#WhatDoYouZine? Cove is the magazine exploring alienation and promoting respect for creative labour
This is A HOT MINUTE WITH, a quick-fire interview series championing all the rising talent catapulting into fashion, art and music’s fickle stratosphere. From pinch-me moments to bad dates and even worse chat-up lines, think of it as an overindulgent conversation – like the ones you have in sticky club toilets at 4.A.M. Except these guests don’t regret the overshare…
From a degree in fashion business to Editor-In-Chief of COVE MAGAZINE, Gerardine Dempsey is using her latest issue to explore the concept of being an outsider.
Courtesy of @covemagazine
NAME GERARDINE DEMPSEY
AGE 26
LOCATION London, England
STAR SIGN Libra sun, scorpio moon, scorpio rising sun.
LIFE MANTRA Just get on with it.
May Garland: Hi Geri! Tell me about your journey to Editor-in-Chief of COVE MAGAZINE, what drew you to fashion and the publishing industry?
Gerardine Dempsey: With fashion, the interest was always there. I started with a degree in fashion business which was such a great start and gave me an understanding of the massive machine that is the fashion industry. About halfway through though I knew that business itself definitely wasn’t for me. Publications and magazines were my first introduction to design as a kid, I used to love all the layouts of the ‘90s kids magazines (and the free toys, let’s bring that back)! I knew that was the direction I wanted to head in so I started experimenting and playing around with different ideas with friends, and I put Cove together. I started it with no grand intentions but it just grew legs and wound up being an amazing networking tool and method to reach out to people I admired and a really great vehicle to try new stuff.
MG: What challenges have you faced with creating your own magazine?
GD: Some really great independent magazine shops got me over the first hurdle. There’s THE LIBRARY PROJECT and HENS TEETH in Dublin, who both gave me a shot and stocked Cove even when the first issue was very hit and miss. I think that’s always the problem at the beginning of things, you have the vision but the execution isn’t always the best. I felt like there was a lot of pressure at the beginning to try and expand and make it into more of a sustainable business, so to speak, and to really monetise it and make it bigger. Having started it out of uni I was always very keen not to be seen as student-y, and to be as professional as possible, which was an unfair level of pressure to add to something that was evolving. We never stop learning.
“I just think there's a huge lack of respect for younger and newer people to the industry, where the idea of the constant hustle and always being busy is glamourised and turns overtime into the expected method of working.”
I felt like I needed to focus on the digital side and make it into like a fully functioning, fully fledged website and content creation platform. I was doing all of this alongside work so the fact that I managed to create something that I'm proud of was a success in itself. That’s when I just started focusing on why I was doing it at the beginning, and just producing good work and then everything immediately got easier. I think this may be a dodgy Nixon quote, but “surround yourself with people who are smarter than you” is definitely something I've always done to an extent. Bringing on people who are as excited about your work as you are and are willing to put in the work makes everything so much easier. It sounds simple but it takes time to build a team.
MG: If you could change one thing about the industry, what would it be?
GD: Respect for the labour that comes with being a creative! I think a lot of the time in the creative industry the issues come from external departments or those in other industries failing to understand our workload. It’s as if we should feel so blessed to be doing what we love as a career so it’s okay to break your back doing 18 hour days just because you love it. I'm more than happy to put in the time with Cove, I spend my weekends and holidays doing it, but I just think there's a huge lack of respect for younger and newer people to the industry, where the idea of the constant hustle and always being busy is glamourised and turns overtime into the expected method of working. I really think it can be very easily solved. I’ve had questionable bosses in the past who carried this attitude of, “well I worked for free and I paid my dues” and I just think the best thing you can do as you rise higher in the industry is to give people the consideration you would have appreciated when you were starting out. Break the cycle and we can get back to loving what we do.
MG: How would you describe the style of your magazine in three words?
GD: A constant experiment.
MG: How about your own style?
GD: Probably a mix of mid-week uniform and weekend wildcards! I’m rarely ever seen without one colour of JW ANDERSON CONVERSE on and my most recent purchase is a stunning orange NANUSHKA shirt and buttery soft leather skirt that are giving me life at the moment.
MG: As well as Editor-in-Chief of Cove, you’re a graphic designer. How do you navigate those two roles?
GD: I have always definitely been more of an Art Director than an Editor-in-Chief…the role has never really fit me. I’m certainly the one calling the shots and footing the bill but I do far too much admin when I just want to design. With each issue we add even more talented members to an already brilliant team which takes a huge weight off. I knew yet again that I wasn’t doing something right when I had to hire a freelance designer to work on the last issue with me. She was brill but I was just frustrated I had to get someone to help with the design, so I could focus on the stock and logistics. I'm definitely preparing myself better with this issue so that I can get my heart and soul into the stuff that I actually want to be doing.
MG: What was your Masters in Fashion Communication at CSM like? Did you feel like it prepared you for entering the fashion industry?
GD: I think you need to enter an MA with a certain amount of preparation and understanding of the industry as a whole. Everyone's path is their own but I'm so glad I took a few years between my BA and MA. I knew it was the course I wanted to do, I'd researched the tutors and the style of the course. I came in with ideas and a clear purpose of what I wanted to get out of it. Having a solid reason for why you're doing the course is essential. An MA should really be an addition or an enhancement of your skills and a way of honing them further rather than, I believe, starting completely from scratch.
MG: Finish this sentence. I can’t leave the house without…
GD: Forgetting something!
MG: What’s the weirdest thing you own?
GD: Fashion wise - a sweater vest made of recycled tea towels that my auntie made me. But the actual weirdest thing I own is a taxidermy goldfinch, interestingly from the same aunt…
MG: Your most used emoji?
GD: 🥂🥂🥂🥂🥂🥂🥂
MG: What does fashion mean to you?
GD: It’s a method of communication that I spend far too much money on!
MG: I’m in love with your 3rd issue, Alien - what was the inspiration for it and the name?
GD: Ah I’m glad you liked it. With every issue we do, each one has a theme. I love having a theme or topic, especially for an annual publication, as I love discussing them with contributors and getting them to run with it. With Alien, I really wanted to explore the concept of alienation. We encouraged contributors to respond to the concept of being an outsider where certain places, people and things are alien to you. The result is a selection of interviews, artist profiles, fashion editorials and written pieces exploring alienation from every angle. Some of my favourite pieces from the issue are Borderline, a feature with Texas native and non-binary model/activist FISH FIORUCCI, shot by DARYL OH and styled by Joe van Overbeek, and Midnight Cowboy, an editorial reimagining of the narrative from the 1970 film of the same name, shot by COLE WITTER and styled by myself. Both touch upon the feeling of being other-ed.
MG: How do you think magazines should be navigating print and digital? Does one need the other? Can magazines be exclusively digital or print?
GD: It’s been the question asked on repeat since the internet was formed, and I really just think it depends who your audience is and what you want to get out of your project. I definitely come from the realm of creating a beautiful piece of work that definitely won’t be paying my bills. Of course there’s been a decade long decline in revenue from pure print publications but I don’t think print and web need to necessarily compete. You can use one to leverage the other. Books aren’t going anywhere, and it’s the same with magazines. Our consumption habits change, sure. How we consume news now mainly comes from social media, it’s all about choosing the right channels. Using a web platform to promote a print publication and having separate yet aligned content for each seems to be the norm. We just have to adapt!
MG: What can we all expect from Cove next?
GD: We’re burning it all down and starting again, in the best way possible!
MG: Any last words?
GD: Always keep receipts x
