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The Face magazine had a revolutionary impact on contemporary culture. The legendary “style bible” launched in 1980 was known for its bold design, iconic covers and trailblazing photography.
As Sabina Jaskot-Gill, curator of The Face Magazine: Culture Shift at the National Portrait Gallery, observes, the Face was “not just documenting the contemporary cultural landscape, but playing a vital role in inventing and reinventing it”. This capacity to both document and actively shape cultural movements highlights the magazine’s enduring influence.
Art director Phil Bicker explains how the Face was “a catalyst that challenged and changed broader culture,” pioneering an approach that democratised information, anticipated cultural trends and inspired its readers. This ability to forge, rather than simply reflect shifts in music, fashion and youth culture, underscores why the Face remains so influential today. This is particularly so in an era dominated by digital and social media.
The exhibition features prints, magazine spreads, film and music. It uses portraiture to explore how the cult publication championed innovative photography, enabling image-makers to disrupt culture and redefine the spirit of the age.
Iconic magazine covers are on show featuring the model Kate Moss, the designer Alexander McQueen, the singer Kurt Cobain, electronic duo Daft Punk and many others. Among these are lesser-known images from the magazine, some exhibited for the first time. These pictures from the Face’s vast archive represent some of the most arresting photographs in this exhibition.
As a teenager, I was obsessed with the Face, drawn to its radical style and images bursting with energy and youth. Each issue felt exciting and unpredictable. I’d tear out pages, pin them to my bedroom wall, and paste them into sketchbooks and mood boards – a practice I’ve continued throughout my career. The exhibition was a reminder of how much the magazine informed my understanding of photography before I ever picked up a camera.
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Style bible for a new generation
The Face’s founder, Nick Logan – former NME editor and Smash Hits creator – recognised a gap in the market for a monthly in which art, fashion and music converged. From its earliest issues, the Face challenged the conventions of publishing.
It combined innovative editorial strategies with cutting-edge social commentary. Writing in The Story of The Face, journalist Paul Gorman describes how the so-called “style bible” propelled cover stars into the national consciousness, becoming a must-have publication for art directors around the world.
Far from occupying the margins, it became a core reference for those tracking 1980s and 1990s fashion trends. The Face fostered a collaborative culture that elevated photographers, stylists and designers.
It also spearheaded an experimental visual storytelling that shaped fashion, music and youth culture without traditional editorial constraints. This encouraged groundbreaking approaches that infused cutting-edge fashion with the raw energy of subcultures like punk, hip-hop and acid house.
Photographer Janette Beckman recalls a 1984 shoot with rap group Run-DMC in Queens, New York. After dialling a number she had been given, she ended up at Jam Master Jay’s mother’s house and captured a portrait of the American group whose stripped-back sound was about to revolutionise hip-hop.
As rap and rave culture thrived, the magazine’s raw, black-and-white photography by Corinne Day, Glen Luchford and Juergen Teller rejected high-fashion gloss in favour of authenticity. Stylists like Melanie Ward promoted casual youth style, launching a new wave of seemingly unconventional models, including Kate Moss (“the anti-supermodel”).
Ward later revealed: “We wanted to achieve an emotional response from the models … these were not cold hard fashion photos … I remember going to appointments with my book and them saying ‘These aren’t fashion photographs, these are documentary.’”
The Face was synonymous with Britpop’s rise and the hedonism of Cool Britannia in the mid to late 1990s. A visual language, crafted by photographers and stylists, defined the look and feel of a generation.
One striking example is Juergen Teller’s 1995 snapshot of music producer Goldie, slumped on the floor of a living room beside a TV set, a stack of VHS tapes and a Roman bust. A few years later in 2001, Gemma Booth photographed Ms. Dynamite for the Face just as the British singer and rapper exploded onto the UK garage scene.
Another picture from 2003, taken by Neil Massey, shows Girls Aloud sitting in a Paris cafe during the promo tour for their song Sound of the Underground. He told me: “They’d just gone platinum yet struck me as normal girls who’d been thrust into the limelight.”
Portraits such as these encapsulate the raw, unfiltered aesthetic of the time. They are visual records of cultural shifts, documenting artists who defined their eras and paved the way for future generations.
(Re)invention in the digital age
In the 1990s and 2000s, the Face embraced the shift from analogue to digital, developing a bold, hyperreal aesthetic that pushed the boundaries of photography and design.
Under art director Lee Swillingham, photographers such as Norbert Schoerner and Inez and Vinoodh experimented with emerging digital tools like Quantel Paintbox and Photoshop, blending photography with graphic design in a cinematic, futuristic aesthetic. This era marked a return to glamour but with a high-tech, avant-garde edge that transformed photographers into image-makers.
A striking example of this digital experimentation featured in the exhibition is Sean Ellis’s The Dark Knight Returns (1998). This is a darkly menacing portrait of Alexander McQueen, styled by fashion editor Isabella Blow. The dramatic lighting and theatrical composition captured McQueen’s rebellious spirit while reflecting the Face’s evolving visual identity, merging art, fashion and technology.
In the mid‑1980s, Logan considered closing the magazine, convinced he had reached the end of an era. But it was not until 2004, amid fierce competition, declining sales and shifting ownership, that the magazine eventually ceased publication.
Despite its closure, the Face remained influential and was revived as a print-online hybrid in 2019. Building on its legacy, the magazine continues to push visual boundaries and raise up emerging image-makers.
This timely exhibition celebrates the Face’s generational impact, highlighting the importance of authenticity, human connection and the radical potential of image-making.
The Face Magazine: Culture Shift runs at the National Portrait Gallery, London, from 20 February until 18 May
James Clifford Kent does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
