Vogue India's black magic

Conde Nast India-owned Vogue India magazine is celebrating its sixth anniversary in India and has come out with a special issue with the theme, Magic of Black. The issue has 240 advertising pages and is priced at Rs 150.

As a testament to black's many avatars, the magazine's lead feature story, 'Drawings on slate', includes testimonies from nine Indian designers about their blackest fashion fantasy. Some of the other stories around the theme are 'Dangerous liaisons', 'Rise of the dark heroine', and 'Amrita'.

Priya Tanna, editor, Vogue India, says, "Black is a big, bold colour. But it is, in equal parts, the absence of colour. It lends to everything; it is in seduction, it is in mourning. It is in magic and fantasy as much as it is in the benign calm of the night sky. And here lies the paradox of black-it makes so many statements at once and yet it lends well to a fail-safe. Not surprisingly, the fashion world has adopted it as a uniform to hide (think clever black shift) and to reveal (slinky gown with a thigh-high slit?). Ethereal pastels and blinding neons aren't for all. But black? It is for both the keen-eyed haute couture seekers and the down-to-earth. If fashion owes its back to black, the reverse is true, too. Its connotations are varied enough to spawn a whole issue of Vogue- celebrating fashion's most ubiquitous hue."

She adds that the issue shares the adventures of interesting personalities that start their work shift after 6 pm in 'Midnight's children'. 'A study in black' has the world's most renowned designers sharing their love for black.

Apart from the cover girl, Freida Pinto, and actor Bipasha Basu, the issue has shot with designers such as Rohit Bal, Gaurav Gupta, Kallol Dutta, Arjun Saluja, Anamika Khanna and Tarun Tahiliani, among others.

Vogue India has taken the outdoor route to promote the anniversary issue. To create buzz, the magazine had put up a billboard that featured a quote from designer Suneet Varma that said 'There is no colour darker, sharper or sexier than Black'. In the next phase, it revealed the cover and the cover girl. The outdoor has been strategically placed in select markets of Delhi and Mumbai.

It has also partnered with Radio One in Mumbai and Delhi to reach out to English music audiences and released a television commercial that features Pinto on an English general entertainment channel.

On the digital front, the magazine is carrying out small contests on Facebook and Instagram, such as 'Share your black story', and 'Shoot yourself in black' to create buzz through online.

The magazine's target audiences are well travelled and educated Indians who like to splurge on fashion.

Speaking about the theme, Oona Dhabhar, marketing director, Conde Nast India, says, "Every year we try and identify a theme relevant to the consumer and then create an editorial around it that excites our consumer to purchase the issue."

Vogue India claims a circulation of 60,000 copies, with a readership of about five times that number. The select markets for the magazine include Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru. It is distributed across 120 towns and 60 per cent of the issues are sold on stands, while 40 per cent is through subscription.

Vogue India began distributing in 2007 under the umbrella of Conde Nast India, which also has Conde Nast Traveler, Architectural Digest and GQ.