gap Press Magazine (Japan) Vol.86/87 Men's Collections Spring & Summer Milan/Paris

gap Press Men's Collections 2011 Spring & Summer Vol.86 Milan
image: gap Press Japan

Depending on where one happens to reside, a gap (groupe avant-premier) Press (no relation to the American discount clothing chain) Men's magazine can be an elusive one to find, akin to finding Lanvin at Nordstrom; it can be done, but it requires considerable effort/luck.  A gap Press Men's Collections magazine is like finding the rarest piece of Lanvin on sale, in one's size, in the scarcest color; bonne chance avec ca.

It turns out, oddly, that certain New York City convenience stores actually stock this oddity, which I discovered fortuitously enough this summer after dipping into one for a bottle of water.  This convenience store in question, occupying a claustrophobically-Lillipution space, carried every obscure international fashion magazine imaginable.  Want Italian Vogue with your Slim-Jim? Check.  L'Officiel Hommes with your Mountain Dew? Check.  Hercules, Hero, Arena Homme +? Check, check, check.  Raise one's gaze to the highest shelf, and overlooking the rest like a Buddhist temple hidden on the clouds, or the last edelweiss on an Alpine mountainside, stood one copy each of gap Press Men's Collections Volume 86 (Milan) and Volume 87 (Paris).  

This isn't so much a magazine, as it is a glossy, oversized, coffee-table-like tome, providing a comprehensive overview of Men's lines of note in Milan, for the Milan edition, and for Paris, New York and other prominent fashion weeks of interest for the Paris edition.  Had it not been for the trips to Prada (Soho & 5th), Uniqlo and TopMan earlier that same day, these issues would have gone home with me.  After departing empty-handed (at least from that location), the seed of desire was planted, one which would subsequently grow into a flowering tree of want.  After an exhaustive search encompassing much of the rest of the Summer and the Fall, this Odysseus was able to locate his Penelope, and the issues were mine.  

gap Press Men's Collections 2011 Spring & Summer Vol.86 Paris
image: gap Press Japan

They will make splendid editions to my other favorite style livres: the Stephen Sprouse book with limited edition Louis Vuitton graffiti cover; Louis Vuitton, Art, Fashion & Architecture with Murakami cover and acetate damier case, and the saffiano leather-bound Prada book. 

gap Press Men's Collections Vol. 86 Milan, and Vol. 87 Paris
USD 149.95 each @ Magazine Cafe NY