New York Threads

October 14, 2011

Style.com/magazine

Style.com announced it will launch a new magazine on Halloween—ironic during an era when most people consider print a ghoul of media past. The first issue will focus exclusively on their front-row, model-eye journey through Fashion Week; a period where the website saw a 13% spike in page views this year according the Wall Street Journal. 

Style.com was one of the first major fashion sites to have an iPhone app in 2008 and believes adding a magazine is another platform to reach their 2 million unique monthly visitors. According to an interview with Imran Amed of BoF, Dirk Standen, editor-in-chief of Style.com,says:

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.

When Style.com entered a partnership with Fairchild Fashion Group a year ago, Standen knew the relationship had created perfect chemistry for print success.  

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.

Standen says speed has always been in Style.com’s DNA since it started 11 years ago and doesn’t anticipate a magazine to slow its pace. He aims to prove his point by having the magazine ready for the presses just weeks after the final shows in Paris.