First things first: this post is really, really late. It was meant to be a celebration of Desktop’s 25th anniversary issue but between launching our new web store and preparing for Christmas (I know, it’s September… sickening, isn’t it?) we sorta kinda missed that issue and the next edition hit our shelves… today actually.

A quarter century in the publishing world is no mean feat and we’d like to offer a big congratulations to the team over at Niche Media.

But that being said… we’ve gotta admit, Desktop is not a mag that’s been one our big faves until, well, pretty recently actually. Before its re-launch earlier this year, Desktop really felt like a bit of a tired and shabby sight on our design shelves, rubbing shoulders with a gang of slick up-and-comers. In short, it struck us that it was a magazine struggling to make sense of just how it fit into the Internet age.

Indeed, many titles haven’t been able to make this transition at all! But since its re-launch in March under incoming editor Brendan McKnight, Desktop has metamorphasized from a title that seems threatened by the Internet… to one that complements it. And does so beautifully! Printed on a luscious paper stock (and believe me, if you like smelling magazines—and yes, I’m aware that this may just be me—you wanna get a serious whiff of this baby) and packed with incredible illustrations,  jawdropping photographic spreads and longform behind-the-scenes features… this is a magazine that makes a wonderful case for the future of printed media.

Looking ahead into the next 25 years, we’re really glad to have Brendan here tell us about his favourite mags. Viva Desktop!

1. It’s Nice That

I think It’s Nice That was one of the first magazines I purchased from mag nation when I returned to Melbourne after being abroad for four years. The name says it all really. Starting as a website and turning into tri-annual publication documenting the best bits (and more), It’s Nice That has some terrific content from all across this globe. The complimenting colours of each cover work quite nicely together on the bookshelf too.

2. Condiment

I’m a bit of a foodie, and Condiment is the perfect balance between food, culture, creativity and community. Proudly made in Melbourne, the publication makes us question the complexities and value of food. To quote the editors – “after all, it is we who are dependent on food, and not food that is dependent on us.”

3. Dumbo Feather

Another Melbourne-based mag, Dumbo Feather is where I go to be told a story about something and someone I didn’t know existed. A mix of visual storytelling with the written word, the recent redesign by Chase & Galley makes it even more of a pleasure to read.

4. Elephant

Magma books was one of my favourite stores when I lived in London, and so it was hugely exciting for a magazine to come out by the store’s owner, Marc Valli. Published by Frame, Elephant perfectly captures the richness and complexity of contemporary visual culture.

5. Heat

Yea, a bit of a curveball. A girl at a design studio I worked at in London used to get this every week, and so I’ll admit that I was partial to a weekly lunch-break read. Funnily enough, I actually had my photo once in Heat, in a voxpop spread where they asked 50 guys on the street about what underwear they prefer their girlfriends to wear. I like boys, so it was a bit of a laugh. I sent my mum a copy.

Would you believe that Oyster magazine first came out in 1994?

To put this into perspective… Netscape 1.0, the first “World Wide Web” browser (y’know, on the “Information Superhighway”, in “Cyberspace”?) not necessitating a computer science degree came out in that same year, apartheid ended in South Africa, the Notorious B.I.G. released his presciently titled debut Ready to Die… and your humble scribe was in Grade 6 at Benalla East Primary School. In short, that’s an incredible achievement in the notoriously fickle world of fashion publishing.

We see a lot of publications come and go, but it’s astonishingly rare to see one that’s stuck around for 17 years and stayed so vital along the way. Since re-launching last year with a cover proclaiming PRINT IS DEAD! Oyster has cemented its position as one of our absolute favourite fashion titles… and proved that this little gem is very much alive and kicking.

We’re thrilled to have Alice Cavanagh, Imogene Barron, Shane Sakkeus and Anne Ryan here to tell us a little bit about the mags that inspire them…

1. Industrie – Alice Cavanagh, Editorial Director

The first magazine I have read from cover to cover in a long time; no skimming either! In-depth features offer great insight into the industry, and celebrate the individuals who are normally behind the scenes. Turns out some of them are more interesting than fashion’s biggest stars!

2. Purple Fashion – Imogene Barron, Fashion Director

Love the ever-amazing embossed covers and the French-sexiness of the shoots.

3. Vanity Fair – Shane Sakkeus, Creative Director

Compulsory reading on any flight – it always makes Tiger Air Economy feel a touch more BA Business.

And Graydon Carter consistently has the World’s Best Hair to accompany his Editor’s Letter. Christopher Hitchens’ article “Why Women Aren’t Funny” is an all-time favourite of mine: mainly because the outrage it sparked proved his hypothesis better than he did.

4. Apartamento – Anne Ryan, Communications Director

As humans, we have have an innate desire to know how other people live. Much of Apartamento’s appeal lies here, but also in the way it is executed: because it seems so much more truthful than most of the images we are used to seeing in magazines. Very clever and very nice.

5. i-D – Imogene Barron, Fashion Director

I-D has an ability to remain iconic, timeless and effortless.

They are experts at finding new ways to approach ideas and execute content. i-D exists at the centre of an amazing community of creatives, working with the best of the best contributors without excluding emerging talent, and has been doing so for 30 years! Plus, those cheeky one-eye covers never grow tired!

Back in the early ’00s, I worked in a market research call centre. Poised there between hours of 4pm and 8pm (all the better to interrupt your dinner! Ha Ha Ha!), dialing telephone numbers off an ancient green-on-black computer terminal I’d ask questions down the line like, “Would you agree with the statement that brand X is an ‘arrogant’ margarine?” “And would you agree STRONGLY, VERY STRONGLY or EXTREMELY STRONGLY?”

Needless to say, I didn’t last very long. Being a poverty stricken student seemed preferable to the drudgery of randomly dialing the public at large. At worst you’d get someone who wanted to scream at you and, at best, old men who’d say “Oh, yes, I’ll be right back…” and you’d then hear them pottering around the house for the next fifteen minutes thinking they were getting the ultimate revenge on you and your band of telephonic dinner interrupters.

But, I digress…

One of my abiding memories of this time, more than anything else, is of siting in my little cubicle, wearing my headset microphone and reading a little publication called OUT4FAME. A free bi-monthly zine dedicated to Aussie hip-hop culture… which was, well, honestly a lot better than it sounds now.

Fast forward about a decade and that little zine has blossomed into Acclaim magazine, five years old, 22 issues deep and widely distributed across the globe. The currently issue on our shelves features a cover shot by Japanese photographer Yasumasa Yonehara (he’s the guy that all those American Apparel ads rip-off), articles on sneakers, the emergence of custom motorcycle culture, hip-hop art weirdo Rammellzee (R.I.P!) and all kinds of other great stuff.

In the wake of the release of their fifth birthday issue, editor Alex Weiland dropped by to tell us a bit about her favourite mags…

1. Mass Appeal (R.I.P.)

Whilst sadly no longer around, Mass Appeal was a Brooklyn title that had a heap of influence on ACCLAIM back in our early days.

It started as a graffiti zine in the 90s, but evolved into a really solid urban men’s lifestyle title, that whilst rooted in quite a niche scene, wasn’t elitist and was very accessible to the average-joe. I loved the vibe of the mag and the articles were always great.

2. The Face (R.I.P.)

The Face is basically every magazine editor’s favourite magazine.

So much to appreciate about the title, but what I loved in particular was the way they were never tied to one scene or genre, yet they managed to be able to talk about all of them with credibility. To me, The Face really represented that era of ‘Cool Britannia’, when the UK was killing it in the tastemaker stakes. I have a really strong affection for that time, especially the aesthetic.

3. Super Super

Super Super is another terrific English title. Essentially it’s a zine on steroids.

It started around that time the whole Nu-Rave scene was popping off in the UK but it’s now diversified to cover modern pop culture in general. The design of this thing is just nuts (their frequent and purposeful use of low-res images cracks me up) and they always have the most amazing covers.

Super Super is sort of like the show Skins, in magazine form, if you didn’t want to stab every character for constantly being miserable little twits.

4. Playboy

Say what you want about Hef, but goddamn Playboy was killer back in the day.

Above all else, what I appreciate about the magazine is that it sold an entire lifestyle to the reader. You weren’t just buying a girly mag, you were entering and participating in a culture.

Who doesn’t want to read about the corruption in Vietnam War effort and then turn the page and look at an amazing set of breasts. It’s not often you can feel intelligent and horny at the same time, but Playboy pulled it off.

5. WAD

WAD is a French title that is often overlooked, but easily one of the best magazines in the world today. The sheer amount on content in each issue is jaw-dropping, let alone the fact it’s written in both French and English.

Their fashion editorials are always great, and each issue is themed. The Girls issue a few years back was a real stand-out. One of ACCLAIM’s past editors, Pierre, once worked at WAD, and his knowledge was a great asset in our early days.

Honourable mentions: Nylon, Complex, Sneaker Freaker, Lodown, Dazed and Confused, i-D, Miss Behave (RIP), Juxtapoz, Love Sucks Die (RIP), IDN, MAD and pretty much any Japanese magazine ever.

It’d be fair to say that Spook Magazine is a bit of a publishing sensation. Founded by three friends in Melbourne just over a year ago, in this time they’ve put out four amazing issues, secured international distribution, smashed all kinds of sales records and generally raised our expectations for how well a new magazine should perform.

This is definitely one of the most up-and-coming titles out there and we really can’t wait to see what they come up with next. While Spook plot their next move, we managed to convince their editors to tell us about their favourite magazines…

STAB – Marcus Thompson, Editor

Stab Magazine was probably the first real magazine I felt spoke to me. It came out at a time when surf culture had lost it spontaneity and was stuck in the conservative. The archetype was surf once at dawn and again after your eight hours, love Australia day too much, wear stencilled boardies and work to live.

The best thing about this magazine, the reason I like it anyway, is because of its transparency and self-awareness. They told you about the people they pissed off, the money they squandered and the business they’d lost and won, it was really exciting to pick up the next issue and see where they were.

It’s dropped off in the last year or so, but I hear they are getting away from the tabloid and back into the quality. Which is a good thing.

Purple Fashion – Jordan Moore, Fashion Editor

I always wished I were tortured and French. Purple Fashion is the print version of that desire.

I will always want Purple, like a hazardous lover I’m addicted to, its not around enough and makes me feel a little inferior because its so much cooler and effortlessly sexier than I am. When I see it gleaming on the shelf I grab like a junkie.

Monster Children - Nick Rieve, Photographer

I first picked up  Monster Children at a mates house in 2002. He’s one of those guys who’s into everything new first. It was on his coffee table and I remember  being really drawn to the magazine’s ability to cross-over, surfing skating and art without looking too pokey or girly.

I like it for the design and photography, it’s pretty out there not super safe. The photography is pretty grimey, film based. Old and raw. It’s not too candid it’s got that behind the scenes look, which gives the photos more depth and longevity.

Vice - Alice Williams, Sub Editor

It would be glaringly remiss to exclude Vice from our list of influences.

As a delightfully yet terribly sheltered small town girl, Vice was the first taste of a literal alternative. It gave me the fundamental cliff notes of coolness that never made it as far as my hometown. Caustic, offensive, razor sharp and hilarious… Vice taught me to not go gently into that good night, to make fun of the dying of the light.

MAD - Nick Melin, Editor

Along with Penthouse, Mad was what got me into magazines. What better way is there for a child to be introduced to the world of satire and social criticism? With segments like ‘The Lighter Side’  and ‘A Mad look at…’ Mad Magazine is the perfect publication for kids to learn how to questions pop culture, and develop an understanding of irony.

Do I read Mad now? Well I can’t really remember the last time i have bought one. But just like I used to hide Penthouse under my bed during my early teens, I do have a few hidden copies of Mad around my apartment.

Take a deep breath. It’s arrived. Issue #05 of Apartamento has just landed and is now available all six of our stores across Australia and New Zealand. (Yeah, we know. Finally!)

We love this magazine. And, as evidenced by the veritable avalanche of calls, e-mails, tweets, texts, telegrams and carrier pigeons that we receive in the lead up to the release of every issue, it looks like you guys are pretty fond of it as well. And if you’ve managed to somehow avoid crossing paths with this mag (which is actually pretty easy, because it generally sells out in a day or two) then allow us to introduce you:

Founded by Omar Sosa, Nacho Alegre and Marco Velardi in Barcelona two years ago, Apartamento is the world’s first ‘everyday interiors’ magazine. Which is to say, it’s an interiors magazine about real people living in real houses that don’t necessaily look like spaceships, aren’t set into the side of a mountain in rural Switzerland, probably don’t have infinity lap pools and might not have even been designed by real architects.

More than gleaming white cubes and perfectly manicured lawns, Apartamento is a magazine about space and the way that people occupy it.

This latest issue has features on an allotment for growing fruit and vegetables in Sweden, an amazing book-filled lair in Barcelona’s Raval district, Lovefoxxx from CSS talking about her Såo Paulo apartment (“This is the first time I’ve had a home of my own. I rule this motherfucking place.”) and an article on French architects Jean Renaudie’s post-war social housing blocks in the suburbs of Paris.

Subscribers, we’ll be sending your copies out first thing tomorrow morning. In the meantime, we’ve got the editors of Apartamento choosing their top five favourites magazines for your reading pleasure…

1. 032c

Almost 10 years on the run and probably one of the magazines that will be remembered the most from the beginning of this century.

2. Financial Times Weekend

All Sunday papers should look at the Financial Times Weekend edition with the Arts & Leisure and House & Home supplements.

3. Acne Paper

Amazing layout and well curated editorial that makes you wish more brands had such taste in print.

4. Purple Fashion

Purple is one of those magazines you can’t keep your eyes off, no matter what shape or form it will take next.

5. Casa Vogue

An ode to decadence and impossible style, mixing the worst with the most exquisite taste, this is the only interior magazine we must bow to.

Sneaker Freaker is one of those magazines that you have to see up close to really understand what it’s about.

A whole magazine about… shoes?

Well, yeah. But it’s kind of more than that…

Founded in Melbourne in 2002 by Simon “Woody” Wood as a ruse to get his shoes for free, copies of the very first issue now sell for over 300 bucks on eBay (that is, if you can find a sneaker head willing to part with their copy!)

Eighteen issues later, Sneaker Freaker is distributed in 43 countries to legions of die-hard fans, has a dedicated Spanish edition based in Barcelona (with a Russian edition on the way!) and collaborates on designs with labels like Asics, New Balance and Lacoste.

This, friends, is niche publishing at its finest.

A visual feast of the latest and greatest in kicks as well as interviews with key figures in the streetwear industry past-and-present and meticulously researched in-depth historical pieces, this really is a definitive round-up of everything you ever wanted to know about sneakers and probably a little bit more.

Issue number 18 comes out today (with a limited edition 3D cover!), so we’ve asked Woody to tell us a little bit about some of his favourite mags…

1. The Face

The Face was so cool I moved to London. How’s that for a magazine’s impact?

From witty fashion to catty pop stars and even natty sneakers on the regular, The FACE was always ahead of the game. Always. Throw in Neville Brody’s quintessential design and you have a magazine which inspired me more than any other. I simply can’t fathom how it folded… I guess there’s a lesson for us all in this tough game.

How iD mag survived is beyond me, but I guess it’s like Coke and Pepsi, you’re either one of the other and I’m as one-eyed as it comes. My biggest magazine regret was ditching my Face collection before I moved back to Melbourne. Such tragedy!

2. Hot Rod

I buy 13 car magazines a month and Hot Rod is my favorite by far. They’ve been around since hot rods were invented and consistently been on the precipice of performance, design and manufacturing for the awesome American aftermarket car scene. Hot Rod is clever. Well written. It has a point of view.

The design is no-nonsense and the cars are always progressive and iconoclasts in a world that could easily degenerate into a retro graveyard for baby boomers. I guess you could say that Hot Rod is the perfect synthesis of 50 years of Californian Car Culture. If they offered me a job sweeping floors I’d be on the next plane to LA quicker than Lara Bingle can say goodbye her Aston Martin.

3. Playboy

I seriously selected Playboy for the articles. I guess everybody does. Actually, they probably don’t even have words anymore, just bazonga-sized boobs and well manicured lawns so I guess I’m talking strictly in the past tense.

In a previous job, I had the pleasure to collect nearly all the 60s and 70s Playboys I could find. Naked women are one thing… and Playboy has those, but when you get Norman Mailer and others of his ilk writing about sport, contemporary social issues and racial politics while at the same time espousing a libertarian ‘playboy’ lifestyle, it’s a pretty heady brew.

Add a timelessly cool sense of art direction and you have a magazine that was not just a sign of its sexy times. Sadly it’s now a pathetic shadow of its former self.

RIP Playboy. The internet gone done you wrong.

4. Vanity Fair

Is this a corny choice? I hope not because I love Vanity Fair.

I could do without their campaign to invent an entire class of whitebread NYC Ivy League royalty, but how can ANY magazine truly be compared to Vanity Fair?

The recent Hollywood issue was incomparable, with never-seen-before features on De Niro and Raging Bull, a wicked insider piece on the reclusive John Hughes (Pretty in Pink) and the Bling Ring, a bunch of teens who pilfered Hollywood celebrities. In this day and age where magazines take five seconds to read, VF still takes a good few hours to get through and is a shining light for an industry that thinks 140 characters is where life is at.

The fact that they have 120 pages of advertisements and start articles in the front of the mag and make you treasure hunt’ to find the last few paragraphs is an irritation that I can definitely live with. RIP Dominick Dunne.

5. Street Machine/Wired

Fifth place was a tough one.

I was going to stump for arch-techno mag Wired, but that wouldn’t be totally honest. And I like to be honest. Even if that means channeling my inner bogan who likes to read Street Machine. Don’t get me wrong, I love Wired for the 13 colour printing experiments and I love a gadget and the way the mag is edited is another level.

Have you seen their new Adobe-built online version? I feel like a middle-aged Luddite, it’s such brainiac next-decade material.

But it’s a lay-down Misère to pick one of the most influential mags of the past decade, so I made it a dead heat with Street Machine just to prove how eclectic my interests truly are. Street Machine is an Aussie mag where burnouts and tubbed Pro Street Monaros with 6.71 superchargers rule. The writing is a little formulaic, but I like to get an insight of where the suburbs are at and you won’t find a better example than Street Machine.

RIP carbon footprint!

Webuyyourkids is design duo Sonny Day & Biddy Maroney from Sydney. They started working together in 2006, making screen-printed posters for bands and have since branched out into all kinds of stuff from CD artwork to identity design and installations, illustrations and all kinds of other interesting projects.

Their work is reminiscent of that children’s book that you were both in love with and absolutely terrified of when you were young; it has a dark, shadow-y noir vibe with smatterings of what the voiceover before late-night SBS movies refers to as ‘Supernatural Themes’… but all in the most playful way!

Closely aligned with the Pop Frenzy record label, over the years they’ve designed artwork for artists as diverse as Xiu Xiu, Weird War, The Drones, The Sea and Cake, Youth Group and plenty of other great bands. Recently they’ve started to branch out into motion design and completed a clip for former Something for Kate front-man Paul Dempsey in his solo guise.

In our humble opinion, they’re doing some of the most interesting work around and they’ll be speaking at the agIdeas conference in Melbourne later on this month (haven’t got your ticket yet? get in quick!) but for now, we’ve asked them to choose their Top 5 Favourite Magazines for the latest in this on-going feature…

1. The Face

Both Biddy and I collected this magazine religiously, separately, before we met, in the 90s.

I was just such a good read, full of all this exciting stuff from across the pond; strange bands, clubs, amazing art and fashion. It was a bit of fantasy. I think that we both were really bummed to find that it had shut down and maybe a tad guilty as we hadnt bought it for a while towards the end.

We also got exposed to some of our favorite illustrators like Jasper Goodall, James Jarvis, Will Sweeney and many more. There is a particular issue with Edward Norton on the cover that was incredibly inspiring to Biddy – it covered a bunch of “new” animators who worked out of their bedrooms on found computers and cheap software making amazing things – including Shynola and Pete Fowler.

2. Big Brother

This magazine was amazing!

It was a skateboard magazine started by a gentleman called Steve Rocco, who in the early 90′s was in the middle of shaking up skateboarding and taking it back to its rebellious roots with his skateboard company World Industries. Long story short… World Industries ran ads in other skate mags that pissed a lot of people with their content and the magazines would often refuse to run said ads.

So the man went and started his own magazine. It was full of articles about hi-jinx, sex, drugs and skateboarding.

Big Brother was sold to to Larry Flynt of Hustler fame who ironically toned down all the things the magazine was reknowned for. Sadly it ceased publication on 2004.

Since BB’s demise, now reading…. Thrasher

3. Hypno

Hypno was again from the 90s and again now out of print. Biddy used to buy Hypno with her last dollars when she went to uni in Canberra. It seemed to be equal parts music and art, and the excitement of reading particular articles still remains in her memory.

There was a feature on Margaret and Walter Keane and their Keane-eyed-art courtroom showdown that was mindblowing at the time. And another article on Jon Spencer that was the first knowledge of the man and incited a keen desire to go out and find his music. It was reeeeeeeaaallly ugly – jammed full of lime green crud fonts and everything else.

The artwork featured was amazing but it was all slapped together and lary… and exciting.

Since Hypno’s demise, now reading…. Juxtapoz

4. Relax

This was such a awesome magazine, seeming like a Japanese version of The Face. Actually I dont know, cos I cant read Japanese.

But it was one the reasons Japan was at the top of my list of places to travel and when I got the chance to go there last year it was everything and more than I was imagining. Thanks Relax!

Also each issue had an illustration by James Jarvis. Bonus!

5. Monster Children

We have every issue of Monster Children. It’s well designed, well written with some amazing artwork featured in every issue. When it first started it was exciting because it was the only local magazine we knew covering both Australian and International artists from a skate background.

We were very honoured to be featured in the mag a few years ago. And get our ugly mugs on the cover!

I’m glad it comes out a bit more frequently these days and is going strong.

If you’re going to call yourself a designer in 2010, it seems like you’ve got to go beyond the call of duty in order to separate yourself from every other stooge out there with a Mac, a blog and a cracked copy of Photoshop. And it’s probably for this reason that we’re such big fans of Melbourne based, multi disciplinary design studio Tin & Ed.

Drawing on their skills in sculpture, installation, graphic and motion design to create a range of consistently exciting and innovative work, be it building Gundam style battle robots out of courier messenger bags for Crumpler or constructing a 3D string sculpture in a Melbourne laneway for Tourism Victoria these guys are always striving to push the envelope.

In a recent commission for Visa’s ‘Go’ campaign, they suspended hundreds of pieces of miscellaneous computer junk and digital detritus on strings from the ceiling, arranged to magically form the word ‘Go’ in perfectly shaped sans-serif, which really has to be seen to be believed.

If you’re going to be at Semi-Permanent in Sydney tomorrow, make sure to catch them speaking and if you can’t make it down, well, as a close second we’re thrilled to have Tin choosing his favourite magazines for us here…

1. Colors

Colors magazine was conceived by graphic designer Tibor Kalhman and photographer Oliviero Toscani. Admittedly it’s changed a lot since the Kalhman and Toscani days but its still always a really interesting read and I always get from it an understanding and view of the world that i can’t get from anywhere else.

Each issue deals with a different topic: birth, god, race, wealth, toys, trash, aids. but whatever the issue, the message is always the same, the world is an infinitely diverse place, but ultimately we’re all the same.

I really love the way that Colors relies more on images rather then text to communicate. They did an issue a while ago which had no text at all, it took you through a tour of the world using only pictures, it was sort of like a printed version of Koyaanisqatsi, really powerful stuff.

1. Purple Fashion

I really like Olivier Zahm, he’s got his finger in so many pies, and they are all awesome. He use to be an arts curator and his blending of art and fashion seems really effortless, irreverent and most importantly fun.

His magazine Purple fashion can be a bit cliquey though and the same names crop up constantly in every issue (there’s always at least one or two shoots by Terry Richardson and Juergen Teller) but there’s not necessarily anything wrong with that.

The magazine is designed by M/M Paris, and the layout is quite simple, I like the use of the different paper stocks to the define the different sections. The interviews are always interesting and there’s always a good mix of people i already know about and people I’ve never heard of. Lindsay Lohan is on the cover of the latest issue which is awesome and funny so soon after her disastrous collection for Ungaro.

2. Uovo

Apparently Uovo means egg in Italian, which could seem a bit like an obvious analogy for an arts publication (if you speak italian) or really cryptic if you don’t (like me).

It explores the world of contemporary art through articles, interviews and images, and at nearly 500 pages per issue with no ads, it’s a really serious hit of contemporary art! It also comes with an audio CD full of weird and exciting sounds. It’s sort of like a printed more in depth version of VVORK with words.

3. Acne Paper

I love this publication. Each issue draws it’s inspiration from one key idea and brings together content from now as well as the past, there is something really nostalgic and romantic about Acne Paper, but it doesn’t come across as old or tired at all.

The latest issue is about art and spirituality and has an incredible shoot by Paolo Rovesi with an almost un-recognizable Tilda Swinton dressed as Marchesa Casati, there are also Interviews with Alejandro Jodorowsky, Orlan and David Lynch where he preaches about the benefits of Transcendental meditation (of course).

The design is classic but playful, which describes the content well, it mixes high culture and pop culture, past and present in a really fresh and dignified way, it’s full of really lush images but unlike most fashion/art magazines it doesn’t seem flashy at all.

4. Doing Bird

An awesome Australian magazine full of local and international content. I’ve still got the first and second issues which are ten years old now but they still look completely fresh.

The design hasn’t changed a whole lot in that time, it’s clean and simple without being boring. The ads are kept to the front and the back and there aren’t too many so the images and content have a lot of room to breather, and there’s no break in the continuity which is rare for a fashion/art magazine. Doing bird comes out twice a year and is always a reliable fix for australian and international fashion, art, illustration and writing.

Sometimes it’s hard not to gush too much when writing these introductions, but we absolutely love Becky Smith’s work.  Over the years this pioneering art director has been involved with a number of our favourite magazines from I-D to British Vogue, Wallpaper* and Harper’s Bazaar to founding perennial mag nation favourite Lula in 2005.

A fashion magazine without being a catalogue, Lula is rarely described without using some combination of the words ‘dreamy’, ‘whimsical’ and ‘ethereal’ but perhaps more important than that particular aesthetic, it has carved out a style that’s a bold combination of indie smarts and high-end glossy appeal.

After almost five years, Smith left Lula in 2009 to bring us the inaugural edition of her new title, Twin magazine. We wrote about Twin when it first came out a few months ago (they’ve only released a single issue so far) and it’s definitely a magazine lover’s magazine; packaged in a large, hard cover book format and some 250 (!) individual covers.

In Smith’s own words, Twin is “more grown up, versatile and stronger” than Lula, and is definitely one of those rareties that is dripping with both style and substance.

And while issue number two isn’t due out until May, we’re really pleased to have Becky Smith choosing her five favourite magazines, which will hopefully serve to tide you over just a little bit until then.

1. Twen

You can find some old ones online. A German magazine created by groundbreaking art director Willy Fleckhouse in 1959. Fleckhouse was mainly a typographer, however he really allowed the photography to do the work and ran them BIG! And, graphically, the grid was constantly present.

2. The Face

I grew up with this magazine, my old boss Robin Derrick art directed on it with Neville Brody. Two of the best art directors… It just perfectly encapsulated what 13 to 25-year olds were feeling about music at the time. It was at its best in the beginning – in the early ’80s – and it introduced me to writers like Julie Burchill and Tony Parsons and photographers such as Juergen Teller and David Sims.

3. Vogue (French edition)

My favourite of the Vogues. I can’t read a word but it doesn’t matter… the photography, the styling, the models. C’est tout…

4. Dumbo feather, pass it on

Just purely for the genius name. I’ve read a few ideas on the theory of why it’s called that… Something to do with the elephant I like to think.

5. Interview

Again the old ones were always the best, but I also like the current mag – especially the Craig McDean shoot with Kirsten Stewart. I also like the old covers of pop icons like Dolly Parton, Madonna, Diana Ross etc. The fact that it also featured illustrations by Warhol means it just can’t be beaten.

If you know anything about mag nation by now, you will undoubtedly know that we adore Frankie.

Frankie is the original thinking gal’s guide to everything that’s good in fashion, music, craft and practically anything else for that matter. You know a magazine has made an impact when it becomes part of common parlance…”that is just so Frankie” now holds meaning for a very broad demographic.

Far and away one of our biggest sellers, we’ll often get mums coming in to buy a copy for their daughters as well as one for themselves (not to mention the odd male fan!) Harking back to the glory days of the sadly, long-defunct Sassy magazine, Frankie’s broad ranging appeal stems from the fact that it’s not afraid to be a unique and inspirational voice.

So, for this edition of ‘My Top 5 Mags’, we’re absolutely chuffed to bring you Frankie’s editor, Jo Walker to tell you a little bit about some of her favourite magazines…

1. Bust Magazine

This is the first magazine I ever read that I felt truly ‘got’ me. Spawned in the heady, riot grrrl days of 1993, it’s full of rad music interviews, craft, indie-cool fashion and homewares, celebrities you can actually look up to (they were heading up the Tina Fey fan club long before you or I had ever heard of her) and smart-arse opinion pieces. Basically it made feminism cool again.

Bust is clever, cute, and always a bit grungy around the edges. I think of it like the wise older sister I never had who was into L7 and Bikini Kill in the ‘90s, wears retro glasses with op shop shirts, and still goes to gigs every Friday night while hubby sits at home with their adorable three-year-old called Nugget, or something equally rock ‘n’ roll.

The founding editor, Debbie Stoller, went on to launch the Stitch ‘n Bitch movement with books of the same name and practically created nu-craft. She is basically my publishing idol. Also, I wish I could crochet as well as her.

2. Adbusters

Even though I’m sure founder Kalle Lasn would hate to be lauded by a sell-out, corporate-media running dog stooge like myself, I admire the hell out of him and his mag. Alongside ‘No Logo’, Culture Jamming was practically my bible at uni and Adbusters continues the tradition of playful political subversion he started 20 years ago.

On first flick it’s the ‘subvertisements’ that get you (regular ads creatively hacked by activists and design nerds), but I also love the first-person stories from little edges of the world I know I’ll never travel to, the feisty research pieces on geopolitics, social democracy and environmentalism, and the expert panellists they get in to discuss their take on the state of the world.

The only trick is managing to read it while sipping on a Diet Coke (bad multinational!), sitting on your IKEA sofa (soulless, big-box capitalists!) or waiting in line at Coles (mega retailers killing small business!)

Aside from that, Adbusters is basically the Banksy of magazines. I hope it takes over the world.

3. Love

Here’s another editor whose career I’d like to steal. Katie Grand used to be fashion director at the sadly missed The Face magazine (I don’t think I’m talking out of turn when I call it THE best magazine of all time) and then editor-in-chief at their style spinoff, POP. The fact that she’s married to one of the guys from Pulp also makes me envy her enormously.

So when I heard she was launching a new title, I knew even before I saw it that I’d be in love. And then I saw it. The first issue. Beth Ditto. In the nud. Looking saucy as hot tamales. Swoon.

But wait, there’s more! Inside one of the most cracking covers I’ve ever seen was a labour of, well, love. Reading every little interview and tidbit, you can tell that every single person/style/designer/celebrity/random mime in there (yes, they did a fashion shoot with the street performers who hung out the front of their office) is truly loved and enthused over by Katie and her staff. It’s not cool for the sake of it; it’s not sneering down from some haute couture ivory castle. It just can’t help being awesome.

4. Tokion

Dare I admit that I first came across this gem in a sharehouse toilet? Yes I dare. And I’ll also say that it makes bloody good bathroom reading material.

Here’s another mag that treads the fine line between being cool and being too-cool-for-school. Between being smart and being a smarty pants. They manage to cover cutting edge art, fashion, design, culture and rock ‘n’ roll without the sneering, ‘we’re better than you’ vibe of an NME or a Vice. And I love them for it. Let’s face it – these days, who can deal with the angst?

Also, unlike a lot of mags these days (and especially good if you’re planning on taking it to the smallest room in the house), Tokion is a BIG read. BIG interviews. BIG features. Even though I love design (and this mag is ace at that as well), I am, not surprisingly, a word person, so this is a big plus for me. They don’t scrimp on text. No sirree.

Best story ever: when they smuggled a journo into North Korea pretending he was a movie reviewer attending the Pyongyang Film Festival. Great pictures. Great insight into the country. Great piss-taking of Kim Jong-Il.

Two thumbs up.

5. Vanity Fair

Alongside Newsweek and Time, this is my all-star, number-one-with-a-bullet airport and plane magazine. Light and fluffy enough for early morning flights, but with enough substance to get you through an unexpected layover and/or trip from hell.

Admittedly I could do without the Tatler-esque NYC high-society hobnobbing they’re always banging on about, but I suppose that in itself provides some Gossip Girly type escapism at 5am while you’re sitting on a tarmac waiting forever for ‘the last pieces of luggage to be loaded’.

Just like Tokion they love a BIG, long-play profile piece. And they’re always intriguing. Just picking up the nearest issue I can reach in my bookshelf, they’ve covered Obama, Spinal Tap, Peter Jackson and Marlene Dietrich. What’s not to love about that?

The other big reason to pick up VF is the writing of one of my personal journalism gods: Christopher Hitchens. Sure he went a bit crazily right-wing during the whole Iraq War thing, but that doesn’t stop his first-person account of learning to run on a treadmill any less hilarious. Devestatingly articulate fat man with unconvincing combover trying to be The Biggest Loser? Surely that in itself is worth the price of admission.