Vanity Fair's Star Quality; Editor Celebrates Hollywood and Advertisers Applaud

The New York Times/March 15, 1999

By Alex Kuczynski

See Scan of Donna Karan insert promoting Yogaville (Large image)

Donna Karan International is taking advantage of Vanity Fair's glamour-soaked image this month. The company has produced a 128-page stand-alone insert, shrink-wrapped with the magazine's annual Hollywood issue. Originally timed to coincide with the opening of the Donna Karan flagship store in Manhattan, the booklet is one of the largest single advertisements ever to appear associated with a magazine.

Mitchell B. Fox, Vanity Fair's publisher, said the profit margin was slim on such a mammoth stand-alone insert but that the magazine benefited "when a prestigious company like Donna Karan chooses us to convey its largest single communication ever," he said. Donna Karan, chairman of Donna Karan International, said she would not have produced the ad -- which cost her company more than $1 million -- if Vanity Fair had not been interested.

"For me, there was no choice but Vanity Fair, which reaches a huge audience of men and women," she said. "And the Hollywood issue is a particularly powerful issue. The magazine stands for everything the clothes are about: personality, eclecticism, glamour, timelessness."