
The year 2020 has indeed been a year of innovation and new definitions. Travel happens through Instagram, AirBnb stands for escape, and our needs are more than likely answered by way of a plain brown box. We are craving surprises in this season of sameness.
The fashion industry, grounded by Covid, jumped into the game, and sent out delightful boxes full of whimsy and wit to their front row fans, providing color commentary for shows now delivered digitally. Next up might just be magazines. Julia Ragolia has recently launched a deeply experiential product she calls: “______ is fun”, a media concept that serves to complement the new shift to slow fashion and one that suggests the reader savor – and share – the delights it offers.
The product itself is a limited edition sleek polycarbonate box, filled with an array of magazines in different shapes and sizes, fold-out posters, stickers and other items. The format isn’t the only unconventional element of the project. The magazine cannot be bought. The first 300 readers, selected by Ragolia and her collaborators, will receive it for free this month. They, in turn, will each select someone to add to the distribution list and receive the second issue as a gift, so the audience for each successive issue will grow.
“It’s a little bit of a redefinition of luxury in the sense that it’s not based on access, or what’s in one’s pocket,” Ragolia said. “It’s based on sharing.” We sense a foreshadowing of thing to come across many high-end industries.
(The first edition has no advertisements but was underwritten by Hermès.)