Page Six]
Earlier: Royals, The Rich & Marc Jacobs: No Wonder Vogue's Numbers Are Down

As for Cindy Crawford, well, she looks stunning. She might not be your "typical" 42-year-old mother of two — let's face it, she's a genetic freak — but since many fashion spreads have been dominated by pale, blonde, waifish teens, her presence feels refreshing.

"Just a little something for when the kids have a pool party. Someone bring Mommy a margarita!"

I've said it before and I'll say it again: It's a shame that in the '90s, "robust" models like Cindy were pushed out by frail waifs like Kate Moss. Cindy (and Naomi) always seemed capable of kicking your ass. And making you enjoy it.

"You'd better not be talking behind my back."

Just add some screaming people and crushed buildings down by those shoes, and this is like a really elegant B-movie: "…And then the 500-foot woman grew tired, and took off her shirt. Global destruction is exhausting."

"I'm ready for my closeup."

Coming Of Age [Guardian]
Earlier: French Vogue: Now With More Bearded Drag Queens
French 'Vogue': Devil Worship Is The New Black!
Gender Bender: Agyness Deyn Mans Up For French Vogue
Kate Moss In French Vogue: Biker Chic(k)
French Vogue: The Wind Beneath Our Wings
Olivier Theyskens Totally Naked in French Vogue: Hot or Not?

"It Girl" Coco Brandolini, daughter of Georgina and Guy Brandolini, granddaughter if Contessa Brandolini — sister of Gianni Agnelli, head of Fiat — and the late Count Brando Brandolini, is getting married. Do you care? The rich, international jetset and the royals have always been Vogue's bread and butter, but reading about how Coco met her fiance on a winter weekend in Saint Moritz and Oscar de la Renta is designing her gown reads like satire. It's smug and hauter-than-thou.

On page 132, there's a snippet of text about "Fashion's Freshest Face," Arlenis Sosa. After months, nay years of not using any black models, Vogue profiled Arlenis in its July issue. Is she really still the "freshest?" Not fresh enough to get an editorial in this issue, that's for sure. She did appear in Italian Vogue, however.

Page 142 features Nicole Kidman talking about her Baz Luhrman movie, Australia. Wasn't she just on the cover of the July issue talking about the exact same thing? Why, yes! Andre Leon Talley calls Marc Jacobs the "Man Of The Moment" on page 148. Shocking, right? You could write this stuff in your sleep. The "Chill Factor" photo shoot, which begins on page 260, features a model, on a neutral grayish-beige background, jumping in every shot. We saw a jumping model on a neutral background in the July issue and in September 2007. Plus, there was jumping in the April issue as well.

In addition to the stale stories, there are the covers. Even though I'm aware that they are not the same kind of magazine — American Vogue is mainstream, where Paris Vogue is truly just for fashion die-hards — I can't help but compare covers and state how much more fun, more interesting, cooler and all-around better the French ones are.

American Vogue:

French Vogue:

Vogue Is Going to Elle [Perez Hilton]
Related: 'Oprah,' 'Vogue' Among Major Newsstand Losers [Portƒolio]
Earlier: 5 Possible Reasons Why Women's Magazine Sales Are Plummeting

David Bowie, of course.

Klaus Nomi.

David Lynch.

David Byrne.

David Bowie. Again.

Boy George.

Cousin Itt.

Earlier: Model Agyness Deyn Works Her "Magic" For Neiman Marcus

1. The covers suck.
If you love fashion, why would you pick up a magazine that had a Photoshopped roboGwyneth on it? Or an animalistic-looking basketball player? Or Sarah Jessica Parker wedged between a decapitated man's legs? French Vogue's covers are daring and provocative; American Vogue relies on Kate Bosworth's "superstar style." YAWN.

2. Photoshop is out of hand.
Art directors rendered Drew Barrymore and Tina Fey almost unrecognizable. ScarJo's waist was whittled. Not even "healthy" magazines like Self and Fitness are immune. Maybe readers are sick of the artifice?

3. Expensive Shit.
Even if you adore the fall collections and think of Galliano as God, you probably can't afford a $13,000 dress. So when you have to look at said $13,000 dress posed in the middle of a desert like it ain't no thing, you can get miffed. No? How about a $270 Bible? Or a $246 Louis Vuitton headband?

4. "News" you can't use.
Once you get past the cover and expensive shit, some mags are filled with mind-numbing, trite or just plain evil content. The illustrated "How To Take A Shower" piece in Allure comes to mind. As does the quote from Vera Wang in Vogue: "The armpit is nasty, nasty. Even young girls can have this problem."

5. The Internet.
When in doubt, blame this Web 2.0 thing everyone's talking about!

Or maybe it's something we haven't mentioned. Thoughts? Are you buying fewer magazines? Why?

'Oprah,' 'Vogue' Among Major Newsstand Losers [Portƒolio]

Earlier: Vive La Difference
LOLVogue: Superhero Photo Shoot Gets Super Stoopid
I Can Has Jeetann? C'est LOLVogue En Faux Français

• OMG: Rachel Zoe has been disinvited from the Anna Wintour-hosted Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute Gala, taking place Monday night in New York. This is what you get when you tempt the gods and proclaim yourself more important than Vogue. [Fashion Week Daily]
  
• Also, Wintour has instructed Vogue staffers that they may only wear white, silver, or other "pale shades." Just like the colors of faces that she likes to see on her magazine's cover! [Fashion Week Daily]
  
• French Vogue editor-in-chief Carine Roitfeld and designer/Chanel creative director "Krazy" Karl Lagerfeld were both named to the Time 100 List, as influential members of the fashion community. Something about the way they both made fashion about "the street" or something. [Vogue UK]
  
• Gisele Bundchen is still the top-paid model, according to Forbes. Heidi Klum is the second. Take that, Moss. [Sassybella]

• Agyness Deyn: The mannequin. [BlackBook]
• The Rogan for Target collection is also going to be sold at Barneys. Which is not Target at all. [WSJ]
• Steve & Barry's is going to be shilling Sex and the City movie merchandise, which will be licensed for the store under Sarah Jessica Parker's "Bitten" label. [Sassybella]
• Uh oh: Seems the women behind the red carpet label Marchesa are having a bit of a tiff. While Georgina Chapman and Keren Craig used to be knows as the label's "co-designers", their titles have been changed on their website: Chapman is now listed as "designer" and Craig is noted as "co-founder." [Page Six]
• Dockers: Trying to reach out to the hip and the young. LOL. [MediaPost]
• Christian Siriano: Designed a dress for Puma. [Chic Report]
• Helena Christensen on why she loves photographer Peter Lindbergh: "Even when I looked pretty funny back in the day with my baby fat, perm, and hippie clothes, he put me on the cover of British Vogue!" Oh, models. [Fashion Week Daily]
• The latest beauty tool you didn't know you needed: An eyelash comb. [BellaSugar]
• The Versace resort in Dubai is... sorta exactly what you would expect a Versace resort in Dubai to be. [Chic Report]
• Diane von Furstenberg, Dolce & Gabbana, Oscar de la Renta, Akira Isogawa, the members of Coldplay, Jeff Koons, Philippe Starck and Tory Burch have all been asked to create "themes" for iGoogle's new customized homepage thingies. [Sassybella]
• Vanessa Paradis: The new face of Miu Miu? [Glaumrama]
• Calvin Klein went on a little field trip to Dubai last week. Blah blah, models behind plexiglass. The usual. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Jones New York: Stock is up, profits are down. The usual. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Kohl's: Gonna slow down its expansion plan 'cause their scared of the economy. The usual. [WWD, sub req'd]
• If you want to wear a pantsuit, make sure it's not double-breasted. [WSJ]
• Blue's Clues's: The shoes — at a Payless near you. [BrandWeek]

"Now you know the thrill of wrapping your legs around a tornado of pounding pistons..."

Kate really has that whole '60s thing down. She does seem worried that there might be leeches in that water, though.

The heels! On those boots! Are crazytown! Also: French Vogue never misses a chance to promote smoking.

Seriously? No one should ever be seen in public in this outfit. No one. Not even Ms. Moss.

Raise your hand if you had shorts that were very similar to these when you were in first grade.

Crotch shot! Bet the husky-voiced tattooed chicks who hang at biker bars never knew they were so fashionable.

The girl just don't give a fuck.

Um, tie-dyed bell bottoms aren't coming back, are they? Anyone? Bueller?

I remember back in the day when Kate's Obsession ads hit and everyone was freaking out and shocked and OMG anorexic heroin chic and now she just seems so normal.

Spoiler alert! Here's how the movie ends:

Earlier: French Vogue: The Wind Beneath Our Wings
I Can Has Jeetann? C'est LOLVogue En Faux Français
French 'Vogue': Devil Worship Is The New Black!

Earlier: French Vogue: The Wind Beneath Our Wings
Mon Dieu! C'est French LOLVogue: Shoulders, Champagne and Cigarettes
Bon Joor, C'est Paris LOLVogue Encore!
French 'Vogue': Devil Worship Is The New Black!
Related: LOLVogue: Teh Hare Toss & Teh Bunnee Hop
LOLVogue: Tard Moddles & Bahlinceeyagga
LOLVogue: Sheez Over Ayteen, I Sware
LOLVogue: Hungry Moddles & Rorschach Tests
LOLVogue: Carbs, Botox & Pink-Eye
LOLVogue: Good Help Is Hard To Find
LOLVogue: Starving Models & Marionettes
LOL'Vogue': Scarves, Silverware & Scooters

The wind tapped like a tired man,
And like a host, "Come in,"
I boldly answered; entered then
My residence within

A rapid, footless guest,
To offer whom a chair
Were as impossible as hand
A sofa to the air.

No bone had he to bind him,
His speech was like the push
Of numerous humming-birds at once

His countenance a billow,
His fingers, if he pass,
Let go a music, as of tunes
Blown tremulous in glass.

He visited, still flitting;
Then, like a timid man,
Again he tapped—'t was flurriedly—
And I became alone.

(From Nature)

Of all the sounds despatched abroad,
There's not a charge to me
Like that old measure in the boughs,
That phraseless melody

The wind does, working like a hand
Whose fingers brush the sky,
Then quiver down, with tufts of tune
Permitted gods and me.

When winds go round and round in bands,
And thrum upon the door,
And birds take places overhead,
To bear them orchestra,

I crave him grace, of summer boughs,
If such an outcast be,
He never heard that fleshless chant
Rise solemn in the tree,

As if some caravan of sound
On deserts, in the sky,
Had broken rank,
Then knit, and passed
In seamless company.

(From Nature)

The wind begun to rock the grass
With threatening tunes and low,—
He flung a menace at the earth,
A menace at the sky.

The leaves unhooked themselves from trees
And started all abroad;
The dust did scoop itself like hands
And throw away the road.

The wagons quickened on the streets,
The thunder hurried slow;
The lightning showed a yellow beak,
And then a livid claw.

The birds put up the bars to nests,
The cattle fled to barns;
There came one drop of giant rain,
And then, as if the hands

That held the dams had parted hold,
The waters wrecked the sky
But overlooked my father's house,
lust quartering a tree.

(The Wind Begun To Rock The Grass)

The daisy follows soft the sun,
And when his golden walk is done,
Sits shyly at his feet.
He, waking, finds the flower near.
"Wherefore, marauder, art thou here?"
"Because, sir, love is sweet!"

We are the flower, Thou the sun!
Forgive us, if as days decline,
We nearer steal to Thee, —
Enamoured of the parting west,
The peace, the flight, the amethyst,
Night's possibility!

(From Time And Eternity)

Earlier: Bon Joor, C'est Paris LOLVogue Encore!
What's The Message Behind A Black Man In Heels On The Cover Of Vogue?
French Vogue: Now With More Bearded Drag Queens
Olivier Theyskens Totally Naked in French Vogue: Hot or Not?
Mon Dieu! C'est French LOLVogue: Shoulders, Champagne and Cigarettes
French 'Vogue': Devil Worship Is The New Black!

• Anna Wintour on being called a "puppet" by French Vogue editor-in-chief Carine Roitfeld in New York Magazine: "Maybe you should ask Carine. I have no comment." [Frillr]
  
• But you should ask her about it if you happen to be at Oxford University today, where La Wintour will be speaking about her "media career and extensive charity work." If you are there please email us with details from her chat! [Vogue UK]
  
• "Ashley was surprised. The women were really chic. A lot of them had such great style. And we didn't expect there to be so many women like that." That's Rae Miles, commercial director of Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen's clothing line, The Row, about her and Ashley's visit to Dallas to promote the line. Because clearly no one outside L.A. or New York knows how to dress themselves! [WWD, sub req'd]

• Krazy Karl Kwote OTD: "I live in my own little world, sketching and drawing. I'm told what to do every day. I didn't even know where this [party] was till I came here." [WWD, 2nd item]
• Vivienne Westwood has chosen model Ajuma Nasenyana to front her Spring 2008 ad campaign. Nasenyana is not just a tall beauty, she's also (OMG) not white! [Sassybella]
• And in other brilliant Vivienne Westwood news, she invited a bunch of seven-year-olds to "collaborate" with her on her fall/winter 2008 collection. [Yahoo]
• Jill Scott (yes, the Grammy award-winning singer): Now making bras. [Reuters]
• "I think [John] Galliano is the best designer in the world. After that, there's Anna Molinari," says, um, designer Anna Molinari. [WWD, 1st item]
• Who knew? Agnes B. is one of the foremost funders of cutting edge global warming research. [Yahoo]
• Tomorrow the exhibit marking a collaboration between Chanel and award-winning architect Zaha Hadid opens in Hong Kong before continuing to tour for another two years across the globe. [IHT]
• For their one-year anniversary in London, Abercrombie & Fitch is celebrating with, well, pictures of nakeds. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Daughter of Ralph/candy scion Dylan Lauren writes to her seventh grade self: "Dear Dill Pickle, Am I fat? Would he like me better if I were thinner?" Um, yeah. [Fashion Week Daily]
• Banana Republic cares about the environment! Or, um, a little about the environment. In honor of Earth Week, one percent of in-store sales up to $100,000 will be donated to the Trust for Public Land. Wow: Way to go whole-hog with your philanthropy, folks. [Fashion Week Daily]
• Bobbi Brown: Embracing inner Miley Cyrus with glitter lip glosses. [BellaSugar]
• Robert Lee Morris: Doing a jewelry line inspired by Andy Warhol's drawings. [Sassybella]
• Model Erin Wasson: Doing a jewelry line that seems to be inappropriately overpriced. [Sassybella]

• Georgio Armani is co-chairing a dinner to celebrate a Vogue-sponsored Costume Institute exhibit called "Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy." Which is why he gave a press conference during which he professed to be "indifferent" to Anna Wintour while standing next to her. We assume he'll be too dead to make it to dinner. [NY Mag]
  
• Then again: the shocking new garment industry tell-all Gomorrah says Italian fashion is really just the Mafia so maybe Georgio knows what he's doing. [WWD, sub req'd]
  
• Model Gemma Ward's film debut The Black Balloon takes top prize at he Berlin Festival. [Sassybella]

• I grow increasingly obsessed with Victoria Beckham and Marc Jacobs as each new ad starring Posh as the face of MJ's Spring 2008 collection is revealed. Vicks as a naughty dark angel? Love. [Chic Report]
• Project Runway bitch slap! Chris Marc says Christian Siriano is going to be designing for K-Mart soon enough. [AdAge]
• Eva Herzigova: Doesn't need a swimwear line now that she has a son. "[The line] was my little baby. But since I have my own now, it's really hard to follow... Unless I get a license deal, I don't think I'll do it." See ladies, if your career is as pointless/lucrative as modeling and celebrity guest design, you don't have to feel any guilt about giving it up to have babies! [WWD, 3rd item]
• Hayden Panettierre is the new face of Candie's footwear. [Sassybella]
• Ooh la la! Former Dior Homme designer Hedi Slimane is going to be shooting the haute couture collections for French Vogue. [WWD, 4th item]
• 15-year old Russian designer Kira Plastinina on who she hopes to see in her designs, "I like Paris, I like Vanessa Hudgens, I like the High School Musical girls, and Rihanna. I love Rihanna." [Chic Report]
• Yves Saint Laurent is once again pretending that advertising is political activism. [Vogue UK]
• A line of body shapers called Yummie Tummie. [WWD, sub req'd]
• The British fashion industry is blaming its second-tier status in the fashion world on the absence of enough factories to produce its wares. Uh...because Jakarta and Dhaka are totally the new fashion capitals. [Reuters] [WWD, sub req'd]

"You think this will be so glamorous," she sighs. "You have the idea in your mind and then you get there and the people in the hotel ..." She grimaces and gestures hugely in the hip area. "There were lots of people who were so fat and like that."

"They are," Roitfeld says of her family, "why I am so down-to-earth. They keep me very ground."

The Anti Anna [New York Magazine]

• "With so many magazine images that are so completely retouched, we've gone in the opposite direction, showing the soul of a woman." That's artist Francois-Marie Banier, on this Diane von Furstenberg ad starring Natalia Vodianova. Which makes us wonder, if that is the "opposite direction" of the retouching trend, we sort of wonder what that trend would look like "taken to its hyperbolic extreme." [Vogue UK]
  
• And in other DVF news, Diane is suing Target over a wrapdress. Wait, you're telling us Target didn't invent the wrapdress? [Reuters]
  
• Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell are appearing on the February cover of French Vogue together — with Naomi appearing sans hair extensions. What would Tyra say? [Fashion Week Daily]

• Fashion PR guru Kelly Cutrone on her blog on Fashion Week Daily: "I woke up this morning and thought, 'I wonder if, when you die, is there a fashion section in heaven?' I also wondered if you had spent a great portion of your life working in fashion if you would be mandated there. Next I asked, 'Is there anyway I could avoid going to the fashion section of heaven?'" Oh Kelly, don't worry, you're all going to hell anyway! [Fashion Week Daily]
• Stella McCartney for LeSportsac! [Sassybella]
• Stella McCartney lingerie! [Nylon]
• Quote of the day, from WWD: "SAGGING ECONOMY BE DAMNED. Plenty of women are spending the equivalent of nearly two barrels of oil — or more — to slather themselves in luxury body creams." [WWD]
• Famous recluse/corset-maker Mr. Pearl on his wares: "To me, a corseted body, with the shape of the indentation at the waist, is beauty in extreme; it represents absolute femininity....Breathing does become a problem, but it does not affect digestion....It would be interesting if people would consider [corsets], since I believe liposuction and plastic surgery are quite ugly acts by comparison, and the results are not quite as becoming. What a corset lace can do is much more attractive." Spoken like a true man. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Prada made some animated sort film inspired by wallpaper called Trembled Blossoms, and it's showing at Fashion Week. [Fashion Week Daily]
• Rachel Roy is designing a capsule collection for Manolo Blahnik. Moe can tell you that Roy is Damon Dash's wife, but you're going to have to google the meaning of "capsule collection" yourself. [Fashion Week Daily]
• Former supermodel Eva Herzigova on Valentino: "Do you remember how we would always have to be in full hair and makeup before Valentino would even look at us?" Yeah, we'll miss him. [Fashion Week Daily]
• Still not quite ready to say goodbye to Valentino? Here's how to get the makeup look from his couture show. [BellaSugar]
• The new Versace shoes have red soles. We're assuming Mr. Louboutin is going to be less than thrilled. [Ugh. Because, you know, manufacturing red soles is practically MAPPING THE HUMAN GENOME in the fashion industry. -Moe] [Chic Report]
• English designer Christopher Kane is doing a limited edition lip gloss for Lancome. The packaging is extra-pretty. [Nylon]

Earlier: LOLVogue: Carbs, Botox & Pink-Eye
LOLVogue: Good Help Is Hard To Find
Mon Dieu! C'est French LOLVogue: Shoulders, Champagne and Cigarettes
LOLVogue: Starving Models & Marionettes
LOL'Vogue': Scarves, Silverware & Scooters

• Despite toiling for so many years educating Americans on the merits of croc-skin bags on a certain premium cable TV show, Kim Cattrall says she has seen the PETA light: she's donating all the furs she wore in making the SATC movie to the animal rights organization so they can be donated to homeless people who no one will ever mistake for trendsetting style icons. There's just one flaw in that plan, and we think you might know what it is. [Page Six]
  
• Spanx is getting into the business of making bras. Shudder. [FabSugar]
  
• Gisele is the latest model to think she's a fashion designer. Ms. Bundchen's collection will be in stores in March 2008, but she didn't do it alone (surprise, surprise) — she's partnered with an obscure little duo known as Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana. [Vogue UK]
  
• Gucci will release a limited edition collection in honor of the Beijing Olympics. Wonder if anyone will follow up with a "Genocide Olympics" line? Yeah, probably not. [WWD, sub req'd]

• Why was Colin Farrell wearing Juicy Couture at the screening of his new film (directed by Woody Allen) the other night? "I got it for free. My personal style is quick." [Fashion Week Daily]
• French Vogue's Carine Roitfeld is being honored by amFAR this January for her philanthropic efforts to fight AIDS. We always knew she was a hooker with a heart of gold! [Fashion Week Daily]
• Pastel-colored condom compacts: Oy. [Sassybella]
• Leather jacket experts Belstaff: Costumed not only Steve McQueen way back when, but also Will Smith for I am Legend and Johnny Depp for Sweeney Todd. We will take an excuse to write about dreamy Johnny Depp. [Vogue UK]
• The latest pursuit by Donna Karan's holistic health care organization the Urban Zen Initiative: a celebrity DJ-created mix tape, natch. [Fashion Week Daily]
• Oh no! The writer's strike might mean celebs may not want to attend the big awards shows this winter like the Oscars and the Golden Globes? Which means that designers houses won't be able to tactfully loan out their garb to the pretty stars and get lots of free advertising? Well if that's not a reason to care now about the poor writers, we don't know what is. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Jade Jagger, Katharine Hamnett, the Scissor Sisters, Rihanna and Timbaland are amongst the celebs to join forces in creating yet another celeb-clothing-line-with-a-cause: Fashion Against AIDS. The line will be sold at H&M and 25% of the proceeds actually go to charity. [Vogue UK]
• Target: Sorta doesn't give a shit about Christmas this ear. No special decorations, no special merchandise. Bah Humbug. [WWD, sub req'd]

• Venus Williams was awarded with an associate's degree in fashion design from the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale over the weekend, becoming the first celebrity "designer" to ever get a degree in fashion design. She even got a prize for the "Best Sportswear Collection" and a 3.5 GPA. Also, she has a collection for Steve & Barry's. [Sassybella]
  
• Mango takes a nod from Pedro Almodovar, keeps Penelope Cruz as the face of its brand for a second consecutive season. Now if she could only find a boyfriend with the same devotion! [WWD, 3rd item]
  
• Italian director Franco Zeffirelli wants to give the Pope a makeover. But would the Pope approve of all the gratuitous tit scenes in Romeo & Juliet? [Sassybella]
  
• French Vogue editor Carine Roitfeld is in New York for her lesser-known spawn Vladmir's 23rd birthday. [Fashion Week Daily]

• Film mogul/fat man Harvey Weinstein and Marchesa designer/pretty young thing Georgina Chapman's honeymoon: not so picture perfect. The $250,000 yacht they're renting is unable to enter St. Bart's due to a fuel strike there. We weep for them, seriously. [Page Six]
• The real reason Vivienne Westwood is showing her Red Label line in London revealed at last: She has a coffee table book to promote. This from the woman who wrote the manifesto against capitalism! [WWD, 2nd item]
• New Balance will be releasing a new line of women's shoes called NB Inside which offer style, comfort, and basically no actual athletic usage capabilities. [MediaPost]
• Former Dior Homme designer Hedi Slimane is now in talks with his former bosses at LVMH to start his own eponymous menswear line. Which, we assume, will look just like Dior Homme. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Names to know: Roksanda Ilincic, Richard Nicoll and Jens Laugesen. These designers all won the big prize in the UK's Fashion Forward competition this year, which is basically a guarantee of becoming the Next Big Think in Cool Britannia fashion. [Vogue UK]
• Jeweler David Yurman is coming out with a perfume. There has been no mention of what it smells like. And, surprise, a whole lotta mention on the elaborate-jeweled bottle which will hold it. [Fashion Week Daily]
• Current fashion darling Phillip Lim will be making his debut in Bryant Park during the upcoming fashion show season, which means he's "arrived" or whatever in fashion world terms. [Fashion Week Daily]
• For the first time ever, we are envious of socialites: the society set got to attend a private performance of the Isaac Mizrahi-narrated Peter and the Wolf over the weekend. Mizrahi's costume consisted of a scarf and a fedora. Swoon. [Fashion Week Daily]
• Okay, for the second time today, we are envious of socialites: the rich bitches got to buy the Miu Miu spring collection at a private sale/party Friday night in New York before it goes on sale for the masses this week. [Fashion Week Daily]
• One in four Massachusetts hair and nail salons stands in violation of health codes. And if they're being that poorly behaved in a bleeding heart and highly moral state like MA, we don't even want to think how bad things are here in hedonistic New York. Ew. [BellaSugar]

A Cover Girl Who's Simply Himself [NY Times]

André is psyched to be alive! Who could blame him?

Who has the better legs? Be honest with yourself.

This story was shot by Bruce Weber, so naturally there are underaged kids. Carolyn Murphy, 32, nuzzles up to a bunch of youths, trying to choose one. Though the dude with the large hair on the left is pleading his case, Carolyn's got one hand going for the chest of a little girl and the other hand in the skater boi's crotch.

Yeah, she's made her choice.

"Let's act out the Mary Kay Letourneau story."

• Those invited to Marc Jacobs' annual holiday costume party (aka - not us) need to start preparing their costumes now. The theme has finally been announced! "Arabian Nights." We double-dare someone to go as Edward Said. [WWD, 2nd item]
  
• The most important movie of all time, the Sex and the City movie, shot at the offices of the most important magazine of all time, Vogue. My god, how did the world not combust when these two forces joined powers? Also, Anna Wintour will not be appearing in the movie. But Andre Leon Talley will! And we hope that Jennifer Hudson, who is playing Carrie Bradshaw's assistant in the movie, manages to restrain herself re: that whole idiotic bolero-from-Mars thingy he made her wear to the Oscars. [WWD, 1st item]
  
• Why we love Barneys New York's Creative Director Simon Doonan, reason #482: "Everyone in the music industry looks like a hooker. Let's call it porno-chic. It seems to me nowadays that Janis Joplin wouldn't be able to get her clog in the door without a full makeover!" [Fashion Week Daily]

• Aerin Lauder's new line of products for Estee Lauder has nary a cosmetic in it. No, no: It's a full-fledged line of hostess gifts. Gag! [Fashion Week Daily]
• Bono's eco-aware fashion line with Rogan Gregory, Edun, is once again making T-shirts to help African children and also the images of certain highly-remunerated celebrities who will be endorsing it i.e. Gwyneth Paltrow, Liv Tyler and Ben Affleck in ads shot by Helena Christensen. The stars even styled themselves to help cut back on costs. [Vogue UK]
• Tennis star Andre Agassi has filed an injunction against Target for selling sandals with his name on them without his permission. Huh. Is Agassi still a big draw? [MSNBC]
• California-cool fashion line Trovata joins its fashion brethren in claiming that Forever 21 copied their designs and is now also suing their fundamentalist Christian asses blah blah take a number folks. [NY Times]
• French Vogue: Still a gajilliony times cooler than American Vogue. (This is why we're going as Carine Roitfeld for Halloween.) [Radar]

[Photographs by Mario Sorrenti]

• WHAT?! Model Irina Lazareanu is engaged to Pete Doherty. They're already on the registry at Cokespoons N' Things! So, like what is it with this man and models? What is it with models and this man? And like, does Irina read the tabloids? Does she read at all? [WWD, 1st item]
  
• Model Natalia Vodianova will be walking in the Valentino show today. She gave birth three weeks ago. Yeah, fuck her. [NY Post]
  
• Mazel Tov, Stella McCartney! Her eponymous fashion line is finally turning a profit, which makes us happy because we were seriously worried about how Stella was going to pay the bills and put food on the table. [WWD, sub req'd]
  
• We can't help but wonder if it's the same, wounded-by-fashion soul who robbed both Elle international creative director Gilles Bensimon's home and Skeletor/celebrity stylist Rachel Zoe's during the flurry of fashion shows. [Fashion Week Daily]

• Yves Saint Laurent designer Stefano Pilati takes a cue from Howard Dean. On making his fall advertising campaign a political manifesto (complete with Gisele-bedecked pamphlets!) he says, "I decided I had to scream a bit more - not in an angry way, because that would be impolite, but to give people more opinions." [Vogue UK]
• Normally we get bitter when celebrities act as "guest editors" at magazines. But Charlotte Gainsbourg overseeing December issue of French Vogue? That's just cool. [WWD, 2nd item]
• Nepotism! 19-year old Delfina Delettrez Fendi makes a jewelry collection and it gets sold at exclusive Paris boutique Colette! Poor family planning! 19-year old Delfina Delettrez Fendi gets knocked up and has a baby this summer! And this is why we love Italian heiresses. [WWD, 3rd item]
• The dangers of smoking? Ain't Vogue's problem. The American branch of the international fashion magazine's advertising director is reaching out to congressional leaders to pass additional legislation to teach about the health risks associated with the habit. Because the magazine will continue to practice "freedom of the press" - aka, still take advertising dollars from tobacco companies. [WWD, 1st item]
• Just us, or isa coffee table book about stylists along the same lines as Kramer's coffee table book about coffee tables? [WWD, 3rd item]
• Miuccia Prada is to be honored by Los Angeles' Hammer Museum for the art space established in Milan by herself and her husband back in 1993. [Vogue UK]
• Why aren't we becoming millionaires predicting "trends" based on info you can otherwise get for free? [Guardian]