For a second year running, Selfridges has selected its Bright Young Things. The project allows 15 newcomers from the worlds of fashion, art, design and food talents to create a window display for its Oxford and Duke Street stores.

With participants this year including womenswear designer/illustrator and CSM graduate Sorcha O’ Raghallaigh, who specialises in intricate metallic coloured and lace designs (Lady Gaga is a fan)  and designer Maarten van der Horst, who gave a new and fashionable life to the otherwise dreaded Hawaiian prints, it’s a testament to the design talents that the Big Smoke has to offer.

For those more interested in non-fashion creativity, interior designer duo Tinker & Tailor have created a Twitter-friendly interactive space, while coffee connoisseur Jack Coleman made his own personal ode to the art of the brewing and roasting.

There’s never been a better reason to stop and take a closer look. Rush hour crowds notwithstanding.

Bright Young Things is on until February 29.

selfridges.com/

Words by Carla Seipp

A larger than life character, with her striking ageless style and ever present alsation pug Otis, Claire’s passing last week after a prolonged illness is a loss to all who prize independence and personality and to those resisting the creeping tide of a homogeneous culture.

There was room for everyone in her shop, all were free to browse or buy, and on her shelves young talent jostled happily alongside huge names. Twin can only thank and pay our respects to a woman who strove to deliver the best and allow the young to flourish.

Words by Boudicca Fox-Leonard

Chef Yianni Papoutsis, head of the operation, has made a name for himself as a street food pioneer thanks to Meatwagon, a burger van responsible for guerilla “Meatings” in London car parks, industrial estates and, more recently, festivals and the subsequent #Meateasy pop-up in a derelict Italian restaurant above an abandoned pub in New Cross.

Together with Scott Collins, the liquor in MEATliquor, Papoutsis has arguably revolutionised the West End identikit dining scene with cool design, jam jar cocktails and greasy Dead Hippie burgers and onion rings.

As Collins says, “The MEATWAGON has come a long way since its small beginnings in a vandalised van in a South London car park…We have taken #Meateasy to the next level, bringing meat dining to London’s West End at New Cross prices.”

MEATliquor, 74 Welbeck Street W1G 0BA
meatliquor.com

Words by Katie Rose

Taught by the art director of Harper’s Bazaar, Alexey Brodovitch, and with Richard Avedon among those in her class, Arnold took her camera to the catwalks of Harlem, where an alternative to mainstream fashion had found its feet.

Over the subsequent decades her eye for an image and her awareness of her own minority status, never failed to help her cast light upon those whom the camera might have otherwise ignored. She recorded the civil rights movement, American agrarians, South African shantytowns and Mongolian horse trainers. Always interested in women’s issues, in 1971 she made a film, Women Behind the Veil, going inside Arabian hammams and harems.

In her celebrity photographs, her understanding and compassion resulted in original interpretations of the glitterati. A favourite with actresses like Marlene Dietrich and Joan Crawford, most famously her naturalistic aesthetic, took Hollywood star Marilyn Monroe out of the glare of the studio portrait and gave the world an enduring intimate insight into her beauty.

Her passing away last week at the grand age of 99 is a reminder of her legacy, not only of the startling images she took, but of a woman with a rare light, who lived brightly and bravely.

Words by Boudicca Fox-Leonard

Francesca Gavin – Art Editor

For me this has been the year of Mark Leckey – both his solo show at the Serpentine and an hypnotic installation at the Printemps de Septembre in Toulouse. I’ve been obsessed by his work for years and think he has a massive influence on a whole younger generation on artists with his fascination with pop culture, technology, music and screens. I like many others wait with excitement at whatever comes next.

In 2012, I’m really looking forward to surviving the apocalypse and visiting the Marrakech Biennial in February. Some really great artists are in the line up including Aleksandra Domanovic, Jon Nash and Matthew Stone and I think its going to be a fascinating trip.

Elsewhere 176 new monthly programme of emerging artists, Yayoi Kusama and Edvard Munch at the Tate Modern, Rashid Johnson’s big shows at Hauser and Wirth NYC and London throughout the year, Urs Fisher at Palazzo Grassi in Venice, and the Berlin Biennial (which can only be an improvement on two years ago which was uber-dull).

Aimee Farrell – Features Director

In terms of writers in 2011 it has to be Caitlin Moran at the top of the list. How To Be A Woman managed to make feminism funny and accessible.

In 2012 I’m excited about Rachel Cusk. Her Granta essay about life after marriage, which throws a feminist light on the institution of divorce has been developed into a major new work of non-fiction, called Aftermath: On Marriage and Separation. Published by Faber the book will be a series of meditations on women’s mid-lives and family life after divorce.

Boudicca Fox-Leonard – Online Editor

Last year marked another 12 months of female dominance in the music industry, whether it was Beyonce at Glastonbury or Adele taking America. There were strong albums from the likes of Feist and a great debut from songstress Anika. For me though, the highlight was PJ Harvey storming the Mercury Music Prize for a second time. Let England Shake easily summed up the zeitgeist for 2011 and proved that there are still important albums being made.

For 2012, there’s a feeling it’s going to be the year of the viral superstar. We’ve already had Azealia Banks’ 212 and Lana Del Rey’s Video Games, now we need to hear the albums.

Szabo, who started taking portraits of his students at Malverne High School on Long Island when he noticed their lack of motivation in learning, is most known for his work published in the books Almost Grown and Teenage.

The documentary is a collection of Szabo’s printed work as well as never before published work. Trawling through an archive spanning over five decades containing over 10,000 images and audio interviews with Szabo, Khachatorian and Pozderec described the production of the film “like assembling a jigsaw puzzle”.

On a retrospective note, the directing duo adds that the process “lead us down a path of memory into a world we had long forgotten, connecting us to the ghosts of our own high school past. That is the gift of Joe’s photographs which transcend simple nostalgia, which connect you immediately to a part of yourself that lasts forever inside.”

The Joseph Szabo Project is an attestation to the fact that while life sometimes flies by us in what feels like mere minutes, a photograph lasts forever.

See a preview of the documentary here.

thejosephszaboproject.com

Words by Carla Seipp

Among the 17 creatives stars featured in Future Roots are Twin favourite, illustrator Quentin Jones, artists Gaia Repossi and Lola Montes Schnabel and director Benn Northover. Each film is up to five minutes long, enough time to reveal each person and what they represent, while leaving the viewer with some seriously stimulating thoughts. Thank you Hogan.

Watch the films here

hogan.com

Words by Lara Piras

Paying homage to its former life as a luggage shop, suitcases take the place of shelves in the bar and the cocktail menus are printed on brown luggage tags. At £5 a pop cocktails are purse-friendly and the in-house creations are inventive; try the Electric Avenue – marmalade, apple vodka and pomegranate juice, served in a sherbet-dipped martini glass. Failing that, the classics are just as delicious – an Old Fashioned is an ideal winter warmer. The food, seemingly typical tapas fare, is a similar mix to that of the cocktails. Expect the classics done well alongside inventive, moreish little dishes like sherry-soaked figs on bruschetta.

Past a church pew and up a storey via the crooked staircase artists have been invited to produce temporary installations in each of the rooms, which will be changed every three months. Sam Cook and Joe Crowdy’s mounted paper sculpture is accompanied by A3 sheets of ‘cut-around’ instructions; these lie waiting on the makeshift road sign table for eager fans to recreate their triangular work.

In another room Adam Hemuss’ scribblings creep up the walls and onto the ceiling. Sitting up here is like taking part in a live installation; don’t be put off if half-way through your conversation an art enthusiast pops up next to you to observe the works.

Seven at Brixton is open to catch the breakfast crowd from 8am but it closes relatively early for a cocktail bar (6pm Mon-Wed, 10pm Thurs-Sat and 5pm on Sundays). The address itself surely insinuates the best time to visit. Meet you there at 7pm.

Seven at Brixton is at 7 Market Row, Brixton SW9 8LB

brixtonmarket.net

sevenatbrixton.wordpress.com

Words by Katie Rose

On screen, clothing embodies the unscripted role of sculpting characters – would Cruella De Vil be as villainous without her floor-length fur coats? Clothes create unforgettable moments such as Audrey Hepburn in a Givenchy little black dress outside Tiffany’s, adding to the aesthetic vision of a director – could one imagine Margot Tenenbaum in anything but her heavy eyeliner and preppy polo dresses?

Creative arts platform Test’s series of monthly film screenings and talks mark an intriguing new chapter in the genre. Accompanied by an introduction and Q&A with designer Roksanda Ilincic, the latest motion picture up for discussion will be Liliana Cavani’s The Night Porter starring Charlotte Rampling and Dirk Bogarde.

More than simply a night of stylish cinema, the event is a testament to the lasting power and iconicity of fashion in film.

Test Presents…The Night Porter Introduced By Roksanda Ilincic takes place at Town Hall Hotel & Apartments, Patriot Square, London E2 9NF on December 13 at 7:00 pm.

testmag.co.uk

townhallhotel.com

Words by Carla Seipp

For five days, cherry-picked labels and creatives are setting up concept stalls selling their wares. Expect to find such brands as Les Chiffoniers, Lost Property of London, Olivia von Halle (top image), Paper London, Fred Butler and, of course, House of Hackney. Alongside fashion and homeware stands, as well as some more unconventional offerings from Polly Morgan, there will be a Christmas fair selling trees, roasted chestnuts and gift wrapping.

East London gem Lily Vanilli will be on hand selling Christmas hampers as festive foodie presents and her bakery and cider stand will serve up warming snacks for weary shoppers. Taking place in a disused power station in Shoreditch, the vibe is sure to unite the best of hip Shoreditch creativity and traditional Christmas fare.

Fred Butler

House of Hackney

Circus 11 takes place from 14th until 18th December (10am-8pm daily) at The Tramshed, Shoreditch

circus11.com

houseofhackney.com

Words by Katie Rose