Anna Bazdreva on the Ukrainian Cosmo and the work of the chief editor in gloss

IN RUBRIC "BUSINESS" we introduce readers to women of different professions and hobbies that we like or are simply interested in. In this issue is the new chief editor of Cosmopolitan Ukraine, Anna Bazdreva.

I have a technical education that always made me complex: after the physics and mathematics school, I entered the Polygraphic Institute, where I received the specialty of an engineer-technologist of the printing industry. However, I didn’t have many options — I was born in a family of chemists and engineers, and although no one pressed on me when choosing a specialty, it was obvious that I was drawn more to exact sciences than to humanitarian ones. It's easier for me to calculate or draw something, rather than remember the date of the Battle of Waterloo. In the process of studying, it became clear that I was unlikely to work in my specialty, and Moscow printing houses more likely resemble Mordor than a place of work. The ability to count helped me to get a job in the first year at the Seventeen magazine, I learned through my acquaintances that the editorial office was looking for an assistant who would keep all reports on the bills, checking the numbers. I never dreamed of working in the fashion industry, but Seventeen was an absolutely cult magazine for my generation - we saved on school lunches to buy it.

It so happened that in 19 years I absolutely accidentally got an interview with Evelina Khromtchenko, who headed the magazine L'Officiel. It was originally meant to become her personal assistant, but because of my studies, I had to leave work earlier, so I was not suitable for the position. After three months, I was called back again and offered to try myself as a producer of the fashion department. In the course of my work, I got involved and decided to become a stylist. To do this, I had to start from the beginning - from the fashion assistant, so gradually I grew up to become a fashion editor. In fact, anyone can get into the gloss from the street, and I consider myself to be a confirmation of this. For some reason, many people think that our job is to drink champagne and flit from show to show, therefore, having come to the editorial office, girls quickly become frustrated, because instead they face hard work and unlimited working hours. Today, more and more young talents are taken to magazines, of which the editors raise new stars. It’s good that seminars and lectures on fashionable journalism have now appeared, for example, Evelina supervises the module of glossy journalism at Moscow State University.

If a few years ago you would have told methat I will move to live in Kiev, and then become the chief editor of Cosmopolitan, I would decide that you are crazy. When I got a call from Sanoma Media Ukraine, I thought at first that this was a mistake. Having gone to an interview, I received a written assignment from the head office of Hearst Magazines in New York, and later I was assigned a telephone conversation. I remember this conversation well, Astrid Bertoncini, editorial director of Hearst, among the first questions she asked me which is my favorite movie. Puzzled, I replied: "Watchmen, a film based on Alan Moore’s comic book, about superheroes who have quite a human problem." Astrid laughed and said, "That's all about Cosmo girl." And for me, this is still one of the best descriptions of the journal’s philosophy. In Cosmo, I liked the light feeling that remained after reading it, he gave a positive look, which was sometimes lacking, and a clear motivation "I can do it".

We all love good sex, so why resist, if you can make it better?

Legendary Cosmopolitan Editor Helen Gurley Brown brought the perfect Cosmo girl formula: fun, fearless female - which is still relevant today. In the 1960s, she made a real revolution, giving women the opportunity to associate themselves not with cooking at the stove, but allowed them to speak openly about sex and their rights, such as beautiful and sexy clothes and bright make-up, as well as the secrets of seducing men. and moving up the career ladder. Modern Cosmopolitan supports the idea of ​​Girl Power, this is a friend who appeals to you on “you” and speaks about everything that interests the modern girl. I do not like it when people wrinkle their foreheads at the word "Cosmopolitan" and say: "Oh, this magazine is about sex!" - first, it is about the life of women and all its aspects, from health to fashion. And secondly, we all love good sex, so why resist, if there is an opportunity to make it better?

Of course, working in Kiev is much more difficult. than in Moscow. The fashion industry has just started to develop, for example, Harper's Bazaar entered the Ukrainian market five years ago, and Prada monobrand appeared about a year ago. There are no showrooms, photographers once or twice and a handful and a half of the stylist, the gloss is just beginning to stand up. Moreover, because of the situation in the country, there is an expectation in the air. At the beginning of the year there was the most difficult period, sales in the shops rose, there were practically no parties in the city, and if there were, then very modest, even fashion weeks passed in a very intimate format. The feeling that everything will be fine, hovers in the city, the fashionable side of life which has come to life.

Make a quality magazine here, with good text and visual content, is not an easy task. It is even more difficult to make a magazine for the mass consumer, because shooting super-art-shooting and sophisticated writing about the sublime, that besides you can be understood by ten people, is one thing, but working for different strata of society, creating content that hundreds of thousands of people can understand - this is already more difficult. A week ago I returned from a conference of editors and publishers of Cosmopolitan around the world, which was held in Buenos Aires, I was surprised to learn that the magazine is being published, for example, in Mongolia with a circulation of 7,000 copies. Can you imagine how difficult it is to work for them? In general, now Cosmopolitan has begun to change globally, and I can see in which direction the Ukrainian version can also be changed, the market difficulties and sometimes difficult conditions make this challenge even more interesting for me.

Ukrainian girlscertainly more relaxed than the Russians. If you compare Moscow and Kiev, then it seems to me that Moscow is increasingly focused on career success, as you always have to do the work "yesterday", everyone works until night and often on weekends. Here, the call on weekends and night vigils is more likely a rarity, but, unlike Moscow, almost no one is late for meetings, because traffic jams here are more difficult to justify. I often notice that people finish work at about seven and go on to sports, yoga, dinners with friends or dating. The very atmosphere of the city sets up a benevolent mood - somehow it is inappropriate to live on a platoon in a beautiful city, where everything is close, tasty and relatively inexpensive.

Photographer: Sonya Plakidyuk