Looking at pictures a blogger posted from that new magazine called Love, I remembered why I used to like magazines in the first place:
Cool pictures. Interesting photography. Strong images, a visual language in which a short story is told without words. No "thin thighs fast" or scrunchie-oriented sex tips. Just wacky, irreverent, romantic or intriguing eye candy.
The spreads seem designed to be ripped out and hung on your wall.
Love is edited by Katie Grand, whom the Independent calls "the London über-stylist." Grand formerly edited Pop (in 2005, an article claimed that one fashion insider said Pop was "so hip it makes Anna Wintour tremble"). Before that, Grand worked as a stylist for The Face.
While Pop and The Face of these magazines were steeped in fashion, neither publication took itself too seriously; it was about the joy that comes from playing with clothes, with images. And as the first images trickle out of Love, my first thoughts are: It looks fun. Not overly prim, predictable, posed fun like the jumping models seen month after month in Vogue, but spontaneous, silly, with a joie de vivre that seems missing from most American ladymags.
Though I haven't gotten my hands on an issue (yet), so far my one complaint about Love is that it's bi. As in biannual. Who only gives love twice a year?
Love Pages [Mag Culture]
Love Magazine [Hapsical]
Fashion: Can you feel the LOVE? [Independent]
Related: Katie Grand: She's Popping Out [Hint]
Earlier: Ditto Or Deyn