Andre Leon Talley has just finished filming his first season of "America's Next Top Model" and signed on to do three more, apparently with Anna Wintour's blessing (I'm guessing "Fine, Andre," is about as good as it gets). He'll be wearing a specially-made line of robes by Chado Ralph Rucci, who also got a crap-ton of reality show love on last week's premiere of "Kell on Earth." He'll also be introducing a fresh lineup of buzzwords to the "ANTM" lexicon, which is great, because if I hear "smize" one more time I'm going to plug my ears with Covergirl sponge applicators.

What's his favorite new word? Hit "continue reading."

Of all cycles least likely to (finally) produce a high-fashion success story, the latest round of "America's Next Top Model" has an actual working girl on their hands: Nicole Fox has signed on as the new face of Alexander McQueen's spring/summer 2011 collection. The winner of Tyra's "petite" cycle is a mere 5'7" and received criticism throughout the competition for her "awkwardness." (When we interviewed her at the end of the season, however, she seemed very gracious and easygoing, so she's either gotten over it or it was exaggerated on the show. Probably both.)

Petite stature aside, Nicole can pose with the best of them (see her winning photo, after the jump), and has the angular bone structure and angelic coloring to hold up to McQueen's edgy, often eerie designs. What we last saw of her walk -- a storming, shoulder-swinging stomp -- could maybe use some improvement, but she assured us that she's been working on it. We would say that McQueen won't force her strut through artificial wind and rain (as she was forced to do in the finale of "ANTM"), but given the designer's flair for dramatic runways and completely impossible footwear, she should probably prepare for the worst.

Color me unsurprised that Tyra Banks is holding a plus-size teen model search, or that it's titled "Fiercely Real." In fact, the only thing I couldn't have predicted is that there aren't more gimmicky requisites -- a plus-size teen model search for albinos, for example, or a plus-size teen model search for those with abnormally large feet. Oh, and the fact that it isn't going to be aired on television! That's right -- we won't get to watch as girls who were called ugly by their mothers and mocked in school overcome their insecurities emerge as swans on the national television. Instead, we'll just see photos on Tyra's website.

Tyra has always been a staunch defender of the plus-size modeling industry, and she deserves some credit for voluptuous women getting more time in the limelight lately. However, it's also notable that Tyra has shed a significant amount of weight in the last year, and this contest could be a cheap appeasement tactic for critics who have called her hypocritical. It's true that the contest will take minimal effort on Tyra's part; she won't have to film anything, and I'm guessing she won't be judging, and the winner gets no money (but will receive "a day with Tyra," whatever that means).

Basically, it's better than nothing, but despite Tyra's reasons for holding it, I doubt anyone will really watch it. A plus-size teen model search for Siamese twins would be another story, though...

This morning, Tyra told People magazine why she was ending "The Tyra Show": "Here is the real reason: I love this show, this show is my life, and I love it enough to know when it's time to say goodbye. It's the perfect number, the exact right time." Just kidding! That's what Oprah said in November. Tyra, who's ending her show in Spring 2010, basically said the same thing, but she added the words "fierce" and "hair salons" in her goodbye statement, because her sentences would be incomplete without them.

So why is Banks bowing out? Like Oprah, she is looking to bring her knowledge of menstruation, enemas, and "smize"-ing to film production, where she can spread positive images blah young girls blah blah beauty by way of the big screen. And we'll still get our fill of her from "America's Next Top Model," which will start up again in February, along with ABC's "True Beauty," which Tyra produces with Ashton Kutcher.

Tyra's next move? She's undoubtedly hard at work on a film about an abused, illiterate girl named "Special" that will star unknown talent and feature Jennifer Lopez with a fake fuzzy mustache. Get ready, Sundance!

To solidify Vogue magazine's descent amongst the unrefined tastes of mere mortals, editor-at-large Andre Leon Talley will appear as a guest judge on the entire upcoming season of "America's Next Top Model." Originally thought to be a mere guest judge for only one episode, as Kimora Lee Simmons will be (they're friends, too! See video, above), some particularly vigilant journalists have deduced that Talley has been hanging around the New Zealand set for way too long to be on just one judging panel. Given the kind of tips he has for Kimora in the clip above ("Could you walk a little bit faster, and not so truck drivery-like? Stomach in! Think thin, think thin! Stop, walk, turn!"), he might be just what the show has been missing since the departure of Janice Dickinson. Sure, Talley's previous judging qualifications may include the most recent Miss Universe Pageant, which descended from lowbrow to pitiful when Heidi Montag performed; then again, Anna Wintour also went on "The Late Show," so we can all agree that these are desperate times. If Talley plays his cards right, he could restore some fashion cred to the show, which has been struggling to find its edge (with its gimmicky "petite model" cycle and the blackface shoot) amidst Tyra's attempts for daytime TV domination.

British Vogue reports that Naomi Campbell is in the "talking" phase of a modeling competition reality show. (Yes, Vogue actually broke some news! *Golf clap.*) Campbell will play the Tyra-esque role of bossing about her aspiring model contestants, which will hopefully lead to the popularization of the expression "saucy," and involve lots of extra-long, microphone-crushing hugs, as in the video above.

Last night was the season finale of "America's Next Top Model" cycle 13, the shorties edition! We got to hear some choice Tyra quotes, like "This is has been a long and beautiful journey," and "This show is named 'America's Next Top Model,' not 'America's Next Top Modelsss.'" Unsurprisingly, Nicole was picked -- even though everyone loves Laura. Hear both Laura and Nicole's versions of the final episode, after the jump.

It was a double elimination for the second-to-last episode of "America's Next Top Model, " and Jen and Erin got the boot after an intense hula competition and goddess-themed photo shoot. This week's challenge was a hula dance-off. After a lot of coaching from Erin, who used to be a cheerleader, Laura wound up with the prize (um, a 5-day vacation in Hawaii, for which she chose Jen to join her), because she told a story "with her booty," according to Miss J. For the photo shoot, the girls had to pose as the volcano goddess Pele, which meant that they had to put on Grecian-style dresses and stand on jagged volcanic rock. Despite strong pictures across the board, Jen and Erin were sent home; we chatted with both of them about their eliminations (see after the jump).

It was a tearful moment on Wednesday's "America's Next Top Model" when Sundai -- who previously announced that she "would die" if she didn't win -- got eliminated after an underwater photo shoot. When we chatted with her today, she was indeed alive and well, and recounted the moments leading up to her elimination. The episode featured Sports Illustrated star Marisa Miller (in a bikini, obviously), who gave the girls tips on swimsuit modeling and how to look taller by doing "Barbie feet." Alas, little Sundai panicked when her asthma made it difficult to breathe during her submerged posing. Her picture (after the jump) didn't look so bad, but she was sent packing anyway, despite Erin's increasing annoyingness. To read our interview with Sundai, hit "continue reading."

On last night's "America's Next Top Model," Tyra paid a visit to the girls' filthy house. She lectured them on their dirty dishes (truly, it was gross) and then told them it didn't matter because they were moving to Hawaii! (Cue screaming and hopping up and down.) The models packed their dirty clothes and moved to the beach, where they received their first challenge: a photo shoot on a surfboard! None of them was exactly "Blue Crush" material, but the least shaky was Erin, who won a helicopter tour around the island. Rather than being awed by the majestic volcanos and waterfalls, she complained that she hadn't won "a tangible thing," like money or jewelry. Brittany, who gets labeled as "the mature one," was particularly annoyed with Erin throughout the episode. Finally, for their photo shoot, each girl got dressed up as a different "hapa" -- the Hawaiian word for a mix of two different races -- and shot by Tyra on a sugarcane plantation. Every model was given an unlikely combination of two different ethnicities, and then made up and dressed to look like a "fashion interpretation" of their assignment. In the end, Brittany's attempt to channel the stoicism and elegance of her Native American/East Indian mix came out "boring-looking," and she got sent home; annoying Erin was spared. We chatted with Brittany about the episode, after the jump.