So gut-wrenching is the bean counting at struggling magazine publisher Condé Nast that it has led some in the company to consider roughing it when it comes to attending upcoming fall fashion shows in London, Paris and Milan.
Sources within the company said several Condé Nast titles are considering scaling back on the expensive junkets, opting for less expensive hotels and dinners this time around.
That is, except for Condé’s flagship Vogue, which is sticking to its tradition of putting its editors, including the imperial Anna Wintour, up at only the finest hotels.
According to sources, Wintour’s European entourage, which is usually about 10 people including her creative director, fashion director, several top stylists, European market editor, beauty editor and Publisher Tom Florio, is estimated to cost the company close to $250,000 in travel expenses.
A source said Wintour stays at the Ritz Hotel in Paris, while underlings are sent to the Crillon and the George V.
What’s more, there are afternoon teas in the Hemingway Room at the Ritz and expensive dinners at Caviar Kaspia. Younger staffers can enjoy meals at the bistro Benoit.
Furthermore, most of the top staffers get chauffeured around Paris in brand-new Mercedes sedans that are booked for the entire week.
“Regarding the fall collections, our plans are precisely as they have always been,” said a Vogue spokesman.
Said one former Condé Nastie who has made the trek: “There are amazing dinners planned every night. All important Condés have a driver for the week, usually a new, black Mercedes.”
However, whether that sort of profligate spending will come to pass could be an open question because Condé Nast is now facing serious scrutiny of its extravagant ways by management-consulting firm McKinsey & Co.
Wintour, whose staff is twice the size of those of rival fashion mags, in particular has drawn heat for refusing to comply with earlier corporate edicts to trim costs.
“It’s a little bit of a two-tier system over there,” said one rival editor. “There’s Vogue, and then there’s everyone else, Glamour and Allure and the all the rest.”
Added another rival, “It does seem strange when you’re that far down in ad pages that you don’t at least say you’re cutting back. For God’s sake, give it lip service!”
Some at Condé Nast are doing just that. Insiders say Glamour Editor-in-Chief Cindi Leive hasn’t decided if she’ll make her reservation in the five-star Ritz Hotel, as she did last year, or move to a less pricey hotel.
A Glamour spokeswoman said, “We’re definitely watching expenses more than ever, but on the other hand, these are important showcase events.”
By comparison, Glenda Bailey, editor of Harper’s Bazaar at Hearst stays on the Left Bank in the Hotel Montelambert. It’s considered artsy — and far less expensive.
As an example of the costs, a plate of french fries, or pomme frites as they are known in France, can cost $30 at the Ritz, where rooms go for several thousand euros a night.
Time Inc.’s In Style cut the number of people it sent to Europe to four from six people last year and is keeping it lean and mean this year. In Style Managing Editor Ariel Foxman and publisher Connie Anne Phillips stay at the more mid-range Park Hyatt in Paris.