>> Stephanie Seymour is contributing fashion editor at Interview, Cindy Crawford blogged about the environment for Vanity Fair, Naomi Campbell is a contributing editor at British GQ, and now Marie Claire has tapped Christy Turlington as contributing editor — it's funny how supermodels have moved from solely being in editorials to also doing editorial.

Christy, who is currently enrolled at Columbia University for a master's course on public health, will collaborate with the magazine's writers on a column — to appear in the magazine every two to three months — covering such subjects as politics, mothers around the world, and her travels for humanitarian causes.  Her first piece, "Fighting for Mothers," describes her trek to Washington, DC to push for a Senate resolution on maternal health and appears in the December 2008 issue of Marie Claire.

The new gig likely came from all her public support — after Marie Claire ran a piece by Christy in March about mother's health, editor-in-chief Joanna Coles says she got a "ton" of fan letters from readers.
*image: source

>> Hints at the 2009 Costume Institute Gala theme have been swirling since May — first, it was thought to be an ode to Marc Jacobs, and then an ode to fashion muses.  Now that the official announcement has come out, we learn that both subjects are involved, just not quite in the way that was originally thought: the May 4 gala rings in "The Model as Muse," with Marc Jacobs as honorary chair, and Kate Moss, Anna Wintour, and Justin Timberlake as co-chairs.

The accompanying exhibit, which runs May 6 to Aug. 9, will explore the evolution of models and "their roles in projecting and sometimes inspiring the fashion of their respective eras," with special focus on one of the first publicly known models, Marion Morehouse; the first supermodel, Lisa Fonssagrives; fifties mannequins Suzy Parker, Dovima, Sunny Harnett, and Dorian Leigh; sixties icons Jean Shrimpton, Moffitt, Twiggy, and Veruschka; Seventies faces Jerry Hall, Iman, and Janice Dickinson; the supermodel trinity of Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington, and Naomi Campbell; Nineties “It” girls Kate Moss, Amber Valletta, Nadja Auermann, and Shalom Harlow; and more recently, Gisele Bundchen.

As Harold Koda, curator of the Costume Institute, explained: "We look at the power of clothing, fashion photography and the model to project the look of an era. With a mere gesture, or the line of her body, a truly stellar model can sum up the attitude of her time, creating an alluring synergy between herself and the clothing to communicate a designer’s message to the wider world."

Seventy haute couture and ready-to-wear looks, plus photography, runway images, and video footage of models, rock stars, socialites and actresses who set the tone for each era will emphasize the theme, but most exciting of all — think of all the models who will be representing at the gala.
*image: source

>> ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL —Speaking of Spring 2009 campaigns, here's a fun, but totally unverified rumor circling around today: "For Calvin [Klein Collection] they originally wanted Kate Moss to do it, she obviously refused to wear those clothes.  So then they asked Christie [sic] Turlington, she also refused.  So they got Anna Selezneva to do it." Anna did have a Calvin Spring 2009 exclusive, and the campaign is supposed to be one girl . . . [TI]

>> BLOWING THE COVER —Christy Turlington licks her lips on the October 2008 Vogue Paris cover because she knows how delicious the magazine's innards are: Lakshmi Menon makes her debut in some insane stilt-like shoes, sharing editorial space with Yasmin Warsame in "Afro-disiaque." [Models.com Daily Feed]

>> INSIDER WIRE —Introducing two September 2008 Vanity Fair cover shots that could have been. Too bad Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington, Cindy Crawford, Claudia Schiffer, Naomi Campbell, and Stephanie Seymour were beat out in the end by Carla Bruni-Sarkozy. [Chic Report]