When Jane closed, Ms. Holley forged on to another frontier: the Internet. She started Shine, a women’s site for Yahoo that quickly became a popular destination for women online, mixing articles about fashion, beauty, politics and child-rearing.

That experience helped encourage Condé Nast’s overtures regarding Lucky, which has maintained a subpar digital presence despite its Web-friendly concept. “Brandon, with her experience at Yahoo, seemed like the right choice,” Mr. Wallace said.

And yet Ms. France’s background was not that dissimilar from Ms. Holley’s, minus the Internet experience. Before Mr. Truman recruited Ms. France as Lucky’s editor (both refused to comment for this article), she had worked at Sassy, Elle, New York and Spin. Friends and colleagues describe her as a “downtown girl” who felt more comfortable at an East Village boutique than at a Versace show.

“I literally never saw her at a fashion show,” said Lauren Sherman, editor of Fashionista.com. “I’ve never seen her in person. The other Lucky women were out always.”

Ms. France’s distance from the runway — physical or otherwise — helped make Lucky relatable to women. “She isn’t and wasn’t a fashion person, and really, neither are the readers of most fashion magazines,” said Jean Godfrey-June, who has been Lucky’s beauty director since the first issue. “Most people don’t care what the pants of the season are, they want pants that look good on them.” But while Ms. Holley is said to be a risk taker, Ms. France was known as a fierce defender of Lucky’s format, even as copycat magazines multiplied and the Web irreversibly transformed the shopping experience.

“Kim had always been very clear that she wasn’t going to be doing anything about popular topics à la horoscopes or dating advice,” said Sandy Golinkin, Lucky’s publisher from 2000 to 2008. “When there was pressure to make disgruntled people happy, I think she was very committed to what was best for the reader and what was best for what she had envisioned this magazine editorially to be.”