Vanity Fair France launches new look, new commercial formula backed by Google investment fund

By

Tanissia Issad

Translated by
Nicola Mira

Published
Mar 26, 2019

It's time for a makeover at Vanity Fair France. Since the end of January, the magazine published by Condé Nast France has had a new editorial director for the web and print editions, Joseph Ghosn, who replaced Anne Boulay, editor-in-chief since the US magazine’s French version's first issue in 2013. Michel Denisot, editorial director until the arrival of the former Grazia director, is now an editorial adviser. As well as a new leadership team, Vanity Fair France also introduced a new graphic look with the issue published on March 22, featuring artist Lou Doillon on the cover.

The graphic design of the magazine’s issue number 67, dated April 2019, is the work of Parisian agency Yorgo & Co., among whose other clients are Libération, Madame Figaro, fashion label Maison Kitsuné, the Galeries Lafayette department store and Condé Nast France’s GQ men’s magazine.

Besides the graphics make-over, Vanity Fair France announced it is now backed by Google’s DNI (Digital News Innovation) investment fund, a European organisation created  to support innovative journalism projects. In March 2019, Google allocated €6.4 million through DNI to 21 French newspapers and magazines, among them Konbini; Têtu; Courrier International; Challenges; L’Equipe and Le Figaro, and will back Vanity Far France’s ‘Tablit’ project, a digital solution devised to facilitate the reading of long-form journalism. The project also has a commercial side, involving a different type of online subscription. Vanity Fair France’s website, which is currently freely accessible, will charge users depending on what they read, a way of funding the magazine that is different from the classic advertisement or subscription-based models.

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In 2018, the total circulation of Vanity Fair France dropped by 19.8%, from 89,591 to 72,976 copies. The magazine’s website instead recorded an audience of 1,597,804 unique visitors in February 2019, down 16.5% compared to the same period the previous year.