OFF THE WAGON: Steven Meisel gives his own take on a current celebrity phenomenon — rehab — in this month's Italian Vogue, which hits newsstands this week. In a tongue-in-cheek fashion story inspired by the antics of Britney Spears, along with the film, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," Meisel shot models including Agyness Deyn, Lara Stone, Missy Rayder, Tasha Tilberg, Sasha Pivovarova, Iselin Steiro and Guinevere van Seenus performing antics such as getting out of a car and flashing her nakedness, bathing in an asylum and yelling at the paparazzi. Designer brands included in the shoot were Fendi, Chloé, Alessandro dell'Acqua, Jil Sander, Azzedine Alaïa, Chanel, Dolce & Gabbana, Calvin Klein and Miu Miu. Fittingly, the four-day shoot took place in Los Angeles, home to celebrity-friendly rehab facilities such as Wonderland Center. — Amy Wicks

POLITICAL BEAT: The New Yorker has tapped Ryan Lizza as its new Washington correspondent, replacing Jeffrey Goldberg, who went to The Atlantic. Lizza, 32, has been much courted: According to a January report in the New York Observer, he turned down offers from Time, The New York Times and The Washington Post to keep his senior editorship at The New Republic and contributing editor gig at GQ. WWD also reported last week that Lizza is working on a story about presidential candidate Barack Obama for GQ, perhaps for the cover. His appointment to cover national politics and the presidential campaign for The New Yorker is effective Aug. 1.

In other New Republic news, Ben Wasserstein, associate editor at New York magazine and son of its owner, investment banker Bruce Wasserstein, is leaving to become editor of The New Republic online. He replaces Adam B. Kushner. Wasserstein joined New York in 2005, 18 months after his father purchased the weekly, and was previously associate editor at the now-defunct Vitals. Said New York magazine editor in chief Adam Moss: "We're really sorry to see Ben go, but this is a great job for him. We're sure he'll do wonderfully there as he has done here. They're lucky to have him." (Of course, he is the son of Moss' boss.)