The Young & the Restless

With ‘The Young and the Restless” (“Y&R”) launching an extensive online fashion and lifestyle magazine, www.restlessstyle.com last May 16, the concept of cross-branding across platforms just experienced a major change. In fact, on the Richter scale, I would say it is at least a 7.

First aired on Mar 26, 1973, The Young & The Restless, broke new grounds as it accentuated with understated sexuality from its cast, which at that time was mostly young, in order to bring in teenage and twenty-something viewers who were ignored by soap producers and networks up to that time.

Thirty-five years later, it once again breaks new ground with the launch of an online and print magazine that is inherently linked to the soap opera’s on-going storyline.

As the press announcement said, “ www.restlessstyle.com offers the latest runway trends, fresh beauty tips and red carpet coverage, in addition to such things as videos, polls, photo galleries and horoscopes.”

RestlessStyle.com is a destination outlet which provides fashion and lifestyle enthusiasts the opportunity to absorb cutting edge content and fashion coverage. The digital content will run concurrently with the upcoming “Y&R” storylines relating to Restless Style — the print magazine run by Nicholas and Phyllis Newman (Joshua Morrow and Michelle Stafford) and Jack and Sharon Abbott (Peter Bergman and Sharon Case).

The writers at RestlessStyle.com are industry veterans also: George Kotsiopoulos, formerly of The New York Times Magazine, and currently style director at C Magazine and lifestyle and fashion writer/editor/reporter Peter McQuaid, who contributes to The New York Times Magazine, InStyle Magazine and The Los Angeles Times.

All of the good things mentioned, and why it is a groundbreaking move, one question nags in my mind – what happened to specialization? Has fashion really become ‘entertainment’? Are runway show being touted now as a 15-minute show meant to entertain rather than a preview of the collection for the press and buyers?

And though the world population had doubled since 1973, it seems that the entertainment industry has become smaller in terms of market if a very successful soap opera like The Young & The Restless has to cut into the market of Vogue and other fashion magazines.

[IMADGE MEKKER]