A code for kicking against the pricks: THEM (Slight Return) with Peter York interview in Arena Homme +
//Opening spread of my interview with Peter York, Arena Homme + Winter/Spring 2020. Portrait: David Sims//
//From the Them fashion story. Photography: Julien Martinez Leclerc; fashion: Tom Guinness//
The jury is out on this autumn’s relaunch of the print edition of venerated British style magazine The Face; as I suggested here it’s going to take more than one splashy issue to assess whether the proposition has legs as we enter the 2020s (next May will mark the 40th anniversary of the founding of The Face by Nick Logan).
It’s undeniable, however, that the title’s re-emergence has energised the market for English-language men’s fashion magazines. Last month’s thorough reboot of Fantastic Man demonstrated publishers Jop van Bennekom and Gert Jonkers’ willingness to take risks by introducing a redesign for their 30th issue which included a new square format, masthead, layouts, typefaces and handling of content.
//A couple of cover variants: left, George MacKay wear Prada by Alasdair McLellan. Right: George Plant by David Sims.//
And this month Ashley Heath’s Arena Homme + – originally launched from The Face’s stable – celebrates its 25th year with an issue which avoids the parochial and champions the unpredictable, from artist Mark Leckey and the ever-enigmatic Lawrence from Felt to designer Kris Van Assche’s installation at Berluti and interviews and fashion shoots with actors Joe Cole and George MacKay and musicians Brockhampton and Rex Orange County. Add in the series of epic stories, prominently David Sims’ impressionistic War Man, and this 600-page plus package delivers quality to match the quantity.
//Photography Julien Martinez Leclerc//
//Photography Julien Martinez Leclerc//
I have made a contribution to the issue. Commissioned by AH+ fashion director Tom Guinness, this views through a contemporary lens “THEM”, the article written by Peter York for Harpers & Queen about those living art-directed lives in the pre-punk 1970s.
//’I see Them everywhere…”//
My interview with York trails a fashion story recontextualising Them, styled by Guinness and photographed by Julien Martinez Leclerc. With portraits of York by David Sims, my piece also nominates a current crop of Thems (see above).
And, as if to bring things full circle, one of the new AH+ cover variants pays tribute to a lauded design for The Face, Nick Logan and Neville Brody’s surprising crop of a portrait of New Order’s Stephen Morris published in July 1983.
//Rex Orange County wears Bottega Veneta by Alasdair McLellan//