Today we launch i-D’s The Faith In Chaos Issue, no. 360, Summer 2020. Order your copy here. All profits from the sale of this issue will go to the Black Lives Matter global network. Read a statement from i-D’s Editor-in-Chief below.
Working on i-D #360, THE FAITH IN CHAOS ISSUE, we could never have foreseen the circumstances under which it is now being released. Right now, we are all in mourning for George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and too many other lives lost to a pandemic of murderous racism that has raged unchecked for too long.
Current times are wrought with pain, but amid the chaos and bitterness, we must maintain faith — faith that we can build the world anew, purged of the ills of the old. Looking at tomorrow’s open horizons, it’s more crucial than ever that we engage and connect with our communities. In our 40 years, i-D’s family has expanded to include some of the world’s most pioneering forces for positive cultural change — individuals and collectives to whom we couldn’t be more proud to offer our platform. Few exemplify the ethics at i-D’s core as wholly as Pharrell Williams, the man on this issue’s cover. Since the early 90s, he has played an unparalleled role in shaping the face of contemporary culture, laying the blueprint for the sound of a generation of music, and sowing the first seeds at the now-fertile intersection of music and luxury fashion. Throughout his career, he has been a vehicle for radical change, and a beacon of inspiration and hope for the Black community and for the world at large. In his cover interview, he speaks of how we can adapt to life in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. “I don’t think there will be such a thing as a new normal,” he says, “it doesn’t do enough justice to the difference in who we were pre-pandemic and who we will be moving forward.“ These words were spoken prior to the murder of George Floyd, and the protests that have mobilised in its wake. But they couldn’t resonate more strongly today. As we ask ourselves what kind of world we want to wake up to tomorrow, what we must not allow is for us to relapse into the toxic complacency of the ‘normal’ we once knew.
Alastair McKimm — Editor-in-Chief, i-D
Credits
Photography Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott
Digital set up and operations Niccolo Pacilli at Dreamer Productions.
Local digital technician Mike De Janon.
Post production DREAMER POST.
Casting director Samuel Ellis Scheinman for DMCASTING.