[I]n something of a coup, we even landed coverboy Duncan Black, aka Atrios, the juggernaut blogger at Eschaton (styled by Gina Faiola; peep his clothes' credits here).

I asked Black, a guy read by millions but who keeps a relatively low profile, what it was like to be dressed up like a doll.

"Gina was great, good at making sure I was at ease and comfortable," said the man who can launch a thousand comments with a single sentence. "I told her I was game for just about anything she came up with, and had fun with her choices."

Though he's been photographed for publications before, this is the first time he's been asked to wear anything other than his own clothes, which he says he prefers to be "comfortable and easy to wear."

Black isn't one of those pajamas-wearing Internet recluses. He's known for being quite socially active. Yet he can still move around Philadelphia pretty surreptitiously.

"I get recognized every three months or so, which is about the level of public recognition I'm happy with," says Black. "I don't hide my identity, but I don't put a picture up prominently on my site either, so only people who care to search for it will see what I look like."

He'll likely be a lot more recognizable now. Is there a twinge of vindication — given that he's been rather critical of the media on Eschaton — of being on the cover of a newspaper?

"Oh, I honestly find the attention bloggers get, approving or disapproving, to be somewhat amusing," says Black. "Vindication that what I do has some value comes on those rare moments when I see that an idea I've come up with or given attention to seems to have some small amount of influence on our discourse and the world."

So was the experience at all enlightening?

"After finally coming to terms with the fact that dark jeans were in fashion," says Black, "I was informed that light jeans are coming back in style."