You say "Almanac" and I think medieval astrology charts but the real broken down meaning of the word is…
almanac n. A reference book, usually
annual, composed of various lists, tables, and often brief articles
relating to a particular field or many general fields.
Laura Bradley, who now works at SHOWstudio combined her own fascination with almanacs and fashion for the final year of her BA at CSM in Fashion Communication with Promotion and produced a prototype for a magazine that I could well see being on sale for real…
"The Fashion Almanac was born out of my dissatisfaction with what was on the newsstand and chiefly inspired by almanacs (namely Ben Schott’s) and a visit to the Wellcome Collection. I love the way almanacs communicate information in an interesting way and thought this would work really well for fashion – this is the first time ‘fashion’ has been given the almanac treatment!"
In short, The Fashion Almanac analyses, breaks down and presents fashion in a way that is informative, scientific in manner and aims to bring clarity to a subjects that are very much open to interpretation. I might look at trend analysis pages that grace many magazines and think it’s awful to instruct people with tick lists and so forth but I look at The Fashion Almanac’s analysis and think "Why hasn’t this been done before?" It’s the extreme end of informing readers about fashion that is not at all patronising like its dumbed down counterparts and would present even the most cynical of fashionists something to smile about.
The equations of inspirations that get the sum of collections…
Pantone colour charts matching up to colours of the season…
Venn diagrams used to illustrate overlapping trends…
Analysing the way different designers take a bow at the end of a catwalk show and what they’re wearing…
The structural dissection of a dress from Marios Schwab’s SS08 collection (one of my favourite pieces…)
The trademarks of fashion brands…
A chronology of Nick Knight’s many many assistants (Juergen Teller was here for one day and was told by Knight that he was good enough to go it alone)…
Stylist Simon Foxton’s odd collection of Rooster ties…
The different ways one can wear a Florian beaded necklace…
The Fashion Almanac along with other publications such as 032c, Acne Paper and Fanzine 137 will be showased at an exhibition at the Exit Gallery at Claire de Rouen Books until the 24th February.
This first edition of The Fashion Almanac was printed in a run of 100 and was sold at £5, and it is all but gone but you can read the whole thing online now and whilst Laura is at SHOWstudio, perhaps she might work on bringing The Fashion Almanac into 2009 and shedding some light with its analytical eye on future fashion seasons.