Chanel Culture Fund's Magazine Vol. 2 Lands With Cindy Sherman Cover

By Elena Vasquez

Chanel Culture Fund will release the second volume of its Arts & Culture Magazine on October 23, timed to Art Basel Paris, with Cindy Sherman on the cover in full Chanel tweed.

The 300-page magazine will be free. It will reach 33 independent bookstores and magazine shops across 22 countries. Distribution runs from ACO Books in Hong Kong and Casa Bosques in Mexico City to Rococo News & Magazines in London and 7L in Paris.

The first volume launched in summer 2025. Volume 2 arrives roughly a year later, roughly three shops per country on average.

What is inside the 300 pages?

The issue collects original work and conversations across literature, theatre and art history:

• Original handwritten lyrics by Patti Smith
• A conversation between Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage and Indhu Rubasingham, director of London's National Theatre, on how storytelling translates to the stage
• Writer Andrew Durbin on the life and legacy of Peggy Guggenheim, whose Royal Academy exhibition opens November 21

The takeaway: the fund is building a print platform that pairs brand heritage with living artists rather than product promotion.

Why Cindy Sherman?

Yana Peel, president of arts, culture and heritage at Chanel, framed the choice in a statement. "At the heart of the work of the Chanel Culture Fund is cultivating care for ideas, for artists, and for the irreplaceable act of making something new," Peel said. "Our Arts & Culture magazine is where that practice leaves its trace."

She added: "There could be no one better to grace the cover of Vol. 2 than Cindy Sherman, who for five decades has examined the construction of identity and the power over personae that women hold."

Peel also noted that Sherman "renders the modern woman – and her freedom of becoming – with empowerment and care," and that the artist "found inspiration for her latest series in Gabrielle Chanel, and in the magical archives of our founder."

In plain terms: the cover choice links Sherman's five-decade inquiry into identity directly to the house's founder.

Where does the magazine meet the market?

The magazine will also be available at Hauser & Wirth's London site. There, photographs from Sherman's "Fabric Matrons" series are currently on view.

The placement gives the free publication a gallery anchor in London alongside its bookstore network. It also ties the release to a live exhibition of the cover artist's current work, extending the print issue's shelf life beyond its October 23 launch.