And we’re back! Today marks the launch of the 16th issue of Hunger magazine – our Speak Your Truth issue – an issue focussing on tastemakers across film, music, fashion, art and photography that are breaking boundaries and going the extra mile to spread their truth and messages of positivity in tumultuous times. Here are ten reasons why you need to get your hands on it.
Our cover stars
Our first cover star is Yara Shahidi, the new voice of a generation and star of the small and silver screen, next to be seen in upcoming film The Sun is Also a Star. In this issue of Hunger we shoot Yara in a Chanel special editorial in Los Angeles and talk gender politics and the responsibility of power in our revealing interview.
Next up on the cover is another burgeoning voice of a generation – model and trans right activist Maxim Magnus shot in an empowering fashion editorial by photographer Benjamin Madgwick.
Our final two covers celebrate the diversity of beauty – one a Chanel beauty special and the other an intimate shot of model Gideon Allen by South African photographer Travys Owen.
Yara Shahidi schools us
Shot in LA by Jamie Nelson Yara Shahidi schools us on gender politics and how to be a boss, all while dressed in head to toe Chanel. One of her pearls of wisdom from her revealing and powerful interview? “It’s undeniable that how I manoeuvre is deeply affected by being black and Iranian. There isn’t any day in which I get up and just exist.”
Charles Melton opens up
Star of Riverdale and the soon to be released The Sun Is Also A Star, Charles Melton gets real with us. Photographed by Max Montgomery on the streets of LA, Charles tells us why his latest role has an important resonance for our present day and why if we can believe in anything now, it should be the power of love.
Maxim Magnus is a force
Maxim Magnus is one powerful woman. And in this issue, which also marks the model and trans rights activist’s first cover – we get a glimpse of just that. Shot by Benjamin Madgwick and styled by Kim Howells Maxim described this editorial as “100% her”. Check it out.
Alex Prager is our awesome guest art editor
“I love that everyone feels something different from what they’re seeing depending on who they are and what they’ve been through up until the moment they meet my photographs,” says Los Angeles-based artist and photographer Alex Prager, who acts as this issue’s guest art editor. Find out more about her surrealist, foreboding work in the issue.
Go Your Own Way celebrates truth in fashion
Our collections story this issue is a little different. Yes, you’ll still see all of the top fashion houses most epic pieces from the season, but we’ve also included some of our favourite emerging designers – from Roberta Einer to Nabil Nayal.
Fashion forecasts an uncertain future
Oh the irony. Could this shoot come at a more apt time? Kim Howells, Stevie Westgarth and Aleks Kingo team up for an accessories shoot like you’ve never seen before. Blame it on the weatherman. if only…
Rankin is inspired by artists of the past
Rankin always shoots a next level beauty editorial for Hunger, but this issue he may just have outdone himself. As a mediation on facial filters and how social media is homogenising beauty, Rankin instead looks to great artists of the past who manipulated our features using just a paintbrush.
Lawrence Schiller breaks down our obsession with crime
Photographer, director, writer, hustler – Lawrence Schiller has done it all. Most famous for his notorious nude shots of Marilyn Monroe weeks before her death, here the photographer discusses the other side of his work – his prolific criminology portfolio. Having been involved in cases ranging from the assassination of JFK to OJ Simpson to the still unsolved murder of child beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey, Schiller discusses his proximity to crime and his thoughts on why as a culture we can’t help but be obsessed with anti-social behaviour.
Hunger 16, Speak Your Truth, is out today, sold in all good newsagents and online here.
