Citing T as a blueprint, Tonchi told Memo Pad earlier this week that he plans to turn W into "a lifestyle magazine, and not just a women’s fashion magazine." 

Here's the release:

W MAGAZINE ANNOUNCES FOUR NEW EDITORIAL HIRES

W magazine announces the appointments to several editorial positions including Lynn Hirschberg as Editor-at-Large, Jody Quon as Creative Director, Lawrence Karol as Executive Managing Editor, and Armand Limnander as Fashion News/Features Director. The announcement was made today by Editor-in-Chief Stefano Tonchi.

Effective May 3^rd, Ms. Hirschberg joins W as Editor-at-Large from The New York Times Sunday Magazine and T: The New York Times Style Magazine where she was Editor-at-Large for six years and produced the Emmy Award-nominated and ASME Award-nominated video "Screen Tests" for NYTimes.com. Prior to that, Hirschberg was Editor-at-Large for New York and was a Contributing Editor for Vanity Fair.  She began her career with Rolling Stone where she introduced the magazine's annual Hot Issue.  Hirschberg studied at the University of California, Berkeley and lives in New York City.

Effective May 24^th, Ms. Quon joins W as Creative Director from New York magazine where she was the Photo Director since 2004.  During her six years at the magazine, Quon received numerous honors for her team's work, including: a 2008 World Press Photo award; a National Magazine Award finalist for photojournalism and photo portfolio in 2010, and for photography in 2005, 2006 and 2008; Pictures of the Year International Awards in 2005, 2009 and 2010; and awards from American Photography and Photo District News.  New York was named Magazine of the Year by the Society of Publication Designers (SPD) in 2006 and 2007.  Prior to joining New York magazine, Quon served as Deputy Photo Editor at the New York Times Magazine.  She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Rhode Island School of Design and currently lives in New York City.

As Executive Managing Editor for W, Mr. Karol continues his tenure at Condé Nast, previously serving as Managing Editor of Gourmet where he was a strategic partner in the expansion of the brand with the launch of gourmet.com, the publication of 14 books and the development of two television programs. Prior to his ten years at Gourmet, Karol spent five years as Managing Editor of Allure where he managed the editorial and fashion team. Karol began his publishing career at Architectural Digest where he remained for ten years as Editorial Business Manager. Karol received his M.A. in Mass Communications from California State University at Northridge and has a B.A from the University of California, Berkeley and professional designations in Business Management and Personnel Management from the University of California, Los Angeles.  He currently resides in New York City.

Effective May 10^th, Mr. Limnander joins W as the Fashion News/Features Director. Limnander comes from T: The New York Times Style Magazine, where he was Features Director, developing, assigning, and editing written content for the Women's, Men's and Holiday issues of T, as well as well as for the magazine's website. Prior to that, he was the Editor of V Man magazine and a Fashion Writer for Vogue and Style.com.  He earned his M.A. in Latin American Studies, with an emphasis in Journalism, from the University of California, Berkeley.  He currently resides in New York City.

"I am proud to add more talent to an already exceptional staff," said Mr. Tonchi.  "We have a team that is committed to building a strong international brand."