While it is true that several smartly made, resilient outfits will get through the financially rocky 2009 with no problem whatsoever, alas, not all magazines are created equal. Next year will not be an enjoyable one for many, many publications.
Here are five mags you shouldn't be surprised to see close in the coming months.
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While fluffy magazine editor Richard David Story, of Departures, uses his editor's letter each month to pay favors to the lush resorts and jewelers whose procurement of services allow for his glossy editorial each issue, there are some fluffy magazine editors who see their intro copy as a chance to make a difference in the world. There is Vanity Fair's Graydon Carter, who pens his editor's letter to lambaste the Bush administration in print the way Keith Olbermann does it on the tele every night. This month GQ's Jim Nelson waited 136 pages to tell us how excited he gets about politics, and how excited he gets seeing other people excited about politics. (Okay, that's not exactly going to make a difference in the world, but at least he mentioned something other than clothing.) And at Allure, a magazine we do not read but assume to be stuffed with advice about choosing the right lip gloss color to match your scarf, editor-in-chief Linda Wells is now using her letter to readers to bring change in the environment. And Wells' efforts are, in some ways, more game-changing than even Graydon Carter's, because while he attacks the right-wing political machine, he's not exactly risking any particular advertiser. But this month Wells is going off on the very beauty companies who advertise in her magazine, for using excessive packaging to create the allure of luxury, all while creating excessive trash. It's like there's something meaningful in her words! CONTINUED »
The promised nude shots of Gabrielle Union and Jill Scott in Allure have arrived, although Jill’s photo can barely be called nude, since she is pretty much totally covered by leaves and twigs.
I was really looking forward to doing the interview with Britney…I didn't think we were necessarily going to bond, but I didn't think it was going to be bad.I love the Catholic schoolgirl outfit…We both have two sons…We both love Cheetos.
–Judith Newman, the contributing editor at Allure magazine who was stood up by Britney Spears (four times) for this month's cover story. [via]
Only weeks after news broke of Britney Spears KFC meltdown at OK! magazine came word that Allure EIC Linda Wells had tapped Spears for her September cover.
Not surprisingly, Spears proves she's not quite up to the task, evading Allure's contributing editor Judith Newman on four separate occasions, due to "illness" (Read: Emergency manicures and Neiman Marcus shopping sprees) and failing to pull herself together long enough for Newman to compile what was originally intended as a puff piece on Spears' alleged "comeback."
Much to the disappointment of school-aged children everywhere, Labor Day is approaching at a rapid clip.
Which means that autumn is just around the corner, and with it, comes a much-needed reduction in humidity, the beautiful foliage and of course, the gigantic, way-too-heavy-to-fit-in-your-work-bag fashion magazines, advertising way-too-expensive-to-actually-afford fall wardrobes, shown on way-too-skinny-to-be-anything-but-depressing fashion models.
Thankfully, WWD's Memo Pad is on hand to give us all the boring deets (read: page counts and advertising numbers!) and to take a sneak peek at the various women pre-selected (by the high powered editors-in-chief) to grace the respective mags' covers for this veritable ad sales bonanza.
Allure staffers know you're not really reading the mag for its insightful editorial pieces or up-to-the-minute hair and makeup tips. Let's face it, you're reading it because it's the only magazine your at your doctor's office other than Highlights (and some sickly looking kid already grabbed that) or because you bought a 2-year subscription for only $8.99 on ebay.
And that's why they've upped their marketing campaign this time around, and discovered a little known strategy they like to call, "bribing you with expensive products."
The magazine has stepped up its effort to make the most of print and online at the same time, bringing back its August sampling issue after a successful dry run last year. Many products advertised in this year's version, which a cover line touts as "The Free Stuff Issue," are available as samples, either bound into the magazine or through the AllureAccess.com Web site.
Our verdict? Any magazine that asks its readers "if you were going to get a nose job, whose photo would you bring to the plastic surgeon?" needs a hell of a lot more than free moisturizer to get those copies flying off the racks. Now, if you'll excuse us, we're off to satisfy our intellectual curiosity by reading the rest of Julia Allisons' tips for maximizing your sex appeal in this month's Cosmopolitan.
It's a good day for Grey's Anatomy's Sara Ramirez, who's learned to revel in her plus-sizedness next to waifs like Ellen Pompeo. Turns out, normal looking girls are in! Well, that's "normal looking," as in "if your rib cage can be used in an 8th grade biology class to point out the intracacies of the thoracic cavity, you're too skinny, but don't get much fatter."
So perhaps we're getting ahead of ourselves when we say the likeness of the majority of American women is en vogue. But with all the controversy erupting over too-thin walking manicans, it appears some magazine editors are opting to use a Photoshop toolset never before seen in the halls of 4 Times Sq.: the fattening process.
Everyone has a story of a celebrity cover slimmed by Photoshop, but several editors have been quietly ordering the retouching of gaunt model shots to make them look, well, a little fatter. "A model shows up and you realize she's too thin and has lost weight since the booking, but the show must go on," said Allure editor in chief Linda Wells. "When the film comes to me, I realize I don't want to see hip bones and ribs in the magazine."
And oh look, there's Ellen Pompeo on the cover of Allure. And in fact it does look like they added some healthy puffs of Photoshop magic to her cheeks, which we're accustomed to seeing sunken in and barely responsive to the advances of McDreamy.
There are a couple ways to be a low-level magazine staffer and land your way in Page Six. You can file sexual harassment charges against a colleague. You can get caught having sex on your editor's desk after hours. Or you can use your position of relative power to demand free swag and then sell it on eBay.
Last week, assistant editor Molly Friedman was fired for selling beauty supplies that had been sent to Allure editors. Friedman had been working there for almost a year and was very recently promoted from her editorial assistant position. "She was asking makeup companies to send her products that hadn't hit stores yet, and she was selling them on eBay instead of putting them in the magazine," said our insider. "She's pretty much banned from Condé Nast for life."
Meanwhile, we'll let you enjoy the irony of Page Six reporting on someone else getting in trouble for accepting free merch.
• Harper's Bazaar has been busy shopping Conde Nast's market staffers. We hear the Hearst cafe is better, people! [FWD]
• Clubs in L.A. don't want Brandon Davis to enter. The real question, though, is "why?" He's so sweet and fun-loving. We really just don't get it. [TMZ]
• Now that she's the most famous lady of the day, maybe Arianna Huffington can offer to have Tom Freston's carpet cleaned? [FBNY]
• Girls, listen up. Just be happy with yourselves, ok? So what if you're a frizzy mess and dickwads call you names like hag or slag or biyotch? Linda Wells thinks you're hot. And she would also like if it if you grow some confidence and stop interrupting her vacation to talk about lip gloss and conditioner. Capiche? [NYDN]
• And then there's this girl. Who almost has too much confidence. We don't know — celibacy vows seem somehow cheapened when Paris Hilton flashes her ass all over town. [Mollygood]
Ok, so don't make fun of us, but we went to this Beauty Blogger panel last night. In hopes of free lip gloss, sparkling wine, and invites to fashion week events, we whored ourselves out on the streets of Midtown. We learned things like "what is a blog?" and "you should never ever swear on you blog" (we really don't know what the fuck that was about) and "don't sell $750 face cream from a rep on eBay."
And then, our purpose in life was revealed. Somehow, the discussion got around to blogs and magazines (yay!) and the panelists launches into this story about Allure readers burning themselves with Mr. Clean Magic Erasers.
Whaa?
Yeah, the magazine told readers it was a fab way to get rid of self-tanner lines. Hello, a blogger said it worked. It must be true. Of course, we immediately jump to the defense of the blogger, and laugh our asses off at the magazine for telling readers to take bleach themselves … but we wanted to get to the bottom of this.
After a bit of research (like, 15 seconds of Internet browsing) what we can gather is this:
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• Andy Dick is a fucking moron. On coke. Try to contain your excitement over this shocking news. [Page Six]
• Drew Barrymore wants babies. She swears she won't let them drink or do drugs until they're at least 12. [People]
• The Gramercy Park Hotel has some very Allure-ing bathrooms. (Sorry. We had cheese for breakfast.) [WWD]
• In an effort to brighten up your Tuesday, we should tell you that all of the expensive, swaggy crap celebs get for free may have to be reported to the IRS. [E!]
• We didn't know these Hollywood hotties loved them some ping-pong. And if any of them want to join us at Royale in Park Slope on Sunday nights, we'd be more than happy to show them a good time. [R&M]
• Your Monday mag round-up includes Details readers cutting off their balls, Men's Health readers getting rock-hard abs, and everything you've ever wanted to know about Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes, and Dick Cheney. Let's hope the rest of the week goes up from here. [NYP]
• Wait, journalists were responsible for the Holocaust? Then who was running the media during World War Two? [NYT]
• Things are getting so tough over at Rolling Stone that you have to be one of the next 50 people in line for the thrown to be hired as a music writer. Nice job, Lord Freddie Windsor. [Page Six]
• The beauty of Allure is that it has managed to survive solely based on a readership of Conde Nast employees. [NYDN]
• The media doesn't care if Johnny Weir is gay. His flamboyancy is much more relevant than who he's sleeping with. [Sun-Times]
Gap face Joss Stone highlighted Allure's 10th annual Best of Beauty "awards" at the Rainbow Room Monday night, celebrating, well, we're not exactly sure what — but we have a a feeling departing CNBC chair Pamela Thomas-Graham might be interested.
But there was something to celebrate: A fat, fat issue. In fact, it's Allure's biggest issue yet thanks to 229 ad pages. And don't think editor Linda Wells is going to let you forget it anytime soon.
What Kinsey did for sex, we did for shampoos, creams, lip glosses, mascaras.
Just say it, Linda: This was your tsunami.
