Tag: conde nast

Categories
Fashion

Fabulously Applying the Same Remedy.

In the “Here We Go Again” category, another month, another headline on layoffs at the big publishing houses.  It is hard to imagine who will be left to write about a perfume review. It is hard to see just how many more staff members can be fired from a company becomes dysfunctional. Applying the same not working remedy for the same long term illness has not worked.

First, Hearst, the Eight Avenue headquartered publisher of Harper’s Bazaar, Esquire and Cosmopolitan announced 200 employees would be fired.  President Debi Chirichella gave the usual excuse of allocating resources to support goals, etc. The reality is the company may employ A.I. to produce articles.  Hearst’s flagship title Harper’s Bazaar will publish one less print edition next year, from ten to nine.

The second announcement of fashion magazines meltdown came from Conde Nast.  The collection of prestigious magazines released underperforming financial figures.  On Thursday December 5th, GQ heads rolled along with other workers.  Last year Group leader Roger Lynch fired 5% of the staff, decamped to cheaper digs in London and New York City while trying to pivot to digital realms. Claiming ad buys are down, costs are up, the Vogue owner is seeking new bottom line cuts.

Plush Meltdown

As this plush content calamity happens, the great survivor Anna Wintour continues with the title Chief Content Officer over several titles. The simple question is, why? The strategy of jettisoned international editors has failed, one template for all local versions has failed.  Editors are now working across multiple titles and platforms.  What made Vogue magazines unique has become as exciting as eating at a global fast-food chain. Conde Nast became a sinking brand extension of Wintour.

Hearst and Conde Nast are going to have to search for new ideas as 2025 looks to be difficult year with conflicts, consumer pressures and business cutbacks. Will the once uncontested style gate keepers be relevant? Dinosaurs existed until one day they did not.

Categories
Book Review Fashion

Talley’s Chiffon Trenches

Andre Talley

I finally read Andre Leon Talley’s book The Chiffon Trenches, the fashion authority’s memoir published in 2020.  The Brown University graduate shows his gift of flowery as well melodramatic language describing his pioneering life in the fabulous  stratosphere.  However, therein lies the problem with the book.  The author weaving the tales got tangled in the plush silk web.  

From humbled beginnings in North Carolina to the corridors of fashion power at Vogue and Conde Nast, Talley’s journey was remarkable.  An assignment with editor matrix Diana Vreeland opened the doors of influence and access.

Stints at Interview, W Magazine and Ebony, Paris then New York placed the Washington D.C. born journalist in a spoke of the fashion universe.

Into the Bubble

The expression goes “The devil does not come dressed in a red cape and pointy horns.  He or she comes as everything you wished for.” It would be Anna Wintour who placed the journalist as close to the fashion’s center- hub as he would get.  The British born uber magazine head made Talley a true member of the style gentry class.  With a prestigious name plate, suddenly the first African American fashion Editor at Large not only had new friends, old enemies sought truces. 

Working at Conde Nast came across as a gilded bubble, flying here and there, front role seats, endless name dropping, believing the gold leaf fiction would prove the influential style consultant to the star’s eventual downfall.  Everyone has an expiration date. Mr. Talley’s beliefs in personal relationships in a transactional world came across as misguided, naïve, silly. Given his skill and knowledge, how did Andre fail to understand this?

The lack of introspection, suddenly chasing identity in a shallow way bothered me while reading his book. At the time of his writing, the world was gripped by BLM.  Perhaps this was chasing the headlines of the day.  I cannot remember Talley championing other African American Writers, designers, stylists until it was safe. Being friends with Naomi Campbell, Diana Ross and Michelle Obama was hardly risking taking.

His Job?

The confusing part of the book, what exactly did Talley do at Vogue? The details of having to pay for his driver when expenses were cut, laid bare, while the particulars of his job seemed vague, a column or a VIP styling every full moon. What were his real responsibilities?  After his unceremonious 2018 dismissal from the fashion Bible, the once well-heeled connected style purveyor got lost, forgotten, a relic who did not keep up with the times.  Seeing the frequently wearing caftain wearer on the 2020 Tamron Hall Show, I saw a man who came across as a child who lost his mother at the shopping mall.  The issues with Wintour still ran deep. 

Andre Leon Talley passed away in 2022 alone, struggling with legal and financial issues.  The 73-year-old left a bigger than life legacy that sadly faded at the end.

Categories
Fashion

Fashion’s TOPSY TURVY

As the fashion world moves along its topsy turvy twists and turns, the latest news makes a person’s head shake.

MET GALA

The MET Gala is coming up.  The New York City Soiree is the Red-Carpet event for the rich and famous.  Anne Wintour’s grand showcase is where fashion labels pay a celebrity to show up looking gorgeous.  The proceeds from this “charity” go to the Metropolitan Museum.  The irony, Vogue, along with parent company Conde Nast is planning to lay-off 100 workers. As the magazine struggles for footing, the fashion powerbrokers are having a ball while saying” No money to pay the workers”.   The term “Out of Touch” comes to mind. 

Conde Nast staff is taking this laying down.  The soon to be ex-employees are planning an action.  Workers are planning an action to circulate flyers near the venue with the slogan “Anna wears Prada/Workers get nada.”  NewsGuild of New York announced the intention is to bring attention to the ongoing negotiations.  While the Queen of Fashion is toasting many of her subject writers may need to open GoFundMe accounts to pay rent.

Reality

In the “Was it ever real” category, luxury online shopping has imploded. Until recently, once the darling of investors, the so called “savior the fashion world” is going out of style faster than bell bottoms.  E-commerce sites hit valuations of $25 billions and higher, those days are gone.  Matchesfashion went belly up with a heavy debt load owing 200 vendors, including luxe labels Victoria Beckham, Gucci, Max Mara and YSL.  Administrators are selling office furniture.  Customers will not get refunds or have orders finished.

Farfetch, the Paris base digital shopping giant has fallen on hard times as consumers cut back on high-end spending. 

While attending fashion events in January and February buyers from these platforms were going around trying to convince brands all was good, no need to worry.  Please keep doing business with us.  How did they do this with a straight face? 

It is only April. 

Categories
Fashion

Conde Nast does it AGAIN!

Conde Nast

Yet again, this time around 5% or around 300 people will get pink slips from Conde Nast’s 5,500 employees. As the New York based publishing house takes “death by a 1,000 cuts” road to profitability, I am starting to get the feeling perhaps it is not the patient but the doctors in charge of treatment. Round after round of lay offs and high profile exits seems to have yielded less than good results. In a letter from company head Roger Lynch, there were hints of more head count cuts to come along with a smaller office space footprint.

Conde Nast Vogue
Conde Nast/Vanity Fair

Twentieth century aspirational titles are becoming less relevant in the digital landscape. Platforms are algorithm centric where guys with no shirts, puppies and comedic irony rules. The parent company of Vogue, GQ and Vanity Fair continues to struggle with declining ad revenue along as readers flock to short videos on TIKTOK and Instagram.

It begs some questions about the current centralised approach strategy for all magazines, one template fits all. How long can Conde Nast keep trying to “reduce costs” its way into the black column? Why is Fashion Empress Anna Wintour, still sitting on the thrown of a plush, yet continuing shrinking kingdom? Sooner or later the royal court will have to face reality.

Categories
Fashion

Fabulous Denial Syndrome

Being Fabulous! Aspirational living! This is the lifestyle Vogue and other Conde Nast publications put in our faces. That $1500 bag matched with a $900 linen top.  Advice; Pay the rent before heading to Bloomingdales. 

Once again the magazines find themselves in the headlines, but for the wrong reason,,AGAIN!  Six years ago Conde Nast debased from Mid Manhattan to the World Trade Center. Fast Forward to the 2020 Pandemic, ad revenue flat lined. Suddenly, those palatial 1.2 million square feet became a brick tied to an ankle in a sea storm.

Fashion magazines have been in a denial stage for a decade. Bloggers and social media elbowed in once exclusive territory. Brand advertising splintered. But to the heads of Conde Nast, this was a bump on a Champagne Boulevard. They had become victims of a movement they help create, “Living In A Fake Reality”. 

Nothing says success than new digs. Trading up, moving to 1 World Trade in lower downtown New York represented the future, optimism. Anna Wintour and staff sat on top of the world. August 4th  2020, reports started circulating Advance Publications, parent company of Conde Nast, is scouting for a new office. I had to do a double take. Suddenly, Vanity Fair, New Yorker, Teen Vogue’s 21 floors lost its appeal or a need to  “trade down”. Six months ago I saw Vogue editors coming in and out of the Bristol and Hotel de Crillon hotels in Paris. 

One Minute This, Then, 

In April requesting government a bailout, today negotiating cheaper rent. No more fashion week teas in “Le Boudoir”. Have the company credit cards been cut? No worries, if a Vogue Staffer is reading this, send me a message. I know a few affordable places in Paris and Milan.

Looking over the magazines social media channels, I could see problems. Access to the best writers and photographers in the world, yet, a lack of original content replaced by recycled stories. How many pictures can be from the archives? Or Vogue Challenges every week?  HMMM! 

All smokes and mirrors, denial is a fabulous way to live until a “reality brick” hits the face. 


Categories
Fashion

Will Anna Stay?

Vogue head Anna Wintour
Wintour from Vogue

The famous silhouette at Fashion Week for the past 32 years. The perfectly coiffed helmut hairstyle. Oversized sunglasses. Statement Necklace. Calf-length dresses. Admired, feared, and copied, Anna Wintour commanded attention. Whether on purpose or not, when she entered the room her presence was felt far and wide. 

Vogue Head Anna Wintour 

As the daughter of famous newspaper editor Charles Wintour, publishing runs through her veins. Vogue USA sits at the top of a diminishing fashion magazine landscape besieged by the digital platforms. Now the resurgence of Black Lives Matter has placed the once venerated title and its editor in a cross hairs.   As the pressure mounts for a more socially responsible outlook, many want answers about the lack of diverse voices in the fashion field, particularly at Vogue. Will Anna Survive?

The “C” Word  

In Anna’s defense, her first cover model was Naomi Campbell in 1989. But, in 2020 the entire organization feels like a social club trapped in an episode of “Mad Men”. First, Andre Talley, former Vogue Editor at Large, released excepts from his book calling Wintour “A Colonial Broad”. OUCH!

Side Note: I plan on reading Mr. Talley’s book “The Chiffon Trenches”. I have some questions with a raised eyebrow concerning his new found “Identity” and “Sour Grapes” tell all.

I cannot remember a designer or creative of color championed by her or anyone at the publication. Based In New York City, I fail to see why it was difficult to find a Black Photographer. It took singer Beyonce to insist on one for her cover shoot. Former African American staff members (the few who worked there) complained of bad treatments and lazy stereotypes.

Can She Stay? 

If a letter to Vogue staff on lack of support for African American Staff members was suppose to put out the fire, it only threw gasoline on a flame. Conde Nast Chairman Roger Lynch during a staff phone call defended the embattled Editor in Chief. Stating, “Wintour is staying put”. But with opens calls inside and out insisting on her resignation, it is hard to see how this corporate position is sustainable.

How will fashion handle this increasing awkward relationship? A one time asset suddenly has the potential of being a liability at fashion week. Social Media could be unforgiving if that scrutinizing silent gaze is sitting front row.

My Thoughts 

As for my real opinion. It was no secret many publishing houses were and are cultural insensitive.  I would not have met the “hiring profile”.  Vogue USA never impressed me on the creative level. It did not take risks. Nor did I find it particularly stimulating or at the forefront of style. It was about the establishment. Who made into the club. However, guilty as charged, I read the September issue.

Earning a reputation for control, Anna Wintour has learned as the rest of us, no one is in control during these times.

Categories
Fashion

Only 30 Days

The classic Aesop Fable of “The Ant and The Grasshopper” is about being prepared while the other played. Looking over the recent headlines, many have lived with the mentality of the Grasshopper. A complete lack of long term preparation for the winter. After only 30 days in lockdown many companies and brands have run out cash. 

Conde Nast 

Publisher Conde Nast announced cut backs, salary cuts, and furloughs for employees. The company will request aid from governments of several countries. CEO Roger Lynch’s letter to employees states “financial pressures” with an “altered trajectory”. Advertisement buys have tried up. Titles Vogue, Vanity Fair, Details struggle in free fall as riders desert print magazines. Before the Coronavirus publishing houses were in trouble, a failing business model in the Digital Age. Will any magazines recover from the shutdown? Certainly many will disappear, fewer editions. I buy Vogue, however, I get the feeling the world will not be so aspirational desiring to wear latest Balmain look.

Vicky

Today Victoria Beckham announced her fashion house will furlough all employees while applying for government aid! The UK taxpayer picks up 80% of her furloughed employees salaries. A smart and legal business move, but a bit galling. A few days ago the former Posh Spice and husband purchased a $20 million apartment in Miami.

I was thought to save for bad times. Keep 6 months saved up for a raining day. A Good Business practice, set aside money for a downturn. “Living The Best Years of My Life” translates “Live Now” because the Good Times last for ever. Live lavishly, display it all on social media.

Vicky carrying one of her many Birkin Bags. In February Vogue Editors stayed in Presidential Suites while attending Fashion Weeks. Reconciling this past lifestyle, suddenly asking for money.  

When this pandemic comes to an end. The world will be a different place.        One where “REALITY” is real.