The details on Jane Pratt’s new Sassy-esque ventures

Joe Pompeo
·Media Reporter

Every 30-something female who spent the early-'90s with her eyes glued to the girly-yet-subversive teen pub Sassy has been eager to know what the magazine's founder, Jane Pratt, is planning with a forthcoming editorial launch: her eponymous website has been "coming soon" for some time now. On Wednesday, WWD's Zeke Turner put the launch date for JanePratt.com in the next two months, as well as a venture for teenage girls set for summer.

Pratt, who went on from Sassy to found the now-defunct Jane magazine, has been mostly off the grid since she left the Conde Nast women's title in 2005. This November, interest in Pratt was piqued -- for a potential new generation -- when star 14-year-old fashion blogger Tavi Gevinson revealed that she had a partnership with Pratt to create a "magazine for an audience of wallflowerly teenage girls." Pratt was scouting for talent as of January.

Gevinson, regarding her new media venture, appears to be both wunderkind and wallflower, happy to step back and let the magazine "be kind of a branch under the JanePratt.com umbrella," as she told Turner. "Tavi is not interested in the publicity right now," her publicist responded to a Nov. 15 inquiry from The Cutline. (Pratt likewise could not be reached.)

However the May-December media marriage plays out, Turner details Gevinson's part of things:

Gevinson's site will be styled as more of an online magazine than a blog, featuring original commentary, photography, poetry, fiction and interviews from teenagers, in monthly installments around a given theme. ... The print iteration of Gevinson's yet-to-be-named project will appear twice or three times a year, timed with the fashion seasons. Elizabeth Spiridakis, who became friends with Gevinson through her own fashion blog, White Lightning, and recently joined Bon Appétit as art director for Adam Rapoport's relaunch, will help Gevinson with the magazine's design.

As for JanePratt.com, which is backed by Say Media:

In the tradition of Jane and Sassy, JanePratt.com will be built around voice-y, original writing. A mock tag line for the site has been pinned up in the offices of JanePratt.com on 28th Street and 5th Avenue in Manhattan — "Slutty, Selfish, Self-Absorbed," a swipe at Cosmopolitan's "fun, fearless female" ethos. From the start, the site will be organized into different verticals, such as health, fitness, beauty, fashion, DIY and entertainment, according to one source who discussed plans for the site with Pratt.

You can read more over at WWD.