The Business of Magazines

[aracic]

I still can not understand why they're keeping all those numerous editions across Europe alive when the content will be same in all the magazines? What's the point? This is such a massive disappointment that I never anticipated. AND on top of all that there are not even rumors of their worst hires in the history of CN aka Verderi & Farneti getting sacked. Are they really that demented? Is this ludicrous plan seriously going to work? Because I, for one, will go from buying several different editions to buying one or more likely none, depending on the quality of the new content.

I certainly hope that this demise of Vogue means that we'll see more projects like Carine's CR and Katie's Pop or Love popping up soon. Some of these editors are simply too good to go to waste. Maybe it's time for Bazaar and Elle to scoop up this talent and up their game. I just hope they don't all end up in Zara (unless Zara's open to forming a publication, I'd be all up for it!)

 

[Xone]

I still can not understand why they're keeping all those numerous editions across Europe alive when the content will be same in all the magazines? What's the point? This is such a massive disappointment that I never anticipated. AND on top of all that there are not even rumors of their worst hires in the history of CN aka Verderi & Farneti getting sacked. Are they really that demented? Is this ludicrous plan seriously going to work? Because I, for one, will go from buying several different editions to buying one or more likely none, depending on the quality of the new content.

I certainly hope that this demise of Vogue means that we'll see more projects like Carine's CR and Katie's Pop or Love popping up soon. Some of these editors are simply too good to go to waste. Maybe it's time for Bazaar and Elle to scoop up this talent and up their game. I just hope they don't all end up in Zara (unless Zara's open to forming a publication, I'd be all up for it!)

Of course, they are so lazy that didn't make the little effort to make exclusive covers or inside pictures from their shared editorials. People are gonna choose only one edition...for sure they are gonna put some local content but in the end they are directing to Vogue Europe. And all the licensing editions in the end gonna have original own content that maybe attract more readers to them.

Farneti and Vederi? yes, no explanation for this. And they let Alt go

Ezra Petronio are very involved with Zara. he made a book for inside the company only. But it looked good tbh. Maybe they gonna make a magazine too. who knows.

 

[caioherrero]

Of course, they are so lazy that didn't make the little effort to make exclusive covers or inside pictures from their shared editorials. People are gonna choose only one edition...for sure they are gonna put some local content but in the end they are directing to Vogue Europe. And all the licensing editions in the end gonna have original own content that maybe attract more readers to them.

Farneti and Vederi? yes, no explanation for this. And they let Alt go

Ezra Petronio are very involved with Zara. he made a book for inside the company only. But it looked good tbh. Maybe they gonna make a magazine too. who knows.

If Zara make a magazine I want Fabian, Karl and Meisel on board.

 

[VBE]

In my day, magazines specifically targeted a demographic. They built their magazine and image around that demo. Advertisers followed suit. My first year, I was booked as a “teen” or “junior” model. I did editorials and covers and advertisements within that demo. I made the cover of Seventeen and I did a ton of catalog in that demo. That world simply doesn’t exist anymore. Magazines had themes. What happened? All that seems to be left is 100 editions of vogue, bazaar and Elle. Doesn’t that dilute their brands? When I started my career there was only one Elle and that mattered tremendously, it was the biggest magazine in Europe and the most influential. The was American, British, French, Italian and later German and Brazilian vogue. The one that mattered the most was American vogue, followed by British vogue. No one really cared about French or Italian vogue which seemed to only have a few thousand readers between them and seem to always be on the brink of being shut down. They were great to add to your book but far less impactful than American vogue or British vogue. Between 1978 and 1982 I made the 8 covers divided amongstBritish, Italian and German vogue. My favorites were my second uk vogue cover and my Italian vogue cover, but that British vogue covered was far more impactful when it it come to my bottom line. I’m at a complete loss as to how girls are building careers in this day and age. The advertising simply isn’t there.

 

[MON]

Mark my words, Conde Nast will shift to REGIONAL editions aside from US, UK, and China.

US Vogue
UK Vogue
Vogue China
Vogue Australia
Vogue Asia
Vogue Europe

and/or whatever crafty grouping they can create.

What I don't get is the need to fire editors. IIRC, Tatler Asia was regionalized. All asian editions shared content, but had separate and distinct EICs to ensure the magazines identity for the local market.

It's one thing to fire the EICs with existing hefty salaries, its also another to refuse to hire a new one with a diminished contract. The refusal to do the latter is just absurd.

 

[Xone]

Mark my words, Conde Nast will shift to REGIONAL editions aside from US, UK, and China.

US Vogue
UK Vogue
Vogue China
Vogue Australia
Vogue Asia
Vogue Europe

and/or whatever crafty grouping they can create.

What I don't get is the need to fire editors. IIRC, Tatler Asia was regionalized. All asian editions shared content, but had separate and distinct EICs to ensure the magazines identity for the local market.

It's one thing to fire the EICs with existing hefty salaries, its also another to refuse to hire a new one with a diminished contract. The refusal to do the latter is just absurd.

You are right, i would add Vogue Latin America as another group. It is true they need EIC to guarantee the identity of each edition, if not what's the point. It's not like Vogue Latam that people share at least the same language and even if they are not the same, there are some bonds culturally that people can relate to. Anyway... this story continues... (each episode is sadder than the previous one).

 

[lucy92]

Not only are the advertisements not there but the newsstands are gone.

Remember the largest magazine retailers CLOSED most of their locations due to the Pandemic.For example Hudson news is the largest seller of periodicals in NYC and they shut many of their locations in the early stages of the pandemic and have yet to reopen.

Now think of how many periodicals and printed matter are sold at airports...and consider how the drop in airline travel affects that.

Consolidation are corporate greed are also to blame. Retailers like to choose one single buyer to decide what magazines to display and vend across the entire country and ignore regional differences and tastes.

 

[tigerrouge]

The biggest magazine/newspaper retailer in my country retreated across the border and closed all its outlets last summer (Brexit + Covid), so it's been 18 months or more since I've bought a magazine from the newsstand - and I'm a devotee of print.

That retailer carried thousands of magazines covering all sectors, from interiors to farming to model trains, and unless everyone suddenly switched to subscribing, that's a huge number of sales lost simply because people can no longer access the products on a casual basis.

 

[VBE]

Not only are the advertisements not there but the newsstands are gone.

Remember the largest magazine retailers CLOSED most of their locations due to the Pandemic.For example Hudson news is the largest seller of periodicals in NYC and they shut many of their locations in the early stages of the pandemic and have yet to reopen.

Now think of how many periodicals and printed matter are sold at airports...and consider how the drop in airline travel affects that.

Consolidation are corporate greed are also to blame. Retailers like to choose one single buyer to decide what magazines to display and vend across the entire country and ignore regional differences and tastes.

This is terrible for fashion and even more so for advertising and for models. Contrary to popular belief, it’s advertising that fuels the quickly dying profession of modeling not fashion per se. It’s always been the way models made their money. Advertising and catalog is where the money was. A typical week for me at my peak would be shooting an ad for Virginia slims, editorial shoot for American Vogue, shoot ad for Revlon, catalog shoot for Spiegel, editorial shoot for Mademoiselle, fitting at Calvin Klein, shoot commercial for Hanes panty hose, JCPenney catalog shoot, pack for location shoot with Almay and stop by the agency to have meeting with Wilhelmina to discuss my day rates. That was around a $30,000 worth of bookings in 1978 with almost all of it coming from the advertising and catalog bookings. That was a typical week, please note the variety of bookings. I wasn’t sitting around waiting to be “cast” in som designers show. There was no money it. By the way we never used the terms “cast” or “castings.” You went on “go sees” and you were booked. These jobs are dying or simply don’t exist outside of the plethora of magazine editions made up of mostly Vogue, Bazaar and Elle. Walking on a handful of catwalks per season, making the cover of Vogue Ukraine and doing a catalog shoot for Zara once is not making girls or the agencies a lot money and it’s all about the money.

 

[bluestar]

It's really sad to see these changes happening at Conde Nast. I have a business background, so I understand that corporate wants to restructure and make changes they believe will benefit the company, but these decisions seem...well, unintelligent. I think they believe they know what they're doing but in reality, this just seems like a massive shift into losing prime employees and readers. Idk...maybe they will prove us wrong but this direction seems like it will make their magazines less creative, culturally less personal to the country they are in, and less prestigious in general.

 

[LoveFashion25]

This is terrible for fashion and even more so for advertising and for models. Contrary to popular belief, it’s advertising that fuels the quickly dying profession of modeling not fashion per se. It’s always been the way models made their money. Advertising and catalog is where the money was. A typical week for me at my peak would be shooting an ad for Virginia slims, editorial shoot for American Vogue, shoot ad for Revlon, catalog shoot for Spiegel, editorial shoot for Mademoiselle, fitting at Calvin Klein, shoot commercial for Hanes panty hose, JCPenney catalog shoot, pack for location shoot with Almay and stop by the agency to have meeting with Wilhelmina to discuss my day rates. That was around a $30,000 worth of bookings in 1978 with almost all of it coming from the advertising and catalog bookings. That was a typical week, please note the variety of bookings. I wasn’t sitting around waiting to be “cast” in som designers show. There was no money it. By the way we never used the terms “cast” or “castings.” You went on “go sees” and you were booked. These jobs are dying or simply don’t exist outside of the plethora of magazine editions made up of mostly Vogue, Bazaar and Elle. Walking on a handful of catwalks per season, making the cover of Vogue Ukraine and doing a catalog shoot for Zara once is not making girls or the agencies a lot money and it’s all about the money.

Why aren't they getting mush advertisers any longer?

 

[VBE]

Why aren't they getting mush advertisers any longer?

What is a “mush” advertiser?

 

[LoveFashion25]

What is a “mush” advertiser?

Sorry I mean much lol

 

[Benn98]

Wow, so now Fashion Directors are being fired at Vogue?...

Only catching up now, wow! So Vogue Spain is officially in tatters. Juan was the last fragment of all the good work that has been done ever since Eugenia took over. There's no other stylist on their masthead who can replace him. He didn't do a lot of actual styling in the magazine, but he had a strong vision and managed to pull a lot of top designers, stylists, and photographers for content.

Maybe Penelope Cruz should take over?
Actually, the joke may well be on me because that one issue she guest-edited was easily the best VS issue in years, decades!

 

[LoveFashion25]

Only catching up now, wow! So Vogue Spain is officially in tatters. Juan was the last fragment of all the good work that has been done ever since Eugenia took over. There's no other stylist on their masthead who can replace him. He didn't do a lot of actual styling in the magazine, but he had a strong vision and managed to pull a lot of top designers, stylists, and photographers for content.

Maybe Penelope Cruz should take over?
Actually, the joke may well be on me because that one issue she guest-edited was easily the best VS issue in years, decades!

Sad what Vogue Spain has become.

 

[JPineapple]

The case: HB Mexico EIC made public her support to conversion therapy againts lgbtttiqa+ people. After 2 weeks of pressure made by mexican lgbtttiqa+ activists and readers, and the zero response of the editorial group here, they decided to mail and tag Hearst and Harper’s Bazaar US directives and that is their response

 

[Xone]

For anyone who understand spanish...

Lucía Alarcón, editora de Harper’s Bazaar México, envuelta en el escándalo

For sure she is gonna get fired...

 

[JPineapple]

^* *is_what_she_deserves.gif*

 

[JPineapple]

For sure she is gonna get fired...

Honestly, I think Editorial Televisa and Hearst International are gonna shut down the title, their numbers are extremely low next to Vogue and Elle and even compared to Marie Claire before its closure. I’ve always thought that let Adma Kawage and Brenda Díaz de la Vega go was the worst mistake for the magazine.

 

[Xone]

Harper's Bazaar Spain post the same message as HB US...