Photography: Patrick McMullan

Curiously-coiffed Vanity Fair editor E. Graydon Carter has finally revealed the secret to Spy magazine’s success—and no, it wasn’t the invention of snark.

As we might have guessed, the key lay in looking the part. “Because we were small and because we were scrappy, I made a very conscious effort to wear a suit and tie to work every day,” Carter tells the London Guardian in a just-published profile. “You can get away with a lot more if you look like a junior part of the establishment than if you look like a renegade.”

Good advice for all you would-be rebels out there »

Photographed by our fearless lensman, Patrick McMullan.

Fiat heir and Agnelli scion Lapo Elkann has experienced a lot of ups and downs in his 30 years. Once destined to succeed his legendary grandfather Gianni Agnelli, Lapo’s career trajectory came to a crashing halt when he overdosed in the apartment of a transsexual hooker in Turin in 2005. He has since sobered up (according to some reports) and moved to New York after the lukewarm launch of a sunglasses line called Italia Independent.

Through it all, he has remained impeccably dressed»

Photographed by our fearless lensman, Patrick McMullan.

A few months ago we appealed to Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter—in an avuncular fashion—to discard the double-breasted suits which added an unflattering layer to his majestic midsection; the wrong kind of camouflage, if you will.

He has apparently taken our advice to heart»

Say, “Cheese!”: Jackass and Terry Richardson—a match made in chucklehead heaven. [High Snobiety]

Waif Wedding: 33-year-old single mother Kate Moss bucks the statistics by declaring her upcoming nuptials. [Jezebel]

The New Demure: Vanity Fair spoofers photoshop the new polygamist-child-abusing chic onto Hollywood’s most desired ingenues. [Vanityfair.com]

Heavy Metal: The most exciting thing to come out of Australia Fashion week might be the illegal use of military assets. [Sydney Morning Herald]

Office Space: ACL visits the busy laboratory of Alexander Olch. [A Continuous Lean]

Drop Them Drawers: Remember, kids, tomorrow is “No Pants Day.” [Laughing Squid]

The Great White North: The Canadian Olympic team’s official gear is designed to combat smog and good taste. [Globe Sports]

Madison Avenue Chic: Behind the scenes at the Vanity Fair “Mad Men” shoot (January Jones in the house). [Vanityfair.com]

Bag of Sunshine: Sacks for the season. [Refinery29]

May it Please the Court: Traditional-dressing British Judges to get even more awesome. [UPI]

Deal Alert: Savings on Rag & Bone and Helmut Lang from Wednesday through Friday. [Racked]

Bush Whacker: Seeing as he was uninvited to Jenna Bush’s wedding, David Lauren, son of Ralph, cheated on alarming beautiful/surprisingly intelligent/secretly liberal Bush cousin Lauren because he is very, very stupid. [NYPost]

Photographed by our fearless lensman, Patrick McMullan.

We’re sorry to say it, but Graydon Carter is a stubborn ass. Not eight weeks after we commended him for ditching unflatteringly-padded double-breasted suits in favor of sleek-making single-b.’s, the Vanity Fair editor is back enfolded in extra layers of fabric again, drawing undue attention to all those late night snacks at the Waverly.

We consider the pitfalls of the double-breasted jacket»

Lifestyles Of The Rich And Famous: Vanitry Fair just released its best dressed list and guess what! They all have money! Shocking new development! [Jezebel]

Clothing And Cocktails: In case you were wondering, the proper mixer for linen is apparently gin. As if you didn’t know that already. [A Suitable Wardrobe]

Fact or Fiction: At least one news organization is keeping us informed about John Edwards’ mistress and love child. [Gawker]

Old Navy: A look at Mister Freedom’s line of navy inspired clothing. Another case of military meets chic. [A Continuous Lean]

Flying Back into Relativitiy: These PF Flyers are the 1st good looking models in quite some time. Since…. The Sandlot. [Uncrate]

Part-Time Model: The occasionally exhibitionist heiress (no, the other one) strips down for Myla. [NYDN]

Hipsters will destroy us all: But not in a cool Mothra kind of way. [PSFK]

Rum in Exile: Forbidden rum is always the sweetest. [The Bachelor Guy]

Receding Clothing Line: Jude Law models for dunhill. Baldness jokes ensue.[Brandish]

It’s the Shades: Kanye makes the cut for Vanity Fair’s best dressed list. Once again, his MacBook Air is in danger. [Kanye’s Blog]

Vanity Fair has posted their somewhat puffy take on the Bruni-Sarkozy affair, including a quick, Trump-free rundown of Bruni and Sarkozy’s exes.

Among the tidbits offered is a fact in favor of Mme. Bruni’s fashion sense: she convinced Sarko to swap his nouveau riche gold watch in favor of a sleeker Patek Phillip model.

A few of our favorite excerpts»

Considering how seriously nouveau 007 Daniel Craig takes his suits, we were not surprised to see that he made the grade in Vanity Fair’s 2008 International Best-Dressed List.

However, knowing how into Tom Ford Craig is—as we noted before, he refused to wear anything else for his GQ cover shoot, and went through 40+ Ford suits while filming the latest Bond flick, Quantum of Solace—we were somewhat taken aback to see him pictured in the mag wearing nothing but Dolce & Gabbana. Looks to us like someone at VF went out of their way to favor the Italian duo over the MOTH king—and it also looks like Tommy needs to buy a lot more ad space.

Stripes of Summer: The dangerous allure of the white striped tie is considered. [A Suitable Wardrobe]

Vlogs, and the Media Moguls Who Love Them: A Facebook group stunt goes awry and a long-suffering underling pays the price in this web short. [Vanity Fair]

Western Homes: Considering American houses…no, that’s not a metaphor for anything. [A Continuous Lean]

Is Your Refrigerator Running?: A brief overview of the rich world of prank phone calls. [AV Club]

Shirts, Books, Shirts, Books: Taking a literary inspiration for your style is a great idea. If you’re that into sci-fi, you’re probably screwed anyway. [Details]

The Misfits: Vanity Fair joins Marilyn enthusiasts in rifling through the dead starlet’s papers. [Vanity Fair]

Don’t Astaire: A lesson in grooming from Fred Astaire. [A Suitable Wardrobe]

One Wheel to Rule Them All: The unique appeal of the monowheel. [Random Good Stuff]

Veep Veep: Joe Biden favors the banker’s collar…but not actual bankers. [BlackBook]

This month’s Vanity Fair features a windy trot through the remains of Marilyn Monroe’s estate, in the name of unraveling the “mystery of Marilyn’s death.” There are a few Kennedy love letters, one from T.S. Eliot (!?), and a whole lot of morbid fetishism, courtesy of writer Sam Kashner. (The curious can find a full web-only accounting here.) Of course, the media loves a dead blonde, but this is more unseemly than usual.

Monroe’s death is only a mystery the way JFK’s death is a mystery. When a corpse is found surrounded by sleeping pills, you don’t have to reach too far for the truth. Monroe was an orphan, and struggled all her life with what Arthur Miller described (in a far superior VF article) as “the bottomless loneliness that no parented person can really know”, so her suicide not as inexplicable as Kashner would have us believe. The real shock is how blind most writers have been to her real, human problems.

We’re looking at you, Truman»

Beer Market: In a shocking turn of events, beer sales increase at Wall Street watering hole as the stock market plummets [NYT]

We Know You Wonder: GQ breaks down the dome, summing up everything you need to know about fitting, buying and wearing a good hat. [GQ]

Shiner Behind Her: Tom Bergeron drops Heidi Klum on stage the 60th Annual Emmy Awards. The ass bruising seriously restores some street cred to the Dancing with the Stars host [ET]

Fall Time: VF rounds up this season’s must have watches, and even throws in a few looks for her. Get yourself a new timepiece and a jump on Christmas as well. [VanityFair]

Bruno Strikes Again: Sacha Baron Cohen’s flamboyant TV host character targets Fashion Week again, this time disrupting Stella McCartney’s runway presentation [The Cut]

Drumming Up Cash: Artist Peter Good’s meditation on energy dependence and economic crisis is both stylist and painfully obvious. [Men’s Vogue]

The Manner Born: Kate Middleton weathers the Royal storm while staying in Prince William’s favor. But can she get the ring? [Vanity Fair]

Lost In Merchandising: Sofia Coppola tapped to collaborate on shoes and handbags for Louis Vuitton [WWD]

Photographed by our fearless lensman, Patrick McMullan.

Has well-upholstered Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter finally seen the error of his ways? We had reason to chide the glossy gourmand a few months back for wearing a double-breasted blazer after we distinctly instructed him to eschew the look. While we would scarcely expect a fellow who owns a glamorous greasy spoon to keep his girlish figure, we do feel one of Mr. Carter’s stature ought to employ his tailor in the artful concealment of same.

Therefore, we were delighted to see him sporting a (relatively) trim single-breasted navy blazer at the book bash for his latest coffee-table tome, Vanity Fair: The Portraits. Compare this photo to those of the earlier double-breasted numbers and witness the miraculous transformation. Here is a fellow we would call leonine, majestic, statuesque. And yes, that’s him on the right.

Belle du Jour: Kate Winslet steps into Catherine Deneuve’s shoes for the win. [FashionIndie]

Just for Kicks: What the world needs now, more than anything else, is crocodile skin sneakers. [Luxist]

The Writing on the Wall: A countdown of the top 25 parodies of Shephard Fairey’s Obama “Hope” poster. Sadly, Nate Dogg does not make the list. [Village Voice]

Dov Love: The cops are after Dov Charney, for all the obvious reasons. [PSFK]

New York Cheesecake Factory: Vanity Fair confirms its relevance in these troubled times with a slideshow of some of their best pictures. [Vanity Fair]

Eye Spy: Complex catches on to our second favorite optician. [Complex]

Up Close: Interview sits down with Junya Watanabe, and tries to figure out what’s up with all those inside-out jackets. They do not succeed. [Interview]

Happy Birthday: Jon Hamm, better known as Don Draper, turns 38 today. We wish him the best of luck with his acting and bathroom-based-meat-product careers. [TakePart]

The Carter: Gisele spends the latest Vanity Fair shoot finding creative ways to avoid goosebumps. [FashionIndie]

Tapped Out: Wines may be ditching the cork for the spigot. Anything that nets fewer corkscrew injuries is fine with us. [NYTimes]

All For Love: According to her publicist, Courtney Love is actually very frugal. [Luxist]

Ape Shall Not Purchase Ape: Boutique streetwear may not be the recession-proof staple we thought it was. [PSFK]

Being Blunt: Ms. Blunt graces the pages of Vanity Fair. We assume this is how she always dresses. [FashionIndie]

In the Sun: A quick primer on how to wear white. [A Suitable Wardrobe]

Blast from the Past: Yet more preppiness from the LIFE archives. [A Continuous Lean]

A Series of Tubes: Lifetime movie recaps help up to rediscover our love for the form. [Vice]

America in 3D: A few of the more ridiculous pictures from Obama’s first 100 days. [Gawker]

Two Tone: The case for black and white spectator shoes. For advanced students only, natch. [A Suitable Wardrobe]

Cocktail Commentary: Vanity Fair combines its two biggest strengths with a series of cocktail recipes cheekily named after current events. Think of it as urbane wit in liquid form. [World’s Best Ever]

The Newest Latest: Opening Ceremony’s latest lookbook inspires envy and desire. [SwipeLife]

Lazy Gaze: Vice’s Richard Kern creeps us out in interesting and provocative ways. [WBE]

Going to Acapulco: The South Carolina statehouse produces its first web video classic. [Gawker]

Tell Me Why: Vanity Fair takes a look at anti-media hostility. Something tells us this is going to make things worse… [Vanity Fair]

All the Way Back: A sartorial trip through history. [A Suitable Wardrobe]

Vanity Fair’s International Best Dressed List just arrived on newsstands (and, if you’re so inclined, the internet), stocked with the usual cohort of financiers, movie stars and improbably named socialites. Didn’t we read about Ogden Phipps II in an Evelyn Waugh book?

We were glad to see Tiki Barber on the list, if only to provide a break from all the financiers, but we refuse to believe this is the best picture they could find. It’s a fine suit, and the brown oxfords are a nice touch to keep him on the informal side of bankerdom, but the photo editors let him slip through with a buttoned top button that throws his whole jacket into disarray. It’s not a slip-up on Tiki’s part—a strangely draped jacket happens to the best of us from time to time—but it’s a little embarrassing to end up on a best-dressed list with this many wrinkles.

But graded on the ex-football-player curve, he’s practically Cary Grant.

Vanityfair.com just executed what might be the best foreign policy/fashion bifecta ever to grace the slideshow form. The subject is Muammar Quaddafi, and his various bizzaro style choices—ranging from absurdly rococo kufis to HIStory-era MJ uniforms. Never has a world leader looked so much like a homeless person and remained in power.

The piece might seem a bit breezy considering how repressive Qaddafi’s been for the past 40 years, but we bet there are dozens of Libyan newspapermen who would kill to be able to write this piece. He’s deserved a good deflating for decades now, and it would appear that Graydon Carter has given it to him.

We don’t want to spoil it for you, so we’ll just single out this picture as worth a look. It’s actually one of his more understated outfits, but it might be enough to qualify him for a new kind of watch list…

Double Vision: Agyness Deyn brings a second Deyn into the city, namely her younger sister Emily. [Grazia Daily]

Party Animal: Vanity Fair ponders the tragedy of Cameron Douglas. [VF Daily]

On the Beach: Photographing ten-foot waves for fun and profit. Fair warning: you’re going to get pounded. [Gizmodo]

The Kids Are Alright: A younger generation trained on internet porn is rewriting the sexual rulebook. [DETAILS]

Bonus Round: Vanity Fair shares the leftovers of their session with Shakira. [Vanity Fair]

Working Class Heroes: The Times anoints The Beatles: Rock Band as the Most Important Game of Our Time. In other words, bigger than Jesus. [NYTimes]

Upgrades, Upgrades: Apple’s easy upgrading may be working against them. [Kottke]

Rocket Man: Our old friend Qaddafi just built himself a new whip, adhering to his usual standards of tastefulness. [Jalopnik]

Back to the Wall: Apparently Corrine Day is a photographer to watch. [Fashion Gone Rogue]

One Last Q: Quentin Tarantino and Japanese commercials…how did it take this long? [Gawker TV]

Oh Black Water, Keep on Rolling: A longform peek at the Blackwater CEO, courtesy of Vanity Fair’s “War Watch.” [Vanity Fair]

Also, Booze: Blackbird’s latest “workaholic traveler” gift guide seems remarkably close to the plot of Up in the Air. [Blackbird Blog]

This Year’s Model: Vanity Fair singles out their nine favorite starlets. Carey Mulligan seems to find it all hilarious, which seems about right. [Vanity Fair]

The Victory Lap: Free & Easy lands a sit-down with Frank Muytjens of J.Crew, fresh of his GQ/CFDA nomination. And no, for the last time, they’re not a biker magazine. [Mister Crew]

And the Winners Are…: The 20 most buzzed movies from Sundance. [Vulture]

Putting It On Wax: A few glamour shots from this year’s Beard & Mustache Championships in Anchorage Alaska. Don’t try this at home. [Behance]