“She’s been doing this for so long, surrounded by men. [...] There’s absolutely a feminist aspect to her. I think a lot of the attacks against her are misogynist. Men in business are totally cutthroat and nobody says bad things about them for it.”

—Model Elettra Wiedemann on “feminist hero,” Vogue editor-in-chief, and “The September Issue” star Anna Wintour [The Cut]

“I also feel sorry for the other woman. I am sure she is a fine person. It can’t be fun for her, though I do sometimes question her judgment. If she knew the newspaper had those E-mails back in December, why did she want him to come in June? But I can’t go there too much. All I can do is pray for her because she made some poor choices.”

— Jenny Sanford, in an interview for the ever-important September issue of Vogue, speaking of Maria Belén Chapur, the Argentine woman with whom her husband, South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, was discovered earlier this year to be having an extramarital affair. [via WashingtonPost]

Charlize actually is a man.

—A friend of Charlize Theron weighs in on the actress’s true gender identity in the September issue of Vogue.

Sienna Miller has a few “spots” that could use a bit of a makeover, or so says famed fashion photographer Mario Testino. We’ve all heard how her head was famously Photoshopped onto a different shot of her body for Vogue‘s 2007 September issue. Now, actual video clips of Mario Testino from R. J. Cutler’s documentary, “The September Issue,” (out August 28th!) have surfaced in which he explicitly points out every single thing on her that “needs” to be Photoshopped. [Defamer]

Ah, Charlize. I shake my fist at you. Always so perfect, dammit! Presumably to promote her upcoming movie, “The Road,” in which she plays a suicidal mother, Theron graces the cover of the September 2009 issue of Vogue and gasps: “I always reveal too much.” I’m sure that line is intended to pull in the guy readers along with the ladies, no? Meanwhile, Fashion Copious has the down and dirty deets on how the Fashion Magazine of Our Times is faring during the financial downturn, judging by its infamous September issue, and it ain’t pretty. Total pages and ad pages are down by around 300 pages each since 2007. Well, at least it won’t be so hard to lug the darn thing home on the subway. [Charlize Theron]

In the furor over the surprisingly glam Susan Boyle Harper’s Bazaar pics that came out recently, some of you may have forgotten early rumors that she’d be on the mag’s cover rather than an inside feature story.

Well, I wrote about the rumors for another site a few weeks ago and the readers there haven’t forgotten. Instead, I’m still getting diatribe-esque comments, many of which have been taken down because they were a hot mess that violates site commenting policy. Honestly, I didn’t think I was saying anything everyone wasn’t already thinking when I wrote that the idea of Susan Boyle on the cover of high-fashion mag Harper’s Bazaar was insane.

I may not be popular for saying this, but I, for one, would rather see models on the covers of magazines. Let me explain.

There’s no denying the rush of joy (and feeling like you’re getting away with theft) when you find an incredible designer piece at Loehmann’s or Nordstrom Rack that you can actually afford. Of course, on the flip side, there’s no more annoying feeling in life than when you’ve just spent your entire paycheck on an item of clothing, only to see it marked down 50 percent the next week.

Either way, Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour doesn’t seem too happy about discounts in general (no surprise there). But even we were shocked by her rawtha extreme views!

Models have finally caught on to this whole blogging thing—and, man, are they into it. Coco Rocha has her own blog, “Oh So Coco,” and just recently graduated to her own Twitter feed. Sessilee Lopez, not to be outdone, has a site where she talks about the “daily grind” that is being a model in NYC. Jezebel’s “Tatiana The Anonymous Model” (aka Jenna Sauers, outed as of July 21), will be writing a new blog for Jezebel as well as starting to re-update her own blog.

Lily Allen’s style has varied over the years, as she’s gone from a poppy Brit icon to a highbrow Chanel cover girl. So when the singer announced that she’d be putting out a jewelry collection, guesses as to what it might look like drew a blank. Vogue UK has released the first images of the line, and the pieces prove to be delightful with pendants of fruits, animals, coins, and friendly icons. In short, classy and simple but still fun and cheeky—with an edge that is undeniably Allen. Interestingly, her inspiration came from her totally cool-sounding grandmother who was a gypsy. (Other pieces in the bunch feature gypsy sovereign coins.)

We’re starting to see a much more sophisticated and grown-up side of Lily—Grazia even caught her on video as she shot the line’s ad campaign. She’s totally professional and apparently did her own styling pre-camera, dressing herself in Topshop and vintage Chanel (nice!). After the jump, the video plus a few more looks from Lily’s collection. [Vogue UK]

• “24 Hours With Daisy Lowe,” a reality show starring the British model/It girl, premieres tomorrow on MTV UK. It includes footage of her prepping for an Agent Provocateur shoot like the one above. Apparently, her life, is like, really fabulous. [Refinery 29]
• Ten of Hillary Clinton’s staff members went on a jewelry shopping spree in Thailand while their boss was lobbying for stronger democracies in Southeast Asia. Everyone’s making a big deal over the fact that they spent $4,000 in an hour, but we’re guessing they all work pretty hard and about $400 apiece isn’t too terrible. [WWD]
• Conde Nast has instituted an assistant contest of sorts, offering $500 extra to the best ones each month. This just when we thought it couldn’t get any more cut throat at the likes of Vogue and W. [Gawker]

Lady mags got you down? If so, you’ve got something in common with notorious Daily Mail columnist Liz Jones. Ms. Jones, who recently caused a stir with her confessional forays into “anorexia journalism,” has recently moved on from eating disorders and is now focusing on a semi-related topic: fashion magazines, publications where she once thrived as a staffer, which she now calls “patronizing, fake and pointless.” So it seems I have something in common with Jones, too. I grew up loving fashion magazines and spent most of my career working for them. And it’s been awhile now since I’ve become relatively dissatisfied with their sketchy intentions. I guess you could call it a love/hate relationship.

With the Metropolitan Musuem of Art cutting fourteen percent of it’s staff (169 employees, to be exact) and the economy, well, continuing to not do so hot, there’s a big, giant question mark as to next year’s Vogue-sponsored Costume Institute Gala reports Fashion Week Daily. According to two uber-insiders, the 2010 Ball “will be a much less splashy affair—a move the museum is said to welcome. The guest list will consist mostly of trustees and benefactors who purchase full-priced tickets instead of the designers, models and Hollywood types who once sat at their comped tables.” If you ask me, this isn’t such a bad change—in recent years the celeb circus grew to unnecessary proportions. Smaller can be better! [Fashion Week Daily]

ICON. LEGEND. FEARED. REVERED. ANNA F**KING WINTOUR, begins the trailer for The September Issue. (Well, minus “f**king,” but we totally wouldn’t have been shocked.) Watch it now and tell us what your favorite bit was in the comments. I was partial to Andre Leon Talley lamenting the “famine of beauty” towards the end. And Anna glancing at proofs and saying “she looks pregnant” over a picture of Jennifer Garner. And the part when Thakoon compares Anna to Madonna (because it’s true). And everything. Just everything. [The Cut]

Not sure if you want to spend $3.99 on this month’s Vogue? Don’t worry, we’ve got Leonora Epstein, Frisky contributor and former lady mag slave, here to tell you exactly what’s up on sex, love, and relationships front in each month’s crop of lady mags.

Even though editors finished their July issues months ago, this month feels like the lady mags are already enjoying their Summer Fridays by stickin’ with the usual tricks. This month features recession fashion (again) and a few celebs you haven’t thought about too much in the past year. Still, July and August are the months magazines were made for, so would you really want anything too serious?

Sienna Miller is not exactly the first person I would run to for relationship advice. She has dated a range of dudes, from model rocker Jamie Burke to 40-something Welsh actor Rhys Ifans, but all of her relationships have failed. Take, for example, her romance with Jude Law. The two got engaged in 2004, but then Jude had an affair with the nanny of his children. Then last summer, Sienna got together with Balthazar Getty while he was still married to Rosetta Millington, the mother of his four kids.

Strangely enough, all this love drama has not stopped Sienna from talking about relationships, dating, and even sexytime. Peep some quotes from her recent interview in Vogue and look back on some other ridic discussions.  [Vogue]

“Designers with an obsession for towering torture chambers, often poorly designed for the well-being of the foot, must get a reality check.

I, for one, am over the mania for the high, high heel.

Too many career women look like a herd of fashion beasts, aping one another in impractical shoes.”

It’s no secret that Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour is the Darth Vader of fashion. (Remember that “60 Minutes” segment where she fessed up to telling Oprah to drop twenty pounds for her 1998 Vogue cover and then called chubby Minnesotans “little houses.”) But Anna has reached a whole new level of meaniness. According to Rihanna’s close friend, Wintour had been talking to Rihanna about doing a Vogue cover for weeks. At the Met Costume Gala on May 4th, Wintour supposedly told RiRi that Vogue “absolutely loves her and really wanted to work with her.” But as soon as nude photographs of Rihanna (maybe?) were leaked on the internet, Wintour stopped returning Rihanna’s calls.

Not sure if you want to spend $3.99 on this month’s Vogue? Don’t worry, we’ve got Leonora Epstein, Frisky contributor and former lady mag slave, here to tell you exactly what’s up on the sex, love, and relationships front in each month’s crop of lady mags.

Bikini season is upon us, and this month is all about dropping pounds through detoxing and exercising all so you can look good in that suit (they’re filled with those, too). Beyoncé is everywhere, too…but then again, when isn’t she? Read on to see how we graded these issues.

Hear us out. We can see your fingers poised over the “comment” button already! Allow us to make a case for the argument that maybe it wasn’t such a thing for Anna Wintour to suggest Oprah lose weight before she ended up on the cover of Vogue: