What caused
Mademoiselle, the Jan Brady of Condé Nast, to finally crumple?
Blame Jane Pratt. When it was closed on Oct. 1, the once comparatively thoughtful Mademoiselle, edited by British import Mandi Norwood, was still trying to mimic the informal, breaking-the-fourth-wall voice that Ms. Pratt minted over a decade ago at Sassy -a voice that Ms. Pratt successfully mellowed into the pages of Fairchild's
Jane, now flourishing under AdvancePublications, Condé Nast's parent.
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But Mademoiselle, founded in 1935 and acquired from Street & Smith by Sam Newhouse in 1959, could never really make the transition from white-gloved authority to "sister girlfriend." In the post-post-feminist era of product shots, shameless frivolity and frank sexual patter, there was no need for the smart magazine it once was, and no need for another airheaded one.
