I can’t get enough of purple DIARY. It’s chic and cool — a peek into the enviable world of Purple Fashion Magazine editor Olivier Zahm. But that’s not why I like it. It is unabashedly adult, and in a way that has nothing to do with sex [though there's plenty of that]. To call it sophisticated would be cliché. For now, let’s just call it very French.
A few years back, I volunteered at the Tokion Creativity Now Conference. In exchange, I got to pick one panel to attend. I chose The Magazine as Artform, with speakers from Visionaire, The Face, Colors, McSweeney’s and, as luck would have it, Mr. Zahm.
The speakers each made the case for the magazine: reasons ranging from the expected to the twee to the out of touch. Zahm was different. He described the magazine as the physical Zeitgeist, a way of identifying, aligning and accessing a moment in time, a movement, a subculture. He talked about touching paper. He talked about holding on to issues; returning to them. It was a breakthrough. I had never met anyone who could verbalize exactly why I fell in love with magazines. The man has said he’s “good at magazines.” I agree.
I decided to write him a letter. I never did.
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