A Letter from the Editor
I think we can all agree by now that the information age is over. We find ourselves, rather, in the age of attention. Amongst endless listicles, social feeds, and “You’ll Never Believe What Happened Next” clickbait headlines, we are want for a signal amongst the noise.
Our attempt at a remedy is manifest in a profusion of curation websites and RSS feeds, and for the reductive among us, the increasingly liberal use of the “unfollow” button (or, for the real outliers, “delete account”). We’re all trying to simplify a bit. To escape the barrage of trawled products and images (the standard for which is often just a well-taken photograph).
But until we can connect Google directly to our brains and our digital Alfred delivers us only the most personally relevant stories and sports scores – not to mention the date for the Game of Thrones season 6 premiere (it’s April 24th) – each one of us is in the driver’s seat. And I think, collectively, we’re starting to raise our standards. To ask ourselves: Where am I willing to give my attention? What is important?
During our interview with Peter Lang, which was featured in our May 2015 issue, the designer and maker behind Lee 101 spoke about importance with unabashed honesty: “Designing and creating denim is definitely a passion of mine. I’ve been doing it for over 20 years. But until making these jeans ends world hunger, I have to hold things in perspective. To keep in mind what is important.”
Important, however, is a pretty subjective word.
Thankfully, most of us live lives in which we are blessed to have time for not only what is most important, but also for things that we are simply enthused to do. In our interview, Peter continued, “So ya – there is a lot of stuff that is more important than denim. But man, I mean, the contour of the jean – getting it just right? The process behind that? It’s just so…interesting.”
At Classfare, we like interesting. For us, our two primary points of interest are story and style. And so, from issue to issue, we’re going to curate stories about people, places, brands, and products that we’ve determined are interesting, and therefore worthy of your attention. We think they’re interesting because of their meaningful history. Or because of their exceptional quality. Or because they are particularly functional. Or simply because they are beautiful. In a lot cases, they’re all of these things.
So, let’s be honest with ourselves – there are many things in life that are of profound importance: Relationships. Family. World peace. Game of Thrones. But beyond these things, there should be some time left over for things that are just damn interesting. Within the pages of Classfare, we hope you find a few stories of interest to better your day and a few items to better your wardrobe. And maybe – as long as you have the important things sorted out – something to better your life.
Here’s to interesting.
Ian Deming, Editor-in-Chief