Fabrice Frere:
Beating Out the Big Dogs
Jeans on fire. Chairs that fit inside FedEx boxes. Airports as tourist attractions. Welcome to “CITY” magazine, a launching pad for fresh new trends in design, food and fashion.
“CITY” is young — just five years old, circulation under 200,000.
But this year the magazine earned more than 20 awards for its innovative design and photography. It beat out hundreds of magazines, including “Martha Stewart Living,” “Vogue,” “Nest” and “Details” to capture a coveted Ellie award for Best Photography.
Sharp Right Turns
“I love being part of the generation that can produce an idea on the spot,” says “CITY” creative director Fabrice Frere from his office above the trendy Merc Bar in New York City.
“Big magazines,” he explains, “have huge budgets that we don’t have. But there’s so much discussion. What will it do? What will the purpose be? How will it make money?” Big magazines discard great ideas with a ‘Yeah, but we’ll never be able to do it.’
“Apple technology allows us to do incredible things, make these really sharp right turns and pull out the stops. So I challenge people. I say ‘Do it. Show it to me. If it works, we’ll press the upload button and it will go live.’
“I love being part of the generation that can produce an idea on the spot. So I challenge people. I say ‘Do it. Show it to me. If it works, we’ll press the upload button and it will go live.”
“Along the way I meet fantastic people who are great thinkers and make great use of the technology. I’m very lucky to work in a creative oasis like this one.”
Community of Ideas
Because Frere encourages new ideas, he’s cultivated a community of “great photographers who want to shoot for the magazine” he says. “It’s become their playground.”
When photographers shoot for big magazines, he explains, “there’s usually an art director or creative director telling them what to do. With us, they say ‘Hey I have this idea, this concept and I think it’s right for you. I understand you don’t have a lot of money to do this, but I think we can do it this way…’
“It’s the stuff they don’t get to do anywhere else.”
Denim on Fire
Frere points to a recent cover of a bathing-suit clad model, shot in soft, natural light against a frescoed wall. “That was shot in India. Do I have budgets to send people to India? No. Do I know the best Indian photographers? Yes.
“Bharat Sikka is a top-ranked photographer. He came to us and said ‘I’m going to India and I’d really like to do a fashion story for you there. I don’t usually get to shoot in my own country.”
For a multi-spread feature titled ‘Jean Pool,’ Frere asked four photographers to interpret denim. One shot a pair of jeans on fire.
“That’s probably why we got 20 awards this year,” says Frere. “There’s freshness, newness.”
