@magazine_fan serves as a memorial to the best of now-defunct fashion publishing
If you possess a collection of magazines so vast it could rival a library, it seems criminal not to share your spoils with the world. Fortunately, avid collector Rosanna Tich concurs; she started Instagram account @magazine_fan to share editorial images from her extensive (and still growing) archive with her over 7k followers.
Tich’s archive spans familiar titles, but also the likes of now-defunct Nova, Talk and Honey. “My magazine collection has been growing since I was a child,” says Tich, who started the account in 2015. “I collected French fashion magazines from the school library and always bought magazines on holiday. People had been asking me for ages what I was going to do with my magazines, and some photographers had mentioned looking through them for research, but it wasn’t until Instagram came along that I saw a tangible way of doing something with them.”
As is often the case, dreamy fashion editorials from years gone by – here including images from the likes of Herb Ritts, Steven Meisel, Peter Lindbergh and Sheila Metzner – appeal for the way they distract from our turbulent contemporary socio-political climate. It takes a special concoction of unique visual elements for Tich to deem an image worthy of entering her hall of fame, though. “It needs to be arresting in composition, be unusual and quirky, a time capsule showcasing a particular era, of social or historic importance,” she explains. “I do look at magazines and photographs in a new light now and am taking a more academic approach to the account, but sometimes it’s just because it’s beautiful.” As for her favourites: “I’m particularly fond of the work of Sacha van Dorssen, especially her work in the 70s.”
Bonus: look out for behind-the-scenes secrets in the comments from the people who were there. “I love having comments from people who might have been involved in particular shoots, it brings the whole account alive.”