In October, we reported that Men’s Vogue would be absorbed into normal Vogue.
We figured the boy copy would get thrown in with the girl copy - a supplement a la Fashion Rocks - but they’ve gotten more creative.
Vogue’s Publishing Director Tom Florio explained the final chapter (we hope) in the magazine’s saga. Twice a year, starting in April for the first time in its history, Vogue will publish a reverse cover. That means Gwyneth on one side and Robert Downey Jr. on the other (Note: We don’t actually know who Vogue’s April cover girl is).
It’s kind of a brilliant move because we’ll definitely read it if it’s stuck inside our regular Vogue even though we’ve never bought it before. And instead of shrinking into oblivion, its circulation will more than double. And Vogue should, of course, be thrilled with their extra ad pages.
The only thing we don’t get is this sentence from WWD: “But sources estimate there are about 25 ad pages so far, including Ralph Lauren on the second cover.” Is Ralph the second cover star? Because a Ralph ad can’t be on the cover. Someone explain, please.
To: Tips@Fashionista.com
From: LittleJ@seemail.com
Regardless of what Condé Nast is saying about Men’s Vogue continuing to publish, I received a post card offering to transfer my subscription to Condé Nast’s Portfolio or to receive a refund on issues remaining in my subscription.
I just called to request the refund and was told I’d receive a check for $15 in 3 - 4 weeks.
Hm…
To: Tips@Fashionista.com
From: Gossip@Whirl.com
From what I hear (and you didn’t hear this from me), Men’s Vogue was saying it was going to go down to a few issues a year, but from what I hear, it’s going to be done in about 3 - 4 issues.
Yikes!
So basically, no one will know whether the magazine’s done for another year and half or so, officially making this the most drawn out rumor ever…
To: Tips@Fashionista.com
From: Atthe@Meeting.com
Happy New Year!
And have you heard that Men’s Vogue is actually folding altogether? It looks like they’re scrapping the whole poly-bagged thing.
xoxo
[Editor’s Note: If you know what’s going on, you know what to do…]
Yesterday, we suggested that Men’s Vogue is the new Fashion Rocks - a rather irrelevant supplement that pops up twice a year in the back of your actual Vogue and gets relegated to the bottom of the magazine stack, if not the garbage.
Well, WWD confirmed our analogy this morning.
Fashion Rocks and Movie Rocks are no more. And no Fashion Rocks supplement means no Fashion Rocks concert. Did Justin Timberlake know this before the rest of the world and sign up to host the Met Ball as his fashion event replacement?
We also suggested Conde cut back on coffee runs and black cars. But we don’t think we’ll be reading confirmation of that in WWD anytime soon.
The cut backs we reported first at Men’s Vogue this morning just got some new details via a statement Conde Nast released to Media Week:
Not only is the magazine definitely cutting down their issue count to just two per year - a Spring and Fall addition - but the magazine will also be “absorbed” into Vogue.
Translation? It’ll probably become a small version that’s bagged with the regular Vogue, kind of like Fashion Rocks.
Meaning? There must be a lot of lay-offs at 4 Times Square today, especially since it’s just now been announced that Portfolio, Conde’s business magazine, will be cutting its own issue count to just ten per year, which will inevitably lead to some people being let go.
This is all coming to a head after Conde’s announcement of a company-wide budget cut of 5%.
You’d think they could dig into that by cutting back on car services and multi-day department Starbucks runs.
This just in:
Another one bites the dust - kind of.
We just got word that Men’s Vogue has been cut down to just two issues per year.
And apparently, it went down with much emotional fanfare on the part of its editorial staff, including the Editorial Director “welling up”.
Call us naive, but we thought Conde would be sort of immune to these problems.
Guess anyone can go down in this climate…
Someone at WWD got to do a very fun project.
Apparently, since September is indeed the start of the “magazine New Year” like GQ’s Jim Nelson says, a handful of editors have re-vamped their mini pictures on the Letter from the Editor page.
Men’s Vogue Editor Jay Fielden went from a boyish black and white shot of his face to a Graydon Carter like pose with a purple tie. Glamour’s Cindi Leive went from soccer mom to supermodel in Prada. Jim Nelson looks about ten years younger in his newer, not Terry Richardson, close up. Unlike Fielden, he eschewed make-up because, “Whenever I wear makeup, I look like Wink Martindale.”
We think all the editors should get together, maybe Carine could swing over here too, with stylists on hand and knock down Anna’s door for a total make-over spearheaded by Isaac Mizrahi.
On another note, we suddenly miss Jane’s make-unders.
