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When Dazed & Confused was first sketched out in the late 1980s as a foldout poster magazine, owners Rankin Waddell, Jefferson Hack and Ian Taylor never thought the publication they were plotting in a student union bar in south London would grow to sell nearly 70,000 copies worldwide. Now a square-- format monthly full of upscale fashion ads, Dozed & Confused (or Dozed, as it is referred to) has been a style bible for over a decade, offering a mix of in-- your-face photography, fashion, music, art and text.
Some of the more memorable photography features, shot by Rankin, Phil Poynter and Polly Borland, challenged the fashion world by including references to eating disorders, overconsumption and sexual deviation.The magazine's success has helped Rankin become one of the most-wanted portrait photographers.
Nevertheless, the magazine's formula is looking dated, and the content has become predictable. Dazed's new editor, Rachel Newsome (the magazine's assistant editor since 1997), has, one suspects, been promoted to try to halt the inevitable effects of aging. Newsome sums up her challenge: "Instead of waiting to see who has got a record or film coming out, we need to be exploring things that we are interested in. We don't want tojust reflect back the latest pop phenomenon." It's a statement on just how far the magazine has slipped into the mainstream.
Initially, Dazed prided itself on having its finger on the pulse of youth subculture, but it wasn't long before the Pradas, Sisleys and Dolce & Gabbanas of the world bought ad space and dispelled any sense of antifashion ideals. Newsome caused a stir by writing April's harsh editorial on youth rebellion-or lack of it-questioning whether it was time to stop being so hedonistic (attending raves, taking ecstasy, endless shopping for club clothes) and wake up to the harsher realities of the world outside, namely, poverty, child labor and war. The fashion world is a reflection of wider cultural, political and moral agendas, and Dozed's latest stance keys in to the growing unease and political activity among its international readers.
Building critical commentary into a magazine as
complex as Dazed, with its features on young, edgy artists and celebrities, spliced with well-heeled ad pages, is not going to be easy. The feel of Dazed's...