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Stefano Tonchi

Stefano Tonchi on W Creative Director Jody Quon's Exit
W Magazine

Stefano Tonchi on W Creative Director Jody Quon's Exit

>> W is not looking to fill the creative director position that creative director Jody Quon left empty after only three full issues and six months at the magazine.
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>> W is not looking to fill the creative director position that creative director Jody Quon left empty after only three full issues and six months at the magazine. While Quon couldn't be reached for comment, editor Stefano Tonchi shed some light on why Quon might have exited her position: "I really came back 10 days ago [from the fashion shows in Europe] and there was a lot of tension in the office, much more than before."

He added that he was "very sad, very sad" to see her go, and that Quon's reasons for leaving were "very much that she didn't feel comfortable anymore and kind of agreed that it was maybe not the best match." When asked to elaborate on whether the tension resulted from a culture clash or a personality clash, Tonchi said he couldn't speak for Quon, but surmised: "Probably both." He continued: "From my side, I was very happy with what she has done with the magazine, and I appreciate her professionally, and, more than that, her elegance . . . I respect her decision. I accepted it."

As The Daily points out, "Quon had to contend with Baron & Baron wunderkind Joseph Logan, a skilled design director who appears to favor the austere aesthetic pioneered by Fabien Baron. (He's bringing on a new art director from Baron & Baron in the next few weeks to replace Nathalie Kirsheh, who recently decamped to Details.) And the third party to consider: fashion director Alex White, whose relationships with photographers like Mert & Marcus and Inez & Vinoodh are a valuable asset that Tonchi doesn't take lightly. Widely considered to be among the best stylists in the business, White is not known to take a backseat role in creative decision-making."

W Creative Director Jody Quon Has Exited the Magazine After Three Full Issues
W Magazine

W Creative Director Jody Quon Has Exited the Magazine After Three Full Issues

>> W's new creative director Jody Quon has resigned after three full issues and six months at the magazine.
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>> W's new creative director Jody Quon has resigned after three full issues and six months at the magazine. "It was a mutual decision, and her position won't be filled," confirmed a W spokesperson. Quon's exit leaves design director Joseph Logan as editor Stefano Tonchi's top creative. "Everyone's position will be staying the same," the spokesperson added. Previously, Quon spent six years as New York's photo director, where she was known for her eye-catching covers with newsstand appeal; as The Daily noted, all four of Tonchi's covers so far have been served up on gray backgrounds. [DFR]

Photos of Anna Dello Russo by Juergen Teller in W November 2010
W Magazine

Juergen Teller Captures Anna Dello Russo, Who Has 4,000 Pairs of Shoes, For W's November 2010 Issue

>> Anna Dello Russo's appearance in the November 2010 issue of W likely explains why she was spotted at the magazine's offices in July — which at the time spurred rumors that she might be joining Stefano Tonchi's team.
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>> Anna Dello Russo's appearance in the November 2010 issue of W likely explains why she was spotted at the magazine's offices in July — which at the time spurred rumors that she might be joining Stefano Tonchi's team. The 47-year-old street style star is captured by Juergen Teller in a six-page spread at her Milan home, which consists of two adjacent one-bedroom apartments, one for Dello Russo and one for her clothes. The latter includes a green marble bathroom: "You never know when the clothes might need a bath," Dello Russo quips.

Dello Russo's devotion to clothing goes without saying: she has 4,000 pairs of shoes and 250 black tuxedo jackets. Her first major shopping spree was at 13; she bought a Fendi handbag, umbrella, tissue holder, wallet, and key chain that she wore all together. "It never rains in Bari [where Dello Russo grew up], so my friends asked, 'What are you doing with the umbrella?'" she recalled. "And I said, 'How should I know? It's part of the look!'"

In high school, she once wore a pair of yellow shoes that her cat had used as a litter box the night before — they were part of her all-yellow planned outfit, so she just rinsed them out. "But it got hot in the classroom, and there was this terrible stink of cat pee," she remembers. "I had to confess because I didn't want anyone thinking I had peed in my pants. They all screamed, 'Couldn't you have changed your shoes?'"

Her attitude hasn't changed with age. Now, at the end of every season, Dello Russo clears everything out of her closet (except the furs, which apparently don't have expiration dates in her mind) to make way for new things. "I hate vintage clothes," she tells W, referring even to last year's Prada. "I love the smell of a new store, not an old dress."

As seriously as she takes her dressing, Dello Russo is self-deprecating. She recently told The Daily Beast about combining a Vogue Nippon photo shoot of Alessandra Ambrosio with one of herself for Ten: "There is this beautiful young thing [Ambrosio]. And then me in some of the same clothes. And in my pictures I look like transvestite. Why not?"

And she has had to make sacrifices for the sake of her clothes. "I had to choose between a kitchen and more closets, so I took the closets," Dello Russo says, as W observes her kitchen, described as "the size of a drinks cabinet" with "fingerprint-less cupboards" revealing only sunflower seeds and San Pellegrino. "Anna would eat clothes if she could," says Sophie Djerlal, a colleague from Dello Russo's days at Vogue Italia in the '90s.

She also chose clothes over her former husband, whom she wed in 1996 in a dress with a 60-foot train designed by his best man, Stefano Gabbana. "It barely lasted," Dello Russo said of the marriage. "He said, 'Isn't there some closet space for me?' And I said, 'No.'" She told The Daily Beast that she opted for a black Balenciaga two-piece on the day of her divorce. "Because I was feeling really, really desperate. Balenciaga, Balenciaga! The perfect divorce outfit. Perfect! I looked like the sad, grieving, [widow]. At that time I was not laughing at all. Now? I am laughing every day. Each day is filled with laughter."

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Kim Kardashian Is On W's November 2010 Cover
W Magazine

Kim Kardashian Is On W's November 2010 Cover

>> Stefano Tonchi said last month: "I want W to be a little divisive and unexpected."
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>> Stefano Tonchi said last month: "I want W to be a little divisive and unexpected." Mission accomplished with the magazine's November 2010 cover, which Tonchi teased as "someone very different from what you expect for the magazine. November is the art cover, so we collaborated with an artist, and we have a great reality TV person!"  The aforementioned Art Issue's cover is out, featuring Kim Kardashian photographed by Mark Seliger and with Barbara Kruger the artist collaborator. What's in store from Tonchi's camp next? "December is a very special 'family issue,' with kids!" the editor said. [W Magazine]

Lindsey Wixson Has Photographers Fawning Over Her
W Magazine

Lindsey Wixson Has Photographers Fawning Over Her

>> Stefano Tonchi dedicated an entire two page spread in the September issue of W to one extra large picture of Lindsey Wixson's lips, captured by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott.
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>> Stefano Tonchi dedicated an entire two page spread in the September issue of W to one extra large picture of Lindsey Wixson's lips, captured by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott. As it happens, those two are not the only photographers enamored with Wixson's gap teeth and Clara Bow lips:  photographer Gabrielle Revere, who shadowed Wixson through last season's castings, fittings, and runway shows for a Life portfolio, is back with an exhibit of Wixson images, "I Remain, You Desire," at Sotheby's in Manhattan from Sept. 1 through 21. "She was just so stunning, and different than all the other girls," Revere said of meeting Wixson. "She's got something, she's got that thing that defines people." A selection of the series of images can be seen below.

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A Peek at the Fashion Spreads Inside W's September 2010 Issue
W Magazine

A Peek at the Fashion Spreads Inside W's September 2010 Issue

>> W's publisher Nina Lawrence introduced the latest iteration of the magazine — under Stefano Tonchi's guidance — as one with more international slant, a magazine "younger and more sophisticated as far as voice."
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>> W's publisher Nina Lawrence introduced the latest iteration of the magazine — under Stefano Tonchi's guidance — as one with more international slant, a magazine "younger and more sophisticated as far as voice."

In addition to a plethora of ads — Tonchi has to prove he can sell the magazine, after all — the issue includes a closeup of Lindsey Wixson's lips; a story exploring designers suddenly liking curves, because, according to Tonchi "it is not really true — [the designers] just love women with breasts"; a spread with Georgia May Jagger; a portfolio Tim Walker submitted of young people from his neighborhood in East London; and a profile of Riccardo Tisci.

The issue hits newsstands nationally on Aug. 24, and the magazine's website is getting a "facelift" the first week of September. Because the magazine is procured with a global outlook, there are no international editions in its future, a la Vogue, according to Lawrence, but there could be regional sections for Italy, France, and the like (assuming all goes well).

Tonchi said the October cover was shot last Saturday, but no further hints were given . . . although Lynn Hirschberg, who has a hand in the cover choices, according to Lawrence, did say that they are trying to get away from the uniformity and sameness of cover choices — "although we may end up in that arena [eventually], it's nice to be in the newness, to register in a different way [for now]."

A peek at two of the spreads in the September 2010 issue in the gallery below.

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First Look: Stefano Tonchi's September 2010 W
W Magazine

First Look: Stefano Tonchi's September 2010 W

>> Stefano Tonchi's W revamp involves a new italic logo; a new tagline — "it’s not just women’s fashion, but the world of style and, more exactly, our five Ws: the who, the what, the where, the when and the why in the world of style"; and a new direction — "It’s more about fashion in the context of contemporary culture."
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>> Stefano Tonchi's W revamp involves a new italic logo; a new tagline — "it’s not just women’s fashion, but the world of style and, more exactly, our five Ws: the who, the what, the where, the when and the why in the world of style"; and a new direction — "It’s more about fashion in the context of contemporary culture."

The September 2010 issue, which gives a first look at Tonchi's front to back W makeover, features up-and-coming actresses Kat Dennings (Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, Kenneth Branagh's upcoming Thor), Jessica Chastain (Terrence Malick's upcoming The Tree of Life), Yaya DaCosta (The Kids Are All Right, Tron: Legacy), Greta Gerwig (Greenberg), Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World), Jennifer Lawrence (Winter's Bone, the upcoming X-Men: First Class), Emma Roberts, and Zoe Kravitz in three triple-page foldout covers, which according to Tonchi the magazine has never done before, photographed by Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin. The main cover headline reads "Great Expectations" because Tonchi "wanted to have some self-irony, because there are so many expectations about what this W will be," and Lynn Hirschberg's name is listed on the cover because Tonchi "want[s] to put writers’ names on the cover. The content — the writers — are going to have a strong place in the magazine."

What's inside? »

W Magazine

>> W Filming September Issue Documentary —Don't expect another The September Issue out of it, but W has had cameras around its offices, filming a documentary on the making of its September 2010 issue (which also happens to be Stefano Tonchi's first full issue as editor).
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>> W Filming September Issue Documentary —Don't expect another The September Issue out of it, but W has had cameras around its offices, filming a documentary on the making of its September 2010 issue (which also happens to be Stefano Tonchi's first full issue as editor). The September cover is said to feature a group of young Hollywood starlets and relative unknowns, among them Emma Roberts, Zoe Kravitz, and Jennifer Lawrence (star of 2010 Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner Winter's Bone), and the film will be for Internet only, according to a W spokeswoman. It's set to launch sometime in late October on the W website. [The Cut, The Cut]

A Look at Stefano Tonchi's First W Cover — For August 2010; Plus, September Issue Cover Choices
Harper's Bazaar

A Look at Stefano Tonchi's First W Cover — For August 2010; Plus, September Issue Cover Choices

>> Although Stefano's Tonchi first full front-to-back issue of W doesn't come out until September, the magazine's August 2010 cover brings a first look at what's to come.
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>> Although Stefano's Tonchi first full front-to-back issue of W doesn't come out until September, the magazine's August 2010 cover brings a first look at what's to come. Tonchi has brought his taste for featuring lesser-known actors and actresses to W — his first cover features Mad Men's Jon Hamm and Rebecca Hall (who costars with Hamm in Ben Affleck's upcoming crime drama The Town), shot by lesser-known photographer Nathaniel Goldberg (the W of yesteryear largely featured cover photos by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott, Steven Klein, and their ilk).

What does September bring? »