Finding an "it girl” takes one to know one — and Lauren McCarthy is that girl. She spent years rising up the ranks at fashion outlets including W Magazine and Harper's Bazaar before becoming editor in chief of Nylon three years ago. Her job is — among many other things — to find promising up-and-comers to grace the magazine’s cover. During her tenure, she's done that so well that she was able to accomplish something that is basically unheard of in legacy media: resurrect print.
Specifically, she resuscitated Nylon's print magazine in 2024 and a bygone men's style vertical, Nylon Guys, last month with Sombr on the inaugural cover. With those two projects on her plate, plus being newly engaged and planning a whole wedding, Lauren's free time is basically shot at this point. Nonetheless, there are a few prized corners of the internet that she considers non-negotiable reading.
Tell me a little about how you got started and where you are now. And, if you wouldn’t mind, share a piece of advice for someone who hopes to be an editor in chief themselves one day!
My villain origin story is that I grew up in Connecticut not far from the city, and around eighth grade or freshman year, my mom said, "you know, you're going to need some extracurriculars for your college applications one day." I was clearly not an athlete, but I really liked writing, so we found a program at the Connecticut Post, our local paper, called CT Teens or something like that — essentially, once a month, high school students could put together a page for the paper. At the first meeting, when they asked if anyone had story ideas, I said, "There's a new Bright Eyes album," which was my favorite emo band. They said, "Great, go for it." That's when I realized I could write about my interests and make a hobby out of this. That's really where my interest in journalism started.
Around that time I was already a subscriber to Seventeen and Teen Vogue, but I also discovered Nylon, and it felt like a revelation — you could have a profile on Karl Lagerfeld alongside Karen O from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs on the cover. I thought: this is the intersection of all my interests.
I studied journalism in college, graduated a semester early, and interned at Women's Wear Daily. I was [former WWD Executive Editor] Bridget Foley's assistant for just under a year, then was promoted to accessories news editor. From there, I wanted that glossy magazine experience, so I went to Harper's Bazaar as fashion news and features editor — working with [Editor in Chief] Glenda Bailey and [former Executive Director turned InStyle EIC] Laura Brown, both amazing creative people. Then I wanted some digital experience, so I went to W, where I started as fashion news editor, then style editor, then digital features director. W was where I really got to explore the overlap between fashion and culture, and I loved it.
Around that time, someone from Nylon reached out — they were bringing the magazine back, and I joined as executive editor. I was there in that role for three years, and now I've been editor in chief for — it'll be three years in September.
Congratulations. Since becoming EIC, what are you most proud of — and what's surprised you most about the job?
What I'm most proud of is how we've really honed what the "Nylon girl" is, and it all centers on the idea of the "it girl." That's something Nylon has done forever — I feel like one of the first times I ever heard that phrase was probably from a Nylon issue with Alexa Chung on the cover. Nylon has such an amazing legacy. It was so formative for me as a teenager and so keeping its spirit alive is really important to me. When I took over, I looked back at old issues and asked: what is the one through line? It wasn't just the cool musicians or the up-and-coming actresses. It's people you want to hang out with — the girls you'd want to grab a cocktail with.
I'm really proud that if you line up our covers and our monthly it girls from the past few years, you can see they all exist in the same universe. Someone like Devon Lee Carlson — famous for being herself, for her style — alongside Katseye, who has an enormous fan base. They feel like they belong together. And something I've always loved to do in my career is finding new talent right before they're about to explode — getting to people at the moment when you're still curious about them. That's genuinely exciting.
As for what surprised me: how much I love working closely with our sales team and thinking about everything from a 360 perspective. Events are a huge part of the Nylon world, and a lot of my job goes well beyond what goes on the site or who our next cover star is. It's thinking about how our editorial focus becomes a partnership opportunity, a video, a social extension. It scratches an itch I didn't know I had — I love packaging ideas and thinking about how they can live beyond a written story. That really surprised me, and I'm grateful for it.
We always ask people to share their daily average screen time. Now is the moment of truth: what’s yours?
I actually looked it up today. My average last week was eight hours and 17 minutes — that was up 7% from last week! Is that a lot?
It's pretty average, actually. We usually see people in the five-to-eight-hour range, so you're squarely in that sweet spot. Given everything on your plate as EIC, where do you go online in your spare time to decompress? Any newsletters, podcasts, or accounts you'd recommend?
Instagram has honestly become a work platform for me. It's where I track what other magazines are doing and check in on friends, but whenever I open it, I end up thinking in edit mode — how should we frame this story? What's the best visual approach? So I try not to lean on it too much outside of work.
I spend a lot of time on TikTok, and that's still partly work — I find so much new talent there. I'll be scrolling, hear a song, and immediately want to know who made it. I have a sticky note on my computer that's just a running list of people who could be potential it girls down the road. TikTok is also where I discover new places — if I suddenly see nine different people trying the same cocktail or flocking to the same spot, that writer's brain kicks in and I think: this isn't a scroll-past moment, this could be a story. I look for that instinct in my editors, too.
At the end of the night, I like to wind down on Reddit. I live in Williamsburg, so I'm on the Williamsburg subreddit a lot — I'm very nosy and like knowing what people are talking about. And I love Ask Reddit: "What's the creepiest thing you've ever experienced?" Those little quick hits are genuinely enjoyable.
Again, I'm kind of a nosy "know-it-all," so if I'm watching a movie, I'm immediately in the IMDB fun facts section. Read a book, I'm in the Goodreads reviews. I always need that second round of information.
You need to do a little bit of sleuthing — I'm the same way. Any creators you'd recommend on TikTok or Instagram?
I love trivia content — I'm very competitive, so anything I can play along with at home. Hollywood IQ is great for that. Track Star is genius; I've already pitched myself as a contestant. I actually met [host] Jack [Coyne] at Coachella and told him exactly what my category would be.
And Kareem [Rahma]'s Subway Takes — I will always stop for that.
My friend Delaney Rowe is hilarious. The way she captures the nuances of her characters is so specific and sharp. I'm constantly asking her, "How do you think of these things?"
And Gabriella Karefa-Johnson is just a genius across every medium. She was one of the first people I saw overlaying text messages on Instagram carousels — I see everyone doing that now, but she was really an early mover. Her newsletter, Brain Matter, is something I read every single time thinking: you're such a good writer and such a good stylist, how do you do all of it?
Yes, I love her newsletter also. Any other newsletters on your regular reading list?
Emilia Petrarca’s Shop Rat is great. And I read Line Sheet — I'm nosy, I love media gossip, so I was genuinely thrilled when La Fronde launched. I thought: yes, another source for all the media dish.
And my friend Gabby Katz just launched a Substack with her creative partner called Plus One, that covers wedding content. I got engaged over the weekend…
Whoa! No big deal at all, congratulations!
Thank you! I subscribed out of friendship, and now I'm actually going back and reading it and being like, "huh, this is actually really helpful now that I have to start planning a wedding!"