Fact: Conde Nast, the publishing company of Vogue, Teen Vogue, Glamour, Allure, and so many more, is a subsidiary of the media company Advance Publications, which is owned by the Newhouse family.

Fact: Advance Publications has just instituted a pension freeze and mandatory ten-day unpaid leaves for employees at all of their daily papers outside of Michigan (think The Star-Ledger, The Staten Island Advance, The Times-Picayune, etc) due to the drop off in advertising revenue.

Fact: Magazines, including Conde’s, aren’t doing so well on that front either, losing a minimum of 20% of ad pages for the month of April, which indicates a steep slide from already less-than-thrilling numbers (Vogue carried 42% fewer ad pages than from the previous April).

So how long before the major cutbacks at Advance’s papers hit their glossies? …

Last month, Diane von Furstenberg posed for the cover of Purple magazine wearing Margiela and not much else.

This month? Miuccia herself is winking on the cover of ID like she’s Agyness or Kate or one of the many other models to grace the glossy’s well known cover.

It’s interesting - On the one hand, there’s always the “please just stick to the models” mantra.

On the other, who better to front a fashion magazine than actual fashion designers?

Just saying.

Is Hachette gearing up for another magazine?

There’s someone going around Paris taking street style photos on behalf of “a new French magazine that’s coming out in September, as part of the ELLE group”.

We’re not sure how this fits in with Hachette’s recent cost-cutting measures, but isn’t it interesting that France and the UK seem to be going ahead with new magazines while America’s shut down one by one?

Hopefully, more information tres soon.

Lydia Hearst may be best known for her UES roots on this side of the Atlantic, but in France, Ms. Hearst appears to be all model.

Not only did Femmes choose the Hitchcock-blonde as star of their relaunch edition, but the heiress also appears in another French magazine this month, Citizen K, in an editorial shot by Gregory Derkenne.

Maybe they have her confused with Grace Kelly?

Décidez!

Jason Wu may have gotten some much needed press attention due to the First Lady’s love of his clothes, but it looks like Michael Kors is set to get even more non-TV-related press thanks to Mrs. O, too.

Not only did she wear a basic black Kors in her official White House portrait, but she sports an eye-scorching blood orange (or red?) dress on the April cover of O (which is news in and of itself - the only person to ever grace the cover of O during its nine year history is Oprah herself, until now).

Bruce Weber shot the cover, and Oprah wore Rachel Roy for the very first interview Obama allowed in the White House -

Which kind of makes you wonder exactly why it was held until after Vogue’s March hit the stands first…

A few weeks ago, I told you about an encounter with super famous male model David Gandy who is the face of D&G and loved very much by Mario Testino.

I was extremely lucky to run into him again at the London Fashion Week menswear day, in the front row at MAN, where he educated me a bit. For many years, I’ve been under the assumption that models are stupid, especially male models from my experience (not going to lie). But after meeting Gandy for the second time, I was overwhelmed by his intelligence and shocked when he told me he was currently working as the editor of a new magazine about fashion and politics called Fashist. Genius!

The London-based magazine launches later this month, and sees David Gandy also in charge of his favorite hobby: “Motoring.”

He will also be back in front of the camera featured again in Dolce & Gabbana’s Fall 09 campaign shot by Steven Klein.

Intelligence and beauty.

—BR(IT) BOY

We were so busy covering the Fashion Weeks that we totally missed what Dazed Digital was up to.

They’ve launched a series of blogs on their site, featuring Fashion Week guest bloggers (Julia Roitfeld did New York and Marcelo Burlon, editor in chief of Rodeo, did Milan - the Misshapes will handle Paris) alongside the magazine’s own blogging staff, including stylist and Dazed creative director Nicola Formichetti.

Expect live information and exclusive content -

In case you didn’t already have enough to read during Paris.

(Tomorrow!)

Because there weren’t enough camera crews at Fashion Week already, CNN has decided to follow around Carine.

Cinematically mirroring Anna Wintour and her own 60 Minutes bio, Carine’s being filmed for CNN’s Revealed, which should air starting March 18 (full schedule after the jump).

We guess America really wants to know more about fashion’s most famous editors, but what will be most interesting, is how CNN discusses Anna, and 60 Minutes discusses Carine - because you know it’ll happen.

Even though Lydia Hearst is the face of Myla and Pringle of Scotland (she has an exclusive to walk for them in Milan as well as another show in Madrid), and has modeled for French Plaboy’s cover as well as a couple European Vogues, people still tend to smirk whenever she’s listed as “model”. So we wonder if this news will have any affect on doubters everywhere:

The French magazine Femmes is relaunching in March. In celebration, they’ve used Lydia as the one and only model (forty pages) and have even included a six-page article on her and her family.

Please, check out a few of the images and help us decide whether Lydia’s a “real” model or not. In the mean time, we’ll just wonder how she could have seriously been missing from the Barbie show.

Rumors over the last week have just been confirmed by the Guardian: Dasha Zhukova, the designer behind Kova & T (also well-known as the girlfriend of Roman Abramovich, the billionaire who owns the Chelsea Football Club) is the new editor-in-chief of POP.

The first issue of the new POP hits newsstands September 1st, an ambitious date considering Bauer Media’s had to hire a freelance team to replace the masthead Katie took with her to LOVE.

Bauer’s also established an editorial board to “provide guidance and inspiration”, a team that includes Daphne Guinness and Julia Restoin-Roitfield.

This job will be Dasha’s very first in magazine editorial.

To: Tips@Fashionista.com

From: Photo[at]vmagazine.com

Hi Fashionista,

Hope all is well! V Magazine’s photo/bookings/casting department is in search of great interns who can help out- school credit can be arranged if necessary. The interns will assist in all aspects of the booking process (photographers, hair, makeup, models) and photo/credits (proofing, organizing, logging files, etc). Very hands on and a great work environment. Please be available at least 2 days a week, the internship is unpaid but there’s plenty of experience to be gained and more than a few fabulous parties :)

Yes, the above e-mail address is real this time, so good luck!

News flash:

LOVE has not just a blog now, but also a full blown site on the Conde Net network.

Excerpts, images, funny quotes from Lara Stone, Alber Elbaz, Agyness Deyn, etc, and the ability to zoom in on parts of Beth Ditto’s cover - it’s all there.

You know, in case you’re looking to read about something other than clothes.

Ok, back to the shows.

A Presidents Day treat:

More LOVE courtesy our London boy (and, uh, Katie Grand).

Today’s update:

Courtney, Duffy, Jerry, Anjelica, Beth, Kate and Iggy.

Three days to go…

Good morning!

This morning, I woke up with two things: One, a stinking hangover and two, something more exciting than a Valentine’s card.

I managed to get hold of a copy of LOVE five days before its worldwide release. Not only did I get a copy, I got the last copy at Dover Street mMarket (I had to fight a girl).

And let me tell you, it doesn’t disappoint. From the first page to the last, it’s an explosion of the most amazing fashion, writing and just plain coolness. It doesnt get any better than this.

So as much as you obviously want to know about my very interesting morning, I think I know what you really want to see.

Here’s my edit just to tease you - Stay tuned for more.

--BR(IT) BOY

Thanks to the ladies at Jezebel, Michelle Obama’s Vogue cover is out, after months of anticipation.

The First Lady clearly sticks with what she likes, donning Wu on the cover (which makes us wonder what the standing section at his show will look like) and striking a pose like a normal person (we love it).

There’s something slightly subdued about it, especially being the big Spring fashion March edition, but that probably has more to do with the beige room behind her and the fact that nobody wants to risk putting the President’s wife in something the American public might deem frivolous.

So will this cover be the saving grace for Vogue’s sliding newsstand sales?

Discuss!

Update: Vogue’s just posted most of the interview and two images from the shoot.

In other swimsuit news, Cintia Dicker made the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition, too. Yay..?