When asked which magazines primarily make up his collection, mikel confessed, “There was a time when I used to buy over fifteen magazines a month. Ranging from basically every edition of Vogue I could get my hands on to magazines like Numéro, V, W, US Harper’s Bazaar, i-D, Dazed & Confused, and all the bi-annual publications like Pop, Another Magazine, Love, Purple, and Self Service. Nowadays I tend to be a bit more selective (or less obsessed if you will).”
Mikel’s admiration for his favorite photographers is often the driving force of his collection of certain magazines. “I’m a big Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin fan, so I usually buy the magazines they work for like Vogue Paris and V,” he said. “Most of the time I also buy American Vogue and Vogue Italia because Steven Meisel is another favorite of mine (although I have to admit that the quality of his work is not what it used to be).” As a long-time fan and connoisseur of Meisel’s work, mikel would know.
Like any collection, there are a few prized issues in mikel’s arsenal that he considers to be the “jewels” of his collection. The first issues he bought of American Vogue and Vogue Italia (both from March 2003) are particularly special to him. He’s also proud of the few issues of Vogue from the sixties that he managed to acquire for five euros each at a book market. “And a few years ago I was very happy to buy ten issues of defunct magazine Dutch for only twenty euros,” he shared.
Does anyone else want to hide out in mikel’s room, put on some good music, sit cross-legged on the floor, and carefully page through every magazine in his collection? He seems like a nice guy; he just might let us.
Image courtesy of tFS forum member mikel.
