Kicking off this week, the New York Photo Festival 2012 is set to display an international variety of creative talent. Now in its fourth consecutive year, the event intermixes submissions from fine art, documentary, advertising, photo books and multimedia – in other words, expect an interesting representation of the photography genre.
At the forefront of this year’s festival is an exploration of the convergence between fine art and documentary photography. Accompanying this theme will be exclusive curations by SocialDocumentary.net founder Glenn Ruga, former P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center/The Museum of Modern Art curator Amy-Smith Stewart, TRACE Magazine founder Claude Grunitzky, and multimedia artist/musician DJ Spooky. Entitled On the Razor’s Edge: Between Documentary and Fine Art Photography (a focus on art documentary), What Do You Believe In (the interplay between photography and personal ideas), the Curse and the Gift (how digital photography and smartphones has changed the shape of the photography medium) and Sinfonia Antarctica (a review of the effect of archiving Antarctic history on digital media art), the shows will include work from the likes of Rina Castelnuovo, Jen DeNike, Yamini Nayar, and Evangelia Kranioti.
Encompassing sculpture, architecture, digital media and live performance, the NYPH ’12 proves that photography is more than just the simple click of a button – just like its creators, the art form is both of a complex and captivating nature.
The New York Photo Festival 2012 runs from May 16-20 and is headquartered at POWERHOUSE Arena, 37 Main Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201 nyph.at
Kate Tempest stomps all over words. When the rapper, poet and playwright spits, people listen, her words cut like a knife and hang over you like a thunder storm. A Shakespeare from the South London streets who takes what she sees and tells it as it is.
We think you ought to know that her debut play, Wasted, is currently at the Roundhouse this week, and the restless Tempest has published a dvd/cd/book of her poetry called Everything Speaks in its Own Way. If you haven’t already witnessed Kate Tempest, then it’s time for your initiation.
Everything Speaks in its Own Way is available from Shakespeare and Co in Paris and at gigs and online from katetempest.co.uk Wasted is at the Roundhouse until 19 May roundhouse.org.uk
For the Saatchi Gallery’s first photography exhibition since 2001, Out of Focus features 38 artists, each demonstrating the different ways the medium can be stretched and explored.
There’s fashion’s favourite, Ryan McGinley, collage supremo John Stezaker, and everything else inbetween. In a world mediated through images, the photographs in Out of Focus, show how photographers have encouraged photography to relinquish its grip on reality in order to push artistic boundaries. With an overwhelming abundance of different techiniques on show, the viewer is left to ponder, what is photography anyway.
Out of Focus is at the Saatchi Gallery London until July 22. saatchigallery.co.uk
Buhuu Suite (Calais 2), Nicole Wermers, 2011
Marriage I, John Stezaker, 2006, Collage
Femme à sa toilette, Elina Brotherus, 2001, Chromogenic colour print mounted on aluminium Top Image: Untitled (Morrissey 7), Ryan McGinley, 2005
The summer edition of Twin smoulders. It’s an exploration of sex and self-love starring IMOGEN POOTS, the English rose taking over Tinseltown, Montreal beauty GRIMES and steely starlet VICKY MCCLURE who meets her match in writer STEPHANIE THEOBALD.
Delight in the ways of the tomboy with AGYNESS, FREJA and ALICE. Explore the nature of desire with writers JACKIE KAY and HELEN SCHULMAN, and read SLUTEVER’s findings on female masturbation.
With visual contributions from RYAN MCGINLEY, TARA DARBY, QUENTIN JONES and JASON PIETRA. Plus twin covers by BEN WELLER, who shoots sublime Lithuanian supermodel EDITA in purest white, and JASON KIBBLER who captures fashion’s floral frenzy on Slovenia’s rising star VALERIJA.
Irish lovely Angela Scanlon is a name to watch. The fashion stylist and writer has already worked for mags such as Tatler and Grazia and has her TV patter perfected.
With a new fashion book, The Secret Stylist, set to come out early next year, Twin caught up with her to find out what makes her tick…
How did you get started in fashion?
I went backwards by studying business for four years. At the time I was feeling very entrepreneurial and I wanted to open a boutique and design my own range. Then I got a taste of life on the shop floor, I worked in a supposedly busy Dublin store and thought I would die of boredom so the boutique dream sort of evaporated.
I needed to change tack so volunteered to assist a stylist who’s still to this day a great mate of mine. She taught me a million things and somehow doors just started to open for me and that’s continued! I did my fair share of cleaning muck off shoes…and quickly realised that fashion is not as glamourous as it sounds, but I think that made me love it even more.
Writing seemed like a natural extension of styling-just a different way to communicate. I’ve kept a blog for years and had the first ever fashion blog to be taken on by a national newspaper in Ireland, The Independent. It gave me lots of opportunities and, I guess, made me look like I knew what I was doing! Sometimes, someone just has to take a chance on you and you have to step up…
Did you study fashion?
Not in the traditional sense, no. But I was always aware of fashion and into it, buying magazines, ‘styling’ friends, keeping a fashion blog-I’ve been in training forever! I always feel that with styling in particular, you learn on the job. You can’t get a proper understanding from reading a book or taking notes. Even the actual process needs to be learned. Where to start, where to finish. When to yield and when you should stick to your guns.
Without getting all ‘Oprah’ on it, it’s about finding people who share your vision and then communicating that. It’s much more organic and opportunistic, you can’t do it with your head stuck in a book. You have to be ‘in’ it and ready to take the opportunities that are presented.
From the Independent, I went on to do TV which led to a column in Tatler and more styling work, then Grazia Daily came along and I’ve been writing for them, I now have a page in U Magazine and most recently I’ve joined a list of my fashion heros to write for the Huffington Post, Joanna Lumley’s in there so that in itself is deadly! It doesn’t just happen but in a way each job leads to another.
What have you been working on most recently?
I’ve just finished the first draft of my book which has been gruelling but brilliant. It’ll be out next year and I think it’s something fresh and bold, it’s a new take on a fashion book. I wanted to do something that myself and my mates would actually want, none of this ‘pear shaped’ stuff, it’s a celebration of fashion and aims to encourage and empower chicks to wear what the want. While I adore fashion, I think personal style needs to be approached with a sense of humour… nurtured but never restricted. It’s self expression at it’s purest and the rules need to be trashed.
And…just a few quick-fire qus, so we can get to know you better…
Doc Martens or Converse?
Cons although I have ponyskin Dalmation print Doc’s that I’m pretty fond of.
Make-up free or slap?
Clean face, fluffy brows.
Pastel or Neon?
Neon.
Ryan McGinley or Tim Walker?
McGinley every time although Tim Walker is a fantasy God, just a little clean for me.
Cocktail dress or le smoking?
Le Smoking.
Courtney Love or PJ Harvey?
PJ Harvey for her smile.
Guitars or beats?
Guitars. I love nothing more than a sing song in an old pub after hours.
Leather or denim?
Both.
Ponies or bikes?
Ponies. I had a pony called The Steel Duke who I adored. I haven’t ridden in years but the feeling of freedom when you’re let loose in a field is the best!
Whiskey or Champagne?
Whiskey.. and ginger.
FROW or pub?
One before the other.
Country ramble or city walk?
Country ramble in the rain.
Jane Birkin or Charlotte Gainsbourg?
Charlotte Gainsbourg. Slightly less perfect and even more attractive for it.
The Metropolitan Museum of Arts Costume Institute’s new exhibition focuses on two icons of classic design separated by disparate eras: The late Elsa Schiaparelli, creator of the ‘Tear’ dress and associate of the Surrealist movement, and Muiccia Prada, a politics graduate whose coveted Postmodernist creations are made for women’s brains – not their bodies.
Their collaborative exhibition: Schiaparelli and Prada – Impossible Conversations, comprises of signature pieceswhich are divided into seven themed galleries, including Hard Chic and The Surreal Body. The designers’ ensembles are collated and video installations are included which depict simulated conversations between the women with a view to highlight similitudes and contradictions in their work.
Accompanying the exhibition is a photographic book of the same name, which enriches the narrative of the show by including a miniature booklet connecting the designers generational disparity. Photographs, articles and quotes intimate additional ‘impossible conversations’ between them.
The exhibit and book not only illustrate an interdependence between the historic and the contemporary, but they also provide a delightful glimpse into the agency of two dissenters who have consistently undermined conventional edicts of elegance and sophistication in all of their staid, and unimaginative manifestations by creating an alternate, yet beautiful array of fresh palettes and concepts.
Schiaparelli and Prada – Impossible Conversations is showing at the Metropolitan Museum of Arts Costume Institute in New York until 19 August 2012.
Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations is published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
In the world of fashion, Louise Roe is the UK’s answer to Olivia Palermo. The fashion journalist has taken TV by storm, from her early days at Vogue TV to reality show The City.
Now presenting her own show, Plain Jane, when she’s not on the FROW, Louise lives in Los Angeles. With her glossy mane and perrenial pulled together style, she’s a little bit of London glamour in LA .
Twin caught up with Louise and asked her for her top ten fashion tracks…
What’s your earliest fashion memory?
Wearing a pink tutu, pink fishnet tights and flat grey pixie boots to my sister’s 10th birthday disco. I would have been five, but i can remember picking my outfit out and taking it very seriously!
What’s your most ‘fashion’ moment in your career so far?
Probably the first time i went to couture fashion week in Paris. It’s another level of fashion show: it’s theatre, drama, hundred-thousand pound dresses one after the other, all shown in elegant ballrooms or equally elaborate settings. It’s jaw-dropping and reminded me why i love the industry so much.
What represents eternal style for you?
Coco Chanel, Lauren Hutton, a high-waisted pencil skirt, red lips and a pair of sky-high Christian
Louboutins. Not all at once!
If you hadn’t had a career in fashion what would you have been?
I love interior design, and travel. Probably travel-writing, like my dad.
Which women do you look up to for their achievements/success?
Carine Roitfeld, Michelle Obama, Queen Rania of Jordan, Tasmina Perry (an author who took me under her wing at my first ever job, at In Style magazine), and my Mum.
What’s up next for you?
I’m hosting MTV’s coverage of the MTV Movie Awards on June 5th, and midway filming the new season of Plain Jane
right now. It airs end of September!
Louise’s Top Ten Tracks
1/ Fashion – Lady Gaga
You can’t have a list of fashion songs without Gaga.
2/ Freedom – George Michael
Mainly for the video full of Nineties supermods, this song is retro and makes me dance.
3/ Don’t Let Me Get in my Zone- Kanye West and Jay-Z Keeps playing on the radio while I’m driving around LA, reminds me of sunshine and fab dresses!
4/ Vogue – Madonna
5/ Fade Into You – Mazzy Star So chill and mellow, I think Rodarte even played this at their runway show.
6/ Big Jet Plane – Angus and Julia Stone An Aussie duo who have the most amazing tunes. This reminds me of Malibu beach in summer.
7/ American Woman – Lenny Kravitz| I remember going to a lavish Tommy Hilfiger store opening in Paris. At the afterparty Lenny came out as a surprise and sang this.
8/ My Door Bell – White Stripes
Love Jack White! Somehow this makes me want to be in New York partying.
9/ Somebody That I Used To know- Gotye feat Kimbra Got it on replay at the moment, I found it on pandora ages ago and liked it so much, then it became this massive hit!
10/ We Are Young – Fun feat. Janelle Monae Dancing anthem for 2012 for sure…
Listen to Louise Roe’s playlist here
Louise Roe for Stylistpick will launch on 28th May and she will will be fronting Plain Jane on MTV in the Autumn.
Among an array of exceptional and disparate images for sale at the upcoming Philip de Pury & Company Photographic Auction, a considerable number emanate from the milieu of fashion photography.
Highlights include Sie Kommen, one half of a diptych taken by the late and provocative Helmut Newton which depicts four naked models in high heels as an erotic metaphor for the changing status of women in the Eighties.
In addition, the print A family One Evening in a Nudist Camp by Diane Arbus utilises her intuitive sense of otherness not only to expose peculiarity in the mundane, but also to reveal the beauty and integrity of her subjects.
The sale will also showcase a myriad of eclectic and larger scale work from contemporary Twentieth Century photographers such as Vera Lutter, Thomas Ruff and Dan Holdsworth, which are collated with epoch-making images created by classic artists including Robert Mapplethorpe, Richard Avendon, Horst P. Horst and Irvin Penn.
Phillips de Pury & Company May Photographic auction begins on 17 May at 4pm. phillipsdepury.com
For the past five years, London-based photographer Jo Metson Scott has been travelling back and forth to America, photographing and speaking with US marines who spoke out against the invasion of Iraq. The resulting project The Grey Line combines photographs and words in an attempt to examine the personal struggles of men and women grappling with doubt on the frontlines of the “War on Terror”.
Below are some exclusive previews taken from Jo’s scrapbook, where she’s documented the journeys, stories and testimonies of men and women who spoke out about their doubts at varying consequences.
The Grey Line will be published and exhibited in 2013 to coincide with the anniversary of the invasion of Iraq a decade ago.
Washing up on American shores for the first time, the Frieze team are pitching for a slot in the New York art market. The art fair that gave London’s contemporary art scene a festival buzz has brought the same showmanship state-side by pitching a luminous white tent in Randall’s Island Park, Manhattan and building a sculpture park by the East river.
With art from over 170 galleries – 60 of which are American -and focusing on work from international living artists, established and emerging, Frieze New York is a visual and aural art feast. Cecilia Alemani curates the programme and the Frieze special projects featuring artists such as Uri Aran and Virginia Overton are sure to be spectacular’s not to be missed.
With all art eyes already on NYC following the record-breaking £74m sale of Munch’s The Scream, Frieze New York can’t fail to be an inclusive event, with something for everyone.
Lizzie Garrett Mettler’s blog Tomboy Style is a Mecca for lovers of brogues, fedoras, and blazers. With its mix of images from icons of mannish dressing such as Jane Birkin to modern day tomboys opening up their enviable wardrobes for us to see, Tomboy Style is a stylish vindication for every woman whose ever shunned a dress in favour of a sharply tailored suit or a heel in favour of a flat.
After two years of documenting her tomboy style, Garrett Mettler has published a delicious book of her favourite images from the blog. Twin caught up with her to ask a few questions of our own…
When and why did you start your blog?
May 2010, right after I started to notice a shift in the word. It all of the sudden seemed to be attached to good style all over the place.
What’s your earliest tomboy style memory?
Throwing all of the dolls out of my room at age two.
Who is your go to designer for tomboy style?
Oh man, just one!? Today I’d say…Margaret Howell.
What item of clothing wouldn’t we find in your wardrobe?
An ‘it’ bag.
What’s your default tomboy style uniform?
Skinny jeans, a men’s button-down, smoking slippers.
If you were wearing a dress, what would it be?
I wear dresses a lot actually, but they’re usually more architectural or masculine, like Helmut Lang and Phillip Lim, more of a Roitfeld-inspired look.
When it comes to your style heroines, who makes the final cut?
Jane Birkin, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Charlotte Rampling.
What have you learnt from doing your blog?
That there’s quite a few other women that feel the same way I do about the intersection of style and tomboys.
What’s on your wish list?
I am moving into a new house, so right now, all I can think about is furniture.
What’s next up?
Research for the next project!
TOMBOY STYLE: Beyond the Boundaries of Fashion by Lizzie Garrett Mettler is published by Rizzoli New York tomboystyle.co.uk
Jeweller Noemi Klein has collaborated with maverick artist and tattooist Liam Sparkes to produce a bold collection inspired by Sparkes’ distinctive ink style.
Emerging from a shared love of medieval imagery and religious iconography it’s a richly illustrated collection that fuses Sparkes’ drawing with Klein’s artisanship. Their choices of imagery, such as feudal castles and pagan ram’s heads, hint at a pre-industrial age of artisanship where metal work had a raw quality and items such as signet rings, practical significance.
Noemi Klein X Liam Sparkes collection is available at No-One, 1 Kingsland Road, London
French photographer Estelle Hanania is a past winner of the prestigious Hyères Festival photo prize and has used her distinctive primitive style to great effect for brands such as Maison Martin Margiela and Opening Ceremony.
Her latest exhibition features work from her ongoing creative collaboration with artist Christophe Brunquell. A creative relationship that began at a shoot in Berlin in 2008 has continued in Paris and beyond.
Blending art, photography and theatre, the images from La Guerre du Feu – the quest for fire – recall primitive communities through body paint, nudity and inferences of cannibalism. Brunquell used old portraits of his models to make masks, for their real personas to break through. The effect is disorientating and savage and surely is some of the most arresting imagery Twin’s seen in a long time.
La Guerre du Feu by Hanania & Brunquell is at 12MAIL, 12 rue du Mail, Paris until 1 June estellehanania.com
Today is the last day of the Hyeres 2012 International Festival of Fashion and Photography. Each year over 800 entrants are sifted and sorted through in order to glean the most talented young creatives from photography and fashion design.
Presided over by an eminently qualified panel of jurors such as Yohji Yamamoto, Paolo Roversi and Carla Sozzani, the winners exhibited are sure to be names to watch and watch.
All the winners’ work will be on show until 26 May along with exhibitions featuring the work of Yohji Yamamoto and Van Lamsweerde and Matadin amongst others – so if you aren’t already lucky enough to be seeking out the sun in the South of France, get moving.
Ever since she first picked up a camera several years ago Norwegian born photographer, Mariell Amélie, has been fusing the lines between fashion and art through her whimsical and often eerie approach to photography. Describing herself as an introvert, Amélie’s pictures reflect a similar sense of solitude and silence that she experienced whilst growing up. Now based in London, her lens continues to capture precious moments inspired by memories and dreams.
Currently housed at Notting Hill Arts Club, Forget Me Not / Forglem Meg Ei is Mariell’s debut solo exhibition, presenting an assortment of self-portraits from her extensive archive. Last night Twin joined Mariell for her opening night to find out more about the girl behind (and in front of) the lens…
What initially attracted you to photography?
When I was younger I stumbled across a drawer full of Polaroid pictures of my mum and dad from the Seventies. I found it so fascinating that a particular moment from their history had been permanently captured in a single shot so I bought myself a camera and began playing around and experimenting with photography. I grew up in a small island, Andøya, in the polar circle of northern Norway with just my mum and dad… I had to learn to entertain myself and enjoy my own company so being on my own was something I got used to; I guess that’s why I primarily focus on self-portraiture.
Who/what inspires you?
My Grandmother. She was the most creative person I ever met yet no one really knew it. Moving to a big city like London from my small Norwegian home was a bit overwhelming but I knew branching out was something I had to do; she taught me to take risks, challenge myself and never give up. I decided to call this exhibition Forget Me Not (Forglem Meg Ei in Norwegian) referring to the flower of the same name that I have tattooed on my wrist in memory of my grandmother.
Describe your photographic style in three words:
Isolated, cold, eerie…
Females are often the subject of your pictures (in this case, yourself) would you say you were a feminist at heart?
I definitely like to make a statement with my work to express that you don’t have to be a male to have power and freedom. Also there’s simply something about the female form that I find to be more interesting, but ultimately I like people to see my subjects as individuals without casting any stereotypical or preconceived views.
You split your time between Norway and London – where do you prefer shooting?
Well the majority of the pictures in this exhibition were taken in Andøya. It’s just such an amazing place with such beautiful and untouched landscapes. I work with a location scout back in Norway who helps me to find some incredible settings for my shoots. I think everywhere in London has already been discovered and overdone so it gets a bit tedious.
What’s next?
I’ve been really busy the last year on various commercial projects: I’m not saying that I haven’t enjoyed them but I now want some time to really focus on projects that I am truly passionate about. I’m going back to Norway in a couple of weeks so I am planning on shooting a lot when I’m out there and hopefully creating a brand new set of images for my next exhibition.
Forget Me Not / Forglem Meg Ei is on at the Notting Hill Arts Club, now until 11th June 2012. mariellamelie.com
Looking for the next fashion-art-film fix in London? Then get yourself to the V&A this Friday for the next installment of their Friday late programme called Britain is Making It. The event coincides with the British Design 1948 – 2012 exhibition.
Kathryn Ferguson is collaborating with video artist Weirdcore to create a live site-specific video sculpture in the Hintz Sculpture Galleries. It is the public premiere of Kathryn’s film Máthair which will be screened amongst the religious iconography of the Medieval and Renaissance Galleries.
She has also curated a UK fashion film reel that will be looping throughout the night in the main entrance hall featuring work by Quentin Jones, Cassette Playa, Ruth Hogben, Julie Verhoeven and others.
Britain is Making It, Friday 27th April, V&A, 6.30 – 10pm
Right now there’s one opening ceremony that we’re excited about. Yep, innovative retailers and purveyors of global cool Humberto Leon and Carol Lim of Opening Ceremony are opening a pop-up shop in London’s Covent Garden, days before the Olympics are due to begin.
While it’s a more than apt moment to launch the brand into the UK, we’re simply happy to have the store on this side of the pond. Having already produced collections lusted after by fashionistas the world over, the store is set to boast wares by Proenza Schouler, Chloe Sevigny and Pamela Love, as well of course as Kenzo, whom Opening Ceremony recently took over design duties for. For those keeping it strictly sporty during that month, they’ll also be Adidas X Opening Ceremony.
Hot on the heels of the pop-up store will come a permanent space opening in Autumn, but right now, the buzz building up for July just got louder.
With London’s inaugural menswear week set to take place in June, the spotlight is firmly on the talented young designers making clothes for the men for a change. Martine Rose is one such menswear designer who stands out from the pack.
Whether its turning the humble shirt into a statement piece or collaborating with big name brands such as CAT and Timberland, her collections always mix the best of East London attitude with avant-garde design.
Twin spoke to the designer about her work…
What was the initial appeal in designing men’s clothes?
I’m just better at it, I’m quite a tomboy so it appears to be my natural aesthetic!
You started out in true London style, starting from nothing on your own, and have gone on to collaborate with big brands like CAT and Timberland, what are the most important things you’ve learnt along the way?
That London has a huge wealth of support for young designers. Contrary to popular belief, most people in fashion are lovely. Help people out if you can, as you will certainly need help yourself….just a few little tips I have picked up along the way
You’re known for your shirts, but what other pieces are you finding yourself drawn to with each new collection?
Outerwear actually, particularly bomber jackets. I’m really enjoying playing with the references of the classic bomber jacket. It comes so loaded with association already, especially in the UK punk, skinhead, thug… it’s really fun to re-invent and push what it might be associated with next!
Which guys – and girls- are your all time style heroes?
Grace Jones, Molly Parkin, Diana Vreeland, but mainly the kids on the street give me the most inspiration. How they might wear two t-shirts and how they tie their laces, fix their hair, whatever it is. That is the best thing about living in London. The most inspirational style is on the streets
How do you feel when you see a guy in one of your designs?
Thrilled to bits!
Your clothes are bright and fun – do you get girls buying them too?
Sometimes, definitely. They tend to be extremely cool chicks!
What do you listen to as you work?
Absolutely everything! Mainly Radio 6 though, it caters for all tastes in the studio
What’s up next?
SS13 in June, the most exciting development in British menswear for a long time…our own mensweek.
So, A/W 12 might not actually be ready to wear quite yet, but seeing how fashion illustrator Tanya Ling has already interpreted some of what was on offer at the shows in February is keeping us happy.
Ling, the talented illustrator mum of Twin favourite Bip, has been adding her langurous, painterly style to hot looks for years. Most recently her work can be seen as part of Selfridge’s newly opened Women’s Designer Galleries. We’re not sure what we want most, the clothes themselves, or Ling’s take on modern luxury.
Art director and publisher Hannah Ridley and fashion photographer Stephanie Sian Smith met and became friends at art school. Both have since gone on to have careers in the fashion industry, working together on glossy mags such as Elle. So Hannah, the mastermind behind gorgeous publishers Ida Rhoda, was the natural curator for an exhibition of Stephanie’s images entitled I’ve Done Alright For A Girl.
She says; ‘I’ve always loved Stephanie’s own work – before a shoot she’ll ask the model to spin around in the studio or run around on the beach or jump up and down on a trampette – the girls are often going somewhere, which is where the title of the exhibition came from.
“I was working my way through the images Steph gave me and I had the Melanie Anne Safka song in my head – ‘Don’t Go Too Fast, But I Go Pretty Far’.”
As well as informing Hannah’s curatorial decisions, the song lyrics also run through the free newspaper of images that Hannah and Stephanie will be giving away at the exhibition. Not bad at all indeed.
I’ve Done Alright For A Girl is Upstairs at The English Restaurant, Spitalfields, for one week only from today.
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