20.07.05
First up today is a meeting for my fashion director Oonagh and me
with our CEO Duncan Edwards, to talk him through our new fashion
section. From the October issue we’re adding a new 28-page fashion
section called Shop! It’s in addition to our 16 pages of fashion and
will be themed each month.
This month’s is all about new season trends, so we have an
interesting discussion with Duncan about whether men will “get” the
puffball skirt trend or shoe boots. (I’m assured by him that neither
will be a big hit with the male population.)n Lunch today with my
first-ever boss Vicky Mayer who, happily for me, is now at ACP-Natmag,
working on launch ideas.
She is sworn to secrecy, though, so I
have no clue as to what that really means. She was my editor on Inside
Soap magazine too many years ago to remember – the coverline on my
first issue there was “Marry me Raquel”.
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21.07.05
Drop my son Arthur off at his godfather’s, who is looking after him
for the day. Luckily “Uncle Richard” works on GMTV and, as such, is
free any time from 8.10am for emergency babysitting. I highly recommend
it – in fact I’m busy lining up Kate Garraway or Ben Sheppard for my
next offspring.
Bomb alerts all over London today and word filters through from friends who are working around Warren Street.
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switch on the TV and, worryingly, the bus bomb on Hackney Road is right
next to Richard’s. The mobile networks are all down, so I can’t get in
touch with him.
It’s hard to sift through all the copy piling up
in my in-tray until I can get news that Arthur is fine. Finally get
through to discover they have been watching Noddy on DVD and are
oblivious to anything going on.
Hold our features meeting an hour late to plan November.
In
sunny July it’s very peculiar to be talking about getting home safely
once the evenings get dark, and the like. Any day now it will be
Christmas for us.
People complain about the shops putting their
decorations up earlier every year, but they should try working on a
monthly, where we’re talking glittery party frocks and Christmas
cocktails in August.
22.07.05
Another strange day, as staff board the tubes feeling restless.
One of my team is on the Stockwell train where a man is shot by
police. She arrives late having had to walk from Vauxhall and, not
surprisingly, is very shaken. Obviously life has to continue as normal
but everyone does seem a bit jittery.
I have lunch today with
Dorothy Speed, the head of marketing of Clarins UK. Having such a nice
chat, I almost run late for my meeting this afternoon with our head of
repro, Alice Beattie. Make it there on time to discuss changes in our
agreement with the repro house.
As we have a very good track
record of keeping to schedule there isn’t too much to worry about for
us, but we are starting to use a new flatplan system, which I will have
to try and get my head around. I’m told it’s idiot-proof – I’ve heard
that before.
25.07.05
The film comes in today from a covershoot we did last weekend in New
York, so my art director Geraldine and I rip open the FedEx parcel as
if we’d just got our A-level results.
Thankfully, the covershots look great and I am hopeful that we will
get a few covers out of this one session, which makes it cost-effective
to go to New York.
It’s the first time we have gone there to
shoot covers, as we usually fly girls in from the US. We decided, as
the pound is so strong at the moment, it would probably behove us to go
there. I am thankful on a monthly basis that we shoot all our own
covers and aren’t reliant on celebrities.
It’s a great luxury to
totally dictate the style and look of your cover in women’s magazines
these days, and is one of the reasons I think Company has such a strong
brand identity and loyal readership.
26.07.05
Am woken up at 5.30am by Arthur, who has come into our bed in the
night. As it’s from Ikea, clearly built with Swedish midgets in mind,
none of us gets any sleep.
Much deliberation today over which covershot to go with. Ask
everyone in the office and there seems to be a consensus, thankfully.
It’s nice to be in a position where we have a few to choose from.
Office is abuzz with discussion about whether Sienna would be better
off with Orlando Bloom than Jude Law. It makes a change from the daily
Big Brother debate, which I can’t take part in as I haven’t succumbed
to even one minute of it this year.
27.07.05
Get coverline ideas in from everyone and then sit down with my
deputy ed, Lindsay Frankel, and chief sub, Shelley Marks, to brainstorm
them. As we only covermount two issues a year, our coverlines alone are
selling the magazine so it’s vital we get them right.
We can spend up to two hours going over this, but it is time well
spent. Feel strangely liberated this week as I have absolutely no
beauty launches to go to – usually I have up to three a week. I enjoy
getting home in time to watch the end of Storymakers on CBeebies with
Arthur then put him to bed – I just hope he stays there!
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