GWAS New York News Desk: The September Slump

Satchels will be lighter next month when the September issues hit newsstands and mailboxes. As WWD reports, the traditionally strong September issues will see "Steep Ad Declines, Worse Ahead." Insiders predict that business will be "brutal" this fall, perhaps through to mid-2010. Compared to September issues a year ago, here's how the money is drying up:

- Teen Vogue: down 31%
- Vogue: down 36%
- W: down 53%
- Glamour: down 41%
- GQ: down 31%
- Lucky: down 36%
- Allure: down 51%
- Self: down 50%
- Vanity Fair: down 36%
- Cookie: down 19%
- Details: down 43%
- Harper's Bazaar: down 26%
- Esquire: down 18%
- Elle: down 21%

Sources: The New York Observer; New York Magazine's "The Cut" blog; and WWD

Conde Nast was keen to defend the slump, with Media Group senior vice president Lou Cona saying, "Our books are down in the entire set, not because there's a problem with print, but our clients' businesses are impacted by the recession and by the lack of traffic at retail."

InStyle is the only fashion title adding add pages – a modest six pages, but still: adding is the key word. Publisher Connie Anne Phillips attributes InStyle's performance to strong newsstand sales, and its accessible and aspirational editorial position.

In other September Issue news, the documentary of the same name, chronicling Anna Wintour's work on the magazines, shot over nine months in 2007, opens at theatres in the U.S. on August 28. This review from Sundance reports that the film "does little to dig under the surface of Wintour's iconic, impassive under bangs image", however, "Wintour is often shot from below, the classic angle given to a person in a position of power."

Blogger Karina Longworth says that in this case, the angle “reveals the imperfections of the facade. We see that her neck and the area under her chin are severely bagged, and up against her comparatively smooth face, one gets the sense that this is less from age or surgical restraint than from her habit of lowering her chin in pursed-lip frown.” Ouch!

It will be interesting to see how Wintour’s peers at other magazines (and, of course, the notoriously hard-to-impress New York newspapers) review the film—if they’re brave enough to dare. At least we know what everyone in the Bryant Park tents will be gas-bagging about during the Spring 2010 shows come September!

Until next week,
Rebecca/New York News Desk