Stefano Tonchi

The New York Times has reportedly already spoken to a number of potential candidates to replace T Magazine editor in chief Sally Singer, whose departure was announced Tuesday.

Deborah Needleman, who edits T's chief rival WSJ. Magazine, GQ deputy editor Michael Hainey, and the Times' Styles section editor Stuart Emmrich have been approached about the position, according to WWD. While Hainey and Emmrich have not commented on the job, Needleman gave the impression that she's not leaving any time soon.

"I love my job," Needleman said from a beach in Indiana. "I'm focusing on our Fall-Winter issues right now from the Midwest."

This report follows rumors Wednesday that T's former online director Horacio Silva was also in the running for the position. He's currently the director of content at the marketing communications and entertainment firm ALLDAYEVERYDAY, but before that Silva had been with T for 10 years.

He was reportedly in the running to replace Stefano Tonchi as editor in chief when Tonchi left to take the reins at W Magazine in March 2010. Singer was selected for the position in June 2010, and Silva made his exit in May 2011.

Another former staffer said that Singer's leaving may have something to do with how much money her version of T was — or wasn't — making. "The Times will always look at that magazine as a cash cow, and because it wasn't a cash cow under her, I think they were getting frustrated," the staffer said.

Photo: Horacio Silva at a New York Fashion Week event in February.

>> Just six weeks after Edward Enninful joined W as fashion and style director, his former colleague at Vogue Italia, Lori Goldstein, has joined the magazine as style editor at large. Goldstein has been a free agent for years, and noted that taking a masthead title and “being more of a part of a magazine, which is something I’ve never done, is very exciting to me.”

She continued: “What’s so great about what I’m doing in being style editor at large it’s kind of like I get to encompass everything I love to do. I’ve always been one of those people that goes back and forth in this business in different ways, so I get to really do great fashion stories with Edward and I’m also going to be working with [editor at large] Lynn Hirschberg and bringing fashion into the element of the actors that we shoot and kind of being the thread through all the different areas.”

Goldstein will work exclusively for W and can't work for competitors (ie other American fashion monthlies) but can work for non-direct competitors like Vogue Italia if given approval by W editor Stefano Tonchi. Tonchi said in a statement: “I have an incredible amount of respect for Lori, and admire her imagination and impeccable taste. Even on a freelance basis, Lori has been an integral part of the new W. She has styled some of our best covers, including Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling, Mia Wasikowska, and January Jones. Given the recent expansion of W’s fashion team, I thought it was the perfect moment in time to formalize this relationship."

With Goldstein now in the W fold, is it possible that her frequent collaborator Steven Meisel might also become a regular contributor to the magazine? “We will see,” she replied coyly.

>> T's online director Horacio Silva, who has been working at the New York Times's fashion magazines for just over ten years now, has stepped down. "It's no secret I've been toying with the idea," he said. Silva was reportedly vying to replace Stefano Tonchi as T editor a year ago, a position which eventually went to Sally Singer. Silva noticeably doesn't mention Singer when saying he's grateful for the people he's worked with: "I have had the privilege of working with some amazing people, including three of the best editors T has gone through. Amy Spindler, Stefano Tonchi, and Andy Port." As for Silva's future plans, he says he has a number of brand clients lined up for consulting work. "It's an interesting time right now as the lines between editorial and advertising are becoming more and more nebulous, it'll be interesting to be in the forefront there," he explained. "I've also been threatening to write a book for some time." [The Cut]

>> W fashion and style director Alex White, one of the last vestiges of the old guard at the magazine, is to be replaced by Edward Enninful, effective May 1. White, who held the position for 16 years, decided to step down to pursue a range of fashion and lifestyle projects in both digital and social media.

According to W editor Stefano Tonchi, the decision for White to leave was mutual: “Alex is a fantastic stylist and has done incredible work over the years. Everyone at W is grateful to Alex for creating such memorable fashion portfolios, and for the significant mark she has left on the magazine . . . She’s thinking very much about her own brand — the Alex White brand — and at a certain point that’s no longer what W is about.”

White agreed that they were "totally on the same page": “My 16 years at W have been thrilling. I’ve worked with wildly talented people and helped produce a gorgeous magazine. I was delighted to stay and help Stefano through his first, transitional year, and am looking forward new beginnings . . . I helped with getting over the hump. Now it’s time for me to continue my freelance and explore the other things I’m working on, including digital projects." Tonchi indicated that White is thinking about starting her own magazine, possibly online. White had recently been experimenting with her own column online, Alex White Edits, on W's website.

Tonchi and Enninful, meanwhile, hit it off while seated next to each other at a Balenciaga dinner during Paris Fashion Week a couple of months ago, Tonchi says: “I didn’t really think about hiring him, I just thought he was incredibly joyful.” They began discussing a job at W earlier this month and moved quickly from there.

"This is the beginning of a new era at W, and I couldn’t be more delighted to be a part of it,” said Enninful. And Tonchi added: "I'm thrilled that Edward is joining our team, and am confident that he will bring a great deal of creativity, professionalism, and industry knowledge with him."

Enninful, who has been a contributing fashion editor at Vogue since 2005 and at Vogue Italia since 1998, is ending those engagements. “Now I’m going to be focusing my editorial prowess on W,” he explained. “Whenever a relationship ends it’s very sad."

>> Stefano Tonchi's take on W has received its share of mixed reactions, but the magazine's March 2011 issue had newsstand sales of 28,000 copies, up 5.4 percent from last March (the same month Tonchi was named W editor), and it received more nominations than any other fashion magazine this morning for the 2011 National Magazine Awards, announced by the American Society of Magazine Editors. Tonchi's first three issues —  September, October, and November 2010 — are up for the Photography prize (notably the three issues Jody Quon worked on as creative director before she left the magazine); Tim Walker's fashion portfolio “The East Enders,” which ran in the September 2010 W relaunch, is up in the Feature Photography category; and W is also nominated alongside Vogue (that magazine's sole nod) in the Fashion, Service and Lifestyle “women’s interest” category. [WWD]