Exclusive | Always in fashion: Harper's Bazaar's Nishat Fatima

The new emerging destination of fashion - India witnessed the launch of its very own edition of Harper’s BAZAAR in February 2009. Hearst Magazines, the publishers of Harper’s BAZAAR across 28 countries, has partnered with India Today Group to present the world’s oldest fashion magazine in India.

With a tag line ‘Where Fashion Gets Personal’, the Indian edition has been positioned to appeal to the sensibilities of the sophisticated, elegant and provocative global-Indian woman in the age group of 30-45. It mainly caters to the well dressed woman with a well dressed mind! For 140 years, Harper’s BAZAAR has been a beacon of style, elegance and inspiration for women the world over. The 29th international edition, Harper’s BAZAAR India continues to match the exacting standards set by its cousins around the world.

Adgully caught up with Nishat Fatima, Editor Harper’s Bazaar, to understand their strategies and vision in the Indian market.

Adgully(AG) : What is the vision and the focus of the magazine?

Nishat Fatima (NF): As the world's oldest continuously published fashion magazine, Harper's Bazaar has an incredible legacy and heritage of great writing, path-breaking design and outstanding fashion and that is just something we want to add a new chapter to. The magazine presents elegant, sophisticated, well curated fashion for the woman who has her own sense of style.

AG: During the conceptualization of the magazine what were the challenges that you faced?

NF: Harper's Bazaar was launched in the country four years ago (in 2009) and was the first magazine to celebrate personal style and to say that women were fabulous at every age. India is still a growing fashion market, and it is my task at Harper's Bazaar to help the reader navigate these fresh waters. 

AG: Could you share with us about the Target audience of the magazine and the strategy you keep in mind while developing the content for the desired TG?

NF: The Harper's Bazaar reader is an elegant, affluent, urban woman most likely living in any of the metros. She is sophisticated, well-traveled and understands luxury. Most importantly, she has a point of view. However, she is time-poor and the content of Harper's Bazaar is tailored to offer her the best in terms of curation of fashion, news, culture and design so that she has all the information required to live her fashionable life.

AG: What have been the three key milestones of the magazine’s journey so far?

NF: For me, they would be: a) The amazing launch issue which created a buzz from the get-go with its Swarovski-studded masthead, which we followed by some other memorable masthead innovations b) The celebration of the designer as a star, which has taken many different forms, from designers writing for us, shooting for us, to appearing in our shoots and designing special pieces for the magazine and c) The integration of India into the magazine - we were the first to inform the Indian reader of the luxury and high fashion available in the country and to share with them the Indian inspiration the West was taking time and again.

AG: According to you, what position does the print industry hold in the digital era today?

NF: I think print holds its position very well. Digital is an amazing add-on to print, but print is still the foundation.

AG: The brand, Harper's Bazaar has made its presence felt on the digital platform but yet to make a breakthrough in the Indian edition! Could you share the reason for this?

NF: The Harper's Bazaar website is a work in progress, but it has a facebook and twitter presence and will soon be expanding to other social media as well.

AG: What would be your marketing and promotional strategies for the next two years?

NF: We are very excited about our new campaign 'Always in Fashion' which features Sonam Kapoor, Anushka Sharma and Deepika Padukone. It's a line that reinforces the timelessness of the brand and builds on its storied legacy.

AG: What is that one unique aspect you keep in mind while developing each issue with regard to content?

NF: Each issue is theme based and the effort is always on getting the right mix of stories and most importantly an element of surprise whether in terms of stories, shoots, design or ideas.

AG: You have been a part of the magazine industry for a while now, where do you think such niche or customized content stands?

NF: I think it's at a very interesting point. As the market grows this is what the reader looks to find; if you look at the West you will find dozens of niche titles, and I think India is getting there too. | By Aanchal Kohli [aanchal@adgully.com]