FASHION FROLIC

Photo: Tom Ford

I've been pondering deeply, intensely and (as always) a bit too insightfully into the power of the printed page. For me, my passion for it is steadfast. It's been a part of who I am since I was a child. A little over twenty years later, and I am still holding on to my glossy, archived stacks of the beautiful people, places and fashion.

I hold aesthetics above all, and they go beyond conventional standards of beauty. It involves colors, textures and the general ambience.

Photo: The Paper Planes

Spending hours in a bookstore pilfering through stacks of gorgeous fashion magazines excites me like nothing else in the world. I love the feel, the way they fit in the crook of my arm and the sound that the Bibles make when I crack them open for the first time and bend the binding. It's my passion.

At a recent magazine conference in the city, one very influential guest speaker said, "Times may be tough, but it's going to make those wishing to break into the magazine industry stronger. Now is the time when the 'cream of the crop' will rise and only the best will succeed."

And that right there is enough hope for those of us wishing and praying we have a chance in print to obtain the positions we seem to dream about every waking moment. I've been exploring various options in online media, particularly online editorial work within the magazine market. And yet, something inside me is screaming for an opportunity to work in print and assist in salvaging and thus heightening the morale of the beaten-on market. Print is alive, and that is apparent in the major publishing houses in Manhattan and the newsstands on the corners.

It might not be thriving, but it's not dead yet. All the niche truly needs is more creative, passionate and inventive young people willing to work harder than they have in their lifetime - all for the single, coveted masterpiece thrown in our mailboxes that we take for granted.