Faesthetic used to thrill me. I thought it was brilliant. B&W, zine-like and loved the lack of text and article—an art-zine if you will. But a couple years later i’m just bored.
I have nothing against Faesthetic and I actually applaud the publisher, Dustin Hostetler, for devising such an innovative publication. He can honestly say he did something no one else had done before.
But…(there is always a but) it represents everything I currently hate about the field of design.
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March 7th, 2007
I’ve been wanting to get ahold of Nylon Japan now for some time. And like all perfect princesses, I always get what I want.
Nylon Japan does not disappoint.
If you have ever read any Japanese fashion magazines, and I use the term read very loosely here, then you know articles and text are virtually non-existant and instead the pages are a tight grid
of endless outfit combinations.
Nylon Japan follows this format
but also introduces a few fashion spreads, product reviews and even a couple articles. It manages to hang on to the identity and branding of Nylon while assimilating to the cultural styling of Japanese publications.
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March 6th, 2007
V Magazine is pretentious. At 10.5 x14 inches, V proudly stands the tallest publication on the newsstand. V has the best photographers, the best models, and a foil stamped cover. V is the face of the New Fashion Elite.
The New Fashion Elite is a little group I’ve made up. Anna Wintour is not a member. Condé Nast is not an affiliate. The New Fashion Elite couldn’t care less what Vogue has to say about this season. They are educated, sophisticated and worldly. They write about bands and artists you haven’t heard of, but will. They read—and I don’t mean The Devil Wears Prada, and V is their visual journal. (more…)
March 6th, 2007
I’ve decided the world of the fashion magazine is much like the Cirque Du Soleil—outlandish costumes, on-lookers and circus freaks. None are more prominent than the Vogue duo of Anna Wintour and Andre Leon Talley.
She is the beast that the Devil Wears Prada was based on, and the woman who once reportedly threw out an acclaimed author’s completed piece for publication because she thought him too unattractive. As for Talley, he may rule Fashion Week, but he always comes off looking like an extra from Coming To America.
They may be weird and/or crazy, but in a sea of magazines trying to teach us how
to work, eat and fuck better, Vogue is a shining star that exploits ambition, not insecurity.
In an effort to dig deeper into the lives of the Dynamic Duo™, I am purchasing Front Row: Anna Wintour: What Lies Beneath the Chic Exterior of Vogue’s Editor in Chief and A.L.T.:A Memoir. A more in-depth study will soon follow. Watch this space.
March 5th, 2007
I discovered Jesus in a punk bar in the LES. He makes zines and his logo is a cock. He was sitting in the graffiti covered shithole crust punk bar along the windows. He was the only black person in the bar and while most of the other guys were missing one or both front teeth, he was dressed like a gentleman in ironed khakis, tucked in dress shirt and business shoes.
He had a sketchbook and was explaining to the grimey bike messengers how he loved cock; drawing cock that is. His sketchbook was a treasure trove of the most obscure, filthy outsider art I’ve ever seen. Mythical creatures wielding huge cocks that wrapped around the pages like serpents. David LaChapelle would have blushed and John Waters would have commissioned him on the spot. (more…)
March 4th, 2007
Prepare yourself my little magazine-heads, for I almost peed myself upon discovering Colophon. It’s a shame I can’t afford airfare to attend. (However, I would be willing to sell my kidneys on the black market for a ticket to Luxembourg).
Luxembourg and Greater Region, European Capital of Culture 2007 is hosting Colophon 2007, an international magazine symposium curated by Creative Director Jeremy Leslie (London), Writer Andrew Losowsky (Madrid) and Publisher Mike Koedinger (Luxembourg).
Five exhibitions on magazine culture will be on view including a visual representation of 10 groundbreaking magazines by the people who make them. Also on display a Magazine Graveyard dedicated to those publications that no longer exist, an installation / projection of classic magazine covers, 20 Years of X-Non-Magazine, a celebration of the underground fanzine and finally, a tribute to the Paris based publication Magazine. All hosted in a spectacular, multi-level venue.
The objective is for many of the most intriguing personalities in the worldwide magazine culture to interact with interested audiences and players from a multitude of fields and to exchange ideas, experiences, and view examples of some of the best and brightest offerings.
March 3rd, 2007
Let me preface. I’ve been contemplating lately the reasoning behind my magazine obsession. It’s accurate to say I am more fascinated with the idea of sneaking a glance into a particular sub-culture than the actual writing and content contained in the pages. On that note, I spend a good bit of my online time wrapped up in searches of weird sexual proclivities and psychiatry articles. It’s not that I am into kinky-freak festishes and the like, but I am endlessly fascinated by the sub-culture of people who are.
So with no further delay I bring you, live from The Church of Satan, Lust Magazine. Surprisingly well-designed and boasting such features as an interview with avant-garde gay filmmaker Bruce LaBruce and a list of “The Ten Greatest Songs Heard in Adult Movie Shops”…Mayhaps the Satanists have relocated to Williamsburg?
March 2nd, 2007
You have ruined my favorite of the underground magazines, BUTT, the Fantastic Magazine for Homosexuals by carrying it in your mecca of hipsterdom, American Apparel. I can no longer proudly tote my copy of this once extremely difficult to acquire publication with my usual air of superiority upon my face. Now every androgynous, AA-shirted, coke-nosed hipster will too own a copy of my precious BUTT.
Le sigh,
Your Magazine Mistress
PS: I had to purchase this copy at my local American Apparel as it’s the only place locally to carry it. OH THE IRONY!
March 1st, 2007
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