Lindsay Lohan was on the cover of the first fashion magazine I ever bought. It was a September 2009 issue of ELLE UK purchased from Tesco. Seven years later, the issue inhabits a highly coveted space on the bookcase in my bedroom. Though its initial function to report on forthcoming Autumnal trends and offer exclusive insights into the life of a troubled Lohan has expired, it exists now as a lasting fashion object. It signifies the beginning of my enduring affair with fashion magazines while serving as a window into a distinct moment in fashion and culture. Harboured between its thinning glossy covers, lies this unique zeitgeist. This idea, that a magazine has the potential to remain a product of a time and place while being reflective of one’s own identity and taste, has not only fuelled my personal affinity for fashion publications but has inspired an unlikely revival of interest in print culture both at home and abroad.
Despite the numerous death knells sounded on the written word in the face of digital media, print culture survives. Yes, the mechanical and almost dizzying regurgitation of online content has affected our consumption of printed publications, but our handheld access to the internet hasn’t convinced us to pull the plug on the printing press just yet. By taking a diametric approach to the strategy of digital content, many printed magazines have embraced their ability to slow things down, and absorb. A rather remarkable feat in today’s society.
The ability to provide an item of permanence in an industry that is largely founded upon transience has inspired the development of small independent fashion magazines. A branch off of a wider movement experienced by arts and culture print publications internationally, these publications champion the luxuries of print by presenting niche perspectives through quality production. This is the case with FRANC Magazine, a Dublin-based biannual fashion magazine, co-founded two years ago by Trinity students, Briony Somers and Lauren Henshaw. FRANC’s literary approach to visual culture, in the form of atemporal personal essays, transcends the rapturous pace of fashion. Instead, it pauses, digests and poignantly reflects. As Briony, editor-in-chief of FRANC, asserts, “We’re not trying to be relevant we’re trying to resonate”.
FRANC was conceived with the soulful aim of creating “something that you wanted to sit down and read with a cup of tea”, accompanied by a broader intellectual pursuit to create a platform for thoughtful fashion discussion. Having just launched its third issue, FRANC is now an established member of an industrious local offering of independent fashion titles. What unites them is their aim to heighten the experience of the most fundamental aspect of a magazine, its physicality. By celebrating the tactual qualities of print, in terms of its considered content, lavish editorials and high production value, these publications are rendered somewhat luxury items. You need not leave the parameters of Dublin city to lay hands on a host of these premium publications, namely, FRANC, Thread, GRAPE, CULT and MFI Magazine.
These integral properties of print also resound with Adam Gaffey, founder and editor-in-chief of Men’s Fashion Ireland, who posits the recent growth of his multimedia production company to its print component – MFI Magazine. “It’s that feeling of freshly inked paper and a physical product which our consumer can hold in their hands and maintain in their possession”, he tells me when asked about the unique qualities print brings to MFI. Interestingly, Men’s Fashion Ireland began as a Facebook page in 2013, a solely online enterprise to showcase talent in Dublin’s menswear market. Observing traffic, demographics and establishing relationships with brands and other creatives through Facebook, enabled Mens Fashion Ireland to publish its first print issue in 2014. Since then, MFI Magazine has grown at “an unexpectedly fast pace”, offering in depth editorials and cutting-edge shoots.
Transitioning from digital to print is the reversal of a route taken by many contemporary publications who had to acquiesce to creating digital content in order to remain competitive. But this imperious pressure to provide an online counterpart doesn’t at all concern the team at FRANC. When discussing the position of fashion print in this newly digitised landscape, Briony admits that it’s not an issue she gives much thought to, and simply adds that “having an online presence wasn’t something that ever made a huge amount of sense for FRANC.” Largely because the medium still offers something that a screen can’t.
When you sieve through the layers of commerciality and model #squads, fashion is, at its core, a visually driven industry, consequently giving print the upper hand in representing visual culture. “I don’t find fashion photography anywhere near as compelling on a screen”, Briony adds. FRANC’s editorials are in equal parts contemporary and romanticised, and require the quiet admiration that comes with print publications. Adam also advocates the advantages print pertains over digital media when producing fashion content, “I feel that print publications don’t contain the inadmissible content we see scrolling through our feeds”. Indeed, the pace of biannual and quarterly print titles allows editorial teams to meditate on the layout of each page and consider the value of every word. From my experience as a reader, this meticulous process makes the experience all the more enjoyable.
Perhaps it is also the format adopted by both magazines that bolsters their gratifying reading experience. By dedicating every issue to an overarching theme, Adam finds that it gives each publication “a clear message” and allows the editorial team to thoroughly explore a concept or topic that is relevant to its time. In this way, they have become entirely self sufficient publications. When pressed about how FRANC settles on a theme, Briony explains that they emerge rather organically during the creative process. The issues that arise during the exploration of one theme, become the focus of the next. ‘Obsession’ has evolved into ‘Fear’ which evolved into ‘Pretence’, creating a narrative that is entirely expressive of FRANC’s development.
Although both publications have only been in circulation for two years, the assertiveness with which each magazine delivers its point of view is laudable. It makes me wonder about the kind of environment they were faced with as start-ups, given the relatively small size of Dublin’s fashion industry. For Adam, there wasn’t a question of obstacles, “if I didn’t do it, would anyone ever challenge the creativity of menswear in Ireland? Would there ever be a platform for creative artists and journalists to express their interest in this area?”. Ultimately, both publications were received enthusiastically and, if anything, the intimacy of Dublin’s creative scene enhanced their production. Since their inception, FRANC and MFI Magazine have enjoyed the cooperation of Irish creatives, who have influenced, advised and, on occasion, contributed.
You need only attend the magazine’s launch parties to witness the extent of this community. From contributors to readers, all are unanimous in their shared enthusiasm for fashion, print culture and of course, free Jameson. However, the readership is broader than I initially imagined. Both Briony and Adam assure me that their demographic is highly dynamic, and constantly growing. Briony attributes FRANC’s appeal to the emotional conscience at the heart of the magazine. “We ultimately are dealing with the ideas and emotions behind fashion and that’s something everyone can relate to,” she explains. MFI’s demographic – despite exploring a subject as niche as menswear – spans from college students to sports stars, including female readers and a significant amount of international sales online.
The community surrounding independent fashion magazines extends beyond readers and collaborators, to their stockists who play a vital role in nurturing this culture. Spaces around Dublin such as Indigo and Cloth, The Library Project, Nowhere and Om Diva stock a finely curated inventory of independent publications. A recent addition to this is Sunday Books, launched by Paul Guinan earlier this month. Sunday Books is a Dublin-based online bookshop offering a selection of books and magazines that are united by their quality of content, design and production. The website currently stocks thirty titles, a number that it’s founder Paul Guinan determines will grow over time, “I’m especially keen to increase the magazine offering considering the amount of impressive titles currently out there”.
Amassing subject matter as diverse as politics, film and architecture, Sunday Books also offers a number of Irish and internationally produced fashion magazines. Fashion’s relationship with print is one that Paul considers to be necessary and thus, long-lasting, “The inherently tactile nature of both leads me to believe fashion and print will always remain close bedfellows with one another”. Being involved in a number of print projects in Dublin – including FRANC – Paul attests that the publications produced by Dublin’s community of writers, designers and artists can rival the best in the world. It helps that stockists like Sunday Books can now provide these local print publications with the much needed infrastructure to develop and support their readership.
The growth of Dublin’s fashion print industry is fascinating to observe, particularly with creatives like Adam and Briony at the fore; “it drives us to know that we may have helped someone along their journey of self-discovery or changed their opinion”. Adam’s sentiments are shared within this community, whose desire to connect with a specific reader in a meaningful way is the definitive quality of independent publications. At it’s best, an independent fashion magazine creates an experience that isn’t easily replicated by digital content. Replete with it’s own aesthetic, creative process and community, it becomes something with which you can establish a relationship. A precious object that informs and inspires, that is reflective of a time and place. An object worth displaying on a bookcase in your bedroom.
Illustrations by Anna Hardstaff.
