Sweating the Details

The zig-zag-and-fall of Details was more than a clash between tony Conde Nast culture and the ruffian lad-mag sensibility. It was a clash between rival ideas of manhood. Men's mags have slavered over women before--remember Vargas girls?--but with an affect of gentlemen's-club exclusivity. Young men turned to them as tutors in the mysteries of manhood. Today youths prefer populist outlets like Maxim and TV's The Man Show, which toast an uncomplicated guy-hood. Details, finally, didn't party hard enough.

Details will relaunch in October as a men's-fashion magazine under Conde Nast's newly acquired sister company, Fairchild, which publishes W and Jane. Meanwhile, Maxim, its circulation more than 1.6 million, is the undisputed frat-house president, and it's doubtful anyone can challenge it without embracing the mammarian flat-out. "When Mark and I were at Maxim," says erstwhile Details executive editor Bill Shapiro, "our whole mission in life was to destroy Details, to eat Details for lunch." Mission accomplished, guys.

--With reporting by Ellin Martens/New York