Lee Swillingham: How The Face Changed Culture | Robbie Williams & Lara Croft

How did The Face turn music, fashion and photography into a new visual language? Art director Lee Swillingham joins Steve Blame to discuss his Manchester beginnings, becoming The Face’s art director at just 22, and the creative experiments that helped define the magazine’s 1990s identity. Lee shares stories behind a Robbie Williams shoot, dressing Lara Croft in designer fashion, and working with photographers to move beyond photography into digital image-making. He also reflects on Neville Brody’s influence, collaborating with Stuart Spalding, starting Suburbia, and co-curating The Face: Culture Shift at the National Portrait Gallery. An inside look at the people, ideas and imagery connecting British music, fashion and design. CHAPTERS 00:00 Introduction 02:00 Manchester beginnings and a creative upbringing 07:42 Music, magazines and early influences 12:10 Creativity, deadlines and nostalgia 15:00 Studying graphic design and discovering Neville Brody 18:25 St Martins and Jarvis Cocker 23:14 Becoming The Face’s art director at 22 27:40 Building a team and changing the magazine 29:20 Macintosh computers and a new visual approach 33:17 The Face’s influence on popular culture 36:39 Tom Ford and the beginnings of an agency 37:29 Lara Croft’s designer fashion shoot 39:00 Storytelling through fashion images 40:41 The Face: Culture Shift exhibition 44:28 Photographing Robbie Williams after Take That 48:18 Influences and the ambition to astonish 52:26 Stuart Spalding and Suburbia 54:18 Celebrity, advertising and fragmented culture 57:13 Politics, creativity and self-censorship 1:00:12 Closing reflections Subscribe to POP The History Makers for more conversations with the people behind music, fashion and popular culture. #LeeSwillingham #TheFace #POPTheHistoryMakers