TRIUMPH OF THE WILLPOWER: Magazine editors may spend all year stoking their readers’ insecurities, but, come Dec. 31, they’re just as prone as anyone to critical self-assessment and arbitrary goal-setting. Asked about their resolutions for 2005, most editors sounded an awful lot like their subscribers, pledging to lose weight, kick bad habits and read boring but important books. One exception was Glamour editor in chief Cindi Leive, who intends to gain 30 pounds. “I’m pregnant,” she explained, adding that she also hopes to “get over the election — it’s time.”
Vanity Fair editor in chief Graydon Carter plans nothing of the sort, listing “remove administration from office” among his top priorities (having failed to get it done in 2004), right after “lose weight” and “quit smoking.”
A number of editors vowed to resist the very temptations they’re forever urging on their readers. “I’ve got a bad habit of getting obsessed with a certain kind of item and buying 1,000 versions of it,” said Kim France, editor in chief of Lucky. Complex editor in chief Jimmy Jellinek put his goal this way: “Stop buying so many goddamn sneakers on eBay!” And Jane editor in chief Jane Pratt is willing herself to “stop ordering things off infomercials, though my new Robomaid is a miracle to behold for only $10.99 plus $7.99 shipping.”
In the self-improvement vein, Christopher Napolitano, editorial director of Playboy, plans to learn Italian (“So I can live up to my name and reputation,” he said), while House & Garden’s Dominique Browning is committed to swimming three miles a week. But Allure editor in chief Linda Wells tops them both with her (apparently facetious) promise to abstain from sugar, fat, gossip, Schadenfreude and guilt.
As for publishers, the most popular goals were to sell more ad pages and eat less at those daily lunches with clients. A few, however, looked beyond the workplace, including Teen Vogue’s Gina Sanders. Her objectives, in order: “1. Re-read ‘The Stranger’ by Albert Camus. 2. Cook something. 3. Go horseback riding.” (Teen Vogue, Glamour, Vanity Fair, Lucky, Jane and Allure are all part of Advance Publications Inc., parent of WWD.)
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The most exotic resolutions of all came from Anne Slowey, fashion news director at Elle. Among Slowey’s ambitions for 2005: “Not eat anything white. Only drink tequila, water or green tea. Build a sauna in my backyard.” Sounds like the makings of an interesting year.