It's a tad long, but certainly makes for interesting reading.

No matter what crisis there is on the newsstand, there are a few people who sell no matter what. Take Sarah Jessica Parker. She pops up on the cover of Elle back in January, Vogue in August and Marie Claire in September and delivers each monthly its second or third best seller of the year. Or, let’s consider Heidi Klum, who can help deliver Lucky its second best seller in March (175,000 sales in a year when they need it!) or bring the August Glamour its second best performer (510,000 sales, in a year when they really need it!).

Or Jennifer Aniston, who was Marie Claire’s top seller of the year in that sleepy summer month of July, and, from all indications, delivered Elle one of its best performers of the year in November. It’s that time of year, everyone. Time to look back and see who sold (and who didn’t) at the newsstand for monthly magazines in 2011. All data is taken is from the Audit Bureau of Circulations, much of it from the Rapid Report, which is subject to minor change since it has not been audited. The majority of publishers have filed results through October or November issues.

So, if SJP, Heidi and Jen are consistently sellers — and have been for some time — isn’t there a newcomer we can add to the list?

Mila Kunis was the new runaway success of 2011. Kunis’ August GQ cover delivered 205,000 sales, by far its biggest hit of the year, through November. She took to W in March and delivered sales 15 percent above average for the fashion monthly. She was the February cover star of Cosmopolitan and brought in 1.7 million sales, which is nearly 10 percent better than the monthly’s average for the first half. And then she graced the cover of Elle in August in a portrait with Justin Timberlake, which brought in 250,000 sales, fourth best of the year for Elle. And, apparently, Timberlake needed the Kunis boost.

Timberlake’s W cover with Amanda Seyfried, for instance, bombed, selling a mere 15,000 copies, the title’s second worst performer of the year. And then Timberlake’s solo cover for Esquire in October brought in a teeny 73,000 sales, its worst performer of the year.But Timberlake should take comfort in the fact that he isn’t the only heartthrob who can’t sell: Justin Bieber bombed, too. Bieber took Vanity Fair’s cover in February and tanked — it sold 245,800 copies, the third worst seller since Graydon Carter took over the magazine in 1992. Bieber then appeared on the cover of a Rolling Stone issue in March, and sold 5 percent worse than average for the biweekly. But we’ve known this for some time. He appeared on the cover of Teen Vogue and sat down with People last year and sold 10 percent and 25 percent worse, respectively, than average for both titles.

Other bad years: Mrs. Andy Roddick, Brooklyn Decker, posted 81,000 sales for Esquire in February, its second worst performance of the year. Apparently she doesn’t work for women’s books either, as she brought in a mere 182,000 sales for Self, which is 25 percent below the monthly’s average in the first half. Moral of this story, Brooklyn: Stick with Sports Illustrated.

Fergie struggled at the newsstand as well, with the worst seller of the year for Allure in July and the fourth worst cover for Lucky in June. Also, Michelle Williams sold poorly at Marie Claire (third worst performer with 202,000 sales) and for Vogue (second worst performer with 296,000 sales). Likewise, Reese Witherspoon struck out with Vogue (303,000 sales), Marie Claire (242,000 sales) and Glamour (440,000 sales), which represented a below-average performance for each of the monthlies.

It’s impossible to talk newsstand in 2011 without mentioning the person who landed on more covers than anyone: Kim Kardashian. She was Glamour’s bestseller of the year with her February cover and Cosmopolitans’s bestseller as well, when she helped bring in 1.8 million sales in August. But her results elsewhere were mixed. Her Harper’s Bazaar cover in March, her April Self cover and her November Lucky cover were all mild hits — they sold a few percentage points above average. Her December Marie Claire cover isn’t expected to be a barn burner, and a source said that her January 2012 Glamour cover with sisters Khloé and Kourtney is on track to fall below 400,000 sales — a really poor performance. Perhaps the Kardashian Krash is beginning?

In the battle of New York athletes: Mark Sanchez’s September GQ brought in 175,000 sales over Derek Jeter’s April issue, which had 142,000 (J-E-T-S! Jets Jets Jets!).

And then there were the performers who had an up-and-down year: Gwyneth Paltrow was Elle’s best and Self’s second best, but her Bon Appétit cover in June and her January InStyle cover both sold below average for the monthlies. Emma Stone’s July Elle cover was the monthly’s worst performer and her Vanity Fair cover was its third worst, but she scored with Teen Vogue (second best), Glamour and W. Olivia Wilde scored big with Women’s Health (its best), Allure (its second best) and Cosmo (third best), but not Marie Claire (below average) and Glamour (its third worst).

And finally: What about Lady Gaga? Last year, Gaga was the absolute star of the newsstand. This year? She finally showed some chink in her armor. And why? She wasn’t in costume. Her October Harper’s Bazaar, which featured a Gaga close-up without any makeup, sold only 119,000 copies, its third worst seller of the year. Last year, Jessica Simpson went without makeup for Marie Claire and it was one of its biggest bombs of the year. But when Gaga got all dolled up, she worked: Her March Vogue cover was its second best seller of the year and her May Harper’s Bazaar cover did far better than its autumn counterpart: It sold 159,000 copies, its third best of the year.

So, Graydon, take comfort in your January 2012 cover with Gaga. She’s dressed up just fine.

(WWD)

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There's a new, all-illustrated fashion publication in town. We try to find out if editor-in-chief Lula is real or if, as Marylin Monroe would put it, "It's all make believe..."

The world of fashion is sometimes a weird one. The web-sphere can be, perhaps, even weirder. Densely populated by fantastical characters (and/or creatures), both worlds never cease to amaze, intermingle and cause a great deal of confusion. This modern, mystical marriage gave birth to Lula, weird, fantastical, confusing – an illustrated girl, no less. The prodigal offspring started as out as a simple sketch before moving to the digital realm, gaining feathers, leathers, silks and high-heels. Before the world could say Prada, TheSubjectIKnowBest, the blog where she parades her infinite, drool-worthy wardrobe and shares whimsical conversations with an A-list of powerful friends that could drag any industry mogul to shame, became a cult pit-stop for fashion lovers, already snatching collaborations with Swide (Dolce & Gabbana’s blogzine) and Vogue Japan.

But the once-upon-a-time illustrated love story doen’t stop here for Lula. The next venture for fashion’ next superhero is a print one, where Lula fills in the shoes of editor-in-chief or HERSELF, a magazine where everything, even the ads, is illustrated. Featuring in-depth interviews with the likes of Maria Callas, Jackie Kennedy, Audrey Hepburn and Imelda Marcos – as well as portraits (and self-portraits) of dear buddies Frida Kahlo, Anna Dello Russo, Michelle Obama, Marie Antoinette, Grace Kelly, Diana Vreeland and even Barbie and Cinderella, HERSELF is all about posing questions and giving free reign to imagination, not a place for fashion solutions and suggestions. Like any good hero though, Lula is surrounded in mystery. Is she real, or is she ‘just’ a sketch? Is she the fashion answer for Superman and who is the Clark Kent behind her alter ego? We catch up with the girl who best describes herself through the words of Jessica Rabbit: “I’m not bad. I’m just drawn that way”.

Dazed Digital: What is the ethos of HERSELF?

Lula: We celebrate the bold the beautiful, the infinity and beyond. We celebrate Fashion, its designers, brands, icons and their staggering work. In Ourself We Trust. Way to go.

DD: How did you prepare for the herculean task of making a magazine?

Lula: I didn't. I could never do something I fully understand: where would the surprise be? How could I be wrong then? How could I find a new path if not by loosing my way?

DD: Why print? And why now?

Lula: Why only digital? Why not now? I was born online, but for HERSELF, we felt that, wherever we want to go, we must start from paper. It's very prestigious, now more than ever.

DD: What are your personal definitions of: possible, impossible, creativity and the web?

Lula: I guess both creativity and the web are the sensational co-existence of possible and impossible.

DD: Who are your legends and heroes?

Lula: Amongst many: myself aged six. I always try to be like her: a hard believer with boundless imagination.

DD: Why a portrait issue?

Lula: I think the unconditional love for oneself, makes one think that when looking at someone else's beautiful portrait, one is staring in a mirror...

DD: What do you see when you look in the mirror, and what does the mirror see when it looks back at you?

Lula: I look in the mirror and ask "Who's the fairest of them all?". The mirror goes "Snow White". So I think, I'd better be a gorgeous illustration...

DD: What is the connection between Anna dello Russo, Frida Kahlo, Jessica Rabbit, Maria Callas, Jackie Kennedy, Cinderella and the greek goddess Athena?

Lula: It might look like they belong from different worlds: cherry hats, iconic mono-eyebrow, bombastic breast, divine voice, pink Chanel suit, crystal shoes, superpower... But they all are their very own self and it's a rare thing. They posses in-confutable style and express themselves with paradoxes of such frivolity and wisdom that never fail to awake everyone's imagination.

DD: And why did you launch a collection of silk scarves alongside the magazine? What's the story behind it? Please tell me more about your pet leopard...

Lula: We love paper. We worship paper. But who can resist silk? The collection consists of seven silk scarves: they are made in Italy (Como), set in the jungle and feature our leopard pet Tancredi. He has a wild heart, but behave exquisitely well. He was elegantly playing around all these jungles created for the Portrait Issue...a black and white frame came to mind and there was no place on earth better than a square of silk to capture this moment.

DD: How did you come up with all this crazily brilliant/brilliantly crazy concept behind Lula, TheSubjectIKnowBest, HERSELF...? Or even, where did it all come from?

Lula: At this point you must know I'm very close friend with the gorgeous Frida Kahlo, someone very associable both with brilliance and craziness. I'd wear flowers on my head too, but I really don't wanna copy her signature style. Like her, I always draw myself (because I'm the subject I know best). Like her I don't paint (draw) my dreams or nightmares...I paint(draw) my own reality. So The Subject I Know Best is my time, a white space functioning as a diary, a pad, a digital mirror, with the great excitement of being online.HERSELF is the wonderful world where, together with Thorbjorn and Fabio, I feature the illustrated fashion reality as perceived in an illustrated world. It's made of association, synesthetic imagery, and always the very latest fashion.

DD: This can almost start a philosophical debate: are you real? Are you really Lula? Is Lula yourself? Is Lula HERSELF? Is HERSELF yourself? Who is HERSELF?

Lula: Let's cut it then, with philosophical elegance: I'm an illustrated girl, running on high heels and never forgetting to apply black mascara whose soul lies in the world of HERSELF where its chaos...gives birth to a dancing star. (I had to borrow from my friend Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche for this one...)

DD: Do you follow your dreams, stalk your dreams, or chase your dreams?

Lula: My dreams and I are inseparable, bounded to the core, consumed by love. I live for them.I'm dedicated, faithful, honest. My profound commitment is proved by arguing and fighting with them. Pushing them away, pulling them back, thinking weather they are really what I want, making them jealous at times. They tear me apart, make me wonder, but they are always there for me with such strength. They are the ones!

DD: Do you want to change the way that illustration is perceived?

Lula: I have changed the way I perceive it. It's not strictly for decoration or explication . It's not only design at its birth. Its the ultimate ticket to everywhere.

DD: Peter Pan never wanted to grow older, Pinocchio was a wooden boy that wanted to be real, Ariel was a mermaid that wanted to belong in the human world, Lula wants to belong in the fantasy world...is there a pattern here? Did you get all you wished for?

Lula: I'm not even half way! I don't have a lamp, or a wand. My shoes are Alaia, Louboutin, Givenchy, not crystal. My wish list is still full of un-thicked boxes.

DD: What are the future plans for HERSELF? And what is the future of traditional media?

Lula: HERSELF has a million plans, using different media, keeping exploring, translating everything into everything. The "Like" button is a blue version of Caesar's thumbs up.I think traditional media still has a long life because it can feed the new, like the new will always count on traditional, creating each other and us. The web is the best possible place to celebrate traditional media and... they'll live happily ever after!

(dazeddigital.com)

I think Lula is on to something....she's definitely made a fan of me.

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Two curvy women launch a rebel magazine



ue Thomanson and Sarah Kenny were tired of going through women magazines filled with images and messages harmful for their self-confidence and for the consideration of themselves. So they decided to create a small independent publishing house and publish Beautiful, a magazine that is as glamorous as any glossy magazine, but that focuses exclusively on curvy women.

Born after the experiment of Just as Beautiful,the magazine, now more structured, is an answer to all those women that want to see a curvy and natural body type represented and talked about.

The editorial lines are very clear: Beautiful publishes exclusively images of plus size models (starting from a size 44); there is no space for diets or weight loss; beauty in all its diversity is celebrated and the use of programs to manipulate the images and make women look thinner are forbidden.

The summer issue, the cover of which is dedicated to Adele, can be bought directly from their website, or in Evans stores across the UK.

(Vogue.it)

I love the idea of this magazine and who/what it represents. Just as our world is diverse with various ethnicities, so are we as women and lovers of fashion. Kudos to the ladies for such a timely production!

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Arresting though it is, I can’t help but wonder if model Kim Melander was somewhat disappointed that her first ELLE cover featured a YSL silk satin mousseline scarf much more prominently than her pretty face. (February)

1993 marked the year Miuccia Prada launched her second line, Miu Miu, which, according to this fashion news story heralding the designer’s self-described “antifashion fashion” collection (bearing her childhood nickname), would have an aesthetic a little less prim than big sister Prada’s. Its audience? “For those without trust funds,” the author writes. Well, one out of two ain’t too bad…. (February)

Bottom-boob isn’t something you often see in the pages of ELLE, but here, on the first page of a Ruth La Ferla–written fashion story spotlighting ’90s wonderboy Todd Oldham, the typical high-fashion gloss was replaced with playful, besequined garishness. Oldham, who excitedly referred to the look on the right as “another whole new way to show off cleavage!” mixed his own Ready to Wear with thrift shop finds and on-the-spot constructions like the “bra” he made in between wardrobe changes, which was little more than a pair of orange rinds, a shoelace, and a few rainbow-hued butterfly appliqués. (March)

Calling a then 19-year-old Amber Valletta “the nymphlike incarnation” of Betsey Johnson’s Disney-inspired, childhood-fantasy aesthetic, writer and Executive Editor Ruth La Ferla interviews the quirky designer about her concept behind the shoot’s styling. “This is about remembering the way we used to feel,” Johnson says of the clothing in the six-page spread, all of which was whimsical, colorful, and children’s size. “It’s about being back when we all were young, before we had to learn how to fit.” (April)

Sporting Shiseido shades of bronze, apricot, and terra cotta (and a far out Jean Paul Gaultier rubber wig), this model represents the final look in the beauty story, Three Shades of Summer: Day, Night, and Beyond. (June)

Oh Brandon…

…try as you might, you’ll never be as hot as Dylan.

Fresh-faced and just barely turned 21, Gwyneth Paltrow talks about her role in the Texas drama Flesh and Bone, co-starring then real-life couple Meg Ryan and Dennis Quaid, as well as 53-year-old James Caan, who played her much older, con-artist lover. On how her parents, both industry veterans, reacted to her career choice? “There were practical concerns,” she admitted. “They also didn’t know if I’d stink or what.” (December)

The year Whitney Houston ruled the charts with “I Will Always Love You,” Jurassic Park topped the box office, and President Clinton oversaw the historic Middle East Peace Agreement.

(elle.com)

Wow.......1993! As I think back, that was a busy year for me, as I moved from Tulsa to San Antonio for a job with, nationwide, insurer USAA. I remember all the packing (ugh...!) and the movers coming for the boxes. I was so excited about starting a new life in one of the most scenic cities in the U.S. I also looked forward to the favorable weather (no snow!) and the discovery of a new culture. There were two things that I came to dislike immediately, one is the gecko lizards; I had actually never seen one and could have gone through life just fine, without ever coming close to those awful little creatures! this particular species appeared almost transparent and many times I wouldn't see them at first and when I did, I would scream "like a little girl"! Most often, when I arrived at my apartment door, one of the little buggers would be perched aside the door panel. They didn't do anything and would usually run away, but it was just the fact that I saw it and that image would stick in my mind. I was visiting a guy friend one evening and I happened to look up and there was one going up the wall above his fireplace, and I launched into my "gecko scream," which he thought was so silly, as (in his words)"they won't do anything to you." Needless to say, that was THE LAST TIME that I visited his home!It was also during this same evening that I was confronted by my second nemsis.....fire ants!(a good sign that that relationship wasn't meant to be! lol) As I was leaving, I stepped into the grass while we talked for a few minutes; I'll just say, that after that experience, I retreated to the patios, driveways and sidewalks from that point forward! All and all though, I look back on my time in San Antonio (4 years), as one of the most wonderful experiences in my life!

I always find in refreshing to take a "trip back in time." To step out of today's craziness and reflect on "gentler times," but I digress. Elle has always been one of my first magazines of choice and this feature reminds me of some of the reasons why. Tyra is sporting "big hair" and I love it! It would be nice to get my hands on the pants that each model is wearing and the choker featured on the cover. A young Amber Valletta (a Tulsa native who graduated from one of the city's best high schools) and Gwyneth Paltrow....my how times flies! And to think, it was 1993 when Miu Miu was launched.....it seems as though the label has been around forever. Hats off to Elle!

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Independent bi-annual magazine, Lurve exists as a visually striking piece of material putting an emphasis on emerging new talents in all creative fields. Editor Lyna Ahanda attempts to bridge the gaps between fashion, arts and music with beautifully varied content. Whilst exploring contemporary culture beyond the mainstream, they refuse to conform to the trends. With their upcoming third issue they explore the human body to allow the model to be more than a clotheshorse, featuring Terence Koh, Cecile Bortoletti and Carlotta Manaigo. We speak to Ahanda on how it all came about...

Dazed Digital: Why did you start Lurve Magazine?
Lyna Ahanda: I have always been a militant, but unfortunately I've picked up art instead of politics. Starting Lurve was about creating something that could change things. Bringing back fashion and art together.

DD: What does it offer readers that other bi-annual fashion magazines don't?
Lyna Ahanda: A visual aesthetic that is not restricted to the trends, where models of differing colours are part of the system.

DD: What is your background, in Fashion/Journalism/Arts?
Lyna Ahanda: I have studied Art History in Paris, then English at la Sorbonne. I have a Masters degree in Journalism and Creative Writing. I have also contributed as journalist to a number of independent magazines, websites and newspapers.

DD: What's the story behind the name?
Lyna Ahanda: Lurve comes from a conversation between Dianne Keaton and Woody Allen in "Annie Hall" as if lurve was a higher form of love.

"Do you love me? Love is too weak a word. I lerve you. You know, I lo-ove you. I luff you. There are two "f's." I have to invent... of course I love you."

My idea was then to create a publication that will be less hermetic to the real world, a magazine that would be challenged by a wider cultural current and that will be able to show our love to fashion and even more.

DD: What is going in your next issue?
Lyna Ahanda: The theme of our third issue is 'beyond the body proper'. We are trying to explore the concept of the body as an envelope allowing the model to be more than a simple way to display clothes. In a series of editorials with Terence Koh, Chadwick Tyler, Cecile Bortoletti and Carlotta Manaigo, the models are taking part in this sort of role play.

As a salute to Spring and an homage to Pina Bausch, models reinterpret Stravinsky’s ‘Le Sacré du Printemps’ (The Rite of Spring’) choreographed by Bausch, wearing pieces from Damir Doma’s Spring/Summer 2010 collection. The story was art directed by Begum Boré and photographed by Terence Koh. The Carlotta Manaigo story was inspired by Eadward Muybridge's 'human movement' plates, and the shoot is a metaphor representing a birth, and blossoming new life. Whilst the Cecile Bortoletti cover story is her own take on Francis Bacon's "Three Studies for A Self-Portrait."

DD: How do you pick your content?
Lyna Ahanda: I have worked a lot with art director Begum Boré on this issue. We wanted to work around the theme of the body: body image, and the body's limit but also plays with seasons as this is our Spring issue. We went from this idea of describing the body as a political and social weapon to something more poetic and pure, using different types of people, stranges and unique beauties.

(dazeddigital.com)

Beautifully stark images.......such symmetry! I love the concept of the magazine itself......."forward thinking" is always appealing. Now if I can just get my hands on a copy!

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DOUBLE DUTCH: Look who’s a cover girl — Celine’s creative director, Phoebe Philo, gets the honors for the launch issue of The Gentlewoman, the sister magazine to Dutch title Fantastic Man that hits newsstands on March 22. Inside is a profile of Philo and a shoot by David Sims, styled by Camilla Nickerson with the designer posing in her own clothes and both vintage and current Celine looks. “It’s about modernity and women that are just fantastic,” said Penny Martin, the biannual magazine’s editor in chief. “Phoebe was very candid about herself, her mother and silhouette and inspirations.” The 148-page launch issue also features a profile on American artist Jenny Holzer, with portraits of the artist taken by Wolfgang Tillmans. There are also feature articles on DJ Princess Julia, open water swimmer Lynne Cox, winemaker Sara Perez and Kazuyo Sejima, the Japanese architect and the first woman to be appointed as director of the architecture sector for the Venice Biennale.

Contributors in the issue include design critic Alice Rawsthorn, fashion designer Louise Gray and model Daisy Lowe. Martin is aiming to showcase female photographers, too. Alexandra Catiere snapped the fine jewelry section with male models clasping a myriad of fine jewels.

With the backing of Fantastic’s creative director Jop van Bennekom and publisher, Gert Jonkers, the new fashion title will have a circulation of 72,000. A page of advertising costs 8,500 pounds, or roughly $13,000 at current exchange. Among advertisers in the first issue are Yves Saint Laurent, Marc Jacobs, Prada, Celine, Christian Dior and Y-3. The Gentlewoman will hit the stands with a cover price of 7.80 euros, or $10.95.

(WWD)

Sounds interesting.....I look forward to viewing an issue.

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