MILAN — The Italian Harper’s Bazaar is putting together the team to lead the next chapter for the glossy magazine, which was introduced in the country in 2019.
Hearst Italy executive Massimo Russo, currently chief content officer of the fashion publisher, is to take on the editor in chief role at Harper’s Bazaar, succeeding Daria Veledeeva, who has spearheaded the magazine since 2022, moving from a similar role she held at Harper’s Bazaar Russia.
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Russo is to maintain his C-suite position at Hearst, while Veledeeva is moving on to an editor at large role at Bazaar with oversight of special projects.
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“Harper’s Bazaar can now benefit from Massimo [Russo]’s journalistic experience in leading newspapers and magazines, together with a team of top-level professionals to enhance and complete the features of a brand of unmatched value to Hearst,” said Giacomo Moletto, chief executive officer of Hearst Italy. “An editor in chief with a strong knowledge of the language of fashion and a deep experience in journalism who will be able to add a multifaced, international, concept of luxury to the deep fashion legacy of the brand.”
Russo joined Hearst Italy in 2019 as chief product officer and chief digital officer for Europe from Gedi Gruppo Editoriale, which publishes newspapers La Repubblica, La Stampa and weekly magazine L’Espresso, among other titles.
In 2021 he was named to the role of Hearst Italy’s chief content officer and briefly helmed Italian Elle as editor in chief. Throughout his career he has held editorial management roles at newspapers and magazines including La Stampa and Wired Italia, among others.
“I am very grateful to Hearst for letting me lead such an extraordinary team, and to Daria [Veledeeva] for the work done so far. Luxury and excellence are transforming. We no longer just talk about manufacturing, but about experiences, lifestyles. In this perspective, fashion, evolving concepts of luxury and beauty are filters, keys to observing reality and anticipating trends in culture, arts and fashion, uncovering emerging figures, ideas and syntheses that are being born. Bazaar will connect these dots and represent contemporaneity and complexity, just before it becomes clear,” Russo said.
Russo’s appointment at Harper’s Bazaar comes a few weeks after Stefano Tonchi was named its editorial director, preceded by the appointment of Lee Swillingham and Stuart Spalding, founders of London-based creative studio Suburbia, as the title’s creative directors. Sissy Vian is to maintain her role as creative fashion director of the title.
Harper’s Bazaar, already available in 45 countries, was launched in the U.S. in 1867 and was acquired by Hearst in 1912. The Italian arm of the publisher introduced the title in the country in 2019 as a digital-only edition followed by print, which bowed with the December 2022 issue.
According to Comscore figures, the Italian Bazaar has gathered a digital audience of 2.6 million monthly users and in the 18 months since the first issue was published it scored a circulation of 78,000 copies and 10,000 subscribers.
A magazine redesign under the creative lead of Suburbia is to be unveiled with the September issue.