here & now

‘The more commercial 032c becomes, the more radical its content gets,’ Berlin-based fashion and culture biannual 032c recently observed. And indeed, while the cover of their excellent new issue might be sporting a model in high heels and crystals only, it also headlines with a 40-page dossier on William T. Vollmann – not exactly easy listening. And thus, coming in the disguise of a fashion glossy, 032c actually proposes an eccentric and heady mixture of style, art, design, theory, erotica and politics – in the meantime straddling the difficult gap between mainstream and avant-garde with impressive elegance. It’s been a joy to observe them grow from their first issue in newspaper format in 2000 into a fully grown powerhouse of ideas and editorial courage, and certainly the only title coming out of Berlin with an international ring to its name. Always two steps ahead, always in style.