Conde Nast Dresses Up New Men's Fashion Mag

After a year that brought the demise of a number of business-to-business publications and consumer magazines, Conde Nast's Fairchild Fashion Group is planning to launch a new one by summer 2010.

Scheduled to launch in June, the new and as-yet-unnamed trade magazine will focus on the men's fashion market, with former Men's Vogue publisher Marc Berger and former Women's Wear Daily editor Ed Nardoza taking the top business and editorial spots, reports Mediaweek.

The new trade publication appears to be the brainchild of Richard Beckman, formerly the heavy-hitting president of Conde Nast Media, who was reassigned to lead the Fairchild fashion trade division in March 2009.

The sharp downturn in magazine advertising over the last year left Conde Nast with several empty spots in terms of men's fashion content. In 2008, Fairchild folded DNR, a men's fashion trade title, followed this year by Men's Vogue, a consumer title. A new men's fashion publication could fill the former spot and maybe even the latter, depending on its editorial approach.

2009 was not kind to trade publications, as the recession claimed a number of well-known and highly regarded titles.

Among the casualties were Radio & Records, Editor & Publisher, and Kirkus Reviews. In April, PR Week suspended its weekly publication and went to a monthly publication schedule, and in May, Television Week folded its print edition and went online-only.