January 23, 2011

JAY FIELDEN'S TOWN&COUNTRY

I have often written about my love of magazines here at My Dog-Eared Pages. In fact, the name of this blog reflects my lifelong love of dog-earing many of my favorite issues—a practice that started early in life. I am passionate about Town&Country magazine, both as a reader and as an advertiser. Founded in 1846, it's the longest continually running lifestyle magazine in the country. Town&Country has successfully positioned itself as a leader in many advertising + editorial categories including travel, entertaining, home design, fashion, beauty, bridal, social/cultural. It was big news last spring, when it was announced that Stephen Drucker {who was doing a wonderful job at House Beautiful} would replace Pamela Fiori as Town&Country's new editor-in-chief. There was a lot to be tackled by Drucker in an attempt to find an expanded voice and audience for the brand {written about here in The New York Times}. David Lipman founder of the advertising and branding agency LIPMAN, was brought on to oversee the visual direction of the magazine.
  Images courtesy, Town&Country Media Kit 
The February issue, which is on the newsstand now... is the first installment of the Drucker/Lipman vision for T&C. But, just as the issue hit my mailbox this week, there was more big news. David Carey, president of Hearst Magazines announced Stephen Drucker's abrupt departure and the appointment of Jay Fielden as the new editor-in-chief. My sources tell me that upon returning from holiday, Drucker announced he was leaving. Apparently, the entire staff was invited to the Hearst tower for a friendly champagne toast with Drucker and Fielden. The T&C team sounds extremely excited that Fielden has joined Hearst, and also happy with Drucker's final work on the March Fashion Issue, which hits newsstands on February 15th. 
A Condé Nast alum, Jay Fielden was editor of Men's Vogue, contributing editor at Vogue, associate editor at The New Yorker, and most recently worked with Vogue creative director, Grace Coddington on her memoir. Jay is comfortable moving within elite fashion and social circles, and this will bode well for the 165 year-old brand. "I hope to modernize the magazine's tradition of great photography, excellent service, stylish writing, and make it indispensable to readers everywhere drawn to the well-lived, well-informed life," said Fielden.
Hachette/Lagardere's {now Hearst} September Elle Décor, featured the 1960's midcentury-modern glass house in Weston, Connecticut that Fielden lives in with his wife Yvonne and their three children. The Fielden's hired Jesse Carrier {who designed Jay's office at Men's Vogue} and his wife Mara Miller to turn their glass house into a functioning home. To follow are photos of the house by William Waldron, courtesy of Elle Décor. The architect, James Evan studied at Yale under Louis Kahn. I think Fielden is drawn to the very well-lived, well-informed life he talks about, and might possibly be the perfect editor for Town&Country.
 
I certainly wish Jay the best and look forward to many wonderful issues of Town&Country! Fielden house images courtesy Elle Décor, photography by William Waldron Grace Coddington + Jay Fielden podcast courtesy, NYPL

8 comments:

  1. This sure looks like a good fit! I love T&C but it's always felt a bit high & mighty & out of my reach. Hopefully Mr. Fielden will keep the bar set high but not too high...No one likes snooty business.
    I just hope T&C stays young & beautiful like the Fieldens. That's what I think will make it such a wonderful read.
    Thanks Barb for a great post & keeping us in the know!
    xo Lisa

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  2. Hi LPC! I think it will be a good fit. His experience fits within the editorial sphere of classic T&C, and the staff feels as though he will do great things ; ). ox

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  3. Hi, Barbara -- yeah, I remember Jay from his Men's Vogue days. I always liked his introductory editorials and was genuinely bummed when that mag was shuttered. (as someone that has been around online publishing for, well, yikes, since 1995, I have a serious habit of reading all of the well-designed and well-staffed (and yes, sometimes, beautifully photographed!) titles. nice post! visually pleasing as usual ...

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  4. Thank you Jg., I am still waiting for your No.3 film! Have a lovely {warm} LA evening. It's 7 degrees here! ; )

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  5. Terrific informative interesting post. I was so surprised about Drucker's departure - but hopefully he's off to do something fabulous that we can all benefit from. Everyone seems positive about Fielden - I just hope T&C, one of my all time favorites, remains the wonderful aspirational and inspirational publication it's always been and doesn't try and go the young and the restless route - there's already enough out there for them. Love his stylish house of course!

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  6. Hi Q! I agree about the young + restless route. I think Hearst is extremely particular about protecting the core brand position of T&C. Let's hope!

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  7. Change seems to be sort of the fashionable rigeur.
    What an entourage of talent there is....more than enough to share and shed some light on already a venerable magazine.
    pve

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