A Magazine Reader 04 is the result of a workshop by Chet Bugter, Hanka van der Voet and Femke de Vries in which the students of the MA Fashion Strategy generation 29 explored the role and representation of the body in the fashion magazine. We chose the ELLE UK November 2019 issue as our material. As one of the most renowned high-end fashion magazines, ELLE plays an important role in the representation of bodies and, specifically, ideas about body standards.
A Magazine Reader is an ongoing research trajectory and series of zines initiated by Femke de Vries and Hanka van der Voet. It revolves around the analysis of a mainstream and high-end fashion magazine and its translation into an alternative new zine to provide insight into the cultural power and forms of value production that is at the core of fashion media. In it, the reader becomes an active actor in the construct of fashion. Re-reading the magazine by dissecting it, analysing the words, images, materiality, the items shown on the pages and the strategies of the specific magazine changes the way we read fashion.
In the workshop one specific magazine is selected. This magazine is thoroughly read, dissected and critically analysed on elements such as models, topicality, advertisements, material, brands, distribution, imagery, items, narrative, monetary value, colours, words and order of pages. By not starting from the perspective of the fashion system as a whole, but from the simple act of reading a fashion magazine, the reader gains an active role. Having the material in hands, seeing the images, how brands are being represented on the pages, reading the words and tracing the page numbers, but also feeling the paper, the weight and being able to smell the magazine creates an awareness of the magazine as a material object. Something that embodies and communicates the process of value production in fashion. A material representation of fashion’s ephemerality, dream worlds and fantasies.
The readers in the workshop use the material of the original ‘source magazine’ to create a new zine that provides insight into the cultural power and forms of value production that is at the core of fashion media. The existing material is elaborated on by connecting with other material (theories, visuals, artistic explorations). As such, A Magazine Reader focuses on the reader as an active participant – someone with agency rather than a passive consumer – in the process of creating fashion. Reading becomes making.
Type: softcover
Dimensions: 210 mm x 155 mm portrait
Pages: 114
Art Direction: Femke de Vries and Hanka van der Voet
Authors: Charlotte Verdegaal, Eliza Lachkova, Julia Berg, Lindy Boerman, Lu Lin, Sophia Buter, Tanya Lauwanichpat, Chet Bugter, Femke de Vries, Hanka van der Voet
Graphic design: Zuzana Kostelanská
Release date: August 2020
Binding: elastic band
Edition: 250
Color: pink and black – offset print
Printer: Drukkerij Raddraaier
Language: English
Text editing: Chet Bugter, Femke de Vries and Hanka van der Voet
Production: Warehouse
Made possible by ArtEZ Fashion Masters, Fashion Strategy
