In Fashion Part 20

Trade publications.

Trade organizations. Like the Italian Trade Federation, Fashion Group, Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA), or Cosmetics Executive Women (CEW).

Don't Be Afraid to Ask

Sometimes, in the creative workplace there are words, labels, and habits that no longer make sense but continue to be used. For example, "blues" is a term that once aptly described blue-tinted proofs from the printer. Today "blues" is used to describe a completely non-color-specific, electronic, late-stage version of the edited copy. "Why is this called 'blues'?" is a great question that not many manically busy people would have the energy or time to answer.

The only stupid question from an intern is the one not asked. Or the one asked at the obviously wrong moment-when the air is so thick with missed deadlines and bad energy that anyone with a lick of sense would know you should save it for a brighter day.

Today I was reading about an "Editorial" opening at a magazine. This reminded me of an office tradition that I had so disliked that I had abandoned it. Apparently, horrors, my personal most logical stance hasn't convinced the rest of the world to follow suit. According to this condescending, nose-thumbing-at-fashionista concept, the fashion department and the beauty department stand on their own, as does the art department. "Editorial" was used to describe only the brilliant well-educated features and articles staffers, who actually were too smart to have a clue as to what the fashion and beauty editors were up to on the editorial side of the magazine.

I believe that anyone working on the editorial, nonsales (or publishing) side of a magazine-whether in fashion, beauty, features, art department, or health-should be considered editorial. But since my idea has not prevailed, asking what is considered "editorial" would be a good question. Even for me.

The Test

Entry-level jobs. These don't usually involve editing tests. For decades, Conde Nast asked every potential a.s.sistant to take a timed typing test. The company finally came to its senses and dropped the rite a few years ago.

Writing, copy editing, and research jobs. These will involve completing some sort of test, probably something you can take home to do. The skills involved here are very specific and best learned on the job or in journalism school. Careful critical reading of the publication you are applying to is essential to hone your skills to fit the individual word style of the place.

Fashion department jobs. These do not come with tests. If the job is a.s.sisting an editor on a shoot, you might offer to come along for a day on a tryout basis. Fashion features and health and beauty department jobs, as well as general editorial jobs, might require a written critique of a recent issue or section of a recent issue plus a list of headlines and story ideas for pages you might be working on.

How to Critique a Piece of Work

The big difference between recreational critiques (sitting around with your friends talking about what you love and don't) and professional ones is that professionals are expected to know how to make things smarter, more original, more compelling, more perfectly tailored for that publication. Things to think about: Who is the intended target audience of this publication, ad, newspaper, or book? How old is the average reader? How much money does she earn? Does she live in a city or small town? Does she work? Have kids?

What is the stated mission of the publication, brand, or book?

Is the audience reached, and is the mission communicated?

How does this creative work compare with others in its sphere?

How, keeping the above in mind, could it be made better?

Say you've been asked to critique a story as part of your consideration for a job. What to do? First, read it once to get the feel. Then, read it again critically. Make a list of what works in the story and what doesn't. Be fair and balanced since a potential employer wants to see both sides of your thinking. For each of your negative items, offer a solution that would correct the problem. You hate the headline? Hate the lead-in text? Write new ones. Make them better. Show your ideas for your top three headline choices and display copy.

Go the extra step whenever possible. Show that you can think through problems and get to solutions. Bosses love problem solvers. I've sometimes written Post-it notes on layouts to make suggestions about things I would have changed or to applaud what I liked. It's perfectly fine to hand in a critique like this as long as your handwriting is totally legible and your grammar and spelling are impeccable. Ask someone good at this-a friend or family member-to check for mistakes before you hand it in.

FISHNET FIASCO.

I am not proud of my behavior. Not in the least. But things like this would just happen. More out of boredom, I'd prefer to think, than malice.

One day in Liz Tilberis' office, all the senior editors were gathered around to think through a big fall fashion issue. The smart ones who arrived early to the meeting plopped their skinny b.u.t.ts casually on the large white denim-covered sofa. The later arrivals were forced to sit erect on blisteringly cold metal chairs. This particular spring morning, I was seated cozily on the cushy sofa next to Richard Sinnott, an accessories editor and an especially naughty, brilliantly funny guy.

Because the metal chair was cold, the hair on one of the features editors' legs went erect, popping out of the confines of her fishnet stockings. From our view on the sofa, it was like a thigh-sized Black Forest that s.p.a.ce aliens had mowed into perfect diamond shapes. Richard and I occupied ourselves for much of the meeting sketching the Black Forest leg hair in our notebooks. Naughty. Immature. So much fun. And, in the end, the only thing I actually remember from the meeting.

This, by way of advice. You don't want to walk around at a fashion magazine, designer's studio, or cool new store with Black Forest diamonds on your legs. Stick to trousers until you are cleaned up for what are the most revealing of all stocking choices: fishnets. No matter what your size it's wise to find small-scale fishnets (that is, smaller diamonds). They rip less easily, make you look skinnier, and they are infinitely more chic. Bare, tan, skinny legs are always good. Opaque black tights, plain or with texture, are better than sheer. Footless tights with ballet slippers if you are under thirty, regardless of how fit you are. Sheer nude shades look stupid.

Interview Notes

Why Not to Obsess Too Much About Your Clothes

Above all else, confidence is what's important. How small-town, Yale-educated Emily Dougherty got the job with me at Harper's Bazaar was the sheer confidence with which she wore her ruby crystal-covered slippers. Self-a.s.surance. Love it. Expensive clothes never impress fashionistas. Head-to-toe designer clothes do not impress fashionistas. Good styling does. Personality does. High self-esteem does. Quirky shoes or a vintage bag do. Got the point?

The HR Take on Things

When Eliot Kaplan, Hearst talent scout, scans your resume, what matters most to him? "The internships you've done outrank where you went to college," says Kaplan. "But that's becoming harder as good internships are rare.

"I like to hear about someone's working through school," adds Kaplan. "I always ask, 'Did you work at the school paper?' If the answer is no, I want to know why."

Kaplan's att.i.tude might well reflect a fatigue with spoiled Y-generation applicants-too long coddled by parents, privileged enough to take on a series of prestigious unpaid internships, but having no proven experience or capacity to work hard.

At Conde Nast's HR offices, the trick is to be focused and clear. Name the two t.i.tles you'd like to work for and, as specifically as possible, in what capacity. Know the t.i.tles. Know the mastheads. Recognize the names from the individual mastheads. (Visit www.mastheads.org.) Hopefully you already have the name of an inside connection that you can drop at your HR interview.

Where a future fashionista wants to be? Anywhere on this chart. Where you'd want to be in five years? In the upper right corner. Please note that a publication's positioning on this grid is subject to constant shifts, boosts, and slides.

CHOOSE YOUR FASHIONISTA PLAYGROUND: CONDe NAST VERSUS HEARST.

Here's a good rivalry. Though either company is a great place to work, they couldn't be more different on almost every level. Look at their two founding families. Hearst is a WASP, newspaper family, old money, with some family craziness. William Randolph Hearst, upon whom the lead character of the film Citizen Kane is based, left his wife and family behind in Manhattan to live a Hollywood fantasy. The base of the original Hearst building remains much as he built it in 1928. The six-story Art Deco building was supposedly erected as a theater at which his beloved mistress, Hollywood actress Marion Davies, could perform. Hearst's wife and mother of his five sons, Millicent, saw to it that the couple never stepped foot in New York and that the "theater" was converted to house the home offices of the newspaper giant.

Conde Nast was Catholic, the son of a French mother and American father. He was born in New York City but was raised in St. Louis and had longtime ties to photography and the arts. While the Hearst Corporation remains in the hands of its founding family, Conde Nast has in its modern times been owned by the reclusive, hard-working Newhouse clan, a Jewish family from New York City.

Look at their list of publications. Look at their two towers. Stand in their lobbies and look at the people who work at each place. The auras couldn't be more different. Then, at least in your best fashionista fantasy, choose where you'd most want to be, and then make it happen.

CONDe NAST HEARST.

Famous Founder Conde Montrose Nast, a successful advertising sales executive at Collier's, bought Vogue magazine and added Vanity Fair, House & Garden, and Glamour to form a fashion group of t.i.tles. William Randolph Hearst, newspaper baron extraordinaire, as portrayed by Orson Welles in Citizen Kane.

Running Things Now Various members of the low-key, workaholic Newhouse family; S.I. Newhouse famously comes to work and takes meetings at 4 a.m. Extended Hearst family enjoys dividends, but hired guns run the mother ship.

Manhattan Headquarters Glam building in brash center of universe at 4 Times Square. Green Building designed by Sir Norman Foster constructed on base of original Hearst Headquarters (8th Avenue and 57th Street).

Flagship Brands Vogue, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, GQ. Esquire, Cosmo, Good Housekeeping, Harper's Bazaar, Town & Country.

Fashion Brands Vogue, Teen Vogue, Allure, W, Glamour, Lucky, GQ. Harper's Bazaar, Marie Claire.

Internships Centralized, well organized; see website. Practices vary t.i.tle by t.i.tle; scattershot.

First Job Advantages Higher visibility. Higher starting salaries.

How Your Career Would Unfold Career tracking (words or pictures, you choose). Broad experience; hard work pays off in the end.

Website www.Condenast.com: all about "pa.s.sion" and "talent"; images of turned-on readers hugging favorite magazines suddenly missing. www.hearst.com: self-congratulatory focus on new green building with Tom Brokaw voiceover.

New Magazine Launch Style Splashy and bold. Big commitments are made to editorial, with time and s.p.a.ce built in to tweak the formula. Tentative, low overhead, low risk; evenness and predictability appreciated in personality and newsstand sales. Launch editors are often hired on a freelance basis.

Magazine Closing Style Slow and torturous. Sometimes the buzz is so loud about a magazine's imminent closure that you forget whether it has closed or not. Swift and crushing.

Slogan "Talent is our pa.s.sion at Conde Nast Publications." "You're only as good as your last cover at Hearst."

Lobby Miniwaterfall; a few big magazine covers standing around lobby of shared building. Stunning. Runway-like escalator triplet cutting diagonally across Niagara-sized recycled waterfall, climbing three stories to atrium lobby.

Brushing Shoulders with Badly suited Skadden Arps lawyers, who occupy a chunk of the building. Fellow employees from the Good Housekeeping Inst.i.tute who oversee testing of vacuum cleaners, irons, and clothes dryers.

Lunchroom Dizzying, dark, and gimmicky, a Frank Gehry-designed scene stealer. Spectacular, light-flooded, altar to healthy eating.

Lunch Specials Kobe beef hamburgers, sans bun. Made-to-order sushi and/or sashimi.

Fashionistas in Residence Anna Wintour, Grace Coddington, Paul Cavaco, Tonne Goodman, Elissa Santisi, Hamish Bowles. Glenda Bailey, Brana Wolf, Melanie Ward.

Fashionista Ghosts in Residence Diana Vreeland. Liz Tilberis, Carmel Snow.

International Magazine Presence Spottily developed. Extensively developed.

Recent "Hot" Magazine Franchise Lucky, the fashion shopping t.i.tle. O, The Oprah Magazine.

When Your Boss Is Fired Chances are good you will be "absorbed" somewhere else. Don't stick around to find out.

New Media Savvy New Web-only t.i.tles in research and launch stages; content-driven approach. New Media is said to be an important new group at the company, though, curiously, it isn't housed in the tower.

Getting and Keeping a Cool Job

In Search of the Cool Place to Work

Town & Country regularly receives industry recognition. Recent honors include being nominated for National Magazine Awards ... and being named to Adweek's list of the "Hottest Magazines of the Year" in 1996.

-From the Hearst website What is wrong with this picture? It looks bad for Town & Country. Very bad. Why? Because the august t.i.tle has nothing more interesting, timely, or compelling to write about itself than a mention in Adweek fourteen years prior? That's close to two centuries ago in magazines. So anyone reading this listing on www.hearst.com should sense something is up. Or will be up. My guess is that first, the powers that be will change publishers (again!) to make sure the business side of things is not the problem. Then, inevitably, the big bosses will begin whispering about a new search for the right creative person who will make Town & Country pertinent to readers and a viable media outlet for advertisers for the next ten years. At the very least, to keep the thing alive. Or if they had b.a.l.l.s to dare to imagine a perfect world, empower someone to reinvent the magazine so that it had a resonant cultural, social pulse. So that people would talk about it. So that it would reflect, introduce, and bring on change. So that it could be controversial, opinionated, alive! Stay tuned.

Putting Yourself Where Things Are on the Upswing

Every business has clear trend or growth cycles. In magazines, there are giant cycles that reflect society's changing tastes and ubertrends. The U.S. edition of the French ELLE was launched in the 1980s bringing clean white backdrops, Euro-excessive styling, and multiethnic models. It was exciting, liberating, and hugely successful. Every other publication noticed and adapted. Anyone who didn't looked old very quickly. Then in the 1990s, InStyle, once a column in People magazine, sprung out on its own and a celebrity-centric nation quickly embraced a celebrity-driven publication to dramatically positive results. More recently, Lucky homed in on our consumer-driven obsession and emerged as the "category redefiner" with its focus on the hunt, getting the exact right stuff that's on the page. Off-shoot Domino (which, alas, shuttered) was the most fun, young, stylish take on home out there (a cool "shelter" magazine). I loved looking at it. Whatever your source, getting in touch with macrocycles in books, design, architecture, home, food, and film helps you get a grip on the marketplace.

INSIDERS' REQUIRED READING Ad Age, Adweek for the ad business Publishers Weekly for book publishing Women's Wear Daily for fashion magazines, fashion and beauty businesses Variety for television, film Check out the industry "hot" lists: Who's made this year's list? Who hasn't been listed for more than five years? Who's fallen off from last year?

So, where are the coolest places to work right now in magazines? From a visual standpoint, W magazine is doing the most innovative work. Its oversized format is a great forum for photographers, and stories run much longer (up to twenty pages sometimes) than they would in conventional magazines (where center-of-the-book fashion stories are a tight four, six, or eight pages generally). For writing and editing, Vogue is excellent with a consistently clear mission. New York magazine under Adam Moss is exciting to read and watch. The New York Times fashion magazine supplement, T, delivers smart words and clever images.