Newsmakers Of The Week : Kate Lanphear & Raf Simons
Each week, FMD’s news-desk team highlights one name to note from all that’s happened in the Fashion industry. This week for the first time we have not one, but two Newsmakers as we turn our attention to Kate Lanphear and Raf Simons. Lanphear and Simons, both announced last week that they were stepping down from their positions as editor-in-chief of Maxim and Creative Director of Christian Dior respectively.
For her part, Kate Lanphear began her fashion career in Australia. She worked for eight years in Sydney at Vogue Australia and Harper’s Bazaar Australia. She returned to America where she landed a role at Harper’s Bazaar. It wasn’t long before she was offered the role of senior fashion editor at Elle and then style director in 2008. Lanphear joined Maxim in September of last year with the aim of reinventing it as a men’s lifestyle magazine by finding a more empowering way of celebrating women. Under her creative direction Maxim’s traditional “Hot 100 List” was rechristened “The Hot List” with Taylor Swift landing the top spot. Earlier this year in keeping with Lanphear’s new direction of tweaking Maxim’s view of women, the magazine also launched a Swimwear line. It’s September 2015 issue saw Idris Alba marking the first ever man to grace its cover solo. But all of the Lanphear’s efforts to transform the magazine into a sophisticated success seemed an uphill task with the magazines’ readership having tanked over the last few months.
Raf Simons on the other hand is best-known for his career change from the world of industrial and furniture design to the world of menswear. The 47-year-old Belgian designer launched his eponymous label in 1995 and was appointed creative director of Jil Sander in 2005, taking the reins of its men’s and women’s lines. In 2011 following the shocking exit from designer John Galliano, who was dismissed by Christian Dior, Simons took over the creative reigns of the french fashion house, giving it a more modernist direction.
For more on Raf Simons visit his profile and for Kate Lanphear check out her work for Maxim. As always don’t forget to check back next week to find out who our next Newsmaker will be.
