30 March 2010

The Gentlewoman

It's out! I paged through The Gentlewoman at Kinokuniya yesterday and it was easily the most exciting magazine on the shelves, but that's not saying much. I didn't buy it.
Jop van Bennekom and Gert Jonkers, the innovative talents behind the fantastic Fantastic Man (launched in 2005) are also the publishers behind The Gentlewoman, which is edited by Penny Martin. Ms Martin, 37, has edited Nick Knight's Showstudio website for seven years, and she's a professor of Fashion Imagery at the London College of Fashion.
Although the thing looks fresh, organised and logical, it's nothing really exceptional or new. There's quite a lot of stuff to plow through, and there's something for everyone, but it did feel, in the 10 minutes I gave it, like I was clicking through the internet. I was also disturbed by the cover-to-cover Céline ubiquity. The cover is Phoebe Philo sporting a Céline scarve, logo legible (by David Sims and Camilla Nickerson). Ms Philo and Céline products subsequently appear on more than 30 pages, including the cover story, fashion and product spreads. The Céline ads, on pages 10 and 11 look like part of the book: Still such 'support' seems unprecedcented and excessive?
I'll rather spend my money on Butt Magazine, to be honest.

1 comment: