System #20

Saint Laurent CEO Francesca Bellettini and creative director Anthony Vaccarello discuss their ‘never compromise the brand’ strategy. System plays it the same way. The Juergen Teller photographed cover with the white publisher's band has been a mark of quality for twenty issues. The only worrying aspect to that observation is that we wrote about the first one! Some things will (happily) never change.

Looks gorgeous. This from the 30-page Juergen and Dovile Saint Laurent photo-essay / exercise in chic.

A portrait of Martine Rose and Tamara Rothstein by Oliver Hadlee Pearch. The story of their creative partnership told to Murray Healy in super inspirational style.

Our favourite section of the whole issue. A photo album of Martine Rose's older sister Michelle - a document of her South London life in clubs and clothing. Could have been a book in itself - but System have gone and done it now :)

Junya Watanabe. In his eighties. Actually he is sixty-two but you know what we mean. He talks a lot about the influence of all that has gone before. "I’ve turned 60 so I think I feel nostalgic about the past more often. At the same time, I’ve also been feeling that past experiences make the present." Watanabe doesn't give many interviews. This one runs over eight pages and should be savoured.

There is a lot to this issue. The Juergen Teller image above is taken from a visual portfolio of Barneys New York catalogues that he shot for Dennis Freedman. There are also features on Pasolini's costumes, the return of Haider Ackermann, Junya Watanabe's show archives, Luar's Raul Lopez, Hermès accessories, the Fendi Baguette and its admirers (photographed by Collier Schorr), Venetian jeweller Attilio Codognato, La Cambre Mode[s] fashion school in Brussels, Chinese casting director Denise Hu... A LOT!! Fortunately, there are only two issues a year so you have a good six months to get through it.

System is a biannual magazine that explores with style and substance the dialogues at the heart of the global fashion industry. It offers exclusive long-format conversations with fashion’s most relevant, most powerful and most opinionated individuals, accompanied by portfolios created by the industry’s most in-demand image-makers.