Fairchild Fashion Media Revives Men's Fashion Title 'M'

More good news for the 1 percent: Fairchild Fashion Media, the Condé Nast division responsible for publishing Women’s Wear Daily, is relaunching men’s fashion title M as a quarterly magazine beginning this fall. The original M, which launched in 1983, was helmed by Jane Lane and, later, by onetime Adweek editor Clay Felker. M shuttered in 1992, a casualty of the recession at the time.

Now, with upscale titles like W and Departures reporting strong ad sales gains [1], publishers are showing increasing confidence in the power of affluent consumers. (Forbes recently relaunched [2] its luxury supplement ForbesLife, Bloomberg announced an increase [3] in the frequency of Pursuits, and Niche Media founder Jason Binn is gearing up to launch [4] Du Jour, whose target audience includes consumers with a net worth of $5 million or more.)

The new M will have a starting circulation of 75,000 copies when it officially launches Sept. 24, Fairchild announced. Issues of the magazine will be sent to men with a $200,000-plus household income and menswear industry insiders. Common folk can pick up a copy at the newsstand (including those in fashion capitals like Milan, Paris and London).

The magazine replaces Fairchild’s current men’s fashion trade, Menswear, which will publish its last issue in June before being phased out, according to a company representative. M will also be larger and glossier than its Menswear predecessor, and will take a more consumer and lifestyle approach to its inside look of the men’s fashion industry. Fairchild editorial director Peter Kaplan, who previously wrote for the original M, will oversee the relaunch. About 25 existing Fairchild staffers from Style.com and WWD—and possibly a few outside writers, though none have been confirmed yet—will assist Kaplan with the project, the rep said.