Lucire Announces Romanian Edition

For immediate release
New Zealand media
Lucire LLC

Lucire announces Romanian edition

New Zealand’s home-grown fashion magazine starts European edition

Oradea, Romania and Wellington, New Zealand, February 10 (JY&A Media) Lucire is doing what no other fashion magazine in the world has done: branch into foreign editions practically without modification, except for language. The first country to be receiving a non-English monthly edition of Lucire is Romania, set for late April 2005.

Formerly, magazines such as Vogue and Elle have spawned successful foreign editions, but usually with a different cover and features. However, Time and Newsweek have gone global with little differences between international editions.

‘It is so exciting. At Time you can identify with the cover and stories which are the same anywhere in the world, and no one is doing it with a fashion title. Lucire is about to make this happen,’ said Lisa Tardrew, Global Director of Advertising at Lucire.

Jack Yan, founding publisher of Lucire, says, ‘Today’s world is more closely knit. The Asian tsunami illustrated that. What happens in one place affects what happens in another. I have never understood why no fashion magazine recognized that sense of global community, until now.’

‘I am proud to say we are doing all of this from New Zealand, the first time this has happened in this nation,’ said Nicola Brockie, Lucire’s editor-in-chief.

Lucire, which started online in 1997, has usually taken a "one world" approach to coverage. When New Zealand designers were mentioned, it was because they had reached a high, global standard.

The magazine is now the first to take the same one-world philosophy into print and Mr Yan says he has plans for other countries.

The news comes soon the magazine released its third print issue with Grammy Award nominee Vanessa Carlton on its cover, and during the same issue’s second appearance at the fall shows at New York Fashion Week, including an after-party tonight (February 9, 9 p.m., US east coast time) at the Lotus Club hosted by Indashio (www.indashio.com) and its founder Brad Batory. It is the second show sponsored by the magazine during this season's New York Fashion Week.

A positive impression in Romania

Lucire will be co-published at PIXART in Oradea in western Romania and joins a stable of two other titles there, Revista Aeroportului Oradea (Oradea airport magazine) and BH Business, a business magazine dedicated to the Bihor area. Both have already been well received.

‘Lucire made us a very good impression due to the content and quality, and we are sure that it will become a market leader in a short time in Romania,’ said Mirella Lapusca, Romanian publisher of Lucire.

‘In Romania, the launch of Lucire will be made in the second part of April, and we will begin with national promotion (on TV and in the mass media).’

Romanian art director Valentin Lapusca is equally confident. ‘I am sure that Lucire Romania will represent a new standard in the fashion magazines’ market, due to the quality and design. We are pleased to be working on Lucire’s Romanian edition, and we are sure it will became an representative magazine for the market, due to the excellent potential available in Romania.’

True to Mr Yan’s vision, the Romanian edition of Lucire will retain nearly the same features, which means that New Zealand designers who are profiled within the magazine can become equally well known in eastern Europe.

‘Vogue is a global brand with regional editions. That is not for us. We aim to be a global magazine that has a single issue each month, with the same features globally,’ he said.

Other than language, the main changes to the Romanian edition are the size (the Romanian edition is shorter than the New Zealand one, but equally wide) and the shopping pages, which will be adapted to the local market.

Lucire will go head to head with the Romanian edition of Cosmopolitan.

Mr Yan says there will be other editions of Lucire in 2005.

Coincidentally, the word Lucire exists in Romanian. It is a little-used term meaning ‘to reflect’.

About Lucire

Lucire, the global fashion magazine, is one of the world’s leading fashion titles online. Founded in 1997, it covers fashion, beauty, travel and lifestyle, with a global perspective for today’s woman. It is known for providing in-depth, quality journalism. The magazine is targeted at the woman who is tired of the offerings from established fashion players, and chooses to be herself. Lucire is available at .

In 2003, Lucire received a Webby Award nomination—the only New Zealand site to do so that year—and became the first fashion industry partner of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). It was Official Internet Partner of L’Oréal New Zealand Fashion Week for 2002–3, and a media sponsor of the inaugural San Francisco Fashion Week and Official Media Partner of Stockholm FashionDays for 2004–5. It is official media partner of Fashion Week of the Americas in 2005. A print edition launched in the New Zealand market in October 2004 and will launch in Romania in April 2005.

According to Alexa, Lucire was one of the top-ranked pure-play fashion titles in the world before embarking into print. It remains one of the top fashion sites globally, ranking second in Google for fashion magazine.

Note to editors

Lucire is a registered trademark of Jack Yan & Associates and subject to protection in certain jurisdictions. Grammy is a registered trademark of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, Inc., and Vogue is a registered trademark of Advanced Magazine Publishers, Inc., and are used in an editorial fashion only. All other trademarks are the properties of their respective owners and are only used in a descriptive fashion without any intention to infringe.

ENDS

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