Londonist spent our Friday afternoon hanging out in the West End wasting away in the streets of nothing but trainer shops only to come up empty handed except for the second issue of Good For Nothing Magazine. How could we resist the cover design of rats crawling over a noticeably horrified women biting at her head and arms? In addition, the lime green border and bright pink background said everything but "don’t look at me." We needed reading material for the bus anyway.
Here’s the story behind Good For Nothing according to their press release:
Neil Boorman, together with Stuart Turnbull (X-Ray) and brand consultant Richard Martin is to publish a monthly lifestyle magazine for fashionable young London, with issue one hitting the streets on Jan 10th. Distributed free to a definitive list of London's trendsetting shops, bars, clubs and galleries, Good For Nothing will fill a yawning gap in the market for the 500,000 18-35 year olds employed in the capitol's creative industries. A razor sharp barometer of London's youth culture, the magazine will document trends, assert comment and detail the rough and the smooth of life in the capital, alongside London-centric fashion and music reportage.
Hmm, so let’s get this straight – hip twenty/thirty-somethings get together, decide that they will create a magazine that appeals to 18-35 year olds in London, add one part humour/sarcasm, one part fashion commentary provided by contributing writer for such big names mags as Nylon, and throw in a few music gigs, columns and (admittedly witty) features ? Also, did we forget to mention that it is only distributed at notably “hip” stores throughout London?
This sounds slightly elitist to us, but why not? Elitism does win these days right?
Now for the content: overall we enjoyed it – the downfall of the magazine was an editorial written by Lauren Laverne. She whines to the reader about how her Marc Jacobs peacoat was mistaken for one a cab driver bought his girlfriend at Next. Who cares? In addition, give the man a break, he was trying to make conversation and be pleasant to you. Highlights: feature on Norwegian pop princess Annie, bus stop (a feature where the writers ponder the thoughts of the subject of a photograph taken at a bus stop), and the layout – eye-catching and graphic fabulous!
Londonist’s opinion: good, but we wouldn’t pay for a subscription just yet.
