Women's Wear Daily
Encyclopedia
Women's Wear Daily is a fashion
-industry trade journal
sometimes called "the bible
of fashion." WWD delivers information and intelligence on changing trends and breaking news in the fashion, beauty and retail industries with a readership composed largely of retailers, designers, manufacturers, marketers, financiers, media executives, advertising agencies, socialites and trend makers. It is the flagship journal of Fairchild Publications, Inc.
As of
March 6, 2000, WWD's circulation
was 30,000 copies.
journal Daily News Record
.
Though WWD's reporters were assigned to the last row of the 1955 couture
shows—a sign of the newspaper's low stature—the paper rose to prominence in the 1950s and 1960s. John Fairchild
, who became the European bureau chief of Fairchild Publications in 1955 and the publisher of WWD in 1960, improved WWD's standing by focusing on the human side of fashion. He turned his newspaper's attention to the social scene of fashion designers and their clients, and helped manufacture a "cult of celebrity" around designers. Fairchild also played hardball to help his circulation. After two couturiers forbade press coverage until one month after buyers had seen their clothes, Fairchild published photos and sketches anyway. He even sent reporters to fashion houses disguised as messengers, or had them observe designers' new styles from windows of buildings opposite fashion houses. "I have learned in fashion to be a little savage," he wrote in his memoir. John Fairchild was publisher of the magazine from 1960 to 1996.
Under Fairchild, the company's feuds were also legendary. When a designer's statements or work offended Fairchild, he would retaliate, sometimes banning any reference to them in his newspaper for years at a stretch. The newspaper famously sparred with Hubert de Givenchy
, Cristobal Balenciaga
, John Weitz, Azzedine Alaia
, Perry Ellis
, Yves Saint Laurent, Giorgio Armani
, Bill Blass
, Geoffrey Beene
(four times- the first over Lynda Bird Johnson's White House wedding dress design, which Geoffrey promised to keep secret until the wedding day, and later over the size of an ad in another of Fairchild's publications, Beene's allowing a rival publication to photograph his home, and a WWD reporter Geoffrey did not like), James Galanos
, Mollie Parnis, Oscar de la Renta
, and Norman Norell
(who was demoted from "Fashion Great" to "Old Master" in the journal's pages), among others. In response, some designers forbade their representatives from speaking to WWD reporters or disinvited WWD reporters from their fashion show
s. In general, though, those excluded "kept their mouths shut and [took] it on the chin." When designer Pauline Trigere
, who had been excluded from the paper for three years, took out a full-page advertisement protesting the ban in the fashion section of a 1988 New York Times Magazine, it was believed to be the first widely distributed counterattack on Fairchild's policy.
In 1999, Fairchild Publications was sold by the Walt Disney Company to Advance Publications
, the parent company
of Condé Nast Publications
. Now Fairchild Publications is a unit of Condé Nast, though WWD is technically operated separately from Condé Nast's consumer publications such as Vogue
and Glamour
.
In November 2010 WWD celebrated its 100th anniversary at the Cipriani in New York, with some of the fashion industries leading experts including designers Alber Elbaz, Ralph Lauren, Marc Jacobs and Michael Kors.
Illustrators: Kenneth Paul Block mid-1950s to 1992, Catherine Clayton Purnell 1969-1989 and American artist/fashion illustrator Joel Resnicoff
.
Fashion design
Fashion design is the art of the application of design and aesthetics or natural beauty to clothing and accessories. Fashion design is influenced by cultural and social latitudes, and has varied over time and place. Fashion designers work in a number of ways in designing clothing and accessories....
-industry trade journal
Trade journal
A trade magazine, also called a professional magazine, is a magazine published with the intention of target marketing to a specific industry or type of trade. The collective term for this area of publishing is the trade press....
sometimes called "the bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
of fashion." WWD delivers information and intelligence on changing trends and breaking news in the fashion, beauty and retail industries with a readership composed largely of retailers, designers, manufacturers, marketers, financiers, media executives, advertising agencies, socialites and trend makers. It is the flagship journal of Fairchild Publications, Inc.
Fairchild Publications, Inc.
Fairchild Fashion Group is a publishing company headquartered in New York City that was formed in 1892 when a peddler by the name of Edmund Fairchild took over a failing newspaper that gave exclusive coverage to the Men's Clothing business. It was eventually named the Daily News Record, and...
As of
March 6, 2000, WWD's circulation
Newspaper circulation
A newspaper's circulation is the number of copies it distributes on an average day. Circulation is one of the principal factors used to set advertising rates. Circulation is not always the same as copies sold, often called paid circulation, since some newspapers are distributed without cost to the...
was 30,000 copies.
History
The journal was founded by Edmund Fairchild on July 13, 1910, as an outgrowth of the menswearFashion
Fashion, a general term for a currently popular style or practice, especially in clothing, foot wear, or accessories. Fashion references to anything that is the current trend in look and dress up of a person...
journal Daily News Record
Daily News Record
Daily News Record was an American fashion trade journal published by Fairchild Publications, Inc.. DNR started in 1890 when Edmund Fairchild used the wealth he had accumulated selling soap to purchase the Chicago Herald Gazette, a newspaper which focused on the men’s clothing business...
.
Though WWD's reporters were assigned to the last row of the 1955 couture
Haute couture
Haute couture refers to the creation of exclusive custom-fitted clothing. Haute couture is made to order for a specific customer, and it is usually made from high-quality, expensive fabric and sewn with extreme attention to detail and finished by the most experienced and capable seamstresses,...
shows—a sign of the newspaper's low stature—the paper rose to prominence in the 1950s and 1960s. John Fairchild
John Fairchild
John Fairchild is a retired American basketball player.Fairchild played high school basketball at San Dieguito High School in Encinitas, CA and college basketball at Brigham Young University....
, who became the European bureau chief of Fairchild Publications in 1955 and the publisher of WWD in 1960, improved WWD's standing by focusing on the human side of fashion. He turned his newspaper's attention to the social scene of fashion designers and their clients, and helped manufacture a "cult of celebrity" around designers. Fairchild also played hardball to help his circulation. After two couturiers forbade press coverage until one month after buyers had seen their clothes, Fairchild published photos and sketches anyway. He even sent reporters to fashion houses disguised as messengers, or had them observe designers' new styles from windows of buildings opposite fashion houses. "I have learned in fashion to be a little savage," he wrote in his memoir. John Fairchild was publisher of the magazine from 1960 to 1996.
Under Fairchild, the company's feuds were also legendary. When a designer's statements or work offended Fairchild, he would retaliate, sometimes banning any reference to them in his newspaper for years at a stretch. The newspaper famously sparred with Hubert de Givenchy
Hubert de Givenchy
Count Hubert James Marcel Taffin de Givenchy is a French aristocrat and fashion designer who founded The House of Givenchy in 1952. He is famous for having designed much of the personal and professional wardrobe of Audrey Hepburn, as well as clothing for clients such as Jacqueline Kennedy...
, Cristobal Balenciaga
Cristóbal Balenciaga
Cristóbal Balenciaga Eizaguirre was a Spanish Basque fashion designer and the founder of the Balenciaga fashion house....
, John Weitz, Azzedine Alaia
Azzedine Alaia
Azzedine Alaïa is a Tunisian-born couturier and shoe designer, particularly successful since the 1980s.-Biography:Alaïa was born in Siliana, Tunisia on 7 June 1940. His parents were wheat farmers but his glamorous twin sister inspired his love for couture. A French friend of his mother fed Alaïa's...
, Perry Ellis
Perry Ellis
Perry Ellis was an American fashion designer who founded a sportswear house in the mid-1970s.-The rise of Perry Ellis:...
, Yves Saint Laurent, Giorgio Armani
Giorgio Armani
Giorgio Armani is an Italian fashion designer, particularly noted for his menswear. He is known today for his clean, tailored lines. He formed his company, Armani, in 1975, and by 2001 was acclaimed as the most successful designer to come out of Italy, with an annual turnover of $1.6 billion and a...
, Bill Blass
Bill Blass
William Ralph "Bill" Blass was an American fashion designer, born in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He is known for his tailoring and his innovative combinations of textures and patterns...
, Geoffrey Beene
Geoffrey Beene
Geoffrey Beene was an American fashion designer.Beene was born in Haynesville, Louisiana. He studied medicine at Tulane University, but dropped out in 1946, after three years. He moved to New York in 1947 to attend the Traphagen School of Fashion...
(four times- the first over Lynda Bird Johnson's White House wedding dress design, which Geoffrey promised to keep secret until the wedding day, and later over the size of an ad in another of Fairchild's publications, Beene's allowing a rival publication to photograph his home, and a WWD reporter Geoffrey did not like), James Galanos
James Galanos
James Galanos is an American fashion designer, widely considered to be one the world's foremost 20th century couturiers.-Early life:James Galanos was born September 20, 1924 in a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the only son of Greek-born parents...
, Mollie Parnis, Oscar de la Renta
Oscar de la Renta
Oscar de la Renta is one of the world's leading fashion designers. He was named to the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame in 1973.-Career:...
, and Norman Norell
Norman Norell
Norman Norell was an American fashion designer, known for his elegant suits and tailored silhouettes....
(who was demoted from "Fashion Great" to "Old Master" in the journal's pages), among others. In response, some designers forbade their representatives from speaking to WWD reporters or disinvited WWD reporters from their fashion show
Fashion show
A fashion show is an event put on by a fashion designer to showcase his or her upcoming line of clothing during Fashion Week. Fashion shows debut every season, particularly the Spring/Summer and Fall/Winter seasons. This is where the latest fashion trends are made...
s. In general, though, those excluded "kept their mouths shut and [took] it on the chin." When designer Pauline Trigere
Pauline Trigère
Pauline Trigère was a French-born American fashion designer, known for her crisp, tailored cuts and innovative ideas.The daughter of a tailor, Trigère was able to operate a sewing machine by age 10 and often assisted her dressmaker mother. Shortly after leaving school, Pauline was employed as a...
, who had been excluded from the paper for three years, took out a full-page advertisement protesting the ban in the fashion section of a 1988 New York Times Magazine, it was believed to be the first widely distributed counterattack on Fairchild's policy.
In 1999, Fairchild Publications was sold by the Walt Disney Company to Advance Publications
Advance Publications
Advance Publications, Inc., is an American media company owned by the descendants of S.I. Newhouse Sr., Donald Newhouse and S.I. Newhouse, Jr. It is named after the Staten Island Advance, the first newspaper owned by the Newhouse family...
, the parent company
Parent company
A parent company is a company that owns enough voting stock in another firm to control management and operations by influencing or electing its board of directors; the second company being deemed as a subsidiary of the parent company...
of Condé Nast Publications
Condé Nast Publications
Condé Nast, a division of Advance Publications, is a magazine publisher. In the U.S., it produces 18 consumer magazines, including Architectural Digest, Bon Appétit, GQ, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, and Vogue, as well as four business-to-business publications, 27 websites, and more than 50 apps...
. Now Fairchild Publications is a unit of Condé Nast, though WWD is technically operated separately from Condé Nast's consumer publications such as Vogue
Vogue (magazine)
Vogue is a fashion and lifestyle magazine that is published monthly in 18 national and one regional edition by Condé Nast.-History:In 1892 Arthur Turnure founded Vogue as a weekly publication in the United States. When he died in 1909, Condé Montrose Nast picked up the magazine and slowly began...
and Glamour
Glamour (magazine)
Glamour is a women's magazine published by Condé Nast Publications. Founded in 1939 in the United States, it was originally called Glamour of Hollywood....
.
In November 2010 WWD celebrated its 100th anniversary at the Cipriani in New York, with some of the fashion industries leading experts including designers Alber Elbaz, Ralph Lauren, Marc Jacobs and Michael Kors.
Past and Current Staff
WWD's publisher is Ralph Erardy, Sr., and its editor-in-chief is Edward Nardoza.Illustrators: Kenneth Paul Block mid-1950s to 1992, Catherine Clayton Purnell 1969-1989 and American artist/fashion illustrator Joel Resnicoff
Joel Resnicoff
Joel Hirsch Resnicoff was an American artist and fashion illustrator, who incorporated expressionistic art into commercial fashion illustrations, stating his belief that "commercial art is the art of the century." His work did not fit easily into any one category, and "the figures in his...
.