Vogue Singapore

• 1. Introduction

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  Vogue Singapore has lived twice. Its debut in 1994 featured actress Joan Chen on the cover, with a theme of East meets West. That first life ended with a January 1997 issue. Then came more than two decades without a single issue. When the magazine came back in 2020, its publisher, editor, and even the technology embedded in its pages had changed entirely. What made Singapore the chosen city for a Vogue edition, and why did the first attempt fail so quickly?

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• 2. Haven of Fashion

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  In March 1994, Condé Nast announced plans to launch the inaugural Asian edition of Vogue in Singapore that September. The company already had an administrative office in the city. Editing and design work was handled by the Vogue Australia team in Sydney until a local editorial team could be assembled.

  Nancy Pilcher, then the editor of Vogue Australia, offered a direct explanation for why Singapore was chosen. She called the city "probably one of the best places in the Asia Pacific to do business in." She added: "Singapore is like a haven of fashion. Every single label in the world is here." Those words captured Condé Nast's logic. Singapore was not just geographically convenient. It was already saturated with the global luxury brands that Vogue's advertising model depended on.

  The magazine was anticipated to begin with a circulation of 15,000 to 18,000 copies, sold at $3.70 per issue. The numbers were modest by Vogue's global standards. What arrived on newsstands, however, would exceed those projections in the very first print run.

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• 3. A Debut in Numbers

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  The September issue marked the official launch, with a print run of 35,000 copies for distribution within Singapore. An additional 10,000 were allocated for Malaysia, and 1,000 each for Brunei, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand. That regional footprint reflected the scale of Condé Nast's ambition for the title.

  The cover price settled at $3.30 per copy. The magazine launched under the name Vogue Australia Singapore, making the title's origins explicit. By 1996, Michal McKay had taken over as editor-in-chief. Her tenure would prove brief.

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• 4. Too Small a Market

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  In 1996, The Wall Street Journal reported that Condé Nast Asia-Pacific planned to suspend publication of its Singapore edition. The reason was a slowing economy in the city-state. Didier Guerin, then president of Condé Nast Asia-Pacific, was direct. "The magazine was no longer economically viable in such a small market unless we compromised the quality of the magazine," he said. Advertisers were withdrawing. Print sales were dropping.

  The January 1997 issue was the last. It went on sale on the 30th of December 1996. When Vogue returned to Singapore, the publisher behind it would not be Condé Nast.

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• 5. A New Architecture

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  In January 2020, Condé Nast announced that Vogue Singapore would relaunch later that year. The agreement was a licensing arrangement with Indochine Media Ventures. The Singapore-based company already published regional editions of Robb Report and the Singapore edition of Esquire. Michael von Schlippe, president of Indochine Media, told WWD that the website would not sit behind a paywall at launch. He did not rule one out further down the line. Print issues would retail for around nine Singaporean dollars.

  The person chosen to lead the editorial side was Norman Tan, who took the role of editor-in-chief in April 2020. Tan had previously held the same position at Esquire Singapore for more than two years. Before that, in 2015, he founded Buro Singapore. He holds a double degree in commerce and law from the University of Melbourne. He would guide Vogue Singapore to its September 2020 launch and its place as the 27th international edition of Vogue.

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• 6. Three Faces

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  Diya Prabhakar, a Singaporean model, appeared on the main cover of the new edition. Chinese model Ju Xiaowen and Japanese actress Nana Komatsu filled the other two in a triptych format. Each copy, print and digital alike, carried scannable QR codes and content designed for augmented and virtual reality. Desmond Lim would succeed Norman Tan as editor-in-chief beginning in 2023, carrying the title into its next chapter.

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