ITP Media Group has named Lara Akkari editor in chief of Harper’s Bazaar in the Middle East. She will oversee Harper’s Bazaar Arabia, Harper’s Bazaar Saudi and Harper’s Bazaar Qatar, the fashion flagship of the Dubai-based publisher’s luxury group.
Kim St. Clair Bodden, senior vice president and global editorial and brand director at Hearst Magazines International, said the appointment “marks a new chapter” for the title in the region.
The appointment comes as the Middle East’s international fashion titles face long-running criticism that their top editorial roles have largely gone to editors from outside the Arab world. That has happened even as these titles court an Arab readership and a growing base of Gulf luxury clients. Akkari is Lebanese and was born in Saudi Arabia. Her hire addresses that imbalance at one of the market’s most established magazines.
“There is something special about an Arab woman leading a title that has done so much to shape the region’s fashion conversation,” said Farrah Taylor, executive vice president, ITP Media Group, who has been part of Harper’s Bazaar’s journey in the Middle East for more than a decade. “Lara brings cultural fluency, international experience and a point of view of her own, and I can’t wait to see her make the brand her own.”
Akkari was most recently fashion features editor at Vogue Arabia. Before that, she spent 16 years in brand building, including heading Leo Burnett’s luxury division in Dubai and leading strategy and communications for SRMG’s Hia magazine.
She will set the editorial vision for all three editions across print, digital, social and live events, establishing a single standard while letting each market keep its own voice.
“As a Lebanese woman, joining Harper’s Bazaar Arabia feels particularly meaningful,” said Akkari, adding that she intends to bring “curiosity, conviction and, where necessary, a healthy disregard for the obvious.”
Marne Schwartz, group managing director of ITP Media Group, said, “What I want from an editor is a point of view, and Lara has one.”