I’ve got stories and great Binn scoops about Sly Stallone. After all, we’ve been dear friends for over 25 years. Still, during my previous endeavors, he said no whenever I asked him to appear on a magazine cover; he wouldn’t even give me a stock photo. But after DuJour snagged the notoriously hard-to-pin-down Robert De Niro for the cover, with a two-hour interview, for our Fall 2013 issue, I had a feeling Stallone might change his mind.
Although he was nominated for his first Academy Award in 1977 and he’s comfortable on the big screen, Stallone’s always been sensitive about posing for photo shoots. On set with Inez and Vinoodh, though, I watched as he won over two of the world’s hottest and hardest working photographers—and I know he was flattered when Inez admitted she even had a poster of him in her childhood bedroom. To give one of the most prestigious photographers the opportunity to shoot her childhood icon proved to me the timing of this cover was perfect, especially with everything going on with Sly and his recent attention for Rocky the musical.
And who knows what will come next. Sly is one of the most determined, dedicated people I know, and considering the forthcoming third installment of his The Expendables franchise—which has him neck and neck with the world’s best known action stars, past and present—we’re all poised to see a lot more of him in the coming months.
On another personal note, I’m thrilled that this is our third year in the Hamptons, where we’ll be hand-delivering over 30,000 copies on doorsteps from Westhampton to Montauk. While this is a huge marketing and branding investment, there’s no doubt that the people spending their summer and early fall in the East End come from all over the country (mostly from our DuJour Cities, of course), and there’s nothing better than having DuJour front and center in a town my family calls home.
Recently, our work’s been acknowledged yet again as
being among the best in the business. For the second year in a row, DuJour was nominated for the Webby Awards—the Oscars of the Internet, chosen from 12,000 applicants from all 50 states and 60 countries worldwide—but this time for Best Web Magazine and People’s Voice Award. Additionally, we were named print medal finalist for photo-illustration and merit winner for fashion photography by the Society of Publication Designers (one of the most prominent in the world) and were awarded a gold medal for editorial illustration by the Society of Illustrators.
We’ve also been busy outside the office, as I’ve had the pleasure of hosting events for a variety of boldface names. We celebrated our spring issue cover star Jennifer Connelly at LAVO and hosted a luncheon at Scott Sartiano and Richie Akiva’s new Butter Midtown for DuJour’s winter cover star and Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o, with special thanks to Pepsi. In Miami, Bebe CEO Steve Birkhold and I fêted It Girl Nina Agda and Bebe’s new Lincoln Road store at Karim Masri and Nicola Siervo’s Wall, and the next stop was Aspen, where I threw a luncheon for Malo CEO John Wilson as well as dear friends and family in the private dining room at the Little Nell. There was the party for Arianna Huffington’s best seller Thrive at Jason Strauss and Noah Tepperberg’s TAO Downtown. The party was co-hosted by my partners Lisa and James Cohen of Hudson News/Dufry, and we surprised LVMH Chairman of North America Pauline Brown with a custom birthday cake—decorated with LVMH brands—created by Sylvia Weinstock.
So, I wish you all a fantastic summer with friends and family and will see you when it’s back-to-school time.
