weekend:184 pages this week
On Saturday, The Guardian claims it will have the biggest magazine ever published by a UK broadsheet newspaper. Weekend Magazine, edited by Katharine Viner, will run to 184 pages, including a special 64-page handbook on autumn and winter fashion.
The handbook, edited by Guardian fashion editor Jess Cartner-Morley, assisted by deputy Charlie Porter and fashion number three Hadley Freeman, aims to be a definitive guide to the seasons ahead, with key looks and trends for men and women over the next six months.
There are articles on the 60 best shoes and bags, party clothes and a behind-the-scenes look at Givenchy with Julien Macdonald. Viner said that now Weekend was printed on high-
quality paper it had been decided to bring the standalone fashion and beauty supplement into the magazine, although it will remain a pullout.
As well as the overall magazine increasing in size, it will be the biggest fashion and beauty supplement to date.
"I really do think it’s the best fashion supplement we have ever done by a mile, and the best fashion team we’ve ever had. They work brilliantly together with a good Guardian take on fashion. It is useful but beautiful as well," Viner added.
The good news for the magazine is that its editorial content, also, will increase to 120 pages, from the previous high of 112.
Viner has six features lined up for the front of the book, including one that came in on spec from James Maycock – a look at how the racism of Sixties America was transplanted to black soldiers in the battlefields of Vietnam – and an extract from Justine Picardy’s book on spiritualism, written as she attempted to contact her late sister Ruth, an award-winning journalist.
The fashion handbook has attracted a range of new advertisers to Weekend and is believed to have increased revenue significantly in a tough market.
Stuart Taylor, advertisement director of Guardian Newspapers, commented: "In its new format The Guardian’s Weekend magazine is a great product, a glossy magazine that combines investigative features and interviews alongside the best in fashion and beauty. At 184 pages this magazine is a whopper."
Viner said: "I think we relaunched at a really good time."
By Jean Morgan
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