Harper’s Bazaar International expands; Economy be damned!

So. Magazines are shutting down and leaving hundreds of employees jobless left and right. CosmoGirl, Radar, and Harvard’s erudite publication have all called it quits. The economy is not kidding around and the budgets that are required to keep magazines like the aforementioned is too much to bare.

But is this stopping publishing giants from expanding their empires? Uh, no!

Hearst — the empire who just devastated preteens across America with the cancellation of CosmoGirl — plans on expanding in the international market. Starting in January, their will be Bulgarian, Ukraine, India, Serbia, and Croatia editions of Harper’s Bazaar.

The best voting PSA this election cycle

There was Will.I.Am and his elitist friends crooning about voting and loving Socialist Obama in a nice little diddy. Then the Black-Eyed-Pea front man had to out do himself and made another Obama montage, but this  one wasn’t as catchy or inspiring. But that was all in the past. Because the undisputed number one voting PSA this election cycle was created by a group of kids who didn’t have the luxury of sleek video editing. These kids urge people to vote next week by singing and dancing along to T.I.’s hit, Whatever You Like. Brilliant.

“The Olsens seem to regard themselves above all as artist-moguls, and the challenges they describe are the challenges of businesspeople. They have to figure out how to deal with expanding the Row while still letting it feel like a quiet discovery for whoever is buying it. As Ashley sees it, her career is brand building, in fashion and beyond. “It is what I love. There are so many voids in the market, and I want to find those opportunities and make the most of them.” It isn’t the cover of Vogue they seem to seek as much as the cover of Fortune.”

– “artist-moguls”? Really? I never knew MK & Ashley glitter eye shadow and calendars were so aesthetically profound. From New York Times.

R.I.P. Elle Accessories

Surprise! CosmoGirl staff members won’t be the only publishing types looking for odd jobs on Craigslist and eating Ramen noodles this holiday season.

Elle Accessories, the super glossy — and more importantly — bland cousin to the more elitist Elle, is officially kaput. Well, not entirely. Supposedly, some higher-up at Hachette Filippachi will wave their erudite wand over the straggling  publication  just in time to resurrect it for a  Fall ‘09 delivery to news stands.

Anne Slowey, the irreverent blonde edtrix on that bitchy little show called Stylista, was the editor-in-chief of Elle Accessories. But suffice it to say the wannabe ice queen isn’t trippin’ much, considering she has that enviable contract with the CW.

As far as the small team of earnest and low paid editors working for the Elle spin-off, uh, they don’t have it so easy: Linnea Olson-Scwartz, fashion market director; Anna Kojuharova, senior market editor; Betsy Breen, assistant market editor; and Jaclyn Kaminski, fashion assistant have all been fired.

No worries, though. Queen Anne has set-up a Gmail account so any fashion editor, assistant, photographer, creative director, stylist can contact her for inquiries to work the aforementioned unemployed.

Early Voting: Just Do It

After what has seemed like a decade of political campaigning, the 2008 presidential campaign will officially come to an end next Tuesday, albeit their isn’t any kind of voting machine scandal like in all of our previous election cycles — so yeah, don’t hold your breathe.

Hopefully, we’ll know who is stepping in for ‘dubbya’ at least by Christmas.

Ridiculously egregious mishap aside, though, one can guarantee their vote has a better chance of actually counting by beating the crowds sure to come out on November 4th and casting that all-important vote early.

For most states, early voting comes to a close this Friday.

Coincidently, Friday also happens to be the day that most people will be receiving some type of monetary award from their employer (read: laughable pay check), which makes it that much more easy to vote since everyone will be out trying to cash their checks anyways.

PS: Don’t wear any type of garment or accessory with your chosen candidate’s image/slogan/name on it. You’ll be turned away for “campaigning.”

Are you team Silver or Naomi?

Out of all of the new fashion-y related television programming this Fall, there is only one show that I have yet to temporarily control my ADD long enough to watch: the new and improved 90210.

I know. The hype was rife surrounding the highly-anticipated return of the 90s cult favorite — OPI, acting as the ultimate fan girl, even dedicated a new line of punky nail lacquers to the show.

And yet, I haven’t tuned in once after checking in with the Gossip Girl crew every Monday. That said, I’m still slightly shocked by how many people are conspicuously consuming 90210 graphic tees. It can’t be that good, right?

Practically every able-bodied woman has shown up in one in my classes on a consistent bases wearing one, though.

So I must ask: are the catfights, back stabbing, break-ups, betrayals, scandals, and over-acted crying on 90210 so epic that it warrants admiration on the form of a burnout tee from places like Kitson? Interesting.

I choose the garment with Team Naomi on it because I just saw a picture of that particular actress wearing a metallic silver cow girl inspired outfit on the red carpet.

The tackiness coupled with her smug pose made my heart smile. Check out the mildly terrifying image, here.