“Time is one of the last remaining real luxuries” Marie-Amélie Sauvé told me in her fantastically chic and romantic French accent last night, as she signed copies of her first issue of Mastermind Magazine. It’s true. In a world where everything is available at the touch of a button; food, dates, information - waiting for some things is not a luxury many people have. With her new bi-annual publication, Sauvé hopes to change that and given her incredibly pedigreed history within the world of fashion, it looks like she will succeed. Having already been the fashion editor at T Mag and a long time friend of Louis Vuitton’s own Nicholas Gesquire, Sauvé knows a thing or two when it comes to creating beautiful images and stories. Yesterday represents Sauvé’s first foray into creatively directing her own publication rather than working under the wings of someone else. With a book signing in the west villages Bookmarc and a private dinner at the Gramercy Park Hotel, she managed to make quite the splash in a week already inundated with launch events, parties, and shows.
Marie-Amélie Sauvé & Grace Coddington
I managed to snag a bit of Marie’s time before the launch to talk about what inspired her work and what she hopes people will get from reading Mastermind. With Mastermind, she told me, she was able to expand her creative horizons and focus on areas outside of just fashion. “For me, the biggest difference between being a fashion editor and running my own magazine was that it changed my focus from fashion to all my other interests such as politics, literature, architecture and many others. I was able to explore all of those interests more in depth that I had been previously.”
Of course fashion magazines are a dime a dozen, but to call Mastermind singularly a ‘fashion’ magazine or a ‘lifestyle’ magazine would be incorrect, it’s so much more than that. Even from the format of the book (and I call it a book because it looks more like a beautiful hard cover coffee table book than a magazine) is unlike some of the high end fashion magazines such as Purple or CR Book. Of course, Marie doesn’t see it as either of these explaining to me that given its diverse topics its more like a book with many chapters. Chapters that will cover politics, design, fashion, travel, culture and really any other topic she envisions. She’ll use her ability to curate beautiful imagery to really tell a story to her reader and transport them to another place all together. “Because the magazine will only be twice a year, it will allow me to go much deeper on every subject, much deeper than say a monthly or weekly magazine would be able to do” she adds.
The conversation inevitably shifted to the question of why. While I understand the idea of wanting to create beautiful coffee table books, the idea that printing a magazine in a time where almost everything is digital seemed a little counter intuitive, but not to Marie. “The idea was to create something collectable. I wanted to do something with beautiful pictures so I’ve been able to work with some of the most amazing photographers while also wanting to read it, which I admit is somewhat ambitious. I think that while people are reading magazines they don’t necessarily keep them or collect them. Because of that this is more of a stream of consciousness and train of thought than anything else. No rules.” This mentality runs through the entire book from cover to cover and becomes clearer with each image and story that Marie has put together for her reader with the goal being to get people to read it and not just look at it. “I was trying to get beautiful pictures in the hopes that people will read the article and learn something new from that. I hope they will ask questions for themselves and deepen their interests and make them think about other topics.”
Lastly, the conversation turned to politics, a topic that is becoming harder and harder to avoid given the current geo-political climate. I asked her the question I’ve been asking most of my friends that work in fashion and that was simply this “what role should fashion play in politics?” I believe with all the self-expression that we’re seeing both from designers and editors alike, its an interesting dynamic to see evolve in a very short amount of time. “I don’t think designers should necessarily talk about politics. However, for readers it isn't enough to just talk about fashion. Instagram is changing this and the way people consume information and making readers much more demanding than before. With the internet you have to be much more informed and cover a variety of topics.”
I admit, given the hectic nature of this week I haven’t yet had the opportunity to dive into Maries inaugural issue, but I hope that in a few days I’ll have the luxury of sitting in a very cozy blanket with a glass of wine and let myself be transported to far away lands thanks to her and her amazing ability to convey beauty and luxury.