Chanpory Rith
Nov 8, 2006
Sick of fashion magazines?
Check out Fantastic Man, a fashion mag that’s decidedly anti-fashion.
You won’t find ultra high-gloss paper, loads of ads, and vacuous content. Instead, the magazine favors uncoated paper, restrained advertising, and refreshingly quirky yet compelling articles. Oh, and most of it’s in black and white.
Fantastic Man is the brainchild of designer Jop van Bennekom and journalist Gert Jonkers. Bennekom’s also publishes the exceptionally designed Re-Magazine and Butt Magazine.
The layout is clean with Modernist influences but has enough idiosyncrasies to steer it away from sterility. Bennekom even revives Times New Roman in a way that makes me regret telling you how unfortunate a typeface it is. Combined with original photography and alternative fashion, this might be the most substantive fashion magazine ever.
Like anything cool, Fantastic Man’s hard to find. Subscribe via Amazon or directly through the publisher’s frustrating website, Bruil & van de Staaij.
The latest issue of Fantastic Man features an interview with Helmut Lang (he holds a rooster on the cover), a fashion spread on plaid, and an article about moustaches.
Here’s some photos I took of the issue:
12 Comments
Ree
6:16 am
Seems interestingly enough. I was thinking of getting this for my boyfriend since he’s the anti-fashion type, but too bad the issues are pretty pricey.
Michelle
1:11 pm
I thought this design was refreshing… After showing it to a collegue that worked for Time Warners for a long time,he pointed out that the layout is identical to Western Living magazine circa 1979. I mean exactly the same fonts, rules, layout, etc. And that design was probably lifted from Roger Black (famous art director of the time) from New York magazine which he designed and looked identical.
So much for creativity…
Chanpory
2:54 pm
Michelle, I’d love to see this issue of Western Living!
A mentor once told me, “Originality is based on the obscurity of your sources.”
Bob
1:46 am
May I draw readers attention to Chap magazine, which is a bible of sartorial elegance… http://www.thechap.net/
peter
5:43 pm
Guys its a nice idea but does it work.? it looks like something out of the early 80’s, not sure there’s much style there either, do we need to look backward to march forward.? and that typeface, ouch……Bainbridge
emily
11:41 pm
I’m always interested in this kind of magazines. Would you mind if I put this in my blog? People who sees my blog can enjoy your article like me!
Tina Anderson
11:22 am
I got this for my boyfriend and he loves it because he is very counter-culture when it comes to fashion. It was a little expensive but not too bad.
Erica
12:35 pm
I’ll pick this up for the bf and see how he likes it. Looks decent.
Lloyd
3:02 am
Michelle, need to know more about this please do you have any links to where one can see western living or anything else that were thier inspiration?
Deryck
3:00 pm
Michelle, what a shame your purile negative comments are there for all to see for ever! Shame…
Dominic
4:37 pm
Western Living looks nothing like Fantastic Man..it may tend t lean towards 70’s modernist look but they made it look NOW and contemporary…a thought process as well as works of art.
fashion
5:44 am
Nice article. Let me introduce you to the online fashion magazine that I run. Its called Fashionora.com. Would you be interested to visit and leave your valuable comments