BLESS
Above: Field & Stream and Bon Appétit
One of the directors at work is heading to the States for a few weeks. He mentioned he’d have room in his suitcase to bring back a couple of American magazines for me. Yaay! I chose Field & Stream and Bon Appétit. It’s all good.
TEXAS MONTHLY
Above: Texas Monthly’s Dick Cheney cover, January 2007
Andrew Losowsky over on Magtastic Blogsplosion (my favourite blog title eva!) posted a link to a listing of the [so-called] most controversial magazine covers of all time. Buffy’s twisted arm is a highlight (Photoshop Disasters, anyone?) but my absolute favourite has to be the Texas Monthly cover pictured above. Love it! It won the 2007 Magazine Publishers of America award for best cover line. Brill.
LIBERATION
Above: Layouts from French newspaper Liberation
Gym Class Magazine #04 is being printed by Newspaper Club. Yaay! Everyone here at Gym Class Magazine world HQ is buzzing with excitement. Yep, I’m buzzing! Design has begun… the new larger canvas is well good… albeit a little daunting. I’ve been doing some online research… you know the drill: finding inspiration, nicking ideas… that sort of thing.
Check out these layouts from French newspaper Liberation… lush! All newspapers should be this good. Really.
I lifted these layouts from here.
UNIT EDITIONS
Above: Studio Culture, published by Unit Editions
Gotta stop by the Studio Culture launch this evening. Looks great. More here.
LINEREAD #1
Above: Lush layouts from Micheal Bojkowski’s LineRead #1
Regular readers will be familiar with the work of designer, blogger, Gym Class Magazine contributor and all-round ace guy Michael Bojkowski. But, have you picked yourself up a copy of his magazine LineRead? What? Not yet? Well, there’s no time like the present. Check it out here. I’ve got my copy and love it… and not just because Gym Class Magazine gets a mention.
DESIGN HOUNDS
Above: Matthew Goode in Tom Ford’s A Single Man
A great quote from the NYT’s The Moment blog about Tom’s Ford directorial debut:
“Awards season aside, the movie [A Single Man] will certainly have fashion and design hounds panting.
The tailored flint-gray suits, the modernist wood-and-glass interiors, the chrome fenders on the vintage Mercedes — it’s clearly the vision of a style supremacist. The film is so imprinted with the director’s mastery of masculine order and decorum — he spends a lot of time in the male boudoir (moudoir?), with its leather-clad bottles, silver cuff links and creamy stationery — that I felt like I was peering in on Ford’s own ravishing man cave, minus the mink rug.”
More here. But, be warned… there are plot spoilers.
DAVID ARMSTRONG
Above: Penn Badgley by David Armstrong for V MAN
I hate having my photo taken; and there are plenty of disastrous snaps on Facebook giving me good reason. While I’d never want to be a celebrity, one of the benefits of stardom must be the opportunity to have great photographers take cracking photos of you.
These latest photos of actor Penn Badgley by New York photographer David Armstrong are the perfect case in point. Just lovely. Check ‘em out in the latest issue of V MAN magazine.
DRUM ROLL
Did you know there is a Gym Class Magazine mailing list? Yup, there sure is. You can join by typing your email address into the field over there on the left and by hitting return. Come to think of it, there really should be a submit button or sumfing. Anyhoo… in the meantime, hit return and you’ll be cooking with gas. Yaay! Gas!
Some trendsetters and general style leaders have already joined. As a reward, 10 lucky subscribers were chosen at random and have won themselves some uber badges by London-based designer Stefi Orazi (there’s a Q&A with Stefi in Gym Class Magazine #03, don’t you know). Who are these lucky folk I hear you cry. Well, allow me to introduce you to:
Andrew, Birmingham, UK
Austin, Missouri, USA
Jane, Milton Keynes, UK
Paul, Manchester, UK
Alfredo, Madrid, Spain
Renon, Valence, France
Iain, Bristol, UK
Scott, Ohio, USA
Caitlin, California, USA
Jesslee, Kanagawa, Japan
Congrats to everyone listed above. You rock!
We’ll be running more subscriber-only competitions… so sign up and stay in the loop.
That’s all. Peace out.
A SINGLE MAN
Tom Ford has directed a movie. It’s called A Single Man and recently won the Queer Lion Award at the Venice International Film Festival (the Festival’s prize for gay-themed films). It looks lush. It’s showing at the BFI London Film Festival next month… must try and get tickets.
RUUD BAAN
Ruud Baan is a Dutch photographer. His work is brill. You need to ch, ch, check out his portfolio, it’s jam-packed with lush editorial, advertising and personal work. But, before you do, here’s a Q&A. It’s all good.
Above: Underwater photography for Het Nationale Ballet
Hey Ruud, thanks for chatting with Gym Class Magazine. Gee, you’ve got some seriously hot photography work on your website. Firstly, how did you do the underwater shots for JFK Magazine and Het Nationale Ballet? Love them!
Model in an underwater tank.
How old are you and where are you from?
I’m 39 years and raised and live in the Netherlands.
Also love your Smoke photographs. Very cool. What’s the thinking behind them? What was your inspiration?
I like the organic feeling of smoke, water. I want to control the whole set and picture but like to be flexible in the way the smoke or water moves. Found it interesting how smoke creates right away an environment. I want to play with and capture the moment in the splashes of water, explosions, fire, and smoke. It is like being a kid again, playing with fire etc but now it is with another purpose.
Above: “It is like being a kid again,” says Ruud
I get my inspiration from loads of different angles. From the streets, travelling, books, films, magazines etc. And I have an open creative mind! And what is very important, I’m surrounded by creative people… like stylist Isis Vaandrager.
Colour, light and movement play heavily in your work. How do you describe your photographic style?
Strong, dynamic, colourful, playful, creative, honest, stylish, streetwise, heroic, sexy, powerful.
What’s your background? Where did you study? Where have you worked?
I did study at the Royal Academy The Hague photography and I have a background art academy department film.
Above: Ruud’s clients include Adidas, Esquire, Men’s Health, Nike and Onitsuka Tiger
You’ve got a great selection of editorial and advertising work in your portfolio. Do you have a preference? And are there any clients (editorial or advertising) you haven’t worked with but would love to?
Eighty per cent of my advertising work is in the same line what I do for editorial and free work. That is very cool. l love to work for The National Ballet, working with the best dancers of the world.
I would like to work for example: Diesel, Levi’s, Vogue, i-D, etc.
Thanks for your time, Ruud. You Rock!
More here: Ruud Baan
Next Page