Purple – Issue 44: The Analog Issue

Purple Fashion Magazine – 30 years of independent publishing - bridging the gap between art and fashion since 1992

“In an era where algorithms dictate taste and desire, where screens mediate experience, and where digitalization consumes the essence of art, magazines seem more relevant than ever — certainly more important than when I started Purple in 1992. I’m not the only one witnessing the rapid dissolution of reality: a world where artificial intelligence supplants creativity, where an endless stream of data replaces cultural depth, and where the tangibility of art vanishes into an immaterial void of simulation.

This Analog Issue of Purple is not about nostalgia. It’s about dissidence and optimism.
It’s a magazine manifesto against the digital homogenization of culture, against the illusion that art can be reduced to data, and against the slow erosion of physical experience in every aspect of life — from fashion to sexuality to politics.

The younger creatives — entirely immersed in the digital world since they were born —instinctively feel the need to return to analog. They’re creating new magazines, shooting on film, collecting vinyl, and multiplying live performances, intimate concerts, and community gatherings. They sense that a magazine like Purple, among many independent titles, offers a better interface for translating artistic experiences and shifts in fashion. They echo the tactile nature of creative expression — whether music, painting, architecture, dance, or food — through paper and ink, offering a tangible connection to the mind. Magazines also serve as lasting archives of the moment. Unlike digital media, which creates collective amnesia, print preserves the spirit of each era.

As Marshall McLuhan told us a long time ago, the medium is the message. By resisting digital fragmentation, we affirm that the printed magazine is not only a container of ideas and creativity, but a radical idea in itself”

— OLIVIER ZAHM

COVER
1. Carine Roitfeld by Olivier Zahm  
2. Comme des Garçons by Johan Sandberg
3. Valentino by Guen Fiore
4. Kim Gordon in Gucci by Cameron McCool
5. Fendi by Dario Catellani
6. Taller Marmo by Olivier Zahm
7. Zegna by Olivier Zahm
8. Thomas Ruff
9. Nadia Lee Cohen in Paris Texas
10. Loro Piana by Suffo Moncloa
11. Dior Cruise 2026 by Luna Conte
12. Eliza Douglas in Balenciaga by Juergen Teller
13. Zoe Gustavia Anna Whalen by Angalis Field
14. Duran Lantink by Mark Borthwick
15. Irving Penn
16. Katerina Jebb

PLEASE NOTE:
Magazine cover varies and particular cover cannot not be specified for order, but you can state your cover preference in the order notes at checkout and, if available, we will send that one.

Language: English