Ceri Marsh, editor-in-chief, Fashion magazine
This isn’t the first time Ceri Marsh has slipped into Leanne Delap’s high heels. Long before being named the new editor-in-chief of St. Joseph Media’s Fashion after Delap’s sudden departure this summer, Marsh filled in for Delap’s second maternity leave as fashion editor at the Globe and Mail. Once Delap left the Globe for Toronto-based Fashion, she extended a hand to Marsh to follow her.
Since then, Marsh has held both the fashion news director and editor-at-large positions for the magazine, and helped launch Fashion’s teen brand extension last summer, Fashion 18. She’s also co-authored two Fabulous Girl’s books (both with Flare’s arts/features editor, Kim Izzo), the most recent being The Fabulous Girl’s Code Red: A Guide to Grace Under Pressure. Marsh gave her Pradas a 15-minute rest to chat with Strategy.
So what are you planning to do with the magazine?
I think about it as an evolution. We’re not interested in a radical redesign. People will still see the same architecture they are comfortable with. But we’ll spruce and clean things up and add some new names and photographers. There may be a slight shift in focus to more beauty. And I’m also excited about expanding the breadth of the kind of material we cover. More politics, current events, art, all sorts of culture and health.
What are your personal newsstand faves?
My favourite is American Vogue. Their standards are so consistent, beautiful, delicious and high-end. Allure, British Vogue, British Elle, I love. The energy that’s going on right now in British magazines is really exciting. You can have an intelligent woman’s fashion magazine which also has a story about what to do if you want more sex than your husband.
What kind of personality is best suited for the fashion editor job?
Excitable. Fashion editors tend to be pretty hyper, obsessed with the what’s-next feeling, and also an open-mindedness. You’ll see a fashion editor look at a picture of something that just crazy-ridiculous, trying to find the context.
What do you think of FQ, Jeanne Becker’s latest FashionTelevision spin-off?
It’s a tribute to the fashion industry here. I’m excited to see FQ. But I’ve heard nary a peep about it and it’s funny because fashion people are very gossipy. [At the same time] I’m very competitive. I want every ad and reader other fashion magazines currently have.
Can the editor of Fashion ever have a fashion crisis?
Oh god, I have them all the time. It’s usually when one element of your wardrobe isn’t coming together. You’ve got the shirt and the shoes, but your ass is too big that day for your skirt. But you have to laugh in those moments. If that’s the worst thing that happens in your day, it’s not so bad.
