Purple is a French fashion, art and culture magazine founded in 1992.
History In 1992, Elein Fleiss and Olivier Zahm started the magazine Purple Prose as a reaction against the superficial glamour of the 1980s; much as a part of the global counterculture at the time, inspired by magazines like Interview, Ray Gun, Nova, and Helmut Newton's Illustrated, but with the aesthetics of what usually is referred to as anti-fashion. Based on their personal interests and views; Purple was, and in a sense still is, made much in the same spirit of the fanzine.Zahm, Olivier; Purple Anthology 1992/2006; Purple Fashion, Fall Winter 2008/09; Purple Institute, Paris 2008; p.68-69
When Fleiss left the magazine in 2002, Zahm put a growing emphasis on Purple becoming a fashion magazine, a more sustainable business model. The magazine became associated with the "realism" of the new fashion photography of the 1990s, with names like Juergen Teller, Terry Richardson, Wolfgang Tillmans, and Mario Sorrenti and closely associated with the zeitgeist of the time featuring 90s style icon Chloë Sevigny in almost every issue.
In the introduction of the Purple Anthology, Zahm writes:
In 2004, it was divided into Purple Fashion, published by Purple Institute based in Paris and New York, and Purple Journal, published by Les Editions Purple, based in Paris. On February 16 the first installation of Purple Fashions new web site was launched.
The art director of Purple Prose and Purple Fashion was Christophe Brunnquell until 2006, when he was succeeded by M/M Paris.
Offspring publications Fleiss and Zahm's collaboration has resulted in many side projects:
Purple Prose – published from October 1992 to winter 1998 (13 issues). Purple Fiction – a literary magazine published between 1995 and 1998 (4 issues). Purple Fashion – published between 1995–1998 (4 issues), and 2004–present. Purple Sexe – a magazine devoted to sexuality, published between winter 1998 and 2001 (8 issues). The magazine was reborn as a one-off appendix for Purple Fashion Fall/Winter 2008/09, dedicated to Italian porn star Rocco Siffredi. Purple – a fusion of Purple Prose, Purple Fiction, Purple Fashion, and Purple Sexe; published between summer 1998 and 2003 (16 issues). Purple Books – a publishing house (1998–2001) Purple Gallery – a Parisian art gallery Purple Journal – a cultural magazine published 2004–present in a French and an English version.
Since 2004, Purple is divided in two different publications; Purple Fashion magazine (edited by Zahm and published by Purple Institute) and Purple Journal (edited by Fleiss and Sébastien Jamain, published by Les Editions Purple).
===Purple Fashions artist's books=== Since its second issue, each number of Purple Fashion comes with an artist's book: No. 2 – Terry Richardson: Terry No. 3 – Richard Prince: The Hippie drawings No. 4 – Hedi Slimane: Interzone No. 5 – Juergen Teller: Ed in Japan No. 6 – Rita Ackermann: Good morning New York No. 7 – Helmut Lang: Selective memory series No. 8 – Dash Snow: You can't drink it if it's frozen No. 9 – Christophe Brunnquell: Annees Erotiques No. 10 – Harmony Korine: Pigxtras No. 11 – Marlene Marino: Cuba 2009 No. 12 – Ari Marcopoulos: Debris No. 13 – Aurel Schmidt: Pussy No. 14 – Vincent Darré: Vincent No. 15 – Thurston Moore: Street Mouth No. 16 – Katja Rahlwes: Full Moon No. 17 – Richard Prince: Purple 20 Years, The Richard Prince Purple Book No. 18 – No. 19 – Ryan McGinley: The Journey is the Destination
References
External links Official website of Purple magazine An extract from the new book Purple Years (Onestar Press) by Jeff Rian "Orion Giret, Defacement of Public Art as Art" - a defense of vandalising public art, in purpleDIARY.