Anna Wintour's Fashion "Editing"

September's Vogue is supposedly all about championing the hardships of the working (wo)man in the troubled economy. It has advice about how to shop on a budget, like mixing those super-affordable J Crew classics with Gucci boots. Hey, you could probably make an outfit for under $1000! Great.

American Vogue has faced some accusations in the past about only writing on advertiser's work. This claim was made all the more valid by a mention of EXPRESS legwear. Vogue has a typically Wolford-or-die attitude, so the mention puzzled me until two pages later there was a 3-page layout for EXPRESS. Coincidence?

How is this newsworthy?

In our perfect pitch session a few weeks ago we learned the 7 components of news. They are as follows:

1. Proximity
2. Timeliness
3. Human interest
4. Conflict
5. Eminence/Prominence
6. Consequence
7. Visuals

If a PR person were pitching a story about a new J Crew to the NYT, it might seem like a stretch to expect anything. After all, it's 1. A national company 2. Ongoing 3. Not that interesting 4. Conflict-free 5. Not important 6. Of no consequence to the nation and 7. Not that aesthetically interesting (unless you really like sweater racks).

BUT hey, sometimes a story gets an awesome placement for no apparent reason! Instead of envying this lucky PR professional, I like to see it as a sign: sometimes you never know what a phone call will get you.