While it might not be obvious to the casual reader, some of fashion’s biggest blog empires — including those of Anna Dello Russo, Derek Blasberg, Bryanboy, and Susanna Lau, who runs Style Bubble — are hosted by NowManifest, which is owned by Condé Nast. Or at least, they were. The Business of Fashion reports that the network shuttered in November, a closure that has gone unreported until now. The company was acquired by Condé in 2012 (to the surprise of some of the bloggers, who thought they were entering into a partnership at the time), and lived under the Fairchild Fashion Group umbrella, hosting a multitude of bloggers — in addition to those listed above, Rumi Neely’s Fashion Toast, Danielle Bernstein’s WeWoreWhat, and Jane Aldridge’s Sea of Shoes existed on the network. When Condé Nast sold Fairchild Fashion Group to Penske Media Corporation last year, it retained control of Style.com and NowManifest. (The site, by the way, was still live and updated with posts as of today.)
“We are redoubling our focus on expanding our industry-leading site, Style.com,” a spokesperson for Style.com told the site. “We thank the NowManifest bloggers for their contributions to the portal.” So, where does that leave Blasberg et al? The design and content of their respective sites won’t be changing, but the NowManifest portal managed their advertising, which they now have to handle independently — without the might of a media giant like Condé Nast behind them. However, there doesn’t appear to be much (public) strife — both Dello Russo and Lau told BoF that they are excited for the new chapter, with Lau adding that her relationship with NowManifest remains amicable. So much for any hopes of soap-opera-style drama there.