Fashion stylist Anna May and a small crew of photographers, makeup artists and an art director have launched MISC, a self-funded print magazine now on its second issue, as a direct response to the growing encroachment of AI on editorial imagery. The project offers a physical, human counterweight to the screen-based disposability that AI accelerates, and a reminder that unfunded creative collaboration still has a place.
From a random conversation to a printed magazine
The idea sparked from a casual chat. Anna was working with a makeup artist, who introduced her to an art director who had previously assembled a magazine for a client. From there, MISC was born. The name came from a box label reading 'misc' that the art director spotted during a brainstorming session.
There was no mission statement or business plan. "We just thought: let's do it," Anna said. "It was simply about creating something and building a platform other creatives could join too." The magazine is entirely self-funded, run on favours, with all contributors volunteering their time.
Print as a rebuttal to AI's takeover
Anna's day job straddles e-commerce and commercial styling, the kind of work that's now being eroded by AI-generated imagery. She said she is slowly losing clients because those images can be generated through an AI app. The unease drove the team to create something tangible. "AI is one of the main reasons everyone on the team wanted to do this," she said. "Our project is really pushing back against that, saying that what we do is a joy."
The tightening grip of AI on editorial work has made AI for Creatives an urgent topic, and the magazine stands as a deliberate counterpoint. The second issue, titled Process, broadens the scope beyond fashion to include interviews with tattoo artist Thomas Hooper, Lincolnshire-based artist Kate Genever and bespoke tailor Gordon Webber. "We never wanted it to be purely a fashion magazine," Anna said. "It's really more about art in a broader sense." The deliberate focus on craft and physical making also stands in contrast to the rise of Generative Art, where algorithms create images without human hands.
Why this matters for creatives
MISC doesn't offer a solution to the anxiety that AI stirs. But it does prove that a small, unfunded, joyfully chaotic alternative is still possible. People making things together, in print, on their own time, simply because they want to. The magazine's low-key approach - printing copies to send to admired art directors - even led to unexpected paid work, something Anna didn't plan for. For creatives watching AI encroach on their fields, MISC shows that reclaiming physical space and human collaboration can be an act of both defiance and career resilience.
Your membership also unlocks:
