By Alyson Fixter
A glamorous new magazine venture spawned by a BBC reality TV show
will hit the streets during London Fashion Week, after gaining backing
from entrepreneur Peter Jones, PR man Max Clifford, shop chain WHSmith
and a string of luxury fashion brands.
Wonderland was launched by 29-year-old Huw Gwyther with £175,000 in backing he won on BBC programme Dragons’ Den.
It will be aimed at both men and women, “overflowing with the kind of information one would expect from a discerning friend”.
The bi-monthly magazine is being promoted by Max Clifford’s PR company.
It will be the first ever launch to have its first edition stocked in every WHSmith store in the country.
With
a high-profile team that includes Gwyther himself – former studio
manager to Mario Testino – and Grace Cobb and Anthony Unwin of The
Face, the magazine has attracted adverts from Louis Vuitton, Dior, Yves
Saint Laurent and Gucci for issue one.
Of all the contestants in Dragons’ Den, Gwyther managed to secure the highest amount of funding for his venture.
Entrepreneur Peter Jones was reportedly “intrigued by the high risk, high return nature of the venture” and invested £175,000.
The total investment of £250k is a fraction of many launch budgets. Emap spent £16m on Grazia, for example.
Gwyther
said: “We aim to create an important, modern brand that will quickly
become synonymous with good taste, style and originality.
“Wonderland
will entertain, challenge and inform, assisting the readers rather than
dictating to them, so that they may decide for themselves how to spend
those two most valuable commodities: their time and their money.”
The
magazine, to be launched on 8 September, will be a luxury publication
aimed at both affluent men and women of sophisticated tastes, aged
between 20 and 40 years.
It plans to move away from the stereotypical ‘male’ or ‘female’ targeted publications of the past.
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