From left: Christina Hendricks, John Slattery, Jon Hamm, and Elisabeth Moss of "Mad Men." Photo by Art Streiber for Newsweek, March 26/April 2, 2012, issue.

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The new issue of Newsweek is a smart-looking tribute both to the heyday of the original Mad men and to the hit AMC series inspired by them: Mad Men‘s long-awaited fifth season debuts at 9 PM on Sunday. Though the articles are au courant, the design of the issue harks back to the 60s, right down to the ads. So reading it is like existing in two eras at once: There’s a feature on Mitt Romney, for example, and a vintage-style ad for Spam. (Please hold your comments, ahem.) The issue’s unique concept has been getting lots of attention, including from Creativity Online, ABC News, The Huffington Post, Ad Age, and The Hollywood Reporter.

“The idea arose from a conversation with the show’s creator, Matt Weiner, who remarked that the buzzing content of the 1960s Newsweek was frequently the subtext of his show,” Newsweek editor-in-chief Tina Brown explains in her column. “The office psychodramas in Mad Men ran parallel with a serial melodrama in the news that Newsweek covered with panache: civil rights, women’s lib, the Kennedy assassinations, Vietnam, man on the moon—even the dominance of that new tech phenomenon the Xerox machine.

“We invited the Hill Holliday ad agency in Boston to collaborate on our cover shoot,” she continues, “and its creative director, Lance Jensen, had a brain wave: wouldn’t it be eye-catching for our pages to reflect not just the editorial look of the ’60s but also the advertising idiom of the time? The concept caught fire, and soon creative directors from agencies all over were diving into their vaults to dust off visuals from old accounts like Spam, Tide, Dunkin Donuts, and Hush Puppies. Ad agencies like Brand Cottage, not around in those days, went retro just for kicks.”

The cover story was shot by Art Streiber, who photographed the stars of the show in character. (He also shot Matthew Weiner, arguably also in character—the show’s creator appears to be reading a script.) Art worked with Dirk Barnett, Newsweek‘s creative director, and Scott Hall, the director of photography. Here’s a look at his photos as seen in the Newsweek feature, which was written by Eleanor Clift (you can read it online here). The iPad version, by the way, is packed with lots more of his images. You can download it here.

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Jon Hamm (who plays Don Draper) and January Jones (Betty Francis) of "Mad Men." Photo by Art Streiber for Newsweek.

Vincent Kartheiser (Pete Campbell) and Elisabeth Moss (Peggy Olson). Photo by Art Streiber for Newsweek.

Christina Hendricks (Joan Harris) and John Slattery (Roger Sterling). Photo by Art Streiber for Newsweek.

"Mad Men" creator Matthew Weiner. Photo by Art Streiber for Newsweek.

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And, since we’re on the subject of looking back with appreciation, here are some portraits of Mad Men‘s stars from Art’s archives…

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Jon Hamm. Photo by Art Streiber.

January Jones. Photo by Art Streiber.

John Slattery. Photo by Art Streiber.

Christina Hendricks. Photos by Art Streiber.

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Gwyneth Paltrow on the cover of the redesigned Harper's Bazaar, March 2012 issue.

Harper’s Bazaar will debut its first redesign in 10 years with its March issue, which features Gwyneth Paltrow (above).

Excerpt: The magazine is larger by one inch, the paper quality is noticeably thicker and there is new cover typography. Inside the issue, the pages look less cluttered and thrown together, with more white space, while sections are more tightly edited. So far, there’s less celebrity and the related popcorn stories that can come with that. But in some ways, it still feels like the old Harper’s Bazaar. The black logo is the same. The emphasis is still on high fashion.

“It’s going to take a while to get through it,” Bailey said with some pride, paging through all the advertisements in the front of the book. “It’s up 15.5 percent in ad pages, you know. We’re going to be here for a while.”

Link: http://www.wwd.com/media-news/media-features/bazaar-redesigns-to-reenergize-5595001?src=rss/recentstories/20120201

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SPD’s “Favorite Magazine” series continues, with Garden & Gun getting a shout-out from Erin Mayes, a partner at EmDash Design. “I love Garden & Gun…so much I could eat it,” she says. “It’s elegant without trying to be something that it’s not. The design and photography is all really well crafted. And reading it reminds me why I appreciate all the oddities of the South.”

Link: http://www.spd.org/2012/01/spd-47-erin-mayes-favorite-mag.php

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Fast Company’s Co.Design reports on Mad Men actors doing ad campaigns for major brands, like Jon Hamm voicing a Mercedes-Benz spot and Christina Hendricks posing for a series of London Fog ads.

Excerpt: Nominated for 17 Emmys at this Sunday’s awards show, Mad Men’s critical success is now being matched by its cultural reach. Only four seasons in, has spawned a renewed interest in clinking cocktails and dapper dressing. Indeed, London Fog was aiming for a Mad Men-inspired look for its campaign, which was shot by Nino Muñoz, says Marder. “We played off of the Mad Men vibe incorporating a feel that could work in either decade,” she says. “We wanted to give a nod to the show but also infuse the modern aspect of London Fog as well.”

Link: http://www.fastcodesign.com/1662205/mad-men-stars-shill-for-real-brands-blurring-the-shows-boundaries-video

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Bloomberg Markets is launching Bloomberg Pursuits, a lifestyle magazine aimed at the luxury market, reports WWD.

Excerpt: You can’t get our audience anywhere else,” said David Bowling, advertising director at Bloomberg Pursuits, noting distribution is highly international, with about 60 percent of the audience outside the U.S., in financial centers such as the U.K., Japan, Hong Kong and Germany. The average household income of Bloomberg Pursuits readers is $452,000, and 90 percent are male.

The debut issue contains 46 edit pages and 30 ad pages, from brands such as Hermès, Chanel, Zegna, Rolls-Royce and NetJets. A second issue will be published in the fourth quarter, and the title is scheduled to go quarterly in 2013.

Link: http://www.wwd.com/media-news/fashion-memopad/bloombergs-fashionable-pursuits-5577542

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WWD also reports that food mags are experiencing a dip in ad revenues: “According to the Publishers Information Bureau, food and food product advertising in magazines dropped 17 percent in 2011, a larger decline than any other advertising group (for example: financial, insurance and real estate went up 13 percent, accessories went up 6 percent and cosmetics was up 4 percent).” But some titles are gaining: Bon Appétit rose 12 percent from its redesign last May through January. Publisher Pamela Drucker Mann and editor in chief Adam Rappaport “have been quickly repositioning the magazine as a lifestyle and culture food magazine,” and Drucker Mann notes that “80 percent of new advertisers in 2011 came from luxury or lifestyle and only 20 percent came from food.”

Link: http://www.wwd.com/media-news/advertising/food-advertisers-cinching-belts-5595461?src=rss/recentstories/

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Screenshot of a recent Pro Photo Daily newsletter.

And if you haven’t already signed up for American Photography’s Pro Photo Daily newsletter, you should consider doing so. It’s free (sign up here) and delivers industry news collected from all over the Web, directly to your inbox. David Schonauer, formerly editor in chief of American Photo, produces Pro Photo Daily with Jeff Roberts, formerly the VP/group publisher of Hachette’s Photo/Electronics Group, which publishes American Photo, and before that the longtime publisher of PDN. The two men launched the newsletter just a couple of weeks ago.

“The idea is to provide professional and advanced photo enthusiasts with a daily source of news about photography—camera trade news, industry news, tips on the business—and also a glimpse at the art and creative side of photography,” David explained to me by email. “We’re aggregating news from a fairly broad swath of sources. I scan the Web so the audience doesn’t have to. That’s for now, and I think you’ll be seeing it develop over the next month or two with a blog that people can link to. We want to feature photographers in the American Photography annual, to tell their stories and look at their businesses and creative projects. We’ll be getting guest bloggers to contribute their insights on the photo world and perhaps do some live blogging and Tweeting from events.”

Pro Photo Daily on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pro-Photo-Daily/210298089061344

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Nino Munoz.

It’s difficult to know whether Nino Munoz, who began his career in New York in the early 1990s, has led a charmed life or whether his charm has led his life in such positive directions. Maybe it’s a bit of both.

Nino’s first major fashion story, for instance—photographing Gisele Bundchen for British Vogue—sparked what has become a longtime artistic collaboration and (and friendship). The two have worked together on numerous shoots for magazines ranging from Muse to Rolling Stone. “I love fashion because it’s so colorful and emotional,” says Nino. “There’s a sexiness and a provocative nature to fashion photography that inspires me.”

Nino’s work is at once sophisticated and sexy, always polished but somehow also organic. It’s a tough balance to strike, but it seems to come naturally to him, probably because Nino is as attracted to the essence of a person as he is to the beauty of what they do and who they are. “I respect when people are devoted to their craft—whether you’re a designer or a housekeeper,” he says. “As long as you are expressing yourself, I respect you.”

Over the years, Nino has worked with some of Hollywood’s finest—Leonardo DiCaprio, Julianne Moore, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Tom Cruise, and many others. Celebrity portraiture can be a fraught process—there’s a lot at stake, the schedules are almost always really tight, and there can be trust issues—but Nino has his own way of keeping things in perspective.

“It’s really not that complicated to do, but so many people put on a front when dealing with high-profile figures that it becomes an obstacle,” he says. “I’ve noticed that people with a lot of fame are very sensitive to people who aren’t genuine. I just approach actors and models like I would anyone else—with respect and kindness.”

Here’s a look at Nino’s work.

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Tom Cruise and Amy Adams. Photos by Nino Munoz.

Ashton Kutcher and Maggie Gyllenhaal. Photos by Nino Munoz.

Anne Hathaway. Photos by Nino Munoz.

Ryan Kwanten (left) and Jake Gyllenhaal. Photos by Nino Munoz

Christina Hendricks for London Fog (left) and an ad from a recent campaign for Daffy's. Photo bys Nino Munoz.

From a series of True Religion ads. Photos by Nino Munoz.

Photos by Nino Munoz.

Photos by Nino Munoz.

Photos by Nino Munoz.

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Christina Hendricks for London Fog. Photo by Nino Munoz.

Christina Hendricks for London Fog. Photo by Nino Munoz.

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“The black-and-white, multi-media campaign was created by the Iconix in-house marketing team and shot by photographer Nino Muñoz in Los Angeles,” reported Entertainment Tonight. “It will debut in October issues of fashion and lifestyle magazines such as Elle, Cosmopolitan and InStyle, outdoor and online.”

Here’s a still from some video footage of the shoot, taken from New York magazine’s website (click here to read the article and view the video).

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Nino Munoz and Christina Hendricks on the set of the London Fog fall campaign shoot.

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And here are a couple of photos from the set, taken from a slide show at The Huffington Post…

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Photo courtesy The Huffington Post.

Photo courtesy The Huffington Post.

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Interestingly, the shoot proved to be a learning experience for the Emmy-nominated actress. “Shooting today,” she told ET in a video interview, “we’ve discovered the sexiest way to wear a trench is with nothing underneath at all.”

Ahem.

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