Fashion-minded Concordia student guides Flanelle magazine

Labelle recently became editor-in-chief of Flanelle, a Montreal-based fashion magazine founded in 2012 by Sarah-Eve Leduc.

“Before I started at Concordia, my career was based entirely in the fashion world,” says Labelle, who received the Louise Landry Bursary for students in the Department of Journalism in 2015.

“Now I am the only fashion student in my class! My journalism classmates and I come from such diverse backgrounds that we learn so much from each other.”

When she graduated in fashion marketing from Montreal’s LaSalle College in 2014, Labelle was already an industry veteran — she began covering red-carpet events for Elle Quebec at age 17, interviewing industry magnates like Canadian supermodel Coco Rocha.

Now that she’s in charge of her own magazine, the ambitious Concordia student is advancing a clear direction to take the publication into its adulthood.

Flanelle features content by local and international photographers, writers and designers. It’s the only independent Montreal-based fashion magazine with an active online presence and print issues published biannually.

“We’re small and independent enough to experiment with creative direction, but also large enough to have strong international reach, with over 6,000 Facebook fans,” Labelle says. “Right now we’re looking for advertisers who appreciate these unique advantages.”

Most Flanelle readers are involved in a creative industry and read the magazine for professional inspiration. Suitable advertisers will benefit from a target audience of urban creative professionals who are active in the cultural arts scene. Labelle is also investigating the concept of lookbook advertorials.

Her long-range outlook shuns disposable content. “I envision print copies of Flanelle kept on coffee tables for decades,” she says. “We want to captivate readers no matter what year they read it in.”

This objective stands in stark contrast to the average supermarket magazine, notorious for only focusing on what’s trending in the current season.

“We go deeper,” Labelle says. “We perform the necessary research to write thorough articles on long-term cultural phenomena. We ask bigger questions than most magazines so that the text can stand on its own.”

Flanelle’s method for assembling content also deviates from the traditional. Photographers use Pinterest to check out the mood board for the upcoming issue. Then they shoot and submit their own work.

Many submissions come from England, Japan and Spain. Flanelle also accepts online contributions featuring film, music, architecture and graphic design.

Labelle’s next steps are already mapped out, and she knows the gap investors can fill. “We have a huge demand from retailers who want to stock print issues, but we need the capital to expand our production,” she explains.

“We’ve got waiting lists from boutiques in Montreal, Toronto, even Paris. As it stands, we’re selling half our prints at the launch parties alone!”

Though already comfortably into her career, Labelle recognizes the advantages of a well-rounded education. “At Concordia I’m learning proper journalistic methodology, including industry standards,” she says.

“I have the creative freedom to expand my portfolio in my industry of choice. Now I just need the freedom to expand my print supply, too.”

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