In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle,
stand like a rock. – Thomas Jefferson (1743 – 1826)
Business of Fashion Exclusive | Style.com to Launch Magazine and ‘Dip Toes’ in E-Commerce
NEW YORK, United States – The online fashion media universe is about to
take a most interesting twist. After several months of planning (and
more than a little industry speculation), Style.com will unveil its
first ever physical magazine at
the end
of October,
only a few weeks after the last Paris Fashion Week show has ended.
Back in the early 2000s, when fashion Internet sites still struggled to
gain traction and credibility, this kind of move would have been
unthinkable. Today, Style.com considers the magazine a natural extension
of the formidable media brand it has built over the past ten years and
an opportunity to create new revenue streams.
The editorial team is a mixture of new faces and respected Style.com
authorities. Lina Kutsovskaya, formerly of Nylon Magazine and Teen
Vogue, has been hired on as creative director. But there will also be
doses of insightful commentary from Tim Blanks and Nicole Phelps, as
well as contributions from a number of freelancers, in particular, young
photographers.
But that is not all. Style.com has also exclusively revealed to BoF that
it will also be making its first – albeit tentative – moves into
e-commerce. Six yet-to-be-revealed New York-based designers will provide
“Instant Gratification” to their customers, delivering selected items
from their Spring/Summer 2012 shows at the end of October, right around
the time of the launch of the magazine, which will also promote these
items. This puts Style.com into direct competition with everyone from
e-commerce juggernauts like Net-a-Porter to fledgling start-ups like
Moda Operandi, which also offers runway purchases (though these are not
delivered until 4 to 5 months after the order is placed.)
I sat down with Style.com editor-in-chief Dirk Standen to learn more
about these interesting moves and get the lowdown on his broader
strategy for Style.com as it enters it’s second decade.
BoF: There are so many things to discuss regarding Style.com, but first
I thought we could talk about the magazine. What inspired the decision
to launch a physical publication now?
DS: If you look at the big picture I don’t think [media] brands can
afford to be tied to one medium anymore. Obviously you see that with
magazines paying a lot of attention to their websites now. But even on
the web, it’s not enough to just have a website. You have to be on
various digital devices. You need to be on the various social media
sites. You want your content to be available in as many places as possible.
Now that we are within the Fairchild umbrella, which has a lot of
experience and a great deal of expertise in publishing, it became a
natural extension for Style.com to do a magazine. From a business point
of view it makes a lot of sense in that some magazines are still doing
well. That, and also there are possibilities for cross-selling across
print and the web.
BoF: In terms of advertising?
DS: Yes, and in terms of edit. I think it’s a real opportunity for our
editors to paint on a bigger canvas; an opportunity for a new kind of
storytelling that they can’t quite do on the web.
BoF: But how will it distinguish itself from the glut of fashion
magazines that are out there? What will make it different?
DS: It’s going to be very much focused on Spring/Summer 2012
collections. We are going to spotlight the most interesting people,
places and clothes of the season, but beyond that we are hoping to
convey to the reader what the experience of going through that intense
four week cycle is like.
When you work in fashion you can get used to it, but when you step back,
it’s a really extraordinary experience. In movies they have Cannes; the
art world has Art Basel. But those are only one week during the year.
This is 4 weeks, twice a year, with all these people in close proximity
under a lot of pressure. There is a real story to be told that maybe
hasn’t been told. I think if we can combine emotional narrative
storytelling with the kind of authoritative reporting that Style.com
already does, we can create something that is fun.
BoF: So you see this is as a consumer proposition, to give them a window
into the industry?
DS: Yes, absolutely. One of the things that Style.com has done over the
years -
and obviously we weren’t alone in this, but I think we were at least in
the vanguard – is opening up what was a very closed system to a lot of
people; to millions of readers. Everyone can see the clothes right away;
so they don’t have to wait for months to see them like they did 10 years
ago.
For whatever reason, I think fashion has become one of the most
interesting places in the culture. There is a huge fascination out there
and amongst the public for what goes on inside fashion. Movies and even
music were more interesting in the 70s, when you wanted to be in
Hollywood. I think now the places you want to be are fashion or the art
world. They have replaced entertainment in a way.
BoF: Another thing that Style.com is known for is its immediacy. It
sounds like you are also trying to get the magazine out really quickly,
much more quickly than most other fashion magazines?
DS: Speed has always been in the DNA of Style.com and we want to carry
that over to the magazine. Then in terms of frequency, it’s a natural
extension to do it after the next round of shows and maybe something
that we do three or four times a year based around men’s. It might
become more of that down the line, but we are taking it one step at a
time. We have to get through the first round, like you say, in an
incredibly short time span first, and then we will see.
BoF: Speaking of immediacy, tell me about “Instant Gratification.”
DS: We are working with 6 New York City designers to be announced during
fashion week. They are going to make a very limited number of pieces
available directly from their Spring collection, so that people will be
able to buy them right away. We are going to coordinate it with the
launch of the magazine so, technically end of October. They will be able
to buy it and will receive a nice package in the mail within days.
BoF: Is it fair to say “Instant Gratification” is Style.com’s first
foray into e-commerce?
DS: Yes. This is perhaps more like dipping a toe in the water, but we
absolutely think e-commerce should be and will be some component of what
Style.com does going forward. We are actually talking to a couple of
potential partners about perhaps doing something on a bigger scale.
Advertising will always be an important part of the mix and in fact,
it’s growing. A lot of luxury companies are now advertising on the
Internet in ways that they haven’t necessarily done before. But I think
you still need a combination of different things going forward.
One of the great things of being with Fairchild is that it’s a team led
by our CEO [Gina Sanders. President and CEO, Fairchild Fashion Media],
who is willing to experiment and believes in the brand and is willing to
try different things to grow the brand. The magazine is one example of
that. It’s been a really great thing for Style.com.
BoF: Thinking about the whole connection to Fairchild and Condé Nast,
American Vogue launched a website which now competes with Style.com for
traffic and advertisers. And Style.com is now going the other way, from
the screen to the printed page. How do you think Style.com differs from
Vogue?
DS: I think this will evolve over time, but one thing that has always
distinguished us is speed. The combination of speed and authority is
something that Style.com has done very well. And, we have always been on
top of technical innovation. We were the first major fashion site on the
iPhone and now we are the first major fashion site that is launching a
magazine. We have a history of innovating and will continue to innovate.
Style.com is also really a site and hopefully a magazine for fashion
obsessives, by fashion obsessives. We do focus really, really deeply and
strongly on fashion and obviously all the other publications do that as
well, but they have a lot of other areas of interest in their magazines,
if it’s celebrity or music or even politics.
BoF: Also, Vogue doesn’t cover menswear. With the launches of Mr Porter
and Park & Bond, there seems to be increased attention on menswear, and
while men.style.com is no longer, Style.com is now covering the men’s
shows. How important is the male audience in your new strategy?
DS: We absolutely think Style.com should be the place where you see all
the major fashion shows, whether they are men’s or women’s and in fact
we saw a huge spike in traffic for the men’s shows this time, so that’s
something we are really looking at. A big degree of our audience is as
interested in men’s fashion as women’s fashion.
We also have seen the interest grow outside too. With men.style.com
certainly, I’m not sure the industry was quite there yet, or that there
were enough men buying designer fashion at that point. It has really
exploded in the last couple of years and [the retailers] all seem to say
the men’s business is growing at a great rate if you compare it to the
women’s business, even with the economic ups and downs. Obviously, we
would like to be there with them.
BoF: Part of the traffic spike might have to do with all the new content
you are creating around fashion week, especially the street style
imagery, initially with Scott Schuman and now with Tommy Ton.
DS: We’ve done fantastically well with street style and been lucky
enough to work with probably two of the best in their field. There will
be more growth there and we will bring in some fresh voices, and we want
to work with some other people too. We’ve always sought to work with
people who we’ve thought are the best in what they are doing, rather
than just go out and grab onto the next big thing, or someone who is
getting a lot of press. But, what you say is absolutely true. We’ve been
incredibly lucky to be part of this burst of interest in the public that
has grown up around it. We’ve ridden that wave and I think it’s going to
continue.
BoF: Indeed. Interesting times ahead, in particular as we see how
Style.com magazine is received.
DS: I wouldn’t want anyone to think we are arrogant about going into
magazines. I mean there are people who have been doing it for a lot
longer than us and doing it really, really well. Hopefully people think
we have something fresh to add.
It’s funny coming from the internet side. Obviously, you have to have
great content and on top of that there is the whole technical side,
which is a big part of it, so you think, ‘If I didn’t have to deal with
the technical side and all I’m thinking about is the content the images
and the words, that must be easy!’ But when you start to get into it, to
give emotion to a magazine page is not an easy thing.
Imran Amed is founder and editor-in-chief of The Business of Fashion
