The Story of the Face by Paul Gorman review – the original purveyor of cool

the style magazine the Face celebrated its 100th issue in triumphal fashion. There was an elaborate fold-out cover, essays by star writers such as Nick Kent and Julie Burchill and fashion stories by leading photographers including Mario Testino and Nick Knight, their contributions all testament to the magazine’s dazzling international profile. “Every art director in New York and Tokyo has to have the Face now,” declared cultural commentator Peter York. “Magazine of the decade,” the publication itself trumpeted on the cover.

Behind the scenes the mood was less bullish. The magazine’s founder and editor, Nick Logan, was considering ceasing publication, out of concern that a second 100 issues might not match the quality of the first. Logan eventually relented. But the fact that he contemplated closing down the title at the height of its fortunes is a telling insight into his high standards. It’s also an indication of why, 13 years after its eventual demise in 2004, the Face retains a reputation as one of the most influential magazines in British publishing history.

Logan started the title in 1980 with £3,500 in savings. As a former editor of the NME and the creator of Smash Hits, he had an impressive pedigree. But the Face was something entirely new to the high street – a publication that merged the DIY ethos of punk with the high production values of Vogue and the literary-minded reflections on music and pop culture of Rolling Stone. The success of the title sent a shockwave through print media as newspapers and magazines rushed to catch up with the innovations in design and subject matter pioneered by the upstart title.

In The Story of the Face, Paul Gorman argues that, as the first ever lifestyle magazine, the title also changed culture itself. Spurred on by an evolving cast of young contributors, many of whom would go on to become leading names in journalism, graphic design, fashion and photography, the magazine chased down new underground scenes with voracious eagerness. With each nascent movement – New Romantic, grunge, acid house, rave, trip-hop and Britpop – there came new stars for the magazine to champion on its cover: Boy George, Sade, Soul II Soul, Kate Moss, Kurt Cobain, Alexander McQueen, Björk, Oasis, Missy Elliott.

The pity about Gorman’s book is that it falls short of capturing the sense of delight and discovery that propelled the title from issue to issue. At 342 pages, it is compendious and meticulously researched, yet ultimately workmanlike in delivery.

It’s said that, in politics, you campaign in poetry and govern in prose. In a similar way, Gorman’s history of the magazine dwells on the mundane stuff of personnel changes and publication deadlines rather than the way the title came to reflect the aspirations and oppositions of modern Britain from the start of the Thatcher era to the latter days of New Labour.

Personally, I could have done with fewer accounts about contractual negotiations with the distributor or Logan’s monthly trips to the printer in Caerphilly.

Then again, I’m probably biased. I spent my teenage years reading the Face and my 20s as a senior editor there, before running its sister title, Arena. I think of my time on the magazine as a fever dream of hard work and constant discovery. The long hours and late nights paled beside the thrill of tracking new sounds and styles as they emerged around the world. It felt, hubristically, like being at the centre of things and the sensation was exhilarating.

The book that the magazine deserves is one that’s as adventurously designed and inspiring to read as the title itself. Anything less falls short of the publication’s own standards. It’s a story of the Face. But it’s not the story.

• The Story of the Face by Paul Gorman is published by Thames & Hudson (£34.95). To order a copy for £29.71 go to guardianbookshop.com or call 0330 333 6846. Free UK p&p over £10, online orders only. Phone orders min p&p of £1.99