Hermès Taps Former Vanity Fair Fashion Director for New Role

After years in magazine publishing, Michael Carl is going over to the brand side with new role at Hermès.

The Paris-based luxury house has named Carl its first vice president of press and influence, WWD has learned. Carl joins Hermès after finding himself among those in an early round of cuts by Radhika Jones at Vanity Fair, where he worked as fashion director for about seven years. Jones has gone on to make a number of other changes to the masthead, and even to the magazine’s font, while Condé Nast attempts to rein in costs and and shrink its portfolio. Prior to his Vanity Fair tenure, Carl also worked at Nylon (now Web-only) and Interview (sort of bankrupt), so it seems like a good time to make the move out of publishing.

Carl is also known to be charismatic and has managed to gain a large social media following of his own, counting 28,000 Twitter followers and going on 36,000 Instagram followers. Although Hermès has more than 7 million followers on its own Instagram account, with Carl’s title covering press and influence, it sounds like he will be working on creating some partnerships and leveraging the brand’s already sizable social following.

Carl declined to comment beyond saying he’s “excited” to take up the role. He starts next week and will be based in New York reporting to Peter Malachi, Hermès’ senior vice president of communications.

“We are delighted to welcome Michael with confidence that he will bring his depth of experience and editorial sensibility to Hermès at a time of significant media transformation,” Malachi said.

For More, See:

What’s the Role of Today’s Magazine Editors?

Condé Nast’s Reckoning Continues

Future of Media Demands Radical Change

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