The Story of The Face: The Magazine that Changed Culture

by Paul Gorman

A landmark publication offering a definitive overview of one of the most influential transatlantic magazines produced in the 1980s and 1990s Launched by NME editor and Smash Hits creator Nick Logan in 1980, The Face became an icon of “style culture,” the benchmark for the latest trends in art, design, fashion, photography, film, and music being defined by a thriving youth culture. The Story of The Face tracks the exciting highs and calamitous lows of the life of the magazine in two parts. Part one focuses on the rise of the magazine in the 1980s, highlighting its striking visual identity―embodied by Neville Brody’s era-defining graphic designs, Nick Knight’s dramatic fashion photography, and the “Buffalo” styling of Ray Petr― and its unflinching approach to journalism. Contributors included a host of writers who subsequently made their impact in the wider world, from Julie Burchill, Robert Elms, Tony Parsons, and James Truman to Jon Savage, Richard Benson, and Sheryl Garratt. Part two shows how in the 1990s, after surviving a disastrous Jason Donovan libel suit, the magazine heralded the post-acid house era of Britpop and Brit Art. However, after the magazine had become the engine of the booming British magazine industry, the end of this decade also saw the eventual demise of The Face. Including an introduction by Dylan Jones, The Story of The Face is an engaging behind-the-scenes look at the rise and fall of one of the 80s and 90s’ most influential music and style publications. 440+ illustrations in color and black and white

Genres: Music, Fashion, Nonfiction

352 pages, Paperback

Published December 5, 2017

Reviews

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stunning book with lots of color plates. This is the definitive book on The Face that celebrates it's struggles and successes during their golden age from 1980-1999.

[Ugh · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Face was the coolest British magazine to garner a fairly large mainstream following, a feat that made it enormously influential not only in the publishing industry but also in fashion, design, photography and music. In this book, Gorman traces the history of the magazine from its establishment on a shoestring by founding editor Nick Logan in 1980 through to its peak at the height of Cool Britannia and its subsequent decline, sale and death after the turn of the millennium.

What comes across most strongly are the low-budget, small-scale, egalitarian, collegiate but perfectionist nature of the editorial office and how The Face changed the game with its insistence on great design alongside editorial standards and capturing the zeitgeist. It feels like Gorman had a good degree of access to the main players and materiel, not least Logan.

The book itself is high-end, with generous glossy reproductions of the magazine's covers and contents. At £35 it isn't quite as good value as say some Taschen books (it's published by Thames and Hudson), but it is a big, hefty bugger - and that's very much an asset, not a failing.

If it has slight shortcomings, they're that the focus is perhaps too much on The Face itself, when more attention to some of its competitors and stablemates - particularly in the photographs - would have been useful, and that in the later stages the telling becomes somewhat of a churn of barely identifiable editors and contributors. More photos and telling details of the cast might have helped there.

But ultimately the book is a treat: a lush, comprehensive encapsulation of what was so great about possibly the greatest British magazine. It feels not merely warranted, but necessary - and it almost lives up to the standards of the publication it eulogises. Almost.

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book to treat yourself to if you're of the certain age where you regret no longer owning a massive pile of The Face magazines. The book covers how the magazine began, its ups & downs and its end, along with absolutely loads of lovely photos and design moments.

[Claudia BC · Rating 5 out of 5]

Got my hands on the issue from the last three months of 2019 at Rough Trade in Bristol talking about predictions for 2020's well it was a funny read. Think is my favourite magazine especially in terms of culture, fashion, style, filmmaking, sport and almost everything which is much more than the looks even if that is what it primarly showscases, very well documented, super interesting people in it you fell like you could do anything just by reading it haha.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

ah the passage of time
I thought I had forgotten
or my head was deep into a fog
of the Reagan miasma
& my eyes teared up
losing my culture of youth
being denied by a rabid
jelly bean connoisseur

[Ian Mccausland · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved The Face

[Olivia Sutherland · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good but biased