Want a date with the Obamas? The New New Camelot has a Zulu queen as its gatekeeper. Meet Desirée Rogers, the White House social networker who sat next to Anna Wintour at Fashion Week.

Michelle Obama hasn't turned up at Fashion Week, but two of her nearest and dearest surfaced at shows today. White House social secretary Desiree Rogers appeared at Carolina Herrera's presentation (where she sat next to Anna Wintour), and later made her way to Donna Karan and Thakoon's shows. Michelle Obama's secretive stylist, Ikram Goldman, also put in appearances today, turning up at the Maria Cornejo show before heading off to Thakoon. So you can rest assured that even though Michelle isn't here to pick out her favorites in person, her shopping is getting done nonetheless. [WWD, NYP, WSJ]

President Change's message of fresh hope sounds like just about every new-and-improved TV commercial. No surprise, marketers are jumping on the Barack bandwagon. But now the feds have cracked down on Obama-branded schwag.

Unlike other First Ladies, Michelle Obama funnels most of her contact with fashion designers through a boutique owner. This is a scandal only in the tiniest, most adorable way.

Vogue editor-at-large André Leon Talley told CNN's Wolf Blitzer his magazine didn't mean to put Michelle Obama "on a pedestal" with its new cover. Um, OK.

• Richie Rich is back. Traver Rains won't be by his side, but Richie will show a solo collection during Fashion Week, and muses Amanda Lepore and Lydia Hearst will be in attendance, natch. [WWD]
• Proof that bling really is dead: Kimora Lee Simmons says she's toning down, since "now's not the time to be running all over and flaunting the money that we don't have." [WSJ]
• André Leon Talley's interview with Michelle Obama from the March issue of Vogue is now online. [Style.com]
• A roundup of what's left of the fall/winter collection at various stores. [MAS]
• A list of Valentine's Day-inspired goodies. [Pipeline]
• Remember Rachel Zoe's lawsuit last week? Yea, well, t-shirt designer Christopher Sauvé isn't putting up with any of it. [NYM]
• You can rest easier now. Jessica Simpson is launching a luggage line. [SW]

If you're in desperate need of a laugh today (or you're just looking for something to offend your politically correct sensibilities), have a look at this video clip from a wacky Japanese game show. It features a couple of actors dressed up as Barack and Michelle Obama. Performing magic tricks. Consider it a little palate cleanser before you sit down to watch more dispiriting news about the economy on cable television tonight.

• Daily News owner Mort Zuckerman is cutting employee benefits. [NYP]
• Former Self editor and Bernie Madoff victim Alexandra Penney has landed a book deal with Voice, an imprint of Disney's Hyperion Books. [NYT]
• A few photos of Michelle Obama from the new issue of Vogue. [HP]
• How SI's Selena Roberts landed the Alex Rodriguez steroid story. [NYO]
• Former NYDN editor Michael Cooke is leaving Chicago for Toronto. [CT]
• John Grisham is close to signing a big e-book deal with Random House. [WSJ]
• The Justice Department plans to investigate the proposed (and controversial) merger of Ticketmaster and Live Nation. [AP]

• As you learned three weeks ago, Michelle Obama will appear on the March cover of Vogue. As for the magenta dress she wore for the Annie Leibovitz-lensed cover, it was designed by Jason Wu. [WaPo, WWD]
• A preview of the shows and parties planned for Fashion Week. [Style, NYM]
• Didn't get tix for the festivities next week? Try Craigslist. [NYM]
• It's still unclear what's going on with Olivier Theyskens and Nina Ricci. [WWD]
• Carine Roitfeld is designing a "youth-focused" edition of French Vogue. [FWD]
• Mandy Moore is shuttering her fashion line so she can focus on music. [WWD]
• Sales of wedding dresses and engagement rings are down. [WSJ]
• Georgina Chapman graces Harper's Bazaar's new issue alongside cheetahs and snakes, but not with other vicious animals like, say, her husband. [FWD]

First Lady Michelle Obama will be featured on the cover of the March Vogue, photographed by (sigh) Annie Leibovitz. Because she's a new fashion icon, of sorts.

President Barack Obama says he wants to save the economy, but all he does is give speeches and talk to fancy economists. Meanwhile, Michelle Obama is actually saving the economy, by shopping at Pottery Barn!

Within the self-involved newsrooms of America, there is much handwringing over ever-shrinking Washington bureaus. Why? They'd just as soon quit, from what we gather. Today's White House pool report from ace reporter Bill Theobald:

Will Michelle Obama go to fashion week? Designers certainly hope so! And she certainly won't!

Those "TyGirlz" dolls named Sasha and Malia, the ones Michelle Obama viciously smeared as "inappropriate" (BURN!)? They're done. Gone forever. Finished. (Not exactly.)

In a blog post, Draper, a principal at Draper Fisher Jurvetson, recounted all the political figures he met at the Alfalfa Club over the weekend — Sarah Palin, John McCain, Vernon Jordan, and other "Washington insiders."

It's weird, isn't it, that the Obamas are still on celebrity mag covers? On this week's Us, there's Michelle and the kids, next to a little sidebar with "fat" Jessica Simpson and lonely Jennifer Aniston.

Alejandra Campoverdi zoomed from campaign intern to assistant to a deputy White House chief of staff with, we're told, no other political experience. But the "flirtatious" Obama staffer supposedly wanted more.

One of the nice thing about having a glamorous First Family is that it can provide cheap escapist entertainment amid a bleak economy and partisan political rancor.

The coolest person to be friends with right now? Michelle Obama, of course. But unless you attended Harvard Law with Michelle or Oprah intervenes on your behalf, it's unlikely you're going to suddenly strike up a friendship with the First Lady. Allow us to present an alternative: Call up Sheena Harrell. She's a part-time Michelle Obama lookalike and if you get Sheena to show up to a party, your guests will think you're much more important than you really are. Plus she also happens to be a Christian minister and motivational speaker, and while her religious faith may prevent her from becoming the life of the party—and may make her a less-than-ideal fit for a Bar Mitzvah—her motivational skills should be useful if you're trying to get people to participate in a silent auction. Not planning an event but still want to lead people into thinking you're tight with the White House? Ask Sheena to be your friend on Facebook.

• Copies of Michelle Obama's Jason Wu-designed inaugural dress are on the way. Serial knockoff artist Allen Schwartz says the $300-350 gowns will be in stores by March/April, just in time for prom and bridesmaid season, naturally. [USA Today]
• Alexander Wang is launching a men's collection. [SF]
• Michael Kors has a lawsuit on his hands. [LAT]
• Target is cutting 600 jobs. [WWD]
• Did the Times out Jason Wu last week? [NYM]
• Fashion feud of the day: Anna Wintour and Sienna Miller. [SL]
• Brooke Shields has signed on to be a spokesperson for Coppertone. [SW]
• Surgery to correct "moobs," or man boobs, is now the most popular plastic surgery procedure for men in the UK. And now you know what you get your chubby husband for his birthday. [DM]