Stop the presses! BlackBook, the smart style mag, is not folding. Or at least not without a fight. On November 3rd, BlackBook's highly respected creative director Bryan Erickson was given the boot by owner Ari Howitz, leaving just six overworked editorial staffers to mane the entire ship.

Why now, you ask? Well, we're assuming the ad buys for the lifestyle tome weren't looking to good to Howitz and decided that only with a new design could their little financial problem be fixed. Uh, yeah.

Hopefully, BlackBook's new creative director Jason Daniels won't face a similar fate. Especially when he's being lavished with praise like this: "Jason brings with him the energy, eye and the wit readers have come to expect from BlackBook, while also giving his critical global vision to BlackBook's exciting new platforms, including BBook.com and our new mobile applications, including iPhone."

This should be interesting.

[via Fashion Wee Daily]