MAKING MAGAZINE MAGIC.
The cover concept behind this year's "Reasons to Love New York" issue: What if we rounded up like 72 really cool New Yorkers who are kicking ass right now and got them all crossing each other on the same street corner? Last Monday morning, we took over Little West 12th street right outside Hector's Diner, perched Pelle Cass atop the highline with his camera and tripod, and got to work. This composite image — made after 10,912 clicks of the shutter — was the result.
I love this cover because it communicates a truth about New York, which is that, really, there is no place better to be than the street. That's where everybody is, and you never know who you might bump into. What other city — what other magazine? — would, or could, give you, on the same corner, Julia Fox and Jerry Nadler? Chuck Schumer and Thom Browne? Maggie Haberman and Mario Carbone and Marilyn Minter?
This was all whipped up by our highbrow-brilliant photo czar,
@jodyquon , and her crack team. They let me join their cool photo editor gang for the week, to help wrangle and produce. We had so much fun directing all the cover stars which way to cross and when (never imagined I'd be telling Linda Evangelista how to walk...) but also observing the subjects in the wild and with one another. Em Rata and Justin Theroux both brought their pooches. (I pet both. I think his was cuter.) Corn Kid melted everyone's hearts. Wayne Diamond obsessed over Julia. Jean-Georges rolled up in a murdered out G-Wagon. Padma Lakshmi prowled like an ocelot. Spike Lee showed up at the crack of dawn.
The issue hits newsstands today. Go buy it, hold it an inch from your face, squint to see who you can spot, then read it cover-to-cover and feel grateful and assured that, yes, we really do live in the best city in the world.🗽
