The GENTLEWOMAN
Debut!
FANTASTIC MAN's little sister
-will be finding its way to a store near you!
Wednesday March 10, 2010
FANTASTIC MAN’S BEST FRIEND
As of today, FANTASTIC MAN has a sister magazine called THE GENTLEWOMAN – the debut issue was presented yesterday at a joyous cocktail party in Paris. Designer Ms. PHOEBE PHILO from the house of CÉLINE is on the cover, shot by Mr. DAVID SIMS, and Ms. PENNY MARTIN is the editor in chief of the whole project. The magazine will be available at newsstands around the world in a week or two, if not sooner…
»DOUBLE DUTCH: Look who’s a cover girl — Celine’s creative director, Phoebe Philo, gets the honors for the launch issue of The Gentlewoman, the sister magazine to Dutch title Fantastic Man that hits newsstands on March 22, 2010. Inside is a profile of Philo and a shoot by David Sims, styled by Camilla Nickerson with the designer posing in her own clothes and both vintage and current Celine looks. »It’s about modernity and women that are just fantastic,« said Penny Martin, the biannual magazine’s editor in chief. »Phoebe was very candid about herself, her mother and silhouette and inspirations.«
The 148-page launch issue also features a profile on American artist Jenny Holzer, with portraits of the artist taken by Wolfgang Tillmans. There are also feature articles on DJ Princess Julia, open water swimmer Lynne Cox, winemaker Sara Perez and Kazuyo Sejima, the Japanese architect and the first woman to be appointed as director of the architecture sector for the Venice Biennale.
Contributors in the issue include design critic Alice Rawsthorn, fashion designer Louise GrayDaisy Lowe. Martin is aiming to showcase female photographers, too. Alexandra Catiere snapped the fine jewelry section with male models clasping a myriad of fine jewels.
With the backing of Fantastic’s creative director Jop van Bennekom and publisher, Gert Jonkers, the new fashion title will have a circulation of 72,000. A page of advertising costs 8,500 pounds, or roughly $13,000 at current exchange. Among advertisers in the first issue are Yves Saint Laurent, Marc Jacobs, Prada, Celine, Christian Dior and Y-3. The Gentlewoman will hit the stands with a cover price of 7.80 euros, or $10.95.« (WWD)
by
BE GENTLE, BE STILL
Much has been made of the name that the female counterpart publication to Fantastic Man. Yes, the Gentlewoman is finally here and yes, the name that some love or hate has stuck. It launched with a very dignified cocktail party in Paris a few days ago where every woman looked like a Gentlewoman and every man was Fantastic... rendering me at a loss as to why I was there. Still I had to pick up a copy before it hits the shops some time next week (22nd I believe...)
The name is in fact a reference to a turn of the 20th century magazine of the same name that in some ways informs elements of the content. In the same way that Fantastic Man isn't a FASH FASH fashion magazine, The Gentlewoman is very much about broadening the scope of style by presenting individuals as they are, not styled up dramatically but as strong beings who speak volumes with their natural modes of expression. It's not about being heavily cerebral either as the first portion opens up by asking different women such as Louise Gray (below), Daisy Lowe and ice cream supremo Kitty Travers about modern planning, transport, food and yes, housekeeping, hence why I said The Gentlewoman of old may not be completely dead/defunct (on an unrelated note, maybe I should pick up a copy the Rachel Johnson- transformation of The Lady magazine).
Alasdair McLellan's depiction of a Power Sessions (styled by Jonathan Kaye) sets the tone for an issue jam packed with quiet power. Power here is reconciled through beautiful knitted bra and knickers by Dolce & Gabbana, Alaia and Pringle of Scotland... working out never looked more appealing to a gym-o-phobe such as myself.
The star piece of course belongs to the cover feature; portraits of Phoebe Philo by David Sims and a lengthy article by editor in chief Penny Martin that I read and re-read. Both the portraits and the piece delved into the strengths and vulnerabilities that Philo faces as a re-emerging creative director, resurrected by her role at Celine...
Models and faces are by and large eschewed for 'real' women within fashion such as Gill Wilkins, a fashion editor at British Vogue...
...or artists like Catherina van Eetvelde, photographed by Willy Vanderperre, styled by Olivier Rizzo.
Princess of the Night/Princess Julia also shows a slicker side to her style here in frocks by Celine and Alaia.
My favourite part in Fantastic Man is when they focus on details like the 'Bow tie' or the 'shirt collar'... things that in menswear are probably more tantamount to a look but I guess there's no reason why this shouldn't also be the case in womenswear. This issue, it's about the knot and so we get perfectly pristine hairstyles that are actually pretty good solutions to the insane amount of hair I have (I lopped off a chunk at the beginning of New York Fashion Week and it has all grown back already... )
I loved the lines depicted by these still life shots by Qui Yang...loved that they used the ragged lines of the Meadham Kirchhoff S/S 10 glitter tees...
Are you into shorts or short shorts? It's this kind of pragmatic editorial that sort of reinvents the demonstrative nature of magazines of old... apparently both short people AND tall people can wear shorts... BRAVO!
Special Thanks Pic&Post by stylebubble
* * * * * * * * *
The Gentlewoman
Fantastic Man has been hugely influential on the men’s magazine market. Can its new sister The Gentlewoman have a similar effect? With today’s launch of the new title, we have a chance to judge.
The launch issue invokes a number of famous women in its editorial, including Germaine Greer, Patty Hearst, Janet Jackson and Olga Korbut, as it describes an optimistic outlook focused on the remarkable and contemporary rather than celebrity. Like Fantastic Man, this is a magazine about people as much as about fashion, and it takes this role seriously, avoiding the slightly indulgent irony of its brother magazine.
The front cover leads with an heroic black and white portrait of Phoebe Philo set on a pastel pink field and a lower case logo in Futura. It received mixed comments when I first showed it here last week, and it’s certainly a bravely subtle first cover. When you see the real thing it is a strong cover, with that same dimpled finish to the paper that Fantastic Man has, and sets the tone for the rest of the magazine. I wonder, though, whether it’s strong enough to stand out in a far more crowded market than Fantastic Man has to face. Is sheer difference enough to stand out?
The editorial and design approach shares much with it’s brother. The pages rely less on masculine column rules and structure than Fantastic Man’s signature layouts, but have a familiar monochrome look and feature large chunks of white space. Headlines use Futura, never shouting, while text is Futura and Times.
It’s a strikingly simple design that is very different to any other women’s magazine I can think of. It shares a spareness with UK Elle, but the dominance of sans serif fonts ancentuates the simplicity (and ironically harks back to Elle’s traditional use of Futura, albeit in a very different way)
Editorially it is simple too, again like its brother. Divided into three parts, Modernisms, Features and Fashion, the writing is unmannered and simple. Print designer Josephine Chime discusses how she travels around London; Julie Verhoeven talks about how to be nice; Daisy Lowe discusses housekeeping; artist Anna Blessman describes sharing live-work space with boyfriend Peter Saville. All provide small but interesting insights that tell you much about their subjects without being run-of-the-mill profile pieces.
Daniel Riera’s striking portraits of a group of women working in various parts of the fashion industry all have clothing credits, but are presumably intended to be a slice of real(ish) life, a traditional way of reflecting the reader back at themselves. The positioning of the faces across the centre gutter is disturbing but adds further to the real-life caught on the hop vibe.
Colour is kept a minimum, but when used is very effective. I expect this interview (above) with winemaker Sara Pérez will come to be seen as the archetypal Gentlewoman feature: an in-depth look at a working woman that is genuinely interesting but also fits a certain template. Although outside and apart from the epicentre of fashion, this is the glamourous end of modern womenhood, a life spent developing a wine-growing business while looking after a young family, oozing lifestyle. The sudden splash of colour (above) is very effective.
The one part that shares Fantastic Man’s archness is a centre section on uncoated stock (the rest of the magazine is printed on high gloss) that features a series of ‘references’ – footnotes – to the magazine content. Here are explanations of various details in the writing, the entire issue’s sidebars in one serving if you like. This lets the pages be barer than they might otherwise be, while still giving the reader the additional information. I like this a lot.
A typically challenging spread from the issue – two columns of text opposite a sparse, almost abstract seascape.
Fashion avoids the more OTT examples of the teaser in the last issue of Fantastic Man, while still challenging the norm. There are six pages of the backs of heads featuring various styles of hair knots (above) and a lovely story featuring two women sharing the same style, the twist being one model is a foot taller than the other (below). Every shot (Daniel Riera again) has their two heads cropped off the top of the page, the clothes are very clear, but there’s great humour to the whole thing.
Fashion details are given a change of tone too. Alexandra Catiere’s photos of jewellery were taken in London’s boutiques, where the only male presence in the whole issue is provided by the hands of ‘salesman’ fingering and holding the pieces (not shown). And Qui Yang’s still lives (below) showing the sharpened lines of next season’s clothes match their subject well.
The issue ends with three pages of tips, very much along the lines of Fantastic Man’s ‘recommended’ pages.
This is a great launch issue, I think, more than living up to expectations of what ‘Fantastic Woman’ might be. Like its brother it targets a very particular type of person, which I hope comes across in this review, but it does that well. There’s a refreshing no-nonsense approach to everything in the issue, and it appeals to my interest in being different in an engaging, warm way. It’s too early to say what its effect will be on other women’s titles, but I certainly hope they sit up and take notice.
But then of course, it’s not aimed at me. I’m very keen to hear from women out there what they make of it.
* * * * * * * * *
The Gentlewoman
Est. 2010
The Gentlewoman
60 Great Eastern Street
Studio 1
London EC2A 3QR
United Kingdom
Phone +44 (0)20 7033 9781
office@thegentlewoman.com
www.thegentlewoman.com
On the cover,
Phoebe Philo is wearing a Céline leather jacket and vintage Céline scarf
Photography by David Sims, Styling by Camilla Nickerson, Hair by Guido
for Redken, Make-up by Lucia Pieroni for Clé de Peau Beauté
Editor in Chief, Penny Martin
Creative Director, Jop Van Bennekom
Fashion Director, Jonathan Kaye
Publishers,
Gert Jonkers & Jop van Bennekom for Top Publishers BV
Associate Publisher & Marketing Director, Adam Saletti
International Distribution,
Comag
Phone +44 (0)1895 43 3600
carla.demichiel-smith@comag.co.uk
www.comag.co.uk
Subscription Service,
www.magazinecafe.co.uk, www.expressmag.com (USA)
The debut issue of the groundbreaking women’s title is now available at Colette, Paris, and Dover Street Market, London, and will be on newsstands worldwide from March 22, 2010.
About,
The Gentlewoman is a new biannual style magazine for a new decade. Featuring inspirational, international women, it pairs ambitious journalism with a sartorial and intelligent perspective on fashion that is focused on personal style – the way women actually look, think and dress.
Content,
The premier issue of The Gentlewoman features in-depth interviews with designer Phoebe Philo of Céline, architect Kazuyo Sejima of SANAA, artist Jenny Holzer, winemaker Sara Pérez and DJ Princess Julia, as well as fantastic fashion series by renowned photographers such as David Sims, Alasdair McLellan, Willy Vanderperre, Liz Collins, Daniel Riera, and Benjamin Alexander Huseby.
"I’m really looking forward to seeing an issue – meanwhile here’s a first glimpse of the front cover."
“ food for soul, body, brain and heart. ”
the portastylistic
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