One of the beautiful things about the membership of the tFS forums is the fact that we have so many members coming from such different parts of the world and have very different backgrounds. They’re well-traveled, well-educated, have a broad range of interests. Faicel, known under the username tentalicious on the forums, is one of those members with such an interesting biography. He was born in Tabarka, a small fishing town in the northwestern corner of Tunisia. As a child he moved a lot with his parents, having lived in Tunisia’s capital, Tunis, as well as having lived in Egypt and Morocco for a while. They also traveled around Europe a lot and he admits that it was really hard at times and that he now prefers to feel settled down in a place because he finds it difficult to come to new places and make new friends all the time. Faicel says he appreciates the wonderful memories of his childhood and having lived in various places. He now feels at home in Verona, which he calls “the city of Romeo and Juliet” (as the story takes place there), in Italy, where he moved in 2010 after having visited the city for the first time in 2007 when he went there for a conference for work. “The weather [in Verona] after some years still confuses me… but I’m still in love [with the city],” he says.
Feicel graduated from journalism school but currently works as a fieldwork and operations manager in a French market research firm, and he believes the practical skills he gained during his studies helped him get his actual job as they have proven to be very helpful and useful. Faicel also successfully runs the blog mode.newslicious.net where he posts exclusive editorial content from magazines, in addition to posting material he finds on the tFS forums. Feicel contributes greatly to the Magazines and Ad Campaigns threads on the forums, providing fellow members with magazine reviews, scans and digital HQs and discussing the content of the magazines with other members.
The Fashion Spot: How did you find out about tFS?
Faicel: I don’t remember exactly how I found tFS. I’ve been reading it for 3 years now. I think I discovered it at a time when I wanted to expand my fashion reading. I don’t know if I found it by general browsing or if I found it through one of those amazing Meisel pictures on Google images I was admiring or what, but from the moment I got here, I was hooked.
tFS: Tell us more about your blog, mode.newslicious.net — when did you start it, what is your motivation for running this blog, how do you obtain all the exclusive content for it?
F: I was and still am an avid reader of blogs, and I’ve often wanted to start one of my own, but I always decided against it. English is not my mother tongue, plus I don’t have time and get bored easily…
But one day I thought I might give it a try. Since then, I’ve put the philosophy to the test in a mini-experiment: forgo the ‘describing’ of what’s going on in fashion and just show it by focusing on pure images. It was and still is something deeply personal, I only feature things I like… but let me say that it’s a bit hard nowadays mainly because some photographers/agencies/magazines/etc. think they’re doing you a favor by sending an amount of stuff (personal projects, fashion shoots for online publications…) and ask you to expose them so people can see. I know they work extremely hard for each project but I find it terrifying that the creativity has gone out of the window.
About the content, it works by request and submission: when I see something interesting, I just ask the photographer/agent/stylist or even the magazine itself if I can feature the whole project in a good format/quality. (As a blogger and a huge fan of fashion photography, I’d like to see that, I’d like to see the details, the set, the makeup style, etc.) And here, we have another problem, most of the photographers won’t put the original/large files on the net… print image theft. Seriously folks, don’t they just think it’s time to showcase their work like it deserves to be viewed? Also a few months ago, I remember someone from an agency saying that they don’t accept the using of their stories and shooting in that way, it being used on blogs! Seriously??? Not even Jim Moffat, [Steven] Meisel’s agent, would answer that way.
tFS: On your blog you state that the blog is not a fashion blog, that it’s about art, its creators and the visualization of fashion. Is that your personal preference, are you personally more interested in art than clothes and models?
F: It’s a lie if I say I don’t care about clothes and models. As everyone else here, I have my favorites, but honestly I don’t buy a magazine because my favorite girl is inside, or buy a product because my favorite girl promotes it… Out of the question! I buy a magazine because it features my favorite artists Steven Meisel, Walter Pfeiffer, Nan Goldin, Inez & Vinoodh, Juergen Teller, Nathaniel Goldberg, Collier Schorr, Ryan McGinley, etc. I appreciate their work and flexibly support it. What’s important is not the trend, but the essence of beauty that bleeds through.
tFS: Having traveled so much and having lived in so many different countries with different cultures, how has it changed or influenced your perception of beauty and the importance of art and fashion?
F: There is no definition of beauty, but when you see something inexplicable, that’s beautiful to me, straight from Liv Tyler. I think beauty isn’t enough, there must be something more… look at Freja [Beha Erichsen], she might not be the prettiest, but everyone wants to work with her.
I don’t know what Art is and that’s what makes Art so amazing. It could be something simple, accidental or wonderfully prepared.
tFS: Since your interest lies mostly in magazines, do you have an all-time favorite issue of a magazine or an all-time favorite editorial?
F: I started collecting magazines only a few years ago and the March 2010 cover and main story of Vogue Italia is by far my all-time favorite. It’s at the same time aristocratically chic and casually seductive. I just love it every time I look through. I also love Acne Paper. It conjures up images, tells stories and stimulates cultural treasure.
tFS: What are your favorite threads or section of the tFS forums?
F: Magazines! Such an amazing place. There’s a wonderful, tidy collection of journals and magazines that aren’t always easy to find. I don’t know if you’d agree with me, but this thread reminds me of the Big and Complete store in the world. A bunch of intellectual members with smart but very particular taste. Which is, after all, probably the most important thing to acknowledge.
Also, I really enjoy the Supporting Cast thread, the members are knowledgeable and really helpful.
