Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Is Anna Wintour Planning to Revamp Glamour Next?



Getty



Ever since being named artistic director at Conde Nast, Anna Wintour has slowly been making editorial changes at publications that need to be turned around. First came major masthead shakeups at Lucky, then Conde Nast Traveler–so which glossy is next on Wintour’s list?



A juicy new piece on the Vogue editor-in-chief in the New York Times reports that Wintour may have set her sights on Glamour. The women’s title has apparently lost 28 percent in newsstand sales in the year ending in June–a shockingly large drop.



An exec at a competing company “with direct knowledge of the discussions” told the Times that Wintour had approached one of his employees to fill the role of creative director at Glamour; apparently that person was told that he or she would report to Wintour, not EIC Cindi Leive. It’s a move that may sound a tad familiar: Wintour brought Eva Chen onto Lucky initially to serve as a consultant, before axing former EIC Brandon Holley and putting Chen in the driver’s seat of the troubled title.



Charles Townsend, the chief executive of Cond Nast, acknowledged discussions for new Glamour hires had taken place while denying that the new position would report directly to Wintour. As for Wintour, she had only this to say: “These are very early days, and I don't want to say anything that would take the focus off the magazines and their editors, whom I hold in very high regard.”



Still, it’s got to be a bit troubling for editors at Glamour, who have already seen colleagues get the pink slip treatment. As the Times puts it, “Now, a magazine belongs to its editor until it does not.” On the other hand, Wintour’s magic touch–and years and years of experience–can only help a glossy. Plus, Leive and the whole Glamour staff have already proven themselves to be a formidable team, solidifying the glossy’s spot as Conde Nast’s most profitable title. Needless to say we’ll be watching to see what sort of changes Wintour will make.



We’ve reached out to Glamour for comment and are waiting to hear back.


No comments:

Post a Comment