“Mainstream fashion press is slightly boring and needs to change its direction in order to survive,” insists Elise By Olsen, editor-in-chief of Wallet, an independent fashion magazine striving to create a critical forum in which fashion and its values can be negotiated, deconstructed and redefined.

At just eighteen years of age, By Olsen already has an impressive resumé. She only recently stepped down as editor-in-chief of Recens Paper, a youth culture magazine she founded when she was thirteen, making her the world’s youngest editor-in-chief. While Recens Paper provided a counterpoint to the airbrushed images and lack of diversity present in conventional teenage magazines, her newest venture, Wallet, a fashion commentary publication, was influenced by her observations and work in the fashion industry and the ways in which it capitalised and exploited consumers, particularly adolescents.

“I noticed fashion journalism [was] in a poor state at the time with a lot of commercialised content and less and less publications [were] prioritising the written word: visual content usually trumping text content,” recalls By Olsen. Indeed, one only has to look on Instagram to see that fashion is now lived and experienced on the internet. This is a development which By Olsen believes demands a new critical way of thinking about and understanding fashion, particularly in today’s post-truth media landscape. “I think fashion criticism is rather important in these digital times, as we are being exposed to so much information and need to learn how to apply critical filters to what we’re seeing,” By Olsen elaborates.  

One such filter, and one of the many striking elements of Wallet, is its willingness to acknowledge and make visible its commercial content. This is achieved through the use of what By Olsen terms an ‘analog ad block,’ in which all advertisements are perforated, allowing them to be ripped out, repurposed or thrown away if the reader so wishes. Such an irreverence for the commercial aspect of the industry and Wallet’s ability to still attract high-profile advertisements from fashion houses such as Gucci and Chanel, highlights perhaps the changing power dynamics at play between the industry and new forms of media. This development, however, is no mean feat and was unthinkable as recently as 2015 when trend forecaster Li Edelkoort published her ‘Anti-Fashion Manifesto.’  Edelkoort believed that fashion had reached its breaking point and had become solely the “fearful guardians of brands, slaves to financial institutions and hostages of shareholder interests.”

For By Olsen, filters for just the visual advertising content are not enough. The general push towards greater transparency and truth in a fake news era has undoubtedly provided an opening and impetus for her to “redeem the written word in fashion.” Fashion journalism, a form of critique which until recently had been primarily relegated to academic theory, was far removed from any practical implication before this shift. Each issue of Wallet seeks to reinstate a critical analysis into fashion by holistically engaging with a particular theme using the same frames and format of prelude, text conversation, visual conversation and postlude, in each issue to ensure continuity. The first issue, “Admins of Authority,” explores the concept and perception of authority within the industry by asking key figures in the industry such as Adrian Joffe, president of Comme Des Garcons and Dover Street Market and Jefferson Hack of Dazed Media where the responsibility lies in enacting policies of change and development.  Issue two, “Pioneers of Publishing,” tackles the inner workings of the fashion publishing industry itself by interviewing those disrupting the industry such as Nick Knight, director of SHOWstudio and Joerg Koch, editor-in-chief of 032cand Ssense. The format of these interviews are Q&As, a transcript of the recorded conversation By Olsen has with each of the interviewees, reiterating again the transparency at the heart of the magazine by allowing the readers to see the interviewee’s own answers and the natural progression of the interview rather than the usual edited and paraphrased version.

It is not just the content of the magazine, however, that causes readers to question the nature of fashion but also its format which draws attention to the medium used. Aptly termed a “publication for your pocket,” Wallet is a print magazine shaped, as the name suggests, like a wallet. “We wanted the format to be small, accessible and portable, almost as a part of your essentials, to take notes in and take notes from,” By Olsen states, certain that the issues raised will undoubtedly provide pause for thought. Moreover, as stated in the first issue, a wallet undoubtedly reflects the capitalist values of today’s society and the simple presence of a wallet reflects the environment you live in and your place within it—“if you don’t have one, you are either too rich or too poor.”

Indeed, Wallet can be seen as a prime example of the print renaissance currently taking place wherein magazines are seen as collectible, Instagrammable and exclusive luxury products with limited print runs, authentic content and careful consideration of commercial collaboration. For a generation having grown up almost solely with digital content and the distraction that accompanies it, print magazines provide an outlet free from distraction and clickbait and a tactility sorely missing from their daily lives. Ironically, it has been the impact of the digital sphere, the supposed harbinger of the end of print, which has helped it to flourish. With digital publishing causing fashion magazines to further consolidate their relationships with advertisers, the pushback has been evident in the rising number of independent magazines which are able to more clearly delineate editorials from their adverts enabling them to focus more on their higher purpose.

By Olsen, however, in the first issue is keen to acknowledge the fluidity of its readers stating that “Wallet is semi-digital, semi-physical. We-me, you, the reader—are materialists trying to get by in the contemporary as much as we’re also an account online with a presence that lasts forever.” Such an acknowledgement alongside reflective content and creative format draws attention to the potential that fashion magazines have if they are willing to adapt and to liberate themselves from the traditions and conventions that came before them. Tapping into the zeitgeist and undercurrents of social change as confidently as she has, By Olsen is confident of the potential and place of independent fashion magazines as prominent voices capable of enacting and reflecting change, stating that, in essence, magazines are “an alchemy of words and images that serves as an indication of our current times.” Long may it continue.

Wallet magazine can be purchased at http://www.wallet-mag.com

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