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  Sorbet, Roast Pork, and Risk: New 'Vanity Fair' Looks for Glamour in Germany

Sorbet, Roast Pork, and Risk New 'Vanity Fair' Looks for Glamour in Germany

By Jochen-Martin Gutsch

Part 2: Part II: Is There Enough Glamour in Germany for Vanity Fair?

"A mixture of glamorous stories, hard news, as well as facts and figures," says Poschardt. More or less everything, in other words.

Condé Nast is spending a pretty penny to realize the project in Germany. It's the publishing house's biggest ever investment outside America -- up to €50 million ($65 million). Some say it's costing €80 million, others estimated as much as €200 million. Bernd Runge, Condé Nast manager in Germany, calls it the last grand adventure on the German magazine market. The company wants to sell at least 120,000 copies, but Runge is hoping for 300,000 -- comparable to the Italian edition.

At first Poschardt wanted to make a monthly magazine. He flew to New York in the summer of 2005 and stayed for four weeks to see what made the US publication tick. But the plan changed in 2006 after the Italian edition's weekly format proved so successful. Poschardt and Condé Nast decided to develop a new concept.

From a monthly to a weekly

But the German editorial staff wasn't informed. Poschardt only began to speak more frequently about covering weekly events. He hired a few more people for a monthly that he knew would never make it to newsstands. The new concept was made official last autumn. "A few people were shocked after it was announced, but most thought it was great. Most were euphoric about it," he says.

On the magazine's Web site Poschardt wrote: "Our goal is clear: exclusive and current, modern and elegant, humorous and pragmatic, clever and sexy, to become the voice of the new Germany." He explained that Vanity Fair aimed to "frame and define the aesthetic of the Berlin Republic." The publisher Condé Nast talks of a "new magazine for a new Germany." Ambitious indeed.

The last German magazine that was so ambitious was probably Tango. That was the name of the "illustrated-info" mag from Hamburg-based publisher Gruner + Jahr. Editor-in-Chief Hans-Hermann Tiedje spoke in 1994 of "printed television." Nobody had any idea what that was, but it sounded like you had to be onboard. Tango lasted all of three quarters of a year and Tiedje, once editor-in-chief of Germany's biggest daily paper Bild, became a PR consultant.

Sitting a while in Poschardts office and listening to him is a bit like traveling back in time. Speaking of the new Berlin Republic, the zeitgeist, the voice of a new Germany, using empty labels, it all comes from that era when Gerhard Schröder became chancellor in 1998 and when the so-called New Economy was about to make some people a lot of money. Berlin was on its way to become New York. Or Moscow. The winds changed daily. Everyone in Germany talked about the political New Middle (Neue Mitte), but nobody knew where that middle was. It was merely an idea, or perhaps only a slogan.

But these days Germany is governed by a so-called grand coalition spanning the left-right divide. There is no middle. Perhaps Vanity Fair will be a society magazine that covers a society that no longer exists.

At what price?

However, the most astonishing thing about the magazine's launch is the pure paranoia that it has created. Ask Condé Nast about the cover price and the publishing house reacts as if Tehran's mullahs are being questioned about Iran's nuclear weapons program. It's enough to make one want to shout: It's only a magazine! It'll probably cost €1.50 to start. At least that's what the seemingly concerned competition says.

Editors at established German magazines like Bunte, Gala, and Max, are all a bit afraid ahead of the new launch. Gruner + Jahr has started a huge advertising campaign for both Stern and Park Avenue.

Andreas Petzold, who is joint editor-in-chief with Thomas Osterkorn at Stern, has temporarily taken over the helm of Park Avenue, the lifestyle publication started only in 2005. Stern is also supposedly planning to run more celebrity coverage. There were also accusations that one journalist spied on what Vanity Fair was planning. And rumors abound that Gruner + Jahr is already working on a magazine in case Vanity Fair is successful. The working title sounds like something Poschardt would come up with: Neues Deutschland or New Germany.

But times are good for journalists. Rainer Schmidt, Poschardt's deputy at Vanity Fair, used to have the same job at Park Avenue. Alexander von Schönburg, the unsuccessful former editor-in-chief at Park Avenue will also soon join the magazine's staff. That even Michel Friedman, a controversial and once publicly disgraced German television personality, is onboard isn't particularly encouraging. He's supposed to report and write. Suddenly, anything seems possible.

Sorbet and appetizers

Poschardt would like to have plenty of glamour in his magazine. But glamour is a limited commodity in Germany. America has Hollywood. The German film industry just doesn't have the same star power. Poschardt would also like to mix politics and glamour. The Berlin Republic is become more glamorous all the time, he believes. The way German politicians are packaged can be improved upon.

There's already a story on the glamour of Germany's often downright dowdy Social Democratic Party (SPD) in the works. Poschardt has spoken with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and a few days ago Berlin's Mayor Klaus Wowereit, known in the German capital for his love of the spotlight, came by his office. Perhaps they'll do something together. Perhaps a photo spread.

In the current issue of the US Vanity Fair, Washington's powerbrokers are stylized in photos. Poschardt could do the same with Berlin's powerbrokers. Glamour for Germany's rather drab government ministers and party leaders. "Theoretically, glamour is simply another concept of reality. But the Germans believe it's a type of anti-reality," says Poschardt.

Outside the window, in the new Berlin, in the new Germany, it starts to snow. The publisher says Vanity Fair is meant to become the magazine of choice for the "new achieving elites." Poschardt explains his target group so: "It's about movers and shakers."

The first cover on Thursday will show a man. Presumably a mover and shaker. Sorbet will be served. And appetizers.