Annie Flanders (10 June 1939 – 10 March 2022) was an American publisher.

Biography

Flanders was born in the

Bronx, New York The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

, as Marcia Weinraub to Dorothy (Lautman) and Ralph "Lefty" Weinraub. She attended

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

, where she studied

retailing Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is the sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesal ...

and

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree of accuracy. The word, a noun, applies to the journ ...

and was named Miss New York University in 1959. Her career began in the retail sector, including roles at

Gimbels Gimbel Brothers (known simply as Gimbels) was an American department store corporation that operated for over a century, from 1842 until 1987. Gimbel patriarch Adam Gimbel opened his first store in Vincennes, Indiana, in 1842. In 1887, the comp ...

department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store under one roof, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store mad ...

. Later, she opened a

boutique A () is a retail shop that deals in high end fashionable clothing or accessories. The word is French for "shop", which derives ultimately from the Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in anc ...

named Abracadabra in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. Flanders adopted her professional name after meeting her partner, Chris Flanders, who suggested she change it from her

birth name The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

, Marcia. In the 1970s, Flanders contributed to ''The SoHo News'' as a style editor. In 1982, she used her savings to launch '' Details'', a publication initially focused on

Downtown Manhattan Lower Manhattan, also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York City, is the southernmost part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. The neighborhood is the historical birthplace of New York City and for its first 225 years was the ...

culture Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...

and lifestyle. The magazine, starting with a circulation of 10,000 copies, was known for its unique editorial approach, blending fashion, culture, and nightlife reporting. Flanders' tenure at ''Details'' ended two years after its acquisition by

Advance Publications Advance Publications, Inc. is a privately held American media company owned by the families of Donald Newhouse and Samuel Irving Newhouse Jr., the sons of company founder Samuel Irving Newhouse Sr. It owns publishing-related companies inc ...

in 1988. Following her career in publishing, Flanders transitioned to real estate in

Hollywood, Los Angeles Hollywood, sometimes informally called Tinseltown, is a List of districts and neighborhoods in Los Angeles, neighborhood and district in the Central Los Angeles, central region of Los Angeles County, California, within the city of Los Angeles. ...

, working with her daughter Rosie. She died in 2022 in Los Angeles.

References

1939 births 2022 deaths American magazine founders SoHo Weekly News people {{US-publish-bio-stub