Olivier Zahm Quotes

Publishing magazines costs a lot of money and people don't read magazines anymore, they're all captivated by Instagram. I have to reinvent myself every season to keep the interest of the reader. Twenty-five years later, my mission is the same: Captivating the readers, not flattering the industry.

There are so many possibilities around what a magazine should be today. I still believe in the printed object because, for me, print is memory. This is my main message for this 25th anniversary issue.

Sven Schumann did an interview with photographer Wolfgang Tillmans in Berlin addressing the question: What is photography today when everyone is a photographer? These kinds of questions and answers you find in a magazine, on paper and not on Instagram. For me this is the essence of a magazine - it's questioning what's going on today and celebrating true creativity without compromise.

For me, the Internet is the opposite of memory; the Internet is amnesia, it's about today and tomorrow is another day. Printed issues are about recording time, leaving a trace and making it relevant.

Everyone is scared of having a free sexual life and what they do is go on the Internet and masturbate. This is the pure sexual misery today. They don't even go to the movie theater like in the '70s.

The reason I introduced sex - or erotic imagery - to Purple is not only because I don't want sex to be hidden but because also I consider it as an extension of fashion, the way the body expresses seduction and beauty. It's very artificial to put sex in a ghetto. Plus, sex sells.

You don't understand, photography is not about getting the right picture, it's about documenting your everyday life.

I consider that sex is part of life as much as architecture, fashion, art or food. Sex is life, simple. And I refuse to consider that sex should be hidden. When you hide sex, problems start because sex becomes dangerous.