Olivier Zahm Incarnates Magazine, Has Five Friends

Forever outfitted in Ray-Ban aviators, a head of unkempt brown curls, and some form of slim-fitting pant and snug jacket, Olivier Zahm -- co-founder and editor in chief of Paris' Purple Fashion magazine -- is a unique breed of provocateur. He's the one who put Vincent Gallo in a Balenciaga floral mini, Baptiste Giabiconi in “prostitute shoes,” not to mention the one who has photographed countless women nude, funneling their photos into both his quarterly magazine as well as his relatively new blog, The Purple Diary (where he may have accidentally blown the cover on a relaunched Beatrice Inn). But for a man who obviously has no qualms about speaking his mind and shaking things up, the after-hours fashion party fixture is decidedly press-shy. Perhaps he's just choosy or keen to generate an increasing air of mystery around himself and his mag. Nevertheless, a Japanese "high-fashion" magazine's recent interview with Zahm offers a rare glimpse of the editor.

“This is a disguise,” Zahm says of his now iconic style. “Five or six years ago, I decided to wear this kind of outfit and behave as if I were a celebrity. It’s not out of narcissism. It’s for the magazine. For an independent magazine to exist, I had to incarnate it personally,” he continues. “The Internet is not the place for creation. It’s the same as television. Was there any creation that proceeded from television? No! At its best, television produced good documentaries,” adds Zahm, who, let it be said, frequently updates both Purple Fashion’s blog and Twitter. Zahm goes on to further criticize the falsity of social networking: “What about the Internet? It’s only a place for contact and passage. I’m supposed to have hundreds of friends on the Internet, but in reality, I have five friends.”