Exhibition, National Portrait Gallery, London, 20th February – 18th May 2025
The Face Magazine: Culture Shift

Header image: Girls on Bikes (Sarf Coastin’) by Elaine Constantine,
styled by Polly Banks, December 1997, © Elaine Constantine

Coming soon, for lovers of music, photography and lifestyle trends, this new exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery looks an absolute treat. If you were around for the original launch of The Face magazine in 1980, you’ll recall the impact it had – high in quality and elegance, it stood out from the crowd in all the best ways and was the epitome of sophistication in the publishing world.

The exhibition takes in over 200 prints taken by 80 photographers (Sheila Rock, Jamie Morgan, David LaChapelle, Norbert Schoerner amongst many others) and includes both cover and portraiture images.

left: Sade, by Jamie Morgan, April 1984, © Photography Jamie Morgan
right: Kim Wilde by Davies and Starr, March 1982, ©Davies and Starr

Extracts from the press release here:

‘Launching the National Portrait Gallery’s 2025 programme, The Face Magazine: Culture Shift will be the first major museum exhibition to focus on the iconic portraiture and fashion photography captured for The Face, a cult British magazine that has shaped the tastes of the nation’s youth. Featuring photographs, magazine covers and spreads, and film, the exhibition will use the medium of portraiture to explore The Face’s monumental influence throughout the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, as well as its continued impact on the publishing landscape and the worlds of fashion and music. Organised thematically and chronologically, the exhibition will include images created by some of the era’s most talented photographers, stylists and models, many of which have never been shown outside the pages of the magazine.

left: ANDRÉ 3000 by James Dimmock, December 2000, © James Dimmock
top right: Global Warming TV, photographed and styled by Inez & Vinoodh, September 1994
© Inez & Vinoodh/courtesy The Ravestijn Gallery
bottom right: Kylie Minogue by Norbert Schoerner, styled by Adam Howe, June 1994, ©Norbert Schoerner

The Face was started by Nick Logan, formerly editor of New Musical Express (NME) in the 1970s and creator of teen music magazine Smash Hits. Logan spotted a gap in the market for a monthly title aimed at a youth audience interested in a broad range of subjects that weren’t being featured in glossy fashion publications, teen magazines or the music weeklies. In doing so, he invented a new genre of publishing: the style magazine.

The Face Magazine: Culture Shift  is curated by Sabrina Jaskot-Gill, Senior Curator of Photographs at the National Portrait Gallery, together with Curatorial Consultants Lee Swillingham, former Art Director of The Face from 1992-1999, and Norbert Schoerner, a photographer whose work featured in the magazine throughout the nineties and noughties.’

left: Ms. Dynamite by Gemma Booth, May 2001, © Gemma Booth
right: Jazzie B by Enrique Badulescu, styled by Adam Howe, April 1989, © Enrique Badulescu

The Face Magazine: Culture Shift runs from 20 February until 18 May 2025

National Portrait Gallery, St Martin’s Place, London, WC2H 0HE – open daily: 10.30 – 18.00, Friday & Saturday 10.30 – 21.00 (please check website for any updates before visiting)

Click here for more information and to book tickets

All images and exhibition details are reproduced with permission from The National Portrait Gallery and are copyrighted as listed

Feature added by Callum

Published 5th February 2025