Despite the fact that the numbers show that magazines are losing heaps of money, we all see new ones hitting the stands daily. But it isn’t every day that great ones come out. This is why I’m so excited to tell you about the new issue of Dossier.
Dossier doesn’t follow the rules most magazines do, which is to say, your reading experience will not be interrupted by advertisements in the middle of your articles. Not a single subscription card will come flying at your face, and a fashion spread starring even the most famous model will feel more like a mini sneak-peak into her beautiful life than just another fashion spread. Megamodel Daria Werbowy is on the cover of this latest issue, and it might actually be the first time her picture hasn’t been retouched. To boot, she’s photographed in her own home.
If you don’t know who Skye Parrot is, I’m honored to introduce you to the woman who started this gem. Parrot started her career in Paris – of course – as a freelance photo assistant working for magazines like Self Service and Purple. Having now put out five issues of Dossier, she is a bona fide Creative Director. In this issue, she photographs Parisian model Valentine Fillol-Cordier in an intimate spread titled “A Long Goodbye.” Letting her subject style the shoot, Parrot observes from behind the camera, always snapping the perfect shot that makes you long for the clothing. This time, it’s a vintage Yves Saint Laurent dress from Resurrection, and a rose-colored button down by 3.1 Philip Lim.
Dossier features subjects that grace the pages of gossip rags and fashion bibles alike, but the photographers and stylists never fail to do something different, something more refined. Devendra Banhart, the musician maybe most famous for dating Natalie Portman, is photographed sans wild mane and bare-tattooed-chest, looking rather elegant in Tom Ford and Ralph Lauren, styled by none other than jewelry designer Pamela Love. Richard Kern photographs the singer-songwriter St. Vincent in Rachel Comey and Martin Margiela, a new look for the indie-darling.
One of my favorite things about Dossier is the poetry and short stories. Certainly there is no shortage of either in The New Yorker and other brainy titles we get in the post, but it’s refreshing to read the work of young, lesser-known writers. Katherine Krause interviews the lovely Lydia Peele, whose book Reasons For and Advantages of Breathing was named one of the National Book Foundations 5 Under 35 fiction selections for 2009.
Rather embarrassingly perhaps, I’ve been enjoying clothing designer Derek Blasberg’s new book, Classy – Exceptional Advice for the Modern Lady. After all, when I heard Chloe Sevigny and the Olsen Twins were collaborators, I had to see what lived within its pages. However, I am troubled by one of his quizzes, How Smart Are you? – he wants to know if my favorite reading material includes “magazines and books with bare-chested men on the cover” or “big books with big words, exclusively.” I know it’s meant in jest, but certainly there are reads that fall delightfully in between.
Like Dossier.
