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Cover Story. Interview with Actress Rebecca Ferguson
Introducing the first cover story from our 10th anniversary issue. “Every job I do is yet a new episode that I put into my backpack of life,” says accomplished actress Rebecca Ferguson. Photography by Magnus Magnusson, fashion by Claudia Englmann and interview by Antonia Nessen.
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Love Notes. Interview with Artist Louise Enhörning
“I wanted to find strong colors that represent the different emotions that can be evoked in love,” says Louise Enhörning when she shows me her book Agape that accompanied the exhibition by the same name at Loyal Gallery in Stockholm. Louise, whose last name “Enhörning” means unicorn in Swedish, has a career that spans more than twenty years. She lived in Paris for a decade and presented her book Agape (Art and Theory Publishing, 2019) in conjunction with Paris Photo, the photography fair at the Grand Palais. By Antonia Nessen
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Fe_Male. Interview with Fashion Designer Adam Swärd
Fashion designer Adam Swärd in conversation with Maria Ben Saad on criticality and gender non-conformity in fashion.
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Experiencing Fashion Photography. Essay by Andrea Kollnitz
Fashion photographs, both everywhere and far detached. I first encountered them as a child in the shape of my mother’s German women’s magazines. Shyly devouring every image, wondering about what grown-up life in grown-up bodies might be like. Later glossy luxurious fashion magazines, hardly ever purchased, mainly found, seen, touched, glanced at in public spaces, at hair dressers, places where wo/men are indulging into becoming more perfected, idealized versions of themselves. Inspired by model images. Essay by Andrea Kollnitz
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Fashion Visionary. Interview with Nathalie Dufour
If there is one thing that is clear in fashion, it’s that designers can never make it alone. After all, fashion is a field involving many different professions that bring their respective knowledge, network and expertise together in order to realize a designer’s vision. This is something Nathalie Dufour knew when she set up the prestigious ANDAM award in 1989. Paris was famous for launching international names, but the French were lacking the necessary entrepreneurial spirit and managerial skills. Interview by Philippe Pourhashemi
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Dressing up in a World of Yesterday. Essay by Antonia Nessen
Ironic fashion and a growing interest in the materiality of clothes are intertwined in the sub-trend for women with full-length dresses, floral prints, puff sleeves, prairie styles, and high collars. We take a closer look at clothes that blur the lines between fiction and reality. Essay by Antonia Nessen
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The Joys of Storytelling. Interview with Robin Meason
With a career in PR built on the success of young and independent brands, Robin Meason understands the complex nature of today’s industry. The Texas native, who moved to Paris in the early 1990s, largely contributed to the global rise and fame of Glenn Martens and Demna Gvasalia, two designers who have – in their own respective ways – defined the Zeitgeist. Meason is a great communicator and a woman who loves storytelling, but she’s more instinctive than calculating. She also values craft and authenticity, two key notions that may influence her choice when it comes to collaborating with new brands. By Philippe Pourhashemi
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Interview with Ben Gorham, founder of Byredo
Every once in a while, an interdisciplinary talent shakes the industry with visionary flair and a unique insight into the future of luxury and how it’s consumed. Enter Ben Gorham, who despite being Swedish and Stockholm-based, fully qualifies as “citizen of the world”. Ever since launching Byredo in 2006 – an innovative and now iconic perfume line – Gorham has managed to make us rethink what a luxury product is, challenging the corporations and their monopolies as well as preconceived ideas around the use of perfume. He also loves collaborating and involving other creative types in his projects, such as his friend Virgil Abloh who recently created a fragrance and line of accessories with the brand. Interview by Philippe Pourhashemi. Photography by Magnus Magnusson
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Openness and Tolerance. Interview with Christelle Kocher
Seen from the outside, fashion isn’t exactly a warm and welcoming place. Riddled with preconceptions, snobbery and nepotism, it’s a field of intense power and competition, where egos rule and democratic thinking fades. Strangely enough, that is not the story of French designer Christelle Kocher, whose Paris-based brand KOCHÉ has challenged the status quo since its launch in 2014. Interview with Head Designer of Koché, Christelle Kocher by Philippe Pourhashemi. Photography by Magnus Magnusson
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Escaping the Womb. Essay by Antonia Nessen
Maternity and nursing clothes are an overlooked chapter in fashion history, but in the 1930s the symbolic value of clothing was considered to have a deep connection to motherhood. One of the reasons for our obsession with fashion is our unconscious desire to return to the womb. This is one of the conclusions in J. C. Flügel’s famous book “The Psychology of Clothes” from 1930. Essay by Antonia Nessen
