The Business of Magazines

[axiomatic]

Not a fashion mag, but Rolling Stone is now monthly from biweekly. I got my copy in the mail today, and the new mag is bigger with better paper, but it seems like reducing frequency is often a first step to getting rid of print. Not sure if the magazine will make it to my subscription's 2028 end date!

 

[Benn98]

Not a fashion mag, but Rolling Stone is now monthly from biweekly. I got my copy in the mail today, and the new mag is bigger with better paper, but it seems like reducing frequency is often a first step to getting rid of print. Not sure if the magazine will make it to my subscription's 2028 end date!

Blimey! Your subscription runs until 2018, Axiomatic?? What, do have mild dirt on the Wenners, lol?

I wonder if the new larger size is a return to the magazine's late 90s format. I held on to a few issues for some time purely for their covers. Rolling Stone, from 1996 (perhaps even earlier) to about 2000s had the most iconic covers in the thematic vein of Vanity Fair, but edgier. It was one coolest American pop culture magazines around the time, next to VF. And their interviews were blunt and always ruffled feathers. Even a sitcom comedian like David Spade would get the 'quirky' treatment - they dressed him and two Playboy-ish models up as centaur! RS made it fun to look at celebrity photography. That sort of stopped roundabout the time when celebrities began to take over fashion magazines. I imagine that's also around the same time when celebrity PR became the norm, shunning every weird and crazy shoot which didn't fit their client's image.

I haven't even looked at the magazine in years. Not with their formulaic portrait covers. I'd say if they really want to dominate pop culture like they did decades ago, they need to get back to interesting photography. Many editors are misguided in the belief that current readers don't appreciate thematic photography. Just look at the commentary each and every Gucci campaign is getting. On here and elsewhere.

 

[tigerrouge]

If I'd signed up to a title until 2028, I'd probably start thinking I was a major investor in the magazine.

In the case of Interview, I probably would have been.

 

[axiomatic]

Blimey! Your subscription runs until 2018, Axiomatic?? What, do have mild dirt on the Wenners, lol?

I wonder if the new larger size is a return to the magazine's late 90s format.

Haha-I kept signing up for free subscription offers and it kept extending my subscription.

The magazine is about the same size as that format. It has better quality paper and a nicer feel physically, which I guess is necessary for going monthly.

The Wenners sold out to Jay Penske who also owns Variety and WWD. Here's an interesting article from VF:

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/03/rolling-stone-ryan-lizza-jann-gus-wenner-jay-penske-is-the-media-tycoon-du-jour

 

[Benn98]

Anna Wintour Vogue Exit Rumors Swirl Before Daughter’s Wedding

Wintour rumors have become quite the topic of conversation recently, despite emphatic denials from Condé Nast that anything is happening.

By Kali Hays
with contributions from Samantha Conti

on July 6, 2018


DOES ONLY HER HAIRDRESSER KNOW FOR SURE?: Maybe it’s the hot weather in the U.S. and Europe, or her daughter’s upcoming wedding on Saturday, but speculation about Anna Wintour’s exit from Vogue, and even her possible successor, has reached a crescendo louder than a tea kettle on full boil.

Numerous industry sources have insisted in recent weeks that Wintour is indeed set to leave her 30-year post as editor in chief of American Vogue, with the reveal of a soft exit thought to be coming after the all-important September issue is released, which usually happens around mid-August. The increased speculation comes in the run-up to fashion’s version of a royal wedding (the real one already happened, remember?), when Wintour’s daughter Bee Shaffer, who works in Broadway theater production and is a fixture in Vogue’s party coverage, on Saturday marries Francesco Carrozzini, a photographer and the son of the late Italian Vogue editor in chief Franca Sozzani. Vogue’s September issue, vital to its yearly revenue, is set to close the following weekend.

So much Vogue-ing has sent observers into a tizzy — even as representatives of Condé Nast continue to emphatically deny there is any change afoot in Wintour’s role. A spokeswoman said “there is still no truth to these rumors” and a source noted Wintour is already planning out her fall work calendar.

But it is the summer silly season, so Condé’s denials have done nothing to quell talk of her exit — and that British Vogue editor in chief Edward Enninful will move from London to New York to take over American Vogue (although Mark Holgate, Sally Singer, Amy Astley and even Eva Chen have been mentioned as possibilities, too). A spokeswoman for British Vogue said rumors of Enninful succeeding Wintour are “categorically false.”

Even more intriguing than all of that is the guessing game as to what Wintour’s next move would be if she were to step down.

Most observers insist that Wintour might give up Vogue, but only so she can take on an even loftier title at Condé that would give her even more power than she already has (“queen,” maybe?). Then there are those who believe she’s leaving Condé altogether to become more involved in politics, having whetted her appetite over the years as a major Democratic booster for President Obama (successful) and even more so for Hillary Clinton (not successful). Others think she’ll head back to her native England, something she’s said to have been eager to do for quite a while (rumors she was going to become Ambassador to the Court of St. James’s under both Obama or Clinton, if she’d won, have been circulating for years). The thinking is Wintour would lead a new project or even possibly start some type of formal work with the royal family there. The latter rumor seems to have cropped up after she was seated next to Queen Elizabeth II at Richard Quinn’s fashion show in February, but she also last spring received her Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire from the queen.

It’s worth noting that none of these rumors — all presented to WWD as more fact than guess, as gossips tend to do — have Wintour giving herself over to retirement to tend her garden on Long Island and fine-tune her tennis game. Instead, people seem to think that, should Wintour indeed leave Vogue or Condé, it would be for something that would catapult her into an even larger pool of influence and have her continue as an operator extraordinaire. Speaking of Wintour when she received her artistic director’s title, Charles Townsend, the-then chairman and chief executive officer of Condé, called her “maybe the greatest marketer” the organization had ever had.

Whatever is, or isn’t happening, no one seems interested in talking about Vogue or Wintour outside the context of her possible exit. Perhaps they’re only daring to dream.

Source: WWD.com

 

[Benn98]

Anna Wintour Vogue Exit Rumors Swirl Before Daughter’s Wedding

Wintour rumors have become quite the topic of conversation recently, despite emphatic denials from Condé Nast that anything is happening.

By Kali Hays
with contributions from Samantha Conti

on July 6, 2018


DOES ONLY HER HAIRDRESSER KNOW FOR SURE?: Maybe it’s the hot weather in the U.S. and Europe, or her daughter’s upcoming wedding on Saturday, but speculation about Anna Wintour’s exit from Vogue, and even her possible successor, has reached a crescendo louder than a tea kettle on full boil.

Numerous industry sources have insisted in recent weeks that Wintour is indeed set to leave her 30-year post as editor in chief of American Vogue, with the reveal of a soft exit thought to be coming after the all-important September issue is released, which usually happens around mid-August. The increased speculation comes in the run-up to fashion’s version of a royal wedding (the real one already happened, remember?), when Wintour’s daughter Bee Shaffer, who works in Broadway theater production and is a fixture in Vogue’s party coverage, on Saturday marries Francesco Carrozzini, a photographer and the son of the late Italian Vogue editor in chief Franca Sozzani. Vogue’s September issue, vital to its yearly revenue, is set to close the following weekend.

So much Vogue-ing has sent observers into a tizzy — even as representatives of Condé Nast continue to emphatically deny there is any change afoot in Wintour’s role. A spokeswoman said “there is still no truth to these rumors” and a source noted Wintour is already planning out her fall work calendar.

But it is the summer silly season, so Condé’s denials have done nothing to quell talk of her exit — and that British Vogue editor in chief Edward Enninful will move from London to New York to take over American Vogue (although Mark Holgate, Sally Singer, Amy Astley and even Eva Chen have been mentioned as possibilities, too). A spokeswoman for British Vogue said rumors of Enninful succeeding Wintour are “categorically false.”

Even more intriguing than all of that is the guessing game as to what Wintour’s next move would be if she were to step down.

Most observers insist that Wintour might give up Vogue, but only so she can take on an even loftier title at Condé that would give her even more power than she already has (“queen,” maybe?). Then there are those who believe she’s leaving Condé altogether to become more involved in politics, having whetted her appetite over the years as a major Democratic booster for President Obama (successful) and even more so for Hillary Clinton (not successful). Others think she’ll head back to her native England, something she’s said to have been eager to do for quite a while (rumors she was going to become Ambassador to the Court of St. James’s under both Obama or Clinton, if she’d won, have been circulating for years). The thinking is Wintour would lead a new project or even possibly start some type of formal work with the royal family there. The latter rumor seems to have cropped up after she was seated next to Queen Elizabeth II at Richard Quinn’s fashion show in February, but she also last spring received her Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire from the queen.

It’s worth noting that none of these rumors — all presented to WWD as more fact than guess, as gossips tend to do — have Wintour giving herself over to retirement to tend her garden on Long Island and fine-tune her tennis game. Instead, people seem to think that, should Wintour indeed leave Vogue or Condé, it would be for something that would catapult her into an even larger pool of influence and have her continue as an operator extraordinaire. Speaking of Wintour when she received her artistic director’s title, Charles Townsend, the-then chairman and chief executive officer of Condé, called her “maybe the greatest marketer” the organization had ever had.

Whatever is, or isn’t happening, no one seems interested in talking about Vogue or Wintour outside the context of her possible exit. Perhaps they’re only daring to dream.

Source: WWD.com

 

[Benn98]

I doubt she'll come back to the UK if this is true. And I also don't think she should resign in favour of bigger position at CN because her track record to date is filled with blunders. Somehow I just cannot imagine Anna actually leaving the fashion industry.

I expect WWD already know whether the story is true or false, and I'm guessing it's true. They wouldn't engage in baseless rumours as it would tarnish their reputation. And to run this rumour past readers before her announcement will give them more credibility. If it's a soft exit, then we should know relatively soon. I can see her releasing the news ahead of the September issue to spike the sales!

 

[Benn98]

I doubt she'll come back to the UK if this is true. And I also don't think she should resign in favour of bigger position at CN because her track record to date is filled with blunders. Somehow I just cannot imagine Anna actually leaving the fashion industry.

I expect WWD already know whether the story is true or false, and I'm guessing it's true. They wouldn't engage in baseless rumours as it would tarnish their reputation. And to run this rumour past readers before her announcement will give them more credibility. If it's a soft exit, then we should know relatively soon. I can see her releasing the news ahead of the September issue to spike the sales!

 

[Miss Dalloway]

Well now I think there is something here, even WWD is on about it. I agree Ben, she should leave CN. Staying on in that ridiculous role will just damage her legacy further. She was never suited to it. Alex Liberman she is NOT!

I guess she would leave early next year, issue wise. Enough time for a replacement, or just ushering in EE.

 

[Miss Dalloway]

Well now I think there is something here, even WWD is on about it. I agree Ben, she should leave CN. Staying on in that ridiculous role will just damage her legacy further. She was never suited to it. Alex Liberman she is NOT!

I guess she would leave early next year, issue wise. Enough time for a replacement, or just ushering in EE.

 

[Benn98]

Enough time for a replacement, or just ushering in EE.

So this is a reality now, sort of, right? That will leave British Vogue without an EIC once again. And who was the second runner up after Edward Enninful who will most likely be rewarded with the position this time around? Who got a promotion at W as a consolation prize ?

 

[Benn98]

Enough time for a replacement, or just ushering in EE.

So this is a reality now, sort of, right? That will leave British Vogue without an EIC once again. And who was the second runner up after Edward Enninful who will most likely be rewarded with the position this time around? Who got a promotion at W as a consolation prize ?

 

[Miss Dalloway]

OMG anyone but her!! We might end up missing Edward.

 

[Miss Dalloway]

OMG anyone but her!! We might end up missing Edward.

 

[LastNight]

Is it really a cert that Edward is in line for US Vogue after Anna? What a waste of time and excitement over #NewVogue then. Although I guess it makes sense that they would want him to do a trial run, but all the talk about a new way of doing things seems so insincere now. Unless of course he was unaware of Anna's supposed imminent retirement.

Then again, maybe the point was to prove how he would shake up a magazine, but still keep it "Vogue." Which would explain why the content isn't overwhelmingly different from before, other than the covers and a more diverse cast.

I don't know how to feel about this, I was looking forward to seeing how Edward would grow with the magazine, and to watching it's new chapter unfold, but now it all feels kind of pointless, especially if Katie Grand ends up as EIC; she'll undoubtedly give it another revamp.

Then again maybe it's understood by everyone, including EE, that someone else already in the team (Sarah Harris?) will over take the job and Edward is there to cut his teeth for the American edition, with this current direction actually more of a joint effort/vision that will be continued on once he departs. That makes the most sense: the current British Vogue team being a training ground of sorts for everyone involved.

I've gone through several ideas whilst writing this, but the whole thing is so intriguing to me! I'd love to know all the details; it'll be interesting to see how everything plays out, if indeed Anna is really leaving.

 

[LastNight]

Is it really a cert that Edward is in line for US Vogue after Anna? What a waste of time and excitement over #NewVogue then. Although I guess it makes sense that they would want him to do a trial run, but all the talk about a new way of doing things seems so insincere now. Unless of course he was unaware of Anna's supposed imminent retirement.

Then again, maybe the point was to prove how he would shake up a magazine, but still keep it "Vogue." Which would explain why the content isn't overwhelmingly different from before, other than the covers and a more diverse cast.

I don't know how to feel about this, I was looking forward to seeing how Edward would grow with the magazine, and to watching it's new chapter unfold, but now it all feels kind of pointless, especially if Katie Grand ends up as EIC; she'll undoubtedly give it another revamp.

Then again maybe it's understood by everyone, including EE, that someone else already in the team (Sarah Harris?) will over take the job and Edward is there to cut his teeth for the American edition, with this current direction actually more of a joint effort/vision that will be continued on once he departs. That makes the most sense: the current British Vogue team being a training ground of sorts for everyone involved.

I've gone through several ideas whilst writing this, but the whole thing is so intriguing to me! I'd love to know all the details; it'll be interesting to see how everything plays out, if indeed Anna is really leaving.

 

[MON]

US Vogue needs a shakeup. A MAJOR SHAKEUP. And I honestly don’t think Edward can make that happen.

Edward has not shown any growth since his stint in W Magazine. His current work can easily be mistaken as W Magazine. Each cover shot can easily be stamped with the W logo, and can easily be sold as such. His formula may seem to work in the UK as it does look rather fresh and distinct from Alexandra’s work, but in the US market, its just another rehash of what W Magazine used to be. And we all know what happened to W Magazine.

Until and unless Edward steps out of the box, I don’t see him fit to take over Anna’s job. If the US market rejected W Magazine, what makes CN think that Edward can sustain Vogue.

US Elle, imo, is already regaining a lot of its lost prestige and more. Nina is doing a great job. Her covers are far better than US Vogue. And that is what Edward will be up against. It will definitely take a lot more than studio covers and sexy covers, because otherwise his work will only seem like a copy of what US Bazaar and US Elle are already doing right now.

He might as well usher US Vogue into its digital era.

All T no shade. I have lots of respect for Edward. He shines as a stylist, but not as an editor.

 

[MON]

US Vogue needs a shakeup. A MAJOR SHAKEUP. And I honestly don’t think Edward can make that happen.

Edward has not shown any growth since his stint in W Magazine. His current work can easily be mistaken as W Magazine. Each cover shot can easily be stamped with the W logo, and can easily be sold as such. His formula may seem to work in the UK as it does look rather fresh and distinct from Alexandra’s work, but in the US market, its just another rehash of what W Magazine used to be. And we all know what happened to W Magazine.

Until and unless Edward steps out of the box, I don’t see him fit to take over Anna’s job. If the US market rejected W Magazine, what makes CN think that Edward can sustain Vogue.

US Elle, imo, is already regaining a lot of its lost prestige and more. Nina is doing a great job. Her covers are far better than US Vogue. And that is what Edward will be up against. It will definitely take a lot more than studio covers and sexy covers, because otherwise his work will only seem like a copy of what US Bazaar and US Elle are already doing right now.

He might as well usher US Vogue into its digital era.

All T no shade. I have lots of respect for Edward. He shines as a stylist, but not as an editor.

 

[tigerrouge]

It certainly might explain why UK Vogue feels more like an exercise in PR than the crafted output of a dedicated editor. His heart isn't in it because his eyes are on the horizon.

 

[tigerrouge]

It certainly might explain why UK Vogue feels more like an exercise in PR than the crafted output of a dedicated editor. His heart isn't in it because his eyes are on the horizon.