Half-Naked on a Magazine Rack in Tokyo

Kiko Mizuhara was born in Dallas, Texas, which makes her status as one of Japan’s most beloved supermodels genuinely interesting rather than just a fun fact. Her full name is Audrie Kiko Daniel—half American, half Japanese—and yet she became a fixture of Japanese film, advertising, and magazine culture with a naturalness that says less about marketing and more about what she actually carries: dark, warm eyes, a smile that photographs without effort, and the kind of ease in front of a camera that can’t really be taught.

The Berlin magazine 032c put her on the cover of their winter issue—number 35, cryptically subtitled "A Museum for James Baldwin"—and the image is exactly what you’d want: Kiko half-naked in a dark motorcycle jacket and gloves, looking sideways with the kind of lassitude that suggests she has somewhere better to be. It works. It would sell in Tokyo without needing another word on the cover.

032c publishes twice a year in English, and this issue also contains pieces on Gucci Mane, Francis Bacon, Petra Collins, Rihanna, Carl Jung, and clubwear—which is either the most coherent editorial lineup of 2018 or proof that the magazine operates in its own dimension where these things cohere naturally. Probably both. I have a soft spot for print that refuses to be categorized. The James Baldwin framing is audacious enough that I actually want to read what they do with it.