Cash, cocaine and Calvins: inside the fourth issue of Buffalo Zine

This month, fashion and arts mag Buffalo Zine (no relation to Buffalo style) returns with a fabulously retro fourth issue dubbed “the catalogue issue”. Every issue of Buffalo, the chameleon zine (or 354-page hardback book in the case of the last issue) is reinvented, meaning the Buffalo Zine logo, design and format born and die with every issue.

Buffalo’s founders Adrián González-Cohen and David Urquiza have called their brainchild “a timeless and placeless expression of art, aesthetics, youth and self-expression”. In 2011, It’s Nice That termed the publication “ambitious”. Four years later, we honed in on the lengthy production time (according to the David and Adrián the first issue took three and a half years to put together) — this was “a jewel of slow-paced publishing”. Now, just 13 months after the third issue was released, we have issue four. Adrián and David have done something of an about turn, it seems and from now on, magazine will be biannual.

Following on from issue one’s tabloid newspaper look, issue two’s double magazine (bound together with rubber bands because, why not?), and the hardboard, dust-bound issue three which served as a triumph of victorian pastiche, freshly released issue four is ‘80s themed. Of course. Buffalo’s deputy editor Liam Hess explains that the issue of “inspired visually by ’80s catalogues, infomercials and low-end gossip magazines” with themes of “consumerism, desire, shopping and collecting.”

“We call this issue ‘the catalogue issue’”, Buffalo Zine founders Adrián and David tell It’s Nice That. “The theme is inspired by a concept suggested by French philosopher Yann Dall’Aglio in his TED talk Love, You’re Doing It Wrong. We called it ‘sentimental materialism’, and basically it means that all we buy it because we’re searching for love, and we only accumulate objects in order to communicate with others.” 

Buffalo Zine’s catalogue issue runs to seven covers — four “collectable covers” and three addition “limited editions” — each with slightly different tongue-in-cheek cover lines playing on the phrasing of catalogues and weekly gossip magazines (“Investment fashion 250+ great buys”, “sexy hair or hairy sex? You can have it all!”, “Never pay full price again”, “colour flash”).

“Since the 80s we’ve probably witnessed one of the most consumption-oriented and materialistic times in history. So it’s just natural that we were inspired by this atmosphere of greed, cash, cocaine and Calvins. The cover references — totally intentionally — the International Male Catalogue that we adore,” David explains.

And with contributors including Erik Kessels, Martin Parr, Gloria Princess of Thurn and Taxis, Jeff Koons, Hans Eijkelboom, J.C de Castelbajac, André Leon Talley, Michael Landy, Maarten Van Der Horst and Oliver Hadlee Pearch though, Buffalo Zine’s fourth issue offers plenty of bang for your $$$.