The young cast of Gossip Girl is featured in the August issue of Vanity Fair magazine wherein the mag pontificates on the state of Young Hollywood (as it is wont to do from time to time) and names the new members of the next wave of, what they call, Bright Young Hollywood (also on the list Johan Hill, Emma Stone, Josh Peck, the Jonas brothers and more). Here is the mag’s photo of the Gossip gang all decked in in their best designer finery, walking brazenly into the wind:

It’s been only five years since V.F. took a reading of Hollywood’s youthquake—featuring the likes of Lindsay Lohan, the Olsen twins, and Shia LaBeouf—but the celebrity terrain has gotten rougher … As for the class of 2008 pictured in these pages, they inhabit a far more predatory media-parasite environment, a Grand Theft Auto of “gotcha,” which so far they’re handling with aplomb. Easy to track, hard to trap, they belong to the iGeneration, for whom texting and Twittering are as natural as popping orange Tic Tacs, inhabiting and trailing invisible clouds of information wherever they go in the digital eco-system, where online and off-line, real life and Second Life, overlap. Boundaries dissolve everywhere they turn their pretty heads. It’s a short, sharp hop from the wholesome happy perk of Disney’s Hannah Montana, whose Miley Cyrus can’t show a little bare shoulder without the world flipping its bonnet, to the spite-laced hangovers of the CW’s Gossip Girl, where decadence is in full Baudelairean flower. There, every Coach bag contains wanton secrets. Treachery and bitchery gleam from every compact mirror. Youth and beauty have their privileges, among them being the ability and agility to roll out into the hazy dawn following the squalors of the night before and still possess the throwaway glamour of a Bryan Ferry song. A fan craze and a critical fetish, Gossip Girl has hit the sweet spot of the Zeitgeist, the X mark where sex appeal and pop sociology intersect and the story lines hold an illusion of seamlessness, as if they sprang full-blown from the brow of Entertainment Weekly.

Uh huh. Yeah, this article has a whole lot of big words which, I assume, is meant to take the topic of being young, rich and famous in Hollywood and elevate it to something akin to a post graduate thesis. Under normal circumstances, I’d be down … but I had a hard time getting thru this article (which you can read in full HERE) without kinda wanting to die a little bit. I mean, I get it … you write for Vanity Fair, you can mix and mingle big words with up-to-the-second pop culture references with the best of them. It all reads just a smidge too seriously for me but … whatevs, I get it.

But just to keep the Gossip Girl love going, here are a few photos of the Gossip guys all grouped together in a new photoshoot, styled to within an inch of their lives:

After the jump, more photos of Chace Crawford (who, according to VF mag prefers the iPhone over the Blackberry), Penn Badgley (iPhone) and Ed Westwick (BlackBerry) individually from this same photoshoot …

Gossip Girl star (and frontman of the band The Filthy Youth) Ed Westwick, who turned 21 years old yesterday, celebrated in style at TAO nightclub at the Venetian Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, NV last night … here are a few pics from his fancy shindig:

It doesn’t appear that any of Eddie‘s GG castmates trekked out to Sin City for his birthday party but I’m sure he had himself a great time nonetheless. 21 should be a good year for Mr. Westwick … he’s got himself a hit show, a band to front and prolly all the lurvin’ he can handle (tho, he denies handling any of that lurvin’ from his co-star and roommate Chace Crawford, unfortch). Happy Birthday, Ed … your time is now, enjoy it!

[Photo credit: Wireimage]

Gossip Girl star Ed Westwick (who plays the luminous Chuck Bass, the baddest boy on the Upper East Side of Manhattan) apparently moonlights as a singer in a band called The Filthy Youth. In between shooting new scenes for the upcoming second season of GG, Ed and The Filthy Youth (band members include Benny Lewis, Jimmy Wright, Tom Bastiani and John Vooght) played a concert at Santos’ Party House here in NYC earlier this week … here are a few pics:

It appears that the band has been in existence for some time now and they have a Brit punk round sound (think The Libertines). You can hear some of the band’s music at their official My Space profile and you can click HERE to watch video of a live performance of the song The Confidence (which was filmed this past February). I kinda like their sound … it’s a bit raw and staccato sounding. I’m not always a fan of actors who front bands but I think Ed can pull it off. I’d be interested to see if anything of substance happens for The Filthy Youth … might we even seen an album someday? Well, if the whole Gossip Girl thing doesn’t work out it might not be a bad idea to have a Plan B.

[Source]

While many young folks are getting their summer vacations underway, the Gossip Girl gang are starting to get back to work. Last week, we saw pics of the kids on location in the Hamptons here in New York (mostly hanging out backstage on set) and today we get to see pics of the kids on location in Port Washington, NY and shooting scenes at a beach in Far Rockaway, NY … check ‘em out:

I really love the summer looks that the gang is wearing. Leighton Meester looks really great in her summery frock. Ed Westwick‘s ensemble is fab, as usual. I just love the styling on this show … they do a really good job of dressing the characters exactly the way you’d imagine they’d dress in real life. The gang haven’t been bizzy just filming their dramatic scenes in Port Washington … they’ve also been doing some work in Far Rockaway cuz everyone knows that the beach is the place to be come summertime. More pics after the jump …

Filming continued on the set of The CW‘s Gossip Girl in Southampton, NY on Friday where Ed Westwick, who plays Chuck Bass, was spied on set doin’ his best “preppy sexy” … check it out:

See … argyle ain’t for everyone and yet, in the guise of Chuck Bass, it so works. Not just anyone can wear knee socks and a cardigan to the beach and make it work. Well done. After Ed finished filming his scenes, he stripped off the formal wear and donned a more causal outfit … making sure to show off the guns. I dunno if any of this showboating will help Ed with the ladies but you can’t fault the guy for trying.

[Photo credit: Startraks, Splash News]

While summer vacation is just getting started for many folks, it’s back to work time for the cast of Gossip Girl. Blake Lively, Leighton Meester, Penn Badgley, Chace Crawford and Ed Westwick have all convened in the Hamptons, NY to begin shooting scenes for the second season of Gossip Girl, scheduled to debut on The CW this September 1. Here are a few pics of the Gossip Girl ladies (and Penn Badgley) hanging out backstage by the trailers on set yesterday afternoon:

It’s unclear if Blake and Penn are having themselves a lovers’ spat or if they’re just exchanging pleasantries (or if Penn is annoyed that Blake is making fun of him for wearing his haircutting smock in public) but I understand that things are still going well for these two lovebirds. I’m not sure what’s going on with those jean shorts that Leighton is wearing … they give her a bit of a mom’s butt, hopefully it’s not an outfit she’ll be wearing on the show. Yeah, there ain’t all that much sexy going on in these pics … for the hatwness, we turn to Gossip boys Chace Crawford and Ed Westwick …