Having always sauntered oh-so-chicly ahead of the pack, the new collaboration between Acne Studios and American artist Jack Pierson should not come as a surprise to fans of the Swedish brand. The new venture sees the label run a limited edition collection of leather goods, which launches today.
The capsule collection consists of one hundred leather pouches embossed with 5 different art works from Pierson’s ‘Caught in the Rain Broken in the Stardust’ exhibition which took place in 1994 in LA. The clutches are available in statement blues, reds and blacks and carry slogans such as ‘Dreams’ and ‘Again Again’.
Accompanying the leather goods will be a limited edition second edition of the original exhibition catalogue.
London brand Finery has teamed up with make-up artist Isamaya Ffrench for a new capsule collection, just in time for Christmas. Launched by Caren Downie, Emma Farrow and Rachel Morgans in 2014, Finery was created with an emphasis on timeless, well made classics, pre-empting the move to slow, season-less fashion that is emerging today.
This new capsule collection follows the launch of their festive campaign, in which the brand invited loyal customers to model for Christmas. The ‘stars’ include 70 year old retiree Penelope Dalrymple-Smith and Associate Director of Deloitte, Thandi Maqubela – a heady mix of girl power.
In this latest collection, Isamaya Ffrench has bought her signature sense of subversion to five statement pieces: the sock boot, a fur trimmed mule loafer, bucket hat, a leather bum bag and a sculptural earring.
South London based jewellery designer Joy BC specialises in creating bespoke designs that embody both the anthropological and physiological sides of jewellery. Her work spans a range of themes, from ideas around protecting people while travelling; to remembering the dead; to celebrating love to more simple examination of form. Her aim is to use jewellery to engender conversation, imbuing fine jewellery with new and heightened significance. Ahead of her workshops at Draw Haus, Twin caught up with Joy BC to discuss the possibilities of silver and her collaborative ethos.
How did you become interested in jewellery?
It started with a ring which was made by one of my ancestors in Italy. It resembles a futurist sculpture. My mother use to wear it on special occasions and I found it hypnotic. I drew comparisons between the form and feeling that that ring gave me to those within Brancusi’s pieces and Barbara Hepworth’s. Otto Kunzli, a jewellery artist who made a necklace made from divorcees’ wedding bands, which subsequently became an emotionally laden piece, and thus un-wearable, really excited me in how powerful jewellery can be.
What are you influenced and inspired by?
A variety of things. Sometimes it’s simply the materials, and their intrinsic beauty.
Why is important to use jewellery as a tool for engendering conversation?
Jewellery travels with with you – lives with you and speaks for you. Without words it can convey messages or feelings. A huge Hellenistic marble sculpture which conveys strength (Nike at the lure, for example) isn’t something that you can strap to your body – but a boobies ring which encourages discussion on the natural way of breast feeding, or female nudity – literally ‘freeing the nipple’ – is something that you can. The ‘listening aids’ I make are to encourage people to be better listeners, something we could all benefit from. Especially myself! I talk way too much; it’s the Italian in me! In fact I’m currently wearing my ‘I’m all ears’ piece, which is made of 47 tiny ears in precious silver and gold, while I listen to the news of the news.
What are the limitations of working with silver? And do you have a favourite material to work with?
Limitations? I’ve never thought of the limitations of silver, only the possibilities. It oxidises, which gold doesn’t. However I like that – I often use a chemical to speed up the oxidisation process to create a dark blue black patina on some of my work. I don’t have a favourite material, but I have to say, 18ct yellow gold is delicious. I also love wax – especially the type I used in Tokyo which was made of beeswax and cedar resin. They use that combination to make traditional Kenji Stamps (then cast into bronze). And it smells beautiful.
What do you hope to achieve through your workshops at Draw Haus?
I hope people really enjoy themselves, and help people making something that they feel proud of. Whether it’s a playful experiment or precise present for himself or herself or someone they care about. It’s always fascinating to see what pieces people make.
Draw Haus Creative Workshops: Jewellery Making with Joy BC will take place on 17th November. Buy tickets here.
As the darkest evening of the year snakes quietly towards us, and the autumnal hues give way to a starker and far colder season, nothing is more needed for hibernation than a decadent scented candle. Reader, meet Byredo’s 2016 Holiday Collection: the solution to your winter blues.
This new set of three scented candles, Bibliothèque, Cotton Poplin and Fleur Fantôme, all come in their own coloured glass holders, and offer a perfect compliment to these cold nights in the run up to Christmas. Best enjoyed with a stiff drink and a warm bath. They’d also make the a welcome Christmas gift, if you can bare to share them.
British talent and emerging designer Molly Goddard has established a strong signature aesthetic thanks to her collections of romantic, voluminous tulle dresses. In her first art partnership, the designer has paired up with NOW Gallery in Greenwich Peninsula to create an immersive exhibition in which visitors are invited to explore her design ethos within a creative gallery space.
The installation sees Goddard’s creations rendered in exaggerated forms: six tulle dresses made from 20-30 feet long reams of material hang throughout the space. The presentation invites a reimagining of Goddard’s work, and allows the craftsmanship behind the brand to take centre stage.
As with Goddard’s previous London Fashion Week presentations, the new exhibition at NOW Gallery is participatory, and visitors will be able to sew shapes and patterns of their choice directly onto the hanging dresses. There will even be videos for first-time embroiders.
Speaking about the exhibition, Molly Goddard said: “I am so excited to be able to really celebrate craft technique in such an extreme visual way, making oversize, non precious interactive pieces is key to what I love and what the brand aims to represent. I can’t wait to see the stories which will be told through embroidery and to witness what skills people have or manage to discover when visiting the exhibition.”
The Central Saint Martin’s graduate, Gotal Ryam creates clothing that is at the intersection of fashion and art, RTW and couture. Having realised her dream of becoming a designer, she was brought to London from Paris and hasn’t looked back since. Having launched her e-shop this week, we catch up with this fashion designer to watch.
Tell us about how you started in the industry?
Following my move from Paris to London, I ended up in Soho where my interest in fashion peaked. My desire to draw beautiful garments led me to Central Saint Martins where I studied fashion drawing; finally last year I decided to launch my own collection.
How would you describe your design aesthetic?
I would describe my design aesthetic as Pret à Couture, a mix between Pret à Porter and Haute Couture.
You describe your line as a mix of fashion and art. As an emerging designer which designers and artists do you look up?
The modern and independent woman with a taste for fashion who is equally at ease in trainers as well as in highend pieces.
Tell us about your AW16 collection, what was the inspiration?
The collection is called Geometric shades from RBK it has been inspired by the geometric aspects of Origami. This collection is made entirely of wool. It is the first collection that I wish to dedicate to my mother who has given me a taste for fashion and who embodies timeless style (RBK stands for Rebecca, my mother’s name).
Which is your favourite piece in the line?
The coat, Khamta – it is essentially a piece that I created by asking myself, what coat would I like to wear this season. It represents the various aspects of my personality – both boyish and quirky. Its design is a patchwork – a mixture that I believe represents the person that I am today.
Topshop is bringing a series of stylish Halloween events to their flagship London store on Oxford Street this weekend. From Thursday to Sunday, stop by to immerse yourself in wellness and spirituality workshops, run in partnership with Hackney-based lifestyle platform She’s Lost Control.
Highlights include a Mindful Doodling workshop, tarot workshops, potion making and Aura photography – the latter promising to “capture the rainbow hues of your aura through a unique portrait snapshot.” Events are open to all and prices start at £10. What else Halloween for if not for dressing up and embracing some ‘crystal surgery’: we have to admit, we’re intrigued.
All activities are set to take place at TOPSHOP, Oxford Circus from Thursday 27th to Sunday 30th October.
Behind The Scenes With Marion Cotillard As Lady Dior
Christian Dior fell in love with flowers at Granville. Here he developed a knack for form and colour, learning the art of floral seduction that has come to be the house’s signature scent for years since. In the latest Cruise 2017 Lady Dior campaign, French actress Marion Cotillard stars in a series of images, shot by photographer Craig McDean, that were inspired by this these first luxuriant gardens. In the photographs Cotillard appears with iconic handbags in red and black, a combination that marries the signature femininity and allure at the heart of the brand. With campaigns like these, it’s easy to see why we still (j’)adore Dior.
Find out more at ww.dior.com
Dr. Martens Takes It To The Streets With Stüssy
Famed for their innate understanding and reflection of youth culture, it’s no surprise that Dr. Martens have teamed up with cult streetwear brand Stüssy to release a new capsule collection. Not only are both brands emblematic of rebellion and the underground scene, but they both also emphasise quality and clothes made to last.
Available in stores now, the collaboration sees classic Dr. Martens silhouettes remixed with signature Stussy vibes: think cheetah print panels, pebble grain textured leather uppers and a mega combination of independent spirit. Get ’em while you can.
Rosh Mahtani, founder and designer of London based jewellery label Alighieri, has collaborated with Ozzie designer Anna Quan which sees them together explore the boundary between jewellery and ready to wear. Their collaborative collection includes jewellery intertwined with a shirt, shirtdress and palazzo trousers along with a selection of jewellery by Alighieri for Anna Quan. We caught up with Rosh to discover more about this collaboration.
Tell us how you started off in industry?
I studied French and Italian literature at university – my final year was focused on Dante Alighieri, and the Divine Comedy. After I graduated, I knew I wanted to do something creative; I felt a little bit lost, and kept reading the text. I couldn’t help but imagine the characters, the feelings and descriptions in golden objects; that’s when I started making one piece of jewellery for each one of Dante’s 100 poems. Creating Alighieri was a way to pursue photography, writing, and designing alongside business and strategy.
Why Dante?
So many reasons! His work is so visual, firstly; he was the first person to portray Hell, Purgatory and Paradise in such a human way. But more that, his journey is so universal, it really captured me. It begins with him, lost in the middle of a dark wood. His fears, his anger at being exiled from Florence, his love for an idealised woman (Beatrice) are at the crux of his work, and I suppose I wanted to translate these feelings in my own way, as they were so relatable to me.
How would you describe your design aesthetic?
I call my pieces Modern Heirlooms, because I love creating imperfect objects that tell a story. Imperfection and vulnerability are at the heart of the aesthetic, and that’s why I like to shoot the imagery using film. It’s all about the happy accidents; I work very much on intuition.
How did the collaboration with Anna Quan come about?
Anna is based in Australia and we were following each other’s work over Instagram for a quite while, we swapped an earring for a crisp white shirt over the ocean, and we met last Christmas, when I was on a bit of a disastrous road-trip in Australia! We had breakfast in Sydney, and talked about giant golden buttons on her perfectly tailored shirts, and billowing trousers. It happened really organically.
Why do you think the partnership works?
We have quite a similar aesthetic in some ways, and a genuine obsession with each other’s work. I live in oversized white shirts and tailored trousers. It’s also a great juxtaposition because Anna’s designs are so perfectly executed, the tailoring is immaculate, and it was fun to have that as a canvas to add a scraggy and imperfect detail. We work really well together (often over 3am Whatsapp conversations!) We’ll think of an idea and just get the ball rolling. DHL plays their part too!
What qualities do you admire about her?
Besides her obvious talent for creating clothing that makes you feel really special, the giant oversized cuffs, for instance, I really admire her work ethic. She never stops, and is also incredibly grounded and modest. She’s a very savvy businesswoman which is really inspiring to be around.
Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
I’d like to keep growing Alighieri as a brand; it’s been the best and most rewarding ride, and I’d like to create more than just jewellery, as I think of Alighieri as a way to tell stories. If I can keep doing what I’m doing now on a bigger scale, with a bigger team, I would be very happy!
Daphne Guinness is a woman who has little trouble turning heads. For years now she has been a fashion behemoth, attracting attention for simply existing. Akin, almost, to a mythical creature on whom sartorial enthusiasts project their likes and dislikes, her characteristically monochrome silhouette — all angles, hair and vertiginous heels — has become something of the caricature. And for the most part, silent. But now, Daphne has found her voice.
Back in 2011, following the gut-wrenching loss of some of her dearest friends and family — Alexander McQueen and Isabella Blow amongst them — Daphne retreated from the fashion industry that had, in her words, left her feeling “burned”, and isolated herself in a secluded Irish landscape to record a cover of a Dylan track as some kind of cathartic release. However, what actually happened turned out to be rather different. The person she was meant to be working on the Dylan material with never showed up, and so instead, she wrote her own music. Flash forward to now, and she has an album out.
Speaking to the muse come musician on the eve of her first ever live show — an electric performance at the Natural History Museum for a Frieze Art Fair party hosted by Maurice Ostro CBE, Candida Gertler and the Louisa Guinness Gallery — the singer is remarkably calm, and unexpectedly candid. “I’m too honest,” she says, almost to herself.
Optimist In Black, her debut album, is by no means an easy listen. It is classic rock’n’roll story weaving, and plunges you into the depths of despair before soaring phoenix-like into almost jubilant territory. The title track is perhaps the darkest hour, and deservedly so, with its severe etchings of grief ringing out in every ‘60s-infused riff. “The album is completely what happened that year, in order.” Daphne tells us. “When I got to ‘Marionette’ [track five of 14] I had about four seizures and completely collapsed. Then I wrote ‘Optimist In Black’ [track seven], and went and got lost in Mexico.” The escape was undoubtedly needed. “At the time I thought if I do anything darker than ‘Optimist In Black’ then I’m going to kill myself. So I needed that. I got through it, and then I came back and wrote ‘Magic Tea’ [track 8, a pop song]. It was sink or swim,” she explains.
The Guinness sound is one born from pain, reflection and the resolution to find light in the darkest of times. It is determined in its subsequent dealings with life’s sucker punches, but ultimately, she is objective about her experiences. “I realise that everybody’s been through shit,” she says. “They’ve been through ups, downs, bad love affairs, death and disaster. I’m not really writing a unique version of the world here, these are basic human emotions that happen to everybody.”
When speaking about the losses she suffered, Daphne is frank. “It was like a magical time that abruptly ended,” she says. “It felt like dominos going down, down, down. And you can’t do anything. I thought, ‘you can’t just see everybody at funerals, crying their eyes out, and then you know you’re going to have to see them at some fucking party the next day, talking about something else.’ That’s why I started the initiative at Central Saint Martin’s and have tried to support people in terms of their mental health. Because to many people it’s just gossip, which is, you know…” Awful is the word unuttered, but hanging in the air nonetheless.
Credit: Jamie Kendall
Daphne has a knack of bringing something of meaning from truly bleak situations. Thanks to her creation of the Isabella Blow Foundation, she is putting two MA students through Central Saint Martins each year, as well as working with the Samaritans. This remarkable dedication to the nurture of talent is a continuous theme in Daphne’s life. Doing all these positive things “makes a little bit more sense” of the situation, she says.
And Daphne has always been a woman surrounded by and somewhat immersed in creative genius. From McQueen and Blow, to close collaborators such as Nick Knight and open-admirer Lady Gaga, she is a magnet for inextinguishable talent. Another such person, who influenced and encouraged Daphne a great deal, is Bowie. Although the musician is hesitant to discuss their relationship too much, for fear of capitalising on his legacy, it was he who set her up with her album’s producer: the legendary Tony Visconti. “Everybody’s talking about David at the moment and it [all] feels cheap.” She admits. “But he was incredibly supportive, and I always just thought: ‘But why me?’” She reluctantly continues, “He was the most remarkable person. And also, more simple than everybody gave him credit for. He was a very magical man.”
Despite having lived her life through somewhat of a lens, the stage isn’t Daphne’s natural home. “Yeah I’m very, very shy — strangely enough — but I’m getting better at it. I’m getting better at becoming someone else, when there’s a point to it, rather than just to be seen [performing].” Music is something of a shield, it seems. “I feel that you are protected in some sort of way by the art that you make, and by the people that you work with. And that’s fine.”
“What I don’t really understand,” she continues, “is what’s happened [to the music industry] in the last 20 years, where it’s all surface and there’s not much underneath… I’d much rather see almost nothing and hear what people actually have to say, rather than seeing just a whole lot of images.” She references YouTube and social media, and seems perplexed by the lack of authentic narrative, as well as the abundance of the visual above all else. For someone who has previously been so much a part of the aesthetic frontiers of society, it seems to be something of an about turn. “Fashion was a huge part of my life, but when all of that happened I thought ‘I can’t do this anymore,’” she reveals. “I sort of put myself into isolation and wrote this album instead.”
The sound that accompanies such a raw confessional is, as previously mentioned, a distinctively ‘60s one. Citing Marc Bolan as her “first big love” explains a lot about Daphne, although there are echoes of Nico and Faithfull too. For a woman who recounts making her album as a mix between “mad and brave”, and describes walking into the studio to record with her band thinking “Shit! What am I doing? I’m a complete amateur,” the result is incredibly accomplished. “I’m glad I didn’t know how difficult it was going to be, because I would never have done it,” she admits. “But I’m very glad I did. And I’m very glad I didn’t just do a cover of someone else’s song, because there are so many songs to be written.”
Optimist In Black is out now on Agent Anonyme/Absolute
Londoners: if you only do one thing before 27 September – make it this.
To mark the release and subsequent immediate sale of its SS17 collection, British heritage brand Burberry has joined forces with The New Craftsmen to bring a pop-up curated artisan haven to Soho for one week only: Makers House.
Free to the public, and with the addition of a scaled-down version of the brand’s Regent Street eatery Thomas’s, which is set pouring out onto a picturesque courtyard dotted with busts and sculptures, the exhibition is a celebration of the craft and inspiration behind the latest collection. The clothes themselves are also situated in glorious catwalk formation to be browsed and bought at leisure on the first floor.
With interactive displays from the roster of The New Craftsmen represented makers, working away on their individual trades, such as sculpture, embroidery and silk-screen printing, the show spans a series of rooms inspired by Nancy Lancaster’s interiors, referencing prints from the SS17 collection.
In addition to all this, there are interactive elements, such as daily readings from a hand-picked selection of actors and actresses, each of which are based around Virginia Woolf’s Orlando, which was a poignant note of reference for spring summer. There is also a photographic studio, in which visitors can receive a professional portrait of their time at the event, but be warned: the queues are long and it tends to shut early each day.
Overall, however, it is an immersive and memorable discovery – nestled away from the continuous hustle of the city. And more than deserving of your time.
Burberry’s Makers House is located at 1 Manette Street, London, W1D 4AT – and runs until 27 September 2016. Opening hours are 10am-7pm and entry is free.
Flowers, friendship and the work of Hilma Af Klint were at the root of Paul Smith‘s charming Spring Summer 2017 collection this London Fashion Week.
With a considered floral base serving as the contemporary canvas for his latest wares, the much-loved designer presented look after look of effortless, oversized suiting, voluminous dresses and graphic accessories which, quite literally, bloomed before the eye.
While the silhouette may have been maximal, the styling was far less so, with the bold pieces themselves needing little in the way of overworking. A riot of colour, shape and texture ensured that while the concept of flowers and spring is not a new one, Smith’s treatment of it couldn’t have been fresher.
PREVIOUS
Twitter
Tumblr
YouTube
Facebook
Instagram
