One of our standout shows during February’s AW14 season was Ashish. It was at the colourful and glittery display, at the Topshop showspace at Tate Modern that we learned that a tenth collaboration was on its way. Well, today is that day. Ashish x Topshop SS14 has landed and it’s as tongue-in-cheek as we expected. Titled Beach Please!, the capsule collection features oversized t-shirts, fluoro swimsuits and bikinis, wrap dresses and skirts as well as LED footwear. “I love this collection, it’s perfect for the beach and for pool parties, and they have the best ones at the Paradise Hotel,” stated Ashish Gupta. “I hope it’s going to be as much fun to wear as it has been to design!” Here Twin picks our top four pieces from this fun-loving collaboration.

White LED Leather Sliders, £250, topshop.com & Fluro Orange Backless Swimsuit, £45, topshop.com

Censored Mesh Dress, £65, topshop.com & LED Light Up PVC Backpack, £250, topshop.com

Tags: ashish, SS14, Topshop

“It’s not about design, it’s all about the clothing,” states Faustine Steinmetz when we meet in her East London studio. In a large, light-filled room, surrounded by looms, her small team (which she calls artisans) and two adorable dogs, we sat down to talk about the current collection, her obsession with denim and old lady books.

Tell us a about your first fashion memories….
I grew up in Paris in a very fancy neighbourhood, in the 16^th Arrondissement with my grandparents. That’s probably my first fashion memory; my grandmother with her very classic, beautiful outfits. A lot of Chanel and even if it wasn’t Chanel, it looked like Chanel. She would take me to Galeries Lafayette all the time to choose our clothes.

Did you always want a career in fashion?
No, I wanted to be an artist for a very long time but I did one painting and it didn’t work out – it was terrible. It was a black sheep and about how society is wrong or something quite ridiculous. Then I realised it was a bit too free for me.  Art can be anything and I wasn’t comfortable with that.  So I started cutting all my pairs of jeans, making my parents very mad. I looked terrible – I would make holes in the crutch of my jeans to make it into a jacket, I would take the pockets of the back of the jeans and make them into a bag that you put around your neck. I made a skateboard in denim also. I would always cut denim into other things until my parents said they wouldn’t buy me anymore jeans. For some reason denim was always my first choice.

What attracted you to denim?
It was since the beginning, it was always very natural. I think it comes from wanting to say something. Denim is this socially and culturally important piece – it’s the piece that everyone has in their cupboard no matter what.

You like your garments to talk about garments. Can you explain a little more about that?
When I made the tapestry jeans for SS14, it took us a month with ten people doing it. To me, it was a piece that talked about fashion in general, how this type of care would only be given to an evening gown. Just switching those codes makes you question the way you wear a garment and what are they for. For AW14 we hand wove with copper so that you can crunch it the way you like and they hold in place. It was all about making your clothes your own.

Tell us about AW14…
I’m trying to find what I want to say about fashion and what type of brand I want to be. I just really want to reproduce clothes that already exist because to me that’s the strongest. I’m not interested in fashion as such, its not about the silhouette, its about the actual piece. This collection was all about Issey Miyake Peats Please because I love this idea of a brand working with the same object over and over again but making it different every time and making these collectible pieces a bit like images that you collect, like the Spice Girl pictures you collected as a kid. It’s always about working with something that already exists and making a bit of a parody of it.

So it’s not about designing…
I’m trying not to, but at the end of the day I guess I’m a designer. It’s hard for me to resist doing a representation. So I will dye a fabric and it will come out as a beautiful accident – sometimes I will dip a fabric, by mistake, and it will create a beautiful gradient which I guess designing would be like, this is beautiful, lets do this but to me because it doesn’t have a meaning, even if it breaks your heart I have to cancel the idea. It’s all about the concept and what you have to say.

You put the name of the person who made the clothes in the label. Why is that so important to you?
I think they deserve it because they have spent so long making it. Someone has taken the care that would be part of the haute couture world into a pair of jeans. To me, that is what is strong about the brand. Not only eveningwear should be made with couture techniques. If you buy a piece of clothing that costs you more that £1000 it should be something you wear everyday, a bit more neutral and culturally, I think that jeans speaks to us more than dresses. You can’t go to the party two times in the same dress. This is a pair of jeans you can wear it over and over again. I think its important people know where its coming from. And they may not understand if they see a pair of jeans that’s really expensive in the shop, because anything can be made by a machine but someone has taken a week of their life to weave this for you. It’s all made traditionally. And also, those labels their inspired by the old couture labels, when they were still writing by hand the sizes, what has been done…

You studied in Paris then came to London to do your MA at Central Saint Martins. Is that where you got the idea for reproducing denim?
No actually, I’ve always worked around parodying other designers. Parodying sounds bad, but it’s about reproducing something someone has already done and show your version of that. In my MA I was working around Chanel and I was painting and sculpting Chanel bags and printing it onto the garments all made in plasticine. I made a little Chanel world in plasticine. That was really fun.

What was your BA graduate collection about in Paris?
That was very denim. I painted denim on denim, I painted denim on jersey, I knitted denim. It was more about drawing on clothes than actually making clothes. In France they teach you proper techniques, it’s our heritage so in our schools it’s a big point of focus. And my brain just can’t figure out those things, it was like geometry, but life size – it was a nightmare. So that’s why I started to work the material and that’s what lead me to be very textile orientated and to try to push the shape design to its minimum.

Tell me about the techniques you use…
I collect loads of old lady’s books. I love old lady craft, there’s this shop in Finsbury park that I love. Every time I see a technique that looks fun, I buy the book and then I go back to it. At the moment I am looking at rug making. That’s also how I learnt hand-weaving because you can find a lot of books, with different techniques.

What are your favourite techniques/materials?
I love sampling, going to the shop and looking at all the yarns around you. What stood out for me was the copper. Its 0.01, so you have to be very patient with it.

What has been your most intricate piece that took the longest to make?
Defiantly the tapestry jeans. I’d say about ten people and a month to make them. First I hand dye all the different yarns in different shades to create the different threads, like the orange thread of the jeans and the different tones. Already that was too much, I should have said stop. And then we had to print each part of the jeans on a canvas and all follow the same guidelines. I think it was about an hour a square centimetre.

We want to develop this new thing of creating artefacts that are not really made for selling, like an old couture piece. Our version of a capsule collection, or pre-collection. That Is really the way I see this brand – a little gathering of artisans together.

As demand grows, how do you plan to deal with orders if one piece can take up to a month?
We will adapt. AW14 for example, it’s still hand woven but its not hand dyed and there is no embroidery. My aim was to make something special with cutting some of the work. Although it will still take two days to weave a pair of jeans. I’m not scared of saying no and scared of being a small brand in the right places. I still think people should feel special when they wear the piece. I don’t want to be everywhere or collaborate with high-street people. I’m not scared of growing organically and slowly. I think next season will be about expanding the brand.

Faustine Steinmetz SS14 is available online from ln-cc.com. 

Tags: Faustine Steinmetz, LN-CC

Customising your trainers is nothing new, although Adidas are soon to take the idea to the next level with their Photo Print App. Come August, when the app launches, you will be able to decorate your Adidas Originals ZX Flux trainer with any image you see fit. Centred around Instagram, the idea is that you can choose your favourite image from the social network and have it printed onto your kicks, but of course, the quality of the image will determine the quality of the finish. We’d love to see one of our latest SS14 editorials on some trainers, wouldn’t you?

adidas.co.uk

Tags: Adidas, Trainers

It’s been five years since La Roux came onto the scene. Now, with a brand new album Trouble in Paradise out on 7th July, singer Elly Jackson has released the first track off the record, Let Me Down Gently. The song is a melancholic tune with a dark and moody video to boot directed by Oliver Hadlee Pearch. With a taste of what’s to come, we cannot wait to hear more.

Pre-order the album now at itunes.apple.com

Tags: La Roux

In Twin X, Danielle Levitt visits Arizona to meet the SUN CITY POMS, an acrobatic Arizonian Dance Troupe of women in their 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s. Here, Levitt captures the women in this short film to give us a greater insight into their lives, showing us that they are a force to be reckoned with.

The 10th issue of Twin is out now. Buy here.

daniellelevitt.com

Tags: Danielle Levitt, Sun City Poms

Tomorrow, Thursday 22nd May, Converse CONS Project London will open in Peckham – one of the city’s most up-and-coming creative hubs. The 10-week project sets out to unleash creativity within the community, giving young people a space to be inspired and learn whilst fuelling their own passions through a series of talks, workshops and exhibitions. Festivities begin with the launch of CONS Street, a new skate spot for London designed by Jerome Campbell.

The initative is curated by five local CONS Ambassadors such as James Benenson (Urban Nerds), Alex Synamatix (The Daily Street), Scratcha DVA (Rinse/Hyperdub), Jerome Campbell (Converse Cons Skate Ambassador) and Sam Taylor (Vice/Little White Lies). You will find US hip-hop legend PUSHA T launching CONS Project London when he takes to the stage at the official opening party on Thursday 29th May. There’s plenty to get involved in with events such as the Graffiti Canvas Workshop, Skate Photography Workshop, Keeping Print Alive Seminar and a DIY Digital Media Seminar plus many more.

For more information and to register for the free events and workshops, head to conversecons.com/ldn

Cons Project London
Copeland Gallery, 133 Copeland Road, Peckham, London, SE15 3SN

Tags: Converse

When the news broke last December that Kristen Stewart would be the new face of Chanel, some thought it was an odd choice from Karl Lagerfeld. However, this behind the scene video shows the 24-year-old actress is a perfect fit for his ‘Romantic Western’ collection. Shot by Lagerfeld himself, the ad campaign sees Stewart in pieces from the Texas-inspired 2013/14 Chanel’s Métiers d’Art collection that debuted in Dallas. Watch the video below.

chanel.com

Tags: Chanel, Karl Lagerfeld, Kristen Stewart

When it comes to jewellery for SS14, one statement piece comes out on top. The choker is yet another 90’s trend that’s being re-introduced into our lives. This time however, it’s less Spice Girls, more Celine, taking inspiration from the chic and minimal to give us a oversized piece that works with nearly every outfit. Here, Twin picks the top four chokers on the market.

Pearl Choker, £15.99, zara.com & Giuseppe Zanotti Stud And Buckles Choker, £360, luisaviaroma.com

Annelise Michelson Gunmetal Carnivore Choker, £830, avenue32.com & Paula Mendoza Hera Gold-Plated Choker, £700, net-a-porter.com

Tags: Annelise Michelson, Choker, Giuseppe Zanotti, jewellery, Paula Mendoza, SS14, Zara

Alasdair McLellan, one of the most sought after fashion photographers has looked back to his Yorkshire roots to publish his first book, Ultimate Clothing Company. The idea for the publication centres around growing up in England; “I’ve been working on the book for years. It’s pictures of young men and landscapes, and a lot of the landscapes are from memory: places that I used to go to when I was growing up,” stated McLellan.

McLellan will be signing copies of the book tomorrow, April 16 from 5pm at Idea Books, 17-18 Dover Street, London

alasdairmclellan.com

Tags: Alasdair McLellan

Danielle Foster, the London-based accessory designer, focuses on texture for SS14. Embossed croc detailing features heavily in this season’s collection, decorating totes, clutches and satchels, all in the signature shapes we’ve come to love from the brand. Backpacks are a new addition to her line for SS14, found in black and white luxury leathers, while other styles are highlighted with colour blocking of cool metallic, crisp white, black and burnt orange.

daniellefoster.co.uk

Images from Danielle Foster SS14

Photographer: Agnes Lloyd-Platt
Hair & Makeup: Kim Plotel
Model: Ella @ Elite
Clothes: Charlie May

Tags: Danielle Foster, SS14

Twins Miranda and Elektra Kilbey of Say Lou Lou release a video to Peppermint, taken from the Everything We Touch EP. The track is another haunting tune from the duo who do melancholy so elegantly and the video gives us an insight into the Swedish/Australian sisters lives in the studio. We find them working with producers and writing songs to create their debut album released later this year.

Everything We Touch is out June 2nd, pre-order here apple.com

Tags: Say Lou Lou

Opening Ceremony like to think outside the box when it comes to collaborations. Their latest sees them take inspiration from the first Mickey Mouse animated film, Steamboat Willie. Motifs taken from the infamous cartoon make their way onto button-down shirts, tees, sweatshirts, and plush-soft knit sweaters. OC also called upon its brand partners to accesorise the collaboration: New Era created classic 5950 caps and custom developed bucket hats, Vans covered the Classic Slip-On, Authentic and Sk8-Hi shoes with the Mickey Mouse prints, and Tabio did the same with finely-crafted socks.

The collection is available online and at OC London.

openingceremony.us

Tags: Mickey Mouse, opening ceremony

Today, the International Art Fair for Contemporary Objects, COLLECT, opens at the Saatchi gallery. The showcase brings together 36 of the world’s finest galleries, all representing exceptional work from their portfolio of artists alongside seven Project Space artists. You’ll find contemporary objects ranging from ceramics and glassware to jewellery and woodwork from over 400 artists, making COLLECT the place to view and collect museum-quality contemporary craft.

“It’s such a privilege to work with the exhibitors at COLLECT, who bring expertise and exceptional work from well-known makers and new talent. Working on COLLECT for over a decade now, it’s rewarding to see the fair develop year on year, and to welcome an ever increasing variety of work from around the world. I’m particularly looking forward to seeing new work and galleries from Asia this year, and I always come away from the event learning something new.” – Daniella Wells, Show Director, COLLECT 2014.

Twin favourite Shimell & Madden are being represented by Tyger Glyn and you can find their work on show at stand no. 7.4.

COLLECT, Saatchi Gallery, London from 9 – 12 May 2014 

Find out more about the event at craftscouncil.org.uk

Tags: Collect, Saatchi Gallery, Shimell & Madden

Last week, when Team Twin flocked to Rififi in Mayfair to celebrate the release of our tenth issue, we met Clym Evernden, a freelance artist and illustrator. Clym started drawing at a very young age and it was during his teens that his illustrations became ocupied by fashion, often inspired by specific models such as Karen Elson, Carolyn Park and Devon Aoki, but at our party last week, it was designer Simone Rocha and blogger Ella Catliff that caught his attention.

“I’ve drawn ever since I can remember, however I’ve illustrated and been commissioned since I was around 21, when I was first commissioned by Clare Coulson for Harpers and Queen,” since then Clym’s work has featured in the pages of Vogue, Elle, Fantastic Man, i-D and AnOther Magazine, but he is now working more and more as a live event illustrator, something he himself pioneered: “I like to work from life as this helps to capture the spirit, movement, and atmosphere of my subject matter.” That it does, and with the aid of social media, these live illustrations are becoming big news in the fashion world, seeing as he was recently commissioned to illustrate live at a dinner hosted by Carine Roitfeld in Paris, in which he illustrated guests such as Arizona Muse, Kendall Jenner, and Susie Bubble.

“I tend to go for people who have extreme proportions, whether it be a long fringe, big nose, or gangly limbs,” states Clym, when asked about what attracts him to certain people, “my taste is certainly not restricted to drawing model type figures, in fact I often find these the most boring.” It’s certainly people that inspire him most, which is why he says he spends many an hour people watching. Other inspirations? “I also love music, the atmosphere and mood of a track can inspire me. At the moment I’m listening to Suede and recalling that whole trashy 90’s soho thing.”

clymdraws.com

Tags: Clym Evernden, Drawing, Illustrations

Tim Barber, a previous Twin contributor, opened his latest exhibition over the weekend. Relations, which showcases Barber’s most recent work, is a continuation of his photographic journey displayed at Capricious 88. The show draws from everyday experiences, pulling together rather mundane subject matter but delving deeper to find more complex narratives within. The title of the exhibition relates to the tension felt between the countless relationships in the images as well as the relationships the photographs have with each other.

Relations is open at Capricious 88, 88 Eldridge Street, New York until 23rd June 2014. 

becapricious.com

Tags: photography, tim barber

This May, Harrods Knightsbridge is celebrating all things Prada. Throughout the month you’ll find a pop-up store, multiple screen displays, an elegant Marchesi café, and Pradasphere: an exhibition that explores the brand’s multivalent obsessions — from fashion and accessories to art, architecture, cinema, sport and beyond.

The centrepiece of the exhibition comprises of six displays that combine ensembles from various collections and in addition, expect to find heritage items from the archive such as shoes and bags, examples of luxury fabrics and materials as well as a Prada histrory wall that links together the design collections with all the extracurricular projects, from Fondazione Prada to Luna Rossa. There is also a screening room presenting short films from directors such as Roman Polanski, Wes Anderson, Ridley Scott, and Yang Fudong.

Tags: Harrods, prada

ArtCube, launching late in the summer, is an artists and creative’s playground. A place to purchase, display and create art and crafts at Second Home’s exciting 18,000 square foot warehouse right in the heart of Shoreditch. To give you a taste of what’s to come, this upcoming bank holiday weekend will play host to PopArtCube.

Festivities start on Friday 2nd May with a Black Grey White Dinner where London’s young creative crowd can come an feast on a candlelit dinner and marvel at the incredible art installations from 30 of London’s finest student talent, accompanied by live performances from Azari & III. Tickets also give you free entry to the Space Cowboy’s afterparty at Casa Negra. From Saturday to Monday, you’ll find over 100 artists work, with a chance to buy the pieces along with workshops, live art and music performances.

For more information about the event and to buy tickets head to art-cube.co.uk.

Tags: ArtCube, Shoreditch

To showcase the key pieces from their Spring/Summer 2014 collection, Linda Farrow called upon Belgium photographer Frederick Vercruysse to create this still life campaign. This season inspiration is taken from the 70’s, utilising hyper-luxe materials including snakeskin and gold to give us the adventurous styles Linda Farrow has become renowned for.

Available in the new Mount St store as well as lindafarrow.com.

Tags: Linda Farrow, SS14, Still Life

Whether you have a resort-collection worthy holiday booked or just simply plan on lying by the pool at Shoreditch House this summer, swimwear is bound to be on your mind. Here at Twin we’re adversed to the itsy bitsy, and prefer to lounge around in quality materials and contemporary designs, just like these four sets. When it comes to swimwear SS14, we needn’t look any further than Triangl, Prism, Lisa Marie Fernandez and Beth Richards.

Twiggy Stardust Neoprene Bikini, £48, international.triangl.com & Lisa Marie Fernandez Red Neoprene Bikini, £200, thecorner.com

Prism Denim Bikini, £200, thecorner.com & Beth Richards Faye Tank in White, £79, wald-berlin.de and Brigitte Bottoms in Black, £90, selfridges.com

We’re celebrating our tenth issue this season, which means it’s been five years since our first Twin book was released. To celebrate, we thought we would look back over the issues, reminisce a little. In Twin V we spoke with actors, artists, playwrights and more for a feature called Top Girls, a look at the emerging British names set to be stars. Here, Twin caught up with some of those girls to see where they are now…

Lily Jones

When we last spoke to Lily, an artisan baker, she had only just written a business plan, hired staff and opened a café on Columbia Road. Things are now a little more global: “I have been working on a bakery project in Kochi, India which is now open for business and I also consult for 5 bakeries in the Middle East.” As well as her international feats, Lily recently released her second book, Sweet Tooth and also (somehow) finds time to act as co-founder of The YBFs, “a food & drink awards which spotlights and celebrates new, innovative talent in the industry. Our 3rd annual event this year will be hosted at Tate Britain.” Busy just doesn’t cut it.

lilyvanilli.com

Harley Weir

As well as working on projects with subjects such as “the suburban heaven” in which she grew up, Harley teaches part-time and is attracting jobs that are more in tune with her interests. “[I am] finally putting a few brain cells aside for fashion, which I have come to admit (as hard as it was) is my trade.” With past clients such as British Vogue, Paul Smith, Another Magazine, Topshop, I-D Magazine, Supreme and Stella Mccartney to name a few, it’s safe to say this photographer has come a long way since her sexual photo-diary.

harleyweir.tumblr.com

Rachel De-lahay

Rachel’s debut play THE WESTBRIDGE was about to open at the time Twin V was released and it went on to win Best Play at the Writers Guild Award. De-lahay also received acclaim for her second piece of theatre, ROUTES, winning the Evening Standard Award for Best New Playwright.

This young writer is about to open her third play in Birmingham this May, before it comes south to the Tricycle Theatre in London. For her next move, we will see her work on screen as she has just completed a pilot for a new BBC drama. “I’m [also] currently writing a feature film with Film Four and Independent (the producers who made We Need To Talk About Kevin) and was selected as Screen Nations Screen Star of Tomorrow, and am developing my own comedy drama series for Channel Four as well as adapting a blog for Fox Television.” De-lahay is certainly a name we are going to see much more of in the future. Watch this space.

Billie JD Porter

For Billie it was never really about the DJing; that and the music writing/promoting acted as a platform to help her get on her way (at the tender age of 14 we might add). Documentaries were the end goal and having just spent seven months in South America, working on a series of films for the BBC called ‘Secrets of South America,’ it seems that dream is now a reality. But what of the parties? “There’s a lot less chaos in my life at the moment. I’m not sure if that’s a permanent thing though.”

billiejd.blogspot.co.uk

Julia King

“Around the time that I was in Twin I won a Holcim Award in the ‘Next Generation’ category, an international competition that recognizes innovative projects and future-oriented concepts which really helped kick start my career.” And what a career this architect already has. One that has brought sanitation infrastructure to 2000 plus people in a resettlement colony in Delhi called Savda Ghevra, through her work with CURE. This year has been spectacular for King she states, “I was awarded the Emerging Woman Architect of the Year by the Architectural Journal and won a SEED Award for ‘Excellence in Public Interest Design‘ for the sanitation project in Savda Ghevra.” But that’s not all of them, last year King was also included in ICON magazines ‘Future 50′ – a snap shot of 50 young designers and architects who are pushing the boundaries of their disciplines and trying to change the world. And that PhD she was working on when we last spoke, well that will be completed this summer.

julia-king.com

Photography: Nick Dorey, originally published in Twin V