W Magazine

>> Vogue's September 2011 issue will boast 584 ad pages, with an increase of 50 pages — or 9.3 percent — over its September 2010 issue (By comparison, Vogue had its all-time high — pre-recession — in 2007, with 727 ad pages.). Elle's September 2011 issue was down 6.8 percent to 350 ad pages; Harper's Bazaar came in at 308, a 2.2 percent gain; and W increased 3 percent to 255 pages. When announcing the magazine's numbers yesterday, Vogue publisher Susan Plagemann added that Vogue plans to roll out another website aside from Vogue.com in December, but she wouldn't give further details. [Ad Week]

>> Helmut Lang seems pretty set about not coming back to fashion — he recently shredded the remains of his archives for an art exhibition — but that doesn't mean he isn't still being pursued. Apparently, after Jean Paul Gaultier decided to leave Hermes in May 2010, Lang was the firm favorite to replace Gaultier as Hermes creative director, W reports. But: When Hermes courted Lang, he refused — he wanted to continue his newfound career as an artist instead of returning to fashion — and the job instead went to Christophe Lemaire.

While Hermes womenswear contributes less than 10 percent of the brand's annual turnover, it does have a symbolic significance in the media and how the brand is viewed. And speaking of views, another Hermes family member has spoken out about Bernard Arnault and the threat of an LVMH takeover. Pierre-Alexis Dumas, the company's group artistic director, tells W: “Hermes has grown out of a family culture with a set of values that we all believe in. I am convinced it would disappear if the family dimension was taken away or diluted. You know, there have been a lot of very good, small restaurants in Paris that have been bought by big chains over the years, usually in the name of better management. But somehow their clients have stopped going, because they have lost their souls ... This whole situation has been an incentive to work even harder. I have told everybody, ‘Listen, guys — it’s time to be more Hermes than ever.’”

>> W's new fashion and style editor Edward Enninful won't make his full debut for the magazine until September, but his stamp can already be seen on the magazine's July 2011 cover featuring Christina Aguilera, he says: "I was involved with Christina. I worked with our contributing editor Giovanna Battaglia on the look and the photography and also Lynn Hirschberg. And I wanted to show Christina in a new light, show off the icon that she is."

As for his future plans for the magazine: "We'll continue to work with photographers like Craig McDean, Patrick Demarchelier, Mario Sorrenti, Inez and Vinoodh, Mert and Marcus, but we also have a few big names in the pipeline and you'll see it in the coming months, particularly in September ... The September issue will be first big issue for myself, along with Alex Gonzalez, the creative director, and sort of Giovanna Battaglia, whom we offered to be fashion editor and hopefully a few other editors. And we're going to feature the industry's biggest names and well-known photographers. I think you'll be pleased. And what I love about this sort of blend of photographers is that each one has their own unique style. So if it's okay I'd like to keep their names under wrap just to surprise our readers. It's really hard to keep anything secret these days. But I try."

>> Just six weeks after Edward Enninful joined W as fashion and style director, his former colleague at Vogue Italia, Lori Goldstein, has joined the magazine as style editor at large. Goldstein has been a free agent for years, and noted that taking a masthead title and “being more of a part of a magazine, which is something I’ve never done, is very exciting to me.”

She continued: “What’s so great about what I’m doing in being style editor at large it’s kind of like I get to encompass everything I love to do. I’ve always been one of those people that goes back and forth in this business in different ways, so I get to really do great fashion stories with Edward and I’m also going to be working with [editor at large] Lynn Hirschberg and bringing fashion into the element of the actors that we shoot and kind of being the thread through all the different areas.”

Goldstein will work exclusively for W and can't work for competitors (ie other American fashion monthlies) but can work for non-direct competitors like Vogue Italia if given approval by W editor Stefano Tonchi. Tonchi said in a statement: “I have an incredible amount of respect for Lori, and admire her imagination and impeccable taste. Even on a freelance basis, Lori has been an integral part of the new W. She has styled some of our best covers, including Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling, Mia Wasikowska, and January Jones. Given the recent expansion of W’s fashion team, I thought it was the perfect moment in time to formalize this relationship."

With Goldstein now in the W fold, is it possible that her frequent collaborator Steven Meisel might also become a regular contributor to the magazine? “We will see,” she replied coyly.

>> Edward Enninful, who left contributing fashion editor gigs at Vogue and Vogue Italia behind this month to become W's new fashion and style director, has also exited his position as fashion director at i-D, which he has held since 1991, when he was 18. His replacement is reportedly the stylist Charlotte Stockdale, who has worked with i-D in the past and whose clients have ranged from Fendi to the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. Enninful's first issue for W, meanwhile, will be the September 2011 issue. [@fashedatlarge, @EdwardEnninful]