Paradis Magazine

[respira]

Has anyone heard of Paradis magazine? It is a sexy french mens magazine. curious.
It is not sold in the U.S. Anyone have some scans?

 

[prosperk]

There is an English language edition and I saw it on sale in New York. Drop me a line and I will pass it onto the publishers for you. They should be able to tell you how to get it in the US.

Prosper Keating

 

[Pedro]

It's a new French biannual magazine done by the 2 guys from NUMÉRO, Lenthal and Wingfield, addressed to the contemporary man, featuring female erotic stuff by Solve Sundsbo and Nathaniel Goldberg, reminding me of a recycled French LUI magazine, in my opinion the first issue was so weak!

 

[prosperk]

I'd be interested in why you thought the first issue was weak. It's been selling very well, by all accounts. It was supposed to evoke Lui so you certainly got that reference right. It also recalls the Playboy magazine of the 1960s and 1970s, in which soft p*rn was mixed with interesting features. Paradis is not not actually a fashion magazine although there is some fashion content. It's not really addressed to the "contemporary man", whoever he might be. It's addressed to anyone, male or female, straight or gay, young or old, who picks the mag up and finds something to read or look at in it. It is, essentially, a reaction against current men's magazines, which either appeal to the sophomoric thirtysomething who cannot let his youth go - like FHM etc - or are aimed almost exclusively at very gay men, like men's fashion and style titles in general these days. It is a French magazine but of a very international nature and it is printed in English as well as French.

Prosper Keating

 

[Pedro]

I'd be interested in why you thought the first issue was weak.
Prosper Keating

I think the market has already too much offers regarding fashion/style/art, and whenever a new magazine comes out, it should be something new/unseen, fresh and stimulating enough to make me buy it. In this case, I agree that PARADIS’s staff is good, with good photographers as the ones I referred above, but although is missing the surprise factor, and maybe has to do with the choices editors made … how many times have we seen before cover subject E. Seigner nudes? a million times! (even pretender photographer Bryan Adams did her!). Then, 24 pages about Chinese Olympian Stade, who cares about it? Not to mention Sante D’Orazio terrible photography… What I really liked? Stefano Pilati story and ‘Cartes Postales de Paris’.

 

[prosperk]

Interesting feedback. Of course, you're coming at it with an art director's eye. I'm not suggesting that this in any way invalidates your critique but your view of the magazine seems concerned purely with visuals. You don't appear to have read any of the content. You also have to bear in mind that the magazine is reaching out to people who may not have seen Emmanuelle Seigner in the buff and who probably don't know who Santo d'Orazio is. Did you read any of the articles? I'd be interested in your incisive, no-nonsense evaluation of that aspect of the content.

PK

 

[prosperk]

I should add that you appear to have missed the point with the Emmanuelle Seigner shoot, that it was intended to evoke 1970s Playboy as well as making a discreet anti-ageist statement. On the one hand, it sets out to remind men - and women - that you don't have to look like a surgically enhanced p*rn star to be sexy and that life is not over at twenty-five. It also takes us away from the rather creepy, misogynistic 'feminine ideal' pushed on us by some of the fashion designers, photographers and art directors lurking on the dark side of Planet Fashion.

PK

 

[BerlinRocks]

i didn't know this magazine - where may I find it??!!
is this a cover i saw very dark and pink writtings??!! a guy on the cover.
tons of photos? if this is this mag i have to look at it more...

 

[prosperk]

I'll scan the cover and post it later but here's quite a good article about it, published before the mag came out: http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20060703/ai_n16513374

 

[Pedro]

PARADIS #1 cover by Solve Sundsbo
(scan by me)

 

[tigerrouge]

I don't agree with the idea of telling consumers of a magazine about what they should be seeing in it; about what points they missed. If a magazine fails to communicate to the reader, it doesn't follow that it's the reader's fault.

Though I even hesitate to say this much, as Prosper Keating is quite the evangelist for the magazine - I don't know, somehow I get the impression this is a professional interest, rather than simple reading matter, and that more is at stake when proving a point.

 

[prosperk]

I don't agree with the idea of telling consumers of a magazine about what they should be seeing in it; about what points they missed. If a magazine fails to communicate to the reader, it doesn't follow that it's the reader's fault.

Publishing houses spend fortunes telling readers what they should be seeing in magazines. I never suggested that Pedro was "at fault" for missing points that many other readers grasped. Readers see what they want to see - or don't want to see - in magazines. I merely took issue with him over his viewpoint.

Though I even hesitate to say this much, as Prosper Keating is quite the evangelist for the magazine - I don't know, somehow I get the impression this is a professional interest, rather than simple reading matter, and that more is at stake when proving a point.

Obviously you have read the magazine and know that I have written for it! Of course I support it! It was about time someone brought out a magazine that offered something to readers looking for something somewhere between schoolboy hetero and ghetto gay.

You seem to be suggesting that, consequently, as a contributing editor, I do not have the right to debate the content with people or that I am in some way ethically prevented from challenging the sort of critical statements made here? If we were at a dinner party or in the pub and someone made critical remarks, and I responded, would you tell me to shut up because I worked for the magazine?

Rather than launching into an ad hominem attack, why not focus on the magazine, which is after all the topic of this thread? Or do you work for another publishing house? B)

PK

 

[tigerrouge]

Having merely flicked through the magazine, rather than digesting its entire contents, I had no idea what exact connection you had to the magazine, until you made it clear in this thread. I welcome the idea that someone involved with a magazine makes the effort to talk with their potential readership - and welcome it done in honesty. After all, if I'm going to have a conversation on a more serious level, it's good to know a little something about who I'm talking to!

I have made no comments about you having a right to debate - I read your every post with interest, and am sorry if you misunderstood.

 

[prosperk]

No sweat! I didn't declare my involvement initially because I didn't want to come across as giving it the big "I am". There are too many bigheaded magazine writers out there as it is. I am always interested in what readers think. After all, you pay our rents, so to speak.

I hope I didn't seem too aggressive. The one great disadvantage of internet communication is the ease with which statements can seem hostile or confrontational. Pedro's remarks were of genuine interest to me because they were similar to those of a couple of PR people I know in the fashion business. That's why I put alternative interpretations of, for instance, the Emmanuelle Seigner shoot up for debate. On a personal level, I'd be interested in seeing what members think of T'n'A when well-presented. Is is as offensive to female readers as common p*rn or is it tolerable? Do women like to see 'real women' portrayed as they are, without the kind of Photoshopping nonsense we have been seeing in the case of more than a few mainstream fashion and lifestyle glossies?

I hope this thread will develop into a discussion of various topics on that sort of level. "Hems are short" and "Brown is the new black" threads are fine if one is into superficiality but how about getting our teeth into some real debate about glossies?

I'm also a Dubliner, by the way.

PK

 

[prosperk]

Shamelessly bumped. Anyone biting? Hallo...hallo? OK, I know many of you are into women's mags, hemlines and all that - nothing wrong with it, I hasten to assure you - but someone gives it the "fukc you", someone from the mag responds, and the thread sinks below the surface, following the Titanic. Here we are, coming back against a slagging, and suddenly there's silence? Oh, come on! 90% of fashion mags are airheaded. Discuss...

PK

 

[tigerrouge]

My job at the moment keeps me in the office from morning to evening, so I haven't had the chance yet to reach the shops and buy the one issue that's left on the top shelf of the newsagents in Royal Avenue in Belfast.

Mind you, if it's gone by the time I get there, that will be good news, because it means the stock of issues has sold out... it just won't make for lively debate, as I'll have no subject matter to draw on.

 

[BerlinRocks]

Shamelessly bumped. Anyone biting? Hallo...hallo? OK, I know many of you are into women's mags, hemlines and all that - nothing wrong with it, I hasten to assure you - but someone gives it the "fukc you", someone from the mag responds, and the thread sinks below the surface, following the Titanic. Here we are, coming back against a slagging, and suddenly there's silence? Oh, come on! 90% of fashion mags are airheaded. Discuss...

PK

the magazine looks very intresting and cute. it looks big, full of photos or so. pretty good. i like the 70s feeling. it's very male (women can read it, sure. but the cover looks very masculine. so i'm happy it doesn't look like a queer stuff.) some women naked (l'officiel hommes did it once or twice. hopefully you don't have only one editor!) - I'm gay so i would prefer naked men (sthg like mmm or homo-punk)
but honestly 10€ is pretty expensive! (even french art magazines like Connaissances de Arts are not that expensive) it doesn't matter how often you get out of your closet, 10€ twice a year is much! (are you being a Purple for men?)

but it would be interesting to see what's inside. what are you writing about?
i didn't see it (maybe at the Palais de Tokyo) so what's inside?!

tell us more. i don't care if you don't talk about fashion. but what are the reviews etc?

(sorry for my bad wrting & understanding english)

 

[prosperk]

Thanks for the comments. Before I respond to them, I'm going to post some rough scans of the contents pages so that you can see what your ten euros gets you.

PK

 

[BerlinRocks]

it looks very interesting. very promising. very chic and kind of "elite & hype parisenne". very professional. itw of Jeff Koons by HANS ULRICH OBRIST(!!!) 12p. talking about art market with Oliver Barker.
house&garden is here, too. visiting stefano pilati house. on 20p. (??) !!!
very masculine with this swiss watch portfolio.

i think the "fashion" is not really there. who are the fashion editors? not enough pages. it's just max. 12 editorials' pages.
but why Sante d'orazio?? did you ask men if he was a "masculine" photographer?

thanx prosperk. I'm really excited by "property of a gentleman". what's "derrière le rideau"???

 

[prosperk]

Thanks for the comments. But it's not really a fashion magazine. There are too many fashion magazines out there as it is! It's more of a men's lifestyle magazine. The kind of men - or people - who would go for a magazine like Paradis don't really need help with how to dress themselves. Filling Paradis with fashion editorial is like having pages of shopping listings in women's fashion mags: pointless! Most women know where the shops are. Does a photographer have to be "masculine" to shoot for a men's magazine? I thought we heteros were supposed be getting in touch with our feminine sides...

PK