If you don't know Jefferson Hack, then you definitely should look into his work after reading this post. At 40, Hack has already started three magazines, developed the Dazed Group, and (in my opinion) paved the way for the internet and magazines to coexist.
Born in Montevideo, Uruguay in 1971, Hack lived in many places until finally settling in England at age nine. In interviews he has noted Interview magazine and Godard films as major inspirations in his early life.
The Man Himself (Image Citation)
At age 20, Hack joined up with fellow London College of Printing student Rankin (a photographer with a then-growing reputation for celebrity portraiture) and founded Dazed & Confused. No, I'm not talking about the movie. Dazed & Confused is a magazine that covers fashion, photography, arts, culture, and music. After starting out as a black-and-white fold-out poster that was published sporadically, it became a full-fledged magazine. It has often been noted as giving fairly unknown stylists and photographers the opportunity to show what they can do (often times only their expenses are paid, with the hope that they will secure more jobs due to exposure in the magazine) and has been responsible for many the success story. Want to know something even cooler? It's noted as being the first style magazine to ever be fully created on a desktop computer.
With people like Bjork gracing the cover of Dazed & Confused within the magazine's first twenty issues, Hack and Rankin were set for success. Popularity and circulation increased throughout the '90s. In 1991, Rankin and Hack created Dazed Film and TV and in 2001, under the title of the Dazed Group, they published AnOther magazine. Following its success, AnOther Man came out in 2005. While Rod Stanley is now the Editor-in-Chief of Dazed & Confused, Hack holds the same title at both AnOther and AnOther Man.
Since 2005, Hack has started many more projects including Dazed TV Party (a program combining interviews and performances), co-curating at the Amsterdam Foam Gallery, doing a three-piece shoe collection with Tod's for Collette, and then once again collaborating with Tod's for their No_Code Collection.
A Look from Tod's No_Code Collection (Image Citation)
So, aside from being so successful, what makes Jefferson Hack someone worth knowing? The list of reasons could go on and on. First of all, if you don't know his name from these magazines, you may still recognize it. A normally very private person, Hack was thrown into the spotlight when he dated Kate Moss. The two had a child together in 2002 (Lila Grace Moss) and, according to tabloids and interviews, have remained close and on good terms. Meanwhile, many articles (starting with one in The Guardian) have dared to pose the question "Is Jefferson Hack the coolest person in the UK?" His "coolness" is constantly brought up in articles and interviews with the magazine guru. Noted as collecting Olivetti typewriters, wearing skinny pants, and owning an ashtray from Cafe de Flore, his personality seems to match the coolness of his job.
The number one reason that The Mannequin thinks he's cool? I'm pretty sure he figured out a philosophy that could keep magazines alive during a time where many people say that they're a "dying trade." Being one of the forerunners in digital and printed content, Hack has found a balance between the two. In an interview for the London Evening Standard, he was noted as saying that magazines are like tangible souvenirs of the moment, while the ongoing story of fashion and life plays out online. In my mind, both are equally valuable resources.
And with that, I urge you to look at and follow both the magazines and life of Jefferson Hack in the future.
No comments:
Post a Comment