Sexy Beasts, Sexy Branding: The Daily Beast & Politico Unveil New Style Sections

Today is the kickoff for Fashion Week — and for the Daily Beast’s brand-new style section, Sexy Beast. The good news: It’s already sexier than an oiled up Englishman in a Speedo.

The under-the-radar Fashion Beast has been subsumed into this sexier Beast, which will presumably allow for larger coverage (it is Fashion Week, which grounds stories like Yigal Azrouel stealing Katie Lee Joel from poor Billy Joeland a Bryant Park Fashion Week retrospective, but the lead story is pure lifestyle fun: Rebecca Dana recounting her adventures trying to follow the path to becoming Gwyneth Paltrow through GOOP, Paltrow’s chakra-licious lifestyle newsletter and guide. A sampling:

And then, like magic, at some point in the middle of week two, I stopped noticing what an unbelievable hassle it was to follow this ridiculous plan. My ear adjusted to Gwyneth’s affect, and rather than guffawing at some of her more outlandish suggestions, I found myself intrigued by the $249 Voltaic Solar Backpack and her recommendation to “take your drinking water to the next level” with a $900 alkaline filtration system. What vegan shoe designer does Cameron Diaz recommend? I suddenly wanted to know. GOOP has been on hiatus for much of the summer while Gwyneth is traveling and spending time with her family, and without being fully conscious of it, I tried to “police my thoughts” for negativity as I impatiently awaited her return.

It’s a fun piece — though the random introduction of Rue McLanahan DEMANDS a photo! — but more to the point, it grounds what is basically the “lifestyle” section of the Daily Beast into something that is about voice and attitude as well.

More generally, the “lifestyle” pathway seems to be well-trod these days — on Tuesday, Politico launched their offshoot website, “Click,” described as “a new lifestyle section online and in print that will serve as the premier destination for news and gossip on Washington D.C.’s social scene.” Topping the page is a piece about D.C.’s most powerful siblings (which means: Raaaaahm! And his brother.) The site promises to make good use of the “scene” reporting skills of camera-happy partygoers like Anne Schroeder Mullins and Patrick Gavin — given the fascination with everything Obamaland, in retrospect, it’s surprising that it took so long. And of course, HuffPo has been making great use of its Style section for a while, mixing up must-click slideshows from (Summer Style Statements!) to politics (Presidents in bathing suits, anyone?).

So: I guess this means you should watch for Sexy-ite soon. Starring Van Jones, Czar of Hotness, of course!

In the meantime, I am beyond excited to have an excuse to post this Funny Or Die video of SNL’s Abby Elliott sending up Gwyneth making Chicken a la Goop. It’s based on this Goop video, which to be fair, seems pretty reasonable. Of course, like Stella McCartney, I don’t eat chicken.

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