Welcome to News Bites, BoF's regular feature of the stories that get the industry talking.

Charlotte Stockdale and Katie Lyall are to launch a new magazine, Chaos 69.

The creative duo behind the Chaos creative consultancy and accessories brand will debut the first issue of the print publication in September. Distribution will be global via a yet-to-be-revealed unique source.

“We view Chaos 69 as a vehicle for creativity for the all the people we have worked with over the years, to have the freedom to shoot concepts that support unusual casting, students, shoots that don’t even have to include fashion at all,” says Stockdale.

The biannual publication’s title is loosely inspired by Route 69, and refers to the creative collaborators going on yet another journey together, although Stockdale does admit to “kinda loving using the other connotation.”

Each issue will cover “every aspect of the Chaos life we lead,” says Stockdale, from food to travel, fashion and tech. However, the format of the magazine will be intentionally fluid. “Each time the content will take a slightly different format, and will not necessarily even be a magazine in some iterations,” adds Lyall.

As for the nascent product arm of Chaos, a collection of phone covers and luggage tags launched in November 2016, any cross over will be in spirit alone. “It is not a vehicle to sell product, there is no kind of double touch there,” explains Stockdale.

On the pressure of decreasing print advertising expenditure on print publications margins, Stockdale and Lyall are motivated by passion not profit. "We are not looking to become a publishing businesses. We are doing this for the love of it. Really we are just trying to cover our costs," says Stockdale. "This way, the rules are ours and we can be completely free," adds Lyall. — Robin Mellery-Pratt

'Fashion fairy godmother' Eiesha Bharti Pasricha has invested in British sunglasses brand Zanzan.

The amount of the investment is undisclosed, however Bharti Pasricha, who previously invested in Roksanda and Jonathan Saunders, says it is "a good enough amount to get them off the ground and to where they need to be."

Laura Bailey in Zanzan eyewear | Photo: Jon Gorrigan

“I’ve been looking to invest outside ready to wear for quite a while," she told BoF. "I wanted something that was quite small that I could wrap my arms around and sort of nurture the business the way I did with Roksanda.”

Founded by Megan Trimble and Gareth Townshend in 2012, Zanzan was introduced to Bharti Pasricha by Laura Bailey, who invested in the brand last March and acts as a creative ambassador, consulting and assisting with the design of the frames.

“I’m not pretending I’m in the office every day, but I have my modelling, photography, design and business interests feeding into each other and I’ve learnt about the brand from different angles,” says Bailey, who believes the jigsaw is now complete with the arrival of Bharti Pasricha as an investor.

Certainly, the investment will activate plans for Zanzan to expand into men's and optical frames. "Most of the sunglasses brands that you see out there are always an extension of ready-to-wear brands, whether it's Prada, Miu Miu or Céline,"says Bharti Pasricha. "You've got Ray-Ban and lots of small Italian niche brands, but for me, what I loved about Zanzan is that the quality of the sunglasses is really quite incredible if you compare them to a lot of the other luxury brands. That is what their main product is; it's not a spinoff and it's their main stream of revenue." — Osman Ahmed

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