>> No Thanksgiving break for Anna Wintour: on Thanksgiving morning, she was spotted being shown around the Shanghai Museum. Wintour also made a stop by Vogue China's offices last week, and spoke with Vogue China's editor Angelica Cheung and Vogue's Mark Holgate and Sylvana Soto-Ward at a forum held at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing.

There, she noted: "China is becoming an increasingly important market. Everywhere you go there is this great drumroll that started five years ago of ‘what do you think about China?’ We decided it was time to make our own visit and to form our own opinions. In a way, American brands are a bit behind coming to China compared to the European brands, and I wanted to encourage them all to visit and open stores here."

On a Eastern influence-related note, Wintour recently told The Washington Post: "Right now, it seems as though we are experiencing a wave of Asian models, and while there is certainly a strong African American presence with Joan Smalls, Jourdan Dunn and Chanel Iman, sadly we don't see as many African American models as we could." (Though it's worth noting that Jourdan Dunn is British and Joan Smalls is Puerto Rican.)

And it sounds like at her Beijing talk, Wintour brought her sense of humor with — when an audience member asked her about The Devil Wears Prada, she apparently replied that she "found the movie highly entertaining and it’s true, of course, that I beat all my assistants, lock them in a cupboard and don’t pay them!”

>> Back in May, Next Management sued Ford Models for allegedly poaching Anna Maria Jagodzinska, Karmen Pedaru, and Ania Cywinska; then, last week it emerged that the three models in question are suing Next. They are claiming that they left Next for Ford because it was allegedly refusing them their bookings compensation: Pedaru says Next owes her at least $400,000; Jagodzinska says she's out $230,000; and Cywinska says she has yet to be paid $30,000. All three are each seeking $1 million in punitive damages in addition to their earnings in full, and they are also gunning for the right to look at Next's books to identify other victims.

Jezebel obtained a copy of the lawsuit, which includes Anna Jagodzinska's account statement at Next as of April 23, 2010 (the three models left Next that month). Regardless of the suit, it shows what organizations pay their models and how quickly they dispatch said payments. Vogue Paris, for example, owed Jagodzinska a day rate of $125 for a job done almost a year beforehand — in May 2009. And Vogue owed Jagodzinska two day rate payments of $250 each, one for a job done in December 2009, the other from October 2009.

It's well-known that magazine gigs don't pay much, but these are cold, hard numbers to prove it. If money is what you're after, go for a gig with J.Crew (which owed Jagodzinska $15,000 for catalogue work done in January 2010), H&M (which was still on the books for $60,000 worth of work with Jagodzinska in March 2010), or an agency like Laird + Partners (on the hook for $35,000 — Jagodzinska worked with them on Bottega Veneta and Donna Karan campaigns) or Grey Paris (which is listed as owing Jagodzinska $172,500 and works with beauty clients like Dolce & Gabbana, Lacoste, and Escada). Again, it's no secret, but now there's numeric illustration of the gaping disparity between magazine work and catalogue, beauty, or campaign work.

>> Julie Gilhart and Judy Collinson are gone from Barneys New York, but what about Simon Doonan, the retailer's creative director? He's currently still with the company, but the New York Post cites a source saying that the retailer's new CEO, Mark Lee, is concerned that Doonan "has used his popularity to promote himself rather than Barneys, and that's going to have to change." A Barneys spokesman declined comment, and Doonan did not respond to a request for comment. [WWD, NY Post]

• Style.com's reality show North of Madison is rumored to run on the web only, rather than on television as previously thought [Fashionista]
• Steven Meisel photographed Gisele Bundchen for Vogue Italia's December 2010 cover [Models.com]
• The ruffle-filled Valentino for Gap collection — which was thought to be only available in Milan, London, Paris — can be ordered online through Colette [Nylon]
• Alexander Wang has appointed Rodrigo Bazan, who was VP and general manager of Europe, Middle East, and India at Marc Jacobs, president of his company. Bazan joins the designer's brother and sister-in-law Dennis and Aimie Wang, who will remain chief principal officer and chief executive officer, respectively [WWD]
• Miuccia Prada is rumored to be bringing former marathon Prada campaign face Sasha Pivovarova back, except this time she's said to be in the Spring 2011 Miu Miu campaign, alongside Querelle Jansen and Kasia Struss [TFS]
• Crystal Renn wore prosthetic cheeks and lips for the plastic surgery-themed Vogue Paris shoot she worked on with Tom Ford; she also had Ford sign the gauze mask she wore: "It sits in my living room as we speak" [Fashionista]
• Alexa Chung gives a video tour of her favorite Williamsburg haunts, proclaiming: "Williamsburg is sort of like my lover, whereas London is more like my husband. I love my husband, and I'll always be with him, but Williamsburg is so exciting." [Style.com]
• Sophie Theallet, on her training under Azzedine Alaia: "All this time in NYC, still can't get around 2 think in INCHES -Mr.Alaia formed my eye on Millimeters-how 2 explain take 2 mm off in INCHES?" [@sophietheallet]
• Hilary Swank said to be developing a fashion-themed game show, in which contestants will be tested on their fashion knowledge, for the CW [Vulture]

>> Fashion's Night Out is returning next year for a third time, NYC & Company, Vogue, and the CFDA have announced, on Thursday, Sept. 8 — to coincide with the first day of New York Fashion Week for the Spring 2012 season. No word on whether Vogue is planning a huge public fashion show again next year; they only teased: "While details on what to expect are still emerging, one thing is for sure: After putting together the largest public fashion show in New York City history last September, there is no telling what you can expect this year. We can promise, however, that across the globe, from Brooklyn to Berlin, it will be a night to remember—and all in support of all aspects of the fashion industry." [Vogue.com]