Can fashion still be a subculture — surprising, fresh, unpredictable, a natural reflection of youth culture? It’s not easy. And what alternative is there to a purely mercantile world flooded with similarly “posed,” similarly “sexy and seductive” images, supposedly with “attitude”? From the glossies to Instagram, from advertising to blogs, this sameness kills the interest in fashion — however innovative a designer’s work might be. This is every magazine’s challenge, but especially for Purple, which thrives on the spirit of experimentation, bricolage, amateurism, irony, and even ideas, and that keeps a distance, deliberately, from what the industry thinks is “professional” or “powerful” at any given moment. This is why we shot portraits of 112 creative women from outside the mainstream, along with three strong men of character: the YSL icon Thadée Klossowski de Rola, the radical artist Larry Clark, and the talented make-up artist Aaron de Mey. It’s also why…