>> Two years ago, Anna Wintour told WWD she turned down involvement in Project Runway because "Vogue is not in the business of making entertainment out of the struggles of new designers."  Last month when asked about the possibility of a Vogue reality series, she still seemed unconvinced, but was less straight with an opinion.

Now we know why — just as Elle is gearing up to debut its reality show Stylista on The CW this Fall, Vogue announced today that it is producing a reality series of its own with IMG.  Instead of showing on the small screen like Stylista, Model.Live will be web-based, debuting August 19 on Vogue.TV with syndication on Hulu.  The 12 eight-minute episodes of Model.Live follow three models from IMG's Development board: 16-year-old Austria Alcantara from the Dominican Republic, 20-year-old American Madeline Kragh, and 19-year-old Dutch model Cato van Ee, who had Prada and Miu Miu runway exclusives for Fall 2008.

The show, which Vogue Publishing Director Tom Florio promises to be "not reality at all, just amateurs live," follows the three models through casting calls, runways, and airports for all four fashion weeks.  Underage behavior like smoking or drinking will likely be censored if it comes up while taping, but depression or unhealthy eating habits will be "met head-on."

Let's hope this is good — it cost $3 million to make, or about $31,000 a minute.

*image: source