Are Media has appointed Melissa Mason as Editor (Digital) of its heritage fashion brands ELLE and marie claire.

With an extensive background in fashion, style and beauty, Mason has more than ten years print and digital experience, joining Are Media from Broadsheet Media where she was content director. She has also worked at Pedestrian Group as managing editor and senior style and features editor and was editor of News Corp’s Primped.com.au. For more than two years she worked at Pacific Magazines as features and beauty editor for Girlfriend and Total Girl and began her career at Bauer Media (now Are Media) where she was a beauty writer.

Mason said: “I’m so excited to work across these market-leading brands. Both ELLE and marie claire are renowned globally for championing women and bringing their audience smart, engaging content across everything from fashion and beauty to cultural and social issues. There is an opportunity in Australia to provide women with content that entertains them and also engages with them on a deeper level. As for the fashion content in both these brands, it is second to none.”

Are Media announced it was relaunching ELLE.com.au as a purely digital play in November last year. In the same month, Neilson’s Digital Content Ratings (DCR) showed marieclaire.com.au was the number one fashion and beauty website in Australia posting a record audience of 700,000 for the month.

Fiona Baker, Are Media’s digital director of fashion and entertainment, added: “ELLE and marie claire are such powerhouse digital properties in Australia and long-time leaders in fashion and women’s media. With her wealth of experience in media, Mel will be pivotal in driving forward the digital editorial strategies of these two luxury brands in 2021, collaborating closely with the marie claire magazine team and building on ELLE’s success as a digital-only brand here in Australia.”