" Coup de Main loves — or as Shahlin, Sacha and Vicki might say, hearts — Disney, Gossip Girl and DIY fashion. The trio are behind a new online magazine, aimed at 20-somethings, that inhales pop culture and exhales exuberance. The artsy typography might drive you to distraction but it's put together with the subversive professionalism that somehow makes Hannah Montana look cool.
On the site you'll find odes to mainstream pop stars alongside dreamy, endearing blogs that read like song lyrics. Interviews with local musicians come care of photographs in which the artists hold up cardboard speech bubbles. A guy called Vaughan writes about everything from a lack of clean teaspoons to the meaning of life. In between the Twilight giveaways and the step-by-step guide to sexing up a blazer, is evidence of entrepreneurial spirit at its freshest — the youngest of the three, Sacha Young is just that indeed, at just 19. "
- CANVAS / NZ HERALD (August 2009)
" The brainchild of Shahlin Graves, Vicki Lin and Sacha Young, Coup De Main covers music, film, fashion and more with a refreshingly enthusiastic fandom. They're extremely engaged with their audience, and obsess over and analyse emo and pop artists which many more serious magazines studiously deride or ignore. Plus it's a frustratingly rare case of a local site which reads as good as it looks. "
- REAL GROOVE (October 2009)
" Call them creative multi-taskers, modern day renaissance women, multi-disciplined, jack of all trades, "now-girls" - but please don't call them slashies. These are the young creatives who combine determination, great social connections, intense creative passion and a unique sense of style to work on a wide range of creative endeavours. They're part of the generation where one job is never enough and where one can never be too busy, whether it be styling or photographing fashion shoots, DJ'ing at hip bars, modelling, launching websites or performing with their band. Or maybe they do all of these things, all while pushing a style that gets them noticed.
For 25-year-old fashion editor Vicki Lin, it's about wanting things sooner rather than later. "Perhaps it's all that new-age teaching of 'living in the present', 'the power of now'. For me, there's so much I want to achieve that I figure if I don't start now, I'm never going to be able to get it all done!" "
- VIVA / NZ HERALD (August 2009)
On the site you'll find odes to mainstream pop stars alongside dreamy, endearing blogs that read like song lyrics. Interviews with local musicians come care of photographs in which the artists hold up cardboard speech bubbles. A guy called Vaughan writes about everything from a lack of clean teaspoons to the meaning of life. In between the Twilight giveaways and the step-by-step guide to sexing up a blazer, is evidence of entrepreneurial spirit at its freshest — the youngest of the three, Sacha Young is just that indeed, at just 19. "
- CANVAS / NZ HERALD (August 2009)
" The brainchild of Shahlin Graves, Vicki Lin and Sacha Young, Coup De Main covers music, film, fashion and more with a refreshingly enthusiastic fandom. They're extremely engaged with their audience, and obsess over and analyse emo and pop artists which many more serious magazines studiously deride or ignore. Plus it's a frustratingly rare case of a local site which reads as good as it looks. "
- REAL GROOVE (October 2009)
" Call them creative multi-taskers, modern day renaissance women, multi-disciplined, jack of all trades, "now-girls" - but please don't call them slashies. These are the young creatives who combine determination, great social connections, intense creative passion and a unique sense of style to work on a wide range of creative endeavours. They're part of the generation where one job is never enough and where one can never be too busy, whether it be styling or photographing fashion shoots, DJ'ing at hip bars, modelling, launching websites or performing with their band. Or maybe they do all of these things, all while pushing a style that gets them noticed.
For 25-year-old fashion editor Vicki Lin, it's about wanting things sooner rather than later. "Perhaps it's all that new-age teaching of 'living in the present', 'the power of now'. For me, there's so much I want to achieve that I figure if I don't start now, I'm never going to be able to get it all done!" "
- VIVA / NZ HERALD (August 2009)