Lynn Tsutsumi
Founder/Editor-in-Chief
PHOTOS JAMES WHITE
THE COVERS: ISSUE ZERO
Q&A with Bond's Founder and Editor-in-Chief, Lynn Tsutsumi.
Why does Bond Issue Zero have three different covers?
Bond was created for an entirely new demographic: the modern urban couple. There isn't a wedding publication out on the newsstands right now that reflects ALL of our society and especially not gay and lesbian couples or couples of color. We are very specific about who our reader is, and wanted to say to them, "your union is included in Bond."
Exactly who reads Bond?
Bond is reaching out to couples who are planning on getting married, but aren't into the traditional ceremony and are looking for new ideas that represent their lifestyle in a modern context. For the most part, our readers are design-savvy, well-travelled and sophisticated couples. Right now many are straight women who are looking for ideas for their weddings and feel uncomfortable with the "norms" provided by other wedding magazines.
What about the LGBT community?
Gay and lesbian readers are not looking in the wedding section, so sometimes Bond is put in the "special interest" section of bookstores. Hopefully that will change as the public grows aware of Bond's inclusiveness. This is another reason we have three covers... in case a gay couple happens to walk by the wedding section of a bookstore and is thinking about getting married, it might hit them that Bond is for them. We need to be very blatant.
What has been the response so far?
I can't speak for all communities, but the individuals I hear from come from all walks of life: from gay rights activists to Mid-Western brides to women in prison. All the feedback so far has been accepting and very supportive... Most people say "It's about [expletive] time."
How can you mix gay and straight couples? Don't they want different things?
That has been the biggest achievement of Bond to date. We have represented everyone in the magazine and no one seems to be bothered about anybody else that may look different than they do. Getting back to the story about the covers, our Design Director (Costas Constantinou) suggested we dress each couple alike, in suits, and shoot them very similarly. We got James White (the renown celebrity photographer) to shoot it... I worked with James in the 80s and knew he had the savvy to pull it off without it looking corny. We really wanted to portray what we know as individuals: it's all the same monkey suit when you walk down that aisle. Whether you're black, white, gay or straight, if you are committing to a life relationship it's the same for everyone... a lot of hard work and hopefully a lot of fun too. BOND