When the Face magazine launched in 1980, it quickly garnered a cult following. Founded by the British music journalist Nick Logan, the magazine used bold typography, raw and immediate photography, and cultivated an “authentic” aesthetic that was a stark contrast to its fashion rivals. The art direction was fresh; staff were encouraged to take risks. It sparked the careers of big-name photographers such as Corinne Day (who famously captured a 16-year-old Kate Moss on the cover of the magazine in 1990), Juergen Teller, Nick Knight and Elaine Constantine. A reaction against the airbrushed perfection of Eighties fashion photography, it showcased a natural, effortless and undone kind of beauty.
The Face was the voice of the counter-cultural youth hanging out in the skate parks, streets and clubs of the Eighties and Nineties; the style-conscious members of Generation X. It was more than a magazine – it was a bible, introducing its loyal readers to underground music, fashion and subversive ideas that no other publication was covering. Before the rise of the internet and the birth of social media, the Face could connect you to other like-minded individuals in a way that felt special. Every issue felt like a collectible – I still have a stack in my mother’s loft, over 20 years since I bought my last issue in the early Noughties. The magazine closed in 2004 (in 2019, it was relaunched under a new creative team – and with one or two senior members of staff reprising their roles from the early 2000s.)
The Face Magazine: Culture Shift (until 18 May 2025) at the National Portrait Gallery is the first major exhibition to focus on the magazine’s archive of portraiture and fashion photography. Featuring covers, film and fashion spreads, the exhibition sets out to show how the Face redefined British magazine journalism, and many of the images on display have never been seen outside of its pages before. The show invites its visitors, for a joyful couple of hours, to feel part of the energy and mood of the Eighties, Nineties and early 2000s. For a period of time, the Face was everything to those who wanted to be one step ahead of everyone else. Reading it made you feel part of the best club in town.
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