The Business of Magazines

[Benn98]

Katie Grand Joins W Magazine

Editor-in-chief Stefano Tonchi tells BoF about a new chapter at W as Grand signs on as contributing fashion creative director, following the departure of Edward Enninful to British Vogue.

By Chantal Fernandez
July 20, 2017 05:30

New York, United States — W Magazine is expanding its community of core creative contributors with one of fashion's biggest names. Instead of directly replacing former fashion and style director Edward Enninful — who will begin his post as editor-in-chief of British Vogue in August — the Condé Nast media brand has confirmed that beloved stylist, creative director and editor Katie Grand is signing on as contributing fashion creative director.

Grand will style fashion stories and help editor-in-chief Stefano Tonchi conceptualise special issues and editorials while continuing her role as editor-in-chief of Love, the magazine she founded in 2009. In addition, W has hired Vogue’s Sara Moonves as style director and Rickie De Sole has been promoted to fashion director.

When considering how to replace Enninful, Tonchi says Grand was at the top of his list of talent. “We share a lot of values and I love her enthusiasm,” he tells BoF, adding that his background in independent magazines and familiarity with the British media scene where Grand first made her name — she co-founded nineties fashion bible Dazed & Confused with Rankin and Jefferson Hack before launching Pop magazine in 2000 — makes them natural collaborators. Grand’s irreverent and distinctive eye, her relationships with fashion’s most talented photographers and her understanding of the kind of visual content that resonates online will also prove to be an asset for the magazine.

Source: W Magazine

“I've bought W since I first started buying magazines,” Grand tells BoF. “I was a huge fan of Michael Thompson's covers in the nineties and Miles Aldridge covers with all the supermodels when he first started taking pictures. It's a great American magazine with so much fantastic history.”

But few creative directors like Grand, who was a rumoured candidate for the top job at British Vogue, are willing or able to commit to full-time to single publications in today’s market. “A lot of people don’t want to be pinned down in a specific place,” says Tonchi, citing Grand’s many projects across editorial (contributing to Vogue Paris, Tatler, Industrie, Interview and more) and advertising (for Louis Vuitton, Prada, Tom Ford, Loewe and many more). She is also known for her longstanding creative partnership with designer Marc Jacobs, which whom she works on runway and campaigns.

Grand joins W’s core community of contributing stylists, which includes Giovanna Battaglia Engelbert, Melanie Ward, Benjamin Bruno and Lotta Volkova and is supplemented by guest creative collaborators such as Marc Ascoli and Terry Jones. Grand’s first portfolio, focused on couture, will appear in the October issue.

“I started thinking about a structure that would let talent come in and give their best, and also to have a more kind of reliable core here at the magazine,” says Tonchi. “We nurture talent and we give them the space to really flourish. And that’s our function inside the company, too.” Indeed, two of Tonchi’s past editors, Enninful and former fashion market and accessories director Karla Martinez Salas, have been poached to helm magazines elsewhere in Condé Nast’s portfolio. (Martinez Salas is now editor-in-chief of Vogue Mexico and Latin America.)

“In a moment like this, it’s important to share the talent,” says Tonchi. “I am very happy to take [Moonves] from Vogue and give her a larger stage. My editors went to work for great Condé Nast titles… it’s this idea of sharing talent and sharing resources and coming together to put out the most memorable images.”

In a moment like this, it’s important to share the talent.

Grand joined the Condé Nast family back in 2009 when Condé Nast International chief executive Jonathan Newhouse invited her to launch her own magazine. The bi-annual publication Love has become a platform for famous names to take risks through fashion and a launchpad for new faces, such as Lily-Rose Depp and Kendall Jenner.

Moonves, currently contributing fashion editor at American Vogue, is also known for her work with a new generation of models and photographers, and Tonchi highlighted her relationships in Hollywood as an important asset. She will style shoots and also oversee the front of book.

W magazine has been led by Tonchi since 2010 and is set apart on the newsstand by its oversized pages, provocative and bold editorials, and high-gloss coverage of fashion, film and art. The magazine is one of the smallest in Condé Nast’s US portfolio with an average paid and verified circulation of 457,962 in 2016. September’s issue sold 463,895 print and digital copies versus 33,614 the same month three years prior. In June 2017, W’s website registered 1.8 monthly unique US visitors, up from just under 1 million the year before, according to ComScore.

“Because we are smaller in the distribution, we are more experimental,” says Tonchi, who has worked over the last several years to transform W into a more collectible, premium print product. October 2016’s “his-and-hers” issue, with ten different covers, is an example of a new and ongoing initiative.

To that end, the magazine is adding an additional holiday issue to its schedule, bringing the print frequency up to 11 per year. Tonchi says credit for the decision goes to the magazine’s new publisher Chris Mitchell, who introduced a holiday issue when he was at Vanity Fair.

“We want to restructure the calendar in a way that you have a magazine when there is a need for it, when you can put out something special and something thick and something with a strong presence — and not just have it at the end of the month because you have to have it,” says Tonchi. “It’s a new world, we have to think about print in a new way.

Source: https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/news-analysis/katie-grand-joins-w-magazine?utm_source=Subscribers&utm_campaign=cf67873223-thurs-nl&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_d2191372b3-cf67873223-417355313

 

[YohjiAddict]

She's capable of creating nice edits but her obsession with Instagirls and other banalities of that sort has diminished my perception of her. I'm anything but excited about her appointment, she seems to have more than enough outlets for her mediocre work anyway. Also am I getting things wrong or have those contributing editors been completely absent from the pages of W for at least a year?

 

[honeycombchild]

Exactly why Katie Grand is still a thing is beyond me.

 

[Zposen]

Wow where does she get the time?... I mean she does so much work for Miu Miu and Marc Jacobs already... in addition to LOVE... Congrats to her!

 

[Benn98]

So this position was most likely CN's consolation prize to Katie? I mean, she had her name written over that position. I will say that Grand will most likely help with W's ailing circulation. Her brand, although not to my taste, will at least provide something fresh for W. It sounds like the covers will be divided by Sara and Katie.

Love how Tonchi is spinning not being able to afford someone like Katie into granting them 'liberty'. Please, cost must be kept to a bare minimum so of course they will only employ freelancers. The numbers WWD is pushing out here doesn't add up. Last September sold 463K in print and digital? Dream on!

And does a Holiday edition mean a thick December (by their standards) and a painfully thin January edition?

 

[Miss Dalloway]

If she manages to bring to W what she did at POP magazine, it could work out. But LOVE is an utter mess to me, so yeah... Not exciting news.

 

[Benn98]

Taken from: 'Vogue’s new editor on what Anna Wintour taught him about rich women'

One might wonder how much space for “real” there is in a high fashion magazine, anyway. Enninful’s catchphrase on set is said to be “rich, rich, rich and chic, chic, chic”. He laughs when I mention it, and explains it came from working for Anna Wintour at American Vogue.

“When you’re shooting for Vogue, you know your audience is a rich woman, so you have to — as Anna said to me once — ‘lift it up’,” he says, laughing again. “I had gone in with the idea of shooting in a car park with cars on fire . . . Anna was, like, ‘No: rich, rich, rich.’ ”

Source: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/edward-enninful-vogues-new-editor-on-what-anna-wintour-taught-him-about-rich-women-0fnkzjvtz

 

[honeycombchild]

I feel British Vogue differs somewhat to the US edition in its demographic. The 'rich' women actually opt for Harper's, or did at least. British Vogue has a stronger emphasis on high street and mid level fashion than I think any of the other editions of Vogue do. Maybe that will change, but I would say it's unlikely to change into a model more like the US edition

 

[StockholmFW]

Katie Grand is the new creative director at W

@katemossagency: Congratulations @kegrand on her new role as creative director at W!!!!

[

 

[Deleted member 45369]

I think it's more of the idea of the "rich woman" no one can actually afford any of those clothes. High fashion itself is a facade meant to sell hand bags and perfume to the masses. In that regard, Anna is correct, she knows she can go as absurdly expensive and unobtainable as she wants because she's not pushing the actual clothes, she's pushing their perfume for 90 bucks.

 

[MissMagAddict]

@katemossagency: Congratulations @kegrand on her new role as creative director at W!!!!

Queen Katie continuing her ascent to The Big Job.

 

[nyc_art_style]

Queen Katie continuing her ascent to The Big Job.

The big job? Do you think she'll be replacing Anna Wintour one day?

 

[Benn98]

The big job? Do you think she'll be replacing Anna Wintour one day?

Don't paint the devil on the wall! Lol.
Although I can see it happening. Katie is now moving into American publishing and we all know how much Americans love Brits in fashion. Vogue and Harper's, two titans, are both helmed by Brits.

 

[Fiercification]

Will she still be editing LOVE as well? Surely not...in which case, I think this is a step back, not forward. W is simply not what it used to be, no matter if there's an occasional contribution from Meisel, and doesn't really have as much clout in the publication realm as it might have had 10 years or so ago.

 

[MissMagAddict]

Will she still be editing LOVE as well?

Katie still will edit LOVE.

... Grand will style fashion stories and help editor-in-chief Stefano Tonchi conceptualise special issues and editorials while continuing her role as editor-in-chief of Love, the magazine she founded in 2009. In addition, W has hired Vogue’s Sara Moonves as style director and Rickie De Sole has been promoted to fashion director.

source | businessoffashion

 

[MON]

She'll never get US Vogue. She couldn't even get the UK one.

I don't see this working. I, however, see her leaving W and replacing Glenda for Harper's Bazaar...

 

[Marc10]

Katie Grand AND Sara Moonves? Dear lord...

 

[nyc_art_style]

I'm actually a fan of Grand's work, and I'm excited to see what she brings to W. That's a lot to take on, but more power to her. Love, W, Marc Jacobs, and Miu Miu.

I don't think she'll ever take over Vogue US though. First off we need to stop acting like Anna is on her way out. She'll be editor for at least another 10 - 15 years. And whoever does replace her will surely be someone she's grooming for the job.

Maybe Sara Moonves.... Jorden Bickham.... Tabitha Simmons....

Most likely it's someone we haven't even thought of yet. But let's enjoy the present.

 

[dodencebt]

Grace Jones started singing Send in the Clowns in my head midway of that article.

 

[MissMagAddict]

...Internationally renowned British make-up artist Pat McGrath has been named beauty editor-at-large, while Val Garland, Sam McKnight, Guido Palau and Charlotte Tilbury have all been confirmed as contributing beauty editors. Jessica Diner returns to the title as beauty and lifestyle director, too.

British model and activist Adwoa Aboah joins as contributing editor, while former Vogue staffer and W photography director Caroline Wolff has been appointed editor-at-large and Johan Svensson is named creative director.

“All inspirational and highly-regarded in their individual fields, I’m really excited to see my vision for the British Vogue team come to fruition," Enninful said this morning. "I’m very much looking forward to working with everyone on forthcoming issues.”

The fashion team welcomes Poppy Kain as senior fashion editor; Jack Borkett as fashion editor; Josie Hall as senior fashion assistant; and Jane How, Joe McKenna, Max Pearmain, Clare Richardson, Sarah Richardson and Marie-Amélie Sauvé as contributing fashion editors. Kate Phelan remains as senior contributing fashion editor.

Also new to the masthead are Claudia Croft, acting fashion features director; Olivia Singer, executive fashion news editor; and Anders Christian Madsen, fashion critic...

source | vogue.co.uk