Jay Fielden, editor in chief of famed men’s mag Esquire since 2015, is stepping down.
WWD first reported Thursday that Fielden was leaving the publication amidst a reshuffling under the president of Hearst Magazines, Troy Young, who took the position last July. A successor has not been named.
Fielden confirmed his departure in a remarkably Esquirian Instagram post featuring a photo of him leaping out of the Hearst Tower in Manhattan with two fists full of luggage, including a Gucci suitcase. (The cream safari jacket is one of my personal Top 10 Favorite Looks for Spring).
“Today—after a lot of long and careful thinking—I have decided it is time to depart as Esquire’s editor in chief, three and a half years after I arrived,” Fielden wrote in a caption, adding the upcoming issue — featuring the cast of Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time In Hollywood — would be his last.
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Fielden cut his teeth and
“For me, the time has simply come to press on in a new direction, perhaps more than one, before I get struck by male pattern baldness,” he wrote. “When I settle for certain on what’s next, you will be among the first to know.”
The Times report notes a high profile flub by the mag under Fielden’s tenure: losing out on an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct against Hollywood director Bryan Singer. The story, its two authors claimed, was reported out at the magazine for a year before being spiked by executives. The Atlantic ended up publishing the report.
[Photo by Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for Town & Country]