Some people obsess about shoes, about collecting video
games, boutique toys and even stamps. I obsess about magazines. From the small
pocketbook sized ones, to the larger than life A3 formats of the likes of ARISE
and V Magazines. This obsession started years back. Way back before I even knew
one could have a sterling career within the magazine publishing sphere. I once
came across an issue of DRUM Magazine while scratching through my grandmother’s
suitcase. The she was, Mama Makeba, looking fab and somewhat skinny, on the
cover. It was love at first sight.
Since then, I made it a life’s mission to get hold of
magazines. Read them, analyse them, critique them, and most importantly for me,
to understand them. After a while the passion was fully-fledged passion induced
obsession. I used to initially read the magazine front to back page by page.
Then, as the years went by and I started developing a personal eye for them I
began to read them in a different way. 1st I look at the cover and
back covers. Then I move through the magazine going through all the
advertisements, checking out the art direction, photography and styling. Then I
go through the editorial fashion shoots, taking in all the edgy photography and
skilled styling and looking at which models made the cut for which shoot.
And then I read the articles.
It’s a bit backwards, one would think, but it’s what works
for me and it helps me get a holistic overview of the magazine, its theme for
that issue and understand the copy better. Essentially, the magazine is for
reading, and what’s the point of all the pretty pictures if the editorials
don’t make intelligent sense.
With 2012 in full swing, here are my suggestions of
magazines you should be reading. Some are a little more difficult to get hold
of, so you might find yourself reading them sporadically. Generally, any good
book store should have these titles stock at least a month after issue
internationally. You might also want to canvas the neighbourhood for boutique
bookshops, they also tend to host some real gems.
10MEN Magazine
10MEN is a British quarterly magazine, published by
mother-brand TEN Magazine. It is in print what The Renaissance Men aspires to
be online, in terms of editorial content and the quality therefore. It
continues to feature bumper-packed issues four times a year of super duper
men’s fashion. From an all-male designer casts to models and creative minds
within the industry. 10MEN is definitely a magazine all men should proactively
seek to own. It’s filled with everything you need to know in a language and
tone that speaks directly to you and not the egotistic twin you own in your
head.
1883 Magazine
1883 is one of those magazines that off-hand you’d assume is
targeted primarily at women. However, it’s democratically unisex. It boasts a
well-balanced feature of both male and female fashions and news. My love for
this magazine is based on its layout. It works through showcasing the shoot
first, and then it profiles all the parties that were involved in bringing the
shoot to life in the pages that follow. It’s like going through a creative
sketchbook that has been photoshopped. It’s sleek, simple and provides quality
content with exciting photography and fresh couture. Another bonus with this
magazine is, if you’re image driven you’ll be happy, as the magazine boasts a
majority photographic format with only enough copy to get the message across.
Arena HOMME+
If you wanted to take a page out of a fashion bible to apply
to your style for six months, you might want to get your hands on the bi-annual
publication, Arena HOMME+. The publication is like a man’s gps through the
fashion terrain for six months. Filled with insightful style and trend
breakdowns (by the way, style and trends are two different things, hence the
individual attention) that will help even the most inept of us piece together a
wardrobe worthy a compliment or two. What also works in Arena HOMME+’s favour
is their strong editorial content. Not always lengthy and robust in language,
but entirely honest and relevant. They blend the fabricated aspirations
sprawled over the fashion shoots seamlessly with the meat on the bones of the
words used to construct creative and insightful editorials.
HELMET Magazine
Ever attended an exhibition opening and found yourself
in-love with the gallery itself, notwithstanding the exhibition in it? Then,
when you finally descend from the high you find yourself in awe of the art
within. An hour later, you find yourself continuously titillated by the
different breeds of people you’re interacting with at this exhibition –
painters, sculptors, musicians, photographers, creative directors, fashion
designers, merchandisers, menswear buyers and so forth. Well, that’s pretty
much the same thing that happens when you read HELMET magazine. It’s a wonderful
soft-spoken space, on print that houses all these different creative fields on
textured paper in spiffy layouts using witty photography and Oxford English in
plain Jane style. And it’s from down under. Just get it. You’ll see what I
mean.
INDUSTRIE Magazine
Barry Ronge is considered an opinion leader when it comes to
movies and theatre. Gwen Gill, bless her soul, was considered the key opinion
leader in all things glitz, social and fashionable. INDUSTRIE is what you will begin to consider as the industry
standard of being a key opinion leader in all things fashion. My love for this
magazine stems from its intense use of copy, not just how gorgeous the copy
looks on paper, but the quantity thereof as well. It’s the kind of magazine you
actually read for the pleasure of reading a fashion magazine. The fashion
spreads included in each issue are merely byproducts of putting together a
fashion magazine. The content is of an extremely intellectual property and is
geared at educating, enlightening and dealing with the most revered topic,
those norm and taboo. And what I also fancy about INDUSTRIE is its ability to pose tough questions to both the
industry and its consumers.
Generally, fashion magazines are to be used as a guide to
trends, fashion and style currently free flowing in the world. They are testament
on paper of what is available to one to explore and utilise as a tool for their
expression. Magazines are there to also educate, debate topical issues and push
the boundaries of what we know as fashion. I read them for everything they have
to offer and use them as textbooks to better understanding the dynamics of
fashion.
Some other fashion magazines of interest you should look out
for are:
·
Palladium
·
Cent Magazine
·
Schön!
·
TANK
·
Another Man
·
Surface Magazine
No comments:
Post a Comment