OK Festival
As promised, here are some pictures and captions giving an impression of the weekend’s OK Festival. Thanks to Luis Mendo for sending these.
‘A hurricane of fabulousness’
‘Ugly Betty’, ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ and the annual 400+ page fall fashion issue of US Vogue come together this week with the UK opening of ‘The September Issue’, RJ Cutler’s behind-the-scenes documentary about editor Anna Wintour and her magazine.
Read an interview with RJ Cutler and a round-up of some of Wintour’s comments, and stand by for reviews. I’m not expecting a warts-and-all exposé, I’m realistic about that, but I hope there’s something new in the movie even for the magazine-obsessed.
In particular, I’m looking forward to seeing if Wintour really is as, well, plain nasty as she comes across in interviews. Some people at her level enjoy a pantomime-style ‘baddie’ reputation but have a redeeming feature that balances the nasty. The best movie stars are those with huge egos and just enough self-knowledge to wink at the camera at the right point during an interview.
The trailer above positions Wintour as the ice-maiden editor of reputation. The pay-off ought to be that the movie reveals a gentler side to her. But I fear she takes herself and the fashion business all too seriously. Lets see.
032c #17
I’ve always enjoyed 032c, but following editor Joerg Koch’s excellent presentation of his magazine at Colophon2009 I have even more respect for what he and his team are doing. Hearing how the title has journeyed from self-conscious outsider to become increasingly more professional in presentation and content was one of the highlights of Luxembourg. Koch’s personable wit and humour served to underline the strength and seriousness of his magazine.
Desktop publishing
Imagine what a group of editors, contributors and designers of mainstream magazines might create if they clubbed together to launch their own title. Now delete that. Whatever that description brings to mind will be completely different to Manzine, a new publication from an ad hoc group of just such people (GQ, Arena, Maxim etc). This monochrome magazine contains a random mix of content loosely linked to the idea ‘A Publication About the Male Phenomenon’.
Old ugly
Just when you thought it had faded away, ‘The New Ugly’ lurches back into the foreground. Alice Rawsthorn writes about 032c and Super Super in this week’s New York Times T Magazine, complete with obligatory dismissal from Michael Beirut. Read it here.
The new Creative Review
Two reasons to buy the March issue of Creative Review; firstly, as I mentioned in an earlier post, it has been redesigned. Using the full range of Christian Schwarz’s Farnham font, art director Paul Pensom has styled the headlines and page details as typography samplers (above and below). Editorially, the headlines have been restyled to be more factual and less reliant on ugly puns.
The start of the 032c effect?
Here, courtesy of Search & Destroy, is the upcoming cover of Pop, featuring Stephanie Seymour. That typography has two possible influences. Either the designers have been looking through their late eighties copies of Interview and The Face (perhaps discovered at the back of the cupboards in their new office, where The Face was once based). Or is it born of our favourite magazine 032c? Might not be quite ugly enough for the latter. 032c-lite anyone?
The issue itself will reveal more. Watch this space.
Still ugly
News of Super Super and the redesign of 032c filters through to mainstream America; read Pentagram’s Michael Beirut get his knickers in a twist over the ‘new ugly’ on Design Observer.
