Stylist to hit the streets tomorrow

The first issue of Stylist, the free women’s weekly magazine, is due to hit the streets tomorrow.

Around 400,000 copies of the new title will be distributed in London, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow and Brighton, according to reports.

Stylist, which has been edited by the former More! editor Lisa Smosarski, is aimed at ABC1 women in their 20s and 30s.  The first front cover features Angelina Jolie.

The 56-page magazine also features fashion, beauty and travel content as well as a column by TV presenter Dawn Porter and an interview with Natalie Imbruglia.

Stylist will be handed out across the six UK cities every Wednesday, the day before the free men’s magazine Shortlist, which is owned by the same company Shortlist Media.

Stylist is the second launch from Shortlist, whose backers include the Beano publisher DC Thomson, French Connection founder Stephen Marks and the film director Matthew Vaughan.

Mike Soutar, founder of the magazine and former editorial director at IPC, defended the new title, saying it is not trying to steal readers from other women’s weeklies such as Grazia.

“In order for us to succeed, other people do not have to lose,” he said.  “I suspect Stylist will attract quite a sizable group of people who do not buy into women’s weekly magazines”.

In the latest ABC release, for January to June 2009, H Bauer’s Take a Break maintained its position at the top of the women’s weekly market, with a total circulation of 920,000 copies.

Celebrity gossip magazine OK! sits in second place, meanwhile, selling almost 600,000 copies, followed by Bauer Consumer Media’s Closer, which boasts a circulation of more than 530,000 copies.