According to a handful of Elle staffers we've spoke with in the past few weeks, the magazine's editor, Robbie Myers, is actually pretty well liked by many on the masthead. Sure, she has her flaws ("What's with the constant giggling?" snipes one; she's always in a "shitty mood," counters another) and we've been fed plenty of anecdotes to squeeze her in to some Jossip copy, but might Ms. Myers actually be running a fashion magazine and have the respect of her staff? Pity, then, that in New York's feature this week about the feud between soon-to-be-ex-Elle staffer Nina Garcia and fashion news director and Stylista face Anne Slowey, Myers didn't get to have her say. Though quizzed by the article's author (Gawker Media's Moe Tkacik) about Project Runway and Stylista, Myers wasn't asked about the supposed bad blood between her two minions. And that doesn't sit well with her: "That story is full of quotes about why I did what I did, how could they possibly know why I did anything or what motivated me to do anything in my job, unless they ask me? Even if someone else where to speculate about why I did something, the fact that nobody called me even to fact check it is egregious." (Myers has written us notes before, saying some of our coverage hurt her, too.) And there's the rub: Tkacik is, by profession, a blogger (from Jezebel to Gawker in some twisted job hijacking involving Radar), and we're trained not to ask those type of questions that might have you confuse us with journalists. But if her work is going to appear in New York, well, perhaps it should have met higher standards — and reported all sides of the story. By not doing so, well, this mini scandal stays alive.

It comes down to this: Nina Garcia and Anne Slowey played for separate teams under the same owner. Garcia, the former Elle fashion director who's now connected to the magazine in name only, was a protege of creative director Gilles Bensimon, who did not time to check his wristwatch for incoming Elle editor Robbie Myers, who arrived in 2000. Slowey, the fashion news editor and star of Elle's new fall reality show Stylista, is in the Myers camp, though perhaps only because she wasn't in the Bensimon camp.

Which isn't to say these two never got along — they did — but in the end, it explains why we've heard handfuls of stories, about both sides, trading gossip about each other.

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Nina Garcia recommends Jossip.com for celebrity gossip updates. Jossip.com recommends Nina Garcia for media scandal updates. [FabSugar]

While Nina Garcia is said to be paid upwards of $70,000 per public appearance, Liz Claiborne chief creative office Tim Gunn — who always has more screen time on the show than Garcia — is paid a measly $30,000 per stint.

Nina Garcia, currently appearing on Project Runway's fifth season as Elle's "editor-at-large," is, as you already know, totally done with Robbie Myers' mag and has not-so-quietly moved on to Marie Claire. And though she doesn't officially start there until Sept. 2, she's already moved into her office — perhaps because the one Elle was keeping for her is lined with glass shards. (Marie Claire denies she's started working there, citing Garcia's contract with Elle; they insist she's only been in the office to coordinate fashion show travel.)

And while Garcia is definitely a commodity worth grabbing for Marie Claire — which is expected to scoop up Project Runway when it moves to Lifetime — it turns out the relationship might not be a match made in couture heaven.

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Once upon a time we ran some insider speculation that Joe Zee, Elle's always smiling creative director and judge on this fall's Stylista, was ruining the magazine. Today none of that matters, because there is a more interesting storyline: Zee hasn't spoken to Nina Garcia since she "left" the magazine for Marie Claire. Then again, who who from Elle is talking to Garcia? After the saucy way she left things with publisher Carol Smith, and the much-talked-about feuding between Garcia and editor-in-chief Robbie Myers, it's not like there's constant Twittering between the two parties. [MB]

Earlier today we brought you news that Nina Garcia had signed an editor-at-large contract with Elle that would keep her there through Sept 1, just long enough to shoot the fifth (and Bravo's final) season of Project Runway. Interesting that the announcement came with an expiration date, we noted.

And here's why: We were just told Nina is heading to Marie Claire as fashion director, effective .. Sept. 2.

Well so much for Fashion Week Daily's "exclusive" news that Nina Garcia was heading to Hearst's Marie Claire after her dust-up at Elle. News just arrived that she's signed a deal to stay on at Elle, as editor-at-large, through Sept. 1, 2008.

And how many job announcements do you see that come with an expected termination date?

Right, just this one, because it means Garcia gets to stick around for the fifth season of Project Runway while Elle's Robbie Myers figures out how to hang on to the TV show, now that Cosmopolitan, Glamour, In Style, Harper's Bazaar, as well as Marie Claire, are all said to be vying for a deal.

Putting to rest any notion that Nina Garcia would take Elle's Robbie Myers up on her offer to stay on in some fashion, the Project Runway judge is heading to Marie Claire, as was rumored. [FWD] She'll officially join the staff in September, as fashion director, replacing Tracy Taylor, who left. Sadly, there's no update about whether Runway will hop beds from Hearst to Hachette Hachette to Hearst, but Harvey Weinstein is said to love Garcia, so if keeping her on the show means switching to MC, perhaps he'll do it.

"A spokesman for The Weinstein Co., which produces the show, said the reports were inaccurate. Contract negotiations between "Project Runway" and its primary judges — Michael Kors and Garcia — are still continuing, and according to sources close to the show, negotiations for sponsorships and magazine partners for season six have yet to begin. Garcia is also still negotiating the terms — or the severing — of her relationship with Hachette Filipacchi Media, Elle's parent company." [WWD] And this concludes the explanation for why the future of Nina, Elle, and Project Runway is dragging on longer than the sale of a daily newspaper. (NB: Poo on Women's Wear for calling The CW's Gossip Girl "Gossip Girls.")

Nina Garcia has finally made her decision: She's not sticking around Elle to be Joe Zee's playtoy. She's heading to Marie Claire, which, not so surprisingly, has stole the lucrative Project Runway magazine contract away from the Hachette title. [P6] She probably won't even have a real office over there at Hearst; simply a place to stash her handbag while running to PR tapings.

And you thought Nina Garcia's guest spot on Ugly Betty, airing Thursday was the only extension of the Elle brand into ABC primetime. Not so.

Now comes word that editor Robbie Myers and creative director Joe Zee are pulling a Me Too! and will also appear on the show, which actually fits in quite nicely with the rumors we reported back in December about the twosome holding talks with Ugly's producers. (Those meetings, which included America's Next Top Model's producers, also yielded the Elle reality show Fashionista.) Myers and Zee will represent Elle in a softball game against the show's Mode magazine, with Naomi Campbell guesting for the true-life magazine. (Easy joke: Will she be swinging at BlackBerrys?)

This, on the heels of Garcia having just been spotted (and trying to go unnoticed) leaving Hearst's glass tower, where it can only be assumed she's establishing her quote.

NEENER NEENER NINA Elle is floating names of possible Project Runway judges to replace Nina Garcia for Season Five, including some of her old assistants. Queue the scare tactics to get Nina to sign on the dotted line! [WWD]

ELLE-O, GOODBYE Harvey Weinstein wants Nina Garcia back on Project Runway whether she accepts Elle's backhanded offer or not. [WWD]

Maybe-outgoing Elle fashion director Nina Garcia and Project Runway winner Christian Siriano filmed their Ugly Betty appearances last weekend, as Jossip was the first to tell you about, and now comes the photo evidence: This shot of the duo with the cast might be the last time Garcia was photographed as a Hachette employee. Sad!