Inside the debut issue of After Noon, a magazine about the now

When the beloved biannual London-based magazine Noon launched in 2014, its first issue was themed ‘Being Alive Now’. The guiding principle was to creatively respond to the current moment in whatever way that manifested itself. “I’ve always been interested in a magazine as a mood or attitude, rather than something defined by its specific subject matter,” explains editor-in-chief Jasmine Raznahan. “I enjoy the freedom of being able to publish without boundaries in that way. Furniture sitting next to fashion sitting next to art.”

For the following 12 issues, Noon continued to bring together a diverse, dynamic constellation of contributors, drawing the likes of Juergen Teller, Chris Rhodes, Xavier Mas, Ken Hollings, Jason Evans, and more. Ever responsive to the current climate, in 2020 Raznahan put the magazine on an indefinite hiatus. “The reason Noon ceased publishing in the pandemic was because I felt that the world was moving too quickly – things were way too wild and unpredictable – for a bi-annual to make sense at that particular moment in time. So in that way, even its death was a response to the now of 2020.”

Now, five years later, After Noon 001, an evolution of Noon, is hitting the shelves and it’s even more liberated than its predecessor in terms of the scope and range. “I considered bringing Noon back but I was more excited to give myself the freedom to imagine a new universe, rather than be too connected to an old one,” says Raznahan. “Noon had such a strong identity, it couldn’t have ever been anything other than what it was. After Noon was an opportunity to approach making a magazine in a new way with a different set of codes and no parameters.”

In fact, the inaugural issue of After Noon is themed ‘Borders’ and it explores incursions and permeability into various spaces and states of being that feel particularly pertinent. “Private and public, reality and illusion, subject and author, time and space,” Raznahan explains. “Again, the theme very much ties into things that I – and I think many of us – are meditating on right now in response to the world in real time.”

Alongside contributions from Noon regulars Juergen Teller and Chris Rhodes, expect After Noon 001 to include work by Alister Mackie, Angele Chatenet, Sophia Al-Maria, Tice Cin, amongst many others. “It was very special to bring Juergen Teller and Katharine Hamnett back together again since he first shot her campaign back in the 90s,” Raznahan tells us. “Juergen shot at her rental flat in Dalston, wearing an exhaustive archive of all of her t-shirts from the 80s to present day exploring the border between fashion and politics.”

This issue also contains a special handwritten text by Turner Prize nominee, Rene Matić, reproduced as a special eight-page booklet. “It’s a wonderful moment in the magazine. I feel really privileged that they wrote this original piece for us. It is so immediate and powerful,” Raznahan says. “It was also very special for me to publish Nooshin Shafiee’s photographs of Tehran – my parents were both born there. Her pictures bring a fresh perspective to a country which has lived in the shadow of its Western lens for time immemorial and she captures such a unifying humanity within her images.”

As you may tell, it’s not easy to situate After Noon in a tidy way. As with that inaugural issue of Noon, over a decade ago, it’s a publication that remains dedicated to exploring the current moment. “It is a bit more unapologetic, raw and direct, than its predecessor. That mood felt very right and important for the moment. It’s not afraid to talk about things that other titles wouldn’t.”

Pre-order your copy of After Noon 001 here. The launch will take place on 20 November 2025 from 6-9pm at Claire de Rouen (260 Globe Road, London E2 0JD). RSVP here.