>> INSIDER WIRE —Anne Slowey has been given grief for her diet and pitted against former co-worker Nina Garcia, but nothing seems to phase her; She's still got a show debuting Wednesday.  Besides, she doesn't seem to think much of Nina: "I think she certainly. . . . by comparing herself to me, lent it some credibility. I'm not even really conscious of the fact that, oh yeah, she used to work at Elle." But the real question is, why was Anne at her town dump before being interviewed? [LA Times]

>> INSIDER WIRE —After juggling four weeks of fashion shows in her new position as Marie Claire fashion director, Nina Garcia was spotted juggling her one year-old son, Lucas Conrod, in LA this week.  Besides trading in fashion for family, she's also switched from staggering heels and tailored dresses to ripped jeans and flats for the occasion. [Perez Hilton]

>> The shakeups at Elle just keep on coming.  Ever since creative director Joe Zee joined the team in January 2007, former longtime creative director Gilles Bensimon has seen his role at the magazine majorly diminished — his title changed to international creative director, his name moved from top of the masthead to the bottom.

He usually sits with the Elle team during Fashion Month, but during New York Fashion Week, he was a no-show due to a "top-secret project" in Paris.  He also didn't show at Elle's Women in Hollywood Awards Monday, and he has only photographed three out of the eleven Elle cover stories this year — compared to going twelve for twelve last year.

It comes as no surprised that Gilles would want to get out — and Nina Garcia may be just the woman to help him.  His contract with Elle expires at the end of the year, so it's the perfect time for him to make his move.  Rumors started flying when he arrived at the Chanel show last week in a towncar with Nina, his former colleague, who is now trying to increase fashion coverage in her new position as fashion director at Marie Claire.  Is Nina wooing Gilles, who used to be Elle's go-to celebrity photographer, to Marie Claire?  That is the allegation . . .
*image: source

>> This week's New York Magazine profile exploring the inner workings of Elle has editor-in-chief Roberta Myers less than pleased.

The article, written by former Jezebel editor and current Gawker employee Maureen "Moe" Tkacik, tends to portray current Elle employees like Myers, international creative director Gilles Bensimon, creative director Joe Zee, and fashion news director Anne Slowey in a less positive light than former fashion director Nina Garcia.  At one point, Tkacik writes that Myers had a "lack of jurisdiction over the fashion department," and at another point she reports on the power struggle between Gilles Bensimon and Myers:

Bensimon wanted little to do with [Myers]. In photos from the rare occasions they would attend shows together, his expression is dour. He saw Myers as ambitious, insecure and overly American; she saw him as an overpaid, out-of-control spendthrift who was losing his touch.

Myers tells WWD what she really thinks about Gilles Bensimon »

>> We've all heard the drama surrounding Nina Garcia's abrupt exit from Elle in April, but Nina herself says that she saw it coming as far back as 2006.  This week's New York Magazine takes an in-depth look at the former Elle editor who has built herself into a brand and compares her with current Elle editor Anne Slowey, pitting the old guard Elle reality star against the new guard Elle reality star hopeful.

Ninotchka "Nina" Garcia learned how to deal with adversity at a very young age.

The summer after she turned 16, Ninotchka “Nina” Garcia found herself in the crossfire of a mafia shoot-out. She was eating a late dinner with her friends at a trendy restaurant in Barranquilla, Colombia . . . The bullets started and stopped so quickly she didn’t realize what was happening until she was crouched beneath the table.

“It was the Wild West back then,” she says. “Some mafioso upset at having to sit in traffic—you know, like road rage, but with guns. Or quarreling mafia families. No one dared ask.” Her voice is resigned. “You just learned to be low-key and not flashy.”

Anne Slowey, meanwhile, deals with the adversity of those ten pounds that just won't go away.

She has tried steroids, supplements, pills, a sort of detoxifying electroshock therapy she calls “Frankenbutt treatments,” and an on-again, off-again commitment to juice fasts. To motivate herself, Slowey buys her fashion-show ensembles, tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of Lanvin and Prada and Balenciaga, several sizes too small. Once, she decided to read Ulysses and practically locked herself in the house for a week, reading it in the bathtub. “I lost eight pounds,” she recalls wistfully.

On fame, fortune, and getting frozen out »

>> FASH INSTITUTE —Nina Garcia's follow-up to her Little Black Book of Style comes out later this month — Aug. 26, to be exact. Her newest outing, The One Hundred: A Guide to the Pieces Every Stylish Woman Must Own, is already available for pre-order, and is illustrated by Ruben Toledo, just like her first book. [Amazon.com]

»Karolina Kurkova has an "unusual" belly button that "disappears" in photos, so art directors have to Photoshop a new belly button into her bikini pics [Page Six Magazine]

»Those ankle boots Kate Moss has been wearing everywhere?  They're Marc by Marc Jacobs [Chic Report]

»The new jeans that are putting fashion editors into a tizzy [NY Times]

»Nina Garcia: Already stirring the pot at Marie Claire, before she's even officially there [The Cut]

»First look at the Colette x Gap collaboration [JC Report]

»Smokin' Donatella Versace [Jezebel]

»Donna Karan is vacationing with Calvin Klein in Africa [Chic Report]

»Nina Garcia is rumored to have charged $60,000-$70,000 per public appearance in her final months as fashion director at Elle [Gawker]

»Before Teen Vogue, there was Junior Bazaar [bunny BISOUS]

»If he has a child, Tom Ford will not allow it to be seen or photographed [Chic Report]

»Daisy Lowe parted ways with IMG [Fashionista]

»Making of Longchamp Fall 2008 video with Kate Moss and Gaspard Ulliel [YouTube]

»Sophia Kokosalaki is going from two to four collections a year [Vogue UK]

»Coming to you during NY Fashion Week: designer Dorothy slippers [FabSugar]

»Christy Turlington, Gisele Bundchen in August 2008 W [W, W]

»First peek at Rag & Bone shoes, Proenza Schouler sunglasses [Style File, The Cut]

>> It's unofficially official: Nina Garcia will join Marie Claire as fashion director in September, just in time for the Spring 2009 fashion weeks.  This confirms the rumors of a Garcia offer at MC, as well as the departure of former Marie Claire fashion director Tracy Taylor.

*image: source