Today is sadly Sally Singer last day at T after she announced that she was departing from the magazine earlier on this week. Since the news broke, there hasn't been any word on why she's leaving the title after less than two years despite the speculation that she was ousted after bad ad and circulation numbers. As fashion doesn't wait around for anyone, people are already talking about who should replace and yesterday WWD threw some names into the hat.
The biggest contender for the role so far seems to be Deborah Needleman. WSJ. magazine has done really well under her leadership leading many to believe that she could achieve the same results at T but by the sounds of things, a move doesn't look likely. Insiders don't believe she would walk away from her current role and in a statement she said, 'I love my job. I'm focusing on our fall-winter issues right now from the Midwest.' Make of that what you will by I'm not convinced she'll walk away from the hard work she's put in for the title already.
Sally Singer has always been one of my favourite editors and when she moved to T, just about everyone was excited but sadly her time at the magazine has come to an end.
Yesterday WWD confirmed that Singer has left her role after only two years and in a memo to staff, Times executive editor Jill Abramson said: 'I'm sorry to announce that Sally Singer will be leaving T magazine at the Times at the end of this month,' WWD reports. 'Sally's contributions are clear to anyone who's read the magazine during her tenure,' the memo continues. 'Goregous visuals, interesting stories and enterprising features - both in print and online - have been hallmarks of her stewardship.'
While what Abramson's comments are true, there's no denying that her time at the magazine hasn't been complete plain sailing. From the moment she arrived at the magazine she made her vision very clear. Gone were the glossy, aspirational content that we saw under Stefano Tonchi and instead, Singer pushed forward with intellectual stories that went down well with her fans but unfortunately didn't serve the magazine well on the advertising side.
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.
Since dropping her debut track 'Video Games' last summer, Lana Del Rey has been everywhere. While her face has appeared on just about every magazine over the last few months, her debut album continues to get panned by critics internationally. The controversy surrounding her sudden rise to fame had Alexandra Schulman feeling the need to defend her decision to book the singer to front British Vogue's important March issue
Now, the singer fronts the latest issue of T magazine. Like all of her other cover shoots, she looks good but her current stardom begs makes you wonder - is she a legitimate musician or just a pretty face or 'skinnier Adele' as the magazine writes.
If you thought that the editorial musical chairs that dominated last year was over, you were wrong. Despite being given the fashion director position at T by Sally Singer only last summer, Michelle Kessler Sanders has decided to leave the position. "I realized fairly quickly that the skills I have developed in my 22-year career are much better suited for building a global brand and developing product," she told WWD.
The former editor is moving to Vera Wang, who is continuing to expand her empire, and will undoubtedly be able to lend her retail background to Wang's new ventures. And it looks like the brand have had their eyes on Sanders for a long time: "Finally our business is big enough for her to do it,” Vera Wang Group president Mario Grauso explained.
Sanders isn't the only person making a change. After 15 years at Vogue, the magazine's style director Alexandra Kotur is leaving to join Town & Country as their new creative director. Jay Fielden, the magazine's new editor in chief, is behind the appointment and has worked with Kotur in the past in his role as contributing editor at Vogue.
You have to have many points of entry for readers on any page. From the person you shot, to the place you shot it in, to the context of the stuff, to what the stuff is, whether you have a political narrative, a celebrity narrative, a location narrative . . . If all goes well, the magazine I edit will feel emotional. It should feel like a friend or an enemy or an aggravating presence or the most wonderful thing you've ever had. Magazines, when they work, are emotional vehicles. They drive you to places you just didn't know you were going to go on the day you picked them up. And if they don't, they're not working at all.
I hope that there will be actual stories to read in it, because the Times is first and foremost a paper of great reporting. And it has to be relevant and honest and interesting. There also have to be real narratives and a sense of continuity between the world of the paper and the world in which the T images exist.
It might have seemed like the changes at W magazine might never end, but according to the magazine's new editor Stefano Tonchi, the last of the staffing upheaval took place on Thursday. Treena Lombardo, market director for W, and accessories and jewellery director Brooke Magnaghi were replaced by former T employee Karla Martinez, who will take on both roles as fashion market director.
Rumour has it that fashion director Alex White will keep her place at the magazine, as she is said to be shooting stories for the September issue, whilst Terry Richardson is back shooting for the magazine - the shoot with White will be Richardson's first since 1996, after he reportedly offended former W art director Dennis Freedman with a photograph of a model with her head in an oven. "I think we should be set" Tonchi told WWD. Look out for the September issue of W magazine, which will be the first with the complete redesign by Tonchi. In the meantime, the W staff saga might finally be able to be laid to rest.
Anna Wintour wasted no time when Sally Singer announced her departure from the Conde Nast last month. Unlike at T where the editor-in-chief position had been left available for some time after Stefano Tonchi's departure, this was most definitely not the case at Vogue. Wintour has already promoted senior fashion writer Mark Holgate to fashion news director, and associate editor Eve MacSweeney, who will become features director.
