The news from One World Trade Center is not strange but distressing. Conde Nast’s and Vogue HQ is fluttering with staff trying to get the lowdown on what is happening. The sudden dismissals have left employees with questions. The news coming out puts the publishing house in an unflattering light. After the shock announcement of Teen Vogue being folded into Vogue, editors went to Human Resources for explanations. One side claims confrontation, the other side wants to know why. Four editors were immediately fired after the incident. Where is CN’s Global Content Officer, Artistic Director and Vogue Editorial Director in this strife?
There was a time working at Conde Nast meant a fashion journalist was at the top of the totem pole. In November 25, folding t-shirts at the GAP is a more stable job. Over the past few years more and more staffers have been shown the door as the glossy reader searches for a way in the new media world. So far, the only strategy management is using is a fingers crossed plan that cutting worker cost will move the needle to the profit column. The skint budgets have affected creative quality, the latest Vogue edition is a case study in second class skill or rushed for a magazine that prides itself on being the best in the industry. The cover and theme are out of sync, while the pics of Timothée Chalamet look blurred.
The Conde Nast hierarchy should remember a proverb: Captains sink ships, not the crews.