Nylon (magazine)

Nylon was co-founded in 1999 [4] by editorial director Mark Blackwell, art director Madonna Badger,[5] creative director Helena Christensen,[6] development director Michael "Mic" Neumann,[6] and the husband and wife publishing team of Marvin and Jaclynn Jarrett, with an initial investment from businessperson Sam Waksal.[7][8] Four of the founders had previously worked together in their same roles at Ray Gun Magazine: Editor-in-chief Marvin Jarrett, Publisher Jaclynn his wife, Editorial Director Mark Blackwell and Development Director Mic Neumann; the Jarretts had recently sold their interest in Ray Gun Publishing.[9] According to Publisher Jaclynn Jarrett, the magazine's name was chosen because her husband Marvin just liked the sound of Nylon. After picking it, they realized the New York/London tie-in, which was congruous to Nylon's editorial focus on these two cities.[10] The first two letters are the initials for New York and the last three letters are the first three letters of London (New York London). The design of the magazine was intended to be "hyper-legible", in answer to criticism of Ray-Gun's "chaotic" layouts. The first issue was published on April 6, 1999.[9]

In 2003, Nylon launched its website nylonmag.com (now nylon.com), under the leadership of Ronen Shapiro later that year the digital readership surpassed the print edition and became the center of Nylon's business. In 2005, Nylon was bought by Pennsylvania businessman Don Hellinger.[11] The following spring, Nylon and MySpace collaborated on their first International Music issue, making it freely available online for a time.[12][13] Nylon TV was launched in 2006 with the creation of its own YouTube channel, and by 2014 gained 62 thousand subscribers and 62 million cumulative views.[14] Nylon partnered with MySpace in 2006 for its annual June/July music issue. Nine months later the magazine became generally available online in digital form in March 2007. Nylon released their June/July International Music and MySpace issue online for free viewing.[15] Marvin Scott Jarrett's Editor's Letter described it as a collaboration with MySpace, focusing on eight "music and style mecca" cities around the world, featuring the White Stripes on the cover, as selected by Nylon's MySpace fans.[16]

Nylon teamed up with Live Nation Entertainment in 2008 to produce its first Nylon Music Tour, headlined by electro rockers She Wants Revenge.[17]

On their 10-year anniversary in 2009, Nylon made the April 1999 inaugural issue freely available online, including all articles, in scanned form.[18] Later that year, Nylon partnered with iTunes for its annual music issue, which included a free summer playlist download of 22 tracks.[19]

Nylon came together with YouTube in 2010 for its Young Hollywood issue, allowing readers to watch the entire issue on YouTube. The partnership extended for the 2011 Young Hollywood issue as well. 2010 also brought the launch of Nylon Dailies, emails written by local writers every day in ten key American cities.[20]

In 2011, then-President Don Hellinger and then-CFO Jami Pearlman[11][21] were charged with operating an illegal money transmission business (for an online casino), unrelated to Nylon.[11][22] They subsequently pleaded guilty to a reduced charge.[23][24]

Nylon joined with Facebook in 2012 for its June/July music issue.[25] 2012 also brought a Summer Music Tour, featuring Neon Trees, and sponsored by Starbucks.[26] America's Next Top Model announced that Nylon would be its media partner for the show's 19th cycle.[27]

Nylon had established a material social media presence. By early 2014, Nylon was active on Instagram, had over 700,000 Twitter followers,[28] and had a million Facebook fans.[29]

In May 2014, Nylon was acquired by a new ownership group, including an affiliate of LA-based investor Marc Luzzatto through Diversis Capital, LLC. The new venture also acquired FashionIndie, with FashionIndie's founders, Beca Alexander and Daniel Saynt, maintaining their titles of editor-in-chief and creative director, respectively. Publisher Marvin Jarrett was blindsided, and he was not retained by the new owners. The staff learned of the takeover via the press.[30][31][32]

In September 2017, announced that it was transitioning to an all-digital platform. The print edition of Nylon was discontinued between October 2017 until 2019. The print staff was laid off. Upon the departure of the core print team, only two original staff members, of the 60-odd employees from before the sale in 2014, remained.[33] One of those original staff members included digital team Senior Editor, Gabrielle Korn, who was then promoted to Editor-in-Chief.[34]

In June 2019, Nylon was acquired by the Bustle Digital Group, founded by Bryan Goldberg.[3] Its current editor-in-chief is Lauren McCarthy.

• Marvin Scott Jarrett was the original editor-in-chief from the time of the magazine's creation to his departure in 2014.
• Michelle Lee was named editor-in-chief 2014,[48] then named Editor in Chief of Allure magazine in 2015.
• Melissa Giannini was named editor-in-chief in 2015.[49]
• Gabrielle Korn was named editor-in-chief in 2018.
• Alyssa Vingan was named editor-in-chief in 2019.
• Lauren McCarthy was named editor-in-chief in 2023 and is the current EIC.

The first Nylon cover model for the debut issue was actress Liv Tyler in April 1999.[4] She was both photographed and interviewed by Nylon magazine's co-founder, creative director, and supermodel Helena Christensen.[4][50]

Cover models have included: Demi Lovato,[51] Christina Aguilera, The Horrors, Avril Lavigne,[52] Selena Gomez,[53] Lily Allen, Paris Hilton, The Kills, Camilla Belle, Karen O, Evan Rachel Wood, Mary-Kate Olsen, Lea Michele, Lil' Kim, Zooey Deschanel, Kristen Stewart, Rachel Bilson, Scarlett Johansson, Cory Kennedy, Mischa Barton, Christina Ricci, Leighton Meester, Blake Lively, Taylor Momsen, The White Stripes, Sienna Miller, Nicole Richie, Megan Fox, Hilary Duff, Emma Stone, Lindsay Lohan, MIA, Zoe Saldana, Drew Barrymore, Jessica Szohr, Mila Kunis,[54] Emily Browning, Katy Perry, Jena Malone, Abbie Cornish, Vanessa Hudgens, Jamie Chung, Selena Gomez, Emma Roberts,[55] Chloë Grace Moretz,[56] Lily Collins, Hayley Williams, Marina,[57] and Lana Del Rey.

Medialife Magazine's Jennifer Cox wrote in 2001 that Nylon was "a little uppity, and it's not hard to understand why", describing it as "bold, idiosyncratic, challenging, absolutely of-the-moment," but unnoticed by "the mainstream" until March 2001, when Nylon was nominated for the ASME National Magazine award. She described the April issue as "groundbreaking" (for a fashion magazine) to feature an overweight woman in a history of women's weight, noted that the magazine's models "are more often interesting looking than beautiful per se." She found its photo spreads "bold with their use of white space and innovative photography" and noted Nylon's distinctive "heavy emphasis on music coverage."[58]

The magazine had Radar, Fashion, and Style pages. There was also a Nylon Guys magazine, first announced in 2003[67] and published independently in 2004,[10] which has featured Joseph Gordon-Levitt from 500 Days of Summer.

Nylon partnered with Rizzoli Publishing to publish three books: Street, on global street fashion; Pretty, on beauty; and Play, on music.[10] Pretty: The Nylon Book of Beauty was listed in the New York Public Library's best Books for the Teen Age 2008.[68][69] In 2009 Jarrett founded Nylon Records and signed French female pop group Plastiscines as its first act, after seeing them on the cover of French fashion and style magazine Citizen K.[70][71] Also in 2009, Nylon introduced its iPhone app; MinOnline listed it (among "Top 5 iPhone Mags You May Have Missed") as "a pleasant surprise. This fashion and culture mag has one of the more attractive magazine-like designs among print brands on mobile."[72]

The September 2010 issue of the magazine was released on the iPad, including video, music and some exclusive content. The iPad edition is in the Apple iTunes newsstand.[73]

Nylon's writers cover various fashion cultures, including changes to fashion brands, fashion icons, and cover models. It recently covered an article on Ralph Lauren entering into a contract with Fortnite and changing its brand logo for the new fashion releases while co-hosting a game tournament. Nylon informs readers of updates on different fashion brands and covers models' lives that otherwise would not be known to the media. [74]

• Street: The Nylon Book of Global Style. Universe (2006). ISBN 978-0-7893-1501-4.
• Pretty: The Nylon Book of Beauty. Universe (2007). ISBN 0-7893-1539-4.
• Street View: The New Nylon Book of Global Style. Universe (2010). ISBN 978-0-7893-2088-9.

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