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December 17, 2007 9:50 am
Red and green are so over. As specified on the invitation, white and gold will be the in colors tonight at the Park for the party hosted by Opening Ceremony, Rodarte, and “Fanzine137.” All of them have something to celebrate: a five-year anniversary; inclusion in “blog.mode addressing fashion,” the upcoming Costume Institute exhibition; and a new issue, respectively. Before the big bash, we sat down—over e-mail—with Luis Venegas, the Madrid-based mastermind behind the cultish pub to talk about the numbers, X-Men, and his dream masthead.
What’s the significance of the number 137?
I’ve always loved odd numbers, maybe because I was born on March 13. I was also very into the Marvel comic book “Uncanny X-Men #137.” My favorite character was Dark Phoenix. I use number 137 for many things, and each time it has crossed my life I’ve taken it as a good-luck sign. It seems it’s also working with my magazine.
How do you solicit contributors?
By always trying to be as proper and respectful as possible. That’s the only secret. Usually the magazine itself is the best weapon of seduction.
Who’s on your wish list?
The good news is that little by little people I dreamed of being in “Fanzine137″ are contributing, so I feel like everything is possible! The endless list would include Irving Penn, Barbra Streisand, Julio Iglesias, Olivia Newton-John, Steven Meisel, Annie Leibovitz, Jake Gyllenhaal, Naty Abascal, Tina Brown, Lindsay Lohan…
“Fanzine137″ is “made in Spain.” What significance does that have?
I love my country. I am very Spanish and my magazine is very me, so I guess it shows somehow. I have been mad about magazines since I was a child. There have been so many times that I felt my hands and my eyes and my mind burning when holding a good issue that I wanted to try to make my own magazine and share it with the rest of the world. At the very end, I guess the final reason for me to do “Fanzine137″ is to be loved, which I think is the main reason for everybody who’s involved on a creative field.
What’s the subject of the current issue?
The brand-new issue is called “We Are the World”—like the song. It’s about personal geography, and collects some of the many worlds planet Earth holds within our reach. I asked contributors to send me landscapes images as a representation of themselves. It also includes interviews with Linda Evangelista, Bruce Weber, Juergen Teller, Grace Coddington, Carolina Herrera, Jake Shears, Harry Benson, and Elias Comfort. Each of them are very different people who for me represent somehow very different worlds.
What’s your take on New York?
I was in New York City for the first time last year. I came to see Barbra Streisand at Madison Square Garden in October. New York is as amazing as it was in movies I saw as a child.
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