Vice Media has already made inroads into the world of high-end fashion and art with its 2012 acquisition of i-D and coverage by its verticals like Broadly or Vice.com.
Vice is buying into Garage, the arty mag run by billionaire Roman Abramovich’s wife
Plans include adding staffers in London and New York.
Garage
Today, the company announced another step in that direction — the purchase of a majority stake in Garage Magazine. The small, bi-annual publication (which is offered in both Russian and English) is run by fashion world figure Dasha Zhukova, who’s married to Russian oligarch and Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich.
The terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.
In a statement, Zhukova said that with “Garage’s partnership with VICE, we hope to broaden the lens through which our audiences are exposed to art, architecture, fashion and design.”
Though most people probably haven’t heard of Garage, Vice’s play here is pretty straightforward. Music stars, art world icons and celebrities in general are increasingly flocking to the covers of glossy magazines; they’re good grist for social media, and when they’re produced at scale, advertisers like them too.
For more on that, you can read our April interview with the editor of another artsy mag, the Fader. Also, try comparing the number of ads in the New York Times Magazine versus the Times’ style mag, T.
Vice’s bread and butter is making video, and the company said in a statement that it “will deliver a range of original [Garage Mag] editorial and video programming,” in addition to Garage staff expansions in New York and London.
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
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