Journalist Spotlight: Pippa Vosper

Pippa Vosper is the acting fashion editor of Harper’s Bazaar and a blogger at MaternallyChic. Vosper joined Harper’s Bazaar in 2011, after working for many years in the creative advertising industry. She previously contributed at L’uomo Vogue, i-D, American Vogue, W and Interview.

Pippa: Having worked in creative advertising, I decided to leave the industry and over the following two years assisted various high profile celebrities in the position of PA, roles which by chance involved styling for film and personal wardrobe. I made the decision to move to New York and there I started working as a freelance fashion stylist. One of my first commissions was to style a 20-page story for L’uomo Vogue, a story that opened many doors following its publication in the magazine. I subsequently went on to contribute for publications including i-D, American Vogue, W and Interview. In 2011 I was appointed fashion editor of Harper’s Bazaar UK.

Cision: Starting your career in Creative Advertising, what made you decide to go into fashion journalism?

Pippa: It was pure chance. When making the decision to leave the advertising industry, I responded to an anonymous, but intriguing, job advert in The Times, which turned out to be a PA position to Claudia Schiffer. I always knew I wanted to work in the fashion industry and this was possibly the most perfect position to fall in to. When I left Claudia, I moved to New York for 3 years, built contacts and very fortunately ended up styling for leading publications such as US Vogue, L’uomo Vogue and Interview.

Cision: Why did you join Harper’s Bazaar? Can you tell us about your role & responsibilities? What do you see similarities and differences are between online & offline work?

Pippa: I joined Harper’s Bazaar following a meeting with the inspiring fashion director Gabriele Hackworthy. I knew Harper’s Bazaar was one magazine that I would feel passionate about working for and shortly after meeting Gabriele it became a possibility when she offered me my current position. As the fashion editor, I style many of the front of book features; these include celebrities, leading designers and high profile industry insiders along with attending industry events, being present at advertiser meetings and forging relationships with press and PRs.

Cision: Why did you decide to launch a blog, MaternallyChic?

Pippa: I decided to launch MaternallyChic after finding that nobody was showing fashion conscious women that they could still wear high end designer clothing whilst pregnant. As a fashion editor, I have spent the last 10 years wearing and working with the latest collections every day and was not prepared to alter my style just because I was pregnant.

Cision: How you see MaternallyChic developing in the future?

Pippa: The site will continue as it is, but with more information on products and different ways of showing the looks as the site develops. I will be casting for new pregnant fashion conscious girls once I have had my baby so the readers will always have new inspirational ideas on how to dress through the seasons while pregnant.

What I have learned in the short time I have been pregnant is that my wealth of knowledge in styling, knowing which shapes suit women’s body types and how it feels first hand to be pregnant would lend itself well to a collaboration with an existing runway designer to get a high end maternity collection out there.

Cision: Social Media – as a journalist, how do you use social media? 

Pippa: I scour my favourite news and fashion sites on a very regular basis to keep up to date with not only what is going on in the industry, but to read the personal opinions of respected industry insiders. I have a noted list of the top blogs that I look at when time allows. It is often inspirational to see what others are doing to make their own sites as unique as possible in a now-saturated field.

Cision: How do prefer to work with PRs for Harper’s Bazaar – How do you prefer to receive pitches? What kind of information do you prefer to receive? Do you have any advice for PR professionals?

Pippa: I have a great relationship with PRs as I respect what they do and know that they have the best interests of their clients at heart. Occasionally I can feel as though I am receiving too much information or that a PR is being rather pushy, but for the most part the press teams I work with are professional enough to know just how to approach editors to get the best results.

Cision: Do you work differently with PRs for your blog? If so, how?

Pippa: I find that with my years in the industry, I have received nothing but support since the launch of my blog and have been overwhelmed with the response. I have continued to work in the same way as I have for magazine editorials with the blog and haven’t found any stark differences.

Editorial information on Pippa Vosper along with thousands of other media contacts and websites, can be found in our CisionPoint media database.