Vogue Magazine

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which wooed cost-conscious shoppers to become the world's largest retailer, is setting its sights on deeper pockets. Readers of the September issue of Vogue magazine, which hit newsstands Tuesday, encountered eight pages of ads for the discount chain. Sandwiched between spots for high-end designers Emanuel Ungaro and Roberto Cavalli, the ads show a mom, a martial artist and other women wearing Wal-Mart clothes.

GraceA Memoir Grace CoddingtonRandom House: 416 pp., $35 If the name Grace Coddington is familiar, you've probably seen the 2009 documentary film "The September Issue" about Vogue magazine's Editor in Chief Anna Wintour, the most feared and revered woman in fashion. Now Coddington, the longtime creative director of Vogue, has her own star vehicle, an engaging memoir titled "Grace," co-written with Michael Roberts. For anyone with a passing interest in the fashion industry, it's worth a read for the name-dropping alone.

Vogue magazine, arbiter of high fashion for much of this century, is now working on its own image. Facing competition from other fast-growing fashion magazines, as well as from cable shows and the Internet, Vogue has launched a publicity campaign to remind advertisers and readers of the magazine's credentials in haute couture. Vogue's slogan, "Before It's in Fashion, It's in Vogue," is on 1,800 buses in Manhattan, where it is seen by influential designers and advertising executives.

Singer Avril Lavigne is engaged to Nickelback lead singer Chad Kroeger. The two Canadians met in February of this year. This will be Lavigne's second marriage and Kroeger's first. [Washington Post] A very bare Nicole Kidman graces the cover of the September issue of V magazine. The actress appears with a portion of her bottom exposed with a teased head of platinum blond hair and blue eye shadow. [Cut] Latina magazine is searching for someone who personifies the "Next Generation Latina.

There are some people in this world who are difficult to imagine as parents. Vogue magazine editrix Anna Wintour, a.k.a. "The Ice Queen," is one of them. But Wintour is a mom, and her 13-year-old daughter, Bee, has inspired a new magazine: Teen Vogue, on stands in New York, L.A. and Chicago this month. Wintour and her daughter launched the first spinoff of Conde Nast's 108-year-old fashion jewel Friday with a nonalcoholic party for more than 300 teens at the midtown club Exit.

GraceA Memoir Grace CoddingtonRandom House: 416 pp., $35 If the name Grace Coddington is familiar, you've probably seen the 2009 documentary film "The September Issue" about Vogue magazine's Editor in Chief Anna Wintour, the most feared and revered woman in fashion. Now Coddington, the longtime creative director of Vogue, has her own star vehicle, an engaging memoir titled "Grace," co-written with Michael Roberts. For anyone with a passing interest in the fashion industry, it's worth a read for the name-dropping alone.

For four years they have shunned the spotlight. No more. Barbara and Jenna Bush, now 22-year-old college graduates, are the stars of a Vogue magazine spread that hits newsstands today, in which they publicly embrace their status as scions of political royalty. Jenna, draped in a strapless, cranberry-colored Oscar de la Renta gown, poses with a half-grin and shows off a Harry Winston bracelet.

Robert Overby's large billboard knockoffs sift through layers of Madison Avenue graphic hype like a cut-and-paste primer for marketing the vacuous. Images like "See Robert" bubble with appreciation for firm flesh and neat packaging that equates with style. Yet faint, underpainted images suggesting scenes from blue movies hint at more exploitative sexual underpinnings. Overby's exploration of the marketing of desirability focuses on women as objects that sell and are sold.

In an effort to increase its presence outside the insular New York fashion community, Vogue magazine brought the 10 finalists for the Vogue/Council of Fashion Designers of America Fashion Fund to the Chateau Marmont on Friday for a runway show and tea party. "These are emerging talents," explained Sally Singer, Vogue fashion features editor. "This is not about being at the beginning of your career. This is about having a body of work and wanting to get to the next level."

Grace Mirabella, the editor-in-chief of Vogue magazine for the past 17 years, has resigned and was replaced by the editor of HG magazine, Anna Wintour. The changes were announced by S. I. Newhouse, chairman of Conde Nast Publications Inc., which owns both magazines. Wintour, 38, was appointed editor-in-chief of HG--formerly House & Garden--only last September. She previously served for slightly more than a year as editor-in-chief of British Vogue.

It's official: Michelle Obama is the first lady of American fashion, appearing on the cover of the March issue of Vogue. Every first lady since Lou Hoover -- save Bess Truman -- has been photographed for the high-fashion magazine. Mrs. Obama appears wearing a magenta silk sheath dress by Jason Wu, who also designed her inaugural gown. Mrs. Obama said she is aware of how her wardrobe is being scrutinized, but she makes no apologies for her choices -- even the election night combination of ripped-from-the-runway, fashion-forward dress and plain-Jane cardigan.

Although husband John's popularity is often ascribed to his loquaciousness around journalists -- what reporter doesn't love a presidential candidate who gabs? -- Cindy McCain, 53, is far more reserved. The June issue of Vogue magazine features a story and photo layout on the would-be first lady, but the glossy monthly didn't get her to cough up much that's new. Still, there are a few tidbits: McCain owns not one but two condos in a Coronado building on San Diego Bay.

In an effort to increase its presence outside the insular New York fashion community, Vogue magazine brought the 10 finalists for the Vogue/Council of Fashion Designers of America Fashion Fund to the Chateau Marmont on Friday for a runway show and tea party. "These are emerging talents," explained Sally Singer, Vogue fashion features editor. "This is not about being at the beginning of your career. This is about having a body of work and wanting to get to the next level."

Vogue, the bible for women's fashion, is about to get a baby brother. Conde Nast Publications, a major magazine publisher, says it will begin publishing Men's Vogue as a bimonthly next April, following the success of a test issue that went on newsstands last month. From Associated Press * FINALLY Mansion mania: First it was a ride at Disneyland. Then it was a movie with Eddie Murphy. Now the Haunted Mansion will be a comic book series.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which wooed cost-conscious shoppers to become the world's largest retailer, is setting its sights on deeper pockets. Readers of the September issue of Vogue magazine, which hit newsstands Tuesday, encountered eight pages of ads for the discount chain. Sandwiched between spots for high-end designers Emanuel Ungaro and Roberto Cavalli, the ads show a mom, a martial artist and other women wearing Wal-Mart clothes.

When Melania Knauss walks down the aisle Saturday to marry real estate mogul Donald Trump, she'll be wearing a sumptuous gown by Christian Dior. Knauss chose the gown during the haute couture shows in Paris with help from Vogue editors Sally Singer and Andre Leon Talley. She models the voluminous strapless gown -- which took 550 hours of labor just for the embroidery -- on the cover of Vogue's February issue. Singer chronicles the shopping trip over 14 pages inside.

Although husband John's popularity is often ascribed to his loquaciousness around journalists -- what reporter doesn't love a presidential candidate who gabs? -- Cindy McCain, 53, is far more reserved. The June issue of Vogue magazine features a story and photo layout on the would-be first lady, but the glossy monthly didn't get her to cough up much that's new. Still, there are a few tidbits: McCain owns not one but two condos in a Coronado building on San Diego Bay.

Singer Avril Lavigne is engaged to Nickelback lead singer Chad Kroeger. The two Canadians met in February of this year. This will be Lavigne's second marriage and Kroeger's first. [Washington Post] A very bare Nicole Kidman graces the cover of the September issue of V magazine. The actress appears with a portion of her bottom exposed with a teased head of platinum blond hair and blue eye shadow. [Cut] Latina magazine is searching for someone who personifies the "Next Generation Latina.

For four years they have shunned the spotlight. No more. Barbara and Jenna Bush, now 22-year-old college graduates, are the stars of a Vogue magazine spread that hits newsstands today, in which they publicly embrace their status as scions of political royalty. Jenna, draped in a strapless, cranberry-colored Oscar de la Renta gown, poses with a half-grin and shows off a Harry Winston bracelet.

There are some people in this world who are difficult to imagine as parents. Vogue magazine editrix Anna Wintour, a.k.a. "The Ice Queen," is one of them. But Wintour is a mom, and her 13-year-old daughter, Bee, has inspired a new magazine: Teen Vogue, on stands in New York, L.A. and Chicago this month. Wintour and her daughter launched the first spinoff of Conde Nast's 108-year-old fashion jewel Friday with a nonalcoholic party for more than 300 teens at the midtown club Exit.