A new book charting the history of The Face magazine since its launch in 1980 and featuring some of its most iconic cover stars has just landed on our desk and we can’t get enough of it.

They were the images that defined a generation and the iconic portraits that made The Face  magazine such a trail-blazing publication back in the eighties, nineties and noughties.

Sade 1984 cover © Jamie Morgan

And now following the success of a three-month long exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, showcasing more than 200 prints by over 80 photographers, a stunning new book capturing those images and the stories behind them is now available to buy.

The Face Magazine: Culture Shift explores the impact the magazine had on British culture over three decades and is the first of its kind to focus on the portraiture and fashion photography that made it such a phenomenon in the publishing world.

Included in the hardcover catalogue are portraits of iconic stars including Kate Moss, Annie Lennox, Kurt Cobain, Iggy Pop, Snoop Dogg, David Bowie, Ewan McGregor, Madness, The Sex Pistols, and Kylie Minogue.

Kylie Minogue © Norbert Schoerner

It features the voices of some of the key contributors to the magazine and celebrates the ongoing legacy of the magazine’s imagery in British art, design and culture while at the same time showcasing striking portrait photographs from the likes of Miles Aldridge, Elaine Constantine, Corinne Day, David LaChapelle and Juergen Teller, alongside selected covers from the print magazine.

When the Face magazine launched in 1980, it quickly garnered a cult following. Founded by the British music journalist Nick Logan, the magazine used bold typography, raw and immediate photography, and cultivated an ‘authentic’ aesthetic that was a stark contrast to its fashion rivals.

Madonna © Jean Baptiste

The art direction was fresh; staff were encouraged to take risks and it sparked the careers of big-name photographers such as Corinne Day (who famously captured a 16-year-old Kate Moss on the cover of the magazine in 1990).

A reaction against the airbrushed perfection of 80s fashion photography, the Face showcased a natural, effortless and undone kind of beauty and it became not only the bible of cool to appear in, but also to be seen reading.

It introduced its audience to underground music, fashion and subversive ideas that no other publication was covering and all before the rise of the internet and the birth of social media, The Face could connect you to other like-minded individuals in a way that felt special.

Those were the days when photographers and journalists got together to create magazines they would want to read themselves, raising just enough money to go to print once a month and as one of the many quotes accompanying the photos in the exhibition reads: “Nobody worked for The Face for the money, you did it because you believed in the magazine and for the creative freedom that came with that belief”

Kate Moss © Glen Luchford

The names of many of the photographers and stylists credited in the book are as recognisable today as the models they worked with.

Fashion and style photography crossed over into the worlds of advertising and fine art, all growing up together and sharing a desire for authenticity and for capturing the zeitgeist.

During the 80s, the magazine’s power to promote music talent from unknown faces to turbocharging careers was on the rise and it was soon proclaiming itself ‘The world’s best dressed magazine.’

The fashion trends that featured were radical and it had the power to elevate its often unknown cover stars into the spotlight with its edgy approach and radical style.

As photography evolved in the 90s from analogue to digital formats, The Face was once again at the forefront of exploring the creative potential of new image manipulation programs, which resulted in bold, colourful and ‘hyperreal’ images, which pushed fashion photography in a new direction – a return to glamour, but with a contemporary twist.

Innovation was spearheaded by the magazine’s new Art Director, Lee Swillingham (one of the co-curators of the exhibition), who recognised that advances made in digital post-production technology offered photographers more creative potential.

Digital technologies shifted the photographer’s role from image-taker to image-maker, and rather than capturing a single decisive moment, the photograph became the starting point from which to manipulate an image, visualise a concept and build a narrative.

ANDRÉ 3000 © James Dimmock

The Face ceased publication in 2004, but 15 years later, the publication was relaunched in print and online, returning to a radically altered publishing landscape. Navigating this new terrain, The Face has continued Logan’s original vision for a disruptive, creative and inclusive magazine, championing fresh talent in photography, fashion, music and graphic design, and the book closes with work from this new chapter.

Sabina Jaskot-Gill, Senior Curator of Phoptographs at the National Portrait Gallery commented: “The Face has been a trailblazing title since 1980, not just documenting the contemporary cultural landscape, but playing a vital role in inventing and reinventing it. Within its pages, The Face has produced some of the most innovative fashion and portrait photography of its time – the magazine always allowed its contributors the creative freedom to react against the prevailing mood, to create a shift in culture. I’m delighted we were able to bring together the most comprehensive survey of the magazine’s photographic imagery to life at the exhibition and in this fascinating book.”