Behind a Stack of Mags

You might have guessed by the amount of scans and editorials I post either as backgrounds to my own photos or in their own right, that I buy a LOT of magazines.  I’m like a kid in a candy store when I’m in places like Magma, Grand OFR books or the Borders on Oxford Circus (the best one to go to IMO for mags….).  In a typical newsagent/newstand, you’re limited to the usual big guns Marie Claire, Vogue, Glamour, Elle etc etc.  But outside that Conde Nast/Hachette/NatMags loop, the variety is now bewilderingly vast.  I love searching out, discovering and trekking around to find more under the radar mags.  London seems to be a solid breeding ground for them.  This cements to me why new media could never replace print media because there’s nothing like flicking through a magazine, tearing things out, having close-up contact with beautiful photography.  (Though hopefully both mediums will reach equal footing and co-exist happily!).  Here are some of my indie (by indie, I mean self published) picks for happy reading.  I’d be interested to know what are similar magazine equivalents you guys get!  I know of the ones that are stocked here like Mixte, Frogs from Frances, V, Z!ink from the USA, Russh, Frankie from Australia but if you have a very unknown pick, please share – addict that I am, I just might hunt it out!   

18 comments

  1. the next time you are in a bookstore look for the book the stolen sharpie revolution … you would love it!

  2. I totally relate. I love magazines! If I had saved all of the money I spent on magazines in the past year I’d be buying more clothes…but what can you do? 😉
    Magazines provide great inspiration for styling…

  3. this makes me think of the z is for zines page in teen vogue.
    have you read any of those?
    the only criticism of that page is that there’s a lack of contact info for a few of the zines.

  4. As American magazines go, I’m not entirely sure if it’s still self-published, but Nylon is an amazing magazine. It definitely does its own thing without trying to hard to be “indie” or edgy.
    Another great magazine is Bust, which isn’t specifically a fashion magazine, but because of that, they don’t pander to certain brands or looks. They’re one of the most independent magazines out there in general, I think.

  6. i picked up a magazine called Perfect when i was in Stockholm, that is supposed to be for travellers, each issue is dedicated to a city, but its very fashion oriented, and just beautifully designed, very Swedish, I think you would like it. And STREET is another one I like. I agree, nylon is pretty damn fun to read, nylon for men is even better..it has lots of stuff!

  7. Me too!! I love magazines. Buying quite a few each months. Im in Singapore and the “Indie” magazine to check out is Catalog. It’s actually free and can be picked up in a lot of locations. It has very intresting spreads that cant be found in other local mags around here.

  8. So glad to see you put Amelia’s Magazine in this spread! I found it for the first time recently and it’s amazing. I just don’t feel like shelling out £10 for it.

  9. I’m exactly the same and I’m very pleased to hear you can get Frankie magazine here , I’ve just come back from spending the year in Australia and I fell in love with Frankie and Yen magazine. I stopped over in Hong Kong on the way home and I picked up a copy of Milk magazine .My new obsession is WAD x

  11. I love the belgian mag Pulp (http://www.pulpwebsite.com) but it’s already pretty difficult to track down here in The Netherlands, so I don’t imagine it’s readily available in the UK…it’s lovely though; it has a very personal, off-beat, kind of diy-ish feel to it but isn’t overly amateuristic.

  13. I quite like Tank magazine – it’s enormous and actually has content, which a lot of the style mags don’t really manage. I’ve had enough of iD’s one page profiles and lots of fashion shoots: I want value for money!

  16. i liked the look of pop magazine…but i didn’t feel like spending a fiver on it. these magazines are quite pricey i think…another mag is disorder , which has some fashion and mainly music. its a decent price, as well, at £2.95. :].
    xx

  17. Already said, but I like Nylon very much. And you can download it freely on the website, which is great, because since I’m in France I can’t find all the foreign mags easily.

  18. i just discovered the Mexican “Baby Baby Baby”. It is bilingual, both in english and spanish and is one of the fresher mags around, very similar to Lula as it developes the fashion through girlie eyes but more edgy, i guess because it has the colorful Mexican cheek!
    In New York we have Nylon, ok, and Tokyon is pretty good too. But in general our mags are too comercially focussed so that sustract big amounts of creativity.

Comments are closed.