It is that time again, when the denizens of TI play the game called "What's up at VI this month". The Hiss Squad (though they work overtime to get the month right) have a hot lead , signaling that three of the coolest girls of our recent moment were seen gallivanting on a recent Meisel VI set. Question is, will the cover be of a trio, a duo or highlighted by one solo beauty of the moment. TI's spies whisper that 2 of the girls in question had graced a previous cover, raising the hopes of that third belle. Let the guesses multiply!

Viktoriya : Women Mgmt: Vogue Italia September 2008: PH: Steven Meisel

Vogue Italia August 2008: PH Steven Meisel

"A reference to a recent fashion world event and the most haute of the haute models looking suitably emotional."

The fashion kids have just about sussed out the next VI cover (which is highly unlikely to be Linda btw) but can they imagine how chiiiiiiiiic the images are said to be? Think a reference to a recent fashion world event and the most haute of the haute models looking suitably emotional...In other VI news the waves from the"Black Issue" continues to resonate with girls both recent and legendary booking a "Mohagany" story for a certain blue chip publication. Then there's this talk of another cover for Naomi in September. That too might very well be a multiple girl/single covers each must-buy extravaganza. Phew. The mags are fighting for their place in the cultural spotlight no?

Raquel Zimmerman: V: Inez and Vinoodh Sasha Pivovora: Vogue Italia: Meisel

There's an interesting showdown brewing over at MDC. General agreement among the clients and contacts feeding us info at the day job is Gemma Ward has pretty much transcended her No 1 slot on the Top 50 since she now behaves in that iconic way of working at her leisure. For that, you can't blame a girl who's been treading the mills from age 15 ! The big Q is who inherits her spot as No 1? My phones are lighting up with advocates for two frontrunners, IMG's artistic Russian Sasha Pivovora and the eternal Brazilian must-have, Raquel Zimmerman. Right now it is a deadlock so it would be fun to get some feedback from the commited modelwatchers out there. Here are the relative pros and cons of our two contenders.

ARGUMENTS FOR RAQUEL:
1. The girl, after working tirelessly for the last 7 years deserves No 1 by merit of her track record , her proven longevity and her body of work. In other words Raquel's 7 years beats Sasha's 3.
2.As a physical presence in both runway shows and in photo-shoots, Raquel looms as the better model in terms of emotional range, body type and editorial versatility.
3.Raquel connects to the entire idea of fashion, is a great backstage politician and by stint of her warm and charismatic personality has kept a wide range of clients , from Vogue to Fendi to Chloe to Valentino (SS08 if she's in the final edit) in the past 5 years

ARGUMENTS AGAINST RAQUEL:

The shapeshifting beauty that is Denisa Dvorakova

"All the big girls are going to be here . Can you video them for MDC tmrw 9.30am ?" went the text. The morning after Halloween...a 9.30am casting? Ai caramba! But then came the call sheet...It Vogue faves, Olga Sherer, Denisa Dvorakova , Jenny Sweeny, Michaela Kocianova and Claudia Selier,still fresh after her Prada exclusive . And there it was. No sleep last night but absolutely worth it. Denisa D especially glowed into beyondness. She's gorgeous in person but on-camera, she's one of those mythical shifters who just evolves right before your eyes into something angelic.Michaela K is living the myth of fashion to the hilt and gave the best sound-bytes . Her personal style was A-list....the little Dolce bag with the metallic plate, a perfect rock n roll black leather jacket worn with wrappings upon wrappings of layered scarves. And there is no girl like Olga on the market right now, so refined...the pristine skin...the clear eyes...the lank rust colored hair. Olga went out for Halloween last night but did not dress up " It was really crazy on the streets. We have Halloween in my country but it was nothing like this. It was my first Halloween in NY but it was good to see the fun side of NY. Lately all I've been seeing is JFK and Charles de Gaulle," joked Olga.

Meghan Collison: Photographed by Steven Meisel for Vogue Italia Oct 07

Our fave new model star is all over the stands of NY with her October cover of Vogue Italia. TI loves that this strong girl who reads so "edge" in person has been glossed up by Meisel to render one of the most glamorous mag covers of the year thus far. We Q+A'd the Supreme beauty back in August for Spur magazine and here's the abridged translation of what was Miss Meghan's first ever interview. My best memory about it was how completely unaffected she was as well as the incredible life force in Meghan's eyes. She's headed a looooong way from small city shopping malls is all we have to say.

Wayne Sterling:I love your haircut Meghan! It is so cool and perfect for you. Did Paul do it?

Meghan Collison : Nope. I've had this hair...you can look back at pictures when I was three years old...almost my whole life. The only thing that really changed is it just got longer and longer. I went through that "lets grow a bang phase" that all the girls did in grade six but my phase went on right into high school.

WS: Speaking of being a little girl, where did you grew up?

MC: I grew up in a place called Edmonton in Canada. Edmonton, Like the Edmonton Oilers..the hockey team. We have the biggest mall in the world there Its owned by the same people who own Mall Of America. Its huge. I love it though. I love shopping there.

WS: Which makes for a perfect segue, the legend is you were scouted in a shopping mall.

Maschile: Ph. Peter Lindbergh: Vogue Italia March 1988

TI woke up this morning to this contribution by new member "Max". This archival find was so genius I almost cried. Thank you Max!

The year: 1988. The photographer: Peter Lindbergh. The magazine: Italian Vogue – “Maschile” March 1988 Editorial – Featuring models Linda Evangelista, Cindy Crawford, Lynn Koester and Talisa Soto in SHORT BLACK BOY CUT hairstyles or wigs. This is a significant editorial in fashion history because it serves as inspiration for Linda Evangelista to cut her hair a few months later into the “Linda” style that eventually propelled into her SUPERMODEL ICONIC status. It also was key in showing these models in a “gender-bending” non glam manner.
And this shift is still being felt to this day

Maschile: Ph. Peter Lindbergh: Vogue Italia March 1988