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A Magazine Reader 01 is the result of a workshop by Femke de Vries and Hanka van der Voet in which the students of the MA Fashion Strategy generation 27 explore the representation and meaning of luxury in the fashion magazine. In this case specifically the British Vogue, February 2018.

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: 200 mm x 145 mm portrait\ Pages: 96\ Art Direction: Femke de Vries and Hanka van der Voet\ Contributors: Adriana Fox Hopper, Chet Bugter, Chinouk Filique de Miranda, Cinzia Magnani, Hester Brands, Ieva Uzkurataite, Julia Kaleta, Karmen Samson, Maria Gil Mendoza, Marina Sasseron de Oliveira Cabral\ Graphic design: Corine van der Wal\ Release date: Spring 2018\ Binding: elastic band\ Edition: 150\ Color: Black, pink and red – riso printed\ Printer: Riso Wiso\ Language: English\ Text editing: Femke de Vries, Hester Brands and Hanka van der Voet\ Made possible by: MA Fashion Strategy at ArtEZ University of the Arts\ Production: Warehouse\ Production assistant: Hester Brands

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