5.17.2008

Philip-Lorca diCorcia






This month's (may) hot buy other than Fabian Barron's tweaked Interview has got to be fashion magazine W. Although the cover image is the obligatory beautiful Hollywood actress, this issue definitely deserves a big mention. The back end of the book which is usually a selection of interviews, still life and fashion productions has given away 22 spreads to the most fantastic series of photographs taken by legendary photographer Philip-Lorca diCorcia.

The images are incredibly rich, some are lit and composed like old master paintings. DiCorcia has captured what seems like a very accurate and genuine slice of the life and urban environment of Cairo. Of course being W and Condé Nast, the story is styled (Camilla Nickerson). The Prada dress, Balenciaga jacket and odd Miu Miu top makes an appearance.

Not all the photographs feature fashion brands; there are plenty of spreads that show only street scenes and interiors of homes etc. The feature has achieved a balance of both reportage and fashion, any more reportage and less fashion would have been off brand for W and admittedly an unreasonable proposition in light of pressures faced by editors, especially those working for Condé Nast.

5.09.2008

More Twen

More from the magazine master






5.07.2008

Stephen Fry & Gutenberg








Last night the British Library held a talk over the recent screening of the BBC's 'Medieval Season', showing Stephen Fry talk us through the world's first mass-production printing press, built by the legendary Gutenberg. The talk was great as it allowed some of the key people to talk about how they built the press and what the obstacles were.

They had a small miniature press, etchings from way back when, diagrams, sketches and of course the finished beast itself. The level of detail involved all serves to make you realise just what a wide imagination was needed to create it in the first place. One has only to look at the 1300 pages that form the first print job to see just what an epic task it was. A great night.

5.02.2008

Twen Spreads










We get a lot of search engine hits from people looking for information on Twen magazine, so in order to cater to demand, here are a few Twen spreads which are always good to look at as they really take advantage of the good ol' 'something big next to something small' rule: a classic Fleckhaus bit of magic.