It’s always exciting when a magazine breaks the mould. Fantastic Man did it three years ago when designer Jop van Bennekom and journalist Gert Jonkers set out to reinvent ‘the gentleman’s style journal’. The title’s minimalist design and fresh take on fashion photography – a knowing, arch style – had an immediate effect on the rest of the men’s magazine market.
Its sister publication, the recently launched The Gentlewoman, looks set to have the same impact.
Ok, it shares the format of most other women’s magazines, but here the similarities end. The cover has a black and white portrait of Phoebe Philo (Creative Director at Céline) framed within a ‘nude’ colour background; the masthead is all lowercase Futura (expect another revival of this 20’s font shortly) and the paper has a highly tactile mottled texture. And, bar furniture and one discreet coverline, that’s it.
Inside, the design style is deceptively simple – understated, elegant, open, orderly and effortlessly authoritative. Colour is used sparingly – it’s largely black and white, but with the odd dash of block colour to mark out key stories and the three editorial sections. Imagery is challenging and used in challenging ways: tall and small models with heads cropped star in one of the main fashion stories; a series of abstract marine shots introduce a feature on ocean swimmer Lynne Cox; six pages of the backs of heads hold together a feature on ‘up-dos’… The text paper is gloss – conventional, maybe, but it contrasts nicely with the cover and an uncoated reference section in the centre.
The magazine’s editor in chief, Penny Martin, says the magazine is ‘about modernity and women that are just fantastic.’ It ditches celebrity for ‘women who live extraordinary lives’. What a breath of fresh air.
From its cover style to editorial platform, The Gentlewoman provides a stark contrast to any other women’s title. It’s dared to be different and deserves to succeed.