Apart from assuming the remit to endlessly amuse and entertain our readers with exclusive photography and stories on unique individuals within underground scenes, Men's File was set-up to investigate the phenomenon of style within revival subcultures and their off-shoots. One of the great mysteries within this sometimes covert world is the myriad ways that ideas on dress and manners transfer from one group or individual to another and then develop further. In our thirty-second issue, we continue with our ongoing speculation on the invisible processes that initiate and develop subcultural aesthetics and the human vectors who carry visual culture with them - who we at call 'stylists'.
These are not the kind of stylists who dress someone for the red-carpet or the pages of a glossy fashion magazine, but non-professionals who instinctively 'feel' the zeitgeist and are able to read the street, very much like Baudelaire's 'flâneur', an outsider, observing and taking mental notes on aesthetic developments as they happen in public spaces. Men's File seldom inhabits the realm of the many and tends towards surveying the landscape of the few. Accordingly, it seems self-evident that a significant cohort of our readers are already style-makers, or aspire to be, and thus seek to assume the posture of the observant outsider or flâneur themselves.
In this issue we go further, and not only introduce another tranche of unofficial street-level creators of style but investigate the notion of a moment of total clarity when the instinctive eye recognises a visual element with the potential to influence the way things look. A passing motorcycle, a glance at a magazine page or the appearance of a changing sky are all moments in which some are able to absorb incalculable amounts of information. This blink of an eye, during which the German philosopher Martin Heidegger suggested the entire concept of 'being' might be understood, seems to be more developed in stylists than in others. In practical terms, while walking the streets or scanning wider culture, the sensitive individual might experience momentary sight of a visual cue, through which the meaning of style (historical or contemporary) is better comprehended. The idea of suddenly happening on a face, object or landscape that is momentarily, recognised as significant and in need of recording, is described by the photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson as the 'decisive moment'. The photography in this publication is the result of these sometimes complex and always momentary events, that we have named the 'glimpse'.
Nick Clements (Editor-in-Chief)
Clutch Magazine is a Japanese lifestyle publication whose focus is to shine a light on the very best of Japanese heritage menswear brands. Share in their endless archival knowledge of vintage clothing and seasonal brand collections; introducing us to industry members and manufacturers, while giving pointers on how to dress and ogle vintage cars and motorbikes.
Vol. 100 "ANNIVERSARY ISSUE"