Anna Wintour Will Put Kate Middleton On The Cover Of Vogue, Or Die Trying

By Jenna Sauers  |  September 26, 2011 | 5:55pm
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Anna Wintour is apparently campaigning to get Kate Middleton on the cover of American Vogue. Duchess Shinyhair-Upon-Tyne is basically the ladymag world’s biggest get right about now, so the “news” here is that Wintour is essentially behaving like any editor with a scintilla of news judgment, ever. Only better-connected: Wintour’s been allegedly putting the screws on Mario Testino, who frequently shoots for Vogue (Testino does about 10, sometimes 11, of Vogue‘s 12 annual covers) and is also close with the royal family. (He shot Williams and Kate’s engagement photos, remember?) [P6]
In other news of Middlemania, Alice Temperley, a designer who had Pippa at her show a week ago is still talking about how wonderful it was. More interestingly, Temperley says her 2-year-old son “was obsessed with smacking the models’ bottoms” backstage. [Vogue UK]
And in other Wintour news: “In an interview published today in Italian daily newspaper la Repubblica, Ms. Wintour calls the Italian prime minister a dictator and urges the world of fashion to rebel against him during fashion week. In the interview, Ms. Wintour also speaks about the gap between Italy’s flourishing artisanal industry and the country’s tarnished image because of its leadership.” [WSJ]

If you read that Rebecca Mead profile of Daphne Guinness and thought, “Hmmm…little contrived” — well, here’s a photo of Guinness in the 1980s, with her then-husband. And a photo of her in 2002. [Fashionista]

Did L’Oréal lighten Freida Pinto‘s skin in this ad? It wouldn’t be the first time. [ONTD]

“Forget the ballet flat. Retailers claim that the hot trend in flat footwear for fall, from contemporary to designer, is the smoking slipper.” Dolce Vita leopard-print smoking slipper at left; $159. Has anyone seen any evidence of this trend? Anyone? [WWD]

Women’s Wear Daily thinks Tom Brady‘s “greasy long hair with a hint of a beehive suggests premature midlife crisis.” [WWD]

Fashion figureheads, re-imagined as animals. [Fashimals]

  • Ever wonder what Lady Gaga keeps in her purse? “I borrowed my friend’s the other day, and when she got it back, it had a red Ruby Woo lipstick, fake fingernails, a light-up unicorn and perfume. And she said, ‘Only you would leave that!'” The more you know. [People]
  • In an upcoming interview with CNBC, Naomi Campbell refers to herself as “a work in progress.” Progress away from the blood diamonds, Naomi. [CM]
  • Lauryn Hill is being sued by a stylist who claims that the musician did not pay her contracted fees to style a 2007 European tour and failed to return the bulk of the expensive designer clothing the stylist had lent her. [HuffPo]
  • Supermodel Molly Sims, who’s soon going to be the host of the Project Runway accessory-design spin-off, married producer Scott Stuber this weekend. [Daily Mail]
  • Alexa Chung says she is “a cookie-cutter hipster” and being called a “style icon” is “weird.” (That sentence “almost” could have been written by Carles.) “I’m very much a cookie-cutter hipster,” says Chung. “So, I feel a little bit bad about the fact that, essentially, I’m a hipster but I’m the only one that the rest of the world said, ‘Hey you’ve got really great style!’ But literally everyone in Williamsburg and East London has this. But you want to plunder this? Then that’s fine!” [Refinery29]
  • “If Raf Simons ultimately takes over the helm at Yves Saint Laurent — as those familiar with the situation in Paris suggest — the designer will have found a sweet spot for his meticulous modernism.” That was the first sentence of Suzy Menkes‘ 365-word review of Raf Simons’ spring collection. Menkes didn’t say that Simons was taking over Yves Saint Laurent now, or even in the foreseeable future — she just said that he might, one day, ultimately, if, be tapped for the position. Nonetheless, her International Herald Tribune colleague Jessica Michault Tweeted that Menkes had “broken the news” that Simons would replace Stefano Pilati at Yves Saint Laurent and then followed a flurry of hyperactive blog posts and categorical denials from the luxury house. Pilati’s contract — which, it’s true, has been the subject of some wagging tongues — is said to be up in March 2012. [IHT, WWD]
  • In other evidence that the fashion press corps is just a little tired right now, in Week Three of fashion month, Cathy Horyn re-used a headline. Oh, my stars. (Like none of you has ever done that!) [DFR]
  • Reed Krakoff almost didn’t become the creative director of Coach in 1997 — because he’d just accepted that job at Trussardi in Milan. “I came home to start gathering my things, and I was working on casting an ad campaign, which Mark Borthwick was shooting,” says Krakoff. “I picked up the phone at home. It was a friend of mine who said, ‘I really want you to meet Lew Frankfort at Coach. He’s just amazing and a visionary. He is someone you’d really get along with.’ I had always admired it. Even then, it was really part of the American landscape. Everyone had a personal attachment to Coach. So I said, ‘Well, I’d love to meet him. It’s a brand I’m really interested in, but I’m going to Milan next week.’ ” Frankfort, the company C.E.O., convinced Krakoff to work for him instead. One of Krakoff’s first moves to revamp the company was putting a puppy in an ad. Because puppies sell bags really well, apparently. [WWD]
  • Speaking of bags, Prada is making some in India now. People who — what, who don’t believe Indians can make nice things? Who still haven’t grasped the fact that “luxury” handbags are about 90% markup? — profess to be shocked. (This news comes to us via Mary Rambin, yes that Mary Rambin, who is apparently now a Texas-based “lifestyle blogger.”) [MoreThanMary]
  • A Canadian company claiming to be selling slots on the Paris fashion week schedule for €5,000 is an impostor. The French Couture Federation oversees fashion week. Not some outfit in Canada. Designers who aren’t members of the Couture Federation can show in Paris, subject to approval. Getting on the calendar will set you back a €340 fee. [WSJ]
  • As part of ongoing efforts to revive the long-defunct Vionnet label, the company will open its first non-franchised store in Milan (where it is headquartered) this November. [WWD]
  • Chanel is suing 399 websites that allegedly sell counterfeits of its products. [BW]
  • A second international company that builds luxury outlet malls is planning an expansion into China. [WWD]
  • Designer Philipp Plein, on hiring Lindsay Lohan to be the face of his brand (which LiLo had never previously heard of): “Lindsay is a beautiful, highly acclaimed actress and model. We will be able to create unique images: Refined and luxurious, but also full of sensuality.” Says the guy whose last ads featured a model wearing a bedazzled skull merkin, which is like a knock-off of Tom Ford for Gucci and of Alexander McQueen and of Damien Hirst all at once, only tackier. [P6, MSNBC]
  • Chloë Schama reviews sociologist Ashley Mears’ new book Pricing Beauty: The Making Of A Fashion Model:
  • The average magazine shoot, for example, pays about $100 a day. For appearing on the cover of Vogue a model gets an additional $300. “Many magazines,” writes Mears, “pay nothing at all, though lunch and snacks are often provided.” (I’m guessing that most models don’t gain real compensation through snacking.) Payment for walking in a Fashion Week show in London (where rates, admittedly, are lower than in other cities) is $500. [Ed. note: $500 is actually very high. At New York fashion week, payment not in money but “in trade” — i.e. clothing — is standard.] The median income across America in 2009 for a model was $27,330-income that includes no benefits. Owing to this dynamic, in which desired work is poorly paid, “successful” models are often the most impoverished. Models can actually go into debt through working if their agency fronts the cost of start-up expenses, like photos and transportation.