Sayonara Vogue Homme Japan

If you see certain young (and not so young) people of varied genders (wearing bowl cuts and Rick Owens boots) sighing and wringing their wrists in despair, you will know the reason: Their style bible, Vogue Hommes Japan will cease publication following its September 2012 issue. 

They all think a naked torso and rubber gloves = edgy but one needs to ask  "why"?

Launched in September 2008 as the geisha counterpart to the long-running and L'Uomo Vogue, Condé Nast Japan has pulled the plug on Vogue Hommes Japan to shift its resources to launch a Japanese version of GQ Style. GQ Style will, similarly, be a semiannual standalone entity (first issue September 2013). Masafumi Suzuki, the current editor of GQ Japan, will oversee the publication.
Vogue Hommes Japan fashion director Ms Nicola Formichetti (also the creative director of fashion house Mugler, the long-time collaborator of Lady Gaga's and the fashion director of high street store Uniqlo), said Condé Nast had decided to switch its men's publication globally from Vogue to GQ Style. The Chinese, Brazilian and American editions of the publication all met a similar fate, folding within five years of their launch. 

How creative is this? Batman mask and lipstick? Black and white picture?  Naked guy? 

Ms Formichetti sighed: "I loved the issues we made. Each issue was a chance to collaborate with the best creatives in the world. Our goal was to push the boundaries of fashion and oh boy did we take it there!" If indeed they were the world's best creatives, then the world is a poor, desolate place, because besides bringing a certain narrow camp, theatrical aesthetic to light, I don't see what the magazine's virtues are. Certainly, none of it is particularly groundbreaking or relevant, given the excesses already familiar in all sorts of Japanese media. 

Ms Formichetti also hinted that he is set to pursue a new print venture (horrors, roll eyes) with two of his colleagues from Vogue Hommes Japan.