Wallpaper spinoff takes a pasting
By Ciar Byrne, The Guardian
The future of Spruce, the fashion spinoff to style bible Wallpaper, looks uncertain after its publishers said there would be no spring issue of the magazine.
IPC announced today that the spring issue of Spruce had been "suspended" and refused to give any guarantees about the future of the title.
Instead, it is bringing out a 60-page global fashion directory in conjunction with Wallpaper and increasing the fashion content of the monthly glossy.
But a spokeswoman for Spruce insisted it had not been closed.
"If we were closing the title I would have said closure, not suspension," she said, adding that no decision about Spruce would be taken until the new editor of Wallpaper had been announced.
In a statement IPC said: "As a result of Wallpaper's increased commitment to fashion, the spring issue of its sister publication, Spruce, has been suspended.
"This will enable the Wallpaper fashion team, many of whom also work on Spruce, to dedicate their time to the increased fashion coverage within the core brand."
Spruce was launched in August 2001 to take an in-depth look at the fashion industry, covering the people and technologies behind the scenes as well as featuring cutting-edge style.
But a question-mark has hung over Spruce's future ever since Tyler Brulé, the founder of Wallpaper, decided to quit after 49 issues.
Following Brulé's highly publicised exit, IPC was quick to bring in Christina Ferrari, the founding editor of US entertainment magazine Teen People, as interim editor.
Wallpaper and Spruce, owned by AOL/ Time Warner, were brought under control of IPC when the US media giant bought the UK publishing house for £1.1bn last year.
Issue three of Spruce goes on sale next Wednesday.