I was joined today by Laurel Kamen and Christine Irvin, co-founders of  The Alloro Collection, a new ready to wear and accessories collection designed for women who have had breast cancer. I was surprised to learn that the collection, which does not sacrifice fashion for function, is truly the first of its kind since there was clearly a need for such an innovation for so long. The idea for the collection came to Laurel on the evening before her own breast cancer surgery a year and a half ago. After being diagnosed with cancer in her left breast, she elected to have a double mastectomy to reduce the risk of a recurrence, a decision which ended up saving her life. When Christine got the call from her longtime friend to tell her about the idea, she was all in. “She could have asked me if I wanted to go in on starting a car wash in Pittsburgh that night, and I would have said yes,” quipped Christine, “but, clearly, this idea was one that was about creating something for women with breast cancer where a real need existed and was a chance to help women restart their lives.”

Christine Irvin, Diane Clehane and Laurel Kamen

The Alloro Collection, whose name comes from the Italian pronunciation of Laurel’s name, was launched at a trunk show in Washington, DC, in March and immediately garnered extensive coverage in The Washington Post with a full page story by Robin Givhan and in WWD and W with pieces by Susan Watters. The 20-piece signature collection of tops, dresses and accessories which range from $160 to $250 is designed by Laurel’s cousin, New York-based designer Roedean Landeaux, whose own mother died of breast cancer. (There is also a more afford ably priced line of pieces under $50.)

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Together 23 years and married for 20 which, in Tinseltown time is the equivalent of forever (“I was getting cranky waiting for him to ask me,” says Kelly), Mitch and Kelly have seemingly found the perfect project in which to work together in Magic City. Born and raised in Miami Beach, Mitch, who once toiled as a writer for Rolling Stone and Vanity Fair, tells me that the series is the most personal of projects as it allows him to recreate the Miami of his childhood by shooting on location and constructing a massive sound stage populated with full scale models of the iconic hotels (not to mention all those great cars) of this bygone era. ”Sometimes I look around and think, ‘This is like a Twlight Zone episode,’” he told me.

Kelly Lynch, Diane Clehane and Mitch Glazer

Before he began shooting the very first episode and after the final touches were put in place on Miramar Playa Hotel, the property owned by the show’s brooding, sexy Ike Evans (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), Mitch brought his 91-year-old father, Leonard Glazer, who worked as an electrical engineer on the strip during the fifties, to the set. Mitch found the very same chandelier his father had installed all those years ago at The Eden Roc in a box at a Miami salvage store and gave it its rightful place of honor in the lobby of the fictional Miramar Playa. “My father took one look and said, ‘You built a hotel!” recalled Mitch, smiling at the memory. “There are so few things in life that you know better than anyone else,” he told me. “This world happens to be that for me, so I was very fortunate and it gave me a lot of confidence.”

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Robert Rufino

“I am so excited that Robert is joining our staff – I have known him for years, and have admired his work for even longer,” said Elle Decor’s editor-in-chief, Michael Boodro, in a statement. “His design expertise is the perfect complement to our exceptional team, which also includes Anita Sarsidi and Cynthia Frank.”

Rufino’s appointment is effective April 29.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

After the last few head-spinning Wednesdays at Michael’s kept me ricocheting between Hollywood A-listers (Meg Ryan) and tabloid targets (Rachel Uchitel), it was something of a relief to turn my attention to the restaurant’s core constituency of authors and their agents (remember books?) who have always viewed the dining room at 55th & Fifth as a de facto company cafeteria. When I arrived a few minutes before noon and overheard Tom Connor telling L’Oreal Sherman he was meeting Gretchen Young for lunch, I just had to go over and introduce myself. Gretchen was my editor at Hyperion, and we worked together on two bestsellers: I Love You, Mom! a collection of celebrity essays I edited and Objection! which I co-wrote with Nancy Grace. Like I always say, in certain circles, all roads lead to Michael’s.

Now vice president and executive editor at Grand Central Publishing, Gretchen recently signed Tom’s clients Willie Geist and his father Bill Geist to write a father-son book scheduled for publication next year to coincide with Father’s Day. When Willie (who, it should be noted, is quite the snappy dresser) arrived, I asked him if the dapper duo had ever worked together before. “Aside from some yard work, no,” he told me. The yet-to-be-titled tome does have a subtitle: Birds, Bees and Other Conversations We Never Had. “It’s not going to be one of those super earnest father-son books,” says Willie. Bill describes the book as something “born out of our experiences and what we’ve learned from each other.”

“It’s really our humorous take on things,” says Willie, which seems only fitting since his first book, the bestselling American Freak Show, was a send-up of our tabloid culture featuring imagined conversations with characters like ’President’ Sarah Palin. The upcoming title will chronicle life growing up in the Geist household through a mix of essays and interviews. “I think we’ll both write things and then bounce it off each other,” says Bill. Sounds like there’s no shortage of material. “There’s the time the Christmas presents were accidentally locked in the trunk of dad’s company car and a sledgehammer was wielded,” recalls Willie. “And then there was the summer I was sent off to what was supposed to be an idyllic summer camp in New Hampshire, and I’m not exaggerating when I say the counselors were fresh-out-of-rehab juvenile delinquents, and there were literally knife fights going on around me. We’ll basically write about what not to do.”

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I couldn’t imagine what yet another reality competition series about fashion could bring to the party, but when I watched the screener of the premiere episode in anticipation for our lunch I was pleasantly surprised. Aside from its stellar production values, The Face has some serious fashion cred thanks to executive producer and supermodel coach Naomi Campbell’s considerable star power (along with fellow coaches Karolina Kurkova and Coco Rocha) and unrivaled sense of what works. As host, Nigel Barker is a commanding yet reassuring presence. Everything on the show has an authenticity that real fashionistas will appreciate, while giving ‘civilians’ a true glimpse into what it really takes to make it in modeling. The most refreshing twist the series offers is in its approach to working with the 12 hopefuls vying to be the new face of ULTA Beauty. The contestants also get some major opportunities in the course of the show, including photo shoots with the legendary Patrick Demarchelier and challenges with W magazine. Celebrities Wendy Williams and Amare Stoudemire make appearances as guest judges.

Coco Rocha and Diane Clehane

The three supermodels act as mentors to their respective teams and took their roles very seriously. Even though the show wrapped months ago, Naomi, Karolina and Coco forged such strong bonds with their ‘girls’ that all of them remain in touch with the wannabe models, offering career advice whenever the need should arise. “I really worry about my girls,” Naomi told me. “It’s funny, when I’m working in New York or Paris, I always feel like I’m going to miss everyone when the week is over, but after a few days you get on with it. When we finished shooting the show, I felt a little sad. I still talk to my girls and I’m texting them all the time. I really grew quite fond of them.”

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Michael Boodro and Dara Caponigro will remain editors-in-chief of Elle Decor and Veranda, respectively, but the Design Group will share market and copy editors between them all.

David Carey, CEO of Hearst, praised the restructuring as a “fresh new approach,” while Turner added that by launching the Design Group, Hearst is “really changing how branded content is created.”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Michael Boodro

[Boodro] managed to buck the sliding circulation and ad page trend that has plagued many of his peers during the first half, with newsstand up 6 percent to 92,275, despite a cover price increase to $5.99. Ad pages rose 11 percent to 524 and for the second half, Elle Decor published its largest September issue ever, up 26 percent.

The secret might be in Boodro understanding what the brand is and not trying to be anything more than that. “We’re not going to get Valentino or Karl Lagerfeld,” said Boodro. “They will go to Vogue or Harper’s Bazaar, but I don’t think we’re competing with say, Lonny, in terms of projects. There is a validity to beautiful pictures on paper and a hunger for that.”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Elle Decor added another experienced name to their staff today with the announcement of Mieke ten Have as associate style editor.  Throughout her career ten Have has made stops at The Wall Street Journal: Off Duty, Vogue, Domino, and Revolution magazines.  She will report to recently named editor-in-chief Michael Boodro.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

On Friday, the company announced that Vanessa Holden, the editor-in-chief of Martha Stewart Weddings, had been promoted to the same position at Living. Katie Hatch, Weddings‘ style director, will replace Holden at the bridal title. Meanwhile, Gael Towey, who was working as acting editor of Living was named editorial director at MSLO. Towey MSLO’s former chief creative officer, stepped into the role in February when Michael Boodro left the company.

Holden joined MSLO as Weddings‘ editor-in-chief in August 2008 from her own consulting business. She previously worked as creative director at Real Simple magazine and co-founded food and lifestyle magazine Donna Hay. She has also worked at the Australian versions of Marie Claire and Marie Claire Lifestyle as well as Vogue Entertaining and Travel and Vogue Living.

New Weddings editor Hatch is a former lawyer and freelancer who has worked at Living and the now-defunct MSLO title Blueprint. She was named associate style editor at Weddings in 2000.

Full release after the jump

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Boodro replaces Mitchell Owens who will become editor-at-large.

“I am thrilled to welcome Michael back to Elle Decor,” Margaret Russell, editor-in-chief said in a statement. “He is an amazing talent and a trusted expert in the shelter category. His sophisticated editorial tone and extraordinary experience will be a terrific asset to the magazine.”

The full release is after the jump.

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• Air America Sold: And Al Franken‘s leaving. [AP | ETP]
• Judith Miller: First up to testify at Scooter Libby CIA leak trial. [E&P]
• Top Chef Winner: Spoiled again before show airs. [Eater]
• Martha: Lures Culture & Travel editor Michael Boodro away from Louise T. MacBain. [NYP]
• Nickelodeon: Launches “Second Life for ‘tweens.’” [Mediaweek]
• Times Soccer Story: Leads to Hollywood fight over movie rights. [WSJ]
• VH1: Developing show about bloggers. [Jossip]
• Time Inc.: Mulling health portal. [BusinessWeek]
• NYTimes.com, NYPost.com: Web traffic climbing fast. [HuffPo]
• Demetri Martin: Popular on the Internet, shills without shilling. [NYT]
  

  New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

  ]]> Dylan http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlny/air-america-sold-franken-out-judy-miller-testifies-top-chef-spoiled-martha-lures-boodro-from-macbain-demetri-martin-shills-vh1-loves-bloggers_b4277#disqus_thread http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlny/air-america-sold-franken-out-judy-miller-testifies-top-chef-spoiled-martha-lures-boodro-from-macbain-demetri-martin-shills-vh1-loves-bloggers_b4277 http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlny/media-events-02-01-07_b4296 Tue, 30 Jan 2007 15:28:53 +0000