Condé Nast Sells W Magazine; Sara Moonves Installed As New Editor-in-Chief

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Condé Nast Sells W Magazine; Sara Moonves Installed As New Editor-in-Chief

‘W ‘ Style Director Sara Moonves in on the move again, this time into the top slot, replacing longtime W Magazine Editor-in-Chief Stefano Tonchi, as the magazine’s new owners announce their future plans.

Before moving to ‘W’, Moonves worked for American Vogue as a contributing fashion editor and was previously senior fashion director at ‘T: The New York Times Style Magazine’. Sara is the daughter of former CBS Chairman and CEO of CBS Corporation tycoon Les Moonves.

Tonchi has been part of extensive efforts at Condé Nast to sell the publication, but bowed out on Monday when the owners of Surface and Watch Journal acquired W, as well as the license to WKorea, under the newly formed Future Media Group.

"I think he's done a wonderful job at the brand, but from an innovative standpoint and where we are looking to go, I think women's fashion should be seen through women's point of view," Future Media Chief Executive and Chairman Marc Lotenberg told ‘BoF’.

Craig McDean Captures 'Bourgeois Bohemian' For W Magazine #4

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Models Masha Skokova and Clementine Balcaen are styled by Marie-Amelie Sauvein 'Bourgeois Bohemian', lensed by Craig McDean for W Magazine Vol #4 2018./ Hair by Anthony Turner; makeup by Peter Philips

W Magazine, part of Condé Nast, is one of three publications also including Brides and Golf Digest, that the organization hopes to sell in its efforts to stem a $120 million loss in 2017. W publishes eight issues a year. It's rumoured that editor-in-chief Stefano Tonchi is scouting for "a team of investors from the international fashion and luxury world" in an attempt to buy the magazine by this November. Cate Blanchett guest edits its big fall issue. 

Tributes Continue For The Remarkable Editrix Franca Sozzani | Steven Meisel's 2005 'Hollywood Life'

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The tributes to Vogue Italia Editor-in-Chief Franca Sozzani, who died of lung cancer last Thursday. continue to resonate. W's Stefano Tonchi shares his thoughts on the truly remarkable Sozzani.

Franca was assertive, with a directness that was born of the strength of her convictions. She was loud and clear when she talked; you didn’t second-guess her. She did not tolerate bullshit, but she loved to listen to ideas. She was also very good at managing talented photographers and stylists—which is both an incredible honor and incredibly frustrating—to allow them to do their best work. Italian Vogue had a tradition of working with important photographers like Helmut Newton, but there was always this sense of control. When she got there, she let the photographers take over.

The many admirers of France Sozzani have references her most notorious editorials and issues devoted to a single message. I wrote at length about America's PC fashionistas and self-appointed culture critics who were besides themselves with ire over Meisel's 'Water & Oil' editorial that put fashion within the values context of the BP oil spill. Simply stated, the Americanas couldn't get beyond step one of taking the editorial literally. I imagine France Sozzani took a deep sigh over that fiasco, when the editorial so concretely and without ambiguity was focused on environmentalism and a commentary on the irrelevance of fashion in a world where nature is suffocating in tar sands. .

Related: Remembering Franca Sozzani: A Worldview That Mattered by Vanessa Friedman of New York Times

Another major fashion adventure between Franca Sozzani and Steven Meisel was Linda Evangelista's 'Hollywood Life', published in 2005 as a social commentary on the need to be a woman with a young face in Hollywood. As always Sozzani was daring in her willingness to pursue ugliness (the procedures) in an American-values world that celebrates California girl youth and perfection. Sozzani was far more captivated by personality and presence, than beauty.

Linda Evangelista By Steven Meisel In 'Hollywood Life' For Vogue Italia July 2005 AOC Body Beat