KNOTORYUS Talks To Alexander Fury About LOVE, Self-Conscious Design And RuPaul's Drag Race

Last week I instagrammed the cover of a The Face from December 1998. Immediately someone commented: "I believe Luella Bartley reviewed the London shows in this one!". I wasn't surprised that person was LOVE magazine editor, Alexander (or Alex) Fury. With a fashion knowledge so profound it spans several centuries, Fury has the uncanny ability to reference the designer, art, season, film or television show a collection is inspired on when the models have only just rounded the corner at the end of the runway. He never forgets anything, not even an article printed almost 15 years ago. After 5 years of being fashion director at Nick Knight's SHOWstudio, Fury was appointed editor of LOVE magazine last year, both online as in print. He also still works as a creative consultant for the talented designer Mary Katrantzou. With the new issue fresh off the presses, KNOTORYUS thought it'd be great to catch up with him.

Kate Moss by Mert & Marcus for LOVE n°9

KNOTORYUS : I remember you talking about your love for the Bottega Veneta SS'01 campaign shot by Sølve Sundsbø with creative direction from Katie Grand a few years ago. How was it working with both of them on the latest issue of Love?

Alex Fury : Incredibly inspiring. That's a succinct summary.

KNOTORYUS : What project at Love are you most proud of?

Alex Fury : Interviewing Peggy Moffitt - I'm not sure I'm 'proud' of it, so much as amazed by it. It was kind of a dream come true.

Peggy Moffitt by Tim Walker for LOVE n°9

KNOTORYUS : What did you think of the AW'13 shows so far, who are you most excited about?

Alex Fury : Of the menswear shows, I was impressed with JW Anderson in London, and in a very different way I loved Prada and Raf Simons. JW Anderson was impressive because of its statement of fashion over clothes, something Anderson is terribly conscious of doing. Sometimes that self-consciousness can be slightly irritating in a fashion designer, but he walked the tightrope with aplomb. The opposite was true of Prada and Simons: their shows, for me, were about clothes and not fashion. These were garments to be taken at face value. It was about wearing them, not creating a look. And after menswear being so very, very self-conscious of its status as 'image', the simple act of making a really good coat seems slightly radical. It got me thinking, at least. And that's what I like in my fashion. Also, I'm excited to see Mary Katrantzou. I always am.

AW'13 JW Anderson

KNOTORYUS : What was your favourite era in fashion and why?

Alex Fury : I can find something to get excited over in just about every era. I'm a fan of bias-cut hose in the fourteenth and fifteenth century at the moment. And early nineties Westwood. 'Dressing Up' and 'Always On Camera' are personal favourites. Lurex pectoral-pads and all.

AW'92 Vivienne Westwood 'Always on Camera' by Gilles Bensimon for ELLE

KNOTORYUS : One of my earliest fashion memories was at age seven, seeing Björk in McQueen on the cover of her album Homogenic. I didn't know back then who Nick Knight was, but I was absolutely petrified yet so enthralled by that picture. What is your first memory of a Nick Knight photo?

Alex Fury : God. Probably Nick's Yohji catalogues from the eighties (seen, I hasten to add, slightly later by me as a teenager in the nineties). Those images are still extraordinary, and inspiring, and a great many are unsurpassed.

Björk in '97 by Nick Knight

AW'86 Yohji Yamamoto catalogue by Nick Knight

KNOTORYUS : What is the most valuable lesson you've learned after working with Nick for 5 years?

Alex Fury : Nick's search for beauty is incredible. It's a quest that reminds me of nineteenth century aesthetes. It's the idea of being able to find beauty everywhere, of searching for the pinnacle of beauty in every object. It may not be a conventional idea of beauty, but it's about pushing to find perfection. That embodies Nick's approach to image-making.

KNOTORYUS : You used to be an investment banker, what was your last big investment and why did you make it?

Alex Fury : I invested a great deal of time in the latest issue of LOVE. And that's probably the most valuable thing of all.

KNOTORYUS : What is your biggest pet peeve?

Alex Fury : I have many: chewing-gum, people with a lack of spatial awareness, general rudeness, public transport, British weather, French waiters, Italian traffic, American customs. Not necessarily in that order. And that's definitely not a definitive list...

KNOTORYUS : Speaking of pets, how are you dealing with the recent discovery that your bunny Latrice is gender fluid?

Alex Fury : She's taking it one day at a time. Miss Latrice is still large and in charge. And she's still a she.