Black models, foreign films, queer culture – how the Face shaped me as a young man | Marc Thompson

The Face was like a cool, older teenager who invited you into a sexy new world where fashion, music and design fused to create a revolutionary culture.

As a young Black gay man, that invitation meant everything.

The magazine opened a window into London ’s arts, music, clubbing, queer and fashion scene.

It also pioneered playing around with gender representation putting men into leather skirts with combat boots.

The pursuit of clicks means magazines, with their additional digital presence, are now doomed to follow trends rather than set them. However, the preservation of definitive print products feels vital when our culture is dominated by an online world in which our attention is infinitely split and an identity is hard to establish. Perhaps I’ll go out and buy a copy again, even if I won’t have the foggiest what anything in there means any more. - Marc Thompson is a queer archivist and the lead commissioner of the London HIV Prevention Programme .