(The extremely talented Julien Frey (aka Jul / Fresh) agreed to write a special piece for Issues about Vice Magazine, “one of the most ecstatic reading experiences of the moment”. I apologize for the lack of an English version, all my attempts to produce one ended-up in a linguistic blood-bath. He’s just too smart…)

Parmi nos organes de presse actuellement en vigueur, il en est un singulier qui se distingue en cette ère de consensus mou, de stase enkystée et de moites tentatives de mainmise étatique sur la sphère médiatique… Un mensuel souple et bigarré au blaze ramassé, à prononcer avec l’accent US qui danse au bord des lèvres et taquine le bout de la langue : le susnommé Vice. Ligne éditoriale tarabiscotée propre à réjouir les férus de tendance barrée, critiques de zizique pointue, passage en revue de frusques savamment négligées, de sexualité équilibriste…

Une alternative de quatre-vingt-quatre pages que ses affamés dévorent le plus souvent par la fin pour savourer la mise en bouche que leur réserve American Apparel en quatrième de couverture et ses girls next door shootées sous lumière crue et bouton sur la fesse. Un détail emblématique du rapport schizophrène qu’entretient le lecteur avec son Vice ; entre rejet du cadre normatif photoshopé et attirance je-m’en-foutiste parfaitement assumée pour ce qui reste une pub, avec un logo taillé pour des fringues à la cool…

Alors oui, ça sent le contre-pied forcené, le credo du cradingue un peu foutraque, l’intellect sous stimulant de synthèse, la nostalgie adolescente du curieux décomplexé qui pourrait se palucher un essai sur l’esthétique spinozienne un kleenex serré dans la main gauche. Lorgnant vers le journalisme gonzo déluré (drogues nouvelles et bons vieux champis hallucinogènes), la philosophie expérimentale (Dolly Freed en pleine nature revenant sur son manifeste anticonsumériste), le naturalisme photographique érotomaniaque (de Kern à Richardson en passant par d’autres joyeux allumés de la rétine extatique), Vice peaufine un profil métissé et inclassable, s’attachant à manier le verbe plutôt vert de la rue et des soirées. A ce petit jeu, l’exercice du portrait chinois tournerait à la journée portes ouvertes du zoo de Tchernobyl.

Mais que l’on ne s’y trompe pas… réduire Vice à ses partis pris formels relèverait d’un exercice aporétique des plus spécieux. Entendre qu’il s’agit d’une émanation de la culture MTV et d’une sacralisation régressive importée par des ados bloqués au stade sadique-anal est une production inepte, démontrant à quel point certains détracteurs ont fait l’économie de sa lecture. Vice prône la contre-culture par une mise à distance qui se traduit paradoxalement par une proximité maximale : linguistique, picturale, subjective.

A la manière d’un Richard Kern (l’un des yeux phares du magazine) qui recompose un réel fantasmatique autour de petites culottes et d’intérieurs lambdas, Vice iconise l’ordinaire pour mieux traiter d’un rapport profond(ément jubilatoire) à la vie. On pourrait rapprocher l’exercice de l’œuvre flamande (si si !) dans laquelle ses peintres au XVIIe rompaient avec les figures classiques du religieux et des élites. Leurs Eloges, du quotidien et de l’individu, derrière leur cadre en apparence modeste et anecdotique remettaient en perspective l’être et l’ordre, la vertu par-delà le religieux. Soit un dessein bien plus subversif que ses apparences a priori naïves ne le laissaient croire.

Perversement incisif, délicieusement provocateur, Vice traite de l’édifice social en l’abordant par la cave et ses buissons. Ça sent l’humus, la teuf et les jolies saillies crayonnées sur le mur à la pointe rouillée d’un clou bien tordu. Ce qui nous offre l’une des lectures parmi les plus jouissives du moment.

GRATUIT - http://www.viceland.com/

Illustration: Gregory Rouillard

Economy is harsh, and sometimes you need to make tough decisions to respect your budget. For instance: What do you need more – culture or clothing? The last issue of your favorite magazine or a t-shirt?

Luckily, the solution to this dilemma exists. It even comes all the way from Sweden to your doorstep with the mailman. T-post, “the world’s first wearable magazine”, is published every five weeks, printed on t-shirts and sent to subscribers. On the inside there’s a news story, and on the front – an artist interpretation of it.

Behind this original concept is a group of friends who started printing their wearable issues in 2004. Today, T-posts are sent to 50 countries all around the world (Price: 19 Euros per T-shirt + 7 for shipping in Europe or 9 dollars for the US).

A magazine that tells you what you should wear and also provides the clothes? T-post is like chocolate sauce on a steak – a good way to satisfy all your whims simultaneously!

A Brazilian model on the cover? Check! European ads for French brands? Check! An editorial piece about Sex and the city? Check! Check! Check! Now, what’s missing from this July edition of Vogue Nippon? Sadly, Japanese girls are nowhere to be found…

If it wasn’t for the characters, there was no way to tell this magazine is aiming to please a public in the Far East. Through out 260 pages, I counted 2 Asian faces, drowning in a see of green-eyed blonds. Who’s to blame in this bad, not to say politically incorrect, editing choice? Maybe the editor-in-chief, Mitsuko Watanabe? Maybe the New-York Vogue headquarters? Maybe Japanese girls themselves, known for their admiration of pale skin?

One thing is sure, this is not what we expect from the country that gave us Issey Miyake, Kenzo and the manga.

“Our publication has become something very special – a collector’s item revered by lovers of magazines and books all over the world. It brings me immense joy to see that our editorial idea of weaving the historical with the contemporary through a timeless theme creates a modern picture that resonates on a universal level today”… These are the not very humble words of ACNE PAPER’s editor-in-chief, Thomas Persson, celebrating five years of work in his last editorial.

Personally, Scandinavian’s take on fashion intrigues me, and if we overlook Mr. Persson’s lack of tact, Acne is an interesting case to examine.

The Stockholm based collective started as a “lifestyle brand” in 1996, then became a prêt a- porter label with stores in 10 countries worldwide. Five years ago, the Acne team took a big risk, putting their good reputation in peril, by launching the magazine Acne Paper.

Mixing two related fields of work together, Acne now owns a fashion magazine and a clothing brand. It’s a tricky mission to accomplish respectfully (too tempting to use one product to promote the other), yet the group seems to avoid the trap with success.

Through fashion, art, photography and interviews, every issue covers a “timeless theme”. The 10^th issue, out to the stands recently, is dedicated to parties. From Leonardo’s “Last supper” to the crazy nights in Mali of the ’60, passing through Venice, Paris, New-York and London, this issue makes you want to be a part of high society just to have a reason to wear gowns.

The good scandinavian taste has worked its charm again, I only regret the editorial mishap. A smug manager is a total turn-off.

The last 10-15 years revolutionized the way all of us refer to fashion. Mass production companies took over the world, bloggers enjoy an on-growing input, and figures that traditionally stay behind the scenes (designers and editors) are now overly exposed in the press. These changes made the public more and more interested in the fashion world, and more and more critic about it.

In this new habitat, the first issue of Industrie had just hit the stands. “The world’s first culture of fashion magazine” is trying to export from the web to the print the significant interest in backstage fashion. On the cover appears, evidently, Anna Wintour and inside await Natalie Massenet (founder of Net-A-Porter), Tommy Ton (aka Jak & Jil, fashion blogger), Karl Templer (stylist), and more people from the world of style.

It seams to me like Industrie magazine addresses mostly people working in fashion and those who’d like to do that one day. To avoid any misunderstandings, before taking to hand this well designed issue you need to ask yourself what is fashion to you. If you like to look at magazines in search for inspiration, put it down. Better to save these 10 euros for a new t-shirt. On the other hand, if you’re interested in the rise of fashion titans and the future of fashion in the internet era, go ahead, this is the magazine for you.

Originally, I LIKe my stYLe.net is a social network for fashion lovers, where you can upload photos of you and your wardrobe, comment on other people’s pics and discuss style and other topics. Lately, the people behind it have decided to publish chosen pictures of members in their own magazine, “the first user-generated fashion magazine”, as written on the cover.

When the concept is that innovative, the result is bound to be interesting. Through-out it’s 264 pages, “I LIKe my style Quarterly” brings personal stories, cyber dialogs and a lot of photos taken by young people from all around the world. Diversity, style democracy and raw materials are “I LIKe my style” strongest points. On the other hand, 12 Euros for internet content is a bit too much. Especially for a magazine coming 100% from the street.

More than it’s a fashion magazine, ”I LIKe my style” is a testimony, a fraction of  today’s state of mind. Right now the web is overloaded with these blog-influenced-celebrity-like pictures, which makes this issue a little bit annoying nearing the end. But in 20 or 40 years, when there are no more countries and we all speak Chinese, people could be writing studies about it.

There’s a thin line between trashy and classy, and in it’s third issue,  Paper Planes magazine is playing dangerously on it.

This young spanish publication comes out twice a year and is dedicated each time to a song and the year it was released in. The last issue is dedicated to 1998’s Celebrity skin of Courtney Love and her band Hole. In it, Paper Planes are having fun breaking the codes of image and text’s layout. From cover to cover, this issue is filled with miss-matched colours, wild make up, and porno-chic shoots. It’s over the top, much too much, and very fun.

Between great photographers and upcoming actresses and singers, you can also see some new faces like Laura McCone, an Elite Barcelona discovery, in the picture below holding a Starbucks coffee (we can be good friends).

In order to fully appreciate the morning after ambiance of these pages, before opening Paper Planes you should get a bottle of whisky, play a “Sex Pistols” album, rip a hole in your pantyhose and slip on the most outrageous pair of shoes you own.

On their web site, the people of Vs Magazine are defining it as an international high-end fashion and lifestyle magazine. Indeed, it’s hard to determine the national identity of this colorful large-format. Vs has a Paris and a New-york office, their distributor is in London and rumor has it the people behind it are really ducth (!).

Recently, Vs had  launched a new web site that supposed to be the first version of a fashion magazine in our internet era, featuring filmed fashion spreads, among other things. “It’s our way of transforming the printed magazine into a LIVE edition”, in their words.

The international aspect of Vs is definitely present on their web site. During my visit I came across a video realized by the Swedish label Monki, which I didn’t know before. Even if it’s only to appriciate their unique universe and graphic signature, the Monki web site’s worth a look as well.

“I’m all out of Naomis”, apologized the nice man in Colette’s magazine library, “but I do have Kate, Natalia and Lara if you want”.

This strange fragment of a conversation was actually a little marketing victory. Love Magazine, The biannual son of the notorious Condé-Nast Publications ( brother of Vogue, W, GQ, Glamour and more) can be very proud of itself…

The term “cover girl” was born in 1915. Ever since then, and even before, magazines have been choosing carefully who they put on their cover, knowing the decision will affect sales. But times change and in our society rare beauty is no longer enough.

The last trend in the world of fashion magazines is to create several covers to the same issue. This way, readers can get the impression of expressing themselves by choosing their favorite.

While most publications are satisfied with two covers, Love had taken the trend one step further. The spring/summer 2010 issue was published with 8 different covers, featuring the world’s most successful models: Naomi Campbell, Kate moss, Lara Stone, Amber Valetta, Jeneil Williams, Kristen McMenamy, Daria Werbowy and Natalia Vodianova all posed naked to create a one-of-a-kind series.

Finally, I chose Lara…

  A weird phenomenon has taken over the french press lately. In just over a month I’ve came across 3 special editions of magazines where “the power of the editor-in-chief” was given to celebrities. More accurately, these magazines are dedicated entirely to one chosen person.  

The latest issue of Madame Figaro, out to the news stands today, is dedicated to Vanessa Paradis from cover to cover. How to get her red carpet look, what music she listens to and what are her favorit dishes, these are only three examples of  what awaits in this one-woman-mag. It’s not the first time Madame figaro has chosen this strategy. The first lady of France, Madame Bruni-Sarkozy got to conduct the issue of March 27. If you’d like to see a fashion spread featuring Carla’s best friends and sketches of her made by the greatest designers (Jean Paul Gaultier, Alber Elbaz, Karl Lagerfeld and more) – this issue is a once in a lifetime opportunity.  

You might think i’m overreacting. After all, Madame figaro is not realy a fashion magazine… But what do we do when the “people attitude” reaches Vogue Paris? This month’s french Vogue is dedicated to Penélope Cruz. In it we can read an article about her sister’s style and see photos from her privet album. Hmmmm….

Personally, I believe a Vogue signed by Stella McCartney or Marc Jacobs would have been more appropriate.