Elise By Olsen's second issue of Wallet examines the contemporary fashion journalism landscape

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Last time we caught up with publisher and curator Elise By Olsen, the young visionary was launching the first issue of her second magazine, Wallet: Admins of Authority, through which she aimed to deconstruct the self-interested power structures of the fashion industry. In Wallet’s second issue, Elise turns her critical eye on the “Pioneers of Publishing”, examining contemporary fashion magazines, evaluating the state of fashion journalism today and reflecting on the impact these publications have on their readers.

“Magazines have power, be it intellectual, social or educational; setting agendas, forming opinions and giving directions. They are an alchemy of words and images that serve as an indication of our current times. In this issue of Wallet, we decided to look into the evolution of fashion press, and the mechanisms that lie within,” Elise tells us. To better understand the inner workings of the fashion publishing industry’s most influential magazines, Elise interviewed three figures at the heart of it all; Isabella Burley, editor-in chief of Dazed and Confused; Nick Knight, director of SHOWstudio; and Joerg Koch, editor-in-chief of 032c and Ssense. Through her interviews, Elise looks at how each individual is shaking up the publishing industry and what they imagine the future of magazines might look like.

Whereas Wallet: Admins of Authority could have been considered a much-needed critique of the fashion industry’s power-holders, the second issue is a celebration of the important interdisciplinary conversations contemporary magazines can foster. “With this visual conversation we hope to enhance the collective effort of publishing, while shining a light on the individuals,” Elise says. “We have given fashion workers we admire, who also use publishing as a medium, the opportunity to contribute facsimiles from their own publications. This includes lookbooks, catalogues, magazines, and so on.” These visuals have been compiled into a mag-within-a-mag across 20 pages of Wallet: Pioneers of Publishing. The contributors include the likes of Acne Paper, Alyx, Vivienne Westwood, Jacquemus, Kiko Kostadinov and Telfar.

“Every issue of Wallet is treated as its own separate publication, as holistic conversations on specific themes, although the frames and format we work within are the same; I believe in continuity. Wallet starts off with our Prelude, then our Text Conversation, followed by our Visual Conversation and finishes with our Postlude,” the young editor explains. Wallet is refreshing in its inquisitive approach to fashion journalism; it doesn’t report on the industry’s ever-changing trends and fads, but rather investigates why they have come about and how they might impact us. In the era of information, such critical filters feel more valuable than ever.