Langmead: joins Wallpaper
Liz Jones is to take over from Jeremy Langmead as editor of life and style at the Evening Standard following his appointment as editor-in-chief of Wallpaper.
Since stepping down as editor of Marie Claire, Jones has been freelancing for The Observer, The Guardian, The Sunday Times and the Standard, which she intends to make a "must read" with some big name interviews planned for the autumn.
Langmead succeeds Wallpaper creator, Tyler Bržle, who quit after the magazine was integrated into IPC earlier this year.
He said he was reluctant to leave the Evening Standard but the lure of Wallpaper had been "too much to resist". Langmead said there would be changes to both the magazine and the editorial team.
He told Press Gazette that Wallpaper needed to be "taken to another level". and that "some things will be added and some taken out".
Langmead said he would be looking at all aspects of the magazine. "The changes will be more than slight. I have lots of plans," he said.
Wallpaper is increasing its fashion coverage next month, with more than 60 pages devoted to international designs. There will be adjustments to the editorial team, which has a number of vacancies following an exodus in the wake of Bržle’s departure.
Some journalists feared Wallpaper would lose its edge and become more of a mainstream title under IPC, in an effort to boost sales, particularly after the latest ABCs showed a 1.7 per cent drop. Langmead said: "I don’t know about mainstream but if you produce something you are proud of, you want more people to read it." He was offered the job following a secret interview in New York with Norman Pearlstine, editor-in-chief of Time Inc, which now owns IPC.
The appointment signals a return to IPC for Langmead, who edited Nova until its closure in 2001, after which he joined The Sunday Times Magazine as editor-at-large before being poached by the Evening Standard in November. He has also edited The Sunday Times Style section and has contributed to Tatler and Elle Decoration.
"IPC was gearing up to sell and Nova suffered as a consequence of that. Wallpaper is a very different set-up from Nova," he said.
IPC has also announced the closure of Bržle’s fashion spin-off from Wallpaper, Spruce, and the launch of a new Global Fashion Directory, which will appear with Wallpaper in March.
By Ruth Addicott
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