As far as pushing the envelope goes, Luis Venegas is doing something right. He’s the founder of EY! Magateen, Fanzine137, and Candy, his latest endeavor devoted to the first transversal style magazine. Consisting of a team of ONE (Venegas does it all himself), Venegas has managed to assemble a cast of heavyweight fashion icons to help put together his latest projects - everyone from Robbie Spencer to Terry Richardson to the mighty Steven Klein and Bruce Weber. CANDY is a magazine for everybody. A space for individual freedom, and a publication that pushes people to take on the persona of what they always wanted to be.

With model Mr. Luke Worrell dressed up as Ms. Lucy Worell for the debut issue - Venegas fill me in on what went into making the limited count of 1000 copies of Candy.

Check it out…

Why did you decide to launch Candy? Why was this something that is important to you?

I had a crazy dream… to make this magazine. The first fashion magazine completely dedicated to celebrating transvestism, transexuality, cross dressing and androgyny, in all its manifestations. From the teenage boy who makes himself up and borrows his girlfriends clothes for a night on the town, to the 70 year old man who was born a girl, the artist who dresses as his favorite actress, or the androgynous girl who people always mistake for a beautiful boy… and a looong etcetera of posibilities. Since its inception, working on Candy has been the most exciting project I’ve embarked on thus far in my career. Each time I bring out a new magazine, the implulse is always the same: to try and create something that doesn’t exist, something that -as a consumer of magazines- I’ve never seen before. And each time I hear someone complain that “It’s all been done, nothing’s original”, something in me rebels. I prefer to see it the other way round… There’s sooo much left to do! Everything is possible!

Why the name Candy? What inspired this title?

“Candy” is a great word. It’s short, strong, sexy and catchy. Candy is something sweet and colorful and also something you put on your mouth to suck. So I felt like it was the perfect word for this project. And of course, the main inspiration was the wonderful Candy Darling, one of the greatest icons ever!

What can we expect from the first issue?

Tons of great images and texts… An article about Candy Darling by Kimball Hastings with never-seen-before images of her taken Bruce Weber more than 35 years ago; a portfolio featuring Lypsinka, Andre J and Joey Arias by Bruce Weber; another astonishing portfolio by Tim Walker; a tribute to Nico by Benjamin Alexander Huseby; the wonderful Brazilian Bianca Exotica by Marcelo Krasilcic; boys wearing Rodarte by David Armstrong; an profile about the most charismatic Spanish young transvestite: La Crawford by writer Popy Blasco and images by Daniel Riera, who also has shot Kim Ann Foxmann from Hercules And Love Affair; an article about Casa Susanna by Dean Mayo Davies, which was the main isnpiration for a wonderful shooting by Brett Lloyd and Kim Jones, that one with Luke Worrall and Cole Mohr -among other great models- as girls; a fashion story by Kira Bunse inspired by young Johnny Depp style; the amazing New Yorker Angel Marlowe shot by Terry Richardson; and a tribute to Christian Lacroix’s amazing creativity done by Karim Sadli and Robbie Spencer. Plus Boy George, Quentin Crisp, Fran Lebowitz, Charles Guislain, Christopher Niquet, Make Up Secrets by James Kaliardos and Matthu Placek, an article about The Deadliest Transvestites in Cinematic History and more surprises…

What was it like transforming Mr. Luke Worrall to Ms. Lucy Worrall?

Oh, that was a moment to remember for life! I was sure Luke had a contemporary Marilyn Monroe inside… So I suggested Brett Lloyd -who shot the cover- and Kim Jones -who styled it- to follow that direction with him. Then make up artist Ayami Nishimura and hair dresser Tracie Cant did an amazing work making that idea come true! And of course, Luke is a wonderful model who understood perfectly his role and played it in a masterful way! So it was really a group job, all the people mentioned are the ones who really deserve the credit! Along with producer Murray Arthur, who worked hard to put together all these

people together!

What message do you want CANDY to convey?

There’s something in the air… A new way of relating to and showing yourself off to the world, free and without prejudices. Never before in history have men and women had so many opportunities for body modification, or so many ways to change their appearance from head to toe: from the softest options like make up, to permanent transformations courtesy of the surgeons’ knife. Now the 21st Century is truly underway, there’s no need to justify ourselves, only the ability and need to celebrate the diversity of lifestyles and options, the freedom to choose on every level. The possibilities are as infinite as the amount of people there are in this world. Candy is a magazine for everybody. A space for individual freedom, and a publication that pushes people to take on the persona of what they always wanted to be. And anyway, isn’t that the way to true authenticity? Of course, Candy is also about great fun… This is supposed to be a party!

What are you currently working on?

These days I’m specially focused on promoting and distributing CANDY and new issue of EY! MAGATEEN. At the same time I’m working on next FANZINE137 -an issue entirely devoted to Steven Klein’s amazing archive of polaroids- and next EY!, the NYC issue to be shot by Terry Richardson. So I have two new exciting projects to work in the near future!