With holiday season in full swing, publishers have been gathering around the city to toast their various magazines. While the low-key trend of years past persisted in many corners, other titles still managed to inject a bit of glitz into their affairs.
Time Inc., which is bracing for expected layoffs, tightened its belt by holding this year’s corporate celebration in its New York offices and foregoing parties for individual titles like People and InStyle. Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, still reeling from last week’s layoffs, also stayed close to home, hosting a party in its New York headquarters Wednesday.
Condé Nast, which has traditionally held a holiday luncheon for its top editors at the Four Seasons, shook things up this year by hosting a cocktail party at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Temple of Dendur on Monday night. While only a select few Condé staffers will ever receive a coveted ticket to the Met Ball, at least they’ll have had the chance to party at the museum.
Hearst opted for separate brand parties rather than a big corporate affair. Cosmopolitan partied at the Aspen Social Club while Elle and Seventeen staffers held their bashes at the Hudson Hotel. O, the Oprah Magazine celebrated at the Dream Hotel, while Town & Country had its fête at Bill’s Food & Drink.
Rodale, which closed out 2013 with ad pages up 10 percent, held company-wide holiday luncheons at its headquarters in New York and Emmaus, Penn., in addition to separate brand parties. (Women’s Health, for one, celebrated at publisher Laura Frerer-Schmidt’s loft in Brooklyn.)