A Letter From Our Managing Editor: Fresh Take
In the months between the release of our winter issue and the spring issue you hold now, friends and family have often been curious what I’ve been up to at the office. Of course, I get it. I used to work in digital media, where the success or failure of a project is as much determined by the pace of its production as the quality itself. If you’re doing it right, there’s a constant flood of output — “proof of life,” so to say.
“Incubating” is the word I usually half-jokingly fall back on when asked what we’ve been working on since our last issue. It feels like an appropriate catch-all for the hours spent pitching, writing, editing, shooting, interviewing, retouching, and most importantly, evolving. The last one feels especially vital, particularly for a men’s magazine in 2025.
Over the years, SHARP has continued to evolve to reflect both the cultural landscape and the countless individuals who contribute to its pages, with our spring issue being no exception. As you read through, I hope you’ll recognize the same foundation upon which the magazine was built, but with the subtle tweaks that signal yet another season, from refined typefaces to the direction of our shoots.
After all, refinement is really what we’ve always specialized in. Take Range Rover, for example. How does a brand that’s become synonymous with excellence for more than half a century maintain its status? Through a constant consideration of what its name represents, and innovating in a way that upholds that lofty reputation. It’s a practice that takes both time and expert consideration, one our team experienced first-hand at this year’s Range Rover House in Whistler, B.C.
Of course, there are the rarefied figures who seem to have been born into a perpetual state of sophistication, like 23-year-old menswear wunderkind Nolan White, who offers us tailoring advice for spring/summer wardrobes in this issue’s style feature. But while White may be the exception that proves the rule, most of us — the magazine and myself included — need stages of incubation.
Our cover star, Seth Rogen, is perhaps the best example of what benefits can come when a bit of time is allowed. After decades worth of work building one of the most colourful comedic resumés in Hollywood, Rogen’s latest project, The Studio, delivers a stunning, piercing, love letter to show business. Already critically acclaimed, the show is his magnum opus, of sorts, taking his penchant for parodying his peers and elevating it into a directorial master class. He’s the same man we’ve come to love — the same writing partners, the same humour, the same patented laugh — but refined through a lens honed over decades of work.
It’s a good lesson to hold on to as we enter a fresh season. You don’t build a legacy brand in a year, your first film is rarely your best, how you dress today won’t reflect the person you are in 10 years, and you’ll likely go through 100 typefaces before you find the right one. Good taste can’t be factory-farmed. Like the season itself, it takes time to grow.
— David Stol, Managing Editor
Featured photo by Luis Mora. Suit by BOSS.
