“Under The Cover Books is my favourite bookshop in Lisbon, Portugal, the place I call home. They have all the great art, culture, interior, fashion and music magazines I can't find anywhere else but under their roof!” – Mykki Blanco, guest editor of Dazed, August 2018

For his August Dazed Digital guest edit – not July, Mykki! – Mykki Blanco brings us to Under The Cover, his favourite independent bookshop and magazine store in Lisbon, the city he now lives in with his boyfriend.

“This is a life project, it’s like a dream come true,” says Under The Cover’s co-owner Luis. “When we decided to open a store, we thought it would be a great idea to work with whatever we already liked in life.”

The store, located near the city’s Gulbenkian Park and Modern Art Center, stocks international and contemporary reading material that ranges from music, fashion and arts to travel and literature.

“There’s still really nothing like having a magazine or having a printed journal,” says Mykki, recalling the internet-free days, “at least for my generation – I’m kind of the first wave of the social media generation – I didn’t grow up reading things on a screen, I grew up with a book in my hands, with a magazine in my hands.”

Going through the store’s shelves – filled up with the latest gems of independent publishing (including Solange's issue of Dazed) – Mykki says how shops like Under The Cover are crucial to take a step back from our social media obsession.

“I think places like Under The Cover are important to anyone that’s into arts, culture, literature, but I think especially spaces like this – I found in my lifetime – are super important for queer kids, because it’s where you can come and feel like ‘okay, this is a space where I can find things I can relate to’, that are really tactile,” he says. “I think people still need a lot of visceral-ness in their lives, not just a constant scroll on Instagram.”

Watch Mykki’s visit above, and also check out the “My Place” film he made with Nowness for their #RadicallyQueer season.