Mags: The Russh School of Cool

If Russh were a finishing school for young ladies, they would receive lessons in Pop Culture History (with a focus on the 60s and 70s); Style Appreciation (know your muses); Boyfriend Dressing; Model Knowledge; Women in Music, Fashion & Film; Denimology; Geography (i.e. how to find the best nightclubs, vintage stores and music venues around the world); Illustration and Design; Street Photography; Eyeliner and Bronzer Application; Hair Psychology; Provocative Posing; Resisting Health Fads; Wearing Mohair; Catwalk Trend Spotting; and Interior Decorating For Fashionistas. And the only required reading is the latest issue (issue 22; May/June 2008).

The latest issue of the mag tagged as “Australia’s Best Fashion Magazine” is, quite possibly, one of their best yet. While the fashion spreads did nothing to inspire me (being a prude, I don’t dig overly suggestive shoots in which the models look like they’ve just participated in some illicit drug use and aspire to the party-hard/have lots of sex lifestyle reminiscent of Kate Moss’s real life; but that’s just me), I felt the features were really strong.

The health section alone is worth the $8.50 cover price. Mia Timpano’s story, The Water Myth, lays bare what I’ve long since suspected – over-consuming water, as championed by models like Elle McPherson (“I drink three litres a day”), isn’t actually helping our health or skin much. In fact, it’s just stopping us from getting some good shut-eye (the urge to pee disrupts one’s beauty sleep). In her quest to debunk the you-must-drink-two-litres-a-day water myth, Timpano consults a dermatologist (“If you are passing a lot of urine, you are probably drinking too much”), Kidney Health Australia (“From the kidney viewpoint, all fluids, including those containing caffeine, should count towards the daily fluid total”), a study by the University of Texas which found additional fluid intake won’t cause changes in ‘stool output’, Allure magazine (which says omega-3 fish oil tablets alone can soothe dry skin), and ‘beauty experts’ who recommend moisturizing damp skin and exfoliating. Timpano offers these wise words: “It is first critical to appreciate that the exterior layer of your skin is dead. It therefore cannot be saturated by water contained internally… Your outermost facial skin is largely the product of your external world – the wind, the sun, the air conditioner which modulates the temperature of the workspace or classroom into which you have snuck this magazine – and thus must be moisturised in an external fashion.” This is the kind of common sense beauty advice that a writer not conditioned to be a ‘professional beauty editor’ can espouse (and you know I have nothing against beauty eds – sometimes it just pays to step away from the product cupboard and ask questions about the legitimacy of practices we’ve come to accept as rule-of-thumb; like how we now know using toner is a bit of a crock). Thanks to Timpano, I’m going to have an unbroken night’s sleep!

The regular Simon Says… health pages are again gold. Oh, how he makes me laugh. He is the fitness expert equivalent of Carson Kressley (though, presumably, not gay). His writing is also of the no-bull variety. This month he applies his usual wit to diet and fitness fads, which “really bug” him. First up is the ab blaster (“Best way to use these things is when you get hungry, pick them up and walk 10kms with them in your hands”); next is yoga/Pilates/yoga-lates (“if your goal is weight loss, you better start doing your pilates on a mini-tramp and your yoga on a treadmill”), eating low-carb (“no starchy carbs for dinner”), boot camp (“if it hurts, pretend to be dead”), personal trainers (“if you pick a stinker you might as well spend your money on a couple of fitness DVDs and a bottle of low-carb water”) and diet pills/shakes/other shortcuts (“take a good, hard look at some of the Hollywood stars running around today, and tell me that eating nothing but pills and drinking nothing but sugar-free Red Bull and fat-free Mocha Chillers the size of your head really looks hot and healthy”). His advice: sculpt with weights, trim with cardio and keep an eye on your food – “Plain, simple and probably not going to get a front cover of the weekly tabloids for its freakiness.”

Elsewhere in the mag, we learn that model Abbey Lee carries herbal tea bags, pumpkin seeds and dried figs in her handbag; model Flavia de Oliveira keeps trim and fit by “just being happy” (annoying); riding boots, coats and clutches should be on our shopping lists; and that Karen Walker sported a blonde Agyness crop yonks before Agyness came to fame. Russh icons this month include Bebe Buell (Liv Tyler’s mummy and tireless star-shagging rock groupie; not someone I’d aspire to be like); Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth; and Peggy Lipton (beauty icon).


Garnering fashion news mentions are Theodora Richards’ 4Stroke denim label, Lee Denim, Mesop, DelForte, Dotti, Guess, Sportsgirl and C’N’C Costume National. Fashion features are also devoted to ChipChop! (Annie Fox has written about the “clever girls’ fashion brand”); Alexander Wang, who is receiving Marc Jacobs-like attention; and New York label Phi, which is moving out of obscurity.

Music pages are devoted to Liela Moss of The Duke Spirit and Zooey Deschanel (interviewed by Luke Godsell) and Pilar Arevalo introduces us to French-born, London-based illustrator Corinne Brun of getconfused.net, and also reviews the month’s book selection.

Luke Goodsell’s feature, Rebel Girls, is another worthy read. He pays tribute to the smart, sassy female misfits of film, starting with a reference to Juno before mentioning Ione Skye, Martha Plimpton, Winona Ryder and Samantha Mavis. He laments that the much-hyped Reality Bites marked the end of the bona fide rebel girl: “alternative became pop and ‘grunge’ the all-purpose catch-cry for demographic marketing… the eccentric movie teen graduated to the calculated whine of the dreaded Gen-X twentysomething.” He says it was the indie film actresses, like Juliette Lewis, Parker Posey and Thora Birch, who were left to carry the torch, while Hollywood churned out the likes of Clueless and Mean Girls. Of Juno he says, “the movie has introduced the tomboy, alternative girl for a new generation of kids.”

New columnist and modern-day rebel girl Lesley Arfin (of Dear Diary fame) was a surprise – quite the coup for Russh, given the international press Arfin scored for her edgy, cutting, tell-it-like-it-is memoir about her drug addiction. Arfin is brash, affects a casual ‘life sux’ tone and is partial to using the F-word (like her Australian counterpart, Mia Timpano) but, surprisingly, goes all girlie on us as her column takes us from her love/hate relationship with New York to her girl crush on her co-worker at The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, a clothing store specialising in jeans: “We all shop by ourselves and doubt our style. We all feel guilty over a big purchase but excited at the same time…I’m pretty psyched that every day when I go into work, New York comes right to me. And she looks amazing.”


In ‘Reel Life’ Carli Phillips traces the evolution of street-style photography. “Enabling cool yet ordinary citizens public recognition for their personal style…it is about visual delight, not aesthetic perfection,” she writes. This genre of photography owes its roots to Andy Warhol and Interview magazine, says Phillips, though “contemporary street photography really began in the 80s with youth culture magazine revolutionaries i-D and The Face.” She lists Street magazine as another turning point before looking at the most popular street style blogs, The Sartorialist, FaceHunter, StilinBerlin and their capacity to generate funds through advertising and their ability to give a global audience a glossy alternative.

The beauty section is a goodie – hair and makeup artist Sam Jackes shares her best tips (NARS bronzer; YSL Touche Eclat; “It is amazing what being happy and content can do to your skin, so keep smiling”), and the feature ‘Hair Raising Stories’, which, unfortunately, isn’t credited to a writer (particularly annoying as it’s written in the first person), talks hair psychology.

We also get an autumn/winter trend report, a glimpse into the home of Tulia Wilson, fashion director of Ksubi, and a tour of Williamsburg care of Stevie Dance, who has clearly done her fair share of shopping in NYC and its surrounds.

Altogether, a satisfying issue: particularly for the unschooled or uncool.

Overall excitement factor: 7/8
Feel-good factor: 6/7 (love the health section)
Eye-candy factor: 4 (though not loving the fashion - I'd love to see a shoot more inspired by street style and less soft-focus Playboy-style references)

The Stats
Issue: May/June 2008
Book size: 162 pages
Cover price: $8.50
Inside front cover: Sachi
Back cover: G-Star Raw
FOB ads: Hugo Boss, Diesel, Just Cavalli, Lee Jeans, VonZipper, Green With Envy, Peter Alexander, Mastercard
Editor: Natalie Shukur
Publisher: Rush Magazines and Publications

Yours truly,
Girl With a Satchel