PAAR-TAAY!: Alpha Media Inc. is the new owner of Maxim and Blender, so naturally when it was looking to launch a new venture it went right to its beer-and-babes sweet spot and came up with an event production company, called Alpha Productions. The venture quietly began operations a couple of weeks ago, with Doug Turner, previously associate publisher of the now-defunct Stuff, to head it up. For now, its six staff members (four former Dennis Publishing employees, two new hires) are taking on the previously planned added-value events that partner with advertisers. (The Stuff Style Awards were hastily rebranded to the Maxim Style Awards. "It got upgraded," said Turner. This, from someone who was selling Stuff just a couple of months ago? "I can say it now.") "We understand young men's lifestyles and needs and desires," said Turner. And while Maxim and Blender's names will continue to be slapped on invites for advertisers, the hope is the production company will become a stand-alone proposition. "We would like a brand identity all our own," Turner said. — Irin Carmon
THE SEVENTIES WERE IT: There were better-known names at the GQ 50th anniversary party Tuesday — Kanye West, Jay-Z and Beyoncé, Diddy — but a cluster of men known more for their faces and physiques could lay claim to greater influence, at least in the magazine. They were the models who appeared in the magazine in the Seventies and Eighties, mostly in early photos by Bruce Weber that have had a lasting aesthetic impact. As detailed in a story in the October GQ by David Kamp, models like Jeff Aquilon and Michael Ives were discovered by the magazine and emerged as gay icons. And Renauld White, also in attendance, was one of the first black models to appear on the cover. (Sammy Davis Jr. was the first black man, in 1967, and the magazine continues to have a significant African American readership. "I sometimes hear people say it like it's a secret," said editor in chief Jim Nelson. "Art Cooper knew that, I know that, and we celebrate it." Indeed, the party's biggest names were African-American musician-moguls and athletes.)
THE SEVENTIES WERE IT: There were better-known names at the GQ 50th anniversary party Tuesday — Kanye West, Jay-Z and Beyoncé, Diddy — but a cluster of men known more for their faces and physiques could lay claim to greater influence, at least in the magazine. They were the models who appeared in the magazine in the Seventies and Eighties, mostly in early photos by Bruce Weber that have had a lasting aesthetic impact. As detailed in a story in the October GQ by David Kamp, models like Jeff Aquilon and Michael Ives were discovered by the magazine and emerged as gay icons. And Renauld White, also in attendance, was one of the first black models to appear on the cover. (Sammy Davis Jr. was the first black man, in 1967, and the magazine continues to have a significant African American readership. "I sometimes hear people say it like it's a secret," said editor in chief Jim Nelson. "Art Cooper knew that, I know that, and we celebrate it." Indeed, the party's biggest names were African-American musician-moguls and athletes.)
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