Italian Vogue

Want an Italian Vogue byline? If so, you're in luck, as they are apparently pretty easy to come by these days. A few months ago, Italian Vogue editor in chief Franca Sozzani posted an open call for pitches on her blog for a vague new online project. Even though it wasn't at all clear where she was going with it, tons of people sent in pitches (via the comments section) and she even publicly critiqued almost every one. The recently-launched Vogue Encyclo seems to be the result. (Thanks to WWD for bringing to our attention.) It is not unlike American Vogue's Voguepedia in that it identifies fashion's important people, places and things, encyclopedia-style. However, like Wikipedia, Vogue Encyclo's articles are all reader contributions, as in anyone can participate and, pending review from Vogue staffers, will receive a byline.

We all know that fashion's number one favorite animal and prop of choice is cats. However, another graceful animal is making its way into clothing, accessories, ad campaigns and editorials: swans. Not Black Swan or swan-inspired, but actual swans. We most recently noticed them in LOVE's "What Lies Beneath" spread, in which they swim around with naked models. They've also made notable appearances in Italian Vogue, Miu Miu's spring 2011 collection and more. Click through for some of our favorite swan-filled fashion imagery. And don't worry, we didn't include Bjork's swan dress since you've probably seen it enough.

In the midst of Fashion Month, a vacation, a birthday and what's starting to feel like a blog explosion, I ran out of time to finish posting the serie