Bauer to revive The Face? How lame

re: Bauer to revive The Face? How lame

Andrew Crysell — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 12:30:50 GMT

The internet, and the general swing towards exploring/finding your own way over being told what's best from those on high, certainly means The Face would struggle to be in a position to act as a taste-maker if it returned. I think the value would be in The Face's awesome back catalogue of content, coupled with putting that back catalogue in a new context. Granted, it would hardly be mass market (and doesn't sound very Bauer) but I could see there being interest in a quarterly thematic book/mag among Observer Music Monthly and Uncut readers through to Monocle and Wallpaper readers.

re: Bauer to revive The Face? How lame

Gordon Macmillan — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 11:44:58 GMT

I got sent some very interesting comments by Neil Dawson, partner at HMDG this morning. Worth posting here I think:

-Although launched in the 70s, the Face defined the youth and style culture of the 80s – consumerism, individuality and style

-From an era when an elite group of ‘opinion-formers’ not only wrote about but determined trends to the extent that one cover could send ripples thru’ youth culture ( see Robert Elms Hard Times cover of 1983 for details)

-Essentially a Thatcherite manifesto

-Struggled in the so-called caring, sharing 90s as rave culture kicked back against conspicuous consumption with its ‘anything goes and anyone welcome’ attitude

-Further undermined by the advent of the Internet as youth culture fragmented in to a myriad of subcultures and its democratising effect on access to previously elite information

- Relaunch won’t work....who needs a style bible when you can write your own

re: Bauer to revive The Face? How lame

Gordon Macmillan — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 11:44:48 GMT

@Andrew - you seem to suggest it would be bought by former readers? My point still stands. They have grown up and moved on.

Robert Elms what ever happened to him? I remember reading a novel of his back in his Face days - In Search Of The Crack. Absolutely terrible.

re: Bauer to revive The Face? How lame

Nick Corston — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 09:24:23 GMT

Save yourself the time and money - buy/read the book instead.

Life in threads by Robert Elms.

Enjoy.

re: Bauer to revive The Face? How lame

Andrew Crysell — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 16:27:39 GMT

There's so much interest (both from those who lived through it and those younger) in the cultural time period over which The Face held court that I think the most viable return would be as a high-end (and mainly subscription-based) mag that's equipped to revisit (and often put into a new context) its vast back catalogue of content, plus comment on new cultural happenings in a considered, relevant, none-too-hysterical fashion. If Bauer could make that work in a way that appeals at a relatively niche level globally, perhaps The Face Mk 2 could be a goer.