Do you remember its shocking cover photos of dying AIDS patients, or severe poverty? Colors, the magazine published by the Italian clothing company Benetton, established a reputation for itself and the clothing brand with startling layouts and provocative photos that cut to the issues of the day. Now, the magazine has been revamped. The layouts are still startling, except the subject matter is quite different. Check out Cathy Horyn’s article in the New York Times. “This time the subject is fan worship, with surprisingly little resonance to the political turmoil of the world,” writes Horyn.
The new editorial director of Colors is Kurt Andersen, “best known as a founder of the trouble-making Spy magazine,” writes Horyn. “It seemed important to have a subject that wasn’t too off-putting at first glance, said Andersen in the NY Times.
An excerpt from Horyn’s article: “In some ways it is the same old Colors. It still insists that fashion is beside the point and it is still run at a loss by the Benetton family, one of Italy’s wealthiest, whose holdings include not just their apparel stores but also Argentine real estate, the Autogrille chain of restaurants in Europe and the revenue it collects from running Italy’s privatized highway system. What has changed since Colors was introduced 13 years ago is the world itself.
“The new issue takes up fandom and all its permutations — and for the first time the magazine actually contains reported articles. But there is no imperative; it is unclear why you should care now about sports fanaticism or the celebrity worship.”
