The Thousands

PORT is now in its fourth issue. I read the first and the second, and by the third it was looking sketchy, but this fourth issue is so good it’s taken PORT out of occasional purchase territory and straight into being a permanent member of my magazine collection. Produced in London, with an editor for Australia, Europe and the US, its tagline is “The Magazine for Men”. But I am a woman and it does me just fine. More than fine actually because between coverage of fashion, design, commentary, profiles, film, photography and reviews, it has proved itself the most thought provoking magazine I have ever read.

For instance, Alain de Botton’s article on how pretty much everything on the internet is pornography got me thinking about how freedom on the internet is actually a bad thing – we need institutions and rules to save us from ourselves. There’s also the most wonderful restaurant review of Le Lunch in London, which not so much made me want to go there but really makes me want to be a better writer. PORT manages to profile and feature big names (Tom Ford is in there, Natalie Portman’s fiancee Benjamin Millepied and NBA star LeBron James too, and Johnny Depp is in the ‘Special Thanks’ list) but don’t think it’s too big for its boots. Watching an interview with editor Dan Crowe, it looks like the staff are very humble. My guess is it pretty much comes out of his bedroom.