Amazing Cat Survives 26-Story Fall

A cat aptly named Lucky fell 26 stories from a Manhattan highrise window, was captured on film by window washers, and survived with only minor injuries. Let the nine-lives and always-fall-on-their-feet jokes commence. [Gothamist, ABC]

Lucky's "Best" Swimsuits Also The Smallest, Least Supportive

In addition to the $6,000 closet, Lucky's May issue also features a "Best Swimsuits Of The Season" feature, in which "best" means "teeny bikinis which barely cover the areolae and pubic mound." More »

The Times Calls Out Photoshopping Magazines

In an op-ed video about a subject we monitor very closely, Jesse Epstein explains why magazines should let readers know if images have been retouched. Check the Lucky cover made from four different images. [NY Times]

Recessionistas: Lucky Will Help You Spend What Little Money You Have Left

Screw the economy: Condé Nast's shopping magazine has launched an iPhone application which uses Lucky info and GPS to help you shop for shoes in your area. Increased credit limit not included. [NY Times]

Weight Watchers

Allure and other Condé Nast magazines like Vogue and Lucky have dropped a ton of weight. In ad pages, that is. The January issues are scary skinny, proving you can be too thin. [NY Times]

Pussycat Dolls Clothing Line Is... Less Than Classy

• The Pussycat Dolls are launching a clothing line for La Senza. It's underwear...or is it? [The Sun]
• Fashion "designer" Lauren Conrad knows her demo: sorority sisters! [NY Magazine]
• Gwen Stefani and those four hapless Harajuku girls will be in the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade. Presumably their float will trail hers. [Racked]
• Chicago suiter makes hay: “Dressing Presidential. Pick Your Power Suit. President-elect Barack Obama Found His at Hart Schaffner Marx.” [WWD]

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A lucky tortoiseshell-colored cat survived a frightening 100 mile trip under a train car in the UK by clinging on for dear life. The curious feline snuck under a wagon as a freight train was undergoing maintenance but soon found itself being taken on a long journey. The dirt-covered and shivering kitty was discovered by a train engineer after the train had come to a stop and was taken to an animal sanctuary; the staff hopes to find its owners on the other side of the country. [Daily Express]

Fashion Designers Continue To Be Full Of Political Opinions

• Only one more day of having to listen to designers opine about politics! Marc Jacobs' L.A. windows are "set up with the Republicans menacingly on one side (with a particularly freaky-looking W) and brightly dressed Obama voters/supporters on the other. There's also a gun-toting Palin with a letter posted next to her image, which reads as follows: Dearest Citizens, I believe in, 1) No choice for you gals. 2) Creationism for you kids. 3) No rights for you gays and lesbians. 4) Everyone should own a gun! You gotta believe in something, baby!" [Racked]
• Stella McCartney throws an Obama-themed tea. I guess eating his face is an endorsement. [WWD]
• Meanwhile, Henri Bendel stays neutral: "Today, the store will unveil its bipartisan windows featuring a group of five mannequins dressed in the latest cocktail dresses from Chloé & Reese and Greta Constantine. The girls are flanked by red and blue polling booths, each one representing a political party. Today, each mannequin can be seen with a large question mark above its head, but Wednesday morning, the question marks will be removed and the group will be placed in front of the winning voting booth. Several pounds of confetti will be thrown over the group in celebration of that party’s win." [WWD]

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Sofia Coppola Overcomes Pitfalls Of Privilege To Design For Louis Vuitton

• Newly-minted Louis Vuitton designer Sofia Coppola's road was not an easy one. "At the age when Marie-Antoinette was facing the rigid etiquette of the court of Versailles, the 15-year-old Coppola was working as an intern at Chanel in Paris, a city that her parents had always loved." No wonder, then, that "Coppola drew on a well of personal experience for the accessories. A gilded wedge ankle-strap sandal (€500) was stirred by the memory of her mother's Yves Saint Laurent shoes in the 1970s." We love a rags to riches story. [IHT]
• What Not To Wear good cop Clinton Kelly has thrown his hat into the competitive fabulosity ring. "In Freakin’ Fabulous: How to Dress, Speak, Behave, Eat, Drink, Entertain, Decorate, and Generally Be Better Than Everyone Else, Kelly begins by taking the reader through his long journey toward “fabulousness,” which started prepuberty. 'While other kids on the elementary school playground were trading baseball cards and playing kickball, I was silently debating whether to spend my first paycheck on Italian suede driving shoes or on a cashmere coat,' he writes." [WWD]
• Designers won't loan gowns to Mad Men's resident bombshell Christina Hendricks! Too "curvy!" [Ephemerist]

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You'll Need Gold Bars To Afford Lucky's "Loose Change"

The October issue of Lucky magazine has a page in the back with the slug "Fashion Babble." The headline? "Loose Change." Editor Andrea Linett "thinks it's time for a slightly disheveled and very sexy, girly look," the copy reads. And you might be thinking, awesome, especially if I can get said sexy, disheveled look for "loose change," as in, the coins jingling around in the bottom of my purse. Silly rabbit! This is Lucky, where "loose change" requires deep pockets. We added up all of Andrea Linett's items. Check out how much "loose change" you'll need to carry to get the look she's recommending, after the jump. More »

Expensive Shit(Fight): We Have A Winner

Over the past week, Interns Anna and Margaret have done the tireless work (and we mean tireless) of adding up all of the expensive shit in the hefty September issues of the major women's magazines. Today saw a Gucci studded motorcycle jacket for $5,395; Elizabeth Arden Prevage Anti-Aging Treatment that'll cost you $155; a $1,750 Tiffany sapphire and platinum necklace — in Teen Vogue (!!!) — and previously, a $135,000 Louis Vuitton diamond-encrusted watch, a Chanel dress which would set one back $17,355 and a Fendi 24K-gold mink coat for $64,300. Earlier in the week, we asked you to guess the final total dollar amount of the crap in all the September issues, without going over. We have a total, and a winner! Results, after the jump. More »

Not Much Has Changed: The Faces In September Ladymags Are Overwhelmingly White

Nothing quite says "It's August" like sifting through the pounds and pounds of perfume-scented and white-washed pages from the September issues of the major women's magazines. Sure, Italian Vogue came out with an "All Black" issue in July, but even that success probably won't motivate the editors of American women's magazines into showing a little diversity, especially if the September issues are any indication. After the jump, check out our roundup of the models of color in the ads and fashion spreads of the September ladymags, where, not surprisingly, Asian models are scarce, black models sell cleaning products, and Caucasians rule. More »

Charity Cases: How Much Expensive Shit Is In The September Ladymags?

As you know, we've been adding up the items in the thick September issues of the major women's magazines. And the extravagance is really quite vulgar! So far we've seen a $135,000 Louis Vuitton diamond-encrusted watch, a Chanel dress which would set one back $17,355 and a Fendi 24K-gold mink coat for $64,300. All this conspicuous consumption has given us an idea, with an urge to give back. And so, we present to you: A contest. Not just any contest! A conscience-clearing contest! Here's the deal: More »

Lucky Magazine Brings Outrageous Fortune To The Less Fortunate

MagazineLiteracy.org sponsors KinderHarvest, a program that distributes used magazines to homeless and domestic violence shelters. Great idea, right? It was, until Condé Nast got involved. The company recently provided KinderHarvest with 11 boxes — of Lucky Magazine. Is this kind of an insensitive donation, given that Lucky's pages are chock full of expensive products and not much else? MagazineLiteracy's blog, Subscribe to Literacy, says no — because Lucky is aspirational! More »

Gender-Benders

This month a couple of interesting ads float up from the sea of heteronormativity that is the women's magazine. The new Marc by Marc Jacobs campaign, appearing in Lucky and elsewhere, features male model Cole Mohr in a variety of rather cute frocks. Missoni also plays with gender in its spread in this month's Elle — see it, and one unfortunately familiar pose, by clicking on the dude in the dress. More »

Mag Hag

This month's Lucky has some awesome ideas for new parts of your body to camouflage — and one useful illustration of a popular nursery rhyme. Click on the cover image to learn about the problem areas you're probably ignoring. More »

Wild Rides

A lucky koala in Australia survived being hit by a car going 60 mph and stuck in the car's grill for 7 miles until the driver stopped. The eight-year-old male marsupial was named "Ely 'Lucky' Grills" by rescuers, who freed his head from the car's grill with household scissors. The koala was in shock after the accident, but was left virtually unscathed, physically. Unfortunately, going on wild rides without protection can sometimes come at a cost: the koala is being treated for a chlamydial infection as he recovers in an animal hospital. [MSNBC]

Lucky Magazine's Idea Of "Sexy" Simply Isn't

Captions are just sooooooooo hard to write sometimes! The effort it takes Lucky magazine editors to describe the true essence of the latest satchel or wedge must be so backbreaking that they often dump redundancy in favor of just making shit up. (Granted, most of the invented words are just real words with "-y" added to the end like "antiquey," "blousy," or "goddessy". But the annoyingly stupid ones like "glowifying" "louche" and "hipsterish" (used twice!) really just, I don't know, blow.) Don't get us wrong, there are times that we enjoy turning off our brains and numbly flipping through Lucky with only two reactions: "Bleh" or "THAT'S CUTE." [What about: "Yes!" and "Maybe"? -Ed.] But since we actually read women's magazines so you don't have to, we can't help but point out the biggest offender in the April Lucky: "sexy," used some twelve times. After the jump, we show you what's "sexy" on the pages of the magazine we love to hate and hate to love. More »

Lucky Magazine's Sexy, Glamorous "Caption Dementia"

Do we have something to do with Lucky editor Kim France's nightmares? A few times, we have pointed out the severe redundancy in the captions in Lucky. (I mean, really, how many times can you use the word "glamorous" in one issue? Twelve, according to our tallies. It's like they're the Kimora Lee Simmons of Conde Nast!) So in the new March issue, Kim actually acknowledges her staff's "caption dementia" and devotes her entire Editor's Letter describing how she wakes up at 2 A.M. hoping to hit the jackpot with a new word. She adds that the editorial staff suffers to find the right word for its dear readers: "We suffer, we really suffer, so you can know which woven wedge is especially walkable." (Yay, alliteration!) And she's even giving away $1,000 to the reader who can actually do a better job "bringing the freshest language" to the magazine's four-page shoe guide. After the jump, we see if things have really changed over at Lucky in the past four months or if they still sound like our favorite broken record. More »

Heart Of Darkness?

A note from a reader: "Saturday morning, the Today show did a fashion segment with an editor who I think was from Lucky magazine and she was pretty insulting in one of her "recommendations" for adhering to this season's styles. [The editor] was showing a new tribal look from Old Navy, and when the Today show anchor happened to say, "So you should only wear one piece of this?" the editor said, 'Oh you shouldn't wear FACE PAINT or CARRY A SPEAR." The March issue of Lucky does have a small "how to wear" item on tribal prints, but we're looking for a video clip for confirmation (and are coming up short). Anyone? Update: It wasn't an editor from Lucky but someone from People's "Style Watch". Watch the video: Offensive? Or innocent? [MSNBC]

Karl Lagerfeld's Giant Chanel Jacket: Pretty Fucking Scary, Yeah?

• Marianne Faithfull on that giant Chanel jacket sculpture thingy parked outside their couture show: "phallic." How long before someone brings Hillary Clinton's gender into this, ya think? [Fashion Week Daily]

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Tim Gunn Makes Conflict-Of-Interest Case Work

• Tim Gunn is taking some conflict-of-interest heat regarding a recent column he wrote OK! magazine. (Tim writes for OK!? How declasse!) When advising a reader about what jeans are best to fit most bodies, he steered the reader towards Liz Claiborne and Lucky Brand. Funny thing is, Gunn just happens to be the Chief Creative Officer of Liz Claiborne. [WWD, 2nd item]

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MagHag

Ooh! Is there going to be a rumble in Ladymagville, U.S.A.? ELLE and Vogue are both having their company holiday parties at Socialista, in NYC's Meatpacking district. ELLE beats Vogue in getting there first (their party is Dec. 17; Vogue's is Dec. 18.) Tension! Meanwhile, the CosmoGIRL! staff seems to be getting short-changed as their editor-in-chief is hosting a "goofy hat exchange" at a location TBA. (Um, we would rather have an open bar kthanxbye!) while the Self party seems equally wholesome: Bowling! Lucky staffers are being encouraged to chow down at Pop Burger and W is getting wasted and singing Pat Benatar all night long at a Karaoke party at East Village speakeasy Death & Co. (May we recommend the punch bowls?) Glamour's affair is at Tillman's eatery and Nylon is encouraging mid-day drinking by hosting a lunch at Pamplona's. [Fashion Week Daily]

WWD's "Memo Pad" column today reports on the subtle but significant design changes taking place within and outside Lucky magazine. Apparently, for the past year, "Lucky has been conducting a quiet evolution on its cover and inside pages", an evolution that includes a "shift toward softer colors", "structured" fonts (does WWD know that "structured" is one of the magazine's favorite words?) and lack of an "advertiser-friendly cover flap". But what about the period? No one seems to be talking about the fact that a few months ago, the magazine that once appeared on newsstands as "Lucky." suddenly became "Lucky". No one, that is, except us. Guess we're just obsessed with periods. [WWD]

The Gap's New Ad Campaign Sounds... Incredibly Groundbreaking!

• We are apparently the only people who were moved to buy Gap's skinny pants by those Audrey Hepburn TV commercials because, this year, the retailer's campaign is print-only, featuring famous and semi-famous people in black and white magazine spreads. [We saw it in 'Vanity Fair' and it is soooooo alluring. -Ed] [NYT]

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What Will You Read Instead Of 'Jane'? Presuming, Er, You Read 'Jane'...

"Loneliness blows," begins a story in one of our leading contenders to replace Jane as the only women's magazine we actually enjoy reading. "And if you say that being single isn't lonely, it makes us way sadder for you, the delusional girl saying it aloud. Alone. As the words ping off your apartment wall to land in front of your morbidly overfed cat." Ughhh, right on top of the morbidly overfed pile of worthless magazines. That was from Missbehave, a new magazine that in the coming months will be vying from newsstands for whatever place in your heart Jane once occupied. We've assembled three others for a poll as to which one you'll be choosing. You might notice that Lucky, a publication chock-full of ex-Sassy staffers, is not among the candidates, because it is not really a magazine, while Elle is almost too much of a magazine to satisfy the sophomoric yearnings of the Jane reader. What will? You tell us! More »

We Are All Beautiful Skinny Models

We love it when women's magazines do their "dress for your body-type" stories. Glamour magazine did a great one in last month's issue, focusing on bathing suits. And then there's this month's Lucky, which devotes an entire 8-pages to "Summer's Most Flattering Dress Shapes". What are these shapes? Well, glad you asked! For one, there's the floaty trapeze ("makes legs appear slimmer"); the halter sundress ("nothing conceals a tummy better"); the blousy tunic ("makes your hips instantly look nice and lean"); the gathered smock ("slenderizing"); the belted Grecian ("enhance a smaller chest"); and lastly, the sashed v-neck ("great for larger chests"). Six whole dress shapes to choose from! Except, unlike Glamour... More »

Vanessa Minnillo Kinda Sorta Tries To Make It Up To The Editors Of 'Lucky' Magazine

Vanessa Minnillo no doubt embarrassed the editors of Lucky magazine when those pictures of her posing suggestively with Lindsay Lohan (and a knife!) turned up around the same time her July cover hit newsstands. But at least the former MTV veejay/Miss Teen USA is — to use an annoying phrase oft-employed by the magazine — staying "on-trend"! At a party thrown by Lucky in New York City the other night, Minnillo showed up wearing a dress with a very-unique but strangely-familiar neckline to readers of the magazine. In fact, we could have sworn we saw it, like, in the July issue! More »

Lucky Magazine: No More Periods!

A few months ago, Lucky magazine changed its title logo in a small but significant way: It got rid of its period. Most people probably didn't notice the alteration, as the period — like the word "Lucky" itself — was designed to fall off the margin of the magazine's cover in what we assume was some sort of attempt on the art director's part to be avant-garde or whatever design aesthetic is hot right now among corporate creative-types. But anyway, we noticed... and disapproved. Suddenly, a magazine that had come across as confident, insistent and declarative seemed suddenly common and hesitant. Insecure, even! So why the punctuation change? Was it because the magazine discovered how wealthy its readers are and became a little less sure of itself? Was it the new trend in menopause? We have some thoughts that we'd like you to weigh in on... after the jump. More »