Where Did All The Crazy Go?

This past weekend I managed to carve out a few hours in my afternoon to sit down in one of SoHo's overpacked magazine shops and engulf myself in all that is the glory of fashion/art magazine publications. Much to my dismay after 120 minutes and 25 magazines later I left empty handed. There was not a single title that had me willing to dish out the $25-50 on it. Don't get me wrong, there were some that had a few GREAT images here and there, maybe even a whole story but nothing so riveting or mind-blowingly inspiring that it grabbed my heart strings and pulled.  

I know it's down season and everyone is waiting to release their best up and coming editorials for the September issues but I couldn't help but find my mind wondering where did all the crazy go? Where is our Avedon or Vreeland? Sometimes I feel like I am looking at the same editorial over and over again with the same formula of model in studio, pose like this, look bored like that, have perfectly manicured nails and don't show enough emotion that you look vulnerable, only admired and revered for your exquisite but ultimately arbitrary beauty. These can all be great components to a stunning story of course but I feel like we are not pushing our photographers enough to step out of the box in terms of what we are willing to print in our magazines. 

I know for a fact that there are challenging, exciting and crazy stories being created every day but the issue that is at hand is not the lack of creativity in our industry but the lack of platform for it in our publications. If we consider fashion magazines to be containing the best of the best then why do I feel so often that I'm looking at merely commercial after commercial vs. art work after art work?

Perhaps I'm being too harsh, it doesn't all suck and it would be totally unfair to make such suggestions. There is magic out there to be consumed. I just feel like maybe we need to create a new platform for the totally crazy, wild, uninhibited, ruthlessly ferocious and miserably vulnerable artists that keep getting denied the attention they deserve because their work doesn't fit within the ridiculously unrealistic and extremely dull vision of what "high-fashion" is at this current stand point. 

Just a thought, take it or leave it. Comment if you really care enough to share your two sense.