You know the score here already: this is one of Grace Coddington's patented fairytale shoots, wherein familiar stories from childhood are re-enacted by teenage models in $15,000 outfits for the amusement of all. Sometimes these spreads have an enforced sweetness, like saccharin; always they make one wonder just what Bruno Bettelheim would have to say about a publication made by and for adult women finding so much material in sanitized re-tellings of Grimm, with 4" Fendi heels.

But this one hits all the right notes. Actor Andrew Garfield, as Hansel, is the perfect foil to Lily Cole's Gretel; the sumptuous costumes (look at those tree men!) come courtesy of the Metropolitan Opera, where Richard Jones' production of Hansel und Gretel takes the stage next month. (Let's hope it will be better than Tosca.) But only Coddington's styling could rise to such extraordinary surroundings.

And after Hansel and Gretel fall asleep in the forest...

...the wicked witch appears! In the form of Lady Gaga.

Coddington reports Gaga turned up at the shoot "stark naked except for her white rubber raincoat and some very, very high heels!"

Did Vogue just do something...edgy?

Naturally, Gaga's plan to fatten up the wily siblings fails. "Gaga was so bubbly and chatty and enthusiastic and excited to be alive," raves Coddington. Too bad she ends up in the oven, dead.

So the little ones who were made into gingerbread come back to life, here portrayed by Grace Church's Junior Choristers.

So there are quibbles anyone could make with this shoot. Annie Leibovitz, with the sense of treacly ponderousness she brings to every shot, wasn't the most exciting choice of photographer; one imagines what someone of Tim Walker's or Paolo Roversi's aesthetic sensibility could have done with this kind of material. And in a few too many shots, Lily Cole is caught in fake-looking poses; there's no intentionality, not even any tone to her arm, when she is supposed to be holding shut the oven door for dear life. Instead, she looks like she's sort of blankly resting against it. But casting Lady Gaga as a wicked witch was inspired. Whoever did that deserves a promotion.

Lady Gaga Joins Lily Cole And Andrew Garfield In A Recreation Of Hansel & Gretel [Style.com]

"What goes on today is over-the-top, and more Mike Todd than Mike Todd ever dreamed up. And I find it dysfunctional to a large degree, and what's dysfunctional is the public that supports it. [...] It's up to every woman and man to look in the mirror and know themselves. To know their social agenda, where they work — you know, dress for the occasion, and certainly dress within your means. Nothing is so important — to me, anyway — to go into debt to look a certain way."

Carmen Dell'Orefice, who will turn 78 this June, started modeling at the age of 14, and earned her first Vogue cover after less than a year in the business. She's worked with great photographers from Richard Avedon, Cecil Beaton, and Irving Penn, to Mario Testino and Tim Walker. Just two weeks ago, she took a turn on the catwalk in London for the label Qasimi. For depth of fashion industry knowledge and experience, you can't go past Dell'Orefice, and this weekend, she talked to National Public Radio's Liane Hansen about her career and the future of fashion.

Her comments about the economy might strike some as condescending — as a supermodel with a more than 60-year career behind her, including stints as a spokesmodel for Revlon and Clairol, and ongoing contracts as a face of brands like Rolex and Target, it'd be natural to assume that she probably has a different notion of hardship than the rest of us. In fact, Dell'Orefice was one of the many who recently lost money — in her case, her life savings — to Bernard Madoff's ponzi scheme.

Dell'Orefice had this to say:

"I have to hand it to designers like Isaac Mizrahi, who reshaped and designed Target, and at a price range for not just the middle class but the poorer middle class. And he is a fine designer. [...] Everything should be affordable, because we're a country of such innovation. And some of the prices of things, it's irrational. You shouldn't be a fashion victim. Fashion is meant for every individual to describe their individuality, not to copy one another, but to inspire individuality."

One Of America's First Supermodels Still Striding [NPR]

Related: Madoff's World [Vanity Fair]

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