Lady Gaga as a bloke

Lady Gaga does Vanity Fair

... and other things you should know about.

What The Selby looks for when he shoots your flat (hint: he doesn't want you to tidy up) The New York Times http://nyti.ms/bSXqfV

What do we think of Flipboard? A new frontier for magazines, or another attempt by Apple to control our lives? Apple http://www.flipboard.com/

Who needs to be invited to Chelsea Clinton's wedding when you've got Anna Wintour hosting you a dinner? The deets on Obama's visit to Anna Wintour's gaff, via WWD:http://www.wwd.com/eyescoop/barack-obamas-fashionable-friends-3198294

Lara Stone to sue French Playboy over "unauthorised photos", via Catwalk Queen http://bit.ly/9wptfp

Chloe Sevigny, looking chic as always, in the trailer for the upcoming film adaptation of Mr. Nice, via RduJour: http://rdujour.com/2010/07/25/cinema-style-chloe-sevigny-in-mr-nice/

Cathy Horyn throws down the fashion gauntlet

I'm glad to see Cathy Horyn, fashion critic for The New York Times, challenging fashion brands to be more creative with their websites, in her blog On The Runway. I agree that Hermes has a fantastic site, and she's right to mention Burberry, who've been going to a lot of effort to engage their customers via the web. Horyn was referring to the big fashion houses - in particular Chanel - as being backwards, web-wise, and chides their misguided approach in inviting "those pesky fashion bloggers" (that would me, then) to their shows (she must be excluding Marc Jacobs here, who invited teen blogger Tavi to sit front row as a reflection of the fashion zeitgeist rather than a desperate attempt to attract free publicity). Horyn didn't mention Alexander McQueen, whose attempt to utilise the web was perhaps the most inspired but which was ultimately a victim of its own success: he hired Lady Gaga to perform at his SS10 show which was streamed live on Show Studio: the pop star posted the fact on her Twitter site, causing Show Studio to crash. If anything, it showed that a) the Gaga is worth her hire fee and b) fashion and the web are in the infancy of a very beautiful friendship.