(Getty Images) Olivier Zahm in Paris in 2011International fashion man of mystery—okay, maybe not so much mystery considering he has the sporadic tendency to
splay his personal life across the web for public consumption—
Olivier Zahm is the subject of
a brilliant New York profile this week wherein writer William Van Meter spends a day riding around Paris with Zahm during men's fashion week.
Zahm, the editor and proprietor of the cult art-fashion-sex-lifestyle magazines
Purple Fashion and
Purple Journal, has the larger-than-life reputation of being a cultural tastemaker who's mastered the charming-rogue qualities of being both lovable
and sex-obsessed that well-precedes him. Here are our five favorite lines from his
New York profile—feel free to draw your own conclusions.
On attractiveness in women: “Ninety percent of the attraction of women is style. Old or young, if she has a good sense of fashion, I am in love with her. If she has bad style and a beautiful body, I run away. I don’t give a shit about beautiful style on a man. Men should keep a distance from fashion to find their own uniform."
On cocks: “We have problems with cocks. It is difficult to show cocks in a magazine without being pushed in the porn section or stopped at Customs. Man cocks, especially if they’re erections, they’re not allowed. Tits are okay, but a problem on the cover."
He keeps his cats in the office: "'That’s cat peeing. She is so serious when she pees. They live here. They couldn’t adapt to my apartment. They need the constant life of the magazine."
His colleague, Purple's executive editor, on working with Zahm: "Working with Olivier is seeing his vision through. He knows what he wants, and you have to make it happen. ‘Okay, you want to shoot a girl in a church with a donkey? I can make that happen.’ I literally did make that happen two weeks ago. If he wants a donkey, you are getting a donkey."
On a beautiful woman acquaintance they pass on the street: "I try to fuck her seven times and I've never been able to. It's impossible."
Check out the entire Olivier Zahm profile in
New York magazine
right here.
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