What’s Going on at i-D?
It’s been a week of changes at i-D, the beloved British indie fashion magazine Karlie Kloss recently bought from Vice Media. The magazine’s editor-in-chief, Alastair McKimm, announced on his Instagram account on Wednesday that that would be his last day leading the title. McKimm, a stylist, started his career at i-D in 2000 and was its fashion director before taking on the editor-in-chief role in 2019. While i-D is based in London, where creative director Terry Jones launched it in 1980, McKimm worked from New York as he balanced high-profile brand work for Marc Jacobs, Gucci, and other clients. “After five years as fashion director and five years as editor-in-chief, it feels like the perfect time to move on and turn the page on the next chapter,” McKimm wrote on Instagram. A source with knowledge of the exit said the editor, whose role with i-D was never full time, has left the magazine on good terms and may work on shoots in the future.
Earlier this week, i-D shut down its website and announced it would pause its operations for an indefinite amount of time as it “[rethinks] what culture means today.” A source said part of the reason for the break was to allow time to migrate the website off the content-management system of its previous owner, Vice Media, which filed for bankruptcy protection last year and was sold to an investment group for $350 million.
Kloss’s acquisition of i-D, through her new company Bedford Media, closed at the end of December. In January, she hired Kevin Johan Wong, from Hypebeast, as chief operating officer.