Susan

Plagemann:Resident

Publisher

For

Vogue

Insider Tips For

Surviving The

Concrete

Jungle

Of NYC

How To Snag Your

Dream Publishing Job

With A Journalism

Degree

Marlow Reese

En Vogue: April 2014-vol. I

ENVOGUE

photo by Sebastian Kim

a glimpse into the world of

Vogue

magazine

2

EN

VOGUE:

EN VOGUE APRIL 2014

4

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

Table of Contents

On The CoverSusan Plagemann, editor of Vogue (see pg 8)

Letter From the Editor 4

Introduction 5

Vogueing in Manhattan 6

Publishing Palooza 8

Vogue Takeover 10

Conclusion 11

References 12

Magazines are a journal-ism medium seen everywhere around the world. Newsstands, supermarkets, and convenience stores o!er a slew of options depending on what the consum-er’s interests or hobbies are. "e homemaker may want Good Housekeeping, the car enthusi-ast would turn to Car and Driver, but for the fashion worshipper, Vogue magazine is the ultimate guide and look-book. "e Vogue empire spans the nation and the globe; documentaries and #lms have been made paying homage to the sta! of Vogue, as well as

higlighting how the magazine is pieced together. It is my hope that this project gives informa-tion about the magazine itself, what working in the publishing department for a magazine en-tails, and how to survive the con-crete jungle of New York City. "is project shows how to use a Journalism-based degree to obtain a job in a highly ranked magazine.

he degree of strategic commu-

nications opens up a world of

opportunity for a college student

in the 21st Century. This de-

gree leads to the development

of multiple skills in several fields such

as marketing, advertising, journalism,

business, and many others. This project

focuses on Vogue magazine—specifically

on how to get a job within the magazine

that utilizes a strategic communications

degree, what living in New York in order

to work for the magazine would entail,

and the impact that the publication has

on the world. The world of fashion is

constantly changing and evolving as

trends arise; journalists are vital in order

to create stories and articles that show-

case the current lines from prominent

designers or artists. This project will

also give a glimpse into the inner-work-

ings of a magazine such as which posi-

tion produces each component within a

single issue of Vogue. Additionally, this

project will show what it would be like

to live in New York City; it will tell where

the best housing is on a budget, tips on

commuting, and other information that

allows someone to embrace urban life to

the fullest. The goal for this research

project is not only to give an insider

scoop on how to get a dream job at a

top magazine like Vogue, but also to give

a new perspective on the lifestyle that

comes with working for this magazine

and the possibilities that are intertwined

with this publication. This research proj-

ect will show how a journalism degree

with a major in strategic communications

can be used practically and thoroughly

within Vogue magazine.

T

5

Photo (right): comparison between Vogue editor Anna Wintour (pictured above) and the film Devil Wears Prada

Photo from Twitter.com/CondeElevator

Photo (above): April, 2014 issue of Vogue magazine, online

EN VOGUE APRIL 2014

Postcards from Vogue: 100 Iconic Covers By Vogue Editors

Introduction

Insider tips for living in NYC

Journalism in the magazine world

Global prominence of Vogue magazine

6

Vogueing in Manhattan

Photo by James Petrille, Flickr 2011

EN VOGUE APRIL 2014

Vogueing: verb ( vogues, vogueing or voguing, vogued ) [ no obj. ]dance to music in such a way as to imitate the characteristic poses struck by a model on a catwalk. [1980s: from the name of the fashion magazine Vogue .]

ogue magazine is globally considered one of the pinnacle magazines within the fashion in-dustry. "e headquarters for Vogue magazine is located in the middle of New York City in Times Square. Condé Nast, the publishing house for Vogue, houses Vogue’s o$ces as well

as several other magazines (CondeNast.com, 2014). "e world of Vogue has been critiqued, analyzed, idolized, and even been used as a model of sorts for the movie "e Devil Wears Prada (Frankel, 2006). "e #lm shows the transformation that an ambitious journalism grad-uate undergoes while working for a magazine company in New York as an assistant to an editor that is said to resemble Vogue’s own Anna Wintour (Mau, 2012). "e city of New York is iconic and legendary, but also requires a certain amount of clever logic and smart budgeting in order to save what little money a job-seek-ing individual possesses. "e cost of living in Manhattan is the highest of any urban neighborhood in the United States (Dee, 2013). New York realty is also higher than the majority of states, so it is important to #nd housing with-in monetary mean. "is may lead to hiring a professional service to #nd housing that is a!ordable, but in the end the a!ordable housing in the middle of New York City will be worth the cost of hiring a potentially pricey ser-

vice to scout out inexpensive housing solutions for mod-est budgets. Even in the movie "e Devil Wear Prada, the main character, played by actress Anne Hathaway, lives in a smaller apartment outside of the city and commutes into work via the subway in order to save money. Accord-ing to New York Magazine, if someone rides the subway two times a day that equals a total of $4 and yearly equals approximately $1000 (NYMag, 2008). If someone takes a cab every day for a year, it equals approximately $6000 at the end of the year. "e technologically connected world of the 21st century is rife with tips, guides, and blogs on how to live life to the fullest in a city such as New York (NYMag, 2008; Steel, n.d.). Times Square, the location of the Vogue o$ces, is a center of constant activity; the neon signs, steady stream of pedestrian tra$c, and all of the stores and shops earned New York City the title of "e City "at Never Sleeps. "e world of fashion is constantly shi%ing and reinventing itself. Anna Wintour, the editor-in-chief of the magazine, joined Vogue in 1988; she was unprec-edented in the covers that she created for the magazine (CondeNast.com). Vogue has been in songs, such as Ma-donna’s 1990 hit song “Vogue”, and referenced in popular television shows such as Sex and the City.

V

Carrie Bradshaw, the main character of Sex and the City, said of Vogue, “When I #rst moved to New York and I was totally broke, sometimes I would buy Vogue instead of dinner. I felt it fed me more” (Carrie Brad-shaw, n.d.). "is sentiment shows the role that Vogue plays in the lives of its subscribers as well as in the fashion industry. Although the magazine in !e Devil Wears Prada was not Vogue, the experi-ences that Anne Hathaway’s char-acter went through mimic those of actual interns for the magazine; working for Vogue requires a vast amount of hard work and diligence according to former Vogue intern Emily Sanchez (Berger, n.d.). For many, working for Vogue is the dream job; interning for Vogue is both highly anticipat-

ed and dreaded due to the immense workload and long hours that interns for the magazine endure (Mau, 2012). "e Twitter handle Conde Elevator (shown below) uses Twitter to tweet the conversa-

tions overhead on the elevator up to the Vogue o$ces in the Condé Nast building (Hutchinson, 2011). "is account gives the outside world a brief yet satirical look into the world of Vogue employees and the day-to-day situations that they face. "e prospective Vogue em-ployee must learn to navigate the

streets of New York on a budget, survive the work-load that a Vogue intern or beginning employee fac-es, and keep in mind that Vogue is a pinnacle maga-zine among the fashion industry.

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Photo by Pascal Lebègue

Photo from Twitter.com

This still of Madonna is from the music video of her iconic song “Vogue”. This song brought the word Vogue into popular and everyday conversation during the 1990s.

Aerial view of the Condé Nast Building in 4 Times Square, New York, New York

8

Before Anna Wintour, magazines typically

only showed the model’s face. Anna featured

three quarters of a model’s body on the cover

of Vogue and changed magazines thereafter

Vogue was founded in

1892 by Arthur

Baldwin Turnure

Actress Meryl Streep’s character

in movieThe Devil Wears Prada

is somewhat based on

editor-in-chief Anna Wintour

Facts about Vogue Magazine Model and actress Lauren

Hutton (right) holds the

record for appearing on the

cover of Vogue more than

any other person. She has

been featured 28 times!

he creation of a magazine such as Vogue is a multi-step process that in-volves a team of editors, publishers, writers, photographers, and sever-al others piecing together their areas

of expertise to form each issue of a publication. Susan Plagemann is the vice-president and publisher of Vogue magazine; her responsibilities as a publisher involve making Vogue magazine a success, both editorially and commercially (CondeNast.com-Bio, 2014, Linton, n.d.). Article “Duties of a Magazine Publisher” states, “Magazine publish-ers must have a good knowledge of the marketplace and strong editorial experience” (Linton, n.d., p. 1). Susan Plagemann has been at Vogue magazine since 2010, but before she became the vice-president and publisher of Vogue, she held the position of VP and publish-er at Marie Claire magazine, as well as Lifetime magazine, and before that, she was the publish-er for Cosmopolitan magazine (CondeNast.com-Bio, n.d.). "e publisher of a magazine also is in charge of hiring a team of writers, editors, and

photographers that he or she deems #t to create the magazine that the audience will want to read. A job within a fashion magazine such as Vogue does not necessarily require a speci#c sort of degree from a college or university; however, it is useful to have a background in journalism,

research, editing, and an interest in the world of fashion (Fashion Journalist, n.d.). Vogue Italia ed-itor Franca Sozanni says that it is important to be well versed in culture when working for a mag-azine (Sozanni, 2011). Sozan-ni advises someone pursuing a career in the fashion world to

study and learn a wide variety of topics such as literature, philosophy, and especially photogra-phy and fashion history. She claims about fashion and design, “It’s true, creativity comes from an innate instinct that recognizes what’s beautiful…” (Sozanni, 2011, p. 1). Additionally, she advis-es beginning with an internship in order to learn the mechanisms of the publication and assist in the transition process into the workforce.

Publishing

T

Photo by Bloomberg TV

Susan Plagemann(left) with Vogue editor-in-chief, Anna Wintour (right).

(From left to right) Harper’s Bazaar publisher Valerie Salembier, Bally CEO Frédéric de Narp, and Vogue’s publisher Susan Plagemann at an event in New York City.

Photo by Neil Rasmus-BFA NYC Photo by Neil Rasmus-BFA NYC

Susan Plagemann with Dr. William Fung at the 2010 Parsons Fashion

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*All facts and information above can be found at LifestyleLounge.com

Palooza“It’s true, creativity comes from an

innate instinct that recognizes what’s

beautiful...” -Franca Sozanni, Vogue Italia Editor

Maintaining a job in a fashion magazine also calls for the ability to communicate e!ectively and well with a variety of people as well as readily available to conduct inter-views, sometimes candidly (Fashion Journalist, n.d.). Working for a magazine is not for the faint of heart. "e article "e Magazine Production Process says that the average magazine issue takes roughly three months to produce, in contrast to newspapers which are produced in up to twenty-four hours ("e Magazine Production Process, 2013). "e #rst step of creating a magazine is setting a publication date; a%er this date has been set, a schedule can be created and deadlines for each aspect of the magazine can be put into place. "e publisher of a magazine is responsible for ensuring that the sta! is making deadlines with their content and making the executive decisions on what content makes it into the magazine or what con-tent is pulled from the publication (Lee, n.d.). Mag-azine publishers also take responsibility for any dis-crepancies or questions brought up in regard to the content of his or her magazine; this course of action usually requires a defense of the matter in question or an apology. "e next step in the creation of a maga-

zine issue is deciding what is going into that speci#c edition ("e Magazine Production Process, 2013). "is task falls on the publisher but also the team of editors, writers, and photographers. Following this step is the acquisition of content, then sub-editing the quality of the content matter, a%er that step is the creation of page layouts as well as proof-reading the copy and content of each layout, and #nally, emailing the pages to a printer for the #nal proof-reads and corrections before distributing the #nalized editions to the public. One of the most important duties as a mag-azine publisher is networking (Lee, n.d.) "is means attending local, national, or even global events to create relationships with important designers, pho-tographers, companies, or even well known sta! for other popular magazines. Participation in interviews, such as the interview of Susan Plagemann (seen above le%, page 8), is also important to spread a magazine’s reputation and credibility. A magazine publisher is a well-rounded individual with expertise and renown, one who takes charge over a magazine and excels at building his or her publication’s content, readability, and increases the overall rates for the magazine.

Photo by Rob Loud-Getty Images

10

VOGUE TAKEOVER

Conclusion

EN VOGUE APRIL 2014

The Vogue��>}>â��i�i�«�Ài��Ã�Û>ÃÌ�>�`���}��Þ���yÕi�Ì�>�����Ì�i�Ó£ÃÌ�i�ÌÕÀÞ°�/�i�«ÕL��V>Ì�����ÌÃi�v�is among, if not the best fashion magazine in the fashion magazine industry as a whole. The headquarters for this fashion forerunner is located in the heart of the concrete jungle of New York City. For the aspiring fashion journalist, moving to Manhattan means making the most of savings; New York is glamorous but it costs to live in The City That Never Sleeps. By budgeting and pursuing online blogs, columns, and guides to frugality within the city, a job-seek-ing individual can conquer New York without breaking the bank. Those that are pursuing a publishing job in a magazine such as Vogue should be prepared to put forth blood, sweat, and possibly tears in order to work their way into the fashion magazine business. Most people start off as interns and learn the how-to’s of the industry before moving upwards and onwards. As the movie The Devil Wears Prada showed, it ac-tually is possible to move forward after starting off small within an industry, just maybe not as glamorous as Anne Hathaway’s path. The aspiring magazine publisher should have a background in writing or editing, a knowledge of fashion, perseverance, and the drive to pursue the dream of living and working in New York, New York.

ogue magazine has been called

“The Fashion Bible”, a fashion

hand- book, and even the pinnacle

fashion magazine (Vogue Magazine

Micro Media Kit, n.d.). Vogue set the

standard for fash-

ion magazines and has

been prevalent for over

100 years. Created by

Arthur Baldwin Turnure in

1892, Vogue magazine

has always set itself

apart with its innovation,

unprecedented creativ-

ity, and artistic vision

(History of Vogue Maga-

zine, 2014). Vogue both

represents and targets

cultural sophistication, especially aimed

toward women. Before Anna Wintour

came to Vogue as editor-in-chief, maga-

zines portrayed the face of the cover’s

model; Ms. Wintour featured three-quar-

ters of the model, thus emphasizing the

clothing and fashion instead of only the

model’s face.

The 2007 September issue of

U.S. Vogue magazine broke the record

for the largest edition published; the

documentary The September Issue

by director R.J. Cutler shows some

of the work that the Vogue staff does

in order to create the largest edition of

Vogue printed each year (Cutler, 2009).

The issue sets the tone for the fall fash-

ion season and over half of the issue is

composed of advertise-

ments from top fashion

designers and brands.

Conde Nast’s website

for Vogue says of the

magazine, “The founda-

tion of Vogue’s leader-

ship and authority is the

brand’s unique role as a

cultural barometer for a

global audience. Vogue

places fashion in the

context of culture and

the world we live in — how we dress, live

and socialize; what we eat, listen to and

watch; who leads and inspires us. Vogue

immerses itself in fashion, always lead-

ing readers to what will happen next.

Thought-provoking, relevant and always

influential,Vogue defines the culture of

fashion” (Condenast.com, 2014, p. 1).

V

Photo by Mark Vessey

“Vogue immerses itself in

fashion, always leading

readers to what will hap-

pen next. Thought-pro-

voking, relevant and

DOZD\V�LQÁXHQWLDO��Vogue

GHÀQHV�WKH�FXOWXUH�RI�fashion”

-Condé Nast, Vogue’s

publishing house

the form of a printed magazine, but also

online through the Vogue website, in the

form of an application for Androids, iP-

hones, iPads, tablets, Nooks, and many

other devices (CondeNast.com). A media

kit is a tool that represents the magazine

or publications numbers such as the circu-

lation of the magazine, the average demo-

graphic, and rates for the magazine. Vogue

offers a media kit for print, web, and tablet

on their webpage (shown bottom of page

10). The average circulation is 1,246, 765

issues per year, the average demographic

for the publication is a 37.8 year old fe-

male reader, and the rate for advertising

on one page, one time within the maga-

zine is $181,286. Vogue offers a media kit

for print, web, and tablet on their webpage

(shown bottom of page 10). The average

circulation is 1,246, 765 issues per year,

the average demographic for the publica-

tion is a 37.8 year old female reader, and

the rate for one page, one time within the

magazine is $181,286.

The information graphic, featured to

the right, shows the importance of companies ap-

pealing to their audiences by going online or creat-

ing online sites with information on their publications

(Art &Science, 2013). Vogue magazine and the staff

of Vogue are consistent with all of the data that

this graph depicts; Vogue is accessible anytime,

anywhere through its many applications and even

online subscriptions. Vogue magazine is not limited

to the U.S. and has the same loyal following across the globe (CondeNast.com). Vogue magazine is a

top magazine within the fashion industry and continues to be in the

forefront of fashionable innovations each day.

Photo by Art & Science Journal

Photo from CondeNast.com-Vogue Media Kit

12

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Carrie Bradshaw: Fashion Icon, Writer. New York.. (n.d.). "e Coveteur Carrie Bradshaw Comments. Retrieved April 18, 2014, from http://www.thecoveteur.com/carrie-bradshaw/

Cutler, R. (Director). (2009). "e September issue [Documentary]. USA: A&E IndieFilms.

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Lee, J. (n.d.). Duties of a Magazine Publisher. Woman. Retrieved March 12, 2014, from http://woman.thenest.com/du ties-magazine-publisher-12282.html

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EN VOGUE APRIL 2014