The image of Russia's rich elite has come so far: They're no longer regarded by the rest of the world as hopelessly ostentatious and flashy, thanks in large part to Dasha Zhukova's stylish ambassadorship and Russian Vogue editor Aliona Doletskaya's announcement that "full-on extravagance, the red lipstick, the diamonds, the furs—all that is passé." Even the new magazine Snob, whose title implies an ironic self-awareness, has helped rehabilitate the spendy, blinged-out stereotype. How sad, then, that Russian Marie Claire's editor Olga Zaretskaya has wrecked everything with one thoughtless comment!

Aliona Doletskaya has been hailed as potential successor to Anna Wintour atop U.S. Vogue. But there's a side of the Russian editor's life you didn't read about in the Times.

Looks like "Anna Wintour is at risk of being usurped by Russian Vogue editor" has officially become a meme, which we guess is what happens when everyone is desperate to talk about/write about anything other than the economy. Page Six's justification for propagating the idea today is that Elle beat Vogue in ad pages in October—hardly surprising given Elle's reality TV supremacy. We're guessing Aliona Doletskaya (left) is enjoying the attention, although she presumably knows full well she'd have to pry the job from Wintour's cold, dead hands.

In July, Aliona Doletskaya looked like just one in a series of baby Vogue editors who might someday replace Anna Wintour atop the American flagship. Then came a buzzy appearance at New York Fashion Week, a writeup in the Times, a Forbes takedown on Wintour, and, now, an embarrassing Wintour loss to Elle. Hachette's fashion title, a longtime also-ran to Vogue, surpassed its rival in October ad pages, Page Six reports. Wintour boss Si Newhouse is supposedly pissed. And Doletskaya was reportedly introduced at a Condé Nast magazine confab in Moscow as "the next editor of American Vogue" — a bit of tongue-in-cheek flattery that now threatens to become a self-fulfilling prophesy. Attached, excerpts from a May Russia Today profile of the telegenic Doletskaya. Click the video icon to watch.

Do you think that Anna Wintour's feelings (she has them, right?) are hurt by the media's insistence on paying attention to other countries' Vogue editors, and even speculating that they might replace her? The other day this adoring profile of Paris Vogue's Carine Roitfeld (Julia's mom) called the rumors that she might replace Anna "delicious," and today the Times introduces us to Carine's friend Aliona Doletskaya. The "focused and formidably confident" editor of Russian Vogue, who has, of course, a "lithe physique, foxlike features and predilection for curve-skimming dresses," is also rumored to a contender for the US job.

First it was young, elegant Carine Roitfeld, making Vogue publishing look slightly effortless and more-than-a-little spunky from her perch in Paris. Then there was Franco Sozzani, reminding everyone with her all-black issue that Italian Vogue "has gained a reputation for being more about art and ideas than commerce." Now, fashion blogger Bryanboy reminds us, Aliona Doletskaya is the latest editor of a baby Vogue to arguably upstage American editor Anna Wintour, having reached her 10th anniversary at the healm of the fashion title's Russian edition. "Month after month after month, she offers original content, she uses models for her covers and her editorials are very bold, strong and in your face," Bryanboy writes. Well, sure, but there's also the fact that she can fly helicopters! Also: In 10 years, she sees herself flying across continents on an airplane. Considered that fair warning, Anna. Click the video icon for excerpts of Russia Today's half-hour profile. [Byranboy]