"Glee" is back on the air again, finally, and Tuesday night's spring-season premiere featured a fantastic homage to Madonna's landmark 1990 "Vogue" video (sung by coach Sue Sylvester). Check that out and compare/contrast it with the original here.

(Thanks, Leigh.)

It wasn't such a shocker to find out he died yesterday, mostly because I kind of already thought he had already. And this even after seeing an exhibit of his work in New York a few summers ago. Alas, famed fashion photographer Irving Penn has died at 92. Fashion lost one of the greats. The New York Times did a lovely job with his obituary. After working the fashion beat at the N&O for the past five years, I can safely say fashion photography isn't glamorous and it doesn't come easy. Yet Penn made it look effortless. I think this photo of his wife, who at the time of the photo was a model, Lisa Fonssagrives-Penn, says it better than words about how he could capture a look.

(Photo: Conde Nast Publications)

In case you missed it in The New York Times over the weekend, here's a great piece on whether Vogue's Anna Wintour is still relevant. The timing, of course, coincides with the opening of the new documentary, "The September Issue," about the making of the September 2007 Vogue, the record-setting issue that had 840 pages. (I hear it's a good film and a must-see for fashionistas.)

Durham native and Vogue's editor-at-large Andre Leon Talley is making a trip home from NYC to be a part of next weekend's Full Frame Documentary Film Festival in Durham.

He'll be one of the Center Frame program panelists to participate in a moderated conversation after the April 4 screening of R.J. Cutler's "The September Issue," a documentary about the making of the September 2007 issue of Vogue, the largest issue the magazine has ever put out.

Wanna go?

Yeah, me too.

Sold out.

Perhaps you can see Andre the way I do at Fashion Week: Wait around outside hoping he'll make his signature fabulous entrance or exit and then beg for a minute to chat. 

How smart is Anna Wintour to get the most buzzed about woman in fashion lately, Michelle Obama, on the cover of the March issue?

Can you say magazine sales in slow times?

As you might have read already, Michelle Obama will be only the second first lady on the cover (after Hilary Clinton wearing a black Oscar de la Renta evening gown), wearing a magenta silk sheath by Jason Wu. Wu is the same designer who created her white, one-shoulder Inaugural Ball gown.

And guess who interviewed Michelle? Durham's own Andre Leon Talley, who is Vogue's editor at large.

"She's so accessible, natural and normal. There's nothing affected about her," he said in this AP story.

Apparently she also is photographed in other outfits by J.Crew and Narciso Rodriguez.

I really nearly spit out my coffee this morning when I read this rumor from the Fashion Week Daily ... apparently, Anna Wintour, Vogue's top chief and arguably the most powerful woman in fashion, is in the running for an official post within the Obama administration (she did throw a few fundraiser parties during the election season).

Perhaps ambassador to France? After chewing it over, I'm thinking that might be a good fit. She can have state dinners with Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, she can host fabulous parties at 31 rue Cambon and she probably could even dictate just about everything, down to the invite lists, for Paris Fashion Week.

Of course, all of this would mean Anna is indeed stepping down from Vogue. 

Stay tuned! I can't wait for the next rumor!

It might just happen, according to WWD. A recent story says editor-in-chief Anna Wintour and contributing editor Andre Leon Talley (who also is a Durham native) have been campaigning to get Michelle on the cover since last September, even going as far as hosting several fundraisers for the Obamas. She's already been on a number of magazines during the campaign, including US Weekly and Newsweek.

If she gets on the cover, she'll be the second first lady in Vogue's 116-year history to do so. Can you name the first?

Read all about who else this election cycle has made it in the pages of Vogue.