i-D No. 363 – The New Worldwi-De Issue

Transcendence – The New Worldwi-De Issue

The Summer 2021 issue of i-D is about how hopeful we are about the future. It's about freshness and newness. These are the new pioneers of music, sport, art, beauty, fashion and photography. This is our new world, worldwi-De!

Transcendence; existence or experience beyond the normal level. Freedom; the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without restraint. Recovery; a return to a normal state of health, mind or strength. Rejuvenation; the act of giving a new energy to something.

We started work on this issue exactly one year after the Covid pandemic began, and as we were working on it these four words kept coming to mind; this issue is a reflection on how much our community has grown together over the last year and how hopeful we are about the future.

Through acceptance and perspective we were able to consider what’s important to us and what we want to celebrate. We were in search of a freshness, a newness, and as always we started with the people. Those who inspire us the most. Those who represent this moment in time and that truly represent this idea of transcendence. There are hundreds of debuts within this issue, including six of our eight cover stars. From Phil Foden, who will be debuting for the England football team this summer, to former cover star Kevin Abstract photographing his first ever magazine editorial, to Jawara directing his first beauty portfolio as Senior Beauty Editor of i-D to Gigi Hadid debuting her new look post-baby, to Tom Sachs creating our first ever tear-out zine within the magazine. These are the new pioneers of music, sport, art, beauty, fashion and photography. This is our new world, worldwi-De!

i-D has built its reputation on being a consistent source of inspiration in fashion culture. It began as a fanzine dedicated to the street style of punk-era London in 1980, and quickly earned its position at the vanguard of fashion and style, abiding by the premise of originate – don’t imitate. i-D has come a long way since its pre-digital, cut-and-paste days and has developed into a glossy magazine that documents fashion and contemporary culture, and has broken ground defining it too.