Cool on cool
: Inside the small and self-important world of New York media, this is intriguing news: Kurt Andersen has been hired as editorial director and chairman of Colors, Benetton’s magazine, and he, in turn, had the good sense to hire Simon Dumenco — of the aforelinked New York Magazine column on bloggers — as editor of the magazine to “recapture the buzz it had in the mid-1990’s.”
Andersen was a founder of Spy and Inside and now he’s the host of my other favorite radio show, Studio 360 (which will continue). He’s one of the most admired guys I know in this small and self-important New York media scene. I’m delighted to see that a guy my age can still be hired to recapture buzz. Dumenco, who columnizes for both NY Mag and Folio, is — and I’m not just saying this because he flogged blogs today — the best low-key critic of media around now; he has an engaging viewpoint and voice and he’s the guy who was smart enough to hire Elizabeth Spiers away from Gawker for New York.
I haven’t looked at Colors in years. Now I will. Smart hires.