Well that was quick. Back in September frockwriter mentioned that Australia’s longest-surviving indie fashion mag Oyster was having a few problems. An exodus of staff had seen the departure of no less than the magazine’s editor in chief, editor, art director, sales director and several other staff members. This was accompanied by the news that the magazine would be going on hiatus for December/January – prompting publisher Monika Nakata to instruct this blog that a Feb/March edition would definitely be going ahead. Well here is some evidence that that may indeed be the case: an early leaked shot of one of this blog’s faves, Cassi van den Dungen. In fact her first fashion editorial according to her Sydney agency Work. It's an excerpt from a 16-page (multigirl) editorial called 'Teddy Girls' by Liz Ham and Jolyon Mason, with makeup by Sasha Nilsson and hair by Sophie Roberts - the latter apparently a fan of Guido Paulo's Coke can hair for Alexander McQueen's FW0910 show. Who pulled the issue together? A fascinating little creative collective that includes the recently-shafted Harpers Bazaaar Australia editor Jamie Huckbody.
Here's the new masthead:
Editor - Monika Nakata
Creative director - Shane Sakkeus
Editor at large – Jamie Huckbody
Associate editor - Alyx Gorman
New York editor – Indigo Clarke
Sub Editor – Seema Duggal
The magazine has apparently been totally redesigned, including the Oyster logo.
Frockwriter wishes the new Oyster team all the best and we look forward to seeing the fruits of their endeavours, which will be out in the second week of February.
17 comments:
I love Oyster and would be sad to see the magazine fold... will definitely start buying it in hard copy more often - so should all of us!
Our first big advertorial was in Oyster. Love the mag and love this image - hot!
...and appears to also be supporting another stuggling company - that's a Ksubi Winter 2010 top Cassie's wearing
Love Oyster, not so much the cigarette in the photo though
Oyster coming back is in general a good thing for the Australia landscape of publishing but the title isn't and was never punctuating enough distinctive content. Sure, it uses great talented people, however the title has always been another avenue or opportunity to showcase designers and fashion related content but as an issue by issue preference. It's not a covetable magazine. Shane who is now creative director of Oyster is a good direction but isn't as good as Jeffrey Docherty who has worked on V Magazine and I.D.
To me the hair's not quite right. And I did that naive Tattoo print idea five years ago.
If it's broken, why bother fixing it. Can't these people try doing something new instead of trying to resurrect the dead.
Props to everyone for getting through this without talking about Cassie being a bogan, etc.
Yvette said...
I've been reading Oyster for over 10 years now, I even remember buying the first issue with the B&W freckled girl, and it's funny to see how soooo many people in the Australian fashion industry have passed through this little magazine. Charlotte Scott (who started up Russh), Malcom Watt (who started up Doingbird), Kelvin Harries, Mark Vassalo etc. And a lot of these people have been burnt badly by Oyster as well (my close friend is one of them). Infact I don't think I've ever heard of anyone leaving on good terms. It's a good mag and looks beautiful but the Oyster publishers Monika and Jonathon have a reputation for driving their staff away once they start feeling threatened by them. I'll be surprised if this new masthead lasts more than a year considering the stories I've heard about the publishers. Good luck to them though, but I think a mere redesign isn't going to save Oyster. They're probably better off selling the publication to someone who knows how to manage a magazine and keep their staff.
Personally I think Cassi is stunning. By far one of Australia's ones to watch. Good on Liz and Jolyon and the rest of the team. As Far as Darian Zams comment "To me the hair's not quite right. And I did that naive Tattoo print idea five years ago" The hair is nothing but GENIUS! There is always something right about wrong. And I'm sorry but how can you make claim to a tattoo print when naive tattoo's have been around since the beginning of time...
Dyslexia and stupidity have also been around since the beginning of time, but it's not often they go hand in hand.
It's interesting to see how magazines gather such differences of opinion from people but in Oyster's case you have to wonder what's worth salvaging when its entire staff leaves en masse. No doubt there must have been a lot of unhappiness involved.
Hopefully a new direction for Oyster will involve less blatant: lets run this bad shoot because the girls is topless, near naked and oh so edgy (as she has a cigarette in her hand/mouth)...
What on earth do you two mean by 'naive tattoos'? I would guess 'native' but even that word doesn't really describe the ones shown in the photo at all.
Good photo of Cassie, I didn't think she had it in her. But get that cig out of the picture!
it doesn't look like its meant to be a modern shoot.. which maybe explains the cigarette? isn't teddy girls a a movement from the 40s or 50s? cassi looks incredible!
I really wish Oyster luck, we need great independent mags in Australia. Why don't they have a Fashion Editor and team though? Don't all magazines have a fashion team?? What I noticed mostly last year was the fashion shoots were really jumbled and odd. Some were really good but alot were just bizarre and out of place. They were never quite right and didn't flow within the mag. They should have a fashion team on board to monitor it rather than publish shoots that are just cool for the sake of being cool, or like 'Anonymous' said, because a girl's topless or it looks a bit edgy. Either way I hope people buy Oyster more and support it. It would be great to see Oyster do really well here in Australia and around the world. They should get a London or Paris editor too to help it be more international.
oooooooo love Cassi! cant wait to see the editorial now... im gonna buy Oyster because shes in it!
Obviously because they're not wiling to pay for it. Like any magazine a lot of people do the work for free for their portfolio. Regardless if you're calling on favours and freebies you have to at least treat your contributors well - it works both ways. From above it doesn't sound as though the management team do. So there's your answer.
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Why don't they have a Fashion Editor and team though?
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