|
|
from Harper's Bazaar
Brit Glenda Bailey moves over from Marie Claire
She was certainly a whiz at knowing the latest in fashion, but Kate Betts, it turns out, was among the last to know that her short and largely unpleasant tenure as editor of Harper's Bazaar was over.
Betts got her formal axing late yesterday afternoon, but by then many at Hearst already knew that Glenda Bailey, editor of the quietly successful Marie Claire, would be assuming the editorship of the long-struggling fashion title.
Though her ascension was one of the most talked-about magazine events of the last few years, the Betts makeover was, in retrospect, a dud from its first days. While ad pages climbed, newsstands sales slumped, a sure indication for a fashion magazine that readers don't approve.
Bailey, in contrast, is a proven champion on the newsstand. In her five years at Marie Claire, the magazine has blossomed into one of a handful of notable exceptions to the rule of declining single-copy sales for mass-market titles.
Moreover, with its offbeat approach to celebrity journalism and its occasional coverage of politics and international events, Marie Claire has earned a reputation as a smarter-than-average women's magazine.
Betts was stolen away two years ago from Vogue, where she had been a protégée of Anna Wintour, and there was much sniffing at the time that this seeming act of betrayal--turning on a mentor--would flare up into mortal combat between the No. 1 Vogue and the once No. 2 Harper's Bazaar for the hearts and minds of America's fashion crowd.
It never happened.
In fairness, Betts, 35 at the time, had a tough challenge. She was coming in upon the death of Liz Tilberis, who was held in high regard in the fashion world and also at Hearst, even though the magazine had slipped in ranking under her watch.
Whatever Betts did was sure to be taken as an insult to the memory of Tilberis. Yet Betts had to change the magazine.
She also faced a fast-evolving market, and just how she would revamp Harper's Bazaar would prove more of a noodler than many thought.
There was certainly Vogue, and also there was the fast-rising W out of Fairchild. But a larger issue was the emergence of magazines like Time's InStyle, which were blending fashion with celebrity news.
The once-elite fashion category was having its skirts chewed on from every direction. Suddenly readers expected smart words to go with the pretty pictures.
Betts talked of modernizing Bazaar, making it younger and plugging it into pop culture. At first, her direction seemed to be the right one, as early newsstand projections indicated a modest surge in readership, prompting a spate of positive press.
But a thorough audit completed this spring shows the true story: that readers were, if anything, put off by Betts' new look.
Meanwhile, the editor, only a few months into her tenure, was already being dogged by rumors of her own imminent ouster. Reports last summer said that Glamour editor Bonnie Fuller, who had been offered the Bazaar job before Betts but had to turn it down over contract issues, was again in talks with Cathleen Black, Hearst's president, about jumping.
Last week, Fuller herself got the boot, apparently at least partly in retribution for her flirtations with Hearst. She was replaced by Self editor Cindi Leive.
June 1, 2001 © 2001 Media Life
Printer-Friendly
Version | Send
to a Friend
Cover Page | Contact
Us
