Fucking Young! began as an inspirational platform focusing on youthful aesthetics. A decade of consistently championing the new and emerging has cemented its status in the pantheon of ongoing relevancy to readers and brands alike. We spoke to Eduardo García, its founder and director.
“I’m gay. I am not hiding. I’m happy. This inevitably is reflected in my tastes. FY! is nothing more than a reflection of our tastes and intuitions. Giving visibility to the LGTBIQ+ collective is important to me. It is part of who I am.”
Fucking Young! is keenly alert to the thrill of the new and finely attuned to youth culture and trends. Almost everyone in your most recent issue is a new name to us rather than a rehashed, ubiquitous one. How important is championing your contemporaries rather than the establishment?
Our philosophy for the 12 years we’ve been in existence is to ‘support the new’. Now it seems that even the big publications have realized this from their privileged place; they must support and care for the new generation. But this was not always the case… and sometimes it is impossible to appear in the media, whether you are a new brand, a little-known photographer, an emerging artist, a stylist taking your first steps. Magazines like ours have that mission, we are what we are thanks to young talent.
The luxury brands, established designers, or big photographers who collaborate with us are, in some way, actually helping the rest of the young brands that appear on our platform.
Obviously, collaborating with artists like Pierre and Gilles, Mariano Vivanco, or Nicola Formichetti, is part of our history. But it is even more special to be the first to commission a project from young talent Filip Custic.
How significant is the queer sensibility in your aesthetic? There is often a homoerotic undercurrent to your shoots. Is this a conscious decision? How has it evolved in recent years?
I’m gay. I am not hiding. I’m happy. This inevitably is reflected in my tastes. FY! is nothing more than a reflection of our tastes and intuitions. Giving visibility to the LGTBIQ+ collective is important to me. It is part of who I am.
When FY! started in 2010, nobody paid much attention to men’s fashion at the time. And when I say men’s fashion, I mean this new masculinity of gender fluid, queer, different. I believe that magazines like Fucking Young! have helped young people to have new references, to open their minds, to free themselves in fashion and arts… and to know that not all men models need to be like those who appear in obsolete sexist magazines such as GQ or Esquire.
You seamlessly ran a wonderful advertorial shoot for Tommy Jeans in your current issue – did you assume complete control over this? How do you negotiate that sweet spot between financial sustainability and editorial integrity? How did it work in this instance?
All the brands that collaborate with us in advertorial stories give us total freedom. We share the general concept of the issue and they share with us the collection they want to promote. The next thing is that they receive the photos.
We take care in choosing the creative team, casting, location but all of it is our decision. If these brands want to produce some images, they already have their own teams. If they want to appear on FY!, it’s because they want something new, different, fresh, with our aesthetics; they have to let us take care of everything.
How does the print edition of Fucking Young! live alongside and complement your online existence?
The print magazine gives you the opportunity to get into someone’s house and be on their shelf for years. This is magic. You can look at the magazine again five years later and continue to be inspired, or see how things have changed.
Digital gives you the opportunity to be immediate and global. But the print edition gives us the opportunity to do bigger projects. In some ways, printing is still a bit more romantic. But print could not live without digital.
How do you navigate the world of social media – do you have a ‘strategy’ and what are the challenges of pursuing one as an influential brand as opposed to a so-called influencer?
Social media is the most important vehicle right now. It would be foolish not to use it. Sometimes it is difficult because we are saturated with so much information, algorithms, promotions but our only strategy is to try to share our own quality content, and use it as a platform to help others to grow.
What would you say to a designer/photographer/stylist in Dublin who would love to get their work published in Fucking Young!? Are there basic guidelines they need to be alert to before reaching out to you?
It is as easy as sending us an email with a preview of your portfolio, an idea or proposal and our team will assess if we can work together. There are no guidelines, sometimes is just a matter of intuition.
You are based in Barcelona – how has the city dealt with the pandemic? What positives do you hope will emerge in its post-Covid iteration? How could this impact Fucking Young!?
Luckily, in our team, families, and friends, we have not had any positives. Barcelona, like the rest of the world, has been closed and it has been agonizing not being able to travel abroad. The wait has been long, but it seems that everything is gradually returning to normal. We have seen our advertising budgets reduced, but we are a very small team and we have not had the need to fire anyone. Most of us are freelancers, the print magazine and the web have continued to be published normally.
What are the essential mags you always keep an eye on and what are the curveball titles?
I have been following Luca Guarini’s work at DUST for a long time, we have a similar vision.
I was surprised by a new Paris magazine titled Month Day Year (MDY) – very ambitious, at the moment you can only see his debut issue.
You also have to keep an eye on Buffalo Zine (featured in Magnified, 160), which is also by a Spanish creative team but is based in the UK.
Can you tell us what you have planned for issue 18, your spring/summer one?
We have Conan Gray photographed by Tommy Dorfman wearing Lacoste on the cover. I’ve admired Conan for a while. He is so cute.
His songs accompanied me during the last summer and I can spend hours looking at his Instagram feed. I am very happy to collaborate with him. Also, we have had a very special relationship with Lacoste for many years and it has been great to have them on this production.
The issue concept is Green Rush. We talk about sustainability, nature, weeds…
Thank you! <3
Words: Michael McDermott
Fucking Young! #18 Green Rush is out now, €15
