>> Vogue Paris's most recent issue brought us Terry Richardon's pinup-laden 2009 calendar, and as rumored, come February we will indeed be seeing a whole lotta Lara Stone — 100-plus pages worth.

A couple of weeks ago at the Vogue Paris calendar launch party, Carine Roitfeld spilled all kinds of details about what we have to look forward to: "February is an entire issue with Lara Stone and the cover line is Et Vogue Créa Lara."  The influence is Roger Vadim's 1956 Brigitte Bardot classic Et Dieu . . . créa la femme — Lara has often garned Bardot comparisons — and will include shoots by Inez van Lamsweerde, Peter Lindbergh, Hedi Slimane, Nan Goldin, and Steven Klein.

Granted, Lara is known to be one of Carine's favorite models, but fans are just happy to hear Lara speak, so why an entire issue?  "Lara had almost stopped working so I decided I wanted to make her a star," the VP editor explained.
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>> Hedi Slimane has been plenty coy about his whereabouts and doings since he left Dior Homme in July 2007, but there's been one constant: his photography.  Until now, he's been working for Vogue Paris, V, and such without representation, but now, confirming last month's rumors, he's been exclusively signed by IMG-owned management agency Art + Commerce.

Such a move indicates that Hedi is moving full-steam ahead with his photography, leaving his designing to be a thing of the past, since Art + Commerce represents photographers, hairstylists, makeup artists, stylists, illustrators, even art directors — but not designers.  Or maybe he's just doing things the Tom Ford way — leaving design on bad terms for another career, only to come back a few years later with his own successful label.  Regardless, what a coup for Art + Commerce — I guess this could have been one of those options he has been so surreptitiously considering.
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>> INSIDER WIRE —Rumors are circling that Art + Commerce — the agency which represents the likes of Craig McDean, Steven Meisel, and Solve Sundsbo — is making a move to sign Hedi Slimane as a photographer.  Until now, he's worked without representation: Does this mean Hedi has officially traded clothing design for photography as his career of choice? [TI]

>> INSIDER WIRE —Hedi Slimane is still playing coy about his return to fashion designerdom, but he does expects it to happen one of these days: "But it has to be right, the right project." He also confirmed that all the swirling rumors about him "in talks" about starting his own label are true: "I didn't want to deal with that for a while, but now [over the last] six months I'm considering options."  With whom? Again with the coyness: "It's a secret." Sounds like the talks may still be in progress. Intrigue . . . [WWD]

»Is Dior Homme trying to get Hedi Slimane back? [Fashionista]

»Julia Restoin-Roitfeld's boyf Magnus Berger has a new magazine, The Last, out in September [FWD]

»Agyness Deyn recorded her first single, was snapped holding hands with The Strokes guitarist Albert Hammond Jr. [Chic Report, Just Jared]

»Alana Zimmer, Behati Prinsloo, and Rachel Clark went to an S&M festival last Sunday [Supreme Being]

»Gerard Darel replaced Charlotte Gainsbourg, who has been their face since 2003, with Meryl Streep's daughter Mamie Gummer for their Fall 2008 campaign [WWD]

»Naomi Campbell wore the same dress to Nelson Mandela's birthday dinner that Stephanie Seymour wore to the Costume Institute Gala [FabSugar]

»Full Giambattista Valli, Balenciaga Resort 2009 collections [Style.com, Style.com]

>> As funeral services for Yves Saint Laurent near, the list of attendees grows — almost 1,000 guests plan on attending. 

Among the substantial group, YSL's designer peers Valentino, Giorgio Armani, Stefano Pilati, John Galliano, Hubert de Givenchy, Alber Elbaz, Jean Paul Gaultier, Christian Lacroix, Hedi Slimane, Kenzo Takada, Sonia Rykiel and Jean-Louis Scherrer, plus his former muses Catherine Deneuve, Laetitia Casta and Claudia Schiffer, are all expected. 

During the services, which are tomorrow at the Eglise Saint-Roch in Paris, the YSL headquarters and YSL boutiques worldwide will all be closed in memoriam.
*images: source