Hell hath no fury like a Britney Spears fan scorned. If the editors of Lucky magazine didn’t know this already, they do now. Fans of the pop star directed their outrage at the magazine for its December cover, which features a seriously plastic-looking Spears donning a wig.

On Twitter, Spears enthusiasts blasted Lucky for the photo, calling it “horrendous” and “lazy & unprofessional.” One fan even asked the magazine to do another shoot with the real Spears.

The backlash was so excessive, Lucky issued the following apology:

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Lucky and Architectural Digest have finally come to the iPad. As of now, the only Condé titles not on the iPad are Details, W and Teen Vogue. WWD reports that the move to the iPad is especially important for Lucky, as ad pages are down 20 percent through September.

One of Lucky’s biggest lures on the iPad is giving users the ability to click on any single product and be directed to the designer’s site so they can purchase it. Brandon Holley, editor-in-chief of Lucky, told WWD that the app is, “The most shoppable digital edition of any magazine.” She’s surely not being biased.

Both Lucky and AD’s iPad apps are free for print subscribers. Single issues, monthly and yearly app subscriptions are also available.

Forget about the dog days of summer. The stifling heat couldn’t keep the faithful away from Michael’s today. In fact, many of the power lunchers showed up early to escape the oppressive temps which made for a jam packed dining room. The always unflappable Loreal Sherman kept everything running smoothly as usual, finding just the right table for everyone despite the SRO crowd. At Michael’s, you are where you sit after all.

I was joined today by Scott Singer, managing director of Discover Digital Group where he helps media companies identify and build e-commerce businesses, as well as assisting them in growing their existing digital assets. When he’s not navigating his clients through the changing world of social media and mobile advertising, Scott is also a passionate author. In his first book, How to Hit a Curveball: Confront and Overcome the Unexpected in Business (Portfolio, 2010), Scott took on the question on everyone’s mind at the time: how to survive and thrive after the 2008 financial meltdown and subsequent Great Recession. “I’ve spent my career advising companies (including CBS/Viacom and Disney) on how to overcome and confront change,” Scott told me. After enduring his own series of personal and professional ‘curveballs’ —  his job as head of digital media and internet infrastructure at Bear Sterns was a fatality of the tech bubble, his brother was in one of the towers at the World Trade Center on 9/11 but thankfully survived and he got divorced (“My marriage ended in a death spiral,” he writes in the book), Scott told me he learned that “None of us know what the future holds but, once you’ve learned how to confront and overcome the unexpected, it will stop making you anxious. Tomorrow will no longer be something to fear and that’s a great feeling.”

Cleverly outlining his insights using baseball terminology, Scott leads the reader from ‘spring training’ all the way through ‘an extra inning’ and includes the wisdom of those who have always aimed for the fences, like CBS honcho Les Moonves, former Time Warner CEO Jerry Levin and Michael J. Fox.

Scott’s best advice: Step up to the plate and accept what is, be the batter and keep your eye on the ball. A self-proclaimed enthusiast for the latest and best gadgets on the market, Scott says these rules are easily applicable in business, especially when it comes to new technology. Change is happening every minute and the only way to win is to embrace it and be an early adapter. Just look at our kids.

“Every child today is born digital. It’s in their DNA, while those people that are passing away are analog. We’re digital immigrants,” he says. “My 14 year-old son is my IT support. It’s amazing to think of all the innovations the digital generation is going to create.”

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In the final segment of our Media Beat interview with Lucky editor-in-chief Brandon Holley, the print vet talked about the explosion of street style, where women can find designer goods (or versions of them) for cheap, and that hot-button issue every magazine editor grapples with: Photoshop.

Sure, a petition against Seventeen has the pub pledging to feature more “healthy, real women,” but is it even possible for a magazine to succeed without airbrushing its models? Uh, no, said Holley.

“I’ve done a bunch of focus groups, and women will constantly say, ‘Why don’t you just put a real person on the cover? I don’t wanna see a celebrity.’ That cover would sell 10 copies,” said Holley. “So, what women say they want and what they want are two different things sometimes. I mean, we do need to show more women with real bodies, absolutely. But I don’t think that should be a dead set rule.”

Part 1: Lucky EIC Brandon Holley on Getting a Magazine Job
Part 2: Brandon Holley Calls Fashion Blogging ‘Most Exciting Thing to Happen in Publishing in Decades’

They say if you can’t beat ‘em join ‘em… or, do one better and let ‘em eat off your plate. That’s Lucky editor-in-chief Brandon Holley‘s approach to the Web.

In the second installment of our Media Beat interview, Holley, who once headed Yahoo! Shine, said she realized pretty early that the days of finding new readers “on the back of a CVS newsstand somewhere” are over.

“Fashion blogging, to me, is the most exciting thing that’s happened in publishing in decades. It’s really created a new tier of content, and you can either separate yourself from that content or you can bring it in,” she explained. “One way that we bring it in is we have a desk where bloggers can come in and sit — they’re called our Lucky Style Collective — they contribute content to the magazine; they contribute certainly online. So, it’s a sharing of pockets of audience.”

Part 1: Lucky EIC Brandon Holley on Getting a Magazine Job
Part 3: Lucky’s Brandon Holley Talks Photoshop and Fashion

Brandon Holley held editor positions at Time Out and GQ, helped launch Elle Girl and headed Yahoo! Shine before taking the helm at Lucky in 2011. And, she says, if you want to snag a top spot on a magazine masthead, you need to be a vocal and proactive voice for the brand.

“I think people make a mistake when they wanna climb the masthead, and they assume the editor-in-chief should pay attention to them. And, now that I’m on the other side of the desk, I love people who come to me,” Holley said in our Media Beat interview.

Holley explained that she made a name for herself at GQ by giving “steady input without being annoying” to editor-in-chief Art Cooper. “I wasn’t kissing ass, but I would write memos to him and say, ‘I think this section could use this,’ and ‘I think we should start a new section that’s this’… I’m a huge fan of memo writing.”

The EIC also debunked that rumor about Lucky going all-digital or scaling back its print frequency. “That was a weird misunderstanding of our mission,” she said.

Part 2: Brandon Holley Calls Fashion Blogging ‘Most Exciting Thing to Happen in Publishing in Decades’
Part 3: Lucky’s Brandon Holley Talks Photoshop and Fashion

The first thing you need to understand when discussing the Condé Nast luncheon yesterday is that it was just a lunch. Luncheon is just a rich person word for lunch. With that out of the way, let’s get to some of the more notable moments from the meal at the Four Seasons.

The New York Post reports that everyone was in pretty good spirits. Charles Townsend, the CEO of Condé, said, “We had a very good year — up in high single digits,” and said the company’s digital business was doing well.  Si Newhouse was sitting at a table with Scott Dadich, David Remnick, Brandon Holley and a few others. This seating arrangement can mean something or nothing. Feel free to pick one and spread those thoughts to everyone you know.

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We’re not sure how many of you out there watch shows targeted toward teenagers, but if you’ve got room for one more in addition to “The Vampire Diaries,” and want to see some editors do some acting, you should check out “Jane by Design.” The ABC Family series premiers in January, and will feature appearances by several Condé Nast editors, including Stefano Tonchi, Amy Astley and Brandon Holley.

WWD reports that the partnership — which was hatched because Lynn Hirschberg, W’s Editor-at-Large, is good friends with “Jane by Design’s” producer — will benefit Lucky and ABC Family, because the network has a buy in the magazine and on its website.

“Jane by Design” is about a teenager who is mistaken for an adult and gets a job in a fashion powerhouse, thus forcing her to juggle her school life and career, all while protecting her true identity. Sounds about as realistic as “The Vampire Diaries.” Enjoy.

WWD has a post today about four women editors – Pilar Guzman (pictured), Tina Brown, Brandon Holley, and Deborah Needleman – and their journey from print to the web, then back to print again.

It’s a story that deserves to be told. After all, these are four powerful, talented women who are shaping the magazine industry with their decisions.

The content of the post is all fine and dandy; the headline, however, is not. It irks FishbowlNY a bit. And when we’re bothered, we bother you with the details. As Janet once said, that’s the way love goes.

The post is titled “Is Print in Vogue Again?” and like all headlines that ask a question, the answer is nowhere to be found in the piece. We do learn that the women all seem to have come back to print for the money, but not if print is “cool,” as the headline suggests.

If you’re going to ask a question, be able to answer it. That’s all we want.

For example:
“Does FishbowlNY hate headlines that contain questions?”

“Yes.”

• Mediabistro: An interview with Brandon Holley of Lucky magazine. Hope she didn’t mind us poking fun at that Lucky Kids thing.
• TVNewser: Julianne Moore is going to play Sarah Palin in an upcoming HBO adaptation of the book Game Change. If Jeff Bridges plays Todd Palin count us in.
• SportsNewser: Mel Kiper compares Cam Newton to Akili Smith, thus ruining Newton’s day, but making Smith’s.