The Business of Magazines

[wild roses]

I think the problem is movie actress cover features is they aren't written about in a way that is realistic. Read any Vogue cover story and you get a lot of fluff about how flawless/amazing/thin/beautiful/talented the Cover subject is and a little bit about whatever movie she's promoting. They're dressed in couture no one can afford. You know that no real questions will be answered and there will be no genuine insight into the actress because the terms of the interview were probably heavily negotiated by a publicist.

I think people want "realness" and A-list actresses are the antithesis of that.

^^^^^This!

It's not like A-list actresses haven't always been idolized as far back as the silent era, but before, studios used to promote their stars as that really glamourous person next door with real life problems/relatable struggles. Now, it's just as you put it: "lots of fluff about how flawless.... the cover subject is." Which isn't to say that magazines negate the aspect struggle, but they make into a wunderkind/savior/why you should worship the person thing.

I do think it is important to promote the fantasy/mythology aspect of filmmaking (not the stars themselves but the films they are, the film fashion the cinematography, the films that inspired them, etc), but the magazine industry has gone too far. There's too much photoshop, too many perfect bodies (re: stuff we're not allowed to talk about here), too much emphasis on couture clothing.

The movie industry has been flux the last few years and I do think we'll see a big change (as big the famous 1967 year or the downfall of the studio system earlier) but it won't come from the people currently in Hollywood (but I expect it will happen in a few years cuz the new generation of aspiring film-makers have grown up making fanvids, having photoshop, and taking for granting accessibility of movies via the web. They'll be the ones to force the changes.) (Obviously, when the industry changes, the magazines will have to adjust as well. It's why there's been a push-pull between models and actresses rotating on fashion covers from generation to generation.) (Lest we forget the rise of the supermodel partly came about due to movie actresses rejecting doing fashion photoshoots in the 1960s-1970s.)

 

[Cold]

Mel Ottenberg Appointed Fashion Director at 032c

BERLIN, Germany — Today, 032c is set to announce the appointment of Mel Ottenberg as the magazine’s new fashion director. A leading stylist in the realms of both fashion and entertainment, Ottenberg, who spends time between New York and Los Angeles, is known for his provocative and sophisticated imagery, charged with eroticism and wit.

Ottenberg — whose work spans print, performance, and film — has collaborated with some of the world’s top image-makers, including Mario Sorrenti, Terry Richardson and Wong Kar-Wa. His work has appeared in titles like Purple, Harper’s Bazaar, Dazed & Confused, GQ, and T. The stylist has also styled advertising campaigns for Nike and Dior.

Ottenberg is currently Rihanna’s personal stylist and acts in the role of wardrobe director for the singer’s world tour. He has also dressed Cate Blanchett, Chloë Sevigny and James Franco.

“I am always impressed by the nonchalance with which Mel alternates between hyper-precise styling — working with menswear designer Adam Kimmel, for example — and mainstream subversion, most visible in the video for Rihanna’s Grammy-winning hit ‘We Found Love,’” said 032c editor-in-chief Joerg Koch. “I think he is the perfect match for 032c‘s modern take on fashion for men and women, as well as for exciting future projects that lie ahead.”

businessoffashion

 

[SugarMe]

BREAKING: Eva Chen Named Editor-in-Chief of 'Lucky,' Brandon Holley Out
This just in from the Conde Nast grapevine: We're hearing early reports that Eva Chen, former Teen Vogue Beauty Director and, of late, Consulting Editor at Lucky magazine, has ousted Brandon Holley as Lucky's Editor-in-Chief. An official announcement is expected later today.

The move comes two months after Anna Wintour took creative control at the floundering shopping magazine—following Wintour's appointment to the newly created post of Artistic Director at Conde Nast earlier this spring. Wintour named Chen Consulting Editor in early April and reports from inside Lucky HQ claim that Chen has been extremely hands-on in the day-to-day running of the publication ever since.

Holley joined Lucky in 2010, following the departure of Kim France, the magazine's founder. She was previously Editor-in-Chief and business lead of Yahoo! Shine. At the time of her appointment, speculation was rife in the industry that Conde Nast had plans to convert Lucky into pure-digital. Holley had previously headed up Jane and ElleGirl.

stylebistro

 

[loladonna]

^Anna's involvemnt must be why Blake Lively has an upcoming cover for no apparent reason.

Lucky's cover styling has been horrid since Holley took over. Dressing 20 and 30-something actresses like teenyboppers is not cute.

 

[Miss Dalloway]

PUTTING THE (W)EST IN W: The next interview with Kanye West will appear in W magazine in its August issue. West sat with contributor Christopher Bagley over several days in March and April at his apartment in Paris, where he was recording his new album “Yeezus.”

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In the interview, West recalls an invitation from an unnamed designer last fall to attend a runway show with the condition that West would not attend anyone else’s. West, upset, wrote a song with Daft Punk about the incident, “I Am a God.”

“Cause it’s like, Yo! Nobody can tell me where I can and can’t go. Man, I’m the number-one living and breathing rock star. I am Axl Rose; I am Jim Morrison; I am Jimi Hendrix. You can’t say that you love music and then say that Kanye West can’t come to your show,” West said.

In one exchange between West and Kris Jenner, the mother of his girlfriend Kim Kardashian, West mocks Jenner when her response to a track she’s just heard — “Great job!” — strikes him as inadequate.

“Great job? Great job, Baccarat, for making a glass that can hold liquid! Great job, belt hoops, for keeping my pants up,” West said.

West concedes he can come across as a buffoon and asks Bagley to edit some of his nonsense — “Turn my flea market of information into a beautiful living space.”

West has only given one interview in the run-up to the album’s release, a much-discussed Q&A with The New York Times’ Jon Caramanica, a former editor at Complex magazine, where West is still listed as a contributing editor.

And so W, sitting on something of a get, is posting the profile online today, in advance of the August issue’s release to newsstands on July 16, to coincide with the launch of its Web site’s redesign.

W’s site hasn’t been redesigned in a little more than two-and-a-half years, and the overhaul, done in collaboration with the luxury digital agency firm Sweden Unlimited, is aiming to raise its audience of a little more than a million monthly uniques.

The overhaul also includes a new mobile site, responsive to all devices, to capitalize on growing traffic coming from smartphones.

Stefano Tonchi, W’s editor in chief, said the new site privileges images over text. He looked at the sites of other fashion magazines and it seemed that navigation was driven by lists and “a lot of words.

“What’s missing out there is a Web site that can make you dream,” Tonchi said. “We gave [the designers] this briefing of creating a visual network, something that resembles a refrigerator door in your house, where there [are] a lot of things that are interesting and one goes on top of the other. We wanted to create a landing page that is a collage of images.”

W’s landing page features a highlight reel of the newest material, and the rest is stacked as an endless scroll of images, with the most recent content nearest the top.

In contrast to other Condé Nast magazines, W’s entire issues will be available online for free, though features will make their way to the Web site in pieces, not all at once. Tonchi, referring to the early publication of the West interview, said it allows the magazine to be “more responsive to what is happening out there.”

Staffers will also be posting some pieces exclusively to the Web, updated throughout the day, but there won’t be a vertical dedicated to new blog posts — instead they’ll appear under various categories, like Fashion or People. W’s lengthy archives are partially online, and the magazine is continuously working on adding pieces. A W YouTube channel, in the manner of Vogue and Glamour, won’t appear for some time — Tonchi said Condé Nast Entertainment is just now starting to take a look at the magazine — but the new site has a video vertical that features behind-the-scenes footage, runway shows, clips highlighting pieces from the magazine and “screen tests” with celebrities.

wwd.com

 

[tentalicious]

can't believe this...

Vanity Fair: record de ventes pour la version française
Le premier numéro de la version française de Vanity Fair se targue déjà d'un record de ventes mercredi lors de sa sortie dans les kiosques. 400 000 magazines se sont vendus en un jour, surpassant de loin l'objectif des 100 000 exemplaires que s'était fixé la rédaction.

Démarrage sur les chapeaux de roue mercredi pour Vanity Fair. Le bilan est plus que satisfaisant pour son premier jour dans les kiosques: le nouveau mensuel a littéralement explosé les ventes. 400 000 magazines se sont écoulés en un jour seulement, soit le quadruple des 100 000 exemplaires vendus que s'était fixé la rédaction comme objectif.
Du jamais vu dans les kiosques depuis 15 ans

Le magazine dont le slogant est "brillant dehors, mordant dedans" s'est fait dévorer, si bien que les marchands de journaux se retrouvent désormais en rupture de stock. Il s'agit d'un record - du jamais vu dans les kiosques depuis 15 ans - laissant Condé Nast, éditeur du magazine, absolument estomaqué. Michel Denisot, directeur de la rédaction du magazine, peut donc sereinement ce soir faire ses adieux au Grand Journal pour sa toute dernière émission.

[via lexpress.fr]​

 

[Thefrenchy]

^ I bought it and thought the content was good so I subscribed. Nice to see that it's a success

 

[ohmycolin]

Harper's Bazaar announces fashion team changes

Hearst Magazines UK has announced changes in the Harper's Bazaar editorial team. Fashion Features Director Avril Mair has been named Fashion Director; Cathy Kasterine, former Senior Fashion Editor, is now Fashion Director-at-Large; Contributing Fashion Editor Leith Clark has been promoted to Style Director-at-Large; Eugenie Hanmer, Executive Fashion & Jewellery Director, is now Executive Fashion Director; Julie-Anne Dorff, previously Executive Style Editor, has been promoted to Executive Style and Jewellery Editor; Acting Production and Bookings Editor Daniel Robson has been promoted to Bookings and Production Editor; while Jo Glynn-Smith, formerly Retail & Events Editor, is now Retail Development Director.

source: fashionmonitor.com

 

[tigerrouge]

Interns to edit UK Elle again (featuresexec.com

UK Elle's Edited by the Interns 2013 winners will edit the magazine's second Edited by the Interns edition for October.
The winners were picked by a panel of Elle's editorial team including editor-in-chief Lorraine Gandy, fashion director Anne-Curtis, and beauty director Sophie Beresiner.
More on the 11 winners, who were picked from a group of 1000 entries, can be found at elleuk.com

 

[Srdjan]

This might be trivial and has happened ages ago but does anybody know why Japanese edition of Vogue started using Japan instead of Nippon in its logo (somewhere in 2011)?

 

[vogue28]

^They started using Japan in their masthead since the May 2011 cover with Kate Moss. I believe the reason behind it was because of the tsunami disaster which struck the country around that time.

 

[tigerrouge]

An update about German Harper's Bazaar (featuresexec.com

Hubert Burda Media and Hearst Magazines International have announced the editorial team for the German edition of Harper’s Bazaar. With an office at the Potsdamer Platz in Berlin, the following editorial positions have been confirmed:

Margit J. Mayer – editor-in-chief
Barbara Kraus – managing editor
Lynn Schmidt – fashion editor
Antje Wewer – copy editor

Harper’s Bazaar covers topics such as fashion, design, arts, culture and beauty. A first preview issue will be released in Germany at the end of August. From spring 2014, the women’s magazine will be published monthly.

 

[Melancholybaby]

Fashion Titles See Solid September

THE SEPTEMBER ISSUES: In the first half of the year, total magazine advertising pages fell, but the big fashion books were an exception to the trend, posting upticks that were decent, if smaller when compared with last year’s comparatively blockbuster numbers.

The upward trend continues through the mighty September issues, the month, alongside March, that is widely considered a barometer of vitality for the fashion magazines and when its publishers tout their biggest issues.

In 2012, Vogue had its biggest September advertising haul, 658 pages, since the carefree days of 2008. And so it is not surprising that the overall percentage gain this year is not in the double digits. The magazine added five pages, or 1 percent, for a total of 665, the largest number of ad pages in its category.

At Hearst, the workhorse of the Tower was Cosmopolitan. The magazine’s 171 pages is on the thinner side for the normally thick fashion books — its peak year was 2005, with 250 pages, according to Media Industry Newsletter. But with a new editor in chief, Joanna Coles, bulking up its fashion editorial, publisher Donna Kalajian Lagani claimed a 16 percent rally from last year, the largest percentage gain among its sibling titles; fashion advertising, meanwhile, increased 26 percent.

The runner-up was Kevin O’Malley of Elle, which after four years of consecutive ad page bumps — 2008 was its peak — posted an increase of 12 percent for a total of 442 ad pages. Harper’s Bazaar, run by Carol Smith, also posted a double-digit increase, 10 percent to 397.

Connie Anne Phillips had been working on InStyle’s September issue before she left Time Inc. for Condé Nast’s Glamour, but it was up to new publisher Karin Tracy to finish the job — the issue ended up with 455 pages, about a 3 percent increase from last year’s 440.

Speaking of Glamour, Bill Wackermann’s last September there was the publishing equivalent of a mic drop — an 18 percent gain over last year, the largest rally percentage-wise at 4 Times Square, for a total of 224 pages. The other Condé title posting a significant percentage gain was W, whose new publisher Lucy Kriz reported 288 pages, up 17 percent.

Vanity Fair, run by Edward Menicheschi, can expect a lucrative October — anniversary issues are always catnip to advertisers, and its the magazine’s 100th — but its September, touted as its style issue, also had a healthy margin, up 5 percent to 234. Nancy Berger Cardone’s Marie Claire continues to be a headache for competitors — she scared up 246 pages, 13.5 percent above last year.

Here’s the breakdown for the remaining titles: People StyleWatch is at 190 pages, up 3 percent; Allure is at 147 pages, up 12 percent; Town & Country is at 113, up 14 percent; Lucky is at 137, up 1 percent, and Women’s Health, from Rodale, has about 88 pages, up 48 percent.

The men’s category continues to overperform — Esquire delivered a 26.5 percent increase for 124 pages, Details saw a 6 percent gain for 148 pages, while GQ posted a 1 percent gain for 205, the largest number of ad pages in its category.

wwd.com

 

[GlamorousBoy]

Burda Media Prague takes the license of Czech Marie Claire from Sanoma Prague

From November 2013, Burda Media Prague will take the license to publish Czech edition of Marie Claire magazine from Sanoma Prague. The deal was made today under the supervision of Groupe Marie Claire.

"Marie Claire is a perfect brand to strenghten our position on the market of luxurious women's magazines", said Petra Fundova, CEO of Burda Media Prague. Burda Media Prague is publishing the Czech editions of ELLE, InStyle, Joy and Maxim alongside other local brands such as the Czech best-selling women's magazine Marianne.

Czech Marie Claire was launched in 2008 under Sanoma Prague as the first main competitor for Czech ELLE. Sanoma Prague is undergoing consolidation nowadays. Now the only competitor for Burda Media Prague is Bauer Media which took the license to publish Czech editions of Harper's Bazaar, Cosmopolitan, Esquire and others from Hearst Stratosfera Prague in October 2012.

source: mam.cz

 

[Melancholybaby]

Suprised that Vogue managed not only to maintain but increase their ad pages, considering last September was their anniversary issue. I'm glad W finally had a big increase, they deserve it with all the great contents they've been putting out this year.

 

[Melancholybaby]

According to WWD, US Vogue's September issue will be their second biggest ever.

 

[GlamorousBoy]

so from 840 to 916 pages... 900 would be nice

 

[honeycombchild]

Did Industrie magazine close...?

 

[vogue28]

UK Harper's Bazaar have done a short behind-the-scenes video of how their issues are compiled under Justine Picardie. You can watch the video here, on Bazaar's website. I found the video (all 3 minutes of it) rather fascinating. It's so rare we get to see what goes on behind British fashion publications. The staff and offices look very polished and chic.

I was unable to find it on YouTube, so I would really appreciate if someone would be able to upload and share.

 

[Hector]

What happened to BlackBook magazine? The Dec/Jan issue was the last issue released.