"Model. Actress. Icon." V Magazine is celebrating "the year of Kate Upton" by putting the model/actress/icon on their cover and asking "Why Can't Kate Upton Keep Her Clothes On?"

MODEL FILES — the parodic online-only fashion reality show produced by the team behind VFILES, the forthcoming online fashion media archive-slash-hub for original content and videos-slash-social network-y type thing — is back. Hapless casting director Preston is tasked with street-casting only the coolest babies for…

Wednesday night, V magazine threw a party to launch its latest issue at the Standard hotel in Manhattan's meatpacking district. Men were asked to wear tuxedoes, ladies were asked to take dress code inspiration from Elizabeth Taylor, and Alexander Wang — whose moves none other than Ryan McGinley has praised — hit the…

Lady Gaga is on the cover of the new issue of V, shot by Inez von Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin. This is her third appearance on the magazine's cover. Gaga's cover is timed to coincide with the start of her new sideline gig as a V columnist. [Fashin]

Lady Gaga is going to be a columnist for V. She says she will be covering "FASHION+ART," so at last we'll have someone to direct all our meat dress, latex, Alexander McQueen, and lobster hat-related wardrobe questions. Each issue, her column will feature a different head shot. Fans can contribute their own drawings of

• Nicki Minaj is on the cover of V, looking like a sort of Keith Haring painting come to life. She's so wild, that Nicki Minaj! And lest you think there's some crafty behind-the-scenes Svengali calling the stylistic shots, Minaj says:

• Worst-selling, that is. Swift's April Elle issue sold the fewest copies of the year, and her covers of Glamour and Marie Claire were nearly as bad. Blake Lively bombed on Vogue and Esquire, but weirdly sold well for Allure. [WWD]

And now it's time for a feel-good quote from Susan Sarandon: "I wouldn't want to be 20 now. I know so much more, and I'm much more comfortable in my skin, saggy as it is."

When Tom Ford guest edited Vogue Paris' Holiday issue, he put in an editorial that's a little unusual for a fashion magazine: it features only "mature women" who haven't gone under the knife.

• A dejected, underwear-clad Lady Liberty-Gaga and a tuxedoed Marc Jacobs, shot by Mario Testino, cover V's newest issue. [NYDN]
• Lanvin for H&M is happening! The men's and women's collections will hit over 200 stores worldwide on November 23. [WWD]

• American Apparel's stock is tumbling this morning, following news that the company's dodgy accounting has caught the eye of the U.S. Attorney's office. It's currently trading at 0.83. [AMEX:APP]
• Dov says: "The capital structure issues will work themselves out." [WWD]

The Danish model Freja Beha Erichsen is having quite the summer. Her androgynous good looks have graced the covers of French, Italian, and British Vogue in quick succession, Karl Lagerfeld loves her, and her Balenciaga campaign just came out.

What makes a successful model? By what process is it decided that Coco Rocha will walk in 55 shows and grace the cover of Vogue Italia, while so many peers languish in models' apartments arguing about who used whose shampoo?

• Someone at Selfridges has a terrible eye. After suspending an Alexander McQueen dress from what looked like a hangman's noose, the U.K. department store chain Tweeted a non-apology-apology saying any offense caused was unintentional. The display has been removed. [CocoPerez]

• Richie Sambora's latest collection for his line White Trash Beautiful, includes this snake-print "zip-crotch leotard," perfect for lounging. [Vogue UK]
• Gary Coleman was planning a children's clothing line when he died, allegedly. Sounds like a project for Scott Baio! [Radaronline]

The increasing visibility of models like Crystal Renn, Tara Lynn, and Ashley Graham isn't just a fluke: Each is represented by Gary Dakin, a man who's been trying to re-make the plus-size modeling industry for over a decade.

• "Working with these incredible hair and makeup teams, you go in looking like a schmoe, and you come out like a movie star," Scarlett Johansson tells V. "You're like this perfectly prepared sausage…no one ever sees what goes in." [People]

• Penelope Cruz is replacing Kate Winslet as the face of Lancôme's fragrance Trésor. [People]
• And Diane Kruger will be the face of a new Calvin Klein scent, Beauty. Kruger is accompanying Francisco Costa to the Met Ball, too. [WWD]

Plus-size model Tara Lynn nabbed the cover and more than 20 editorial pages in the April issue of Elle France. Is this proof that fashion might set its parameters for acceptable female beauty a little wider, or just a fad?