Claire Hazan (GQ France): “Shaping a men's media so that it becomes both a mirror and a driver of societal changes.”

With a warm smile and rolled-up sleeves, Claire Hazan has made the exploration of contemporary storytelling formats the common thread of her career. A journalist – “I wrote my first articles for GQ!” – then a producer, Hazan has navigated print media, radio, and podcasts before joining Condé Nast in style to lead GQ France’s editorial strategy. After ten years at Lagardère, where she oversaw the editorial strategy and digital transformation for media outlets such as Première and Europe 1, she then joined Spotify France for four years. “I have always found myself on the cutting edge of evolving narrative editorial fields, exploring new grounds. When I started in podcasting, I discovered a great freedom to uncover talents and experiment with new voices and formats.” She spearheaded original projects such as the award-winning documentary, Sauce Algérienne and the podcast Canapé Six Places by Lena Situations, France’s most followed influencer, which became number one in France. “Lena shattered all podcast audience records and reshaped the game with her impact. She was determined to interview Anna Wintour, and we made it happen. I had no idea that just a few months later, I would be interviewing with Anna for a job,” she recalls with a smile.

Gendered media has long reflected stereotypical views of roles and identities. Just leaf through the archives of global publications and you’ll find rigid norms perfectly aligned with the archetypes of their time. Today, as old certainties around gender have dissolved into a far more nuanced landscape, “Men’s media becomes both a mirror and a driver of societal changes,” says Hazan. “When I joined GQ France, I asked myself what I was looking for. The answer came quickly: to question the evolving representations of masculinities. It’s a topic at the heart of contemporary societal shifts – one that we, as a media brand, have the responsibility to explore and reflect.”

The monthly magazine she oversees is a carefully crafted holistic blend – the umami of press sections – spanning fashion, culture, sports, social issues, and wellness. “We can cover a light piece like, ‘How to stay stylish in the summer’ alongside in-depth pieces on male infertility. What I truly value is this blend of depth and lightness, a balance that remains quite rare in French media.”

The cover is the nerve centre of the monthly magazine, its gateway. “For my first cover, I was asked a thousand times what I was going to do, as if I had to turn everything upside down immediately. Initially, I wanted to intentionally resist that idea and mature the big statements for later. But then I thought of Shay: modern and powerful. Exactly the right move at that moment.” Shay, named Artist of the Year and breakthrough live performer at the 2025 Les Flammes, France’s premier awards dedicated to rap and R&B, is a powerhouse rapper and singer-songwriter firmly established in the Francophone cultural scene. She ended up being photographed by William Arcand on the March 2025 cover, the first issue entirely conceived by Hazan. “Shay is a woman who shattered the glass ceilings of her gender and of her professional field, a rapper often criticized for being too sexy. We pictured her in men’s clothes. Fashion is about defying expectations, overturning stereotypes. That’s one of the many stories these images tell,” explains Hazan as she flips through the magazine. The goal isn’t to impose new rules but to expand what’s possible. “We’re here to show different things, and it’s up to the reader to take what he wants from it.” Coming back to the cover story, she adds: “I wanted Shay on the cover because she’s an icon. Not just because she’s a woman. Not just because she’s a Black woman. Because she’s a cultural icon of our time.”

“I want to spotlight personalities whose rough edges tell a story about society.”

In April 2025, football prodigy Paul Pogba stepped out of the shadows and chose GQ France as his exclusive global platform. “We’ve done more than put a football star on the cover, we’ve shared a human story who crossed a desert and is moving from darkness back into the light.” Suspended for 18 months – “the equivalent of several years in a footballer’s career” – he was initially handed a four-year ban for doping before the Tribunal Arbitral du Sport and acknowledged that the substance came from a supplement prescribed by his doctor. On the cover, he faces the camera head-on, occupying the space he never wanted to leave and is now reclaiming, chin raised, eyes fixed on the horizon. “I wanted to keep it sober in the image itself to leave space for this deep story, and we worked with photographer Kenny Germé in that direction,” Hazan says.

“GQ is a global brand with a powerful network, which allows us to deliver a strong and unified message,” she continues, introducing the three covers for the Summer 2025 issue, which is released simultaneously across several international editions. The covers spotlight the lead actors of F1, the highly anticipated film directed by Joseph Kosinski, set to premiere in French cinemas on June 25. “We coordinate these global launches once or twice a year: each market develops its own editorial content, but we align on the covers. And honestly, who’s going to say no to Brad Pitt?”

“I like the idea of building and nurturing a family of creative talents around us.”

A magazine brings together many different jobs all aligned around a shared artistic and editorial vision including writers, photographers, stylists, designers to name just a few. “I like the idea of building and nurturing a family of creative talents around us. Part of my role is to make sure we’re all telling the same story.” It takes real skills considering each role has its own language. “The different positions I held may have seemed disparate at the time, but in reality, they enabled me to understand each person's sensitivities and to unite them in a common direction.”

“Fashion, sports, societal and cultural topics are increasingly intertwined. Few media brands navigate these crossovers as seamlessly as GQ. We’re here to inspire, not dictate: to be a reference for style and culture, without ever locking readers into a set of instructions.” Under Hazan’s leadership, GQ France asserts itself as an open platform for expression, powered by talents from all horizons, diversity of voices, and bold creative energy.

Reuben Attia