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It's the end of the era for Style.com, and fashion fans are mourning Condé Nast's decision to fold the site into Vogue.com and use the url to launch a new e-commerce venture. Page Six has some gossip about how this week's Style.com layoffs went down. A source said that on Monday, "Anna gathered everyone at Style.com, told them thank you for your service." And then HR met with Style.com staffers to either let them go or place them in new roles.
Readers reacted to the Condé Style.com shake-up and almost none seem excited about the news. Here's what commenters said in response to the official Style.com message about the change:
I'd rather see Vogue.com die so that Style.com could live: Candace (Studio Meroe) writes, "Content to commerce rarely ever works. It's not easy being in the media world these days and I understand the WHY of the situation, but I'd rather have them get creative and figure out how to save Style.com, rather than morph it into a shop. I was just chatting with a friend that I'd rather see Vogue.com die and morph into a brand new e-commerce shop so that Style.com could live.
This is heartbreaking: Jery McKinney writes, "I'm in the same boat. I saw the news in the middle of the night then couldn't fall back asleep. I also have followed since it was only the online presence of Vogue and style.com was the reason I fell in love with runway. I feel as though I'm grieving the death of a close friend."
Don't get me started about the awful domain name: Monsieuruz writes, "Style.com has been a huge part of my life for the past 10 years. There is no other online platform that covers the length and breadth of fashion in such an undiluted, unapologetically progressive manner. The site's allure goes beyond the content, it's the captivating user interface and even the personalities that lurk over here in the comments sections. This change certainly won't make me a Vogue.com user or even Voguerunway.com (don't get me started about the awful domain name) user. Where Vogue is the snooty girl that forcibly (albeit discreetly) pushes a narrow fashion agenda, Style.com is the cool girl knows how to showcase the best of everything and everyone. Thank you Dirk for a brilliant job well done. I sincerely hope your voice as well as those of Tim, Nicole and the rest of the team don't get drowned at Conde Nast. Take pride in the fact that you have changed fashion in ways that money certainly can't buy."
Sheer desperation: On the Style.com Facebook page, J. Matthew Riva wrote, "It's too bad that the sheer desperation of media to combat low revenue from their print outlets feel compelled to cannibalize their successful web content properties to join the e-commerce flood."
What Business of Fashion readers had to say when BoF broke the news:
It feels like they are there with us: Alison Cosson writes, "The best aspect of style.com is that they don't obviously try to squeeze money out of you on every page. It feels like they are there with us, commentating, reviewing, curating. But now it's time to 'open new revenue streams'..."
Very intrigued to see how the investment plays out: Jenny Schwarz was more optimistic: "This is such an interesting addition to the Conde Nast portfolio and particularly clever to remain stock free. I would imagine the success of Farfetch has had a cementing effect on this business model. Very intrigued to see how the 100 million investment plays out over the coming years and how other companies already in the space evolve to deal with such a huge competitor who come with an engaged audience."
It will be a miracle: But another commenter Lin Chen writes, "Content to commerce never works. Let's see how Conde Nast is going to do it. It will be miracle."
What Racked readers had to say:
Ikenani writes, "There goes another great brand Anna Wintour, er, I mean Conde Nast, has killed off."
thechicmachine writes, "That totally sucks because I enjoy the whole being able to see every piece in a runway collection thing on style.com and I don’t think Vogue will do it justice."
And on social media:
How many clicks? Bryanboy posted a video on Instagram of the two sites' homepages, writing: "How many clicks to view a designer collection? Vogue vs Style.com Homepage. It's just frustrating how when there are times when all you want to do is to see runway looks but you have to see Gigi Hadid's (I mean I love her) "post-party hair" or "post-quinoa fart" or "shoes Cara, Kendall and Gigi wore when they did a Starbucks run" beforehand... #cantwaittoseechanges"