i-D

British magazine founded in 1980 by Terry Jones, the graphic and artistic director of the British edition of Vogue. It was initially launched with a low circulation as a quarterly, but in 1983 it became a bi-monthly, a point of reference for style rather than for traditional fashion. Its purpose was to document street fashion, new ideas, and looks, mixing content written in an unconventional tone and emphasizing the visuals as well as text. It registered and documented the most stimulating expressions of the pop culture during those years through emerging talents, from designers to photographers, film directors, journalists, and advertising agents. It made its name due to the selection of its creative photographers and its editorials about society and avant-garde fashion. More than a fashion magazine, it has become the expression of a generation and the symbol of an age. Thanks to an irreverent approach in illustrations (one of the most famous photographs was of Roy George dressed as a nun) and a clear and neat typographical image, the magazine was also an artistic expression. Every issue is dedicated to a specific theme. As well as clothing, it also features music, places, and trendy clubs. Notwithstanding its success, it fell into financial difficulties and in 1984 it had to ask for the support of a co-editor, Tony Elliot of Timeout. In 1987 it took on the look of a hardcover magazine and was published at the same time as the first edition of the i-D Bible, with an extent of 164 pages, once a year, dedicated to night clubs, music, fashion, and hairstyle. For its 20th anniversary, Terry Jones published a book that provided a photographic path of the magazine’s history, presenting a page from every issue until December 2000. It was like a visual novel, which illustrated the last twenty years of the 20th century, in a kaleidoscope of colored pictures, changes, and trends. In 2003 Fashion Now was published and edited by Terry Jones and Avril Mair for Taschen editions. It contains a selection from the i-D magazine, which presents the work of the 150 most important names of fashion to the young emerging talents. Biographies and direct and exclusive interviews made it a fundamental document for contemporary fashion design.