Latest news with #CondéNast
Yahoo
30 minutes ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Jennifer Lawrence's New It Sneaker Is Barely a Sneaker at All
All products featured on Glamour are independently selected by Glamour editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, Condé Nast may earn an affiliate commission. SINY, ULRA, REES Once again, Jennifer Lawrence is leagues ahead of the rest of us when it comes to her footwear. If you've been paying attention to sneaker trends, you may have seen it: how sneakers are becoming slimmer and slimmer, something more akin to a soccer cleat or a ballet flat than the chunky platform styles of yesteryear. It feels as though eventually they'll be nothing more than a thin rubber coating strapped under a bare foot. Lawrence's 'sneakers' are almost there. The actor stepped out in New York City on July 16 in her trusty pair of Wales Bonner Mary Jane sneakers, sort of a ballet flat-sneaker hybrid with a thick elastic strap and a Velcro closure. Viewed in side profile, a gum sole hugs the arch of the foot, giving the whole thing the look of a rock-climbing or cycling shoe. Wales Bonner Mary Jane Flat Sneakers $625.00, Ssense Salomon RX Marie-Jeanne Sneakers $150.00, Net-a-Porter The actor styled her Mary Jane sneakers with red trousers (the hems of which drag on the floor, in true JLaw fashion), a Picasso print T-shirt layered under a cobalt blue cardigan, which she'd tied around her shoulders, and a floppy black bucket hat pulled low over her face. She swapped out her favorite satchels from The Row and Fendi for a cream-colored mesh tote bag. This is a look for a woman on the move. In terms of shoe trends, the 34-year-old is always one step ahead of the curve. She was an early adopter of Alaïa's mesh flats, as well as The Row's sheer slippers—both of which became the must-have shoes of the past few seasons. And while we might balk at the price tag of her flip-flops (yes, those are $700 thong sandals), there's no denying that if Jennifer Lawrence wears a certain style, it's soon to become A Thing. She's like the weatherman of shoe trends. Stick with her and you'll be alright. Originally Appeared on Glamour Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
17 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Lorde Releases New Album Virgin : Listen and Read the Full Credits
All products featured on Pitchfork are independently selected by Pitchfork editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, Condé Nast may earn an affiliate commission. Lorde, photo by Talia Chetrit Just about two months after official announcing it, Lorde has released the new album Virgin. The New Zealand pop musician previewed her follow-up to 2021's Solar Power with the singles 'What Was That,' 'Man of the Year,' and 'Hammer.' She co-produced the album with Jim-E Stack, enlisting additional contributions from Fabiana Palladino, Daniel Nigro, Rob Moose, Buddy Ross, Inc. No World's Andrew Aged, Blood Orange's Devonté Hyves, Bon Iver's Justin Vernon, and others. Virgin also has a sample of Dexta Daps' 'Morning Love' on 'Current Affairs,' and the album's 'If She Could See Me Now' contains elements of Baby Bash and Frankie J's smash hit 'Suga Suga.' Listen to Virgin and see the full list of album credits below. 01 Hammer Producer: Jim-E Stack, Lorde Additional Production: Buddy Ross Composer: Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor, James Harmon Stack Lyricist: Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor, James Harmon Stack Mastering Engineer: Chris Gehringer Assistant Mastering Engineer: Will Quinnell Mixing Engineer: Mark 'Spike' Stent Assistant Mixing Engineer: Kieran Beardmore, Matt Wolach Recording Engineer: Ian Gold, Jim-E Stack Assistant Recording Engineer: Jack Manning, Koby Berman Drum Programming: Jim-E Stack Keyboards: Buddy Ross, Jim-E Stack Piano: Buddy Ross Synthesizer: Buddy Ross, Jim-E Stack Vocals: Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor 02 What Was That Producer: Daniel Nigro, Jim-E Stack, Lorde Composer: Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor, James Harmon Stack Lyricist: Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor, James Harmon Stack Mastering Engineer: Chris Gehringer Assistant Mastering Engineer: Will Quinnell Mixing Engineer: Mark 'Spike' Stent Assistant Mixing Engineer: Kieran Beardmore, Matt Wolach Recording Engineer: Daniel Nigro, Jack Manning, Jim-E Stack Assistant Recording Engineer: Koby Berman Bass Guitar: Daniel Nigro, Jim-E Stack Drums: Jim-E Stack Drum Programming: Jim-E Stack Electric Guitar: Andrew Aged, Daniel Nigro Keyboards: Jim-E Stack OP-1: Jim-E Stack Piano: Daniel Nigro, Jim-E Stack Synthesizer: Daniel Nigro, Jim-E Stack Vocals: Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor 03 Shapeshifter Producer: Jim-E Stack, Lorde Composer: Andrew Aged, Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor, James Harmon Stack Lyricist: Andrew Aged, Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor, James Harmon Stack Mastering Engineer: Chris Gehringer Assistant Mastering Engineer: Will Quinnell Mixing Engineer: Mark 'Spike' Stent Assistant Mixing Engineer: Kieran Beardmore, Matt Wolach Recording Engineer: Jack Manning, Jim-E Stack, Rob Moose Assistant Recording Engineer: Ian Gold, Koby Berman Bass Guitar: Jim-E Stack Cello: Gabriel Cabezas Drums: Craig Weinrib Drum Programming: Jim-E Stack Electric Guitar: Andrew Aged Glockenspiel: Jim-E Stack Keyboards: Jim-E Stack OP-1: Jim-E Stack Piano: Jim-E Stack String Arrangement: Rob Moose Synthesizer: Jim-E Stack Viola: Rob Moose Violin: Rob Moose Vocals: Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor 04 Man of the Year Producer: Jim-E Stack, Lorde Composer: Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor, James Harmon Stack Lyricist: Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor, James Harmon Stack Mastering Engineer: Chris Gehringer Assistant Mastering Engineer: Will Quinnell Mixing Engineer: Tom Elmhirst Recording Engineer, Jim-E Stack Assistant Recording Engineer: Bailey Kislak, Jack Manning, Koby Berman Bass Guitar: Devonté Hynes, Jim-E Stack Cello: Devonté Hynes Drum Programming: Jim-E Stack Keyboards: Eli Teplin, Jim-E Stack Piano: Eli Teplin Synthesizer: Jim-E Stack Vocals: Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor 05 Favourite Daughter Producer: Jim-E Stack, Lorde Composer: Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor, James Harmon Stack Lyricist: Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor, James Harmon Stack Mastering Engineer: Chris Gehringer Assistant Mastering Engineer: Will Quinnell Mixing Engineer: Mark 'Spike' Stent Assistant Mixing Engineer: Kieran Beardmore, Matt Wolach Recording Engineer: Ian Gold, Jim-E Stack Assistant Recording Engineer: Koby Berman Drum Machine: Jim-E Stack Drum Programming: Jim-E Stack Electric Guitar: Andrew Aged, Devonté Hynes Keyboards: Jim-E Stack Piano: Eli Teplin Programming: Jim-E Stack Synthesizer: Devonté Hynes, Eli Teplin, Jim-E Stack Vocals: Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor 06 Current Affairs Producer: Jim-E Stack, Lorde Composer: Craig Harrisingh, David Harrisingh, Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor, Fabiana Palladino, James Harmon Stack Lyricist: Craig Harrisingh, David Harrisingh, Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor, Fabiana Palladino, James Harmon Stack Mastering Engineer: Chris Gehringer Assistant Mastering Engineer: Will Quinnell Mixing Engineer: Tom Elmhirst Recording Engineer: Fabiana Palladino, Jack Manning, Jim-E Stack Assistant Recording Engineer: Koby Berman Bass Guitar: Jim-E Stack Drum Programming: Jim-E Stack Electric Guitar: Andrew Aged, Jim-E Stack OP-1: Jim-E Stack Synthesizer: Jim-E Stack Vocals: Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor 07 Clearblue Producer: Jim-E Stack, Lorde Composer: Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor, James Harmon Stack Lyricist: Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor, James Harmon Stack Mastering Engineer: Chris Gehringer Assistant Mastering Engineer: Will Quinnell Mixing Engineer: Jim-E Stack Assistant Recording Engineer: Austin Christy, Koby Berman Keyboards: Jim-E Stack Programming: Jim-E Stack Vocals: Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor 08 GRWM Producer: Jim-E Stack, Lorde Composer: Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor, James Harmon Stack, Josiah Sherman Lyricist: Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor, James Harmon Stack, Josiah Sherman Mastering Engineer: Chris Gehringer Assistant Mastering Engineer: Will Quinnell Mixing Engineer: Mark 'Spike' Stent Assistant Mixing Engineer: Kieran Beardmore, Matt Wolach Recording Engineer: Buddy Ross, Ian Gold, Jim-E Stack Assistant Recording Engineer: Jack Manning, Koby Berman Drum Programming: Buddy Ross, Jim-E Stack Keyboards: Jim-E Stack Piano: Jim-E Stack Synthesizer: Buddy Ross, Jim-E Stack Vocals: Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor 09 Broken Glass Producer: Jim-E Stack, Lorde Additional Production: Daniel Nigro Composer: Daniel Nigro, Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor, James Harmon Stack Lyricist: Daniel Nigro, Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor, James Harmon Stack Mastering Engineer: Chris Gehringer Assistant Mastering Engineer: Will Quinnell Mixing Engineer: Mark 'Spike' Stent Assistant Mixing Engineer: Kieran Beardmore, Matt Wolach Recording Engineer: Daniel Nigro, Jim-E Stack Assistant Recording Engineer: Austin Christy, Koby Berman Bass Guitar: Daniel Nigro Drum Programming: Jim-E Stack Electric Guitar: Andrew Aged, Daniel Nigro Keyboards: Jim-E Stack Piano: Jim-E Stack Space Echo: Jim-E Stack Synthesizer: Daniel Nigro, Jim-E Stack Vocals: Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor 10 If She Could See Me Now Producer: Jim-E Stack, Lorde Additional Production: Sachi DiSerafino Composer: Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor, Fabiana Palladino, Francisco J. Bautista Jr., James Harmon Stack, Nathan Perez, Ronald Ray Bryant, William DiSerafino Lyricist: Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor, Fabiana Palladino, Francisco J. Bautista Jr., James Harmon Stack, Nathan Perez, Ronald Ray Bryant, William DiSerafino Mastering Engineer: Chris Gehringer Assistant Mastering Engineer: Will Quinnell Mixing Engineer: Mark 'Spike' Stent Assistant Mixing Engineer: Kieran Beardmore, Matt Wolach Recording Engineer: Devin Hoffman, Fabiana Palladino, Ian Gold, Jim-E Stack Assistant Recording Engineer: Kyle Parker Smith, Koby Berman Acoustic Guitar: Devin Hoffman Bass Guitar: Devin Hoffman Drums: Kyle Crane Drum Programming: Jim-E Stack Electric Guitar: Andrew Aged, Devin Hoffman Keyboards: Jim-E Stack Synthesizer: Buddy Ross, Jim-E Stack Vocals: Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor 11 David Producer: Jim-E Stack, Lorde Composer: Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor, James Harmon Stack Lyricist: Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor, James Harmon Stack Mastering Engineer: Chris Gehringer Assistant Mastering Engineer: Will Quinnell Mixing Engineer: Mark 'Spike' Stent Assistant Mixing Engineer: Kieran Beardmore, Matt Wolach Recording Engineer: Jack Manning, Jim-E Stack Assistant Recording Engineer: Koby Berman Bass Guitar: Justin Vernon Electric Guitar: Justin Vernon Keyboards: Jim-E Stack OP-1: Jim-E Stack Programming: Jim-E Stack Synthesizer: Jim-E Stack Vocals: Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor Wind Chime: Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor Lorde: Virgin $37.00, Rough Trade Originally Appeared on Pitchfork Solve the daily Crossword
Washington Post
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Washington Post
Magazine editors used to be gatekeepers. Do we need them anymore?
It's 2025 and veteran Vanity Fair and New Yorker editor Tina Brown is on Substack, opining on private jets and Jeffrey Epstein conspiracy theories. Former Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter recently published a memoir about his magazine world heyday, and did a jolly round of interviews with all the new media talkers: fashion podcasts, food podcasts and sound bytes for Interview. And multiple generations of fashion fanatics are pouring one out — and by 'one,' I mean a splash of nonfat oat milk matcha — for Anna Wintour's (pseudo-)retirement from the day-to-day operations of American Vogue. Soon the 21st-century decline of the fashion media landscape will move from tidbits in media newsletters to the silver screen: 'The Devil Wears Prada 2,' a follow-up to the 2006 hit that helped make Wintour a household name, has just begun filming. It follows Wintour's stand-in, Miranda Priestly, navigating the digital revolution. And on the podcast front, a look at what made the company so extraordinary in its prime is the subject of 'The Nasty,' featuring remembrances from Condé Nast's power players on the elevator gossip and the famed Frank Gehry-designed cafeteria at 4 Times Square. Meanwhile, Mr. Big and Carrie — also known as former Condé publisher Ron Galotti and writer Candace Bushnell — are still trading barbs in the press, in recent pieces in New York Magazine and the Times. Welcome back to the '90s! The latest cultural artifact to capture this longing for an earlier, more sparkly zeitgeist is 'Empire of the Elite: Inside Condé Nast, the Media Dynasty That Reshaped America,' by New York Times media reporter Michael M. Grynbaum. Tracing the Newhouse family business that owns Vogue, Vanity Fair and the New Yorker throughout the 20th century and into this one, the book's buzziest reporting focuses on the careers of Brown, Carter and Wintour. Their 1980s go-getter tenures saw them begin as outsiders who, through their unusual points of view and the largesse of Si Newhouse, created a powerhouse of influence and style — 'one company in Manhattan told the world what to buy, what to value, what to wear, what to eat, even what to think,' Grynbaum writes — that is the subject of continued fascination on social media and in pop culture writ large. 'When you look at Condé Nast, it's almost the history of social aspiration. And this goes back all the way to the founding: Vogue comes out of the 400 and the Gilded Age,' said Grynbaum in a recent interview, referring to the list of society insiders established by Caroline Astor in the late 19th century. 'If you look at the Condé Nast of the mid-century, you see the WASPy, eastern establishment of the sack suits and threadbare sweaters, and it has this kind of understated aesthetic. By the time you get to the '80s, you have the rise of Wall Street and Gordon Gekko, and this newfound willingness to flaunt.' As Grynbaum noted, Brown's first issue of Vanity Fair appeared the same week that 'Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous' appeared on TV. 'It represented a new establishment,' Grynbaum said, 'and idea of what it meant to be successful in America at that time.' You can see why younger generations are fixated. Grynbaum's book has all the goods to induce mania in anyone with aspirations to work in media, mostly a rare combination of shocking budgets and provocative taste: anecdotes about expense accounts, interest-free mortgages on West Village townhouses and photoshoots with eye-popping budgets for items like $30,000 to rent a live elephant. Carter would dispatch his assistant to travel destinations a day in advance to set up an exact reproduction of his New York desk, complete with pencils (and no paper clips — he had a distaste for them that was noted in the staff manual). One editor was told that her chosen hotel wasn't splashy enough — upgrade! 'It was considered unprofessional to go into the office in flat shoes. Maybe a pair of Chanel ballet flats, but a pair of brogues, absolutely not,' Vogue writer Plum Sykes tells Grynbaum. Writers and editors FedExed their luggage so they didn't have to deal with it on the plane. (In business class, or the Concorde, of course.) The accounts of this time of pure luxury are rollicking even as you become desensitized to them. Picture this: Carter had just landed in Venice in 2006 for a Condé retreat with the business's top editors and executives, when he realized he'd misplaced his top-secret mock-up issue of Portfolio, the company's not-yet-launched business magazine that had been given to him confidentially. He called his assistant Jon Kelly (now a founder of digital media start-up of Puck), who had just landed on a red-eye from New York, and told him that he'd probably left it on a gondola. Kelly, armed with his usual 10,000 euros in petty cash for such trips, spent the next several hours bribing gondoliers until he turned up the issue. It's an equally impressive tale of unimaginable resources and assumptions of powerful editors, plus the bygone maniacal pluck of their lowly assistants. It recalls a scene from 'The Devil Wears Prada' in which Anne Hathaway, as Miranda's struggling assistant, Andy, manages to find a copy of the not-yet-released Harry Potter book for the editor's daughters. And it would make a much more glamorous (and likely entertaining) film than the 'Prada' sequel. Who wants to watch Miranda Priestly square off with traffic reports? But the most provocative, eyebrow-raising reveal from the book is this: We still live in the world Condé Nast and its intimidating editors created. We just don't know how to make sense of it, because we lack the requisite curatorial eyes. TikTok is filled with home tours that recall the real estate porn of Architectural Digest; even though they're probably out of reach, we're still obsessed with decoding the behaviors and wardrobes of the ultra-elite. 'Our contemporary Instagram culture — airbrushed, brand-name-laden, and full of FOMO, where pretty people do pretty things in pretty places without you — is a DIY replication of the universe that the celebrity editors of Condé Nast carefully created month after month, year after year,' Grynbaum writes. He argues that, although it may be Brown's tenure at Vanity Fair that is most often celebrated, her time at the New Yorker was more audacious and revolutionary: 'It is striking to realize the degree to which her tenure, so controversial in its day, laid the template for our modern notion of upper-middlebrow journalism,' he writes. 'Tina's approach was giving elite Americans permission to think seriously about subjects that the old version of the magazine had rarely deemed worth of deep consideration: tabloid scandals, hit sitcoms, right-wing demagogues, porn stars.' Today, Grynbaum said, 'I think we get bombarded by different sources of information all day long on our phones. And as much as it's been great to see the rise of new voices in the culture that may have not had a forum in the past, now we live in a state of chaos. I think we're yearning for curators, social curators.' What magazines like Vanity Fair, Vogue and GQ did in their prime was help readers make sense of the world — which, now, with social media and the reliance on video content, is even messier. It's not for nothing that the role of the editor in chief, not the designer or photographer or critic, is the one that most young women aspire to have in fashion. For decades — maybe even centuries, if you want to look at the fashion magazines that emerged in the 18th century to track the whims and shopping sprees of Marie Antoinette — the power of choice, of pointing to one skirt, or restaurant, or reporter, play or artist over another, has been a potent domain. Condé's elitist reputation is one it has long struggled to shake — those stories make for some of the funnier and more disturbing reporting in the book, such as a writer's recollection of losing out on a job for eating asparagus the wrong way — and was first the source of its power, then a contributor to its fall. Wintour in particular has tried to broaden the outlook and perspective of Vogue, with uneven results. Yet the new media that has emerged largely replicates the Condé way. Grynbaum pointed out that many of the most popular Substacks — such as the various shopping newsletters and Emily Sundberg's Feed Me, a highly influential roundup of gossip and stories from across tech, media, style and business — are about an unusual person's singular perspective. There is still a desire for figures who can point us, and our attention spans, to what is worth watching, buying, talking about or pondering. Ultimately, what do we long for when we long for the golden age of Condé Nast? It is the dream of having money — and taste.
Miami Herald
2 days ago
- Miami Herald
Did your favorite beach in South Florida make this list? Take a look
A national luxury travel magazine once again says South Beach has one of the best beaches in the state. Condé Nast Traveler, in its 2025 '21 Best Beaches in Florida' list, praised South Beach as the place for 'beautiful people, flashy cars, skimpy bathing suits, Art Deco architecture' along a 'two-mile white sand stretch that makes up Florida's most famous beach.' 'It's all here,' the magazine gushed. The magazine gushed similarly about South Beach on Florida's best beaches' the 2023 list. The Miami Beach stretch also made it onto Condé Nast's 2021 Best Beaches national list: 'The siren song of Miami's South Beach is undeniable.' No 'siren song' reference in the 2025 listing — that sound may be the honking of cars trying to navigate into one of the parking spots along Ocean Drive. But the gay beach on 12th Street with its 'sea of Speedo-clad, sculpted bods' gets a shout-out. The 'quieter patches below Fifth Street' for locals looking to swim and sun away from tourists was also singled out. The magazine recommends staying staying at either 'the soothing, nature-inspired' 1 Hotel South Beach or the 'art-forward, all-suite' W South Beach near each other on Collins Avenue. Four other beaches in South Florida made Condé Nast Traveler's Top 21 in the state in 2025, which also featured picturesque spots Main Beach on Amelia Island, Key Largo's John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park and Marco Island Beach. Here's a look: Other local beach favorites These four South Florida beaches join South Beach among Florida's fab beaches, according to Condé Nast Traveler: ▪ Haulover Naturist Beach, North Miami-Dade between Bal Harbour and Sunny Isles Beach 'Attention: Beyond this point you may encounter nude bathers,' the sign reads at South Florida's only officially recognized public nude beach. 'As welcoming as it is well-loved,' Condé Nast notes for its mix of body types that frolic here. Two Fort Lauderdale beaches made the magazine's best of '25 list in Florida. ▪ Sebastian Street Beach Beach. You'll find this gay-friendly beach on Sebastian Street and A1A across the street from the Casablanca Cafe in Fort Lauderdale. Condé Nast calls Sebastian 'a sun-soaked celebration of queer joy, where every color of the rainbow is not just welcomed but wonderfully visible.' The vibe is casual with locals, visitors and couples making up the clientele. Come as you are but wear a bathing suit. 'Towel-to-towel diversity.' ▪ Fort Lauderdale Beach, the tried-and-true A1A landmark where Florida Panthers hockey fans celebrated back-to-back Stanley Cup wins and even took the Stanley Cup trophy for a dip last year. This year, revelers gave a replica cup a dunk when officials said 'no' to ruining the original with salt water. MORE: Singer Connie Francis is having a moment at 87. What she says about her 'Baby' Fort Lauderdale Beach is also where spring break originated thanks to the hit 1960 movie filmed here and starring Connie Francis and its famous featured song, 'Where the Boys Are.' You kids know Francis from her current TikTok-trending hit, 'Pretty Little Baby.' City officials have since refocused the vibe away from spring break but the 'uncluttered stretches of sand, sparkling blue waters' still thrive along A1A, the magazine writes. And finally, Key Biscayne in Miami-Dade snags a spot on Florida's 21 Best Beach's list for 2025. ▪ Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park is just a mile-long beach on the southern tip of Key Biscayne but it has that historic lighthouse, leaf-lined walking trails for walking and biking and nearby restaurants. This one may no longer merit world-best status, the travel magazine says, but it's 'indeed nice.'
New York Post
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- New York Post
Inside the lavish Condé Nast life: Mirrors to make staffers look slimmer, competing for free Hugo Boss suits — and Anna Wintour's wasteful lunch
In the late 1990s, when billionaire publisher SI Newhouse decided to move his Condé Nast headquarters from 350 Madison Avenue to 4 Times Square, there were grumblings amongst staffers at Vogue, Vanity Fair and other magazines within the media empire. While the new location was only two blocks from the former headquarters, there were concerns that Times Square was seedy — and too far from a beloved upscale Italian restaurant, Mangia, from which staffers liked to order pricey grilled eggplant. There were also worries about whether the closet space in the new offices would be large enough to contain everyone's designer coats. 11 Anna Wintour and SI Newhouse attend a book party in 1990. Getty Images Advertisement To boost enthusiasm for the move, Newhouse and Condé's then editorial director James Truman had an idea: They would build an elaborate cafeteria for employees. The resulting dining area wasn't your standard feeding frenzy space. Newhouse hired star architect Frank Gehry to design it. The venue, rumored to cost as much as $30 million, featured 39 cozy banquettes — the better for gossiping. Seventy-six panels of Venetian glass glittered from the ceiling. And the pièce de résistance? The distorted mirrors on the columns were specially designed by Gehry — to make employees look thinner 11 The legendary Condé Nast cafeteria featured mirrors that made employees appear thinner. Brian Zak/NY Post Advertisement 'It was a very witty architectural gesture … that encouraged performance, and made people look and feel good,' Truman says in the new book, 'Empire of the Elite: Inside Condé Nast, the Media Dynasty that Reshaped America,' by Michael M. Grynbaum (Simon & Schuster; out today). Grynbaum portrays the lavish spending at Condé Nast during its magazines heydays in the '80s, '90s and early aughts — and the jaw-dropping displays of excess enjoyed by editors including Vogue's Anna Wintour and Vanity Fair's Graydon Carter. '[Newhouse] empowered his editors to fuel his new American fantasyland, urging experimentation and extravagance that competing publishers balked at and could not compete with,' he writes. '[His] billions funded an operation where sizzle and status often mattered more than breaking even.' In 1989, famed photographer Annie Leibovitz was supposedly hesitant about renewing her contract with Vanity Fair and asked for a $250,000 raise. Newhouse told the magazine's then editor-in-chief, Tina Brown, to go along with it, saying 'Don't nickel and dime her.' Advertisement 11 Staffers initially weren't enthused about the headquarters moving to 4 Times Square. New York Post Alan Richman, a writer who started covering food for GQ in 1986, recalls going to Tokyo for two weeks in 2008 for the magazine. Upon returning, he filed an expense report for $14,000, prompting an editor to ask: 'Is that all?' Even more over-the-top, the magazine paid for Richman to travel to Milan and Florence for the Italian menswear shows, even though he didn't cover fashion. His role? To select wine that would suit GQ's editor, the late Art Cooper, when he entertained Italian advertisers. In NYC, Cooper was known to spend lunch holding court in his dedicated booth at the Grill Room of the Four Seasons, where he would enjoy a martini and a very pricey bottle of Italian wine. It wasn't uncommon for the tab to more than $500, but no matter, it was charged straight to Condé. Advertisement '[Newhouse] liked his editors to live the upper-class-lifestyle they pedaled,' Grynbaum writes. 'He didn't have to tell Art Cooper twice.' 11 A new book looks at Condé Nast's heyday and the lavish life top editors enjoyed. Cooper even borrowed a million bucks from Condé to buy a second home in Connecticut, where he'd host staffers for summer getaways, sometimes pitting them against each other on the tennis court. One winner was awarded a Hugo Boss suit. Other top editors, including Carter and Wintour, also got favorable loans from the company to buy homes. Spending lavishly was the norm. Editors jetted to Europe on the Concorde and stayed at five-star hotels. Those who booked cheaper lodging were chastised. Staffers also dipped into petty cash and took limos all around town on the company dime. Grynbaum writes of editors, some of whom had dedicated drivers, using company cars to pick up Chinese takeout or go to the chiropractor — and 'at least one' assistant who made use of the tony transportation for a drug run. 11 Arthur Cooper, the late former Editor-in-Chief at GQ, was known for his extravagant taste in wine and $500 lunches at the Four Seasons. FilmMagic Advertisement 'As Si explained it,' he asserts, 'Condé did not have to answer to shareholder, and it was important to keep valued employees happy.' And the big spenders had the smallest details of their lives catered to. Carter, who served as Vanity Fair's editor-in-chief for 25 years, had an assistant meet his car each morning and carry his briefcase to his office, so that he could stroll through the lobby unencumbered. At the end of the day, the assistant would transport the briefcase to the car, after the editor asked, 'Will you do the honors?' Another key task for Carter's assistants was traveling ahead of him to prepare his suite at lavish hotels, stocking the desk with the same pencils and ashtray that the had in the NYC office. Advertisement Wintour, who recently shifted from Vogue's editor-in-chief to global editorial directorial, had to have her daily cappuccino perfectly timed. She had a standing lunch reservation at the Royalton, where a restaurant staffer would start making the drink 10 minutes ahead of her planned arrival, in case she was early. If the drink sat out for more than two minutes, it was tossed out, and a new one prepared. 11 Graydon Carter would have an assistant carry his briefcase from his town car to his office so he could walk through the lobby unencumbered. Corbis via Getty Images Sometimes Wintour ran so late that, a former employee at the Royalton told Grynbaum, as many as 12 cappuccinos might be made to get the timing just right. Wannabes looking to work at Condé, meanwhile, had to clear a high society bar for entry. Advertisement In the mid-1990s, those applying for an assistant job at Vogue faced an oral exam where they had to identify, on the spot, various people, places and elements of culture high and low, from a typed list of 178 entries. 'The ideal candidate would recognize Fassbinder as the New German Cinema director, Evan Dando as the lead singer of the Lemonheads, the Connaught as the luxury London hotel, and the opening sentence of Proust's 'Swann's Way,'' Grynbaum writes. Once in, those from common backgrounds sometimes had to be schooled to behave more like privileged WASPs and British aristocrats. 11 Photographer Annie Leibovitz (pictured with Carter) was known for her extravagant, expensive shoots. Getty Images for Vanity Fair Advertisement 'I had to learn how to speak like a Condé Nast person,' Jennifer Barnett, a Navy brat-turned-Teen Vogue editor, told Grynbaum. 'You never say anything to anyone directly.' When Carolyne Volpe arrive as a beauty assistant at Vogue in her early 20s, her boss told her there was already a Caroline at the magazine — and said she should go by her given first name, Lynden, instead, though no one in her life had ever called her that. 'She thought it was a chicer, more unique name, which it probably is,' Volpe says in the book. When employees were fired, it was handled with upper crust stealth. Alex Liberman, the publishing company's legendary editorial director, had a strategy where he would pop into someone's office just before going home time, gently touch their arm or shoulder and say something like, 'May I be frank, they're going to fire you tomorrow.' He'd then make a point of telling the person he wanted to keep in touch and arrange a lunch date, on the spot, for a few weeks out — somewhere fancy but public. 11 Anna Wintour with Newhouse (left) and designer Karl Lagerfeld attend the 'Seventh on Sale' event in 1990. Getty Images Photo shoots could be especially over-the-top and wasteful. Numerous samples of pricey baubles from Cartier were smashed for Irving Penn to get the shot just right. In the 1960s, Vogue editor-in-chief Diane Vreeland had Irving Penn reshoot an elaborate fashion spread not once but twice because the shade of green wasn't just right. In 1988, a Vogue team spent weeks in Kenya for a disastrous shoot featuring Kim Basinger in safari garb. Twenty-three trunks of clothes had to be shipped to Africa, and falcon was hired for the actress to hold — as her designer heels sunk into the mud and she feared it would attack her face. The following year, Tina Brown, then the editor-in-chief of Vanity Fair, had Leibovitz shoot 2,500 rolls film and fly 41,000 miles around the world— in first class, of course — to create a high-wattage portfolio of stars of the decade. 11 Wintour looked glam at a Fashion Week event in 1990 with designers Gianna Versace (from left), Karl Lagerfeld and Christian Lacroix. Getty Images Eventually, the purse strings had to be tightened. In 1996, the Wall Street Journal reported that nine of Condé's 14 magazines were unprofitable, and that the company had lost some $20 million in the fiscal year ending in 1994. Still, there was optimism. In 2007, Condé launched Portfolio magazine, with a reported $100 million behind it. Tom Wolfe was reportedly paid a whopping $12 per word to write a 7,400-word story for the new project. Its first sentence, which would have netted Wolfe more than $200? 'Not bam bam bam bam bam bam, but bama bampa barama bam bammity bam bam bammity barampa.' 11 Anna Wintour became co-chair of the Met Gala in 1995 and transformed the event into one of fashion's biggest nights. Getty Images 'We are the top-end publisher and it has served us well and I believe it will stand the test,' Charles Townsend, the CEO of Condé, said at the time. But, as Grynbaum notes, 'it didn't.' The final nail in the coffin was when Portfolio editors rented a live elephant for a photo shoot. A threatening pachyderm standing over a banker at a desk was meant to convey that credit derivatives were the 'elephant in the room' in the banking world. The magazine abruptly folded in 2009, in the depths of the recession, after two profitless years. Newhouse passed away in 2017 at age 89. That same year, the company was reported to have lost more than $120 million. 11 An elaborate photoshoot for Portfolio magazine put a real elephant in a financial office environment to illustrate the idea that credit derivatives are the 'elephant in the room.' Condé Nast Portfolio Two years prior, Condé Nast had left Times Square for 1 World Trade Center, where Self, Glamour, Teen Vogue and Allure were all reduced to online-only editions. Details and Lucky were shuttered. As Carter wrote earlier in his own book, 'When the Going Was Good,' earlier this year, 'You never know when you're in a golden age. You only realize it was a golden age when it's gone.'
