Publishing trade rag Media Industry Newsletter reports that several glossies saw a major uptick in first quarter advertisements, including Marie Claire (up 23% from last year to 255 pages), InStyle (17% to 512 pages) and Lucky (17% to 237 pages).

While that’s all good news, we of course have to remember that more ads do not equal more money. There’s a huge chance that Marie Claire, despite the fact it’s doing better than last year in terms of ad pages, didn’t make much bank. (We won’t know until the Publisher’s Information Bureau releases 1st quarter sales figures in a couple of months.) Vogue’s ad pages may be flat, but they claim not to negotiate rates, so are their results actually better?

Regardless of whether this news means magazines will be able to bounce back from the recession’s crushing ad market, titles are attempting to reach beyond the traditional avenues of growth. GQ, for instance, sold 12,000 January issues via iPhone for $2.99.

Gotta start somewhere, right?

Last week we reported that Fairchild’s nutty CEO Richard Beckman was jumping ship to head up a group of less-pretty trade magazines, including Billboard and MediaWeek.

Now shopping guide Lucky publisher Gina Sanders will herself move to less pretty environs as she slides over to Condé Nast sibling Women’s Wear Daily.

Sources inside the company were shocked by Beckman’s departure. We even suggested that the Fairchild Fashion Group might be done away with altogether—by either becoming a part of Condé Nast’s Magazine Group or Beckman’s new company, e5 Global Media.

Looks like we were wrong. Sanders has been appointed CEO and president of the group, which includes WWD, Fairchild Books and Footwear News. (While Beckman had “thoughts” on W since it is an offshoot of WWD, he wasn’t technically reigning over it, so neither will Sanders, according to a Condé Nast spokesperson.)

Before Lucky, Sanders was the founding publisher of Teen Vogue. She has worked for the company for over 20 years.

Of course, now we’ve got new questions. Who is taking over at Lucky? And what does this mean for the title? Sanders made it her priority over the last few months to increase the struggling magazine’s relevance online through e-commerce initiatives. And does experience running a shopping mag and a teen glossy lend itself to leading a trade targeted to industry insiders? Watch this space as the story continues to develop.

Whether you like it or not, we will be continuing our Adventures in Copyright posts right on into 2010.

This morning brings news of a more literal form of infringement, filed by none other than Condé Nast. Who are they battling, you ask? An internet hacker—which is vaguely ironic given the company’s somewhat tepid relationship with the web for so many years.

They filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of Manhattan claiming that an unauthorized user (identified only by IP address) had gotten into their system in September and downloaded thousands of files, including ones from Vogue, GQ, Lucky, and Teen Vogue.

In November, GQ cover images ended up on a blog called FashionZag, though there is no indication from what we’ve read that they are alleging the blog’s writer to be the hacker. But the site was asked earlier this year to take down the cover shots. The issues are obviously readily available to all now, so it may be hard to measure what impact the alleged hacker may have had and we’re not sure what sort of damages are being sought. Nonetheless, it is interesting.

We’re sure the Condé legal department has filed countless copyright suits over the years, but we do have to wonder when they started really paying attention to the internet. Will wonders never cease?

Blog-alicious: Meet Caroline. She’s guest blogging for Lucky (how we found her), but she’s actually a textile designer with her own blog full of illustrations, both fashion and otherwise, and other very pretty things. {ItLooksGoodToMe}

Oscar & Valentino: The designer’s doc is on the short-list for an Oscar nom. Sadly, The September Issue is not. But we’re still pulling for a fashion victory. Also, we couldn’t be more excited for Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin to host. {Vogue UK}

Thigh High: The kids over at Nylon sound like they had a grand old time recreating Miuccia’s super festive socks and they’re letting us in on the scheme. Just in time for party season. Hooray! {Nylon}

This is the End: They may be denying it, but sources say there’s a major brawl going down between executives at Ungaro over what else? La Lohan. Let’s hope the best man wins. {Page Six}

It’s difficult to pick up Lucky magazine and not feel a desire to shop take over your entire being. If, in the future, you could actually shop out of the print magazine, there’d be trouble. For now, you can shop their website, which is dangerously close.

This week, they’ve redesigned everything to make it clickable and shop-able, and they’ve developed their own boutique within the site.

Last night, editor-in-chief Kim France and the magazine’s online team explained why their online shopping experience is different from the other hundreds out there. Despite the 450 brands they’ve launched with, the team’s managed to carry the magazine’s tight edit onto the site. For example, search results are sorted by Lucky’s editors, not equations. When you search “studded bootie,” the results appear in order of which ones the editors like best. So really, it’s like shopping a massive store from your bed with a fashion editor telling you what’s best or as one of the editor’s said, “We’re bringing a human touch to the tech.”

Also, almost every store Lucky’s hosting on their site offers some sort of cash back or rewards program, which you means you get money when you spend money. So instead of despairing about how much your wallet’s going to hurt, you can think about all the extra holiday presents you can buy and you’ll feel a bit better.

Things have gotten so glum over at 4 Times Square that S.I. has hired Michael Sheehan, a crisis manager to try to turn around not only the press on the beleaguered publishing house, but also the spirits of those who still work there, according to the NY Post’s Keith Kelly.

Just to put this in context, Sheehan was the guy AIG went to during its troubled times, and he’s even coached presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.

The idea apparently came from Lucky publisher Gina Sanders, who also happens to be married to a Newhouse (Steven) after she noticed that morale was at an all-time low. Well, obviously. I mean they’ve laid off almost 500 people and closed six magazines. Everyone knows the glory days are gone and there’s nothing fun about that.

We’re just wondering what Sheehan will bring to the table to make the media, advertisers and employees change their doomsday mentalities. We hope it’s more akin to the re-positioning of Barack or Bill, because we still don’t have many warm and fuzzy feelings for AIG.

If you see anyone from Condé Nast today, make sure and give them a hug, or at least a pat on the back.

It feels like the publishing house, home to Vogue, W, Glamour, Vanity Fair, Lucky, has been suffering through layoffs and cutbacks for ages. Two weeks ago they cut dozens of employees on the business side, but this week, they’ve begun their editorial liquidation.

Yesterday came word they let almost twelve Glamour editors go including Deputy Editors Ellen Seidman and Maryellen Gordon, both of whom been with the magazine for over ten years. Today, WWD announces that both Executive Fashion Editor Candy Pratts Price and Contributor Laird Borrelli-Persson will leave Style.com.

We had to read the sentence about four times to really believe it. Candy, who got her start at Vogue in the 80’s, is the kind of the core of Style.com. When her contract’s up in 2010 we’ll be out daily doses of her creative humor, CandyCasts and brilliant eye. WWD mentions that she’ll devote more time to Vogue, but given the state of things that might not be the best backup plan.

Lovely Linda: The supermodels of our teen years are killing it this season on the campaign front. Evangelista and Galliano can really never go wrong as far as we’re concerned. {SassyBella}

Lend A Hand: The LOVE blog is reporting that photographer Corinne Day is very, very sick and in need of some super expensive medical treatment, so they’re selling a limited edition Kate Moss print (that’s too NSFW for even us to run on the home page) There are only 500 available. Do get well soon, Corinne! {LOVE}

Ew, Ew, Ew: In case you didn’t believe us about how douche-y those Fashion Meets Finance events are, maybe you’ll believe the Paper of Record. We’re just going to go back into our happy places where things such as this don’t exist. {NY Times}

There’s been a mid-season scramble for interns.

As magazines crash and editorial teams fall by the wayside, you might get to do some extra cool stuff as an intern in Lucky’s fashion closet.

So, if you’re motivated, dedicated, obsessed with fashion, hard working, dying to get into the fashion industry/get your hands on the Louboutin for Philip Lim ruffled shoes and learn just how clothes get from designer to magazine, this is the opportunity for you.

You will also steam and invoice and perform general fashion closet intern tasks. They need you from now until mid-May and can, of course, give you school credit if you need it.

Also, as our own personal side note - interning at a major magazine is nothing like Running in Heels would have you think. Being a positive, upbeat, team player is essential to the job.

So, if you can handle that, if you’re dying for that, email luckyfashioncloset[at]gmail.com.

This morning, ex-Lucky Beauty writer Dawn Spinner came out as a DABA in the New York Times’ profile of Dating A Banker Anonymous, a blog for women having a rough time with their men due to the tanking economy.

Well now we hear Dawn and her fellow DABA’s, Laney Crowell, a beauty editor at StyleCaster and lawyer Megan Petrus are getting a book deal.

What will the book be about? How to stay beautiful without your boyfriend’s black Amex? Where to shop when you have to spend your own money?

The saddest part is, if you’re smart enough to land a job at one of the country’s top magazines, you probably could’ve penned a book on your own merit, not your boyfriend’s financial downfall.

Looks like the 5% cut at Conde Nast has finally hit magazines other than those most closely associated with Vogue:

Portfolio’s blog (which, you probably know, is owned by Conde Nast) reports that Lucky let three mid-level editors go today, though Conde Nast is still mum on any more details.

It’s no wonder the title might be facing some trouble - it bills itself as the magazine “about shopping,” an activity that’s seen better days given the current state of everybody’s checking accounts.

No word yet on exactly which editors were let go, or whether there will be more cuts at more Conde titles. But stay tuned.

FrostFrench might have been rescued but Jovovich Hawk is over - for good.

Milla Jovovich started her line of boho clothes in 2003 with her also-a-model friend, Carmen Hawk. In the past five years, their clothes have made it into stores like Fred Segal, magazines like Vogue, and they’ve partnered with both Mango and Target.

But her whirlwind designer stint has come to an end. She says rather underhandedly, in the September Lucky, that, “When one door closes…” We assume another will open?

Meanwhile, we’ve been spending a lot of time window shopping on-line (fashion week’s on the brain), and we’ve spotted some signature Jovovich-Hawk dresses.

We’ll be snapping those up right about now.

Take that, fashion doubters:

Lucky’s longtime beauty editor, Liz Flahive (the blonde to the left), just demonstrated some major artistic genius by winning the Outer Critics Circle Award for her Off Broadway play, From Up Here.

The play is at the Manhattan Theater Club, and revolves around a high school boy named Kenny, whose dysfunctional high school, dysfunctional family, and expertly written dialogue make his entire life quite compelling for an audience of approximately 250 people a night.

The play snatched rave reviews from pretty much everyone, and Liz Flahive is only 28.

If you would like to drink to Liz’s incredible success - aka drown your sorrows because you’re not a Conde Nast editor and an acclaimed emerging playwright - you can join the Fashionista staff, because we’re on our fifth martini right about now.

(Seriously, Liz, Awesome).