Alice Goddard and Theo Sion’s streamlined new issue is a welcome break from fashion’s endless cycles, with stories photographed by Alasdair McLellan and Johnny Dufort
Eschewing all beliefs that print is dead, last year cult magazine Hot and Cool returned after a four-year hiatus; now they’re back with a fourteenth issue of their delicate, decisively streamlined publication. “I guess its simplicity sets it apart – we are extreme minimalists,” says stylist Alice Goddard, who helms the magazine along with photographer Theo Sion.
Across its glossy pages are only images, no prose. The magazine is a highly personal project for the image-focused duo, who founded the magazine in 2010, and speaks to a unique philosophy of fresh, pared-back style. A family affair of sorts, the number of contributors in the new issue are kept minimal, too, with Alasdair McLellan, Johnny Dufort, Max Pearmain, and both founders working on its three fashion stories.
The new issue starts with an Alasdair McLellan-shot story centring around St Michael, the beloved brand owned by retailer Marks & Spencer until it was discontinued in the year 2000. In recent years the brand has had something of a renaissance, with a growing consumer demand on re-selling platforms like eBay and Depop. “I wanted to put St Michael in a fashion context, like a designer special, firstly because I thought it was funny but also because those clothes are fantastic and deserve that attention,” says Goddard. “The rest of the issue grew from there.”
In the other fashion stories in the issue, Theo Sion and Max Pearmain collaborate to capture Timney Fowler’s neoclassical upholstery fabric draped over models, their faces obscured as if hiding from the camera. Elsewhere, in a story styled by Goddard, Dufort captures the archive fashions of Cassette Playa, the vibrant, decade-lasting brand that closed down in 2015. “Cassette Playa was such a massive part of my early interest in fashion and Carri [Munden, the label’s founder] was so influential to so many, it was very exciting to work with her clothes,“ Goddard says.
Untethered from the ruling of fashion advertisers, each issue is timeless in its lack of current seasonal fashion, removed from the hamster wheel of endless and transient trend cycles. Instead, Hot and Cool is steadfast in its vision, fresh in its approach; a thoughtful haven away from an industry that hungers for the newness. “I hope people that buy it take away a simple enjoyment,” says Goddard. ”I enjoyed making it, I hope people enjoy looking at it.”
Hot and Cool is out now.
