A Magazine Curated By extends an annual invitation a leading fashion designer, fashion group or house to guest edit or develop and showcase exclusive content for the magazine in a way that expresses their cultural and aesthetic values.
Each issue celebrates this designer’s ethos: their people, their passion, their stories, emotions, fascinations, spontaneity and authenticity. The first A Magazine (under a different, slightly unusual numbering scheme) was N°A in 2001 featuring Dirk Van Saene, initiated by Walter Van Beirendonck and art directed by Paul Boudens for the Landed Geland fashion festival in Antwerp. It was followed by N°B, N°C, N°D and N°E Magazines before A Magazine Curated By Maison Martin Margiela was released in 2004, and has followed in this format ever since. Originally conceived as Belgium’s first fashion magazine, A Magazine Curated By quickly gained international acclaim for its intimate perspective into the minds of the world’s inspiring fashion designers working today.
About Issue #29 of A Magazine Curated By from the publishers:
A Magazine Curated By is pleased to announce that our 29th issue has been curated by CECILIE BAHNSEN. Over the past decade, Cecilie Bahnsen has redefined modern femininity through her Copenhagen-based label, bringing a sense of poetic sophistication to everyday life; Bahnsen has used the idea forever/everyday, to describe her work, which is grounded in timelessness, designed to be worn, cherished, and passed down — a sentiment that extends into her approach to this issue.
At its heart, this publication is a celebration of women: their voices, perspectives, and relationships. A deeply moving conversation between Carla Sozzani and Sara Maino discuss the need to nurture creativity and the evolving connection between mother and daughter, while Cecilie herself appears alongside her young son in a series of images capturing his excitement on his first trip through Tokyo, photographed by Fumiko Imano. A story Brodie Sessions explores how music brings together family and community, first through a conversation with the mother and daughter team behind the concert space and music platform, and then one with musicians in the city’s scene, Ydegirl, CTM and Clarissa Connelly. Legendary model Freja Beha Erichsen, also, turns the camera on herself and her surroundings, offering a rare, introspective view of her world behind the lens.
Two striking photo essays serve as visual meditations on Cecilie’s core themes: light is explored at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, while the passage of time is interpreted through flowers and the shifting landscape in summer of the restaurant Noma’s garden. Pia Riverola travels high into the Himalayas to capture ‘everyday couture’ looks bespoke created in the Cecilie Bahsen studios for this issue, deconstructing and reimagining pieces from The North Face archives. The vastness of the wild landscape contrasts the cinematic portrayal of urban life by iconic photographer Takashi Homma.
The issue also includes a thoughtful dialogue between Cecilie and curator Katy Hessel, reflecting on the innate power of feminine creativity and its curation. Along similar lines, gallerist Jacqueline Sullivan selects a personal collection of objects captured as still lifes by Brian Kanagaki.
Throughout the issue, what emerges is a language of shared experience through moments between parents, children, sisters, lovers and friends. A Magazine Curated By N°29 unfolds as a meditation on the beauty of the everyday, the unseen threads between generations and the formative experiences of youth and childhood that continue to shape creativity today.
