New Vogue editor Angelica Cheung's voice sinks to an almost inaudible whisper on the telephone. 'Sorry, one minute, I'm just opening an e-mail here ... oh ... fantastic! He says our first issue is superb! 'A Vogue we can all be proud of ... congratulations to your assistants and to you especially'! That's from Si Newhouse!' she exclaims.
The gong from Si - or S.I. - Newhouse, god of Vogue, chairman of Conde Nast and chief executive of family-owned Advance Publications with annual sales of over US$5 billion, is worth its surface area in gold because Newhouse and his brother Donald, president of Advance, are famously distant and secretive.
Cheung is thrilled. 'I've met him a few times but it's usually Jonathan (Newhouse) who does these things,' she mutters excitedly.
For Cheung, the launch of Vogue China this month, a hefty 430-page tome, was the culmination of six months' hard work. Three years in the planning, Vogue China is the latest and 16th edition of the iconic fashion magazine that began in New York in 1892. The initial print run of 300,000 is selling fast, according to the company - 'a pleasant surprise', says Cheung. A second run is under discussion.
Vogue China may become the magazine's second-biggest edition globally, overtaking the brisk sales of UK Vogue (circulation 206,834), though behind US Vogue's 1,275,359 circulation. 'It's the world's biggest fashion magazine in the world's biggest market,' says Cheung.
That market is already crowded. Many of the world's glossies have been here for years - Marie-Claire, Elle (which Cheung edited until last year), Cosmopolitan, Bazaar and others. Clutching a copy of the pink, brown-and-gold magazine, 20-something Beijinger He Fang says she bought Vogue because she was a fashion lover who often read Elle and other magazines.
