Forever 21 Makes Mag, Olivier Zahm Does It for Chanel

What do the designer-mimicking mavens at Forever 21 and Karl Lagerfeld have in common? Well, apparently they both love magazines -- starting their own, that is. Launching this Friday is the premiere issue of Forever 21's new fashion, beauty, and lifestyle magazine. "Each issue will include two to three features, a fashion gallery of looks with styling tips, coverage of trends available at Forever 21, street style, makeup and beauty tutorials, a lifestyle section including the latest in books/art/music, coverage of noteworthy Forever 21 collaborations, and an interview with a notable VIP," says Nitrolicious. In other words, the seasonal publication will likely follow much in the same vein as fellow fast-fashion mecca H&M's eponymous magazine (which is published four times a year and also showcased online).

Meanwhile, it turns out Chanel is getting into the print magazine game as well. Of a photo posted recently on his blog Purple Diary, Purple Fashion’s Olivier Zahm says: “this is the first issue of 31 Rue Cambon, the first Chanel magazine which I have art directed and designed for Karl Lagerfeld, to be distributed worldwide in all the Chanel stores.” Based on the spreads visible in the photo (one includes a recent Chanel advert with Freja as well as pages entitled Chanel Couture and Chanel Make-Up), not surprisingly, one can assume the magazine—named after the address of Chanel’s first and oldest Paris boutique—will be heavily self-promotional. And, given Zahm’s attachment, it’ll probably look quite good too. While retailers and brands generating their own original editorial content has become the norm in recent seasons (from Burberry launching its own social networking site to boutiques like Net-a-Porter and Intermix putting out the equivalent of e-zines), print publications have been few and far between (though Acne PAPER is yet another exception to the rule). Now, with Chanel and Forever 21 adding themselves into the publishing mix, maybe print isn’t quite dead after all.