KNITWEAR Chanel to Westwood celebrates the evolution of woollen garments this autumn at The Fashion and Textile Museum. With over 150 pieces on display, the exhibition features rare crocheted evening dresses, original faire isle jumpers and 1930’s swimwear, from the collection of Mark and Cleo Butterfield. Not only will you find designs from Rei Kawakubo for Comme des Garcon, Julien McDonald, Ossie Clark and Mary Quant, but you will also see the technical innovations taken place throughout the ages.

Accompanying the showcase is Visionary Knitwear, a look at contemporary fashion clothing from established and graduate designsers. Sandy Black, professor of Fashion and Textile Design and Technology at London College of Fashion pulls together bold designs from creative talents such as Mark Fast, Sister by Sibling, Lucas Nacimento and Julien Macdonald. Highlighting how knitwear is now daring, bold and has a sense of humour.

KNITWEAR Chanel to Westwood opens today and is open until 18th January 2015 at the Fashion and Textile Museum 83 Bermondsey Street, London SE1 3XF. 

ftmlondon.org

Tags: Chanel, fashion and textile museum, Knitwear, Vivienne WEstwood

Although the fashion crowd will be flocking to Milan for its beloved MFW from the 17 September, the afternoon of Sunday 21 sees Marni presenting an entirely different kind of show.

The Marni Flower Market, to be held in the baroque Rotonda della Besana, will feautre bundles of flowers interspersed with house-like stalls showcasing their wares. This display of freshness and vitality, hustle and bustle, is intended to accentuate the brand’s Italian roots; fitting for a house that is often floral-inspired.

Carolina Castiglioni, Special Creative Director, is heading up the event with Stefano Rabolli Pansera, the architect and curator of the Angola pavilion at the 55th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia.

There will be a variety of items for sale, from PVC vases decorated with archive Marni prints and Japanese porcelain pots complete with flower seeds, to animal sculptures handcrafted by a group of Columbian women.

The Flower Market also marks a collaboration with the Museo dei Bambini di Milano. A series of children’s workshops will be available to the public, and exclusive items such as gardening aprons and tool bags, hand-painted in Zambia, will be on offer. The project underlines Marni’s commitment to philanthropy, with part of the proceeds from the sale of these limited edition products being donated in support of children’s organisations.

marni.com

Tags: culture, flowers, Marni, MFW, Milan

For aficionados, fashion is much more than a frivolous indulgence in the latest trends. It is about self-expression, identity and creativity. This is what the major autumn exhibition at the London Design Museum intends to celebrate. Women Fashion Power opens on 29 October, looking at the ways in which women are using fashion to define and enhance their place in the world. Fittingly, the exhibition is designed by Dame Zaha Hadid, the first and only woman to have won the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2004. She herself is well known for her fashion statements, currently sporting pink ombré hair.

It will feature exclusive interviews, an immersive multimedia journey including archive photography and film footage, and historic pieces of clothing to illustrate a timeline of fashion over the past 150 years, from restrictive corsets to Louboutin’s statement heels. There will be an iconic Yves Saint Laurent ‘Le Smoking’ suit, a Mansfield suit worn by Margaret Thatcher and a Jacques Azagury dress worn by Princess Diana, amongst others. To add to the excitement, over 25 contemporary women will be featured in the exhibition, and each of them has donated one of their outfits. Naomi Campbell, Dame Vivienne Westwood, Livia Firth (wife of Colin), Roksanda Ilincic and Natalie Massenet (of Net-A-Porter) are just a few of the famous names.

Fashion, it seems, is growing ever more important as a tool of empowerment, for building a reputation, attracting attention, and asserting authority. You might want to think on that when you plan your next outfit…

Women Fashion Power at the London Design Museum, from 29 October to 26 April.

designmuseum.org

Tags: exhibition, Fashion, london, London Design Museum, Women

Fashion Sunday is quickly becoming the place to shop, eat and be. Now, the duo behind the initiative have made it the place to think and learn too. In collaboration with Let’s Be Brief, this August edition will host photographer Dean Chalkley and designer Harris Elliot of H by Harris who’ll be talking ‘The Return of the Rudeboy’, their exhibition currently at Somerset House.

This month will focus solely on the talks and next month will see Fashion Sunday’s first edit of menswear designers and brands take center stage. Twin caught up with Tiffany Alwis and Sonia Williams, the two girls making it all happen, to find out more about what they set out to achieve.

“From working on our label [Hellespont] and meeting the designers that we’ve worked with, we’ve realised just how hard it is,” stated Sonia. “It’s the retail issue for a lot of small labels, obviously you can’t get a physical store and some have their own online platform but you don’t get that customer interaction or you do random pop-ups and they’re not geared towards the designers, so we thought there’s a huge opportunity there.” An opportunity there certainly was. Each month Fashion Sunday helps emerging brands by giving them a space filled with their contemporaries where they can not only sell their products, but a place where they can learn from their consumers. Getting that interaction with customers is key when starting out. And with a mix of current and past season stock, as well as sample and archive products, mostly discounted, it makes for a perfect place to do a spot of shopping on a Sunday.

“What we’re trying to do is give these designers a hop on, hop off place to use,” Tiffany explains, “and for the last six months it’s been like building the infrastructure for it.” At the beginning, the two of them would be on the phone, ringing up their favourite brands to get them on board, however now, more and more designers are coming to them, asking to be part of this new family. “We’ve created a little unit, brands that are with us all the time… Paper London, Emma Shipley, Finchittida Finch, Jessie Harris, Marina London. A lot of them are becoming friends, doing swapsies.”

“Really good quality, interesting design and people who put a lot of care and thought into the production,” states Sonia are the elements that they look for in a brand. “A lot of the designers we work with try and produce and manufacture in the UK and most of them have a real story about their manufacture.” With interest growing around where clothes are made and where they come from, Fashion Sunday is addressing the question of mass-produced clothing and is “bridging the gap between people who would love this stuff but don’t know how to find it.”

IN CONVERSATION WITH: Dean Chalkley & Harris Elliott at Fashion Sunday will be at Oval Space’s sister venue The Pickle Factory from midday August 3rd. Hackney comfort food legends Rita’s will be serving a selection of favourites from their restaurant menu along with their famous frozen margaritas next to our beer bar on the sunny patio. Get tickets at eventbrite.co.uk

thisisfashionsunday.com

Tags: Dean Chalkley, Fashion Sunday, Harris Elliot, Lets Be Brief, Return of the Rudeboy, Sonia Williams, Tiffany Alwis

After two years of tireless hunting, London-based artist Polly Brown is releasing PLANTS. The new photographic monograph gives us a glimspe into the homes of the world’s most iconic brands, starting with their office foliage.

Tags: book, photography, PLANTS, Polly Brown

In celebration of LGBT Pride Month, Opening Ceremony has got together with with manga-inspired brand MASSIVE as well as the iconic manga artist Jiraiya, to launch a capsule collection, MASSIVE for Opening Ceremony. The line features Jiraiya’s original male pin-up art sublimation printed on tees, muscle shirts, rugby shorts and a beach towel.

The capsule collection is available now from OC stores and online at openingceremony.us.

To find out about Pride in London or to get involved, head to prideinlondon.org

Tags: LGBT, opening ceremony, Pride

In 1982, Levi Strauss & Co became one of the first brands to support the battle against the AIDS crisis and they were the first Fortune 500 company to grant domestic partnership health benefits — a practice now followed by many corporations and public agencies. In 2013, they also joined the broad coalition of marriage equality supporters urging the U.S. Supreme Court to recognize the fundamental right of all Americans to marry.

Having been a supporter of equality for people of all sexual orientations for many decades, this year they are taking that support in store, creating a line of Pride-themed T-shirts, tanks and baseball caps. “Equality is not something we just wear; it’s woven into the fabrics of our principles,” the company says. Rolling out into select stores in New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and Washington, D.C., the profits will be going to Pride organizations in those areas.

To find out about Pride in London or to get involved, head to prideinlondon.org 

levistrauss.com

Tags: Levi's, LGBT, Pride

Actress and writer Florence Keith-Roach has teamed up with LIBRARY, a new  private members’ club for the eclectic literary and design communities, to put on a play that appoints women as the sexual predators and men as their prey. While simultaneously writing a sitcom called Frenching The Bully with with Freddy Syborn (Evening Standard’s 100 most influential people under 30, Bad Edication’s co writer with Jack Whitehall), Keith-Roach adapted the 19th century Arthur Schnitzler play, La Ronde and created a show that explores the inextricable link between sex and the human existence through the eyes of the modern woman.

Calling upon her family, the play sees Keith-Roach’s sister, artist and set designer Clementine Keith-Roach, who made her name creating sets for Bulgari, Mulberry and Louis Vutton, design the space in the basement floors of this stunning town house on St Martin’s Lane, creating a wild world of lilac infused 1970s disco.

The play runs from the 2nd – 5th July. Tickets can be purchased for £15 from eventbrite.co.uk

lib-rary.com

Tags: LIBRARY, theatre

All this week The Red Lippy Project which coincides with Cervical Screening Awareness Week is asking British women to smear on its best scarlet shades in honour of womankind. Set up by production director Caroline Muhlich and make-up artist Linda Andersson, the project sprang from Muhlich’s desire to change the way cervical screening is perceived by younger women in the UK. The facts are that during 2012 just 32 percent of 25-29 year olds answered screening invitations from their GPs. It might not be most fun thing to do, but the screening process saved over 4000 women from cervical cancer in one year alone. So to raise awareness of the importance of cervical screening, as well as sheding the fear of the smear, the initative is asking you to don your favourite shade of red, tell your friends, post your #REDLIPPYPROJECT and #MAKEAMARK selfie on Instagram and crucially, book that all important appointment.

To celebrate the cause Topshop are selling a limited edition Red Lippy lipstick in the pout bars especially set up for Red Lippy Project at Topshop’s Oxford Street store. You can also donate to the Red Lippy Project on their website or even text RLIP14 £2 to 70070.

Tags: Caroline Muhlich, Linda Andersson, Red Lippy Project

On Sunday 1st June, East London’s Oval Space will become home to a new kind of monthly fashion market. Fashion Sunday’s aim is to bring together some of the most exciting emerging and established designers London has to offer. It gives consumers the chance to shop direct from the brand, which means you can enjoy up to 20% off the current season price, larger discounts on past seasons as well as find one off samples. Each month you will find a differerent selection of designers setting up shop (the initial focus is on womenswear) and all have been handpicked by the curators. Fashion Sunday will also be giving away a stall each month to a start up of their choice – this time the lucky designer is Luke Brooks. You can expect to find a rich exploration of London’s diverse scene, including names such as Draw in Light, Auria, Paper LDN, Emma Shipley, Larissa Hadjio, Yolke, Estefania Cortes Harker, Kult Domini, Henriette Lofstrom, Hanger Inc and Hellespont.

Not only can you settle your design needs but you will also find a great place to relax and enjoy the view of Hackney’s skyline. With Pop Up Barbados serving up Bajan treats on the terrace, Blackbox offering a unique ‘coffee spritzer’ and Shake Rattle Stir mixing up colourful cocktails in the main room, there’s plenty to experience.

Tags: Fashion Sunday, Hackney, Oval Space

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

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

British theatre director Katie Mitchell presents her adaption of Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s famous short story, The Yellow Wallpaper. A controversial sociologist and writer, Gilman ruled the domestic, maternal role obsolete and claimed that Darwin’s theory of evolution was purely male-centric.

Originally published in 1892 and seen as a monumental piece of feminist literature, the play tells the story of a mother suffering from postnatal depression and traces her increasing psychological decline. Ultimately however, it also paints the portrait of a woman daring to defy the expectations of society.

The Yellow Wallpaper is next playing at Schaubühne am Lehniner Platz, Kurfürstendamm 153, Berlin on May 19th. 

schaubuehne.de

Tags: Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Katie Mitchell, Schaubühne am Lehniner Platz

For those who are yet to discover Wolfgang Tillmans, this coming May proves to be the perfect time to explore the world through the lens of the German fine-art photographer. The turner prize winner, most renowned for capturing contemporary landscapes, club scenes and astronomical phenomena is set to publish Wolfgang Tillmans the artist’s first complete record of work across his twenty-five year career. Published by Phaidon Press, the updated and expanded publication will present the German photographer’s latest projects over the last ten years alongside an essay by New Museum curator Joanna Burton and an interview with Stuart Comer, the chief curator of media and performance at the MoMA. What’s more, Wolfgang Tillmans will also feature new writings by the artist himself across the 240-page hardback edition.

Tillmans is mot renowned for his observation and exploration of the world through photography, stating “I take pictures, in order to see the world.”

Dividing his time between London, Berlin, New York and Frankfurt, Tillmans is praised on an international scale, showcasing his work at the Serpentine Gallery and Tate Britain in London to appearing in i-D, Interview and Spex Magazine. For a rather short lengthened career thus far, Tillmans has achieved incredible recognition for his photography, going on to be the first photographer to win the Tate annual Turner Prize in 2000 and if that isn’t enough, Between Bridges, Tillmans non-profit exhibition space in Berlin, re-opened this January and has so far featured works by Patrick Caulfield and Jochen Klein.

Wolfgang Tillmans is undoubtedly one of the most influential artists of his generation and Wolfgang Tillmans is set to be an unforgettable milestone in his career. Pre-order at uk.phaidon.com

Tags: Phaidon, photography, Wolfgang Tillmans

Birds Eye View, the UK’s only public celebration of international women film makers, are screening a rather special documentary to coincide with International Women’s Day.

Tracing the birth, evolution and legacy of Wonder Woman, Kirsty Guevara-Flanagan’s super-doc spotlights the fictional and real-life superheroines fighting for positive role models for girls. A hit at SXSW, the film includes original Wonder Woman Lynda Carter, activist Gloria Stienem, Buffy writer Jane Espenson, Riot Grrrl Kathleen Hann and more. A vital counterpoint to the male-dominated superhero genre – and a ‘joyful celebration of women who kick ass!’

Twin have two tickets to give away to the BFI Southbank screening of Wonder Women! The Untold Story of American Superheroines on Saturday 8th March at 6.30pm. To be in with a chance to win, follow @twinmagazine and @BirdsEyeViewFF on Instagram then email info@twinfactory.co.uk to let us know you’ve done so, remember to leave your full name so we can contact the winners. Competition ends Friday 7th March.

birds-eye-view.co.uk

bfi.org.uk

Tags: BFI, Birds Eye View, Wonder Woman

This Sunday if you happen to be in New York and looking for something to do, head to MoMA PS1 for Wolf Moon Gathering, an afternoon of performance hosted by Girls Against God Magazine and its editors Bianca Casady and Anne Sherwood Pundyk. The event is to be a true celebration of the wild pokies online female soul with guided mediation lead by Bryn McKay, a dance ritual evoking the Goddess will be performed by Johanna Constantine and J.Z.araA, as well as music by singers Diane Cluck and Yasmine Hamdan. The first hour will take the form of an informal ritual of initiation, where there will be healings of sound, hand washing, and many forms of feathered-smoke blessings. They suggest that you bring an item of personal significance and to be in the moment fully, meaning all phones must be switched off upon arrival to make sure you experience it with your heart and mind.

momaps1.org

Image: Minka Sicklinger. get.your.rat.out.

Tags: Girls Against God, MoMA PS1

TASCHEN’s London store will play host to their annual winter SUPER SALE from January 23rd-26th. The four day extravaganza will give you a chance to get your hands on 75% off slightly flawed issues or retired display copies of elegant art volumes, inspiring architecture books, slender design classics and photographic tomes. With limited stock at bargain prices, it’s not one to miss and getting in there early is highly recomended.

TASCHEN’s London store is located at 12 Duke of York Square SW3 4LY. Sale opening hours are 10am-8pm on Thursday-Saturday and 12-6pm on Sunday.

taschen.com

Tags: Books, SUPER SALE, Taschen

This Wednesday, the 8th of January, The Southbank Centre has teamed up with V-Day and One Billion Rising to present The State of Female Justice in the UK. The event looks to explore why women experience economic, racial, environmental and cultural violence, and asks ourselves to think about real justice, and what that might look like for women in the UK. Hosted by Southbank Artistic Director Jude Kelly, there will be many inspirational women speakers, such as Sophie Barton-Hawkins (poet and former prisoner), Marissa Begonia (Coordinator- Justice for Domestic Workers in the UK), Baroness Helena Kennedy (Barrister and Labour Member of the House of Lords), Thandie Newton (actress and V-Day board member), and Eve Ensler (V-Day founder and Tony Award Winning playwright), plus more on the panel. So why not start your year off with a great debate, one that’s sure to get you thinking.

The event is free, but to reserve yourself a place RSVP to either monique@vday.org or rossana@onebillionrising.org.

Oscar winning actress Joan Fontaine died in California a week ago aged 96. The star of several thrillers produced by Alfred Hitchcock, and the sister of fellow Oscar winner Olivia De Havilland, she also had major parts in The Constant Nymph, Jane Eyre and Letter from an Unknown Woman.

She played the lead role opposite Laurence Olivier in Hitchcock’s first Hollywood work, Rebecca. Her and her sister had a notoriously difficult relationship, with Fontaine saying to a reporter in 1978, “I married first, won the Oscar before Olivia did, and if I die first, she’ll undoubtedly be livid because I beat her to it.” The pair remain the only siblings to have both won Academy Awards for acting.

Text by Beccy Hill

Tags: Joan Fontaine

January 2014 sees the return of the innovative show – Men In Motion, the brainchild of former Royal Ballet Principal, Ivan Putrov. The show will return for two nights only at the London Coliseum.

Men In Motion boasts a star studded new cast featuring Ivan Putrov, Edward Watson and Vadim Muntagirov who will be joined by a cast of leading international names. Men in Motion showcases and highlights the range, virtuosity and splendour of the male dancer.

Ivan was born in Kyiv, Ukraine to a ballet family, where he trained at The Kyiv State Choreographic Institute and at The Royal Ballet School. He has had a fantastic career and Ivan has performed at special events and charities in front of world leaders and royalties at various occasions and places including Buckingham Palace. 101st birthday of Queen

Mother.

Pet Shop Boys have written The Most Incredible Thing for Ivan. This ballet was first performed at Sadler’s Wells in 2011 and has been filmed by the BBC.

In 2012 Ivan conceived and produced ‘Men in Motion’ at Sadler’s Wells Theatre, London. The show looks in to a century of development of the male dancer in ballet theatre. The show had two successful runs in London, has been shown in Moscow and Italy in 2013.

Don’t mis out on this magical show, which runs from January 30 – 31, and book your tickets here: www.eno.org

Tags: Ivan Putrov, London Coliseum, Men in motion