A while back we discovered that Things Magazine had included us in its critique on luxury lifestyle publications, saying that they had the effect of "flattening the entire lifestyle into little more than a low-rent studio photoshoot". While Things Magazine sure had a point with regard to most of the poorly-written, press release-pasted trash out there, we certainly aren't one of them and thought that our inclusion in their list was unjust. As Gunpowder readers know, Gunpowder is all about the finer things in life, but, unlike its competitors, written in a completely self-conscious, tongue-in-cheek, irreverent style. We know that our readers can't afford every gorgeous shiny thing we feature, but it's nice to dream, isn't it? And everyone deserves aspirations. Naturally, we wanted to defend ourselves from Things Magazine's critique and did so by writing a letter and positing it right here, on the homepage of this gorgeous site we call Gunpowder. We then sent an email to the publication and asked its editors to read our response. Thankfully, they did and recently posted the following on their magazine's homepage:

"We've been taken to task by Gunpowder Magazine for our dismissal of the luxury magazine industry, accused of not understanding aspirational living. The point here is not that we don't understand aspiration - far from it - but that it seems that the majority of luxury magazines speak directly to the converted, concerned not with broadening horizons but with reinforcing the existing status quo. They're not aspirational in the traditional sense, because their readers don't need to aspire to anything. We didn't mean to be bitchy, but the contemporary luxury magazine has a finely targeted readership - check out a few rate cards. Unlike newsstand-based consumer magazines, the luxury magazine is rarely bought but stumbled over at the country club, private jet terminal or boutique hotel, a freebie for the largely undeserving. Our lament is therefore that given the presumably limitless funds, broad horizons and charged ambitions of the intended readership, why is the content and aesthetic on offer so relentlessly predictable?

Every credit to Gunpowder for being the only publication to take issue with what we wrote and respond, indicating that they're not simply cutting and pasting from the LVMH press wire. Still, we believe the sector is a missed opportunity. It is sad and ironic that 'luxury publishing' has become an aspirational market sector, the most prestigious genre to be part of. It's certainly understandable, but in a less commodified era, before brands became the cross-cultural titans they are today, art and culture was where it was at for innovative publishing. Consider a magazine like Verve, published from 1937 to 1960. Contributors included Matissa, Braque, Bonnard and Rouault, Joyce, Hemingway and Jean-Paul Sartre.

Original copies of Verve are now highly sought after, for good reason, and the name has been adopted by an Indian magazine. It's unlikely that such a publication would be allowed to exist today. Verve's relentless, uncompromising emphasis on contemporary arts and their aesthetics was not an easy approach to take, certainly from a practical and economic standpoint. From the NYT: 'The cover of the issue dated ''Summer 1940'' was once again by Henri Matisse, and once again Matisse made color and form dance for him as they danced for no one else. (Twenty-six print runs were needed to get the colors right, by the way.)' Verve was luxury publishing before the term existed, yet it directed its readership towards new experiences, new art and art direction, abstraction and literature, not gilded objects and sybaritic stopovers. Given the amount of money that lubricates the luxury industry, is it too much to hope for a contemporary successor that breaks free of the self-imposed strictures of the genre?"

So there you have it, readers - a clash between magazines talked out in a mature, intelligent manner. While Things Magazine has every right to stand by its original article, at least now it recognises that we are not like the others it included in its list. We, for one, are proud of the quality content we produce and will fiercely defend it.
www.thingsmagazine.net / Images: Gunpowder