The Business of Magazines

[Benn98]

On Heels of Vice Acquisition, Garage Appoints New Editor-in-Chief

Garage has named Thessaly La Force to the role of editor-in-chief. Founder Dasha Zhukova will become the title’s editorial director.

By Lauren Sherman October 20, 2016 05:30

NEW YORK, United States — In its first major move since Vice Media acquired a controlling stake in the title, art-meets-fashion magazine Garage has appointed Thessaly La Force its new editor-in-chief. Garage founder Dasha Zhukova, who was previously the editor-in-chief, will assume the role of editorial director, effective immediately.

Garage, which was launched by Zhukova in London in 2011, will move its headquarters to Vice’s offices in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, where both La Force and her team — which will include a number of new writers and editors covering art, design, fashion and architecture — will be based. “I think my new role will require me to be even more present,” Zhukova told BoF. “I’ll be support for Thessaly and hands-on editorially, but I’ll be also be thinking about the growth of the business, development and long-term strategy.”

A rising editorial star, La Force has made a name for herself with thoughtful cultural commentary for publications like The New York Times and The New Republic. She joins Garage from Travel & Leisure, where she was a senior editor. She has also held staff positions at The New Yorker, The Paris Review and American Vogue. “Thessaly has an impressive editorial background that brings together art, fashion and design,” added Zhukova, who has relocated to New York to oversee the project. “She has the ability to intelligently communicate cultural trends to a mass audience.”

“As soon as I met Dasha Zhukova, it was clear that this was what my editorial career was building towards,” said La Force. “I'm thrilled to be here as Garage turns a new page with Vice. It'll be very exciting to see what we can do next, and how we can make a magazine in this digital space where fashion, art and design intersect."

While New York will now be the centre of Garage’s operations as it readies itself for relaunch as a digital channel within the Vice ecosystem, its fashion team will remain in London, where stylist Phoebe Arnold, a protégé of Katie Grand, is joining the company as fashion director. London-based stylists Charlotte Stockdale and Katie Lyall of brand consultancy Chaos Fashion will become creative directors-at-large.

The moves foreshadow the scale of the ambition Vice and Zhukova have for Garage, which they hope to transform from a biannual print publication into a multi-platform media brand with a significant digital, video-driven footprint. “[The partnership] allows [Garage] to grow our digital presence in ways that were previously not possible,” said Zhukova. “It’s a matter of time, resources and know-how.”

The Russian-born Zhukova — who founded the independently run Garage Museum of Contemporary Art in Moscow in 2008 and is married to Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich — also launched a Russian-language edition of Garage in 2013, although there are no current plans to launch additional international editions. “I think we’ll see how it goes, but there are no plans for the moment,” she said. “We’re figuring out exactly how everything integrates, working closely with other verticals.”

Vice’s interest in Garage continues the company’s strategic push into fashion, which began in December 2012 with the purchase of British youth culture and style bible i-D. Vice has since transformed i-D into a digital video brand with an online audience of over 9 million unique users per month, up from under 200,000 at the time of the transaction. In July, Vice also acquired a majority stake in Starworks Group, a brand development, communications and creative agency specialising in the fashion and beauty industries.

But interestingly, Garage sits at the intersection of fashion and contemporary art, a once rarified industry that, following a trajectory not completely dissimilar to fashion, is attracting increased public attention and, to some degree, merging with wider popular culture. It helps to explain why the entertainment conglomerate WME-IMG, run by Hollywood superagents Ari Emanuel and Patrick Whitesell, acquired a stake in Frieze, the prestigious art fair and publisher, in April.

“Our strategy is to build a global platform where the world’s most interesting creators of art and fashion can tell stories that connect to people, that will inspire, that they will enjoy,” said Andrew Creighton, president of Vice, on the long term plan for Garage. “If we get that right then we have done our jobs and perhaps we can break down some industry barriers to change whilst we do it.”

Vice has raised funding from other media and entertainment companies including A+E Networks, 20th Century Fox and Walt Disney, which last year doubled its stake to $400 million, valuing Vice in the ballpark of $4.2 billion to $4.5 billion, according to market reports.

Source: https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/intelligence/vice-garage-appoints-thessaly-la-force-editor-in-chief

 

[Benn98]

Yikes, . She's really inadvertently dragging a lot of people through the mud with this diary. My guess is her impending retirement may be looming much closer than we think!!

Inside Vogue: A Diary of My 100th Year by Alexandra Shulman

‘Arrange to meet Kate Moss for coffee at 3. She eventually turns up five days later. I tell her I had nothing better to do than wait’
Fashion Time digested read illustration Alexandra Shulman Vogue diary

John Crace
Sunday 30 October 2016 17.00 GMT
Last modified on Monday 31 October 2016 07.40 GMT

September 2015

To begin this momentous year I meet Stella McCartney for coffee in Notting Hill. She’s very worried that the Chinese are taking all the places at the best private schools. Briefly consider whether I should put a Chinese model on the front cover of January’s issue, then decide against it. I then go home to try to fix the boiler. Get to the office where I have an exhausting morning trying to choose some pictures and working out the seating plan for a gala dinner.

October 2015

Meet Richard Macer who is making a documentary about Vogue’s centenary year. Not quite sure why I agreed to this and make a mental note to be as unhelpful as possible. I get him to waste his first two weeks filming inside GQ before he realises his mistake. Good. Go to meet Victoria Beckham who is eating half a carrot for lunch. She tells me John Kerry is keen to get her involved with the humanitarian crisis in Syria. Her next collection is to be entitled “Refugee Chic” with 1% of the profits going towards supermodels trapped inside Aleppo.

November 2015

My first meeting with the Duchess of Cambridge who is to be cover model for the centenary issue. She is much taller than I expected and far more helpful. Josh the photographer has some amazing ideas for the shoot. “How about we build a huge mansion in Kensington Gardens and I snap you on the doorstep?” he says. I point out there already is a large mansion in Kensington Gardens. “That’s totes amazing,” he says. “I never knew that.” I think the shoot is going to be a big success so long as no one finds out what we are planning. I go home to try and fix the boiler again.

December 2015

Fly to Milan for the Dolce & Gabbana fashion show. The plane does not crash. The show is truly groundbreaking as it is featuring winter clothes when all the other designers are showcasing summer clothes. Fashion is truly on the verge of a major revolution. Arrange to meet Kate Moss for coffee at 3. She eventually turns up five days later. Time-keeping is not her strong point. I tell her not to worry as I hadn’t had anything better to do than keep my entire life on hold while she did whatever it was she was doing. I ask her if she will do a Rolling Stones cover shoot sometime next year. She says she will think about it and then falls over.

January 2016

I wake up to find out that David Bowie has died. Audrey, my yoga teacher, tells me it is because Mercury is in retrograde. If only she had told David that he would have taken more care not to get cancer. Fly to Paris with Richard the idiot film-maker to meet Karl Lagerfeld. “You look great,” I tell Karl. I genuinely don’t know why more 80 year olds don’t wear dark glasses indoors and tie their hair back in a pony tail. My good friend Geordie Greig, the editor of the Mail on Sunday, says he can’t wait to see the new Vogue exhibition and promises to give it a big plug. He sends Liz Jones, who writes 2,000 words about how undermined she felt about there not being a photograph of herself.

February 2016

Get to stitch up Anna Wintour by sneakily running my Rihanna cover ahead of hers. I’m sure she won’t mind as Condé Nast is one big happy family. Check through the spreadsheets and am saddened to see how little some of my staff earn. Cheer myself up by commissioning a £50,000 shoot with Mario and Kate to which Kate doesn’t bother to turn up. Am beginning to feel a bit guilty about fooling Richard and my team about the Duchess of Cambridge cover. Phone Naomi Campbell to ask if she knows of a good plumber as my boiler is still playing up.

March 2016

Try to get David Beckham to do a shoot. He says yes. Then he says no. Then he says yes. Then he says no again. This goes on all month. I have a cold and am exhausted.

April 2016

Fly to Paris for new Armani collection. “It’s called Black Velvet,” he whispers to me. “Why?” I ask. “Because everything is made out of black velvet,” he replies. I tell him he’s a genius. Plans for the gala festival are all in the air as Taylor Swift and Tom Hiddleston can’t remember if they are supposed to be going out with one another or not. At least Kim Kardashian is coming. Maybe she knows someone who can fix my boiler.

May 2016

Everyone loves my Duchess of Cambridge cover, though I get a bit annoyed when I see someone looking at it in the hairdressers for free. Richard tells me that he isn’t actually making the documentary he said he was. I am furious. How dare he work behind my back? To cap it all, my boiler is still leaking.

June 2016

A great night at the Vogue gala which even David Bailey couldn’t ruin. Philip Green says he can’t leave his yacht right now. I know none of his employees will have a pension but I can’t help loving him. All the Poles have left London as a result of Brexit. Now my boiler will never get mended.

Digested read, digested: Fashion at boiling point.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/oct/30/inside-vogue-a-diary-of-my-100th-year-by-alexandra-shulman-digested-read

 

[dodencebt]

^ That is better than her real memoir!

 

[Miss Dalloway]

I find that so incredibly tacky, she seriously must be on her way out! I hope so! But honestly is that real or is Guardian making a parody on her book? It can't be actually what she wrote in the book? Did you guys see the cover art of the book? Wth is that?!!! Looks like a cheap gossip girl book!

 

[honeycombchild]

The above diary entries aren't actually in the book, right? It's the journalist offering a sort of... piss-take, yes? I read it at first as if it was really exerts from the book and was so shocked she would be so frank. Ha.

 

[Miss Dalloway]

^ Thank you, i knew this can't be real, haha, was seriously confused because Benn didn't mention it wasn't actually real haha!

 

[8eight]

Thats a spoof.

The actual book is a really good read. Its very short and snappy but it gives a real insight into the magazine.

Tim Ealker wanted to shoot Kate Moss with a dragon and it would cost £19,000 for the one shot. Alexandra said no.

The stories about the Kate Middleton shoot are interesting and she tells of how she has to tell Mario (just before the cover is announced) that he didn't get to shoot it.

If you love magazines, then its an easy and good read.

 

[honeycombchild]

Is there an insight into why it wasn't Testino? After all, they did select him for their imagery themselves, so I suppose in that respect it's a little odd it went elsewhere for such a high profile cover. I'm very happy it did, but still...

 

[Miss Dalloway]

Thanks for the heads up 8eight, nice to hear the actual book is more than gossipy nonsense. Although i did see she took some jabs at Tracey Emin for canceling a shoot with Walker, and Bailey for being impossible sometimes haha.

SO happy it wasn't Testino who got to shoot Kate! And i think she and the Palace opted out of Testino and wanted a less high profile photog to highlight.

 

[Nymphaea]

Carine Roitfeld and Stephen Gan Part Ways

Carine Roitfeld and Stephen Gan have terminated their partnership on CR Fashion Book, BoF can confirm.

 

[honeycombchild]

Bailey is always a nightmare. It isn't limited to British Vogue.

'Don't look at the screen.' 'Do not look at the camera, ever.' 'You are to see no images until after the shoot.' 'Don't look directly at him or talk to him.'

I've never rolled my eyes as much as I did that day I can assure you.

 

[DutchHomme]

Alexandra Shulman sounds like a frustrated annoying kid

 

[eizhowa]

I don't get it. Was Kate so drunk she fell over? (Let us focus on what was important in this "article")

I am guessing she called all these people before publishing this. Or maybe the people who know her gets her humour and sees something I don't. Which is very possible.

 

[Melancholybaby]

^This is a spoof, not actual excerpts from the book.

 

[8eight]

@honeycombchild Kate wanted to work with a young British photographer

It's v interesting reading about the shoot and how they worked weekends on the cover so nobody would see print outs

 

[8eight]

The Rihanna cover bombed she says

 

[Miss Dalloway]

^Whoa, so Rihanna keeps on delivering worst selling issues for Vogues, which is even more amazing, since it doesn't matter because they keep using her! I guess the PR over having her is worth it to the editors, smh!

But then i was also shocked that Kate wasn't the best seller of the year, i was certain she will blow out of the water everyone this year!

 

[eizhowa]

^This is a spoof, not actual excerpts from the book.

Well don't I feel Dumb...

 

[Melancholybaby]

Well don't I feel Dumb...

Don't worry, I thought it was real at first too. The boiler clued me in.

 

[eizhowa]

Don't worry, I thought it was real at first too. The boiler clued me in.

Whenever I think England I think boiler so it didn't clue me in at all