Blog Roast – bloggers have their say on Notion 046

We got chatting to some of our favourite bloggers on Twitter and Facebook about the last issue and then we thought, let’s get ‘em involved. We asked our favourites to give us some feedback on issue 46, and we got some brilliant, erudite responses which ran the gamut, from the ethos of Notion magazine to the photography angles in our Girl in 3D fashion shoot.

Here’s a few of our favourite responses.

The South Sider
http://dsouthsider.blogspot.com/

The magazine projects an interweave of fashion, music, culture and arts by large. It does not stifle its coverage with the generic ideology of the cliché writing mannerisms but it bangs out the concrete blockage. Nevertheless, it embraces an array of buoyancy through its spectacular offering of recognition-worthy articles. With the aura of the independent feel of this fast growing underground industry, Notion has definitely embodied an interesting approach of the non-mainstream delivery of growing in swift paced demands. With an equally enticing cover to boot, I foresee that this magazine will certainly be etched in the minds of discriminating fashion cognoscenti.

Sherin, Hi Fashion
http://www.thehifashionsite.com/

Since starting my fashion blog, I’ve come to realise that fashion is a lot more than just about the clothes. It’s about how they’re portrayed, and a key part of this is how they’re photographed. I’ve learned that the effects and colours of a photo can really make an impact on the clothes themselves.

The ‘Girl in 3D’ photo shoot, is a perfect example of good photography. The pictures are shot well and the model really looks great striking those poses. My favourite thing about the whole photo shoot is the colours in the shadow of the model. That effect really adds a fun retro vibe to the photos and really makes it stand out from other photo shoots. The background effects contrast perfectly with the black and white that the model is wearing. It is quite hard for black and white to work well together and stand out, but Notion Magazine did very well here.

I think Notion did a great job on the whole photo shoot. It’s fun and vibrant to look at and the background effects are amazing.

Colin Chapman, Sharpened Lead
http://www.sharpenedlead.com/

Notion – valiant defender of a threatened breed

As a lifelong obsessive magazine collector, with literally hundreds in storage, (including originals of The Face, iD and Arena Homme+) I’m probably more surprised than anyone by the relative scarcity of glossy mags on the shelves these days.  At least it makes you treasure them more, perhaps as a stylistic response to the free papers that litter our capital at the start and end of every day.  Clearly I also blog and make my living from the digital world but I definitely appreciate having something other than The Evening Standard to read on my way home.

Notion’s axes of fashion-music-culture is a mantra I can live by, even if fashion is the beating heart of that trio for me. But as any fashion thinker will tell you, many of the best examples of looking good come from those who aren’t really thinking about it too much. Insouciance is a word that’s definitely had its time in fashion articles but there’s no doubting it’s a quality that fashion designers look for in their inspirations, be it Adam Kimmel’s recent homage to Snoop Dog’s blatino ‘cholla’ street look, or Raf Simon’s obvious penchant for slim, black-clad indie boys.

The heady mix of fashion, music and film and the experience of living in a megacity are what inspire me personally. Somewhere between that young man with the incredible hair and vintage jacket on the bus, the dancefloor moment that makes you recognise the arrival of a new sound and the flickering, hyperreal world onscreen is a collective sense of what is cool right now.

Whilst I think my review of Tetro is better, I am relieved to see film getting a regular slot in Notion. Too often music and fashion are lumped in with random articles on cars, sport and other horrors. Going to see Breathless is something that we should all be doing, whether you’re there to relive the glory of your film student youth or want to simply want to perfect your best ingénue impression or hipster slouch for London Fields later.

Film stands as a major influence on my tastes and my sense of what I want to wear and buy.  Up there on the silver screen, captured in a gazillion pixels is the perfect way to see those details up close. Tetro, whilst being in no way as fashion-centric as a film like A Single Man, is still saying something about how men dress, and Coppola has a long history of creating iconic images for the screen. I’d recommend seeing Rumblefish if you need more evidence of this.

I really do have to say something about men’s hair now as well. I really can’t think of another era where there was quite so much choice in men’s hair. Flicking through the latest Notion really brings this democracy home. There really is no single, bona fide ultimate male haircut right now. And this is progress! Whether it’s Johhny Flynn’s boyish tousle or Hurts postwar art school ‘high and tight’ crops, I like the breathing space that this suggests. With the Hoxton fin a distant memory, perhaps we really are seeing a return to individuality, when a dreadlocked Boy George could snog a bleach quiffed Kirk Brandon without sending a legion of boys rushing out to get identikit haircuts.

If I could have one thing from Notion, I’d like to see more menswear fashion stories. With menswear really taking off and in the process getting people equally excited, threatened and annoyed there really couldn’t be a better time to feature male fashion in full effect. For best results make it controversial, I’ve always loved those moments when the person next to you on the bus is trying not to stare at the fashion spread of men in oiled leather shorts and chain mail you’re poring over on the No. 55.

Tshepo Mokoena, New Things to Like
http://newthingstolike.blogspot.com/

Notion Magazine reviews Uffie’s Sex Dreams & Denim Jeans.

Oh, Uffie. You really are a “damn crazy brat” but it’s a shame it’s taken four years for this debut LP to come out. Notion’s Sebastian Law pretty much tells it like it is: there’s real potential here but sadly Uffie fails to deliver overall on this album. As a fan, and one of the people to see Uffie play her first actual gig (not her usual crazy assaults on the mic during frenzied club nights), it almost hurts to see the record fall slightly flat.

The old standards like ‘Pop The Glock’, ‘Brand New Car’ and ‘First Love’ still sound as good as they did when they first come out, but sadly there’s a void in sound between that largely Feadz-produced work and her newer tracks. Pharrell almost saves it, likening ADD to being “…in the movie Memento but I don’t have a pen” on lead single ‘ADD/SUV’. Bless ‘im.

If you’ve got something to say about Notion, give us a shout! Comment here, or email seb[at]musichqmedia.com, and maybe your reactive will be up here next time around.