Mag Hag

I love magazines. I am probably semi-addicted. Scratch that, I’m full-on addicted. When I was a teenager, I would go into the newsagents on my way to school almost every day to buy a magazine. In those days it was Smash Hits (RIP), Big (ditto) and J(ust) 17 (now, once again, defunct) that I loved the most. Nowadays, my appetite for a glossy read is just as veracious. Not just for fash mags – I love film and music ones, too. But it’s the days of the month when Vogue and Elle hit my doormat that I get most excited about.
And that brings me to the point of my post, really. It’s only recently that I’ve discovered the true wealth of fashion mags out there. For a fashion/mag-obsessive like myself, it’s a sad state of affairs that my consumption has mostly been limited to the aforementioned big guns.
I blame this entirely on my surroundings. The mainstream magazines are really all I have access to in my locality. The one singular place that holds otherwise-hard to find titles in my town is the local branch of Waterstones, which stocks Dazed & Confused, i-D and occasionally Nylon. These might be easily accessible to some folks, but not poor little me. (Actually, maybe I’m somewhat lucky as all other Waterstones I’ve been in recently don’t seem to stock any mags at all.) Anyway, this almost complete lack of physical access (yay for the internet, of course) was rubbed in my face recently by a visit last week to the Brighton branch of Borders. Once again, this might be nothing to those that live in such places (ie civilisation), but for me it was like mag nirvana. A complete and veritable plethora of international Vogues was just for starters; my head spun at the selection of fash and art mags that previously I’d just read about on blogs. Here they were in front of me, and for someone who normally gets to choose from Elle, UK Vogue, Marie Claire et al, and thinks she’s spoilt if the local WH Smith gets US Elle (which I don’t even really like) in… well, it was truly overwhelming. I stood in the middle of Borders literally clutching my head, like the complete lame-o that I am.
In the end, I left with just one magazine. I could have come away with a dozen very easily, but I had to exercise some control. Especially seeing as I’d just enjoyed a mini AA spree. I opted for the last issue of Amelia’s Magazine (as in both the current one and the final – boo). It’s a real treat of a publication, which continues in online form here, if you’re interested in checking it out. You can also order a small selection of back issues there.
Thus, I was sceptical as to whether I would be able to find the inaugural issue of Katie Grand’s new magazine, Love, in town (though the fact that it’s Conde Nast gave me some hope), but I have just returned and can happily report that it was to be found alongside the Cosmos, Marie Claires and Elles on the shelves of my local WH Smiths. I shall report back with some thoughts once I’ve had a chance to look through it properly.