Call it the Catherine McNeil effect. In the spring, the much-buzzed-about McNeil was an up-and-comer with a promising career ahead of her and Paris Vogue's Juin/Juillet cover to her credit—only to subsequently drop off the radar, eclipsed by new It girl Irina Kulikova (above). Now we're hearing whispers that model agents are panicking that what happened to McNeil might happen to other new faces, so they're trying to squash pre-show-season hype. Supreme girl Meghan Collison, who we singled out in June, hasn't even walked a runway yet and her people are already rumored to be scrambling to lower her profile. To wit: A recent story about her on Hint magazine's online zine was up for no time at all before it was pulled down. An attempt at damage control? No one's 'fessed up, but tongues are wagging.
—Romney Leader