The Future of POP

We know that Katie Grand is leaving POP to start a new edgy fashion magazine for Conde Nast UK, but what's going to happen to POP after its founder leaves? And how did this all come about in the first place?

It turns out that Conde originally tried to buy POP — "we kept hearing [the magazine's publisher Bauer] weren't very committed to POP" — but Bauer declined. Instead, Conde Nast poached Katie, who looked at either option — moving POP or just herself to Conde — as okay: "I kind of knew that Condé Nast had put in bids for POP. I thought, if it happens, great. If not, it would also be great to do something new . . . Maybe it's better just to do something that's completely a fresh start."

By the end of her run at Bauer — which does a lot of business with its weekly titles like Heat and Grazia — Katie was feeling out of place: "There was a definite feeling of being a square peg in a round hole. We were acutely aware of doing something different from everyone else. By the end, to be walking through radio advertising or whatever and be openly called 'the weirdos', it was just unpleasant."

She's still currently working on the December issue of POP — likely to be her last — and is taking her whole POP team with her to the new, untitled magazine at Conde Nast. So what is Bauer doing with POP in the post-Katie era? According to David Davies, managing director of Bauer's women's magazines division, this is just a regular editor turnover, and POP will continue to exist: "We'll continue in the more maverick role. Katie has probably achieved what she's going to with the title. POP will be very different going forward and it's very exciting for us."