photo : Jennifer Link
hair : Erin Moser
makeup : Leane Steck
interview : Zach Rose

As an original member of Auxiliary Magazine, Luke Copping’s background in photography, marketing, and popular culture helps Auxiliary achieve the success that it enjoys. Luke’s unique approach to beauty, style, and character photography lends an aesthetic of quirk and dynamism that is entirely his own. An internationally recognized photographer, Luke’s style continues to evolve and his contributions to Auxiliary continue to lend content that is both exciting in nature and provocative in its styling.

What do you do at Auxiliary Magazine?

What don’t I do? As the Associate Editor I work on all aspects of the magazine. On top of writing and photographing several articles each issue, I work on design, marketing, editing, and advertising issues, I also work in article and shoot production, and I work closely with the rest of the editorial staff on the direction of each issue. I also manage a lot of the blog content. I’m sort of the jack of all trades, I go where the work needs to be done and tend to fill a lot of different spots on the magazine’s roster, as well as providing content as needed to fill holes in our issue layouts.

As an individual utilizing several different roles with Auxiliary, which do you find to be the most rewarding and why?

Its all good, and all an outlet for what I do. Whether I’m creating imagery or writing for the magazine, or launching a new marketing idea or plan. I think too many artists have a poor concept of business. I like to pride myself on having the skills to do both. You can’t run a successful venture like this without being both creative and business savvy. That’s why I enjoy working with the team here so much, they take it as seriously as I do, and truly want this venture to succeed.

How does Auxiliary Magazine influence local fashion markets? Non-local?

I’m not concerned with us influencing markets as a whole. I think that Auxiliary, at least in terms of my perception, is much more about pushing people to create their own styles, rather than being mere slaves to the fashions we show. I dread us ever becoming a magazine like Gothic Beauty, one which I feel simply regurgitates the latest pseudo alternative trends and uniforms that you see influence the club scene. I think our readers are more intelligent than that, have a wider range of interests and don’t need to be told what to wear, merely shown what is out there so they can make up their own minds. I try to introduce elements of fashion and style from a variety of backgrounds that other magazines either tend to deride or ignore simply because these aesthetics and ideas do not fit into what I feel are the small and narrowly defined categories that it seems these magazines adhere to. High fashion runway shows, vintage and thrift, DIY, street fashion, and elements of the South American, Eastern European, and Asian fashion scenes are all present throughout our editorials and blog entries. I think the most important element in developing an alternative fashion magazine is to absolutely NOT play to the stereotypes. These are bad trends and poorly thought out fashion ideas that propagate within the mob mentality of several alternative countercultures. I have no time for elitist tribes that espouse individuality while only allowing social creativity within a limited scope. We owe our readers more than that.

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Here’s a look behind the scenes of our upcoming beauty editorial for the August/September 2010 Issue.

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Enigma Fashions, a long-standing design company for custom formal wear, is heading to new heights with many developments in the works, new collections, fashion shows, and dreams to expand into interior design. In the peak of their busy season, we had the chance to learn more from Diana Drake aka Die, the main designing force behind Enigma.

photographer : Laura Dark
makeup artist : Mascaraid and Gray Artistry
hair stylist : Gray Artistry
models : MsPoisoness, Victoria Sapphire, Angela Makeever, Manzin, and Staley Cook
wardrobe : Enigma Fashions
accessories and jewelery : Organic Armor
written by Zach Rose

To the ladies I say to you, have you ever wanted to be a “gothic princess”? To the boys, have you ever wanted to be the most dashing gentleman of the evening? To hell with modernity, live your fantasies on one special night or day for the photos you take will immortalize your special moment forever.

June, that wonderful time of year when young men and women move forth into the adult world. The senior prom is a seemingly timeless ritual symbolizing this coming of age. For most the time calls for elaborate gowns, for the ladies only the best will suffice. It’s your standard tuxedo for the young man as he pins flowers on his be-speckled date. For the wedding, it seems to be more of the same time after time. Overall it is more often than not the infamous ‘bridezilla’ who lends the most character to her wedding.

There still exists a dilemma for the young romantic or daydreamer in all of us. If your run of the mill designer dress (or menswear) is not enough, what can one do to make the formal occasion a memorable experience? Fortunately the marvelous romantic custom designs at Enigma Fashions cater to those seeking something more. Offering one of a kind formal wear of a more Victorian and Edwardian flavor to evening wear reminiscent of noir films of the 1930s and 40s.

read the full feature in the June/July 2010 Issue

Visual, creative, style, fashion : inspiration.

fashion designer : Antiseptic Fashion
photographer : Zach Rose
makeup/hair : Jessica Jean
model : Nicole Vescio

Zach Rose :
Antiseptic Fashion, the brainchild of Los Angeles DIY designer Billy Vahan combines love for the fetish (leaving little to the imagination) with a unique blend of steampunk and neo-Victorian designs.  With fully customizable pieces such as asymmetrical leather posture collars, accessory belts, and underbust corsets reminiscent of fetish meets glorious rebellion.

Billy Vahan and Antiseptic Fashion’s Phrixus leather posture collar holds the head up high (and quite literally keeps your spine in alignment) while adding a regal display of bizarre.  While not an everyday item in your fashion arsenal, it adds just enough of that “kink” for those of you who prefer restraint yet not without a touch of elegance.

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photo and interview : Luke Copping

Zach Rose is one of the newest additions to the Auxiliary Magazine team. Zach is the lead copy editor for Auxiliary and balances that out by providing photographic and written content to the magazine. Zach is an emerging photographer who is starting to make waves both with his photography as well as his writing.

What do you do at Auxiliary Magazine?

Zach Rose : I do umbriel finite, I do writing, but I primarily do copy editing, copy editing, and more copy editing. I’m one of the last people that looks over writer submissions and checks them for your mistakes, your grammar, and any other weird stuff you may do (yes you).

Do you think that the written word is just as important as an image?

ZR : Both are equally as important and usually outlive the producer. Some people get killed for what they say, or write (or blog these days). While an image can speak a thousand words a word can have a thousand-fold impact with the result dependant on the context of the situation (such as political).

What is your opinion on the state of fetish fashion and how it is intertwining with mainstream fashion?

ZR : I think there has always been some level of fetish in mainstream fashion. But fetish is an ambiguous term in my opinion and can apply to anything that flaunts the body in a unique and provocative way. To me fetish wear is not so much about how good it looks as how quickly it can be removed.

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