The Dream Team: Behind the scenes of a cover shoot, fashion shoot or feature

Now I'm not one to have favourites... ok, that's a lie, so here are some of my fav people to work with:

Photographer: Olivier Yoan

https://www.instagram.com/olivieryoan/

Stylist: Florent 

https://www.instagram.com/florent.tea/

Makeup: Reve Ryu

https://www.instagram.com/reveryuonly/

 

TBT: Outtake from a watch shoot

Photographer: http://matryoshka.ws/

Model: Fritz from Model One. 

August 2016

A new Menswear title to join the roster in 2021: Does Hong Kong need yet another's men's fashion magazine?

Does Hong Kong need yet another's men's fashion magazine? 

7.5 million population, unpicked titles galore on newsstands, finite advertising placements, spiraling ad revenue for print media... 

Had a chat with a publishing house regarding the launch of a glossy, bold faced type coming to the city. I had more questions than answers...  And I think they were left a bit perplexed too. 

In an oversaturated media market where monthlies are unquestionably suffering in the pandemic (pre pandemic in fact, but we just don't talk about the protests anymore), to launch a hyped title in a market exhausted with unearned hyperbola, it seems like hubris in the making. 

Men's magazines are a notoriously difficult ballgame altogether. So many titles have cropped up and culled over the past two decades. Names you've heard of, a fleeting image that'll seem familiar in the memory bank but all circled the drain within a short period of time. 

And some of them were great magazines; Power, published by Burda Inc was a thick book with fine writing and fantastic scoops - the first cover was Barack Obama no less. Gone within a year. WestEast Men had the most striking visuals - special editions were collected by photographers, art editors around the globe. Some of the art direction and large scale images were so popular they were copied by monoymous brands for campaigns (and called out!). It has also gone with the wind. Men's Folio has a presence around the region (Men's Folio Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam) but not in Hong Kong, WestEast and its umbrella of titles shifted to Taiwan. GQ China does well across the border, but doesn't seem to have the same stature or following in the 852... 

So what's happening in Hong Kong men's media? Hard to gage the popularity of Men's Uno, Men's Folio, MRRMHK, Elle Men, Esquire HK and that ilk. An unlikely, well, an unlikable metric would be looking at an (unreliable) barometer, social media followers; 

Esquire HK  61.3k 

https://www.instagram.com/esquirehk/?hl=en

Elle Men HK 36.2

https://www.instagram.com/ellemenhk/?hl=en

MRRMHK 23.9k 

https://www.instagram.com/mrrmhk/?hl=en

Mens Uno HK 19.7

https://www.instagram.com/mensunohk/?hl=en

Hot off the press is of course Vogue Man Hong Kong. launched with limited socially distanced and responsible fanfare. April 2021, it hit newsstands with the cover caption: Today is Tomorrow.

OK then. 

The arrival of new editions shakes up the old guard as they are forced to look in the mirror and shape up. Men's divisions in all titles find renewed interest so the newcomer doesn't inhale the small fraction of advertising budget that is devoted to menswear and accessories. 

During the glory days of publishing, Richard Buckley led Vogue Hommes International, as the experienced  journalist and editor in chief oversaw the finest photoshoots and sharpest editorials (while being married to Tom Ford no less). On 30 October 2008, that title folded despite a cult following, fanfare and budgets contemporary editors would genuflect for. 

Today, all Hong Kong glossies have replaced doors with turnstiles; the exodus (by choice or by push) is alarming. If you're on the Telum media list, its a constant change of guard when it comes to editors and editor-in-chiefs. The higher you climb the totem pole, the swifter the axe falls. 

On condition of anonymity, an experienced former editor says, "Previously there was a separation of church and state; editorial and advertising. Now both are in bed together, desperately trying to make it work. Men's titles are a rarity simply because brands don't advertise.  When you are deeply beholden to watches and cars for ad revenue, you're forced to write 100 pages of PR spiel to break even. No I don't think its great timing to launch new titles in these times."

The aforementioned Hong Kong titles listed seem to do be doing well though, having survived over three years in the industry - they've all gone over the proverbial hump; first year to make a name, second year to break even and third year to see profit?

"Sure but these are uncertain times and having seen the cyclical nature of the industry, we are still in the thick of the pandemic and still in the slump," she says while shaking her head. "In the rush to get over the strains of covid, the powers that be seem to forget... we're not over it yet."