Hasta La Ideas

HERSELF magazine is biannual fashion magazine with a difference: every image (including every single ad for brands such as Gucci, Jil Sander, Givenchy etc) is illustrated. We talked to its art director to try and find out a little more…

“HERSELF celebrates the staggering power of fashion, the beauty and seasonality of its clothes, the overwhelming status of brands, the never ending fascination with celebrity and icons,” says Thorbjørn Ankerstjerne, the magazine’s art director.

“It consists of 248 entirely illustrated pages which allows us to break boundaries of time and space, travelling everywhere,” Ankerstjerne continues. “We talk to legends and fairytale princesses as we recognise in them the contemporary taste for endless possibilities.”

And so it is that in the pages of HERSELF, fiction and reality blur and we find actress Kristen Stewart pictured next to Disney’s Snow White (as on the cover, top most image), Cleopatra next to Elizabeth Taylor, and Kirsten Dunst next to Marie Antoinette. There’s even  fashion stories starring such cartoon characters as Pocahontas and the Little Mermaid modelling clothes and jewellery.

Yes, that really is Princess Jasmine from Disney’s Aladdin (above) and Pocahontas, below.

So who does all the illustration? “Lula and her small team,” is the response from Ankerstjerne. Lula (no surname) is listed in the magazine as editor in chief and creative director, but just who is Lula? We visited the editor’s blog at lula-thesubjectiknowbest.blogspot.co.uk which showcases images of an illustrated female character “on shoots” with various other, er illustrated characters…

Is Lula a fictional editor character created by Ankerstjerne?  “No,” says Ankerstjerne, “she is a very real creative director and editor in our HERSELF world.”

After our exchange, the only thing we’re certain of here at CR is that Ankerstjerne is playing his cards close to his chest. We tried one more question: does HERSELF have to get express permission from all the fashion brands that advertise in the magazine to create illustrated versions of them? “All the brands that we featured in the magazine, they all love it,” comes the reply.

To attempt to find out more, visit herselfmagazine.com

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