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Who’s the Coolest?Experts rate denim stores and trends. By Natasha MoNtrosE aNd Katya ForEMaN

PARIS — Denim gurus reveal what they consider to be emerging styles, the coolest denim retailers around the globe and their latest fashion splurge. Adriano Goldschmied, head of product development for Citizens of Humanity and GoldSign, and designer for GoldSign and Citizens of Humanity’s men’s line:Favorite denim stores: “Denham in Amsterdam. I love the interior decoration, which is fresh, modern and innovative. The product is not just [about] boring vintage replicas but is inspired from the past and designed for the future — so directional and such a strong identity.

Also 14 oz. in Berlin — totally different. It’s a multibrand store with a perfect merchandising [concept]. They think about what the denim customer wants next to a great denim assortment. You feel at home, and the service is amazing, smart, something you never will find online.”Last purchase: “I purchased a lightweight chambray shirt in a classic men’s fit — simple but hard to find. I wear it all the time.”Key trends for this spring and beyond: “Simple, sophisticated elegance. The first thing about this is the quality and the fabrics and new fits. I see that denim is going away from the traditional cotton and casual look into a more luxurious and sophisticated direction.

The new denim concept is about different content, in particular Cupro. Nothing works better then Cupro for interpreting…elegance and works [as well] for the new draped, wide fits. For the first time, denim is getting married with high fashion, and it will be true love.”

Orjan Andersson, creative director of Swedish brand Cheap Monday:Favorite denim stores: “Weekday, because they are doing such great work with Cheap Monday. I like Weekday because of the good balance between fashion, streetwear and denim.”Last purchase: “A pair of tight-fitting black Cheap Monday jeans.”Key trends for this spring and beyond: “Washed-out light blue denim, high waists, white jeans, gray denim washes and Seventies wide legs.”

Jason Denham, founder of Denham the Jeanmaker:Favorite denim stores: “My favorite denim stores are mostly in Japan. There are many specialists in vintage collector denim [whose buyers] travel the world searching for antique denim pieces. Stores like Sunrise, J’Antiques and Safari. The Japanese are real [collector] freaks….I love the energy in these stores.”Latest purchase: “A WWII 1940s XX Big E work pant. Also some French 1950s men’s and women’s workwear [pieces].”Key trends for this spring and beyond: “Denim is going through a big transition, where trends have been switched. Two years ago, women’s denim followed men’s silhouettes [and finishes], like ‘boyfriend’ cuts and distressed jeans. Today it’s the opposite — men are dressing like women, with very tight jeans and clean-looking silhouettes. Also, the technical advance in denim is being led by women’s denim fabrics, such as Cupro yarns and incredible soft-touch, high-performance denims.”

Serena Rimacci, creative director of Get Lost:Favorite denim stores: “I don’t have a favorite denim store. My favorite denim brands are Japanese because they have a long tradition focused on quality and utility. They have good knowledge of strong treatments, patchwork and handmade stitch-ups.”Last purchase: “Usually I get clothes when I travel around the world, in vintage shops. It could be T-shirts, could be denim, could be dresses, could be accessories. They should give me feelings.”Key trends for this spring and beyond: “Handmade brushstrokes, handmade localized breaks, handmade sandblasting, [raised stitching], reactive colors, dirty washes, reverse spray coloring, handmade stitch-ups. These are just some treatments that we used for next spring and summer.”

Amy Leverton, denim editor for Stylesight:Favorite denim stores: “Kapital in Tokyo — it’s a dream in there. The denim is top notch, but it’s the whole styling,

visual merchandising and artistic direction of their collections. And they have been rocking that whole Navajo-Pendleton thing for about five years, so ahead of the game.”Last purchase: “From Kapital: a fantastic green cast selvage jean. Just the cutest fit, slightly cropped in the leg — they tailor them to whatever length you want — and a slim boyfriend silhouette.”Key trends for this spring and beyond: “Rock and metal patches on vests, jackets and jeans. This is coming from the rising popularity in heavy rock and metal bubbling up from London and New York. Jeather: Basically, we’ve seen the jegging become superpopular and the must-have wardrobe item for women. But new developments have been exploring stretch-proof technical coatings such as leather looks.

That whole military trend is going to move into spring and fall. Also, urban utility — taking the trends for military and traditional workwear clothing and using these details in a modern way. So: clean and functional pockets; durable workwear fabrics such as canvas; twisted yarns and herringbone weaves, and key denim items such as the worker vest, the utility-all and dungaree — and the modern cargo short. Finally, I can’t not mention the Seventies. It’s a look that has been coming and going for a few seasons.”

Gotta Get It!JAPANFurry legwarmers are all the rage among Tokyo’s fashion-forward set. Two types are available: ones that are worn over boots (also called boot covers), and those that give shoes or shorter boots the illusion of having furry tops (called “boo deco,” short for “boots decoration”).

Popular fashion brand Sly sells a fake fur boot cover for 4,725 yen (about $56), and sister brand Sly Lang carries shaggy boo deco for 1,995 yen (about $24). Both brands have stores in the trendy shopping mall Shibuya 109, which targets women in their teens and 20s.

— Kelly Wetherille

BrAZilRio de Janeiro’s Lanno brand is launching its newest collection of cotton necklaces this month. The necklaces retail for $95 and are made with dozens of thick, multicolored, cotton strands that intertwine to create heart-shaped centers.

— MiKe KePP

FrANCeNamed after the strong, cold winds that blow in the south of France, Lou Mistraou is the Provençal name for France’s famous “mistral” and the label for an unusual hat collection.

This protective Cabriolet style, retailing around $250, is inspired by the kind of leather helmet worn by women driving automobiles in the early 20th century to protect themselves at full speed. Now, they’re made of summery silks and woven palm fiber with contrasting piping. It’s still protective, yet deliciously retro.

— lAureNt FolCher

itAlyItalian tattoo artist and bijoux designer Amanda Toy has teamed up with Timex 80, the Italian division of America’s Timex, to launch a collection of timepieces.

The brand’s iconic Indiglo model, characterized by electroluminescence technology that converts the electricity directly to light, will be available in three pop patterns, featuring multicolor skulls, pierced hearts, dolls and dice on fire. The watches will retail at $55, on Timex’s online store starting in February.

— AleSSANDrA turrA

Weekday in Sweden.

The Denham concept store in Amsterdam.

14 oz. in Berlin.

The Frye Co.’s leather boot.

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For more, see WWD.com/fashion-news.

Head of theDesigners will be cozying up to good old favorites like

these at next week’s Bread & Butter fair in Berlin. BY KIM FRIDAY

Diesel’s cotton, polyester and

spandex jacket.

G-Star Raw’s cotton and lyocell shirt.

Calvin Klein Jeans’ cotton denim and

polyester vest.

Guess’ cotton and spandex denim jeans.

K-Swiss’ leather

sneakers.

Just a Cheap Shirt’s cotton shirt.

Spiewak & Sons’ wool and polyester coat.

ClassicsGoorin Bros.’

wool hat.

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marine layer, San FranciscoSelling soft casual shirts of beech wood and cotton fiber that are pre-washed four times and guaranteed to fit is how retailer Marine Layer is looking to make a mark on the basics fashion business.

It’s been a year and a half since Michael Natenshon began the upstart vertical retailer in his living room with $44,000 charged to credit cards and an e-commerce Web site. In September, a 500-square-foot store was added on Chestnut Street in the well-heeled Marina District and home to the Golden Gate Yacht Club that will host the 2013 America’s Cup regatta.

While rents on Chestnut Street are at a premium, the neighborhood’s popularity has been worth the $9-a-square-foot rent.

“As a new brand, we are not a des-tination shop yet,” said Natenshon, who’s been joined in the business by longtime friend Adam Lynch. “So we chose to spend more on rent and nothing on additional marketing. Our storefront and word of mouth is how

we have generated traffic.”Both 32 years old, Natenshon jet-

tisoned an investment banking career and Lynch gave up work in public policy for Marine Layer, which has as its logo a hammock strung between Golden Gate Bridge towers. With lim-ited edition styles for men and women, $35 T-shirts, $65 polos and $70 hoodies comprise the core merchandise that is sewn and washed in the Bay Area from fabric woven in Los Angeles of cotton and beach wood fiber that was pro-duced by Austria’s Lenzing AG.

Last month, Marine Layer turned a profit. Other measures of success have been repeat shoppers online who have been in the San Francisco shop.

“Since opening the store in September, we have increased our customer database by 250 percent,” Natenshon said. — Joanna Ramey

2209 Chestnut StreetSan Francisco 94123Tel.: 415-407-4043 Monday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m.; Tuesday-Friday, 8 a.m.-6 p.m.

DuDe’S Factory, BerlinEven fast fashion, or in this case fast design, takes time. Before Arnaud Loix van Hooff and Heribert Willmerdinger were ready to launch their brand and shop of the same name, Dude’s Factory, they needed two years to work out the right concept — only to have it change monthly. But that’s what Dude’s Factory is all about: Each month, the brand asks a different artist or artis-tic team to redesign the streetwear

brands’ entire visuals for its collection of T-shirts, sweaters and hoodies.

Dude’s Factory’s own-ers also invite the artists to come up with extraor-dinary product ideas, like oversize wooden chil-dren’s cars or mutated ea-gle-shaped skateboards, two examples from the first cooperations with Peachbeach and 110 Special Black. They also want their customers to be creative. A special on-line tool lets anyone de-sign and purchase their own T-shirt on Dude’s

Factory’s Web site. While external in-fluences are a substantial part of the brand, everything comes back together in Dude’s Factory’s in-house factory, lo-cated in the shop’s basement.

— JennifeR Wiebking

138 Torstrasse10119 BerlinTel.: +49-30-3087-4361Monday-Friday, Noon-8 p.m., Saturday, 11 a.m.-8 p.m.

Sell-a-graphicTwo retailers use bold colors and visuals as part of their strategies.

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Fashion scoopsA GROUP OF FRIENDS: When Opening Ceremony’s spring look book hits desks the editorial world over, its recipients will recognize the trademark style of Terry Richardson, who shot Lindsey Wixson and Paolo Anchisi against a white backdrop, per usual, in November at Milk Studios. If it seems like a big deal — a very famous photographer plus two extremely of-the-moment models — for a look-book shoot, all parties involved claim it was just one big friend fest. “I’ve been friends with Opening Ceremony for years, and we’ve always wanted to work together,” said Richardson. “The idea was really simple — it was about having fun with the clothes, and Lindsey Wixson was the perfect fit.” Opening Ceremony’s Humberto Leon seconds that notion: “We’ve been friends with Terry for years,” he said, noting he likes to amp up the look book in lieu of a runway show. “All the right pieces came together and we were shooting the right people and we wanted to have fun.” In the past, Opening Ceremony has enlisted Ryan McGinley (friend) to shoot look books, and this time another “friend” Mel Ottenberg styled the shoot. One could wonder if all these friends get paid in hugs, but Leon assures otherwise.

FASHION CENTRAL: Milan’s chamber of commerce is donating its headquarters in the city center to serve as a “Fashion Hub” to Italy’s fashion chamber, Camera della Moda, for use by journalists, buyers, photographers and bloggers during the upcoming men’s fashion week, which kicks off Saturday morning. The building, called Palazzo dei Giureconsulti, was also used for similar purposes in September for the women’s shows, but for a fee. This donation, in addition to the about 500,000 euros, or $645,000 at current exchange, that the chamber of commerce contributes to Camera Moda and initiatives for young designers each year, represents its growing support of an industry that makes up about 13 percent of the country’s total revenues, according to data released by the chamber. The Fashion Hub is located at 2 Piazza dei Mercanti and will be open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. from Saturday to Monday and until 6 p.m. on Tuesday.

again prove willing to do what it takes to land their stars, whether or not a specific dress genuinely reflects the brand. True, even the most gorgeous celebrities are real women who want to look beautiful for big nights out. It is not their responsibility to push experimental fashion on the global television audience. But if the threat of yuk-it-up, mean-spirited criticism loomed a little less large, some of them might opt for frocks a little less boring.

Another element to fashion’s increasingly democratic persuasion is the ever-swelling obsession with high-low. Some designers render accessible fashion beautifully. Marc by Marc Jacobs may be the smartest secondary brand ever launched, given its great clothes and a cool factor that can be had — in the form of all kinds of trinketry starting at five bucks and under. Recently, the blockbuster collaboration of Lanvin’s Alber Elbaz with H&M had ample shades of, well, Lanvin. So much so that in a December cover line, Vogue heralded, “The Perfect Party Dress (for under $250!).”

Fabulous for the girl who wants an inexpensive pretty party dress that looks like a much more expensive pretty party dress, and hats off to Elbaz and others for delivering genuine chic on the cheap. Certainly each case taken on its own feels like a meaningful stylistic victory for the nonrich. Yet, at the risk of sounding like a founder of the Marie Antoinette Got a Raw Deal Fan Club, what is the aggregate good for (uppercase) Fashion? In the zeal to court and clad the proletariat, is it becoming no longer PC, or even of interest, to celebrate the levels of research, of design, of intricacy, of detail, of materials (all fabrics are not created equal) that go into high-end fashion? Last time we checked, Fashion was not a social services agency, but a for-profit multibillion-dollar global industry that preys on insecurities about physical appearance. Elitism is an essential part of the shtick.

The devoted high-end customer

craves distinctive fashion. Just look at the relatively recent increase of interest in collections such as Dries Van Noten and Rick Owens, once considered on the edge. Yet luxury houses are grappling with issues that impact creativity that have nothing to do with the high-low bandwagon. Given immediate access to fashion show visuals, the impatient public no longer wants to wait months to procure designer merch. Thus, some houses are experimenting with how to satiate the beast and increase speed-to-market. But at what price? For spring, in his quest for clothes that could be produced and delivered on a truncated schedule, Burberry Prorsum’s Christopher Bailey appeared to have watered down his typically intricate, inventive looks.

Such experimentation in timing is inevitable, as luxury houses determine how best to utilize the Web in doing business. One hopes that, in the end, designers will refuse to make creativity a secondary consideration to speed. If a piece of Fashion incites breathlessness, shouldn’t it be worth the wait?

It should fall to the fashion press, both consumer and trade, to fully report on and dissect high-end fashion, both experimental and otherwise. But too often, even the toniest fashion is presented in either a clinical manner or one in which is mere foil for its celebrity subject.

Though lip service is given to the importance of the great designers, in reality, serious focus on their work, their craft, has been diminishing for years.

This is not to suggest that the millions of people who shop at all price points south of designer don’t want and deserve excellent design; that designers in those markets are not often extremely talented; that design innovation only happens at the high end, or that acknowledging or enjoying celebrity fashion escapades is a black mark on one’s sartorial soul.

But in the fray, appreciation for pure, elitist Fashion is getting lost

— an argument supported unintentionally right here. This has been a quite gorgeous pre-fall season. Yet in Tuesday’s print edition of WWD, coverage of eight mostly major collections was crammed into three pages, including a visually busy page one, while Rachel Zoe’s fun, contemporary launch merited a nice, airy photo on the cover of WWD Style and a roomy spread inside. And not without reason: It’s a given that Web site tallies of “most e-mailed” and “most viewed” will support that allocation.

Zoe is indeed interesting (and smart, to boot). So, too, brand ambassadors, party girls, teen bloggers, reality stars, “Project Runway” graduates and runway clothes designed with haste rather than haute in mind.

But to lovers of pure Fashion, other matters, too, deserve consideration. On pre-fall alone, why did the usually single-focused Nicolas Ghesquière do so eclectic a collection? Do the gorgeously high-glam lineups of Vuitton and Lanvin presage dressed-up days for fall? Do Phoebe Philo’s patchwork pants for Celine indicate a move away from her signature minimalism? Looking ahead two weeks, what wonders might the couturier set have in store?

More importantly, like the proverbial tree falling in the forest, if Karl Lagerfeld or John Galliano were to show a seminal couture collection — but most people were too wrapped up in the front-row celebrities to care — would it make a sound that lingers?

BY DAVID LIPKE Katie Holmes has been tapped as the new face of Ann Taylor, succeeding Heidi Klum, in the 280-store chain’s spring advertising campaign. Developed in-house by the Ann Taylor creative team and photographed by Tom Munro, the cam-paign breaks in March magazines.

“I applaud women who are doing their best to be the best versions of themselves and who are working really hard. And I’m glad that there is a store like Ann Taylor that can offer amazing styles for the many different roles that women play,” Holmes, 32, told WWD exclusively.

The media buy includes fash-ion magazines such as Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Elle, Marie Claire and InStyle. Outdoor ads will go up in major metropolitan areas. Holmes is contracted to Ann Taylor for one season.

“Katie personifies the Ann Taylor brand — smart, talent-ed, incredibly chic and living a full life with beauty and grace. We admire and respect Katie for her intellect, kindness and enduring personal style,” said Christine Beauchamp, president of AnnTaylor Stores Corp.

Ann Taylor declined to pro-vide ad spend figures for the spring campaign. Parent company AnnTaylor Stores Corp., which includes Ann Taylor and Loft,

spent $11.1 million on advertising in the first nine months of 2010, up from $5.3 million in the same 2009 period, according to Kantar Media data.

When it comes to posing for fashion brands, Holmes — who is married to Tom Cruise and mother to their daughter, Suri — apparently has a soft spot for affordable careerwear and casu-alwear. The actress modeled in the J. Crew cata-logue this past fall, along with co-stars from her most recent flick, “The Romantics,” including Josh Duhamel, Malin Akerman and Adam Brody.

Previous Ann Taylor campaigns featured actresses including Milla Jovovich and Naomi Watts.

Katie Holmes’ Next Act: Ann Taylor Ads

{Continued from page 1}

Fashion: an EndangErEd spEciEs? Intriguing pre-fall collections include Nicolas Ghesquière’s eclecticism for

Balenciaga (left) and Alber Elbaz’s luxe lineup for Lanvin.

Holmes will appear in the campaign for one season.

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The Men Steering HearstBY JOHN KOBLIN AND AMY WICKS

NEW YORK — It was a few minutes before 10 p.m. on Monday night and Hearst Magazines top execu-tive David Carey had something to say about his company, a comment his rivals would try to deny but probably fear is true.

“The current environment favors the Hearst way of doing things,” he said.

While other magazine publishers in town are preaching to their colleagues the importance of practi-cal management and sensible spending, Hearst wrote the book on such an approach years ago. By the time Hearst fi nishes acquiring Hachette from Lagardère, the company will have spent more than $1 billion in a little under a year while the rest of the magazine in-dustry is still recovering from the Great Recession.

Hearst has long been derided as playing second fi ddle to the Condé Nasts of the world for being the home of dull brands, slim staffs and a no-frills at-titude — in other words, hardly the dream of any youngster aspiring to get into the glamorous, free-spending world of glossy magazines. Now its long-standing corporate ethos is looking more and more enviable in a topsy-turvy world.

The magazine division’s culture was set by Frank Bennack, the plump, mild-mannered Fezziwig-like ceo at parent Hearst Corp. who returned to that position in 2008 after ostensibly retiring from a 23-year run in the role. Bennack hired current New York City schools chief Cathie Black to run the magazine division in 1995, and in June, poached Carey from Condé Nast to replace Black as president of the magazine division.

It was the 77-year-old Bennack’s tight-fi sted man-agement style that allowed the company to with-stand the brutality better than its rivals in the last two years (Condé Nast has shuttered six magazines; Hearst hasn’t closed any). And now that there ap-pear to be some signs of life in the beleaguered pub-lishing world, Bennack’s parsimony has positioned Hearst to make a blockbuster deal. The company is on the verge of spending $700 million to $800 mil-lion to pick up the Hachette International portfo-lio from Lagardère that includes Elle, Elle Decor, Woman’s Day and Car and Driver (Lagardère would keep the French titles). The deal will make Hearst the second-largest magazine company in the U.S. in terms of circulation, audience and advertising, sur-passing Condé Nast. Adding those titles will boost the company’s market share among major publish-ers to 23 percent from 15 percent, which will be a smidgen behind Time Inc.’s 24 percent and well above Condé Nast’s 17 percent, according to data from the Publishers Information Bureau. They’ll get these titles after a year in which ad pages at Hearst’s monthlies grew by 9.5 percent, outpacing every other publisher in town (although it’s not clear how much Hearst titles discounted — and Hearst still trails total number of ad pages at Condé Nast and Time Inc.). And for a company that has bread-winning yet aggressively unsexy titles like Good Housekeeping, it will now gain a magazine — Elle — that can compete with other rivals’ marquee brand names (another caveat: One source said, however, that Hearst’s challenge with Elle will be to bring its average ad page rate up to that of Harper’s Bazaar, which itself charges less than Vogue).

Nor is this the only deal Hearst has been making lately. In its own quiet way, the publisher has been making small, Web-related acquisitions over the last few years. In June, Hearst bought iCrossing, a digi-tal marketing service agency, for $325 million, and on Monday it revealed a $3 million investment into VillageVines.

Further proof that while other companies are contracting or changing their philosophies on the fl y, Hearst is expanding.

“We had to course-correct far less than anyone else,” said Carey, describing his new home. “We’ve built our company in a very sensible way in both fl ush times and more challenged times. Take my ex-perience with Smart Money way back when.” He was the founding publisher in 1992.

“This was a product that had eight employees at the very beginning and we shared one open bullpen

with one open offi ce. Whenever Norm Pearlstine, [who was at Dow Jones] when he was still involved, would come, [editor] Steve Swartz, who had the of-fi ce, would have to leave so Norm could use it for a while. This is the mode the company has always operated in. It operated that way when I was at the company in ’95 and it operated like that, from what I understand, in 2006 and 2007.”

At that time, Carey was founding publisher of the high-gloss, high-spending Condé Nast Portfolio, which shuttered two years after launch.

In October 2008, Hearst set out its own project to create Food Network Magazine, one other pub-lishing companies at the time held their nose to. But for Hearst, it was a coup, and only a couple of years after it launched, the title is the best-selling food magazine off the newsstand, the third best in selling ads, and its ad pages rose 78 percent in 2010. At a time when magazine executives are saying the words “revenue” and “bottom line” more often than talking about the magic of glossy magazines, Food Network Magazine is a property even its rivals would be proud to own.

It’s also a model that Hearst, having proven it successful, is ready to adopt again. WWD has learned the company will launch a magazine later this year in a joint venture with Scripps for an HGTV Magazine. It will be run the same way as Food Network: soft launch, lots of testing, cautious approach and, if it’s a hit, will be expanded.

The company has also embraced the world of reality TV in a way no other publisher has, with shows such as Marie Claire’s “Running in Heels” on the Style Network; “The Fashion Show,” which partners with Harper’s Bazaar on Bravo, and now it is close to snar-ing Elle, the magazine that essentially kicked off the genre with “Project Runway” (after a long legal battle, Hearst’s Marie Claire now works with the show).

Elle and creative director Joe Zee had a de-cent run more recently on MTV with “The City,” a spin-off of “The Hills.” And now Zee is getting a show of his own, “All on the Line,” on the Sundance Channel, which will make its debut in the spring. The show has been advertised as having Zee show a little tough love to struggling designers who need help salvaging their businesses.

“The world isn’t that siloed anymore,” a former executive at Condé Nast and Hearst said. “Will Oprah or Food Network ever be highbrow? No. But those are viable businesses.”

“A few years ago, when everyone made fun of us, and Condé was the big thing, there was a sense of why not me?” said a Hearst staffer. “Now there is a sense of optimism and that things will change.”

Hearst has had layoffs over the last few years, but they were not nearly as public or gut-wrenching as those at places like Time Inc., Condé Nast or else-where. In fact, the overwhelming sentiment at Hearst is how, despite some cuts, life feels relatively the same.

“I give Cathie credit for leading us through re-ally tough times of recession,” said Ann Shoket, the editor in chief of Seventeen. “Those were crucial decisions that Cathie made to get us through tough times. Heads down. Tight budgets and staffs.…Was very well done there, well managed.”

Not that Condé Nast and Time Inc. are rolling over. Both have new senior management and both are stepping up their own investments in the Web world. While Time Inc. executives declined to com-ment, a Condé Nast spokeswoman said, “Condé Nast continues to be positioned for success, with the highest quality editorial products in print and digi-tal — representing unique value to both our consum-ers and advertisers.”

Still, the long downtrodden feeling that used to permeate the hallways of Hearst as staffers would watch their competitors zoom around Manhattan in Town Cars and order takeaway from Balthazar appears to be diminishing. Hearst employees who spoke to WWD gushed about the recent citrus fes-tival in the cafeteria at the Hearst Tower (“I bought two clementine oranges for 50 cents!” said one) and the recent video campaigns in the elevator that fea-ture editors from Cosmopolitan and Redbook (“It’s so nice! It means the company likes us and is really nice!” said yet another).

“People are defi nitely looking differently at Hearst than they used to,” said one former Condé Nast and Hearst executive. “I don’t think Hearst has felt the sea change in corporate culture. It’s always run very ef-fi ciently and this is the Hearst that they’re used to. If anything, I think there’s a great sense of energy be-cause there’s new management there.”

“After David got here I defi nitely received more résumés from people at Condé Nast and rival ti-tles,” said Joanna Coles, the editor in chief of Marie Claire. “I do think the building helps. Such a steeple on the landscape of New York. And an expression of Hearst power.”

Hearst…Power? It is a topsy-turvy media world indeed.

Take the Elle deal: Observers might interpret it as a vanity play by Hearst — a move, in the Rodney Dangerfi eld method, “to get some respect.” Not so, Hearst executives insist. Sure, it will create better group-buy opportunities given the bundling of Elle, Marie Claire and Harper’s Bazaar. But Hearst wants Elle for a much more important reason: the rights to a portion of its 43 total international editions. That’s where the big revenues are. It’s a numbers game and, for Hearst — and, slowly, the rest of the indus-try — that’s all that matters these days.

Carey sums it up: “For us, prestige is a business with a healthy bottom line.”

David Carey

The company has also embraced the world of reality TV in

Frank Bennack

The redesigned Marie Claire.