There’s no denying a true creative calling. After her departure from French Vogue in January 2011, it was only a matter of time before Carine Roitfeld claimed a new editorial throne. But this time, it’s literally got her name written all over it. Revealed today via an exclusive interview with WWD, the biannual publication will carry the eponymous title of its revered leader, the same scripted signature “CR” that closed her editorial prose for the past decade.

As expected, we are thrilled for the publication’s debut, which is slated for its first issue September 2012. Mock-ups have been released and here’s what you can look forward to from CR Fashion Book this fall. Aesthetically, the printed magazine will be slightly oversized and will feature Roitfeld’s personal touch from its logo, gracing the matte cover and poised at the top of pages, to handwritten section titles including Icons, Muses, Skincare, and Fitness. Of the premiere issue’s 288 pages, almost a third of them will be dedicated to advertising. Gucci, Chanel, Giorgio Armani, Cartier, and Louis Vuitton—the usual roster of luxury brands found in high fashion magazines—are all in on the ad conversation. We don’t blame them, the planned 50,000 copies to hit stands in Europe, Asia, and the U.S., are going to fly off the shelves. (Even at it’s $9.95 cover price.)

Creatively, the New York-based magazine will be bucking the trends of traditional periodicals. Modern and forward-thinking, CR seems to be focused on the beauty of fashion, art, and culture featured in it’s glossy bound pages. (Read: collectable.) “I hope people will want to keep it—trendy and timeless at the same time,” Roitfeld tells WWD. Front of book content will be foregone, spreads will be featured exclusively, and longer-format articles will appear with a twist, published in their author’s native languages with following translations. Roitfeld describes the new magazine as a “celebration of fashion and creativity” and plans to share the spotlight with established and emerging talent from all aspects of the industry including photographers, writers, models, stylists, and of course, design. Each issue will center around a theme; the mock-up’s being “Obsession” as inspired by 1966 French film Who are you, Polly Magoo? Yes, CR will fit right in with the avant-garde style of soon-to-be sister publications Visionaire, V, and VMen, of Fashion Media Group LLC.

Fresh, new, and not at all vengeful, Roitfeld dismisses any suggestion that her new publication is a sort of revenge for her notoriously abrupt exit from Vogue. “Vogue is a very beautiful magazine, an institution, and I learned so much working there,” she said with reverence. “You can’t put yourself into competition with a magazine like Vogue; you have to create something new, something different.”

CRFashionBook.com for print or digital subscriptions and updates.

Courtesy of WWD

Courtesy of WWD