Sam Scott Schiavo: This is CLIENT - exclusive interview

1 - CLIENT presents itself as an avant-guarde and sophisticated magazine, how can you achieve it?

Honestly there are many new independent magazines catering to the young , we try to be different by choosing photographers that have an original vision of today's fashion and male beauty that capture the moment.
Our all Black & White format printed on recycled paper lends to a striking, retro almost scrapbook like intimacy.

2 - What makes CLIENT interesting to the reader?

Casting is important, be it a new face or supermodel, we want every editorial feature to tell a story and choosing the right model is like a director choosing an actor for his film, it's a kip all working together to make CLIENT stand apart. As CLIENT grows we will be doing more and more interviews with personalities in the arts, fashion and cinema that we feel our readers would find interesting, CLIENT is not just a mass of photos but also content. The Issue #1 of Client was very well received, this gave both the Editor-in-Chief Ian Cole and I great encouragement to push even harder to development Issue #2 with stronger imagery and content.


3 - What kind of man is the one presented by CLIENT, and how do you think that modern men can relate to him?

CLIENT has a wider range than many of the other magazines, yes ... there are the younger street toughs, skaters and dandies mixed with beefcake and in future issues there are also many icons of the modeling industry featured , I can not name names as we want to keep the surprises a surprise! We are truly covering a variety of age groups but all united in that they are modern , have distinct presence and have something to say as we hope our readership both male and female are enthused as we are about our project.

4 - Is CLIENT meant to be a sectorial magazine, or are you planning to make it more commercial?

CLIENT will remain independent, following our own individual path, Ian Cole is of a different generation than me, so often we see things from two completely different directions, which makes for some very interesting discussions yet in the end we tend to agree. Client will have it's niche and hopefully be commercially successful at the same time remaining true to our original ideas.

5 - Real beauty is so difficult to be portraited. Do you think that CLIENT is reaching the goal?

There are so many opinions to what male beauty comprises, in CLIENT we have many various attributes of these but our definition like our magazine will always be focused on the real, the natural, the spontaneous not relying on post production. True beauty that speak for itself.

6 - How fashion influences CLIENT photoshoots?

We are modern with an appreciation for the past, all our photographic contributors have their individual style. I think the photographer and the model are perhaps what influence fashion. There is nothing worse then someone who does something or wears something only because they believe it is fashionable.


7 - What are the ispirations behind your photoshoots? Are they connected to art?

I am influenced very much by cinema of the past, Neo Realismo and Film Noir, but also my growing up in the early 60's and 70's have influenced often how I see a scene or image, how I want it styled or shot, I recall from my childhood memories.
I have my favorite artists also, Francis Bacon and Basquiat but I think the most influential to my work have been the directors Visconti , Rossellini, Pasolini and Godard. I thank them each day for their great body of works.

8 - Is the black and white printing a choice of tradition or is it due to something else?

I have always preferred B&W, I only recently started to shoot digital, so my true love is analogue film. When Ian invited me to collaborate first as a photographer than as an editor, knowing that the whole issue would be only in black and white, I was more than thrilled at the thought. Ian is also a fan of B&W and the retro, so we found this common bond.

9 - Do you think that the peculiarity of CLIENT could make it an alternative to the male fashion magazine as "L'UOMO"?

Certainly, before I ever came to Europe I knew men's fashion through the pages of L'UOMO VOGUE before I could even pronounce it's title correctly, back in the 80's it was like a Bible, huge, full of fantastic advertising, the best models, the best locations, the best styling, the best photographers, it was AMAZING! Now ... I don't even know anyone who buys it, it's thin, little advertising, and consider it of little interest to young or old. I hope someday, their format changes and it once again obtains the glory that it once held. Besides the beautiful Vogue Hommes International, Fantastic Man and Arena Homme + there are many newer magazines that I consider very good men's fashion magazines, many are newer independent publications and firmly believe that print magazines are NOT dead!






interview by Elisa Sedoni