In this morning’s WWD writer Jacob Bernstein poses an interesting question about whether or not fashion’s intense global exposure takes away a bit of the mystique that made it so interesting for so long.

It’s certainly a valid point. But not one that I think that I can come down on one side or the other on. Certainly, part of what drew me into the world of fashion and magazines as a kid growing up in Indiana was the apparent exclusivity of the club. Well, that along with the beautiful people wearing the beautiful clothes in the beautiful photographs.

But these are different times. Obviously (and thankfully, considering how I earn my living) there’s the internet. But the article also cites reality television (Project Runway, The Rachel Zoe Project, ANTM), documentaries like Valentino: The Last Emperor and The September Issue, and even the photography of Terry Richardson and Juergen Teller as giving the world an actual look in on our little world. Kate Betts said, “Fashion used to be a much smaller and more insulated business,Then it became more of a global business and now it’s in many respects a part of the entertainment business.”

Do you spend obscene amounts of time in the dark room? And the rest of your time flipping through magazines full of brilliant photography? Are you waiting for your big break?

Then grab your SLR and start shooting.

Tomorrow, W’s launching a contest for young photographers based around the theme,
‘Obsession’ - I’d shoot Christopher Kane’s Lolita gingham, since I’m still swooning. Each contestant can submit one photo which will be judged by a panel of experts, including W’s Creative Director Dennis Freedman. Twenty semi-finalists will be selected and their images will be posted online and submitted to a public vote.

I got to Marc at 7:45 - the earliest I’ve ever been in my entire life.

There was a line for ticket holders and a line for not ticket holders. I’m not sure what happened to the latter because my ticket was turned over, flipped upside down and the beefy security guard even read the serial number. Once inside the boiling hot white box I was told a) the girls were painted white and b) Lady Gaga was definitely coming.

I stationed myself behind Katie Grand, Juergen Teller and Jefferson Hack (down the row from Rachel Zoe and across from Anna and Bee) and soaked in all their British (and I guess German) brilliance. At 8:03, Perez Hilton was still by his lonesome and the two conspicuously empty seats were filled with Madonna and Jesus. PR’s panicked, “Lorenzo swore he’d take care of it!”

Iris Strubegger opened in a charcoal coat belted over something cream with a very white face and very Geisha shoes. Ruffles followed on suits, dresses, skirts, bags, scrunchies, they came in tulle and wool and cotton and anything else. Karlie wore a military coat, Stam rocked a black cut-out jacket and Vlada had her bra on the outside. The show ended with a series of beautiful dresses, hand beaded white over nude tulle and cream ruffles edged in black all over slightly loose nude mesh leggings.

Lorenzo and Gaga did show up about twenty looks in. Photographers went nuts, do we photograph the clothes? Madonna? Gaga?

Clothes please.

While the rest of Fashionista was out and about at Alexander Wang’s show and crazy raucous afterparty, (making me consistently more and more jealous from their tweets) I took a fashion week staycation and trekked over to the School of the Visual Arts Theatre to watch a discussion between Juergen Teller and Cathy Horyn. Here’s what I learned.

1. Has been shooting Marc Jacobs’ advertisments for eleven years, and did not get paid in the beginning.

2. Uses a 35mm camera and refuses to go digital.

3. Does most of his shoots by himself and with his one assistant.

4. Dakota Fanning’s whole family was on set for her Marc Jacobs’ ads, and Dakota sent him a few handwritten letters afterwards saying thanks and recommending books.

5. The legendary Victoria Beckham in a shopping bag ad campaign for MJ only happened because of a personal call Teller put in to Ms. Beckham. Beckham’s lawyers wanted to review all the photos before the ads ran, and Teller refused, so he called Victoria directly instead and the rest is fashion history.

Through His Lens: “I was in bed with Charlotte Rampling. I felt like the king of the castle.” Indeed, Juergen Teller. Indeed. {The Independent}

A Softer, Smoother Madge: More shots from Madonna’s LV campaign have hit the interwebs. And they’re just as crazily retouched as the first one we saw. {Catwalk Queen}

Ads, Ads, and More Ads: Campaign shots abound over at Modelinia and it’s making us feel the need for a trip to the country. {Modelinia}

Tommy Wants To Rule the World: We love the fashion paparazzi shots on Jak & Jil. We also love Tommy Ton’s taste in music. {DazedDigital}

Marc Jacobs is adding a new fragrance to his growing perfume catalogue this fall, Lola.

The designer told WWD that while the super popular, Daisy “is more sweet and innocent, Lola is more sensual - the name conjures up a flirtatious, warm spirit.”

We love the idea of a sassy counterpart to sweet Daisy. We were slightly hesitant about girly florals, but eventually grew to love the scent.

Lola will have a mix of pink peppercorn, ruby red grapefruit, vanilla and musk. Yum.

The bottle has a completely new vibe compared to any of his other fragrances too, and the shape is even different depending on what size you buy.

The ad (shot by Juergen Teller, of course) featuring Karlie tells us enough about this girl to make us certain we would love to drink champagne and dance all night with her.

WWD’s confirming last month’s wild rumor that Pamela Anderson’s the face of Vivienne Westwood for Spring 09.

The former Jane columnist, or Baywatch star, whichever, stars alongside Dame Viv and her husband Andreas Kronthaler in her Malibu trailer.

Juergen Teller’s shot the ads, no surprise there, in which Pam rocks all four of Vivienne’s labels - Red, Gold, Anglomania and MAN.

Apparently, Viv was as surpised as I was to see Pam sitting front row in a smashing gold dress at September’s Red Label show during London fashion week. She was so blown away, in fact, that when it came time to pick the models for the spring campaign she eschewed them altogether in favor of Pam.

We’d have picked a second round of Dita, but we’ll be patient, we swear.

Ryan McGinely told The Advocate in 2003 that he wasn’t interested in fashion photography. Since then, he’s:

1. Shot Kate for W

2. Created a video for Puma

3. Shot Jen Kao’s debut collection

4. Shot Agyness falling from a building for POP

5. Shot Daisy Lowe and Liam Wade for Converse

6. Shot the Stella campaign for Spring (involving Kate again)

7. And now? He’s working on the other side of the lens, as model, for Marc’s Spring 09 ads (Raquel’s doing women’s, and Daisy Lowe will do Marc by Marc)

Don’t get us wrong - we think Ryan’s great, so who cares if he spoke too soon, but wouldn’t it be amazing if this was some kind of deal where he gets to replace Juergen’s usual spot for Fall 09?

Is Eva Mendes fashion’s next exhibitionist?

First she posed on the cover of (now defunct) Jane with just a couple flower bunches for a bra.

Then more recently, she posed for a Vogue Italia shoot that had people writing headlines like “Eva Mendes Does Topless and Toe-lickin’ “.

And now, her new ad for Calvin Klein’s Secret Obsession is (so far) banned from television networks for baring way too much of just her, once again.

All she needs now is for Juergen Teller to snap a naked Polaroid of her and she’s all set to be the next Lily Cole…

So we hunted down the duo responsible for the now already infamous Marc/Juergen ad spoof of SS08.

The guys responsible, from concept to styling, are Thomas Larsson, who played Borg, and Greg Hart, who played McEnroe, of creative agency Hart+Larsson.

The official explanation, via e-mail:

Hello Natalie.

Hart+Larsson

But we bet you’re still sitting there wondering, “why?”

“The Marc Jacobs Spoof Is From Here. Stay Tuned For More Details.”

And here’s their Flickr page…

Thank you readers!

Even WWD can’t figure out who’s behind the fake Marc ads we all sat watching yesterday afternoon.

All they could confirm was what we already knew - that there’s no way the ads are real Marc.

It looks like nobody has any idea who shot them, or even the identity of the two guys who played dress-up for it.

Our bet goes to a Parsons photography student making a show of his final project. In which case, we’ll all be dancing at the exhibit opening in no time.

Pop Quiz:

What is this?

a) A viral marketing tool for the latest Judd Apotow movie.

b) Twisted revenge by Juergen Teller’s former assistant.

c) The sequel to The Royal Tenenbaums.

d) Something created by Ashton Kutcher to punk fashion junkies.

Seriously, actually, tell us because we have no idea… and unlike when we pretended we didn’t know which band was playing at the MJ show in February, this time we really don’t know!