The September issue is the most important issue of any magazine’s calendar; it marks the start of the new season after the lengthy summer lull. There’s an entire shift in mood and attitude, a period of reinvention and fresh starts. It has the greatest number of ad campaigns and typically the most significant cover stars.
Even more exciting is what’s happening over at W. For its September issue, editor-in-chief Stefano Tonchi and creative director Edward Enninful have enlisted the help of i-D founder (and Edward’s old boss) Terry Jones as a special creative collaborator. No wonder it looks so good!
The eagle eyed will be able to spot Terry’s fingerprints all over it. First of all, there are two covers, a classic Terry trademark, both featuring everyone’s favorite bad gal Rihanna. Shot by Steven Klein and styled by Edward Enninful, one cover features Riri as a wartime queen, while the other shows Rihanna as queen during peacetime. Embodying the true DIY spirit of punk, Terry started designing the covers by taping over elements of W’s last September issue, while the text accompanying Rihanna’s cover story has been punched on a typewriter by hand. “That sound of a manual typewriter,” Jones told W, “It is still pretty great.” Then there’s the graphic: the stenciled W logo, the signature font treatments, and the single cover line, stating “Rihanna Special Collector’s Issue.” Sound familiar? Of course it does!
While the partnership is a one-off, it marks the beginning of a new approach for W: for every March and September issue, the magazine will invite an esteemed guest to art direct. “It’s part of the larger strategy to make every issue of the magazine a collectible — to create print as an event,” Tonchi told BoF. “Yes, we are larger than the other publications. We are different, but it’s never enough. I somehow wanted to push a little farther. So we got this idea of hiring a legendary art director to work with us,” he continues. By the looks of things, this strategy seems to be working!
Credits
Text Tish Weinstock