Ever wondered where you can find academic yet entertaining fashion news and criticism? Look no further – Address has what you need to fix your fashion hankerings – philosophical apparel style.
Launched in October last year, editor-in-chief, Johannes Reponen, completely rethinks what a fashion magazine can be. Although Address is a magazine about fashion, it is not a fashion magazine. Free of advertising, it challenges the form of the fashion magazine by rejecting the purely visual and commercial, in favour of a more scholarly approach to assessing how we dress.
In the first issue you can find Nicolas Buteau’s review of Carla Bruni-Sarkozy’s choice of attire, which states: “the frivolous first lady undermines the recovery of the French economy… her ostentatious style is more Marie Antoinette than Jackie Kennedy”; snippets of fashion commentary from Twitter; and a thought-provoking exploration of the relationship between fashion and curation.
Reponen describes the journal’s aim as providing “…readers with varying forms of visual and written fashion commentary… from fiction to poetry, scholarly articles, interviews and visual ruminations and contemporary photographic angles on facets of fashion.”
By mixing different modes of writing – scholarly, journalistic and creative – Reponen begins to approach fashion critique in a manner that is informative and accessible.
Combining text and visual pieces, ideas about fashion are explored in brilliantly inventive ways by writers from a mix of disciplines. A collection of articles comprise an architect’s views on the similarities between shoes and buildings; Reponen’s humorous profile of the outrageous fashion critic Richard Blackwell; and an exploration of the emotional significance behind second-hand clothes by photographer, Ida Taavitsainen.
Talking of the magazine’s future, Reponen says he’d like to keep the format “open for future issues and treat it differently if necessary to explore the possibilities of the relationship between the format and content. If more people become involved in contributing, this will also extend its range of views. Keeping up with, but commenting on, developments in fashion will always be core to Address.”
Perhaps the most important thing I’ve learnt from Address is to always stick to my guns when deciding what to wear and – in keeping with Finnish etiquette consultant Kaarine Suonperä’s words: “I don’t really care what colours are in and out, I will always choose blue” – Grazia must have no bearing on my wardrobe.
Keep your eyes peeled for issue 2 at addresspublications.com where the debut issue can be bought for £10. And if you’re interested in contributing to future issues, the editor can be contacted at: johannes@addresspublications.com
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