Dazed, confused and just a little hungry

Born in Hertfordshire in 1996, John Rankin Waddell has come much further than most ex-accounting students, inspiring millions of people worldwide with his renowned collection of portraits. From top models and famous celebrities to the Queen, all the way to the less glamorous Mugunga refugee camp in Congo, his hefty Mamiya camera has seen it all.

Yet perhaps Rankin is best known for the runaway success of Dazed & Confused, the original cool rebellious magazine that broke boundaries and introduced unconventional new talent to the creative industry. Having started out as a black and white fold-out poster, this experimental brainchild of Rankin and Jefferson Hack now sits on the shelves alongside the industry giants Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar, becoming a stimulus for the evolution of newer cult magazines such as i-D and Vice.

20 years on and Rankin’s team have reunited to bring us the journey of ‘the magazine that broke all the rules’ in Dazed & Confused: Making It Up As We Go Along. Although labelled as a visual history, this book is far from just a collection of its controversial covers and iconic photographs. Rather, its interviews documenting conversations between the magazine’s founders, and its snippets of insight into the scenes behind the publication’s glossy pages, makes this book so much more than just an exhibition of pictures. Such wise words from these giants of the new generation of fashion journalism and photography makes the text in this picture-centred book as valuable as the stark ingenuity the photographs themselves provide, and that alone is more than enough to provide a lifetime’s worth of feverish encouragement to venture upon one’s own mission to contrive the ravishing imagery which lives inside each and every one of us.

In fact, it is this blazing need to continuously express himself, as well as the realisation that he will forever hold a craving to be inspired by those around him, that has led Rankin to his most recent project Hunger. A darker portrayal of the visions that eat at those blessed with talent, the bi-annual magazine that is Hunger is still in its early days. But of course, being Rankin, the engraved gold names on its consuming debut cover is already covered in stars; Dominic Cooper, Alice Dellal, Cheryl Cole and Heidi Klum to name just a few. If anything, this is 500 pages affirming that time has not made Rankin more afraid to break down those barriers, encouraging everyone to strip themselves of their masks and live life as they really want to.

Dazed & Confused: Making It Up As We Go Along Written by Jefferson Hack, Edited by Jo-Ann Furniss. Rizzoli Publishing £35

Hunger £4