Proper Magazine Issue 40 - Steep Cover

For Proper Magazine’s variation on the midlife crisis, we’ve vowed to do one thing: shine a light on what the youth in our region are doing, and open ourselves up to the passage of time.

For starters, we’ve got an editorial by Royal Ragz, where the Manchester-based collector’s archive Patagonia SSTs, as well as other fishing-related gear, are shot at a quarry sight in Devon. 

There’s a brief psychedelic explosion from Oi Polloi’s latest sportswear range, and a look into the motivation behind Steep Learning Group, who’ve been active in the promotion of climbing as a democratic sport, as well as pioneering some of its more aesthetic elements.  

We’ve got a quick dive into the paintings of Kingston Poplar, a Retford-born painter who captures the quirks of contemporary life by honing in on some of its more peculiar elements.  

Over in our hometown of Stockport, there’s a bubbling record shop by the name of All Night Flight, which our very own Ryan Kimberley took a trip to. Ryan spoke to the owner, Tom Houghton, where they reflected on the progression from record reseller to label, obscure Japanese ambient, and rental price-outs in Manchester city centre.  

One wise response for a business during a rent crisis is to invent a model that doesn’t need a static location. Vin de Bodega did that, and brought with them a pop-up model for wine selling that allows them to remain mobile and fluid. That way, they can spend all their rental money on Drama Call hoodies and afford more expensive wine. Eve Johnstone chat to them about what they’re doing, the Natural Wine world itself, and then placed it into a broader context with Isca, a small plates restaurant and wine bar based in Levenshulme and Stockport.  

And lastly, two stellar interviews: one with Karim Zeroual, Manny-based, Freemount-frequenting legend, and then an extensive look at the photography of Jay Johnson, whose work you’ll recognise from Drama Call and Clints, where his overt fashion photography shines. Later on you’ll see that Jay’s photography also extends into far more subtle and nuanced domains.  

It’s important for us, as we turn 40, to really get to grips with the area that made Proper Proper. We hope that in this small selection of what the city has to offer, we can at least make a tiny scratch on the surface of Manchester’s creative output, and do justice to the youth scene which Proper - hopefully, anyway - never really left.