Remember this Alexander Wang dress?

Its evolution started with a runway debut on Aline Weber last September, hopped right to a V Magazine party that same week on Anja Rubik, and quickly became the new Prada lace, popping up in every single editorial until even Topshop attempted to rip it off, disastrously, and everyone who’d bought it finally tucked the piece away into the back of their closet.

But we hear Tyra Banks rocks it on the season premiere of America’s Next Top Model.

What does this mean? Well, we’ll finally see it on a womanly body, which could give those squiggles a whole new dimension. But more importantly, it means Tyra might start incorporating relevant fashion into the show (though yes, a year behind). Maybe she can put the models in Prada’s epic SS09 sandals in the second episode and see if they fare any better than the originals?

“There’s no getting around it - the church is the reason I am who I am today. I thank Jesus I ended up a man with a killer stride that has the power to burn footprints into a runway.”

That’s the opening of Miss J.’s new book, Follow the Model: Miss J’s guide to Unleashing Presence, Poise and Power. The manuscript reads half-memoir and half self-help, full of boxes with titles like “Stay in School” or “Don’t Throw It Away, Re-Create It” alongside a fashion pronunciation guide, pictures, and a guide to Karl Lagerfeld.

Our favorite part, of course, is this thinly veiled blind item half way through the book.

“During one fashion week in New York, I showed up at a runway presentation by a designer. I had brought a director, Leola Westbrook, as my date… When we arrived at the door, a very tall guy in black with long hair took one look at me and said, “I’m sorry to do this to you, but I’ve been told they really don’t want you here.” I was stunned and totally caught off guard. Now, normally I would have given that person a sweet smile but the words that came out would have been so damn razor sharp. Where I spit, no grass grows. But I was so embarrassed since I had brought the director with me that I just gave the gatekeeper my seat assignment and walked away.

More on NYLON!

Last night, after getting heated watching the debate, we switched our TiVo to enjoy a lighter TV event - the Project Runway finale. Between rooting for Leanne and wondering why the hell Kenley had leaves stuck in her hair, we noticed something else - three America’s Next Top Model alumni.

Naima, Bianca and Danielle all made anonymous guest appearances on the runway. But that’s not all: Do you remember that Project Runway’s Season 4 finale runway included another ANTM trio? Bianca, Danielle - but this time Jaslene. And, Entertainment Weekly caught that another reality TV show model contestant - Shannon from Make Me A Supermodel (ANTM’s younger, low-budget cousin) - also walked the show.

Is there some kind of sorority for all reality TV models? Or could all this crossover be coincidence / a lack of budget / cross show promotion that somehow leaves out the promoting part?

Also, since Project Runway actually includes a model competition, wouldn’t it make more sense to have all the competing models walk the shows as a sort of consolation prize?

So much to think over..

—HAYLEY PHELAN

Yes, Meisel shot Toccara for the July Vogue Italia - in fur and lingerie. Faran reported this in Page Six Magazine a few weeks ago.

Despite our excitement that Whitney Thompson won the latest Top Model crown, there’s no doubt that the show is getting more boring by the season - not quite Hills boring, but almost…

So it was interesting to hear Tyra Banks admit in her recent interview with The New York Times that she, too, was bored of the show -

Namely the contestants, who “only want to be famous.”

Well shit, Tyra, we could have told you that by Cycle Four.

Tyra promises in the article that upcoming seasons of Top Model will test and weigh the contestant’s knowledge of fashion and potential for industry viability above all else.

We’ll believe it when we see it - and when she lowers the show’s age requirement from 18 to 15.

Here’s a fun fact:

Style.com actually cares about Mollie Sue, one of the America’s Next Top Model girls.

They included her in a little video on street style in Paris, and you get to hear Mollie talk about her outfit, and watch her hold her bag in that Jenny Humphrey way that kind of makes us want to shake her until she drops it.

Most notably, she’s listed as “model”.

Because we watch too much television, we have been waiting for this:

The arrival of Holly Kiser on New York Model Management’s website.

You may remember Holly from her reign on Make Me a Supermodel, the super-boring Bravo reality show that we managed to watch half-drunk and mostly exhausted as we collapsed from nights of parties.

Holly managed to beat out four gorgeous boys - and the votes of thousands of gay guys - to win the title. Can her early success replicate that of Amanda Laine, the winner of the V a Supermodel contest that ran on the internet last year - who went on to open Lanvin - or Alice Burdeau, the winner of Australia’s Next Top Model who booked Proenza and Louis Vuitton?

It’s still too soon to tell, especially since NYMM has a really strong group of girls, but nobody who’s massively famous - yet.

It’s also worth noting Holly isn’t the first reality contestant the agency’s taken on - they’ve also got “Corinne” Hatch - whom you may remember as actually being Britt from America’s Next Top Model.

Much like the blonde and preening Whitney, America’s Next Top Model improves its own performance every week.

Especially impressive are this season’s photo shoots, which actually resemble real magazine spreads - last week’s Nu Rave Spin-Art session looked dangerously close to a past POP editorial, while this episode’s music shoot was straight out of Conde Nast: Fashion Rocks. We dug it, especially the acknowledgment of “Emo” as a legit genre, and the way Fatima looked like a real Vogue model - if only she weren’t such a downer!

But there was one thing to take issue with:

The “nude” shoot bestowed on Russian surfer Anya.

In a few terrifying shots, it looked like she was baring all - and we mean all - on public television, and then we realized:

She was wearing an itsy bitsy thong to shield her itsy bitsy vagina.

We’re not sure it counts as a nude shoot if the model gets to wear underwear, but we were also mystified that the Top Model producers flashed so much random skin.

Surely after all this time, they don’t need more ratings?!

(Note: Please at least look over your shoulder before you click through if you’re at work…)

When I was approached by a CW Casting Director for Tyra’s much-debated new show, I wasn’t sure what to think. On the one hand, I thought, “This could be my big break! ELLE!” - (Fashionista is now my fourth internship in the fashion world.) On the other hand, I thought, “Ew.”

After myriad debates with friends and at the office, I knew I was at least going to try it out when I found myself in the midst of the 21-page application.

But when I arrived at the casting, one for fashionistas handpicked by the CW’s casting crew, I was confronted with about 100 girls (and about twenty boys) who could have stepped out of a ShopBop catalog. I got the sense that these were hopeful kids who had never actually worked in the industry, but were cute enough for primetime TV (In fact, it should be noted that when I was approached, although I was assured that it would be more Apprentice than ANTM, I was never asked about any actual experience.)

There was a blue screen, lights, and a camera set up in the middle of a converted hotel banquet room where CW staffers demanded, “Show me your personality! Show us crazy!”

I should have known when the application asked questions like “What character are you most like from The Devil Wears Prada? (Read some application highlights after the jump!)

I snuck out of the room before the camera could find me. I just can’t picture ever being a top editor with footage of trashy housemates (and me!) performing timed runs to showrooms in six-inch platforms re-playing on late-night MTV marathons.

And I wasn’t the only one - I caught a few other hopefuls leaving early, and I heard the CW is still casting. For a show that’s supposed to air this Spring, they’re going to have to find some good candidates fast - Trashy or not, I know I’ll be watching.

—JAZZI McGILBERT

It looks like Tyra Banks didn’t get the memo on what a joke The Fashionista Diaries was.

Reuters reports that the TV-loving once-model has struck a deal with the CW (the same geniuses that brought us Gossip Girl) to host a reality show about breaking into the fashion magazine world.

Each episode will center around weekly challenges, much like Tyra’s ANTM, and each challenge win will be recorded in The Book, a mock up of a fake mag that shows Tyra really took The Devil Wears Prada to heart for this.

The grand prize after the entire contest is over and all (some?) of America has watched the contestants practice timed runs to Starbucks and marathon fashion shoots? An Assistant Editor position at an unnamed fashion mag.

We know some poor, clueless kids will line up to be in this show (and yes, we’re planning on watching). The more pressing question? Which fashion book will team up with Tyra? Keep in mind that its editors will be the judges, which pretty much vetoes Vogue, Elle and any other magazine that’s doing well…

Stay tuned…

Catherine Malandrino must have thought her designs needed a little extra oomph this season.

Her Spring ‘08 lookbook features her usual assortment of flirty dresses, except this time with a strange twist- the mannequins wearing them are positioned in front of wind machines.

Such drama producing techniques are generally reserved for the cheesiest of photo shoots. You’ve seen their effects on America’s Next Top Model, in Sports Illustrated’s Swimsuit editions and Mariah Carey’s fragrance commercials. But this is the first time we’ve ever seen them in a lookbook.

The result is a bit disorienting. We can see the photographer putting the wind machine in front of the bald, shiny mannequins, and saying things like, “Less wind! More attitude!”