The Daily Front Row by DAILY FRONT ROW INC

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BRUTON STEELE

BAILEY

The

Collect & Discuss

w o r t fron

band of

insiders! whoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rocking february 11-12, 2012

our world right now

DKNY.com

ASHLEY GREENE New York City

THE

ÂťCBS MAGAZINE

Matt Czuchry and Archie Panjabi of THE GOOD WIFE as featured in the February issue of Watch! magazine. Photography by Ellen von Unwerth. Watch! magazine is your window into the world of celebrity and style. Get your free digital subscription at www.cbswatchmagazine.com. Matt Czuchry: Jacket and scarf by Z Zegna. Archie Panjabi: Suit by Georges Chakra Couture. Shoes by Sergio Rossi. Earrings by Chopard.

Anja Rubik Nicky Hilton

Daria Strokous, Ginta Lapina, and Natasha Poly

Sarah Jessica Parker Elizabeth Hurley

your daily dose Cindy Crawford and Kenneth Cole

SCENE So amfAR, so good! The Chic

Week kicked off on Wednesday night with the usual benefit at Cipriani Wall Street. Honoree Cavalli commanded the tapis rouge until La Lohan, disheveled yet wearing Tom Ford, breezed through the paparazzi to get more face time with...the Just Jared photog! It’s a new media landscape, people. Sarah Jessica Parker also eschewed the press, but she was sweet about it. Something tells us that won’t be the last we’re seeing of her this week!

Natalia Andrade

amFAR BASH! Karolina Kurkova

SCENE “Why don’t another six PR people

SO...DEW Looks like so Y! one else has methe Lana Del had R treatment... ay

step in the way of this shot?! MOVE! PadmaPadma-Padma!!”—an irate photog at amfAR

Elisa Sednaoui

FAVORITE

ABBA SONG, PLEASE!

Julianne Moore

NO NOSTALGIA! Chloé Bello

CAVALLI embraces social media! “I feel like I’ve started a reality show about my life! I invite everybody to start following my blog. It’s really me. Really! Well, it’s really me and my dog, Lupo. Everybody loves him, too. I don’t trust anyone else to write it, so it’s all me on the blog and on Twitter. People write back with such love. Oh my God, I love it!”

With Carol Alt

What worries you about today’s modeling industry? Oh, stop! They’re not lacking anything. They make a ton of money. When they hit, they hit big—and if they’re smart, they can keep it going. Have you mentored younger models? I’ve written two books that teach women how to make a real career out of modeling instead of just doing it for one season.

Carol Alt: ‘Fernando.’ Because it’s so melancholy and nostalgic. There are times in life that call for that. I’m 51 years old, so I have a lot to remember! Heidi Klum: I know ABBA’s songs, but I don’t have a favorite. Lily Donaldson: ‘Waterloo.’ I had to dress up and sing that song when I was seven. ERIN HEATHERTON: ‘Dancing Queen.’ My signature move is the ‘vacuum cleaner’—it’s a good one! I like to dance alone, with only my dogs around. STEPHEN GAN: ‘Thank You for the Music.’ I love the message.

HANG IN THERE, GISELE! Erin Heatherton: “She was just being supportive to somebody she loves, and it wasn’t meant to be heard by everybody else. We all can relate! Anyone in her situation would’ve done the same thing. It’s not a big deal. There’s no need to make it so negative—let’s all relax!” Derek Blasberg: “Oh, I think Gisele is going to be juuuuust fine.” Rachel Roy: “I don’t think Gisele needs anything from me. I love that she believes in something.”

Linda Evangelista: I am a ‘Dancing Queen’…in the privacy of my own home. Molly Sims: What don’t I like from ABBA? LINDA EVANS: I don’t do favorites. I just appreciate the work. CINDI LEIVE: ‘Money, Money, Money.’ Does that make me shallow? ANDREJ PEJIC: ‘Chiquitita.’ [starts singing]

OUR COVER INSPIRATION!

Special thanks to British ABBA tribute band ABBA Inferno, whose publicity shot so inspired and enchanted us that, with just a bit of retouching (no more than you gave to Mendes, JoCo!), our favorite EICs became rock stars (for a cover). Glenda—you’d look divine in Spring’s crop-top trend!

c o v e r c r e d i t : c o u r t e s y a bb a i n f e r n o / r i ch a r d b l o w e r o f l o n d o n . Th i s P a g e : a m f a r : o w e n h o f f m a n / p a t r i ck m c m u l l a n . c o m ; a bb a i n f e r n o : c o u r t e s y a bb a i n f e r n o ; g e t t y ; p a t r i ck m c m u l l a n . c o m

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H O N G KO N G

PA L M B E AC H

SA N F R A N C I S C O

WA S H I N GTO N D C

2/6/12 4:07 PM

Meaningful Beauty Cindy Crawford

Christie Brinkley and Rose McGowan Minka Kelley Chaka Khan

Overheard…

Cindy’s Secret: Daily Skincare Routine It’s only day three of Fashion Week but a packed show schedule and late night revels do take their toll on your skin. This is Cindy Crawford’s daily go-to routine for healthy, radiant skin. Try it and keep a fresh face throughout this week of chic!

“None of these people are going to talk.”—jaded, oldschool reporter “I wish every event had stars like this!” —first-time, fash week stringer

Jenna Elfman

your daily dose HEARD “It’s my second fashion

show that I’ve walked in. I did a small one in Baltimore, for autism!”—Debbie Phelps, mother of Michael, at Heart Truth. ☛ “Chaka Khan and I like to appear together in public as often as possible.”—Cindi Leive at Heart Truth. ☛ “John Waters or Paul Newman.”—Phillip Bloch, on who he is commonly mistaken for, also at Heart Truth. “Oprah’s working out right now.”—Reggie Wells, Ms. Winfrey’s longtime makeup artist, at, yes, Heart Truth.

CATCHING UP WITH… LOTTIE OAKLEY!

Cleanse Every morning I use a small amount of Meaningful Beauty’s Skin Softening Cleanser, massaging it in gently and rinsing with water. Step 1:

Protect & Restore Protection from the sun is one of the most important things I can do to prevent premature aging, so I apply a small amount of Antioxidant Day Crème SPF 20 after cleansing every morning. Step 2:

Step 3: Lift

& Firm To keep skin looking more youthful, I pat the Lifting Eye Crème Advanced Formula around my eyes and massage the Skin Brightening Décolleté and Neck Treatment SPF 15 to my chest and neck area—then I’m set for the day!

What’s new? I launched Haralux, a luxury lifestyle management firm, in Adorable duo: December. The goal is to manage Lottie and Tom talent and create sustainable luxury brands. What did you take away from 13 years in advertising at Vogue? Vogue never really looked behind or beside its competition. Of course, advertising pages was always an indicator, but Vogue is in a league of its own and I think it comes from Anna Wintour being at the helm. How did it feel to depart? It’s never easy to leave a brand like Vogue because it becomes a part of you. But everything has to come to an end, and there wasn’t much fear of moving on. Have you stayed in touch with Tom Florio? I see Tom very often! Probably every week. We’re still very good friends. What’s your NYFW gig all about? I’m the official host of the American Express Skybox. We have a packed schedule with editors, designers, fashion authorities, and tastemakers! Any tidbits from your early days in the industry? In the mid-nineties, I worked as national sales director at Anne Klein. Virginia Smith did the PR, Patrick Robinson was the designer, and Andrew Rosen was the president. At a dinner, Andrew said, ‘Lottie, I want you to touch this shirt—look at how it stretches! It’s this brand that you’re going to hear about.’ It was Prada! He wanted to do a line like that at a lower price point and call it 212, and he asked me to work on it. I was in my twenties, making very little money, and he wanted to pay me even less, so I couldn’t do it. That brand is Theory today!

—Fabien baron

Find out more at trynewmb.com

HEART TRUTH THE MJ CONNECTION! With Patti Stanger

You’re wearing Marc Bouwer. Who would you match him with? His boyfriend is standing right next to me, so I don’t think I want to do that. What about Marc Jacobs? I want him to come on my show. My exboyfriend Daniel is his first cousin! If I could put him and Tom Ford together, that’s a fit. They both have those muscles and fit bodies, and they both look straight. I’d date him. They’re both gorgeous. And I don’t mean to generalize. Don’t let the gay people get snippy with me! What’s the last lie that you’ve told? I told someone that I’m seeing someone else so I didn’t have to see him again.

ANNA BAUER BOOK PARTY AUTHOR TALK!

With Anna Bauer at her Interview-hosted party

How are you feeling? Fantastic and grateful. From the makeup artists to the hair people, I wouldn’t be here without the support of the industry. Including designers like Simon Spurr. Is he here? I love Simon. He’s got beautiful eyes. What’s on your schedule this week? I’m going to shoot Victoria Beckham’s show! Ever meet David? Not yet! But I’d really, really like to... Anna Bauer

Simon Spurr

Johan Lindeberg I don’t read many books because I spend most of my time working, but I do recommend this one. Did you ask about my Valentine’s Day plans? When is that again? heart truth : joe schildhorn / bfanyc . com ( 3) ; ed kav ishe / bfanyc . com ; book party: nick hunt/ patrickmcmullan . com ( 2) ; neil rasmus / bfanyc . com .

Lookin’ good, Patti!

Tim Blanks

Thakoon Panichgul

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DOWNLOAD THE GLAMOUR FRIENDS & FANS APP FOR FREE AT THE APP STORE OR ANDROID MARKET AND SHOP THE GLAMOUR TAXI SHOPS DURING FASHION WEEK. FOLLOW US ON TWITTER AT #GLAMTAXIS.

AWW ALERTch! es a

hit Daily fave Susan Cernek Mobile 50 s ur’ mo Gla of ride in one L’Oréal Taxi Shops rides, selling een products, shuttling betw st, Lincoln Center, Condé Na and The Standard. The Black Swan-esque Keren Craig and Georgina Chapman

Bibhu Mohapatra

NUMBERS REPORT!

NEWSSTAND CHECK! With Stefano Tonchi

Steven Kolb, Patricia Mears, DvF, and Natalie Steele

your daily dose

CFDA IMPACT PARTY

HEARD

“IT guys are the new sex symbols. I want them to get laid that night. They’re the sh*t.”—Nicola Formichetti, who is hosting a Tumblr party on the 15th, at Richard Chai. ☛ “Can Norma Kamali and I give you a compliment? My mother Catherine Malandrino just e-mailed me, ‘Make sure you pick up copies of The Daily!’”—Dani Anna Wintour: loving Stahl at Richard Chai. ☛ “We the resort Céline! have dress codes for certain occasions, so when I come to shows like this I have ideas on what to wear.”— NG the Knicks’ Landry Fields at Joseph Abboud. BREAKI ☛ “I’m going with Lana Del Rey and Joseph NEWS! gtime ’s lon m o Michael Carl: Altuzarra!”—Jenna Lyons on her Met Ball plans, .c g a M NY decamping John Jannuzzi is is r at Kimberly Ovitz. ☛ “Who does that man think he is? te ri w t Cu ed. the perfect person. That’s not even clean chiffon he’s wearing. Hello, this isn’t for BuzzFe D You know me—I Last of the Mohicans. ”—overheard at Whit. ☛ “You don’t WHO SHOUL like snarky! AMY E even want to know what I’d do for a joint right now.”—a REPLAC Joe Zee: I vote showgoer outside of Milk. ODELL? for Mr. Mickey. He writes the most colorful and funny tweets. Amy Astley: Adam Moss does his job really well. What direction would I like to see it go in? Friendly. Nicola Formichetti: Nobody from What if…Linda Fargo and Lynn Yaeger magazines. I like the blog, Into The Gloss. It’s switched pouts?! more girly, but it’s so interesting. Robert Burke: Anamaria Wilson from Bazaar. She’s got a great background, an interesting take, and she’s not afraid to speak her mind. Joey Jalleo: How about Scott Weiland? The Museum at FIT toasted the opening of “Impact: 50 Years of the CFDA Exhibition,” which is running through April 17.

Retouched By an ANGEL!

Zanna Roberts Rassi:

Regis Philbin!

Jenna Lyons: I’m a huge

fan of Amy Larocca.

Juan Carlos Obando:

How can mags sell better on newsstands? I’m not sure because the newsstand is only a small portion of our distribution. The format of the magazine doesn’t fit the rack. We think about the reader, but not the newsstand. Our latest newsstand report Betsey Johnson is quite positive. [Ed. note: W’s most recent newsstand sales were down 7.4% to 20,426 copies.] Thoughts on the redesigned Glamour and Bazaar? I haven’t held the new Glamour or Bazaar in Y R O MANDAT ! my hand. N -I P O DR the on What scares you? ns sio Ses le Sty ly Visit The Dai m today Romney, and sickness. Empire Hotel’s rooftop fro

m noon to through February 13, fro from Essie! s ure nic ma tis Gra . p.m 5 t touch-ups Meaningful Beauty produc ktails! Also, coc rich ntida iox ant and vedere, custom cocktails from Bel mixology ët, Mo m fro e agn mp cha m Bertaud from Hennessy, rosé fro and, for the ai, Ash m fro ws bre , Belieu mins vita B , ous health-consci a. occ Ber m fro ts rien nut and

A Moment with… LINDSAY DEGEN

What’s the quirkiest thing about you? Whoa! Maybe my dance party aerobic classes. Have you ever been to Body Roll? No! What do you wear to something like that? A ripped up *NSYNC t-shirt. What kind of music do they play? We dance to nineties music. There are a lot of air caterpillars.

DEGEN

OMG! Is she getting married? Kathy Griffin! CFDa: will ragozzino/bfanyc.com (8); courtesy degen (3); getty (5); courtesy maybelline

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F A C E B O O K . C O M / B E LV E D E R E VO D K A

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Chic

re-do

“

Working your way up is way overestimated. My first job was editor-in-chief of a magazine, and I’ve been one for over 25 years. It’s a long time to be successful.”—Glenda Bailey

FA S H I O N W E E K D A I L Y. C O M

still in

charge

After 10 years atop Harper’s Bazaar, and among rumors of a possible change of guard at the iconic Hearst mag, formidable editrix Glenda Bailey announced a redesign. She then enlisted Alexandra Shulman’s once-secret weapon Robin Derrick (see above) to give the stately bible a makeover. Brows were raised (and questions asked): What to make of it all? One month later, Derrick was gone and a new-ish day had dawned. by christopher TENNANT & ALEXANDRA ILYASHOV. photography by giorgio niro

Why a redesign—and why right now? We update the magazine’s look every six months. This one, though, is particularly exciting because it’s one-inch wider and the paper quality is thicker. I’m the only person in the fashion industry that actually wants to go wider! It gives us more of a square format, which allows the photographs room to breathe, creating an emotional connection with the reader. Why did you hire Robin? I chose Robin because for the last two years he’s spent most of his time working online, and that brings so much to what we’re doing, both in print and online. I’ve known and admired Robin’s work for many, many years, since The Face days. Did any of the big changes stem from reader feedback? No. It was all gut instinct. What’s the new aesthetic? It’s very back-to-basics: really simple, with lots of white space. There are so many tricky typefaces out there that feel very gimmicky and noisy, and I wanted everything to be clean and elegant. The design can be summed up in a sentence: Didot caps, Didot italics upper and lower case—Stephen [Gan] really loves Didot, too—and now we’re introducing Gotham caps. Wow! Oh, yes! I also love Gill. I’m a traditionalist in that way. I love Helvetica, Ventura, and Gill, so getting me excited about Gotham definitely took some work on Robin’s part… What will most surprise loyal Bazaar readers? I hope they’re not too surprised! But overall, the magazine will be easier to navigate. We keep it very pointed because we’re conscious that our readers don’t have a lot of time. I want to represent the best of the world, in the easiest, most-edited form possible. Sometimes I’m guilty of trying to put too much into the magazine. I want to give so much! But today, it’s all about the 10 things you need to know, instead of 700 ideas of the moment. What sections did Robin really re-haul? He worked heavily on The Bazaar, and the changes to our fonts. And he’s really cleaned everything up. Robin really only worked with us for one month, but he was very hands-on. What challenges did the reboot bring? Being so quiet, design-wise, was an enormous risk. It was tempting to do something completely new and over-the-top—instead of thinking about what’s right for the brand. OK, let’s walk through the issue. We start with a news page where we talk about everything new. It’s very influenced by Alexey Brodovitch. My editor’s letter looks similar to what we’ve done before—and we’ve given it more space. It looks like no other magazine’s editor letter—it resembles an actual, handwritten letter.

Why Gwyneth on the cover? Because she’s re-launching Goop. Why is her face obscured? It’s daring. I try to take calculated risks all the time. What’s next? Then you get to The House, which is our living section, followed by The Escape, our travel section. After that, the features well. There’s a shoot by Tommy Ton—I love his work because it just feels so real and so right, right now. Then there’s Angela Missoni, lost in a wavy Missoni pattern... Why? I love to lend an element of surprise to every issue. I think that’s what I’m renowned for. You need to give people a reason to buy the magazine. It can’t just be the shopping. I’ve said this before, but we’re not just about hemlines—we’re about headlines as well. Let’s get meta: How does Bazaar fit into today’s landscape? Harper’s was the first fashion magazine. It’s always stood for fashion, instruction, and pleasure. We stand out because of our tone. We take it seriously, but not too seriously. We try to produce ideas that you’ve never seen before. If you have, what’s the point of buying a magazine? Do you tolerate dissent? Well, I’m very hands-on, as I’m sure you’ve heard. That’s the joy about working with great talent—they understand the vision. I’m very demanding as an editor, but it’s not a popularity contest. Sometimes ideas come from me, and sometimes from my team, but we all know a good one when we hear it. Are you getting along with Carol Smith? I really like her energy. I like that she’s experienced, and I love her ideas. Do you care about focus groups? My attitude towards research is the same as my attitude towards astrology. If it agrees with me, I believe it. If it doesn’t, I don’t. We haven’t done research for a long time, but I have an open mind. Is it a good time to be an editor? There’s never been a greater time! There’s so much noise out there. People who have the knowledge, authority, great taste in style, and an understanding of what people want are the ones who will be super successful. What makes an effective editor-in-chief? Bringing out the most of someone’s talent. It’s also about instantly knowing when something is good or bad. I’m fearless in the way I edit. I prefer to have a dash of daring rather than the same thing month after month. What’s the key to your longevity? I have two sayings: ‘Good is the enemy of great’ and ‘No is the first point of negotiation.’ Do kids pay their dues these days like you did? I didn’t—I started at the top! Working your way up is way over-estimated. My first job was editor-in-chief of a magazine, and I’ve been editor-in-chief for over 25 years. It’s a long time to be successful.

Chic

re-do

STEPHEN GAN

WEIGHS IN!

What was it like to work with Robin? Since Glenda and I celebrated our 10-year anniversary last year, it was a good time to renew our vows! We did that with a full redesign. Bazaar is a brand as important as Coke or Pepsi to Americans. It felt like a great time to reexamine what makes Bazaar what it is. Why Robin? He has a modern design aesthetic and is very conscious of what works—as opposed to a ‘graphic artist’ or ‘art director’ that just wants something pretty. How did you reflect, exactly? We went through old Bazaar issues from the fifties and sixties. Robin did extensive research. He brought fresh eyes to the same images and materials that Glenda and I had seen over and over. It’s like Glenda and I are doing our duet, and Robin was the guest artist. So how extensive is the redesign? The music had to stay the same, but we needed a remix. It’s like a thoroughly modern, techno-driven duet. Very Audrey Hepburn, “Think Pink,” Funny Face...and quite Diana Vreeland!

FA S H I O N W E E K D A I L Y. C O M

You should be on TV! I like TV. It’s certainly something I’m interested in, and many members of my team are very photogenic—as I’m sure you know. Have you thought about running for office? I’m very interested in politics, but the politics of fashion are what interests me right now. Will you still be editing Bazaar in 20 years? I’m open to all suggestions. I love what I do. My position has changed so much, even in the last two years, but since the job is constantly evolving, it keeps me interested. As soon as I get bored, I’ll be out of here.

bazaar then Now &

How do the February and March issues compare?

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Chic

EXEC

Deb’s DEBUT

great mutual misunderstanding—of course he’s now a very good friend. And then, Lucky. I was there starting with the test issue in 1999, creating the magazine’s voice with Kim, James Truman, and a total staff of 10 or so people. Kim was very clear about what she imagined Lucky to be for its readers: straightforward and honest, without bullshitting. The first year Lucky existed, I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that I wrote all of the fashion copy in the magazine. You also worked on Domino, but what were you doing right before coming back to Lucky? I was writing copy at J.Crew for six weeks. I spent entire days writing copy about boxer shorts. That held some brief fascination, but after a while… How did you land back at Lucky? Brandon [Holley] called, we talked, that was it! Had you worked together? No. I think I met her in the hall at Lucky once. I also ran into her at City Bakery. Why did she call you? She’s making sure the magazine stays true to its original vision and

not to read fashion magazines. They should look at them—but our mission at Lucky is to not sound like one. What voice are you aiming for, then? Native English speakers who are writing in a straightforward, clear, knowledgeable manner. How would you describe the cadence of a freelancer’s life? Freelancing is a very unpredictable, up-and-down thing with blank periods. It’s weird because you can’t really plan ahead. But while freelancing, I also worked on a novel. What’s it about? The rise and fall of a friendship, set in AIDS activism circles in the early nineties in downtown New York. How long have you been writing it? Like 800 years! What’s your look? I’ve always had a specific style—Kermit the Frog meets the Marlboro Man meets Tin Tin meets Radclyffe Hall. What kind of shopper are you? My favorite stores are ones that have men’s clothes that fit me. Let’s take my outfit right now. Florsheim shoes, jeans from Barneys, custom Tim Hamilton shirt, and a Ted Baker tie.

Lucky’s got a new executive editor, and it’s a homecoming of sorts—Deb Schwartz spent five years on the title’s launch team. What’s the former Out senior editor been doing in the interim? Another Condé launch—remember Domino?—a string of contrib editor and freelance gigs, and, yes, an almost-finished novel! BY ALEXANDRA ILYASHOV PHOTOGRAPHY BY GIORGIO NIRO

How did you initially land at Lucky? In 1999, I got a call from Kim France, whom I’d sat next to when I was a fact-checker at Elle. Kim was starting a new magazine about shopping. Of course at that point I had no idea what that meant, and neither did anyone else. I ended up spending five years as a freelance contributing editor at Lucky. I also knew Kim from Oberlin College— she was a year ahead of me. How did you get into journalism? I was living in depressing Somerville, Massachusetts in the late eighties after I graduated from college, doing a terrible job of waiting tables while writing for this great little newspaper, Gay Community News. Local gay press was really alive then. Then I applied to be an intern at The Nation, which was an incredibly rigorous experience with lots of fact-checking. That brought me to New York, where I was subletting the home of a shiatsu masseuse

FA S H I O N W E E K D A I L Y. C O M

promise. The voice is a big part of that, who’d gone off to a Zen retreat. and I’m intimately familiar with it— How did you end up at Out? unpretentious, respectful, enthusiastic, I went back to freelancing, and then passionate, and informed. became research chief at Out— What’s it like to be followed by roles as back at Lucky? associate editor and BRANDON WEIGHS IN! Working with senior editor. The How did you find Deb? Brandon is really magazine was very Whenever an editor went on great—she’s a real different then, with maternity leave, Deb came in. innovator, very lots of investigative She was our crackerjack! All of a enthusiastic, has a pieces. I got to write sudden, I thought, let’s get her ton of energy, and and edit so much, to come in all the time. is a big thinker. I from side effects of When did you lure her in? really like being in a AIDS medications I knew Deb’s work, so I basically managerial role and to a recipe for saltjust called her and said, ‘come.’ working with lots of baked fish. James Deb’s response was, ‘Give me different people. I’m Collard became two days.’ We didn’t even do a happy to be doing editor-in-chief while face-to-face interview. I knew many things during I was there. Initially that she was the right person! the day, rather than I thought he was Why? just writing. a silly poof, and She has an amazing way with What advice do you he thought I was a tone and display. The voice of give your writers? dowdy, humorless our editors just flows out of her. I counsel my writers lesbian. We had this If you’re toiling over your copy, it reads that way. Also, Deb is a former camp counselor, so she’s great for morale!

How often do you shop? When I find the right thing, I buy in bulk so I can shop less. But I’ll get sucked into blogs, which leads to a shop, which leads to another blog, which leads to a belt or something. Does your shopping style reflect Lucky’s readers? No. The reader is a dedicated shopping enthusiast. I’m not the demographic. What effect does that have on doing this new job? There’s a long history of gay men working in fashion and publishing, and my position is no different. We want the fun and passion of shopping, which we get from our market and fashion teams. But we also aim to demystify, so we do in-depth stories about, say, where to shop for the right pair of jeans. My job is to understand and appreciate the tizzy. And I have a whole department of people feeding it to me, which is great!

cOuRtESY luck Y

Chic LESSONS

funny story.... Can you imagine decamping from the top fashion glossy to run an even more luxurious magazine... where you never have to think about celebrities or newsstand sales? Meet Richard David Story: Vogue alum, one-time Weisberger boss, and now, EIC of American Express Publishingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s crown jewel, Departures. BY ALEXANDRA ILYASHOV. photography by giorgio niro FA S H I O N W E E K D A I L Y. C O M

How do we subscribe? You can pay $500 for the card! Departures goes to American Express Platinum Card and Centurion members, the most prosperous cardholders. It’s a mix of people, and the only thing they are really united by is affluence—the cardholders’ median income is $685,000. In 2001, there were 650,000 cardholders, and now, 1.2 million. This is not a mass magazine, and it’s not meant to appeal to everyone. The age of gilded luxury is dead. Luxury was always intended for a very specific audience. But don’t you ever wish the average guy could pick up a copy at JFK? Controlled circulation seems to be a very successful way to be a successful magazine today. There’s too much bad stuff out there. They’re running the same old stories while competing for newsstand space. People always want us to do it as a newsstand magazine, but what’s the point? How would the newsstand change things? Now, I don’t have to feature celebrities! Marketers tell editors that celebrities will help sell magazines, but ironically, sales are still down. It doesn’t seem to be working too well, does it? So what does Departures offer? It’s the ultimate lifestyle magazine! Departures provides access to people, places, or things that you can’t find on Google or in other magazines. Its wallpaper is global, and it’s about design, architecture, food, fashion, and yes, travel. I take the world of luxury as seriously as David Remnick takes politics, or Anna takes fashion, or Graydon takes celebrity. What’s the voice? We don’t talk down. In fact, I think we talk up to this audience. Departures is a club. Our ‘You Tell Us’ page, where readers write in, is one of the most important parts to advertisers and brands—it’s an exchange of information among club members, and they take it very seriously. A place usually goes off the charts when someone writes in because they’ve discovered and loved it. Departures is edited for a readership that’s very proactive. I just tell them what to buy and what to see. Were you nervous in 2008? I never had a problem with the word ‘luxury.’ Let the rest of the editors out there have problems with that word because they shouldn’t have been using it! How did you fare compared with those other titles aimed at affluent audiences? The ones that just show a bunch of product? Those are ‘dumb rich people magazines.’ I like to have people think with their heads as well as their pocketbooks. I wanted to protect this person. I wanted them to realize that what I was offering actually had value and quality. Departures is not just about a trendy and effervescent experience. So lots of celebrity readers, presumably. Tom Ford is a big fan. So is Alec Baldwin—and funnily enough, he’s the only celebrity I’ve ever put in the magazine. He’s terrific, passionate, hip, and he seems real and authentic—for better and for worse. John Tesh always calls me for advice before he goes to Paris. Also, Departures is in the second to last episode of The Sopranos. One of the characters goes to pay his psychiatrist a last visit. He picks up a copy of Departures in the waiting room, rips out a page,

and puts it in his pocket. The psychiatrist catches him doing it, and they have this whole discussion about it during the session. People thought that American Express actually paid for product placement. They definitely did not! What’s happening from a business perspective? Steve DeLuca is our new publisher—he’s really smart, funny, and stylish. He gets it! When he interviewed for this job, he was the most impressive candidate by far. He knew this magazine so well and really wanted to publish it. He’s really inspirational to work with. It’s been the greatest publishing experience I’ve ever had. Plus, we’re up 45 percent this year and a lot of that is fashion advertising, thanks to Steve. What’s the best place you’ve visited lately? My favorite city in the world right now is Istanbul. It’s incredibly new, modern, and energetic. The food’s wonderful. A design firm, Autoban, is creating very exciting small hotels and restaurants. I’ve been three times in the last two years! Do you travel alone? Mostly, to places I’m interested in story-wise. My wife has her own business, but she comes with me

“I never had a problem with the word ‘luxury.’ Let the rest of the editors out there have problems with that word because they shouldn’t have been using it!”

What are the three best trips you have ever taken? One was diving in the Galapagos and swimming with seals and sharks on a trip with my son about eight years ago. I also did a safari entirely on elephant-back in Tanzania for four days, which was wonderful. Also, rafting by day and sleeping on the banks of Salmon River in Idaho under the stars by night, which was one of my first big trips. The stars were aligned, literally! OK, enough travel—stories from the Vogue trenches, please! I had a very strong and uncomplicated relationship with Anna. I adore her! I learned much of what I bring to this magazine from her. She has impeccable taste, and she kept the bar very high. In the five years I was there as features editor, she killed maybe two pieces out of 150 or so pieces I assigned. Anna knew what she wanted, I knew what I could do, I gave her what she wanted, and it worked out great. I didn’t really want to leave—but I thought that if I was to become editor-in-chief of a magazine, which was the game plan, Departures would be a very good magazine.

Story in Rajasthan, India for the Sufi Music Festival in February 2011

when possible. I’ve also traveled quite a bit with my publisher, Steve DeLuca, and Ed Kelly, the CEO and president of American Express Publishing. Give us your best traveling tips. Some trips are only as good as the guide! Departures is all about very customized experiences, and we have a big network of ‘friends and family’ that we depend on for this information. I don’t send a writer out carte blanche. They have to do a lot of work before they go. What qualifies as a good, or great, hotel? Unfortunately, I’m the type of person for whom the last trip I took is always the best. I was just at the House Hotel on the Bosphorus, only 23 rooms in a very gorgeous old piece of Ottoman architecture that was a grand 19th-century architect’s personal home. It had been in terrible disrepair forever and has now been completely redone. The day I checked in, Monica Bellucci had checked out, and Brad and Angelina were arriving later that week. It was just perfect! Is anything ever too expensive for Departures? I don’t need to justify the price, since I didn’t set it, but I have to explain it. Do you prefer more modest accommodations? As I always tell our editors, what I really want to discover is the perfect double room. The suite is easy to find—it’s just a big $5,000 room!

What did you learn from Anna? Anna taught me to think visually. One time, I wanted to do a story on [architect] Zaha Hadid. Anna wasn’t really interested—until we found out that Helmut Newton could photograph it, and then it became a story. It was the greatest lesson! Zaha Hadid maybe wasn’t the story at that particular time, but Helmut Newton on Zaha Hadid made it a story. Photography can give such weight and context. What do you see happening in fashion today? The big and important fashion houses are focusing on the luxury consumer again. A year earlier there was a fad of developing younger lines—that’s gone now. If you are focusing on the luxury customer, Departures is the book that sells it. Where do you spend exorbitantly? Expensive suits. I get them from all sorts of places— from Brooks Brothers to Century 21 to Armani. What happened when you bid adieu to Vogue? Anna’s assistant, Lauren Weisberger, came to work with me for two and a half years before she left to work on the The Devil Wears Prada. What was your reaction to the book? She was very sheepish when she first told me about it. ‘Well, I know you’re very good friends with Anna,’ Lauren said. I didn’t really know what the book was about. I just knew it was a novel. But Lauren’s terrific, and the book went on to become part of the culture. c o u r t e s y ri c hard da v is ( 1 ) ; c o u r t e s y d e p ar t u r e s ( 1 )

Bryan Boy

“Bryan Boy: Est. 2004”

Marc named a bag after him and The Huffington Post claimed he rakes in over 100k a year. Filipino fashion blogger extraordinaire Bryan Boy has solidified his A List status by taking main residency on the runway’s front row…next to ANNA.

Leandra Medine of Man Repeller

“Always the ‘Arm Party’ starter”

Scott Schuman and Garance Dore

This recent Eugene Lang New School graduate has fashion scribes panting for ‘More Medine!’ Leandra acts as the web’s head cheerleader for trends that contradict conservative sensibilities. Thinking about using her obscenely popular ‘Arm Party’ term? She’ll serve you a legal smack down. It’s trademarked.

“Scott & Garance: A Love Story”

When Scott met Garance, it was sartorial love at first site. Only set back? He was already married. That detail soon changed. Since then the two have blogged and street styled their way around the world for almost every fashion week that exists.

Rumi Neely of Fashiontoast

“Rumi’s Got the Write Stuff ” Yes, Rumi is beautiful, but she’s also damn smart. Every brand from Bulgari to RVCA is banging down her door for coveted partnerships. Born in 2008, her site FashionToast has seamlessly merged blog content with ecommerce capabilities. Business and beauty has never looked this good.

kelly framel of the coveteur

“The ‘DIY’ Style Sensation”

This Austin-born, Brooklyn-based blogger is no stranger to style. Framel began her career as an eveningwear designer for Naeem Khan and moved on to work with such notable names as Dolce & Gabbana, Coach, Dior and Ralph Lauren. Her DIY-savvyness has attracted a bevy of loyal supporters since she burst onto the scene in 2008.

get into the habit A pantheon of stylistas are going head-to-head to win top honors in the blog-o-sphere this season. Hosted by fashion’s most notorious jet setting scribe, New York Times Best Selling author Derek Blasberg, the 2012 MYHABIT Bloglovin’ Awards are set to be bigger and better than ever.

Award #1:

Award #2:

Award #3:

Award #4:

Newcomer Of The Year Nominees:

Inspiration Award Nominees:

Blogger Business of The Year Nominees:

Best Personal Style Blog Nominees:

Olivia Palermo Tuula Vintage Wendy’s Lookbook I Spy DIY Honestly WTF

the COVETEUR le FASHION vogueweekend TEXTBOOK INTO THE GLOSS

Elin Kling-Nowhere Tavi-RookieMag Jennine Jacob-IFB Chiara/Andy/CarolinaWerelse Purseblog

Fashion Toast Sea of Shoes Atlantic Pacific The Man Repeller Glamourai

Award #5:

Award #6:

Award #7:

Award #8:

Best International Blog Nominees:

Best Fashion News Blog Nominees:

Best Street Style Blog Nominees:

Most Original Blog Nominees:

Garotas Estupidas Ena Matsumoto Kenza Zouiten Momoko Ogihara Lovelypepa

Refinery29 Fashionista Who What Wear WWD StyleCaster

Stockholm Street Style Scott Schuman Street Peeper Jak and Jill Streetfsn

Bryan Boy Susie Bubble Julia Frakes Anna Dello Russo From Me To You

Chic

intro

DAILY EXCLUSIVE! His FIRST EIC interview EVER!

Editorof STEELE Us Weekly, formerly the publication of choice to pass the time at the nail salon, has evolved from glossy guilty pleasure to a weekly ogle-fest that’s more than breakup, makeup, and baby bump intel for the starryeyed. Under the mild-mannered helm of Michael Steele, the Wenner mag has become the ultimate crib sheet for editors across the industry when it’s time to up the addictiveness ante and beef up newsstand sales. FA S H I O N W E E K D A I L Y. C O M

BY ALEXANDRA ILYASHOV. PHOTOGRAPHY BY GIORGIO NIRO

How did you end up in magazines? I was a social worker after college working as a case manager for mentally ill, formerly homeless residents of an SRO [single resident occupancy] building. Then I applied for an internship at Harper’s. Why? It began at jury duty. I was reading Harper’s and a woman asked for my thoughts on an article. Turns out she was the assistant to the editor-in-chief, and she told me to apply for an internship. I applied but I never followed up with her, being the excellent networker that I’m not. I finally got an interview with Jim Nelson back when he was an editor there. He’s a really nice guy, but a very scary interviewer. So after your internship... I got a job as a fact-checker at New York and I rose through the ranks, eventually becoming a senior editor. I was working on the front-of-book section, plus a grab bag of other responsibilities. After six years, I just needed a change. In 2003, Janice Min hired me to be a top editor at Us. How were your earliest years at the mag? The pace was insane. Janice had just gotten here. It was a young and fledgling staff, and the hours were crazy. We’d have a story meeting at 11 p.m. on a Thursday night. There was a lot of turnover in the year and a half that Bonnie was at the magazine, after I’d started. Once Janice took over, structure was put into place and the staff grew up a bit. Ten years later, many of those same people are married and have kids—it seems like half of the office has children under the age of six. The attitude is to get your work done and get out. Mondays are still horrendous—we start at 9 a.m. and finish at 1 a.m.—but we’re much more of a well-oiled machine today. There’s no way we could maintain that crazy, breakneck, finals-weektype pace forever. And we didn’t want to! How do you and Janice differ? Well, this is the first interview I’ve done as editorin-chief in the two years I’ve held the title! I’d done various aspects of being EIC while I was Janice’s number two from 2003 to 2009, whether she was on vacation, maternity leave, or out for a day. But I hadn’t done them all at once—or been the face of a major organization. It’s not my style or temperament. But I’ve found that to be successful, I just have to be myself. I can’t be this larger-than-life personality. How did you catch wind of the new gig? Janice called me on a Friday night, just as I was leaving for vacation, and told me that she was leaving. I said, ‘Yeah, you’ll work it out by Monday.’ I left for vacation, and on Monday Jann [Wenner] called and said, ‘We’re making you editor-in-chief, so come back.’ It ended up being a very short vacation. How did life change? It’s a shift in tempo, and letting go of certain things. I like line editing, but there just isn’t time for it now. I’m constantly being presented with new decisions, so I don’t get to burrow into things. What did you learn from Janice? She never checked her brain at the door. We are a guilty pleasure at Us Weekly, but we’re there to entertain you as well as inform you. On the surface, it might be a silly-sounding story, but that doesn’t mean your approach can or should be any less rigorous. With some of our competitors, you can tell when they’ve just thrown up their hands and said, well, this is just a stupid story so we’re just going to do it in a stupid way. We never let our work feel that way. We’ll write that silly headline 10 times if we need to. The Loose Talk section, for example? We agonize over which quotes to include! Which changes have you made? We do many more cooperative interviews than we

used to. Over time, we’ve built up relationships with Hollywood so celebrities feel more confident having us break their news for them. That’s part of why our readers trust us. They view Us as more credible. But is the magazine less juicy? No. Because our core value is breaking news. Why is Us so addictive? We hire a lot of really smart people, and try not to get in the way! A lot of staffers have been at the magazine the entire time that I’ve been around, so there’s a lot of experience. It’s very collaborative. What do you think of today’s newsstand? There are too many magazines! But our readers are smart enough to distinguish us from our competitors. That said, we do get lumped into a category, and we worry sometimes that the more shameless things our competitors do on a regular basis can bring us down. That’s why I sometimes wish they’d go out of business. How fiercely do you compete? We compete with People for cooperatives, access to celebrities, and breaking news. Online, it’s only us, People, and sometimes TMZ routinely breaking celebrity news. We will compete with the other celebrity titles for newsstand buyers because they do come up with outlandish stories, which fly off the shelves. But the moment you open up their magazines, you realize it’s all untrue. What sets you apart? We tend to be nicer than our competitors when we’re reporting a story very aggressively because our readers like celebrities. OK! recently shook up its production schedule by shipping issues earlier to cut costs. Discuss! It’s hilarious. They’re closing issues on Thursday nights, but will crop up on the newsstands each Wednesday with all the other weeklies. So their competitors will have an additional three days to break news. It’ll be hard for them to stay competitive, not that OK! is really competing right now. I guess they’re more interested in saving money at this point. How do you win at the newsstand? Everyone here focuses exclusively on what the reader wants to know about. We often take the ‘I’ out of it. We became the paper of record for Teen Mom. How did you get to Teen Mom first? If it’s a show on MTV, and a good one at that, chances are someone in our office won’t shut up about it. Other favorite triumphs? We broke the Tiger Woods story. Some other publications get the credit, but we were the first to break that he actually cheated on his wife and have an on-the-record interview with one of his mistresses. What else consistently piques reader interest? The Bachelor franchise. It creates a news cycle of its own. These people want media coverage, which is always nice—and they bring lots of scandals with them. We also dominated the category with our coverage of the royals. One of our reporters in London was approached by reporters from British publications, and from our U.S. competitors’ publications, with offers to buy their reporting because our people were better-sourced. To be able to out-report the Brits on the royals is quite a coup! In general, what sells best? Breakups and weddings are big. Baby news of varying kinds also sells. Weight loss is also big— those four categories are sort of the cornerstones

of our category! Oh, and cheating. How ethically sound are your anonymous sources? Many of our reporters have been here for a while, so we would never go out with a risky story based on a source we have never used before. We try to get two sources for anything remotely controversial or scandalous. Reporters are closely supervised on both coasts—their supervisors know who the anonymous sources are, and we’re often in constant conversation with those sources. We always cross-check sources to corroborate a story. Yes, you usually get two different sides from celebrity reps about the same breakup—but we’ve been doing this long enough to be able to suss out what’s PR spin and embellishment. It’s a key value with our readers that we maintain credibility, and that we’re usually right. How do you really feel about the Kardashians? We love them. I personally have met Kourtney and Khloé, but I haven’t met Kim yet. They’re great. They’re currently suffering a PR crisis because of Kim’s wedding, but I hope they’ll recover. They’re very hardworking. They’ve opened their lives up to the world, and they don’t take themselves too seriously—which is great for a magazine like ours. I would never compare them to Heidi [Montag] and Spencer [Pratt], but they’re an example of a celebrity that sold really well at one point—some of our topselling issues of all time had Heidi and Spencer on the cover—and now they can’t even get themselves arrested. Or, say, a Kate Gosselin. In the reality sector, it’s possible to reach a point where viewers just say, ‘No more!’ Lindsay Lohan is an example of that response. I don’t think the Kardashians are anywhere near that point, but if enough people stop liking you, you’re done. We don’t want that to happen—they’re great material, and they’re fun to cover! Does Us often choose a team when breakups hit? We try to remain neutral whenever possible. We’re in the business of selling magazines, so you usually need to be on both sides, except in the case of someone like Kim. We covered Angelina [Jolie], and we covered Jen [Aniston]. Some of our readers passionately felt like Jen was wronged, and other readers are all about Angelina. You need to appeal to both—there is a way to have your cake and eat it too. Is your staff as interested and sympathetic as your readers? Are we all cynics behind closed doors? No! I think some cynicism can definitely creep into your day-today work, but for the most part, our staff really loves celebrities. If you don’t enjoy it, it’d be pretty hellish since it’s a lot of hours, a lot of hard work, and a lot of information to constantly process. How interested were you in celeb news before arriving at Us Weekly? Not very! I was certainly aware of what was going on, and I definitely read Us Weekly, but more because it was fun, humorous, and clever. Back in 2002, when Janice and Bonnie were reinventing the magazine, it was exciting to see what they were doing as a magazine editor. My interest was more on that level than on Jessica Simpson and her personal life. Did that latter skill set subsequently develop? Oh, yes! It doesn’t take long. Before you know it, you get sucked in. Who do you hope gets lots of play in 2012? I’d love it if Adele would hook up with Ryan Gosling.

Chic LIT

THE

new yorKer’s SECRET WEAPON

Before arriving in the plush publisher’s chair at The New Yorker, Lisa Hughes spent over 20 years hopping around at Condé, from erstwhile Mademoiselle (R.I.P.), to VF, to a decade (and change) at Condé Nast Traveler. Now she’s tasked with luring in ad dollars to fund one of the most respected journalistic operations in the world.

What’s David Remnick like? He wanders the halls—a lot. He just pops in, and he rarely calls in advance for meetings. He’ll just appear and say ‘Hey.’ That’s not conventional for an editor-inchief. It’s organic, and it’s kind of disarming! It’s very reporter-like. He goes out and finds the story, instead of having people come to his office and tell him things. David is not a formal person. His approach is to roll up his sleeves and get it done. How did you end up in publishing? It’s sort of a dumb reason: I loved to read books and magazines. I could have gone into either medium, but back in the old days, they made you take a typing test to get into book publishing. I kept failing! So my very first job was at Cook’s Illustrated. What’s your history with Condé? August was my 25th anniversary at Condé Nast. My first magazine was Mademoiselle, then I went to Woman, Allure, Condé Nast Traveler, House & Garden, back to Traveler, and then The New Yorker. Long stint at Traveler! I got to really see and travel the world when I was there, and I worked with the great Tom Wallace for a decade. Why were you plucked for The New Yorker? That’s a question for Chuck Townsend! My predecessor at The New Yorker, Drew Schutte, was promoted to a more integrative role, which is his core interest and made sense as we were doing all this web selling. It’s always a question of timing, based on how they are shifting the players around. I think they were all aware that I’d really love to be here. Are you a lifelong reader? My parents were subscribers, so I’ve never had a moment when The New Yorker wasn’t a part of my life. Of course, it all started with the cartoons. How do you read The New Yorker today? I behave very much like our reader does: following the writers. How does fashion figure into the magazine? We apply the same topical focus

and eye for current events to politics as we do to our fashion coverage. We do two Style Issues a year with profiles of the industry’s biggest names, whether it’s a Mickey Drexler at J. Crew or Ikea. From an ad perspective, luxury goods have always been a really important category. How else does style seep into the pages of The New Yorker? Cartoons! We’ve had thousands of fashion and beauty cartoons. Many have become iconic for the luxury houses. Our cartoons spoof our readers’ lifestyles—they hold a mirror up to, and comment on, a specific moment in time. How does the pace at a weekly compare with a monthly? Everyone at The New Yorker has a terrific sense of urgency. If you like instant gratification, which I do, you have it. But if you don’t like something you can’t sweat it because it’s ancient history by next week. What other moments from your tour de Condé stand out? I worked at Vanity Fair during the really early days of Graydon. The very first Hollywood issue was a brilliant, winning idea from the start. And the first Vanity Fair Oscar party happened while I was there—what an A+, amazing event! It was a big, fat issue with that gatefold cover including people such as Gwyneth Paltrow, who was unknown at the time. As a sales team, we had to practice just to pronounce her name correctly. How would you launch a magazine today? It would be completely different—a multi-platform approach from the get-go. Distribution of content would be a big part of the conversation. What are the challenges of building a biz on new media? It’s the Wild West right now, in a good way. People are experimenting, particularly in fashion, but it’s harder to articulate it all on a sales call. The creative material is getting better. As a result, interaction with the consumer is more fun and interesting. Ultimately, publishing is for people who can adapt.

BY ALEXANDRA ILYASHOV PHOTOGRAPHY BY GIORGIO NIRO o u r t e s y t h e n e w yo r k e r (4)

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SALES

PREWAR, POST-WAR OR POSTMODERN. WHAT’S YOUR STYLE?

As the largest regional and global network of real estate experts, Douglas Elliman has a way of understanding your home and what makes it unique. From buying and selling to appraisals, mortgage financing and rentals, top experts on AskElliman.com offer timely answers to today’s questions about all things real estate. With a powerful combination of talent and technology, we have the experience, insight and access to guide you skillfully from beginning to end. Visit AskElliman.com for a list of our office locations in your area.

Daily Front Row FEB11-rev5.indd 1

2/8/12 12:35 PM

Chic

again

filipa

FLIES SOLO!

After 11 warm years under Anna Wintour’s wing, Vogue accessories chick Filipa Fino left the Condé nest in June to try and wing it on her own. Fino File—her online-only fashion magazine—brings her years of curatorial savvy to the digital fold for the very first time. Watch your back, BryanBoy... by christopher tennant photography by giorgio niro

FA S H I O N W E E K D A I L Y. C O M

Why Fino File? Talk us through it… I oversaw the accessories department at Vogue for eight years and was at Condé Nast for 11. Then, about two years ago, we launched Vogue.com. Basically, it was a whole new challenge and no one really knew what digital was about. I oversaw the accessories for the website and the dynamics of the digital world fascinated me. People would stop me and tell me that the bag I suggested was amazing, and I’d ask them what issue it was in, and they’d say, ‘Oh, no. It was on Vogue.com!’ It was as if what we were doing at the magazine was becoming irrelevant, in a way. Today, in all reality, if we didn’t get a box of Vogues every month, my kids wouldn’t read it. Yet they can make their own digital fashion boards in five seconds. How did you know you could pull it off? I’m one of these stubborn people that have a business background. I went to business school and majored in finance and marketing. I hate not knowing how to do something. I would literally sit my kids down with my notebook and make them teach me. Have you always been a big online shopper? Absolutely! I’m obsessed with 1stdibs and eBay, even though I’m the least technical person you’ll ever meet. Then, of course, there’s the other thing that started happening along with the digital boom— bloggers. These young kids were suddenly being seated next to Anna, next to us. I’d think, ‘What are you, 24?’ They’re now included in the CFDA! There’s no control over information anymore. At Vogue, we prided ourselves on being first, but it became impossible. I started to wonder if I should save a shoe for a Grace [Coddington] shoot or be the first to post it on Vogue.com. It was a constant battle. Did it hurt to get scooped by BryanBoy? Well, you know…we came on a little late to the game. The website was a stepchild to the magazine for a long time, since the magazine is so powerful, but it makes more sense now to put the information on the web. That’s why I’m doing what I’m doing: because a 25-year-old without experience in the Philippines with a dynamic personality has a reach that’s as strong as mine, if not stronger. The experience I had [at Vogue], and at all the magazines I’ve worked with, was fantastic, but I have to be smart and say, ‘Listen, Filipa. What you’ve been doing for so many years is changing and isn’t going to be there anymore.’ This blogger kid is in the same place that I am, but didn’t do all those things that I did. You wonder, ‘Why can’t I do that?’ I respect bloggers and enjoy their work, but the point of view and credibility is not there and a lot of their information is the same. Do you have partners in your new venture? Terry Tsiolis, who is a great photographer who’s shot for Elle, Harper’s Bazaar, and French Vogue, heads my photo department. John Langston, who started off as my assistant, is our art director. There are a lot of great shopping websites, but the experience is all very catalogued and analytical. That doesn’t entice me. What entices me is the glamorous pages in Vogue, where you look at what the girl is wearing, shot at the hot new café where everyone is at...but that’s not shoppable. I want to bring the feeling of a magazine with a very edited point of view to the Web. That’s what these young kids lack. I’ve been going to shows since 1997. I’ve sat with these designers. I’ve helped start many of their careers. There’s so much information out there, but there’s no one presenting a filtered vision. Why not start a blog like everyone else? I always wanted it to be a magazine. I wouldn’t know what to do with a blog. Even though I’m interested in blogs, I don’t understand them and I don’t relate to them. Even though blogs are a lot more popular? Absolutely. But I’m a true believer in sticking to what you know best. There’s nobody doing what I’m doing on this type of format. What’s the business plan? Affiliate sales? It’s like the Wild West. There’s still unclaimed territory. People are still trying to see how you can capitalize on it. If you do affiliate sales, for example, you can create a readership with a lot of volume since you’re not restricted by geography. My goal is to expand internationally next year. Do brands such as Bottega do affiliate sales? I don’t know. Most shopping models are affiliate sales. It’s just about setting it up! Where did your taste level come from? I come from an old Portuguese and Spanish family. I was born and raised in Spain. I lived in New York from seven to 12 when my father came over to open a Portuguese bank on Wall Street, which is how my American roots started. Then, I went to boarding school in Switzerland. If you ask me where home is, it’s still Europe. My parents divorced when I was seven. My grandmother would go to Paris once a season to do her shopping. She took me to my first Valentino fashion show. My mother also worked in fashion. She worked for Calvin Klein for a while

and Andrew Rosen in New York, actually. My family was always in banking, but they were also owners of wool factories in Portugal. So I was brought up going to the factory and sewing pieces of cloth for my dolls. My grandmother is 87 years old, and she still asks me which colors are on the runway. My teenage fascination was Princess Caroline of Monaco. To this day, she’s my style icon. OK, Christmas with Anna: You mentioned shopping for her in your editor’s letter. What was that process like? Everyone who oversees the accessories department is Anna’s shopper every time she needs a gift. It just becomes a part of your job. I actually enjoyed it. How many gifts did she give a year? Probably 50. Basically, she calls you in with list of people to buy for, by category. There are the teenagers, such as her nieces...When Bee was in college, I was looking for great school bags. What’s the best present she ever gave? Personally, my favorite gift from Anna is always a print, but she doesn’t give those that often. Once, we hired a star chef to cook someone a private dinner. She likes her gifts wrapped by her assistants with her special paper. Sounds intense! Were you living in fear? Never. I really enjoyed doing it. She likes what she likes, but her daily bag is still L.L.Bean. One time, we found out that the inserts of her Hermès agenda had run out and searched the entire luxury market for replacements in every country. After a few frantic days, my brilliant intern figured out FiloFax made them! All we had to do was go to Staples! Is that a sign of insanity? I don’t think so. I’m like that, too. I think you’re misreading Anna. Couldn’t someone have just asked her what kind of inserts she uses? Sure, but she doesn’t always know. Plus, a lot of people are afraid to ask her. That’s the biggest mistake you can make if

“Anna knows what she wants. That’s much easier to work with. Anna’s decisionmaking is one of her biggest assets, even when you don’t agree with her. It’s funny: That one piece you’re not sure about, she always points out. She knows, always.” you work for Anna. You have to ask the question, or you’ll shoot yourself in the foot. She just wants it done. You mentioned fear, but I’ve never, ever been afraid of Anna. I was always open with her. How was it different than working with Linda Wells? At times, it was much more challenging to work with Linda than Anna. Linda’s forte is content. She’s a great writer. I mean, I still read her editor’s letter. She gets it, and she’s witty, but her strength isn’t fashion. It was challenging to present things to Linda because she didn’t always know what she wanted. Anna knows what she wants. That’s much easier to work with. Anna’s decision-making is one of her biggest assets, even when you don’t agree with her. It’s funny: That one piece you’re not sure about, she always points out. She knows, always. Have any of your former colleagues told you they wished they were doing what you’re doing? A lot have, yes, in private. You left not long after Sally Singer. Are you still in touch? Of course! I love Sally. She’s one of the best editors around. At Vogue, she was the only voice that really brought a different point of view. When she left, I felt like we lost some of that controversy. I knew after she left that it was going to be something different. Now, it’s about couture. I feel like I’m back in the real world, but I would never be here without that experience. Any advice for other editors feeling envious of Tavi? What Tavi sees at 16 is not what she’s going to see when she has a rock star boyfriend or when she’s 25. She hasn’t lived, and she hasn’t lived through fashion. My advice is have the experience—assist, lug trunks for days. I’m old-school. Magazines are about aspiration. The web is about democracy. Can you really merge the two? It’s a fine line. It’s about remaining mystical and aspirational yet still connecting to the customer. Grace Coddington is fabulous at that.

Chic ED

Who’s the

Fairest?

With the biggest masthead (and biggest budgets) at Condé, Vanity Fair requires a staggering amount of dough to stay flush. Good thing power publisher Ed Menicheschi is up for the challenge! BY ALEXANDRA ILYASHOV PHOTOGRAPHY BY GIORGIO NIRO

FA S H I O N W E E K D A I L Y. C O M

ow’s life with Graydon? To use Hollywood terms, Graydon is the director and I am the producer. We’re like Billy Wilder and Sam Goldwyn, with less fighting. We heard you were planning to cut back on your meals at The Waverly Inn. I’ve been going less often because Graydon so thoughtfully opened The Monkey Bar, so I’m now splitting my time. Is Graydon still smoking? No! But I know he has…Well, ‘no’ is the official party line. What was life like pre-Condé? Before GQ in the early nineties, I worked at Bidermann Industries in the fashion business. During the first big internet boom, from 1999 through 2001, I worked at a start-up entertainment business co-located in New York and Santa Monica called IAM.com, which was a bit ahead of its time. It was a talent search site that was kind of a digital precursor to American Idol. How’s business? I’m fortunate because the brand is astonishing. I’ve been in this industry for about 25 years, and I hear ‘Vanity Fair is my favorite magazine’

more than ever. From whom? Interestingly, Mike Bloomberg! When I told him I was the publisher of Vanity Fair, he proceeded to tell me everything about the brand and why he loved it—in 30 seconds. He even knew the price he paid for his subscription. Who else is reading VF? It’s not a magazine for

everybody, but it definitely finds you if you are interested in a range of subjects and you want the ‘A-version’ of those subjects, whether it’s Lady Gaga or the 99 percent. You have to be smart to appreciate this magazine. How smart? Educated, affluent, opinionated, and spending significant amounts of time outside the U.S. What are the challenges of selling your favorite read? We have a rule here, actually. If you aren’t as passionate about the brand as our readers are, you can’t actually be here. Has anyone been fired for lack of obsession? There’s a pretty good screening process. Ha! I remember my first sales meeting when Graydon presented his editorial team. It was a murderer’s row of writers and editors, all in one room. There are media properties that would be lucky to have one or two or them— and we had 10. Afterwards, I turned to my publishing team and said, ‘If that doesn’t excite you and give you a sense of the privilege it is to represent this brand, then there’s the door.’ Everyone stayed! You’re a Vogue alum. Most memorable Anna moment?

I was always struck by how much she adored Bee [Schaffer]. Anna just lit up whenever Bee was around. Anna is above and beyond being a brilliant editor—she’s an absolutely adoring mother. How exactly do we pronounce your last name? That is a very kind question. Thank you! It’s Men-eh-kes-ki.

ED, AND THE A-LISTERS WHO LOVE HIM!

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BRAINPOWER. BY EQUINOX.

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Chic

team

Life with MARTHA What does Cookie’s former editrix Pilar Guzman have in common with her new boss, foodie doyenne Martha Stewart? She’s evangelical, she’s drank the Kool-Aid, and she knows masthead slimdown. BY ALEXANDRA ILYASHOV PHOTOGRAPHY BY GIORGIO NIRO

FA S H I O N W E E K D A I L Y. C O M

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Chic

team Did Martha call you about the job as EIC at Martha Stewart Living? It was an email, actually. I subscribe to a bunch of daily Martha newsletters. One morning, just as I was winding down from my previous project and feeling like it was time to move on, I saw an email in my inbox from ‘Stewart, Martha.’ I was like, ‘hmm, this doesn’t look like one of her newsletters!’ It was a nice note from Martha about how they were looking for a new editor-in-chief, my name had come up, and she wanted to meet next week. I was going on vacation then, so I asked if I could come that day. And I did—I met with Martha that evening. I had been entertaining two totally different trajectories that were compelling on paper at the time. But many good decisions end up being emotional, gut feelings and not always logical choices. How was your interview with Martha? It was great—she was extremely direct, funny, and charming. I mean, super direct. Her candor invited my candor, and therefore it felt like a nice fit. What was your relationship with Martha Stewart Living before landing here? I’d been a subscriber to the magazine for years—it was one of the reasons I got into lifestyle journalism. I really became a follower around ’96, when I was in my late twenties. I remember opening up issues years ago and thinking it was a revelation— nobody shot the way this magazine did or featured food quite the same way, among other things. I’d also known tons of people who worked here at various points. What state was the magazine in when you arrived? Vanessa Holden, the previous editor of Martha Stewart Living and a former colleague of mine, had definitely pushed it in a brighter direction. In broad strokes, I’m continuing on the same path in terms of infusing it with life. I’m challenging us to find the real tastemakers, inspirers, movers, shakers, and bakers—to really capture a lifestyle and give readers a point of entry into that lifestyle. The holy grail of lifestyle journalism is the marriage of aspiration and service, and we have the unique opportunity to perfect that. How’s the downsizing? Even when you know it’s ultimately going to be good, transitions and change are always hard. On a practical level, it’s difficult and inconvenient FA S H I O N W E E K D A I L Y. C O M

when you’re shipping an issue and suddenly certain editors are no longer here to shepherd pages along. There’s also the emotional impact of any change, no matter how positive it is in the end. It’s disruptive. The dust is still settling, and we’re figuring out what we need to compensate for. We’re balancing the logistical disruptions against the emotional challenges. There’s an effort being made to make sure the magazine doesn’t read as too one-note or insular, so we don’t get too complacent in our ways. What does that mean for your masthead? Certain positions that were staff positions became freelance positions—as a philosophical decision. And a hard decision at that. Rather than creating everything in a hothouse environment, you’re actually getting and reflecting the diversity out there. Instead of one perspective, you get four people. We’ve continued to work with a number of people that were on staff here. It’s about drawing from the outside world to capture what inspires our editors, instead of just the things we create under our roof. There’s a need to tighten the belt industry-wide, which definitely dovetails with those philosophical reasons. We don’t need to make everything ourselves. And we can’t. We’re still a pretty large team, but we are smaller than we used to be and it makes us more nimble. We’re able to pull the best person in for the very specific task at hand— instead of the person who could do the job. What’s up next? In drips and drabs, we’ve been redesigning, but expect a full redesign in the next month or so. We’ve already made some changes and rejiggered sections. We’re introducing fashion into the book in a fun way. We’re never going to be from-the-runway, but we’re finding our own way to cover it. So what’s Martha really like? She is the most curious person, has an insatiable appetite for knowledge, and is such an evangelist—she wants to solve people’s problems and make their lives better. She’s constantly absorbing and teaching. Martha is always onto

the next thing. She knows about everything before anyone else does, even if it’s, like, a cool taco truck. From the most hipster to the fanciest thing, she’s just on it. How similar are you and Martha? In order to edit this magazine, there has to be a certain shared sensibility. We’re both sort of evangelical, in the sense of sending the message, ‘yes, you can do this! It’s not just for fancy people! It’s easy, you don’t have to spend a ton of money, and it will make your life better.’ You have to have that sense and believe it, and I think Martha and I both operate this way. It’s not just about showing a color palette combination. You have to show the reader what color to paint their wall and what kind, and color, of curtain rod to get. It’s low risk! We both try to improve people’s lives by arming them with confidence to make creative decisions on their own. What’s something we don’t know about Martha? Martha is so much funnier than people know! Around Halloween, we were having a very serious meeting with a bunch of serious people, and Martha was doing the Halloween issue. I didn’t even know she was shooting the cover that day, and she just busted into the meeting as ‘Martha the Moth,’ with these long eyelashes and crazy wings. She went around the table tapping everyone on the shoulder to startle them. It was hilarious. Have you read Just Desserts or Martha, Inc.? I’d read bits and pieces, and I had definitely seen the made-for-TV movies about Martha before I worked here. Anybody in a position of power is going to be subject to a lot of scrutiny, criticism, and schadenfreude, fair or unfair. It’s gotta be hard. Martha is just a doer, and she’s constantly on the move— it’s not that mysterious. Does Martha’s mag reflect the woman behind it? This brand hadn’t been as cool as Martha is for a while—it was very much hers in the early years, but she is just constantly at the forefront of everything and the brand wasn’t reflecting that. She’s constantly meeting new chefs and making them famous—she shines her Martha ‘light’ on them, and they just blow up. What’s your favorite organizational tip? In Martha’s cabinets, she stacks the teacups and the saucers together, instead of cup, cup, cup, then saucer, saucer, saucer. It’s specific, small, and funny—but it’s a life-changer! It seems precarious, but makes a difference. p m c ( 1 ) ; c o u r t e s y m a r t h a s t e wa r t o m n i m e d i a ( 1 0)

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savvy

the lone

GRANGER

After 15 years editing Esquire, David Granger remains one of the heroic, happy few with overflowing reservoirs of passion for every little detail of publishing. How do you like your paper additives? Aspiring EICs, meet your maestro! BY ALEXANDRA ILYASHOV PHOTOGRAPHY BY GIORGIO NIRo

Is this your dream job? When I came to New York, I specifically wanted to work at Esquire. It was the first magazine that I really started to read as a man. I went to the University of Tennessee for undergrad, and these two guys who had finished about 10 years or so ahead of me bought Esquire—Chris Whittle and Phil Moffitt—and that piqued my interest in the magazine. It became my guide book! Esquire taught me the things I needed to know to move to New York. At GQ, Art Cooper taught me so much, but after four or so years, I wanted to sit in the big chair. Any anxieties? Only after I got it! You come in thinking you’re going FA S H I O N W E E K D A I L Y. C O M

to change everything, and then you see all the roadblocks. You realize you’re so screwed, and that you really don’t know anything! What kind of roadblocks? I turned over the staff relatively quickly, but it takes so long to communicate what you want to do with the magazine to the people you either inherit or bring in. Then, you do those things in such halting steps. Some ideas turn out to be great, and others are just terrible. The first issue that I was the least bit proud of was probably six or seven months after I got the job. I don’t know why Cathie [Black] didn’t fire me during my first three years! I thank her in my mind every day. I remember Tina Brown once saying she

still hadn’t gotten The New Yorker right as she was leaving after almost five years. I thought that was bullshit, and that Tina was just being modest, but I now I realize it’s true—so rarely do you get everything right. How often do you feel like you’ve nailed it from cover to cover? We do many good issues, but we do maybe one or two great issues every three years. What are the milestones of your 15-year run? The most extraordinary thing that’s ever happened to me was when The New York Times ran an article at the end of May 1997 announcing that David Granger was the next editor of Esquire. That’s hard to top.

And a memorable moment off the printed page? On our 75th anniversary in 2008, we had a big celebration for a couple thousand people. President Clinton spoke because the theme of the anniversary was ‘The 21st Century Begins Now.’ Even though he was a few years early, President Clinton was the guy who promised to build us a bridge to the 21st century. He owed me a favor, so we got him to show. The party was filled with Esquire people, from all 17 or 18 of our international editions at the time. It was magical to see the number of lives that the magazine touches internally. Have your competitors changed? For quite a while, I’ve thought that our competition

isn’t just magazines—it’s every form of entertainment or information media. I really doubt that there are a lot of people making a choice between reading Esquire, GQ, or Men’s Health anymore—they’re deciding between Esquire, Xbox, or cable TV. Esquire’s biggest challenge is to be consistently entertaining. The more options, the more special we seem by comparison. Our magazine only comes out once a month, and it’s a really edited view of the world. Who is inducing your envy? The magazines with great visuals—with photography budgets that are, I assume, so lush. What Stefano has done at W is really ambitious. I can’t help but envy some of the things I see going on at Condé Nast magazines, especially visually, like at Vanity Fair. Also, one of the smartest magazines around is Elle. Their front-of-book is really smart and substantial. Who is your current editor crush? Adam Moss. Because New York is the magazine that makes me angriest that I didn’t think of an idea, mostly in regards to their service. Probably everyone at a magazine in this city would agree with me on that one. Great service stories in other magazines just make me smack myself on the forehead! What’s the women’s mag counterpart to Esquire? Some of what Marie Claire does is similar in ambition to Esquire, and Elle has a level of intelligence that I really admire. But there isn’t any one title in particular that lines up with what we do. Our first goal is to be entertaining and funny—and there are very few magazines that people will walk away from going, ‘Wow, that was fun.’ What do you really think of GQ? It’s not polite to talk about publications that are seen as direct competition! That’s a hard question. I admire a lot of what they do. I think their art direction and design is fantastic, and they still have amazing writers. GQ has become an even more urban magazine and a little more edgy, which is a good thing. They’ve defined themselves in a different way than we have. What’s the trick to feigning fearless leadership? Bluster. And a show of confidence, even when you’re doubting yourself. Has the shifting media landscape enriched you? Our brains have had to expand as opportunities have widened beyond print. These new platforms that were supposed to kill traditional media have ended up helping Esquire thrive. If you take advantage of it, disintermediation allows you to be anything you want—it’s amazing! We’re not just people who create paper things anymore. We’re also game makers if we want to be, as we did with our first Esquire iPad game recently. We can be almost anything. But you’re really into paper stock and ink quality! Five or so years ago, everybody was saying that print

was dead. I wanted to demonstrate that it wasn’t. I talked to Hearst’s manufacturing department about experimenting with paper and ink. They got excited about that, convened a meeting with their six most important vendors, and I gave them a speech about the magazine’s potential. Over the next few months, the vendors came back with fantastic presentations about what paper could do—stuff you’ve seen in greeting cards, but never in magazines. As it happened, it was at the end of 2008—when the whole world was collapsing—but we still used that paper research to do two origami covers in 2009. Before that, we’d done an electronic mix cover for the first time, where the cover ‘moved’—it’s incredibly crude, sure, but stuff moves! That’s cool! I get really excited about the potential of new additives to paper. I don’t know if it’s as exciting as an Oscar party, though. How has your reader changed over the years? When I took over Esquire, it was a much more insular magazine for people that lived in New York and looked down on the rest of the country. We tried to make it more generous and less exclusive. Our readers today are younger, regardless of what any research might say. They’re also more curious. I describe today’s reader as the ‘high-normal’ American man: they’re not snobbish or precious. They’re men who are interested in politics—but they’re also interested in a funny joke from a beautiful woman. How big is your female readership? We make the magazine for men, even though there are women on staff. Yet the best reader responses come from women. Those letters or emails usually start off the same way, ‘I know I’m not supposed to be reading the magazine, but…’ We try to make a smart magazine, and I think that’s why women respond. It’s not a magazine for smart people—it’s just a smart magazine for people. Oh, and I once got a phone call from Bonnie Raitt telling me how much she loved a certain article. Does that count? What kinds of topics elicit female feedback? We did this package in the magazine about marriage called ‘Hitched.’ It wasn’t a guide on how to get married, but rather, on how to stay married. What’s the Esquire Big Black Book’s backstory? We first started thinking about it when Stefano Tonchi was my fashion creative director. Initially, he wanted to launch an international Esquire fashion magazine—that turned out to be impossible for a variety of reasons. Then we saw this cool, oversized, annual almanac-type publication by Australian Harper’s Bazaar. My previous publisher Kevin O’Malley and I pitched it to Hearst as a special publication about how not to waste your money. If you’re going to spring for luxury goods, assuming you have all the money in the world, you want to purchase intelligently. What’s your greatest, most intelligent purchase? I have all of my shirts custom-made, which brings me joy. Around two years ago, Julie, who makes my shirts, asked if I wanted a monogram. I didn’t want a monogram anywhere where it would show, so she put it on the shirttail. Only I know it’s there, and it gives me a bit of pleasure every time. What would you be doing if you weren’t editing? It’s almost impossible to say! My second year of graduate school I was offered the assistant manager job at Lord Hardwicke’s Inn in Richmond, Virginia. So my nightmare is that I would be the manager at Lord Hardwicke’s Inn in Richmond, Virginia by now. What will Esquire look like at its centennial? It will have a much larger trim size, and the paper stock is going to be gorgeous. People are going to treasure print even more in the next 25 or so years! Esquire will be there, as an even more beautiful physical product than it already is now.

Chic

revival How did you land Interview? It was all Naomi Campbell’s idea! I’d been planning on resting a bit after leaving Vogue Russia. She approached me and said, ‘Why don’t you take on this beautiful magazine?’ I’ve known her for many years, and shot her for Vogue Russia cover stories. How did things progress from there? Naomi introduced me to Peter Brandt, and [Campbell’s companion] Vladislav Doronin, president of Capital Group and an outstanding Russian businessman with an interest in publishing. Doronin decided to underwrite the licensing for Interview in Russia and Germany. Our publisher, chairman, and co-owner of Interview Russia and Germany is Bernd Runge. I invited Bernd to get involved because we’d worked together for around 13 years at Condé Nast International. I started out in charge of both, and then we hired Jörg Koch as editor-in-chief of Interview Germany, where I remain as international editor. Interview is a very visual magazine, but 50 percent of it is about excellent writing, which only a native speaker of the language can manage. Why those two countries? There are quite a lot of similarities in what’s happening in Berlin and in Moscow. Both cities have recently woken up to everything new. They’re young, full of energy, and readiness to create something new—even if it involves provocation. What’s it like to edit Naomi? Excellent and professional! I found that almost impossible to believe when I first started working with her at Vogue Russia in 1998, since everything that she did on the shoot completely contradicted all of the critical stuff I’ve read about her before. I’ve never met anyone with such an incredible and outstanding memory for everything—names, dates, times, whatever. How does your Interview contribute to the Russian newsstand? There was a niche for a magazine that covers not only fantastic fashion and photography, but also creative people speaking honestly with each other. Thoughts on Ingrid Sischy’s Interview? Ingrid was doing it for over 20 years, during which there were many changes. There are issues that I adore, and there are some that I find less exciting. It had its own vision, approach, and of course, it’s quite different from what it is now—it’s natural. American Interview, since it was started by Andy [Warhol], has been reincarnated so many times. It’s unique that a relatively young magazine has gone through so many incredible stages of design and content development. Let’s backtrack. Where did you come from? Oh, God! I was invited to work for Cosmopolitan in the nineties. I stayed there shortly before moving into arts and movies—I worked for BBC Radio and RTL Television. I also did books on art. In 1997, I was FA S H I O N W E E K D A I L Y. C O M

Me at Interview? It was all Naomi’s idea ! we carried on and took the magazine to incredible success. How did the mag change during your 12-year run? The ‘baby’ of Vogue was born. After a few years, it was ‘walking’ and then ‘running.’ That was from 2005 through 2009, when the magazine was very much coming together confidently, had a strong point of view, and was standing on both feet. Just moments later, it seems, the baby is saying ‘Mom, I want to get married!’ Interest in other areas beyond fashion—movies, art, music— became part and parcel of the whole Vogue vision. That’s why my choice of Interview As founding EIC of was so logical. Vogue Russia, Aliona Doletskaya was How is Russia changing? Moscow’s answer to The Bobbed One. Rapidly! In the eighties and nineties, girls thought it was No wonder her 2010 departure was so quite chic to wear top-tonewsworthy. Now, she’s back as EIC bottom Versace. Since then, the at the buzzy new Russian Interview. same women have developed very sophisticated taste, which BY ALEXANDRA ILYASHOV a number of young Russian designers contributed to. What about the rumors that you were up for Anna’s job? It had nothing to do with the truth. If you react to everything that’s happening on the internet, you’d probably die 25 invited to start Vogue years early! It’s impossible to keep up. My response Russia. That was a was, ‘OK, guys. If you’d like to discuss this rumor, good 12 years. please do, but otherwise, I’ve got a lot of work to do.’ How did you land It was not a big deal. Vogue? Did it bother you? Runge, then at Condé I love rumors, especially when they are creative. I Nast International, came to Russia looking totally accept their autonomous lives. I live my life, and rumors live on their own. The escalation of the for candidates. I was whole American Vogue rumor was really fun because invited to London for it was so far from the truth. interviews with the editor-in-chief of Vogue Are you still planning to write a book? You can consider Interview Russia as my book UK and Jonathan Newhouse, the president of Condé Nast International. project! I’m sure I’ll come up with one in the proper sense of the word eventually, when the time is right. They looked at my previous work and asked me to Are you a visual type, or more of a wordsmith? write a creative synopsis of how I envisioned Vogue It’s completely 50/50 between visual and text. Every coming to Russia. picture, every word, every line goes through me! Which was... I can’t stand banal, bland writing. I will ruthlessly At the end of the nineties, all of the major fashion throw it into the wastepaper basket. But I will also magazines were present in Russia already. Vogue sit with my art director and work on the layout of was actually the last to arrive. Vogue set a taste and one page for three hours, just because I love a aesthetic standard. It came at the right moment particular picture and I want it to stand out just for this growing, fashionable milieu. To a nonthe right way. Russian eye, the magazine’s success seemed quite Do you have any hors-Interview projects in mind? unexpected—premature, even. People didn’t think For the time being, that’s a secret—but I have that Russia was prepared for Vogue. Exactly as we something in mind…. were finishing the first issue and working on the second, the infamous Russian financial crisis hit. For a What’s something fun we don’t know about you? moment, we thought we’d published the first and last That question should be referred to somebody else if issues of Russian Vogue! But thanks to our publishers, you want the naughtiest answer!

ALIONISSIMA!

Getty (2) ; courtesy interview (2)

Chic

cheek

janesays How can we get the Grazia UK effect? It’s all in the crashing, exciting mix of high fashion, A-list celebrity culture, and hard news. Grazia UK is ‘no-brow’ mix: it’s not high or low. There’s everything from the latest shoes, to the Arab Spring and troubles in Afghanistan, to Angelina Jolie on a red carpet. Some people still find that mix uncomfortable—how can you go from Victoria Beckham to something terrible that’s happening in Darfur? But that’s how women talk. We jump around from subject to subject,

The most titillating read in the UK has never felt a need to phone-hack (that we know of!). Grazia’s formula comes courtesy of its visionary founding editrix, Jane Bruton. BY ALEXANDRA ILYASHOV

and we’re interested in them all. How does the newsstand respond? When I arrived in, we were the launch that everybody said wouldn’t work. In Britain people felt that high-end luxury advertisers wouldn’t pay for a weekly environment, but we proved them wrong! We currently sell more issues in a week than Vogue UK does in a month. I introduced the ‘10 Hot Stories’ section

after about a year, and that’s when our sales started to really take off. What’s your staff like? ‘No-brow!’ It’s a mix from the highbrow glossies and British tabloids, but skewed towards the fashion glossies. How does Grazia portray fashion? We really educate people about fashion in a fun, not dry way. We love the fashion crowd. It’s like how chefs have

become really famous. We made stars of people in the fashion world. So when we launched our first special fashion issue in September 2009, I always thought it wouldn’t be a bigger sale—it would be more ‘appetizerfocused.’ Last year, we did our first perfect-bound issue of the biannual fashion edition. We had so much advertising, we couldn’t fit it in a normal stapled issue. We also went with a fashion shot of a model on the cover, instead of a celebrity—that was yet another nail-biting moment! The reaction was great. We hiked the price of the issue up, and it still sold really well. Have you added anything new to the mix? We started book and film clubs last year, so we’ll be exploring ideas like that further. We’re also planning to do a web film of the making of our next fashion issue. How does the weekly pace work to your advantage? We can cover the Chanel show the Tuesday after it happens. We make the monthlies look plodding, old fashioned, and slow.

16 editions—based on the UK one. What was your Royal Wedding coverage like? We usually ship on a Friday, but for the Royal Wedding we moved our deadlines and basically went to press with the entire issue in one day. We pushed our distribution day, too, so some issues could get out the following Monday. It was a bank holiday here, but we were in the office—it was my best day at work, ever, by a long stretch. The moment Kate Middleton stepped out and we learned she was wearing McQueen, a huge cheer went out around the office. We had one of our editors reporting on BBC, journalists on the ground, people in Westminster Abbey, all of us in the office, guests calling to give us color…it was an amazing day! Which celebrities are you and your readers obsessed with now? Rooney Mara. We started getting interested in her at the end of last year, and I think we’ll be obsessed with her all of this year. She just hasn’t put a fashion foot wrong— she steps out looking amazing in Givenchy, Roksanda Ilincic, or in Nina Ricci. We’re kind of interested in Zooey Deschanel. I love her the deep end and hope you’ll be able to kookiness, like pairing a Prada dress with tuxedoed nails at the swim. But when you realize you can, it’s the Golden Globes. How about runway fascinations? most incredible feeling.” I’m excited about pastels and prints, like what Jonathan Saunders is doing. He’s absolutely on top of his How did that newsiness emerge as the mag evolved? game right now. I’d quite like to get a white trouser suit The fact that we could cover big news stories so quickly this year. We kept seeing it at the shows last season. Paul was very exciting. The massive news stories during Smith did a brilliant one… our first year included the ‘Cocaine Kate’ scandal, What do you think of British fashion today? Victoria Beckham having her third child, and Jude and London Fashion Week has just gotten better and better, Sienna splitting up. Those were all things our readers and I’m really excited about the February shows. And the really wanted to know about—and they concern number of brands coming back to London is important. A-list celebrities, compared to the usual D-list When Burberry returned a few seasons ago, that was celebrities you see in weekends. Now, we’re truly an big. Now McQueen is showing the McQ line in London, agenda-setting magazine. and Stella McCartney is doing a show for one of her lines. What are some frequently-cribbed elements You’ve got an amazing range of talent here. 2012 is going of Grazia? to be a great year for Britain with the Olympics, plus the Black and yellow have sort of become Grazia’s signature Queen’s Jubilee. colors, and over the years, you’ve seen that color scheme How did your previous industry gigs prepare you for everywhere—from the newsstand to the food world. your current one? People didn’t really use yellow in glossies before. A I don’t think anything can prepare you for Grazia! You magazine editor once told me I’d have to drop it because have to throw yourself in the deep end and hope you’ll it looked terrible. But it really works for us, and it wasn’t be able to swim. But when you realize you can, it’s the something everyone else was doing. most incredible feeling. I’d say there’s a three-month Which features get copied the most? baptism of fire at Grazia UK. It’s really more like a Style-hunter pages have become really popular. Same newspaper than a magazine around here, and I hadn’t with our ‘Fashion Jury’ feature, where we get people to done a newspaper before. But my first job was on a comment on outfits, and ‘10 Hot Stories,’ and our debate quite down-market weekly women’s magazine, Chat, so features. They’ve all been copied by other Grazias out I understood that pace. And then the rest of my career there. Other publications have copied us, too! was at monthly glossies. Then I did Living, Etc.—a cool, What else has Grazia pioneered? modern interiors magazine. Then I edited Eve, a glossy We invented the term ‘pillowface,’ when someone has for thirtysomethings. I’d had good experience in terms had too many fillers. ‘Catface’ and ‘treggings’ are two of editing, but it was totally different than anything I’d other Grazia-created terms. We’ll also pick up on a ever done before. I didn’t expect to love the newsiness as certain item everyone is mad for, people go crazy for it. much as I do! We picked a pleated skirt at fast-fashion chain Whistles, Any trials and errors? and it sold out in minutes. In our second issue, I changed the color of the logo What’s the difference between your mag and the from pink to yellow and my art director at the time Italian original? told me I couldn’t do that. I said, ‘Why not?’ and his Well, we launched at very different times—1938 and response was that the logo always has to stay the same 2005!—but in general, Italy’s Grazia has longer-form in the weekly market to build the brand. We broke that reads and we’re more bite-sized. Especially in the rule! We started with closer-in shots of the stars on the front-of-book, it’s very pace-y. The UK market wanted covers, like a fashion monthly traditionally does, and something fast, furious, and exciting. So we knew we had then we decided to pull back and get the whole outfit to stick to shorter features and inject more energy into in. We’ve also tried covers with two or more people, everything. Italian Grazia trusted us to know what was including Jude and Sienna or a couple of Real right for the UK market, and that trust has paid off. It’s Housewives, and that didn’t really work. We constantly flattering that Italian Grazia saw our success and liked reassess what we’re doing. We really want to stay what they were seeing. We were the first Grazia outside ahead of the game, and you can’t do that by of Italy, and now I think there are about to be standing still.

“You have to throw yourself

p o r t rai t: g u s tavo pa pa l e o ; c o u r t e s y g ra z ia ( 7 )

Available at Lord & Taylor stores lordandtaylor.com LAURA BAILEY The Pocket Bag

Chic

GRAVITAS

WOMEN’S mag

revolution

Named for a bygone mag of the Victorian era, The Gentlewoman is a Britbased title run by a Scot and produced by the Dutch. But forget its fashion cred— this beautiful biannual aims to revive long-form, lady-centric journalism. Meet its fearless editor, Penny Martin. BY ALEXANDRA ILYASHOV How did The Gentlewoman happen? It’s produced by the stable that also owns Fantastic Man. Around its third or fourth year, there was talk—and perceptible enthusiasm—about a women’s version. The idea was a beautiful magazine for stylish women of purpose who actually had something to say. We’re not strictly a fashion magazine, and we’re not strictly a women’s title. Somehow we seem to have captured the positive aspects of both and create a hybrid that’s quite different. We came into being What were the perks and perils of in autumn 2009, with a pilot issue in being a sister publication? Fantastic Man, and put out the first The benefits included a huge amount issue in 2010. Our circulation is now of press and enthusiasm before it 89,000, all over the world. even got published, and there were How did you get involved? existing, strong relationships with I’d contributed to Fantastic Man before, supporters and advertisers. Plus, there but I’d always just sort of circled the was a contributor base in place. It was magazine. I knew it intimately, and had a challenge to make sure we weren’t friends there, but was still wiggling parroting the language of Fantastic my way into the family. I wasn’t Man, and that it was truly a magazine adopted yet! At the time, I was editor of for women. SHOWStudio and a professor. How does the tone differ? Where did the name come from? It’s quite dry and wry, to the point of The Gentlewoman Home launched in being deadpan. That was also true of the Victorian era and went kaput in the Fantastic Man—but they can afford to 1930s. It was one of the titles I looked be more frivolous and camp because after when I was the curator at the it’s a hilarious joke that they speak Women’s Library while getting my Ph. to men in the same language as D. at the University of the Arts, which traditional women’s magazines from has the oldest collection the 1950s. If we did that in of women’s magazines in The Gentlewoman, it would the world. seem like we were trying What’s a gentlewoman? to write some kind of fey A woman who oversees ladies etiquette journal. traditional ambitions Any criticism? and expectations of her In the first issue, people gender, has good taste, told me I had too much likes interesting reads, Céline. It was Phoebe and has an expansive Philo’s first collection, Penny Martin view of the world. so my response was, FA S H I O N W E E K D A I L Y. C O M

‘Well, why wouldn’t I?’ How have your peers responded? Tom Ford took me out for a drink before Christmas and said, ‘I love your magazine. You’re not the average fashion editor, are you, Penny?’ How do you seek substance? We love long-form, highly-considered, and extremely-edited journalism. We’re ambitious, not knocking out the same publication time after time. We don’t want to disguise novelty as consistency. We create it from scratch each time, so the magazine makes its own visual language issue by issue. Were women’s mags of yesteryear more substantive? There was definitely more emphasis on long-form journalism in the seventies. They weren’t necessarily trying to be more intellectual—they were reaching a broader audience. You can’t say that about women’s magazine’s today. They are about journalism turning inside itself, where editors write about themselves. I can’t think of anything more depressing than this bottoming-out of content. It’s

a kind of journalist’s graveyard. Could you ever see yourself at a mainstream title? Do they have as much fun as I do? Why are editors celebrified? It’s our industry’s version of celebrity culture. It’s easy to look sideways and simply talk to the incrediblydressed woman in the same room, instead of that winemaker or politician. It’s hard to interest them in being in a women’s magazine! There’s actually a huge distrust of the medium right now. Half of my job is talking women down from a tree, so to speak. They’re distrustful of how they’ll be portrayed and compromised in photos. Any pivotal editorial moments? In our first issue, with Phoebe Philo and Inez Van Lamsweerde, we showed creative, elegant women of this industry representing certain values. Then we did an Adele cover, which was a gift! We couldn’t have possibly foreseen the massive levels of success she’d rise to this year. Everyone was talking about how controversial it was that she was smoking—not one person talking about the fact that Adele is plus-sized. That alone felt like a massive achievement. What’s the science to your mix of subjects and features? We try to take a sartorial approach to fashion, and we don’t always have models. It’s one thing to stick a 15-year-old model into a sample size, but if you can make gorgeous but non-model-sized women feel great, I think that’s a bigger credit as an editor. Who’s on your get list? It’s something like a 16-page document. I genuinely like other women, and I don’t think that comes through in other publications. Yes, there’s room for wit, taste, pleasure, and novelty in fashion, but there’s also room for generosity. I like the idea that being fashionable and kind aren’t mutually exclusive. p o r t r a i t b y l i z c o l l i n s ; c o u r t e s y fa n ta s t i c wo m a n lt d.

Chic

Duo

the custom of the

country Dapper Men’s Vogue alum Jay Fielden is making Town & Country into a co-ed arbiter of journalism, with just a dollop of society gloss. Since September, publisher Valerie Salembier has been on board to revamp the business side. The Daily checks in on the relaunch… BY ALEXANDRA ILYASHOV photography by giorgio niro

Talk us through the new T&C. JF: The magazine was founded in 1846, so it’s obviously been doing something successful for a while! When I arrived, the command was to make the oldest general interest magazine in America new again,

with a seamless evolution. Which is… JF: I’ve been making the magazine more co-ed and truly general interest. I’ve also tried to give it more of a journalistic voice. Within the one percent, there are currently

revolutions, economic crises, and arguments—whether Greek shipping tycoons helping their country, or taxes for America’s mega-rich. So is it more newsy? JF: I hate the word ‘news’ because it gives

the reader homework as soon as they open the magazine. My goal is to sugarcoat everything so it’s very fun and charming to read. Hopefully, it still has weight and relevance. For example… JF: Our piece on tanning. In the old days, a tan in February meant, ‘I’ve been somewhere you’re never going to go.’ Now it has other meanings. Gotcha. What did you do away with? JF: I don’t think I’ve left anything in the past, per se—I’ve just brought my taste and sensibility. Take ‘Social Graces,’ for example. It’s been in the magazine for a long time, and that could either feel like an Emily Post etiquette column—or, in our hands, something much more invigorating! For one issue, we explored the prevalence and significance of tattoos— we found out that Thomas Edison, Winston Churchill, and Winston Churchill’s mother all had them. Turns out, having tattoos back then was actually a high-born thing! How have the society types reacted? JF: I don’t edit the magazine to keep people happy or unhappy—I try to do what’s worthy of the brand. My general take is that it’s been very positive. Though it sounds almost impossible that we haven’t upset someone. Perhaps the measure of success is that you should upset someone! VS: The people who attend our events say it all. How’s circulation? VS: Our advertising was up three percent in the first quarter. Our readers know what they want and need—and they have the money, which is the most important thing of all. If Harry Winston or Cartier puts a $150,000 timepiece in an ad, that will actually sell to a Town & Country reader. Why wouldn’t the advertising community love us? How about the newsstand sales? VS: We’re in good shape. The newsstand has been challenged over the past five years, and no one is really doing well. But since Jay has been here, our newsstand sales have gone up five percent! How does Town & Country compare to your previous stints in the Hearst Tower, Valerie? VS: Harper’s Bazaar and Esquire are like my children, but I’m having the best time of my career. This is the first truly collaborative magazine I’ve ever worked for, and everyone here is very opinionated! We’re all insane about the publication, and that comes through in ad calls. How is this job different from Bazaar? VS: I don’t have to put all of my energy into calling on fashion accounts. Some of them will only advertise in a fashion book, and I understand. But our readers buy Montblanc pens and Cartier watches, they take cruises across continents… Why did you want T&C to be more co-ed, Jay? JF: Town & Country has been a kind of coffee table prerequisite in America for a long time, and men should want to pick it up just as women do. Men and women aren’t so silo-ed anymore by gender in terms of what we want to read—we share a lot of the same interests and issues. What’s the trick to getting more male readers? JF: Everything was extensively redesigned! Our design director, Edward Leida, has done a beautiful job of channeling the magazine’s elegant personality.

How do you get along with Edward and his team? JF: From their point of view, I’m probably too involved! It’s an intense group. They’re very collaborative, and everyone wants to prevail in terms of the way they think the magazine should look or read. Yet they’re very diplomatic, grown-up people. We spend a lot of time in the office, on our knees, huddled around one computer to work on a layout. Why doesn’t T&C have a website? JF: It’s launching—we’re aiming for mid-year, and if not, then by September. There’s not much I can talk about, but we’re working furiously. A site-less mag puts you at a disadvantage. JF: Definitely. It’s probably hurt us, but I see it as a blessing that I’m able to create this from scratch. What’s the fashion POV at T&C today? JF: We’re not having a costume party on our pages! We feature the clothes in environments where they’d actually be worn. We give a primer on the season’s big looks, and the reader is using us as a crib sheet. What are some of your favorite T&C features so far? JF: I love the Hemingway and Richards covers—they were unusual, multigenerational, there was something there to say for each, and it wasn’t PR fakery. VS: I knew that we were on the right track when an LVMH executive called me two or so months ago and said, ‘Jay brought journalism back to Town & Country!’ I also hear lot of positive comments about our food coverage. JF: I’m interested in it, having edited Jeffrey Steingarten at Vogue. No magazine is doing food like T&C. I always want to take the stuffing out of snobs, including food ones! How else have you de-snobbified? JF: We’re recognizing when something in the room isn’t so savory. Examples? JF: We’re annoyed by people like the Winklevosses, instead of ignoring them. Those twins look like perfect Town & Country dolls—but their behavior doesn’t live up to the standards of noblesse oblige. How intense is the newsstand? VS: There’s inherent respect for our competitors, but we stand on our own. Especially on the business side, we don’t sit around talking about how we’re so much better than X magazine. We know we are! JF: Sure, we’re in the same homes and handbags as some titles out there—but I’d call them complementary, not competitive. I’m not competing

H a s s e l b l a d H 4 D 5 0 C o u r t e s y H a s s e l b l a d USA a n d fo t o c a r e NYC c ov e r : c o u r t e s y t ow n & c o u n t r y

for covers. The Hemingways were not getting called by five other magazines when I decided to do them. There are some stories I’d do that The New Yorker wouldn’t do anymore. Why not? JF: Because Harold Ross is no longer editor! Speaking of The New Yorker, how did you land your first gig in the industry, Jay? JF: I’d like to think I got my job at The New Yorker because I was smart and knew where to put every comma. But it was really just because I wore a windowpane suit to my interview with the first and last woman at The New Yorker who could be seduced a bit by the man in the windowpane suit.

runway

Fall 2012

jason

Wu’s attempt at fashion imperialism was a bit stiff, n’est-ce pas? All that chinoiserie overwhelmed the sophisticated lightness and joie that made this supremely talented youngster a star.

yigal

AZROUËL Move over, Alex Wang— this downtown chicster has serious girl appeal and maximum retail-ability, which this collection proved handily. We’ll take that burgundy leather pantsuit over a bottle of Domaine de la RomanéeConti bourgogne any day!

Peter

som

Fur-midable showing from the Phoenix-like Som, who smartly sticks to the ladyloving formula that’s been paying his West Village rent quite handsomely. FA S H I O N W E E K D A I L Y. C O M

W U : f e r n a n da c a l fat e /g e t t y ( 3), F i r s t v i e w ( 2) . A z r o u e l : B r i a n ac h /g e t t y. s o m : p e t e r m i c h a e l d i l l s /g e t t y.

I’m

Style

CONNECTING TO OUR CONSUMERS PASSION FOR FASHION $5.3 BILLION SPENT ON APPAREL AND ACCESSORIES More than Marie Claire, Lucky and Harper’s Bazaar

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$329 MILLION SPENT ON SHOES PHOTO: MARC BAPTISTE; STYLING: FREDDIE LEIBA

More than Marie Clair, Lucky and Harper’s Bazaar MRI Spring 2011

GET CONNECTED. Contact your ESSENCE® representative Celeste Harwell, Fashion Advertising Director at 212.522.8385 or charwell@essence.com

PRINT > DIGITAL > MOBILE > TABLET > LIVE EVENTS

runway

Fall 2012

trend BEAUTY

Youth dewy! Maybelline New York’s Charlotte Willer used Dream Bouncy Blush in Coffee Cake and Baby Lips SPF 20 Moisturizing Lip Balm in Quenched.

BCBG

MAXAZRIA Bauhaus in the haus! Max’s pieced-together color blocking was energized with tunic shapes and sexy, but not smarmy, transparencies.

RICHARD CHAI

LOVE The la garçonne look

at its most appealing, especially the spot-on jackets and artistic prints.

FA S H I O N W E E K D A I L Y. C O M

f i r s t v i e w. c o m ( 1 0) ; i n s e t: f i r s t v i e w

THE

LOUNGE

AN EXCLUSIVE MEDIA LOUNGE FOR FASHION WEEK

FEBRUARY 13 – 16 10 AM– 3 PM @MO_NEWYORK @BING @CNTRAVELER @GQFASHION #BINGLOUNGE

M A N D A R I N O R I E N TA L , N E W YO R K MOBAR, 35TH FLOOR 8 0 C O L U M B U S C I R C L E AT 6 0 T H S T R E E T M A N D A R I N O R I E N TA L . C O M / N E W YO R K

PRESENTED BY

P L E A S E P R E S E N T P R E S S C R E D E N T I A L S O R B U S I N E S S C A R D F O R A D M I T TA N C E

Vox

POPULI

Ask a NewSstand Guy! Why are you blowing your already-tight editorial budgets on focus groups, chéris? Magazine Café manager Manish Golchha has all the feedback you need to get those ABC numbers to pre-2008 levels. The Miracle on 37th Street weighs in on your March efforts! By Eddie Roche

TELL US, MANISH! Welcome back! It’s not every newsstand guy that holidays in St. Maarten. Did you bring any mags to the beach? No! I wanted to be away from work. How’s business? Things have been selling at a steady rate, although Vanity Fair has gone down. Maybe they are skimping on quality a little bit? Still, I was very impressed with the March issue—it’s a classy, sixties/seventies, old Hollywood kind of cover—but it lacks the power punch. They did feature Rooney Mara, but an A-lister would help sales! How did Rooney fare for Vogue? It wasn’t a very hot seller, but because of the Vogue brand, sales were steady. Who would perform well for March Vogue? Gisele, because of the Super Bowl. We sold a lot more copies of the New York Post when she was on the cover—even I wanted to read about her rant! Thoughts on Eva Mendes’ Marie Claire moment? She is a good celebrity! She’s got that likable quality. It’s doing pretty well. The picture is nice and simple, but the dress is kinda funky—not something you’d wear out to dinner. I was expecting Marie Claire’s March issue to be thicker. Some blogs complain about Eva’s retouching. I disagree! Everything is Photoshopped. It looks natural to me. Who is this beauty on British Bazaar? Nothing is coming to me, but I don’t think she looks beautiful. If I was single, I wouldn’t date her. She has very famous parents... Mick Jagger’s daughter? Yes! It’s Georgia May Jagger. That was a wild guess! It’s the nose. Notice anything different about American Bazaar this month? They changed something, size-wise. Because of the new look and format, people will be curious, so it’s selling pretty well. Gwyneth makes a good cover, too. We may even sell 200 copies! The subscriber cover only shows her legs. Does that interest you? I’d be curious. What’s the most a customer has ever spent on magazines? A designer from a denim brand once spent $2,000.

Has anyone ever shoplifted fashion? You’d be surprised. It’s very often the well-dressed customer, in their Gucci and Armani, that’s slipping a GQ, Penthouse, or Playboy into their bag. Others take pictures of stories with their smartphones so they don’t have to buy! That’s really tacky. So nobody has stolen a copy of Glamour. Not to my knowledge. Notice anything different about this month’s issue? It’s yellow! It pops. Does it scream news to you? It screams young and fresh, more than news. The cover girl is beautiful. Which ads are you loving? Dolce & Gabbana is always very good. I love the family portrait feel. I am a big fan! I have three D&G belts. Is your shirt Ralph? It’s Rugby. Has working at the magazine store made you more fashionable? Definitely! We’re in the fashion district, after all. [messenger arrives] This is a pickup going to Prada! What do the Prada people read? They get the fashion titles, all the international Vogue editions, Dazed & Confused, Jalouse—that’s French for ‘jealous,’ I assume? The package goes to their PR department. Do they ever throw in PC World or Sports Illustrated with their order? Sports Illustrated, yes, but PC World, not so much. What advice would you have for brands to spice up their ads? Sex always sells! Make it a little raunchy, which they do. I don’t have to tell them! Just Cavalli is great—they capture the young, rich market. What was your experience with Style.com the Magazine? The issues arrived here 15 or 20 days after the news broke about the issue’s debut, and all the blogs were talking about it. We were swamped with calls from day to night, and when we finally got it, it sold like hot pancakes. But after two weeks, the sales fell, and then it didn’t move at all. Editors should make sure to release information to blogs after the newsstands have the issues. People have short-term memories! They forget! The magazine will have to take their next issue to the next level. Bieber on V: discuss. He’s got a great fan following with the young audience, but as a fashion magazine reader, I’m not too taken with him. I do always like V, though! Which Cosmo cover lines are most successful? ‘Make All His Sex Wishes Come True!’ Girls definitely want to do that. The next best one is ‘Lose Weight Without Dieting!’ Also ‘The Butt Facial: Yeah, We Know. But It’ll Make Yours Silky Smooth.’ God knows I’ve never heard of that...Cucumbers on the butt, I guess. Is Anna hurt that her friend Blake Lively is covering Elle? They all have fragile egos, so...maybe. ste fania c u rt o ( 2)

Why are Berkeley College interns and graduates in demand? • Students learn current practices and the latest technologies from accomplished faculty, many of whom are working professionals with market experience • Advisory Boards help ensure relevant program and course content, based on marketplace needs • On-the-job internships or job-related assignments are required in all programs, providing students with valuable, real-world experience Marilyn Martillo - Sales Events, Chanel USA, Inc. Fashion Marketing and Management, Class of ’07

“The education and preparation I received from Berkeley College helped me be successful in my career at Chanel. I learned the core elements that are necessary to thrive in the business of fashion from the curriculum, the professors, and the internship. I am very proud to say that I graduated from Berkeley College. The entire experience had a very positive impact on my life.”

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