Corbis and Condé Nast have reached an agreement to license fashion and celebrity imagery originally published by
Women's Wear Daily. The arrangement expands Corbis' editorial offerings, while providing Condé Nast with a secondary revenue stream.
The New York-based fashion bible covers the news, trends and events of the beauty, fashion and entertainment industries. Corbis has represented Condé Nast's archival imagery for several years. The new agreement provides Corbis customers with access to thousands of exclusive images from the red carpets, runways, dressing rooms and offices of the global fashion business.
The WWD deal is an extension of an existing relationship between Corbis and the publishing giant. According to Anil Ramchand, manager of media partnerships at Corbis, it is the result of the publisher's satisfaction with how Corbis treats images, from editing to global distribution.
"Celebrity and fashion images continue to be two of the biggest editorial categories around the world," adds Ramchand. He points out that celebrity and entertainment magazine pages have grown at a rate of 15% per year since 2001. Half of all magazine covers feature celebrities.
The WWD images target Corbis' editorial customers seeking fashion, entertainment, luxury and lifestyle images. Ramchand also anticipates commercial use in select cases where advertisers seek appropriate clearances from the individuals portrayed.
In a related development, Corbis added entertainment imagery to its Story Packs product line. The bundled image collections focus on one or more celebrities or a specific entertainment story idea. Story Packs are put together monthly, based on research that identifies trends and seasonal topics. Current entertainment-themed offerings center on "bad boys," horror film stars and women celebrities who balk the hyper-thin trend.