Industry news - Alexandra Shulman leaving Vogue

Interesting times ahead in the fashion world, dear readers! On 25th January Alexandra Shulman, the Editor-in-Chief of British Vogue has announced her departure from the reputable publication and will leave its ranks in June. When she joined after leaving GQ 25 years ago despite having journalism and Vogue 'in her blood' (her mother Drusilla Beyfus was a Vogue associate editor in the 70s, her father, Milton Shulman, was a Vogue film critic for a while) she wasn't the obvious choice. Shulman has always been pleasingly free of pretention, self-aware dare I say normal. Her candid, self-depricating, down-to-earth approach was in stark contrast with her predecessor and felt incredibly refreshing in the weird and fancy world of fashion.

While as a 15 year-old I was blissfully unaware of what was happening behind the scenes at Vogue House in '92, fast-forward a few years, I was poring over fashion images in Vogue and other magazines, anything connected to the fashion industry, supermodels (Cindy and Linda were my favorites) watching Fashion TV all the time and was secretly nursing a dream about once being able to work in this world. Fast forward again a good few years, today I am a makeup artist and the world of Vogue has has had a lot of influence on the profession I've chosen and very much enjoy today.


Shulman took over editing the magazine in 1992. Remember all this?

This is just a taster of what happened since her takeover. Vogue has produced the most iconic images in fashion and under her leadership and it has become an unstoppable force influencing the global fashion world and modern culture. Taking the magazine through immense changing times Shulman has successfully turned London, Britain into a major fashion player by supporting local designers (like Alexander McQueen, Chrisopher Kane), British photographers, sylists, make-up artists, constantly urging established fashion houses to show their collections in London. She was championing London Fashion Week, making the city an integral part of the Fashion Week circle that used to revolve mostly around Paris, Milan and NYC. British Vogue can't be defined as only an isolated fashion entity any more but through Alexandra Shulman's hard work it exists within a context, it is part of British culture and it nicely reflects its richness and diversity. All  this can be attributed to the fact that Shulman has never been only a 'fashion person' but first and foremost a journalist with many  interests outside the fashion world.

While ironically she never showed as much interest in her own personal wardrobe as her predessecor, Liz Tiberis, she has a good number of iconic fashion moments, triumphs under her belt: making London Fashion Week what it is today, the centenary issue and putting a royal (The Duchess of Cambrige) on its cover, featuring plus size model Ashley Graham on one of the covers, a whole model-free issue revolving around real women, her many collaborations with Kate Moss just to name a few. She's been an avid cheerleader of the British fashion industry but not afraid of criticizing fashion houses about their miniscule sample sizes either.

 A few of Shlulman's fashion triuphs - Kate Moss collaborations, Ashley Graham cover and the centenary cover

"I feel strongly that women who are in positions of authority or  power, or who work in professions, should be able to indulge their interest in clothes and fashion without it seeming frivolous or that they don't care about their jobs." says Shulman and I think this above quote describes her best. It seems this strong belief proved to be a recipe for success for her -  Vogue's circulation grew 12% which is a big achievement in our digital age and with all the great fashion bloggers/vloggers around. She is now the most successful editor of British Vogue in its 100 years history.

Alexandra Shulman and Anna Wintour *

Writing about Shulman's departure, you can't leave out her ongoing (strictly professional) competition with her glitzier American counterpart, Anna Wintour at US Vogue drawing to a close. The rivalry betweeen the two towering figureheads of fashion has been the integral part of the history of both magazines, you almost can't imagine one without the other. The tricky relationship between the two women has sparked many rumours, anectotes yet they lived in symbiosis and I tend to think they kept each other on their toes, feeding each other's creativity.

Alexandra Schulman**

Alexandra Shulman has done what she could for Vogue above and beyond, the publication is left as a still well-functioning platform for the fashion industry. As she is off to seek new adventures, what the future holds for the magazine is still up in the air. If will definitely be interesting to see what direction Vogue will go from here. Her successor will be announced in due course.


(*Picture credits: http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/british-vogue-documentary-exposes-ruthless-8793976)
(**Picture credits: http://my.npg.org.uk/single/PSDetail.aspx?psn=415) 

Farewell to In Style UK's print edition

About two weeks ago  Times Inc. announced that In Style UK is to shut its print edition after 15 years. After selling its last issue in November, the magazine is turning 'digital only' after sales dropped considerably at the beginning of this year and the cost of publishing has gone up after the Brexit vote. It's hard to survive for any print media these days, but if you look at the monthly circulation of the print copy (121,000) compared to their monthly online traffic (10 million), the changeover becomes instantly understandable. Audience demands have changed significantly in the past few years and the time has come for In Style to act on it. Focusing on one channel only would give them the chance of boosting their content that could push them to a more dominant position in the the digital fashion and beauty world. They couldn't achieve this by insisting on printing the magazine.  They will save on the huge costs of printing and distribution that will allow them to invest in rich, varied, 24-hour content.  The tragic side of all immense changes like these are the job losses. The number of 'casualties' have not been reported yet but hopefully, they can minimize the hit as much as possible and give employees adequate support to find new roles within the company.

This brand transformation and the ambitions for captivating fashion lovers through bringing new, exciting, up to date online content every day is expected to bring a huge growth for In Style UK in 2017.

I have to say, I was a bit sad and I'm sure I said 'Oh, no, they can't do this!' out loud when I read about this. I was sad but not surprised at the same time. Call me old-fashioned, but I still find something incredibly comforting about curling up on the sofa with a giant mug of coffee reading the latest fashion magazines. Poring over the editorial images showcasing the work of make-up legends is what sparked my imagination years ago and made me become a make-up artist. To me having the tactile experience vs staring at the screen of my laptop is incomparable. Despite me pouting and stomping my feet about the fact that the digital world is taking over, I do understand that we have to embrace it. In the past few years, the fashion and beauty world went through a fundamental change especially in its ways of interacting with its audience. Online magazines, blogs, Youtube channels have been popping up like mushrooms everywhere. This unlimited and continuous flow of content and the accessibility of content shook the industry to the core - it got out of the control of a privileged few and opened it up to a wider public. Giving way to the digital world has many exciting elements to it that can lead to new innovations so I tend to find that adapting is worth so much more than sitting in our snug comfort zone which will never push us forward. 

As I am waving adieu to In Style UK print edition, I look at my collection of the magazine filled with nostalgia. Thank you for the memories, it's been emotional. See you online!