Women’s Wear Daily

''Women's Wear Daily'' (also known as ''WWD'') is a fashion-industry trade journal often referred to as the "Bible of fashion". Horyn, Cathy
"Breaking Fashion News With a Provocative Edge"
''The New York Times''. (August 20, 1999). It provides information and intelligence on changing trends and breaking news in the men's and women's fashion, beauty, and retail industries. Its readership is made up largely of retailers, designers, manufacturers, marketers, financiers, media executives, advertising agencies, socialites, and trend makers.

''WWD'' is the flagship publication of Fairchild Media, which is owned by Penske Media Corporation.Rothenberg, Randall
"From Pauline Trigere, a Dressing Down"
''The New York Times''. (August 17, 1988). In April 2015, the paper switched from a daily print format to a weekly print format, accompanied by a daily digital edition. In 2017, it announced it would ramp up its focus on digital, reducing its regular print schedule further and opting instead to publish print issues only during fashion weeks and certain other events.

History

Founding and John Fairchild

''WWD'' was founded by Edmund Fairchild on July 13, 1910, as an outgrowth of the menswear journal '' Daily News Record''.Trager, James. ''The New York Chronology: A Compendium of Events, People, and Anecdotes from the Dutch to the Present.'' HarperCollins (2003)
p325
. . The publication quickly acquired a firm standing in the New York clothing industry, due to the influence of its first advertisers. Edith Rosenbaum Russell served as ''Women's Wear Daily'' first Paris correspondent. Reporters for the publication were sometimes assigned to the last row of couture shows, but the publication gained popularity by the late 1950s.

John B. Fairchild, who became the European bureau chief of Fairchild Publications in 1955 and the publisher of ''WWD'' in 1960, improved ''WWD'' 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.Fairchild, John. ''The Fashionable Savages''. Doubleday (1965). (Cited in Gross, Michael
"Women's Wear Daily and Feuds in Fashion"
''The New York Times''. (May 8, 1987).) 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, Cristóbal Balenciaga, Gross, Michael
"Women's Wear Daily and Feuds in Fashion"
''The New York Times''. (May 8, 1987). 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 Beene 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 Beene 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 disinviting ''WWD'' reporters from their fashion shows. In general, though, those excluded "kept their mouths shut and ookit on the chin." When designer Pauline Trigère, 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.

1999 to 2013: Condé Nast Publications

In 1999, Fairchild Publications was sold by the Walt Disney Company to Advance Publications, the parent company of Condé Nast Publications. As a result, Fairchild Publications became a unit of Condé Nast,Hoover's In-Depth Company Records. "Fairchild Publications, Inc." March 21, 2007. though ''WWD'' was technically operated separately from Condé Nast's consumer publications such as ''Vogue'' and '' Glamour''.MacIntosh, Jeane. "Will WWD Play It Straight for SI?". ''New York Post''. (Feb. 7, 2000).

In November 2010, ''WWD'' celebrated its 100th anniversary at the Cipriani in New York, with some of the fashion industry's leading experts including designers Alber Elbaz, Ralph Lauren, Marc Jacobs and Michael Kors.

2014 to present: Penske Media Corporation

On August 19, 2014, Conde Nast sold ''Women's Wear Daily'' to Penske Media Corporation (PMC). The purchase by PMC included ''WWD'' sister publications ''Footwear News'', ''Menswear'', ''M Magazine'', and ''Beauty Inc'' as well as Fairchild's events business for a sale price close to $100 million.

On April 12, 2015, ''WWD'' announced on their website that they would launch a weekly print format from April 23 on. A daily digital edition of ''WWD'' is also available to subscribers.

On July 20, 2015, Penske Media Corporation (PMC) and Tribune Publishing Company announced that ''WWD'' would appear on "LATimes.com" and would also be distributed to select ''Los Angeles Times'', ''The San Diego Union-Tribune'', ''Chicago Tribune'' and ''Sun Sentinel'' subscribers 12 times per year.

References

Further reading

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Fashion magazines published in the United States
Magazines established in 1910
Magazines formerly owned by Condé Nast
Penske Media Corporation
Magazines published in New York City
Professional and trade magazines published in the United States