"frankie magazine is a national bi-monthly based in Australia, aimed at 20-something women (and men) looking for a magazine that’s as smart, funny, sarcastic, friendly, cute, rude, arty, curious and caring as they are."
If that didn't catch your attention then I guess you go for more action, less suggestion.
I first picked up this magazine in Popular bookstore in August, and I've been addicted ever since. It is so unlike any other magazines I have read before.
Its focus is on music, arts and craft, fashion, books, social events - basically a lifestyle magazine at the core. But with a twist.
You see, frankie is not like any other magazine. A perfunctory flip through its high-quality, creamy-white pages will give you an impression that it is bland. A closer look will slap you in the face for thinking that. No fancy boxes enclosing sub-articles, for there aren't any sub-articles to box up. Sans serif fonts. Squarish layouts. A picture on the left page, an article on the right. All this screams "PLAIN" in theory, but it is far from that.
The magazine relies heavily on pictures to have that "Huh?"-at-first-sight appeal. Other than that, the clean, crisp look offers nothing else visually. The very white palette, though drab, works really well in complimenting the cute, quirky, offbeat and sometimes kitschy pictures. The minimalistic approach of frankie is what makes it all the more attractive.
You can have a sneak peek of the mag at its website at http://www.frankie.com.au.
Popular (the bookstore) doesn't really like customers reading their magazines, so I haven't really had the chance to devour the ENTIRE thing. The most recent thing I read in it was about a dude stripping butt-naked to participate in the onsen, the popular Japanese tradition of communal baths.
Lane 6 was reserved for the for the physically compromised: the girl with childhood arthritis; the rotund, androgynous blob with inverted nipples; and me. None of us could swim 25 metres without clutching the side desperately, the way drowning people hold onto the floating debris of a sinking ship.
What?!!
As much as I want to have it, I can't bring it home. A quick look at the price tag reveals its exorbitant price: RM30.00.
That's as expensive as Vogue US!!
I swore to God that that was the last time I spend RM30 on a magazine after purchasing Vogue US September 2007 (a Herculean 840-page volume) with a useless Sienna Miller on the cover. And 70% of it were ads!!
Walls will fall if my mum ever sells it off to the newspaper dude.
No comments:
Post a Comment