Starting work on my new book – Legacy: The Story Of The Face
I am now starting work on a new book.
Legacy: The Story Of The Face is to be published by Thames & Hudson in 2015 and has the support and involvement of Nick Logan, the owner and founder of what became one of the most important and influential publications of recent times.
In its approach to popular culture, The Face was a media game-changer, not just capturing successive waves of creativity by chronicling those making the moves but making an impact itself by shifting the intelligence.
In this way it was part of a fine lineage which includes important titles such as Playboy and Saturday Review in the 50s and Rolling Stone and New York (in the US) and The Sunday Times Magazine, Twen and Paris Match (in Europe) in the 60s and 70s.
I’m covering the story of the magazine from Logan’s launch with £3,500 savings in 1980 to the sale to Emap (now Bauer) in 1999. During this period The Face became the taste-making focus for excellence across many disciplines, spawning dozens of glossy “lifestyle” imitators around the world and paving the way for the digital delivery of visual culture in the 21st century.
Over the coming weeks and months I’ll be contacting and interviewing the individuals who made a difference at The Face as staff members and contributors, from art directors, designers, photographers and stylists to editors, critics and writers. It’s a testament to Logan’s stewardship that the majority continue to operate at the cutting edge of their chosen fields today.