TI's spies are hissing away again....

TI's spies peeping on the set of that certain VI shoot spotted a recent cosmetics campaign queen...

After lobbing the event issue of this year (Vogue Italia July 2008) and stirring up quite a storm with that "Dogging" edit now docked at V Magazine the hype machine has certainly been ruled by Meisel news.

Toni Garrn and Katrin Thormann Vogue Italia Nov 08 PH Meisel

After her one season stint as the face of Calvin Collection quite a few punters were ready to put Ms Garrn in the "short-lived" category. But today at lunch one of my devoted Hiss Squaders whispered in my ear that there was a major plan by a very directional client being built around Garrn

TI Friday,August 1, 2008.

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: