Phillip Picardi Exits 'Teen Vogue' For 'Out'

Phillip Picardi is leaving Teen Vogue to become editor-in-chief of Out magazine.

He told The Wall Street Journal he wants to reimagine“what Out looks like for the modern queer audience and prepare it for the future.”

Picardi has served as Teen Vogue’s Chief Content Officer since January, after editor-in-chief Elaine Welteroth abruptly left. (Picardi’s post became the most senior role at the publication, in place of the editor-in-chief position at Teen Vogue.)

Just 27, Picardi quickly made his way to the top of Condé Nast. He started at the company as an intern, and eventually was named head of the Teen Vogue site at 23. Picardi helped grow the publication’s digital audience and its coverage of politics, news, wellness and social-justice issues.

The company — and reportedly artistic director Anna Wintour — saw Picardi as the face of a new, younger iteration of Condé Nast.

advertisement

advertisement

“Over the past year, we’ve been reimagining what a title looks like to better reflect today’s culture and how audiences are interacting with content,” Anna Wintour, Condé Nast’s artistic director and editor-in-chief of Vogue, told Business of Fashion this year.

Condé Nast claims Teen Vogue experienced a 250% traffic increase under Picardi, who also founded Them, Condé's first LGBT-focused media brand, last fall.

Out magazine focuses on LGBTQ fashion, lifestyle and entertainment. Its parent, Pride Media Inc., recently poached Nathan Coyle, former CEO of interior design media company Domino Media Group.

Coyle told Publishers Daily  in June that he wanted the company to connect deeper with millennials and Gen Z LGBTQ audiences. Who What Wear’s Bobby Schuessler is Out.com's editorial director.

Picardi follows a string of popular Condé Nast editors who have left the publisher. Cindi Levie stepped down from Glamour and Graydon Carter left Vanity Fair.

The company has made recent moves to offset losses in print advertising and circulation.

It put Bride, W and Golf Digest on the market, and is combining the U.S. and U.K. content teams of Condé Nast Traveller under its British division.

Pride Media also publishes The Advocate, Out Traveler, Plus, Chill and Pride.

 

 

Next story loading loading..