A little bit of trumpet blowing...

It's hard to do something well in New Zealand, to believe your are as good as anyone in the world, to have big dreams, and still live in New Zealand. Ask Graham Henry. Ask Peter Jackson. Ask NO Magazine. We briefly saw the new issue of NO today and it is fantastic, as each issue of the fledgling magazine has been. It isn't easy to publish a quality fashion and culture magazine in this country when the prevailing influences are: television, trends, rambunctious commerce and the hand-me-down edicts of other cultures which are fed to the unsuspecting populace like baby food. If you are going to do something outside of the New Zealand Square, you must think outside that square, and the good people of NO are. Here at Black we have also followed that vision from day one so we appreciate seeing it in others. You have to believe, almost blindly, in this country - and with Issue 11 we feel we are now getting the response that we have sought for so long. Since the release of Black issue 11 we have been humbled by the international response and (continued) posts on sites like Fashion Gone Rogue, The Fashionisto, F-Tape and Models.com among many, many more - it makes it all worth while. It's deeply rewarding for us, our contributors and we hope it will be inspiration for our friends at NO. Just do it. So that's our trumpet blown, we're hard out on Issue 12 and it's all just getting better...Grant & Rach x

Get on the ModaCYCLE

Karen Walker S/S 2010 Image: Frida Henry

ModaCYCLE is an international fashion site which offers alternative coverage of developing and established designers from around the world, including our own Karen Walker (above). The site has been created by a group of fashion photographers who "wanted more out of the industry in which they work" and showcases a high standard of catwalk photography. Editor Charles Beckwith is well aware of the bunfight photographers experience on the podium at the end of a runway when 200 snappers are vying for the same space and in many cases, the same shot, and encourages his team to think outside the square. A good example of this thinking can be seen in Sandy Ramirez's capture of the Argentinian showcase at this season's New York Fashion Week. Ramirez used a Sigma DP-2, a camera "half the size of a fist" which produces images "big enough to print on a door." The image below is from that showcase and features fashion by Benito Fernandez. It's refreshing to see thinking outside the very small square of the catwalk photographer's podium...

Hunterman From The Hills...

Image: Go Go Paris

...well mountainous Switzerland anyway. Swiss national Yvan Rodic started the Face Hunter blog in Paris but has since travelled the world covering street fashion from his new base in London. Face Hunter is wildly successful as a style report and broadly admired as there is no doubt the man takes a mean street pic and has an eagle eye for personal expression, oh, and he's in Auckland this week as a guest of Designer Direction and Plaything/Slam X Hype. If you don't get along to the invites-only gig and want something more than the online experience then the good news is that Thames & Hudson will be releasing a 320 page book (above) of Yvan's fashion vision in March 2010...Eye candy for the style hungry indeed.

Black 11's Internet Connection

Following our appearance on America's influential style blog Fashion Gone Rogue last week we were inundated with international visitors and curious fashonistas wanting to know more about Black from New Zealand, and Black 11 covers and/or editorial are now featured on a number of blogs around the globe. Our friends at F-Tape in London have gone a step further and published a feature on the issue which, suffice to say, we are excited about. Black 11 is on sale nationwide in NZ now, so go grab a copy!

It's A Small World

 In the past few days we've had some nice words from other bloggers liking what they see here on Blacklog, which in turn leads to us looking at their sites. Today we received an email from Venezuela, from OH! NENA, and although our Spanish is terrible we love some of the fashion and photography on their site. Interestingly, we have 364 friends from Santiago, Chile, 232 from Buenos Aires and 97 from Caracas on our Facebook page so South America beckons. We're wondering though, if the attention may have something to do with Fashion Gone Rogue...here's the OH! NENA blog. 

Vision On

Children Of Vision launched their online store this week and judging by the post (above) on the front page of influential UK fashion blog Kingdom Of Style, it had an immediate affect...

Tangential Divergence

Photography by director of Tangent Emmanuel Giraud and excellent styling by Heather Cairns

The figurative dictionary meaning of tangent; a completely different line of thought or action, is an apt description of the new online fashion magazine which launched in Sydney two nights ago. There seems to be a proliferation of online fashion mags over the ditch and this can only be a good thing. Academy For Men and now, Tangent. We know only too well what it costs to produce a big, quality-printed edition of a magazine so why not go down the path of getting as much content and concept online for far less outlay as possible? Like AFM, and locally 1am, Tangent is a good-size Issuu-powered page-turning format with some really good local fashion shoots inside that suggest style is alive and well in Australia. All-in-all, a nice new line of thought or action.