British magazine i-D relaunched its online home in November last year after being adopted by the Vice family, continuing the trend of glossies to scale down on print and up the focus on digital. Now the fashion media paragon is taking things one step further by launching an antipodean version of its renovated site.
The video-focused i-D.co will be headed up in Australia and New Zealand by Vice Editor-at-Large Briony Wright. No specific date has been given for the launch with the news dropped teasingly via press release. The site will incorporate antipodes-specific interviews, opinion pieces, fashion films, personal columns and fashion shoots into the existing global content created by the publication’s London-based team.
“Australia and New Zealand are brimming with unique talents that have been waiting for an international platform as smart and captivating as i-D.co,” Wright stated in the release. “We couldn’t be more excited about being part of the evolution of this amazing brand and to break new ground here with the distinctive i-D voice.”
Editorial Director Holly Shackleton stressed that like the London and New York versions, our own i-D.co will strive to occupy a unique place between print and digital. “i-D.co marks an exciting new chapter in i-D’s history and we’re so excited to expand our fan base into new terrain like Australia,” she elaborated. “The site is so much more than a magazine brought to life; it’s the go-to destination for a global community of fashion fans who heard it here first.”
It’s not exactly news we saw coming, but it now seems a natural extension. Vice has had its hooks in Australia and New Zealand for awhile, while left-of-center publications like Oyster have experienced immense growth thanks to an increased concentration on unique digital content. Brit niche magazine-cum-site 10 Magazine also recently launched an Australian version under ex-Harper’s Bazaar Editor Alison Veness-McGourty, combining geographically specific features with content created in London.
Considering how much imported magazines cost at Australian newsstands, we’re psyched to join the i-D family. Wink-faces all round.
