Kirstie Clements

Kirstie Clements (born 23 March 1962) is an Australian author, editor, journalist and speaker.

Clements was born on 23 March 1962 in Sydney, Australia.

She grew up in the Sutherland Shire, a local government area in the southern region of Sydney, New South Wales.

Clements has one older brother, Anthony.

Their father died of a brain tumor when Clements was five years old.

In her youth, Clements attended Sylvania High School.

She described her desire to leave her hometown at an early age, stating "Not to dismiss it, but at that point I was much more interested in the band scene. I was interested in punk, in literature, in magazines, in popular culture, and the Shire wasn’t where I was going to get that from."

At the age of sixteen, Clements moved to the Sydney suburb of Darlinghurst with her mother Gloria.

Describing herself as poor, Clements would often shop at disposal stores and op-shops in order to discover clothing and fashion.

At the age of 23, Clements was working in a bookstore when she saw a job being advertised in the newspaper for receptionist at Vogue Australia.

Clements immediately applied for the position and was granted an interview.

The last of twenty different girls to be interviewed, Clements met with a woman described as "probably in her late 60s. Glamorous; white blonde hair, blue eyes, great legs, she was gorgeous. It was about six o'clock at night and she was drinking out of a tea cup, and I’m sure it was gin… I loved her immediately and she hired me."

Clements began working behind the reception desk the very next day.

Clements quickly moved on from the reception desk, taking on various jobs within the Vogue Australia offices.

Describing her quick promotion, Clements stated, "I just put my hand up for everything. My key to success is to make yourself useful, just put you hand up for everything… and you’ll find what you shine at. Essentially I found I wasn’t very good at taking orders, but I was really good at giving them"

Clements departed Vogue Australia in the early 1990s to move to Paris and work as the foreign correspondent for Vogue Australia, and the newly launched Vogue Singapore.

She joined the fashion show circuit, travelling constantly, and interviewing the world's top designers, beauty experts and business leaders.

Clements described her return to Vogue Australia as a challenge to rebuild its image following a demise in the 1990s.

She stated, "Vogue was pretty broken at that point… When I went back it took three years to build it back to what I felt was a standard that it should have been."

Clements returned to Australia in 1997 where she briefly worked as Beauty Editor for Vogue Australia before joining glossy magazine rival Harper’s Bazaar. Clements was brought on as associate editor for the magazine and worked there for just over two years from 1997 to 1999.

Clements succeeded Juliet Ashworth, who was former editor-in-chief from 1998 to 1999.

Clements served as editor-in-chief of Vogue Australia for thirteen years from 1999 to 2012.

She has previously acted as director and chief creative officer for luxury lingerie brand Porte-á-Vie and features editor for Harpers Bazaar Australia.

Clements returned to Vogue Australia in 1999 to be hired as the magazine's editor-in-chief.

Vogue.com.au was launched under Clements in 2000.

Early on in her career as editor-in-chief, while working on a November issue, Clements was faced with an almost empty roster of booked advertisements with mere weeks to go.

With a goal of 120 pages of ads, the magazine had booked just one advertisement due to a staff error.

This forced Clements to undertake a restaffing of the entire office.

Commenting on her preferences for staff hires, she stated, "I liked to have a local staff, and an Australian staff. I didn't like to use freelancers that much if I could help it."

When interviewing applicants for potential positions at Vogue Australia, Clements remarked how surprised she was by the number of young girls who expressed an obsession with a fashion label instead of an original style or desire to make things.

She elaborated by stating that she was "always highly dubious because I wanted them to have a passion for art, for books, for culture, for literature, for dance, for theatre, for costume design... anything but, as a matter of fact, fashion… I didn’t want people who were obsessed with labels, and I still stand by that."

Discussing her approach to management at Vogue Australia, Clements stated, "I learnt how to be diplomatic. I think most of my job was diplomacy. Diplomacy between staff members, diplomacy between management, diplomacy to clients, to creatives."

She commented that working with creatives was more rewarding than collaborating with any other worker due to their passion and vision.

"They don’t care about the bonus, they don’t really care about the wage, but they care about the product, and if you can actually equip them with the materials, and the idea, and the vision, then they really can just run on praise."

Under Clements 'Vogue Australia' was voted Magazine of the Year 2012, had the highest readership figures in its history and had the greater market share of luxury advertising.

Subscriptions also rose to a 51% ratio, and was the most visited fashion website in Australia at the time.

Clements was fired from her position as editor-in-chief six years after the News Limited acquisition, on 16 May 2012.

She was called into a meeting with NewsLifeMedia CEO Nicole Sheffield who directed her to collect her belongings and depart the Vogue Australia offices immediately without offering an explanation as to why she was being fired.

In November 2006, Australian media mogul Rupert Murdoch's News Limited (rebranded as News Corp on 1 July 2013) acquired Independent Print Media Group's FPC Magazines which included Vogue Australia.

News Limited placed management of the newly acquired FPC magazines (Notebook, Delicious, Super Food Ideas, & Vogue Australia) under its NewsLifeMedia branch.