Rant Alert!

Just to give you a heads up, this is a seriously ranty post. I feel all ranty because I had a bad dentist/ Century 21 experience today (I honestly don't know which one was more traumatic) and I picked up the new issue of Purple, which I found to be completely and utterly appalling. For the last few years I have been mildly annoyed by the change in editorial tone, lack of experimentation, and the fact that it has become increasingly geared towards a heterosexual male audience. But I really can't stomach how blatantly commercial it is. The advertising and the editorial content are so integrated that it is difficult to distinguish the two. The current issue hawks Diane von Furstenberg, Belvedere vodka, and Fred Jewelry (what the eff is that anyway?) alongside a gazillion traditional advertisements. Why?

The strength of Purple was always it's sense of authenticity. Clothes were modeled by real people. Models looked like real people. Wolfgang Tillmans, Mark Borthwick and countless others contributed work that was completely devoid of commercialism and cliché notions of sexuality. I'm not saying that the Purple of today isn't a quality magazine, of course it is. The fashion content is always fantastic, the recurring "Terry Richardson's Life Story" feature is super-compelling, and I really appreciate what Mario Sorrenti, Katja Rahlwes, and a handful of other photographers are doing. It's just that the Purple of today is so far removed from the original magazine and that makes me majorly unhappy. And don't even get me started on that retarded Purple Nights thing that came out awhile back. In what universe does anyone want to pay $85 for a magazine that consists entirely of party pictures? Like, how many photos do I need to see of Oliver Zahm with some topless model? ZERO.

Moving on, I thought I'd take this opportunity to post a photo from Purple 16 of Frankie Rayder and Susan Cianciolo avec un chat. Enjoy!