The Face Magazine show review at the National Gallery
May 4, 2025The Face Magazine show review at the National Gallery. Full of vibrantly coloured images, just enough text to situate The Face in its place and time, and many assertions that it was groundbreaking plus a few sad feeling appeals to imagine how life was before Instagram and you had to get your visuals elsewhere, this is visually arresting and interesting. It will mean different things according to whether you are remembering the magazine in its heyday or struggling to understand the whole concept, but if you want to see some gorgeous fashion photography, this is the place to go.
The magazine was founded in 1980, by Nick Logan, the previous editor of NME and Smash Hits. He used his own personal family savings. It was a private enterprise aimed at creating a different kind of publication from the teen magazines from big corporations.
Probably for Older London Types
As a teen in the 90s, it never felt like it was aimed at me at all, primarily as it was far too expensive and glossy for a working class kid from the Midlands. But full disclosure, the “usual” teen mags were also a rare treat, although much less expensive. Then again, the content, about clubbing, drinking, and I don’t know what else, didn’t hit right for me either. It actually felt like what a coterie of richer, older London types might think “The Youth” was interested in.
And in that I have a feeling I might be right. Isabella Blow, Katie Grand and Alexander McQueen worked together a lot on the Face magazine fashion stories for quite a clump of time and they did have a particular aesthetic and type of ideas. In fact the text boasts that ideas were bandied about as much as midnight in a club as in any editorial meeting in the morning.
Beautiful Images
Installation shot. Photo G Jones
Installation shot. Photo G Jones
Installation shot. Photo G Jones
Installation shot. Photo G Jones
Installation shot. Photo G Jones
But there was no denying that the photography for the Face magazine was stunning and the glossy, square bound format showed this off wonderfully. It’s even better to see them blown up big as beautifully rendered C-Prints and light boxes here, unencumbered by page breaks and texts.
The Face Magazine show review – Bjork and Son
Nestled amongst them in the Face Magazine show is the photograph of Björk and her son by Jurgen Teller in a blue pool from 1993 which I love. There are iconic pictures of Brett Anderson of Suede and Skin and the rest of the band from Skunk Anansie which I recognise. As I look at them I can here the strains of “Common People” by Pulp from a nearby video of one of their gigs, which situates me firmly back in the 90s.
Nearby are earlier photos. A makeup free Adam, without his Ants, looking extraordinarily young and vulnerable. John Lyndon with his trademark outraged pop eyed gaze, resembling royalty with a lush background and throne-like seat, a can of beer just visible near his feet. A blue-painted Leigh Bowery and Boy George are here too.
Many of the early photographers for Face Magazine explain that they were not trained in photography at all, much less studio work with its necessity to master lighting. They were gig photographers and journalistic “Snappers” who the editors knew through nights out. But they rose to the challenge magnificently, feeling empowered by the trust placed in them and were rewarded with their name on the cover. Some ended up demanding a whole day commitment from their subjects, as if in revenge for the ten minutes access to the subject they were previously granted at the end of an interview. Later on others boasted that they got their shot in ten minutes of chaos, doing away with the stuffy and laborious studio requirements. What goes around comes around, I guess.
The Face Magazine show review – The First Digital Couture
One of the reasons why these images in the Face Magazine show looked so immediate, sharp and vivid was an early adoption of computer editing. Even further than this, in 1997 Lara Croft became the first virtual model. The computer character’s strapline on the cover said “Bigger than Pammy, Wiser than Yoda”. This was a reference to her big breasts alongside her fame. Inside she was “dressed” in outfits designed by Alexander McQueen and Tom Ford at Gucci. They were digitally created by Code Studios. Graphics at the time were still relatively blocky. There was no attempt to pretend this was reality as in AI today. It really was a quirky gimmick of a computer character in couture.
Something that has not changed much is that the photographers for the Face Magazine were not paid much. Although it was great to see their work in print, their name on the cover and encouragement and validation for their work.
Off the Dole and Into Work
Most of them, therefore, benefitted from a scheme launched by Thatcher’s government to get people off the dole and into work. If they could raise £1,000, they would get a government grant to match it. Their rent would be paid and on top they got £27 a week. They also got to keep their earnings. It was a real boon to those in the creative industries, if potentially exploitative by the people who employed them. Still, the Face, it is implied, opened on very tight margins.
This is illustrated by a scandal that erupted in 1992. The magazine had published an article that said that Jason Donovan was gay. He sued for libel. Not on the basis of being called gay, which would not likely have been considered defamatory. But on the basis that by saying he was gay, the publication was insinuating that he had lied about being straight. So it was being a liar he objected to, not being called gay. All the same, he lost a lot of his gay fans with this course of action. He still does not regret it all.
Jason Donovan won the suit, and the magazine was asked to pay £293,000 in damages. This was waived by Donovan as he realised it would bankrupt them.
The Face Magazine show review – Visually Interesting, Quirkily Informative
The Face Magazine show exhibition is a fun couple of hours. It’s curated by Sabina Jaskot-Gill, Senior Curator of Photographs. Curatorial Consultants Lee Swillingham, former Art Director of The Face, and Norbert Schoerner, photographer, assisted.
It’s on until May 18th, 2025.
