Speed Dial

stephen Gan is at risk for canliflower ear, a man who truly lives on the horn. He is the 33-year-old founder and creative head of Visioned re, fashion's most inventive (Karl Lagerfeld guest-edited No. 23, the all-nude, "Emperor's New Clothes" issue), exclusive (6,000 copies per print run), and expensive quarterly ($150 retail). The current "Movement" issue (No. 27) is printed completely on translucent, frosted-glass-like paper, and such lavish twists come with a price. The "Fashion" issue (No. 18), a collector's item that nestled in a Louis Vuitton satchel, reportedly can command $6,000. The "Comme des Gargons" issue (No. 20), which included a dress pattern designed by Rei Kawakubo and originally sold for $75, is said to be able to fetch $3,000.

A typical day finds Gan, who lives and works in New York's SoHo, glued to his mobile Samsung, gabbing about various campaigns, books, and exhibitions (including this month's Visioncdre retrospective at Harvey Nichols in London) with the likes of Calvin Klein (10) and photographer Mario Testino (3). Who are 1 and 2? Cecilia Dean and James Kaliardos, respectively, his co-editors and best friends since their teenage days in Manhattan. Gan's not sure where he rates on their speed dials, but hierarchy as a concept seems to have lost its importance for him now that he has a voice activator. He just says "Carine" (stylist Carine Roitfeld, 7), or "Lady Bunny" (the D.J. for all his parties, 9), and the phone does the rest. Still, in the realm of phone technology, Gan loves faxes most. "There is nothing that matches a beautiful image in your hand," he says. "If every night I had to send out 30 pages of layouts and get back a response the next day by fax, I think that would be the way to live."

HELEN SCHULMAN