Our society is obsessed with physical beauty in its constant endeavor to convince us of perfection. Paris' NARCISSE magazine instead sheds light on beauty – which is real and authentic with its unique imperfections. Miles away from our preconceptions of beauty, publisher and GoSee friend Azadeh Zoraghi and René Gloor show us new perspectives, a new visual landscape with particularly beautiful food for thought in its bi-annual publication.
Each issue celebrates natural beauty with artist collaborations, interviews, and specials. The 'Beauty Book' sees itself as a multidisciplinary platform for creative freedom: Artists, photographers, designers, authors... all come together to take us on a visual and emotional journey, which we love to accompany them on. NARCISSE Magazine is available in department stores and, of course, online. narcissemagazine.com
GoSee: Since when have you published the magazine and what is the idea behind it? Azadeh: Launched back in October 2013, Narcisse is a beauty, style and contemporary art magazine in hard cover. Around 200-300 pages printed twice a year. Narcisse is printed in 40 000 copies, which are distributed in Paris and over 130 other selling points around the world. Every issue has a theme and, within the theme, we develop the project and productions. We produce all our stories around a concept with linked articles. There are as many still life stories as ones about fashion and beauty.
Why NARCISSE? With my cofounder of Narcisse René Gloor, whom I have known for 10 years, we had been discussing the launch of our own magazine for a while before getting started in early 2013. The most important idea behind a magazine is its concept. I had been doing plenty of beauty stories as a stylist and, most of the time, I didn’t have the freedom to explore the kind of beauty that I wanted for my clients. The beauty industry has been exploding since a few years but, unfortunately, there are not many beautiful beauty magazines out there. We wanted to create a beauty/coffee table book that is unique and visually exclusive. Something that people would keep preciously. In Narcisse, there are no news or shopping pages. We explore artists, designers and creative directors and their visions in the beauty and fashion field. In our still life productions we usually explore only 1 element that attracts our interest through its design or color. The idea behind all of our productions is to create timeless images. We even have some blank pages in the magazine in order to give the eye of our reader a break. We do not claim to be a trend book. We are very lucky to be completely independent and free to just be creative.
Any labels or up-and-coming designers you adore? I have been working in the fashion industry for over 15 years – as a designer in fashion houses and later on as a fashion stylist. I have different connections to different houses and, as a stylist and creative director, I have the opportunity to see and collaborate with the most important fashion houses but also young designers. Every season with the fashion shows, there are new trends out there and it’s always a great and very exciting experience to discover the new designs, cuts and colors. Some you will adore, others with seem too boring or in lack of interest. It’s a love and hate relationship to fashion.
Where can one find you in Paris, any recommendations for the nicest fashion spots in the city for our readers? Too many to mention, but I recommend your readers, who are planning a Paris trip this spring/ summer, to see the exhibition of Jean Paul Gaultier. His first retrospective in France is in the Grand Palais from the 1st of April to 3rd of August, 2015. It has been traveling all around the world since 2011. But my most honest answer would be to avoid the shops and the shopping. Take the time to admire the buildings, the monuments and the streets in different lights. Paris is the most beautiful city in the world and hard to get enough of it.