Interview | 559

Interview is one of those magazines that I feel many people know about but don’t actually read, in the same vein as Rolling Stone, Vogue and The New Yorker. It’s a cultural cornerstone and that couldn’t be more clear than its critical role in the mid-aughts television classic: The Carrie Diaries. (Okay, not so much a classic but a low-stakes brain rot show with fun fashion and Austin Butler.) 

Founded in 1969 by Andy Warhol, Interview is a celebration of celebrity and pop culture. Nicknamed ‘The Crystal Ball of Pop’, its influence on the zeitgeist, and especially New York can’t be denied. It was the launch pad for photographers, writers, filmmakers, etc., giving them a more lax and whimsical venue for their material. 

Over the years, popularity of the magazine has ebbed and flowed, and in 2018 Interview did officially file for bankruptcy. That same year they relaunched with a new owner and Mel Ottenberg (Rhiana’s stylist) has been serving as Editor in Chief since 2021. While the inner workings and office culture of Interview hasn’t always been…pristine (are we surprised), it is forever cemented as a cornerstone of pop culture in the U.S.

While Selena Gomez and her fiancé are on the cover, the interview subjects in this issue run the gamut, and that’s what makes Interview so great. Well, that and the incredible styling and art direction