Zine research

Yesterday I went to London to conduct some research for my latest uni project - producing a zine. I went to various book shops and specialised zine stores to get all the research and inspiration I needed for my own zine.

My first stop was the Nobrow magazine and book shop/gallery. Nobrow is an independent platform for graphic art, illustration and art comics in the UK. It stocks a wide range of magazines and books, mainly illustrated magazines. Although my zine will have more photo-graphical and editorial content the shop was good in showing me a wide range of different publication types which can be applied to my zine.

My next stop was Art words bookshop, located just around the corner from Nobrow. This was more of a book shop but also stocked magazines of a more niche nature. There were some lovely photo-graphical and editorial books. I brought the gentlewoman and disorder magazines from here as they were less commercial than fashion mags like Vogue and Elle and had a good range of editorial and photographic content which can be applied to my zine. 

I then travelled to Shoreditch to Lik + neon which was just off of Brick Lane. The shop was quite quirky and stocked a range off different items from tshirts to jewellery and small-press publications namely zines. There were a few different zines in here but none that really caught me eye. 

Just up the road from Lik + Neon was Beach. The way the store was displayed, reminded me of a gallery but it stocked mainly zines with a few books and screen prints. Most of the zines sold here were published by Nieves. The zines were all different to the next but I particularly liked the zine AWAY, AWAY, AWAY! by Rosie Lee. The zine had a good mixture of editorial content mixed with photos and graphics which made it very interesting. 

My zine is called Arabesque and is a photographical and editorial zine dedicated to the art of ballet. Make sure you follow my zine here for all the latest information on the first issue which will be available at the Nottingham zine fair on Sat 26th May. 

Beckham to grace the front cover of ELLE

David Beckham really is the man of the moment. From his successful H&M underwear range to his ability to make every woman fall in love with him, ELLE have decided to make him the front cover of their July issue. He has been given the privilege of being the first male to cover British ELLE on his own. David said it was  ‘really exciting. ELLE is a prestigious magazine with international recognition. I'm honoured to have been asked to be the first ever solo male fashion cover.’ Congrats Becks!