How was Marie Claire Colombia launched?
A special interview with Marie Claire Mexico and Colombia's Editor: Gerard Angulo.
Just a few weeks ago, I wrote about the changes in the Latin American fashion media landscape.
One significant change was the launch of Marie Claire Colombia.
In a country that until recently lacked specialized fashion print media, the arrival of the first international fashion title is quite a unique event.
Gerard Angulo, born in Spain and based in Mexico City, had an incredibly busy schedule in the past few weeks with the magazine's launch. I was genuinely grateful to secure an interview with him last weekend.
Not only is he the editor-in-chief of Marie Claire Mexico and Colombia, but he is also the founder of Fashion Group Editorial. This company holds the license for these legacy titles and includes two other publications created by him: NOIR and The Urbanda Magazine. Additionally, he founded Step On Fashion, a showroom, fashion PR, and digital agency.
Marie Claire Colombia intrigues me deeply because it signifies something important for the fashion media ecosystem in Latin America: growth.
Something I have discussed a lot in the newsletter over the past few months, and even with Colombian fashion journalist Lucety Carreño, is that since Fucsia closed, Colombia no longer had specialized print fashion media. Then you arrived, and it was like: how unexpected! So, first of all, I would like to know why you decided to launch Marie Claire Colombia.
I started traveling a lot to Colombia for work, because of the friendships I had, and I began to see that there was immense talent, especially in fashion. There are designers whose showrooms and stores I visited, and I saw the finishes, the quality of the textiles, how they formed those patterns, and I said: Wow, there are many stories to tell here.
Four years ago, my editorial group within the company I founded seven years ago, and I began to see that there were no titles, there was Fucsia, Aló, Cromos, but perhaps there was an open space for a fashion magazine that could exist in a country where they had so many stories to tell.
That's what caught me, and the first approach was to produce many things there, with many photographers and talent from Colombia, and I began to see that everything I felt was true.
So I approached Marie Claire International and said: "Mexico is doing well, we are showing very interesting things, I would love to have a title from Colombia." The truth is, they didn't really know what was brewing in Colombia. So I had to explain, make a presentation, show them what was being done. They trusted me, and we signed the license about eight months ago.
But I was waiting to have the cover, that character who, for someone living in Colombia and also externally, it was like Marie Claire has arrived to Colombia, and for me, it was Shakira. So that has been a bit of the focus.
Did you conduct market research in Colombia? What was the process like to understand the logistics for the publication there?
It involved analyzing Colombian society, which is distinct from but not opposed to Mexican society. As an external observer, having lived in Mexico as a Spanish person for 12 years, I learned about a society vastly different from Spain's. Now, experiencing Colombian culture, which responds to different stimuli, behaves uniquely, with differing schedules and approaches to execution.
For example, Colombians wake up very early, I mean, almost everyone is already working by 6 a.m. It's a country that wakes up very quickly, works a lot, their hours are extended sometimes even into Saturday at the office.
Now that you mentioned the Shakira cover you were waiting to have, what is the story behind that editorial?
Well, it was a very difficult negotiation in terms of timing because, as I mentioned, we've had the contract signed for the Colombia license for 8 months. And I couldn't close the cover with Shakira, time and again. I had already worked with her on four occasions, when I was more on the creative side, as a stylist, and I did several covers with her, I did campaigns for her perfumes. So there was a closer, more personal relationship, but her schedules, the whole album launch part didn't allow it.
Finally, we closed the date, everything was very fast, and we did a joint production with Marie Claire UK in New York, and those photos were published in both territories at the same time. It was very interesting because, in the end, you have to coexist with two visions that are not opposed because, in the end, they maintain the Marie Claire DNA.
But for example, Marie Claire UK has a much sharper image. They are 100% digital, not print. Originally I wanted to reflect a different kind of Shakira, and give it this not-so-sharp vision, more blurred, that softer part, with low exposure.
I don't know if you've seen the second cover of the first edition of Marie Claire Colombia, which is Elaine Palacio, it's a close-up. For me, this is Marie Claire Colombia, and it will be seen in the following editions, but it was wonderful to have Shakira on the cover because, for me, she is “the Colombian”, the first Colombian who has opened borders for the rest and has paved the way for many of them.
You also did a photoshoot with the Colombian model Natalia Montero, right?
Natalia is part of the May edition, yes. We did that in Paris, we were there for Fashion Week, and then I realized that Natalia Montero was there, and I said, let's take advantage and do a photoshoot.
It's not a cover, in the future I would love to feature her, because Natalia is wonderful.
In this edition, look, I have it here. It's a 160-page magazine. I'll show you... This is the one with Natalia Montero. It's beautiful, she's wearing Colombian brands. There's Otalora, Andrés Pajón, Baobab, Johanna Ortiz, Silvia Tcherassi. Then we also did a production with Ana Beliza, who is an incredible content creator from Colombia.
And you're the first ones with an international legacy fashion media title in Colombia, right? Because there has never been Harper's Colombia, there has never been Vogue Colombia. So, you're opening up the market.
It's very interesting that you see it that way. Because, yes, I mean, I am very much guided by feelings. How I feel about things if they suddenly flow or don't flow. And when something flows, that's the place.
Obviously, there's a business plan and all that logical part. But sometimes all that logical part sort of falls apart when I don't feel like that's it. So I feel like we're opening up a range of possibilities on the editorial level. I love it. I want it to be a success in Latin America and Colombia. The truth is that for the short time since we’ve launched, we have one edition and the response has been very, very, very good. Just yesterday I sent the second one to print. It’s coming out this week, which is the June edition, and I feel it's better than the first, really.
So, is the edition mainly produced by Colombians or the Mexican team?
Initially, in the first edition, it was more of a 60-30 split, but for this second June edition, absolutely everything, and I mean, each and every page, has been produced in Colombia.
Specifically, all production took place in Bogotá. We have two covers circulating, printed and displayed at sales points. And everything, from distribution to printing, involves Colombia - including the people who do it. Yes, we have a team; myself and the rest, part of which operates from Mexico - my fashion editor, my right-hand content manager. However, we also have editors, web editors, and the entire production team in Colombia.
I reside in Mexico, this is my home, but I spend about a week or week and a half per month in Colombia and we take advantage of it to complete all the productions. Throughout the month, we plan the grid and coordinate with all the collaborators there. It's a challenge, managing both the Colombian and Mexican editions simultaneously.
But ultimately, Mexico is smoother since we've been together for three years. We're already like family, our team is solid, we know each other well.
I also think it's fantastic for all the young people in Colombia who didn't have fashion media to aspire to write for. So, I also believe they're laying that foundation for young people to say, 'Well, I can write or work for Marie Claire Colombia’ now.
And it has happened, because what you mention is very beautiful, many people buy the magazine and tag us, saying, 'Someday I'll be able to write here,' or designers saying, 'Someday I'll be in the pages of Marie Claire,' and it's wonderful that it has happened in such a short time, just a month in the end.
