Say it ain’t so! Vogue will switch to an occasional print publishing frequency.
When Vogue announced the appointment of a new director of editorial content this week, the first part of the story pretty much wrote itself. Anna Wintour, legendary in her own right and the inspiration for the novel and movie, “The Devil Wears Prada,” is taking a step back into a corporate role. Her successor is Chloe Malle, a live-wire 39-year-old, with a show business pedigree.
What caught my eye was that Malle told The New York Times that among her plans are to publish a print Vogue issue when a moment warrants it rather than at its historical monthly cadence. Magazines face their own version of a challenging pivot to digital; Malle has run Vogue’s for the last two years. Additionally, commentaries on Vogue argue that it faces the challenge of influencers who are trying to hijack the publication’s longtime role as style setter. Still, what could be more of a match to glossy print than Vogue, with its heavy reliance on elegant still photography? Its September fall fashion issue regularly ran to 800 or more pages in the glory days. It even clocked in at over 900 in 2012, and this year’s checked in at a still hefty 376.
If Vogue no longer works as a print monthly, what magazine does?
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