A Fashion Discovery: Dansk Magazine

I was at Barnes and Noble earlier this week studying for the GRE. Of course, my attention was diverted to the fashion magazines for a quick break from antonyms and analogies (here's an analogy of my own creation, just for fun: DILETTANTE: FASHION:: LINDSAY LOHAN: EMANUEL UNGARO. Now, why can't they have analogies like that on the GRE?). Anyhow, my eyes quickly fell upon a giant, glossy magazine with a gorgeous picture of Gisele on the cover. Dansk was the name of the magazine and, surprisingly, it was a fashion magazine that I had neither seen before nor heard of prior to this unexpected discovery. Dansk touts itself as "the world's most independent fashion magazine" and is based out of Copenhagen.

I began by analyzing the masthead, my favorite page of any fashion magazine. I always like to know who is working where and who contributes what to the magazine. You can uncover exciting things this way. For instance, did you know that Diana Vreeland's son, Fredrick Vreeland, is a contributing editor for Conde Nast Traveler? Pretty exciting, eh? Anyhow, I scanned the masthead of the A/W 2009 issue and noticed that Dansk was a pretty small publication, with only thirteen positions on the masthead. That's tiny when you take into consideration the behemoth masthead of Vanity Fair.

Next, I scanned the layouts and photo editorials. Dansk, unlike Vogue, W, and Harper's Bazaar, features men's fashion as well. In the name of full disclosure, I must acknowledge that men's fashion is not my forte; I rarely pay attention to it. The fashion pictorials were pretty progressive and a little avant garde even, sort of reminiscent of V. I loved the layout with Gisele, but was disappointed that it was so brief. The men's pictorials, however, I found entirely unpleasing aesthetically. If it's not Baptiste Giaconi, Karl Lagerfeld's new, um, friend, walking a runway covered in hay, I'm not interested.

I'll have to wait to explore a new issue of Dansk. Alas, it is only published bi-annually. The fashion verdict after one issue, though? Definitely worth looking into. I'm curious. For now, I'll have to be content with perusing the publisher's website at http://www.stylecounsel.com/. Check it out and let me know what you think!