24.5.09

True stories:

Sad fact: Nylon used to be a really cool, kinda weird, pretty special magazine.

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Random fact: the San Francisco Public Library has every copy of Nylon ever produced, housed in hefty, bound volumes, and when I lived there I used to spend hours going through them chronologically. It was equal parts fascinating and mortifying to watch their slow but inevitable decline into the empty shell that exists today (and this was a few years ago, when they were still semi on top of their game...)

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Fun fact: In celebration of their 10th anniversary, Nylon has scanned their first ever issue (April 1999) in its entirety, and posted it on their flickr.

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True fact: you can see it all for yourself right here!

17 comments:

AFitz said...

Thanks for sharing.

Fact: After I gave up on Nylon (though I still read it - thanks, free subscription), I was trying to find a cheap enough local magazine to substitute it so I picked up an issue of Bust. It was the first one you were in. WHAA

Fact 2: Karen O is on the new cover. It's still white bckgrnd + hot pink font that they've been using for 6 months now, but still: woot.

Ellie B said...

The cover looks so much like Sassy!

kate said...

I completely agree with you on Nylon's slow decline. Personally, I think Marvin Scott Jarrett has his head so far up his own tush (i.e. being friends with Paris Hilton, Lindsey Lohan, starting NYLON RECORDS) that he can't see the light of day. I've noticed an increasingly superior air in his 'Letters from the Editor,' and frankly, with the disappearance of Beauty Editor Fiorella Valdesolo, I don't even WANT a free subscription anymore. Whew.

Hope Thompson said...

Oh wow I actually remember HAVING that first issue in like.. eighth or ninth grade? Ahh! I love Liv Tyler.

With that being said I've only read it randomly throughout the years, but everyone saying how crappy it is now has kept me from picking it up.

Suzy said...

my happy sunday just got happier!!

and the last time i glanced over in nylon's direction, cory kennedy was trying to show that mom jeans can totally be pulled off by tucking them into your heels' ankle straps. huge moment of clarity.

Hadley said...

Fact: you are amazing! I am hitting up the library today in search of this fantastic occurence! are they at the main library? hm. I'll have to search them out...

thank you thank you thank you!

Ringo, have a banana! said...

AFitz: haha, that is totally amazing! There's a fun thing with the Yeah Yeahs Yeahs in the most recent Bust too, I have to admit that so far I've only looked at the pictures/haven't read the article, but they're really great photos.

kate: I'll admit that I only have bad feelings/have only heard pretty negative things about Mr. Jarret. I mean, it's sort of reached the point where I feel like Nylon has become a sick parody of itself. Also, the shoot he did with the Selby made me want to barf:

http://www.theselby.com/7_23_08_marvin_jarrett/index.html

I feel like the photo of him, all bleached hair and distressed jeans, reclining in front of that row of his pretty, 20 something employees exemplifies what's wrong with the magazine? It all smacks a little too much of desperation for my taste :n (

Also, is anyone else who actually has a subscription (herein lies the catch, as much as I hate Nylon I do have a subscription, albeit a free one) not getting paper copies anymore, even after calling and asking for them after they started distributing them digitally? I'm torn between not giving enough of a fuck to call them again, and really enjoying getting mail/having something to read on the train...

Hadley: when I lived there, they were in the main library, the one by the Civic Center. Can't remember precisely where, but I'm sure you'll find 'em!

sweeetheartfever said...

can i get that haircut?

Sarah/Sherbet Tone said...

Nylon is just never worth the read most of the time now. I find myself flipping through it super quickly and then putting it back without so-much as a second chance at Barnes and Nobel. However, I have seen several of the old issues and they were just so very beautiful. Why on earth they made the changes they did is beyond me.

Isabel said...

The first issue of Nylon I ever read was a few years ago, and Be Your Own Pet was on the cover. I loved it and read it to shreds. Now i can't even look at Nylon without feeling guilty. Oh, and I checkedout that Selby shoot you posted and he looks like a total d-bag.

Eyeliah said...

I completely agree and have posted on this subject as well. Nylon has turned into a glorified advertisement catalogue. I still miss Jane Magazine and am so thankful for bloggers (like you) who fill my need for fashion these days!

Sylvia said...

I couldn't agree with you more! I had only gotten into Nylon a couple of years ago and am sad to see the decline in quality. I mean Lindsay Lohan on the cover? PARIS HILTON??! They have just become a more stylish version of magazines such as, dare I say it, Cosmo. Even though I am sad to see what the magazine has become now, I still buy it from time to time...that is when someone I like is on the cover or featured inside.

Jessica said...

thanks so much for the link!

in the recent issue where they had scans of past covers, the really early covers especially, i was lookin' at it thinking......surely when they were scanning all these they had to say to themselves 'man we've really gone downhill'. i pay the import price and every month i say i'm not going to do it anymore.

discotheque confusion said...

it's true, modern day nylon is le suck.

and this post is proof that FACT should be incorporated into everyones daily lives. except we'd all sound like car salesmen!

Ringo, have a banana! said...

Haha, it actually makes me think of Dignan in "Bottle Rocket":

Dignan: Fact: I learned more in the two months I spent with Mr. Henry and his crew than I learned in 15 years of academic study. Fact: I can guarantee you after Mr. Henry sees us pull this job, he's going to take a personal interest in our future. Fact: Mr. Henry drives a Jaguar...

Anthony: Fact: The picture's not doing it for me right now, Dignan.

Dignan: Well, does the fact that I'm trying to do it, do it for you?

mary said...

Its funny you mention this, Im glad you did. Because the other day i was flipping through a Nylon thinking "ugh, am i just getting too old for this magazine?". I mean, im only 24 and I don't even know half of the people they are featuring or what the hell they referencing. And you know, I consider myself someone who is with the times.

So I picked up a Bust magazine for the first time and felt better about myself haha

ELM said...

I totally feel the same way... I remember opening it and feeling like, "Oh my god, I can't believe I'm looking at this," now it's over run by rich brats (Lohan, those 90210 girls, Peaches Geldof) and the fashion just seems like a romp through Urban Outfitters... definitely not as cutting edge as they used to be.