From sharing the work of now powerhouse photography duo JUCO, we found out about locally produced, internationally sold fashion magazine The WORK Magazine. We had seen it around in a few stores (specifically Otherwild) and meant to pick it up but–surprise–a copy of their latest issue somewhat mysteriously popped up on our doorstep. We furiously flipped the locally made magazine, very curious what it was all about, and were delighted to find it is a superbly minimal fashion/art/culture magazine.

The issue of the quarterly magazine is their fourth entry and came out in 2011. It’a fairly thick, very glossy, and serious in its execution publication. This isn’t some kids zine stapled together haphazardly: instead it is a detailed, mature magazine with high-end content. It features occasional, short written pieces like Samantha Fernandez’s On Los Angeles and art displays like Retoyman’s Superheroes spread. The magazine is mostly black and white, color accents popping up here and there for effect. It’s well designed and well edited as editor-in-chief Gloria Noto has assembled quite a collection of high end local (and not local!) creatives.

What’s so great about WORK is that it’s so serious and so, so, soooo well executed. It’s a legitimate magazine! It’s varied in the fashions being shared, which they obscure and display indirectly, and also in the way people express themselves as the artists and thinkers featured in the issue span from fine art photography to drawing to painting to literature. The only other local magazine that does a good (“good”) job at melding art and fashion together is Flaunt and who knows what’s going on with them. (Do they still make magazines? Are they moving into celebrity only fashion? What’s going on?) The magazine is interesting and full of visual consumption, easy to read and re-read since it is so approachable. It also should be noted that there is only one (ONE) advertisement in the magazine, which is for an art show. Keep in mind that the issue is 122+ pages long.

For more on WORK, poke around their website, which has a lot of the content up on the site. You can pick it up locally at Bookmarc, Hennessy & Ingalls, American Rag, Otherwild, and more. They also have a great blog you should follow as well.