When it was confirmed that Sally Singer would leave her role at US Vogue to take the reigns at T magazine, the news was met with excitement. As the magazine's former editor, Stefano Tonchi, said at the time, 'I think she's one of the smartest people in New York. I could not imagine better hands for my T, or a better brain.' Sadly though, the numbers are in and so far the magazine hasn't been performing well under her leadership.
WWD reports that like last year, Singer's boss Jill Abramson isn't happy with the declining ad sales and circulation numbers. This year only two of their seven issues have sustained ad pages, which contrasts the general market as many publications are actually faring pretty well. On the whole, all of the glossies, with exception of Harper's Bazaar and Glamour, experienced a strong start to the year. Far from improving, T's overall ad pages decreased by 4 percent, according to MN and the Times. Even having Jessica Chastain on the cover of one of their recent issue failed to have an change things. Instead, that issue had a 10 percent drop in ad pages.
Hopefully Singer will be able to turn things around soon.
Ever since it was announced that Schiaparelli will make a comeback, the rumour mill has been full of speculation about who will take the big creative director's job. The majority of people, like me, were desperate to see John Galliano join the brand as a part of a big comeback but Stefano Tonchi quashed the reports at the Met Gala last week. Jenna Lyons has a different idea.
This week the J. Crew president told the New York Post that she thinks Iris Apfel would be ideal for the role. 'She's so full of life, and she's got an incredible attitude,' she said. 'I don't think she'd want to, but I think she would be amazing.'
This week W magazine editor Stefano Tonchi squashed any hopes that we had that John Galliano would be appointed as creative director of Schiaparelli. When big boss Diego Della Valle was asked about it by Cathy Horyn, he wouldn't talk about it:
Asked if he might consider John Galliano, Mr. Della Valle pulled a good poker face. There have been rumors, he said: “One week it’s Galliano, the next it’s someone else.” He expects to hire someone by September. Finding someone with the skill for Schiaparelli is hard enough, but many designers are used to perks and big budgets, and these don’t seem things they will find in a brand trying to create a new experience.
The brand has made no secret of the fact that they are trying to push forward with something new and who could do that better than Galliano? As The Cut put it, it's unlikely that he will reap the perks that he had at Dior but the opportunity sounds like just what he needs to make a comeback.
Last month rumours began to circulate that John Galliano will serve as the artistic director at Schiaparelli. While the reports were denied by his rep, his appointment does seem to make sense. The brand officially announced their comeback on the eve of the Met Gala as we all expected, and there's no denying that the fashion industry is desperate to have Galliano back. Sadly though, Stefano Tonchi dashed our hopes yesterday on the red carpet of the event.
'There's a lot of designers that I think would do a great job,' he told The Cut. Very soon they will make the announcement, so I already know a little bit too much. But I thought that it could be fun to have John back doing it - as in, Galliano.' As Charlotte Clowes points out, 'thought' suggests that any hope of Galliano coming back are pointless. He added: 'But you know, that too much of a risky proposition probably. At least for America. But I think he's really talented.' According to Vanessa Friedman, the announcement will take place in September followed by the brand's first show next March during Paris Fashion Week.
Stefano Tonchi of W magazine took a break from the shows to partner with Joanne Crewes to host an event for 'The Ever Changing Face Of Beauty', a video installation created by Sølve Sundsbø. While all the attention went to Sienna Miller and her baby bump, the outfits worn by Evan Rachel Wood, Liya Kebede and Cate Blachett, were definitely worth some attention.
Just about everyone was on Miami this week to attend the Dior pop-up shop. Stefano Tonchi and Giovanna Battaglia attended along with people like Pharrell Williams, VV Brown and Wendi Deng Murdorch.
Dasha Zhukova gets our vote for the best dressed look on the night. Who gets your vote?
The seating plan at Carolina Herrera all got us talking - and creating ridiculous (but funny) captions - as Nicki Minaj was seated next to Anna Wintour. But this cover shows that our attention was focused in the wrong place. If you remember, to the right of Minaj was W's Stefano Tonchi who obviously took a liking to the rapper as he's chosen her for one of the two November cover's for the magazine.
This is a real bag for Minaj. Although she's appeared in editorials for fashion magazines like US ELLE, this is the first time she's graced the cover on a leading fashion magazine and she has some big shoes to fill. If you cast your mind back to last year, Kim Kardashian's nude cover for the issue this time last year was a sell out.
Props are definitely due to Edward Enninful and artist Francesco Vezzoli who transformed Minaj beautifully into some of the most prominent courtesans in history like Madame Rimsky-Korsakov, Marquise de Montespan and Madame de Pompadour. And whilst Minaj isn't the first person that would have sprung to my mind to cover this issue, once you go go through the full editorial the choice quickly begins to make sense. After all, love or hate her, Lady Gaga aside, nobody quite does drama like Nicki Minaj.
Two months ago Giovanna Battaglia finally made the big move from Milan to New York to start her role as a freelance style for W magazine after being hired by her longtime friend, Stefano Tonchi. With that in mind, it was only a matter of time before she spoke out about the big move and of course, what's happened to her expansive collection of designer pieces since making the move.
