Hair experts call it Ombre colour, and it’s the latest trend to grip trendsetters and celebrities alike since the pastel colour hair around about a year ago (first seen at Giles SS10). Basically it is dip dyeing hair and Nicki Minaj, Alexa Chung, Drew Barrymore and lots of others are having their ends dipped in a contrast colour. We love it.
Words by Bethan Cole
After high profile fashion pairings such as Lanvin for H&M and Valentino for Gap, perhaps it was only natural that beauty companies too should want a piece of the collaborative action. Cult and cultured Aussie beauty brand Aesop were one of the first – teaming up with clothing brand A.P.C to create a special hand washing detergent earlier in 2010. Then came Marchesa and Le Metier De Beaute who produced a capsule collection of palettes and lipglosses; subtle and subliminal, the perfect accompaniment to a Marchesa evening gown.
Now, there’s Marcel Wanders for MAC, a capsule collection, only available online (maccosmetics.co.uk) that takes make up packaging design to the next level. The beautiful baroque curvilinear packaging stands in marked contrast to the minimalist Nineties design of regular MAC products. These items look like glossy black chess pieces rather than an aesthetes’ make up arsenal.
Wanders claims he was inspired by Vermeer and, Girl With a Pearl Earring and as a result some of the colours are curiously naturalistic. For example there are light gold and golden nude lipglosses that add very lucent party season sparkle to your face. “Designing beauty packaging immediately made me think of the painterly connection,” says Wanders of his work. Indeed the suitably artistic brush roll (£60) is one of the standout items.
Whilst we love Wanders for MAC – it’s doing something truly innovative with product design, more collaborations are on their way. February 1st sees Milly for Clinique hit counters (a palette designed by the cutesy floral NYC brand), and later in spring there’s Tibi for Bobbi Brown, another niche fashion brand allied to a beauty monolith. For now, December, it’s all about Marcel Wanders for us.
Words by Bethan Cole
Photographer Bridget Fleming spent the summer of 2009 on her bike, cruising downtown Manhattan with friends, camera in hand. What started as a series of video clips destined for a short film reel, became the project Downtownfrombehind.com – stills of cyclists, shot from behind.
“Shooting from behind gives both street and subject the opportunity to share the limelight,” says Fleming. “I guess it’s a less self-indulgent portrait for the subject and an opportunity for the audience to see and feel the New York streetscape.” All of her shots are planned and many of her subjects are friends,or, as the project grew, friends of friends, chefs, designers, architects, musicians and stylists.
She continues: “In most cases subjects are driven by time of day, and light, as I work my way through downtown. More recently I’ve had people ask to be included in the project, that, and I’m working on several bigger group shots with larger organisations.” Fleming, it seems, is The Sartorialist on wheels.
To tell the story of the last forty years of fashion is no mean feat. And yet, in Histoire Idéale de la Mode Contempraine at Les Arts Décoratifs in Paris, curator Olivier Salliard has done just that, conveying fashion’s changing moods, trends and attitudes with ease. Now in its second instalment, Les Années 1990-2000, the show is a master class in display. Mirrors guide the eye from collar to cuff, and onto the next collection, garments float on mid-air mannequins and captions take the form of labelled leaves of translucent paper artfully strewn across the museum floor.
Arranged via aesthetic rather than chronology, viewers move from Belgian deconstruction and Japanese minimalism, to Martine Sitbon’s grunge. The first instalment of the exhibition (which is now closed) kicked off with Yves Saint Laurent’s 1971 collection ‘Liberation’, commemorating the birth of pret-a-porter. Les Années 1990-2000 goes on to explore the rise – and delightful abandonment – of function in fashion. Exit through the gift shop via the drama of Alexander McQueen and Viktor & Rolf.
Histoire Idéale de la Mode Contempraine, vol. II: Les Années 1990-2000 is at Les Arts Décoratifs, Paris until 8th May 2011
lesartsdecoratifs.fr
Images courtesy of Guy Marineau and Philippe Brazil. Words by Sarah Smith
Twin“s fashion director Celestine Cooney finds her way onto Vice Style“s new “Love Blogging” short film series. We might be biased, but we think it”s really bloody good.
Celestine teams up with fresh-faced bloggers Alice, Letty & Lousie (pictured above), who have cleverly used their own eponymous blogs to launch play casino their HOT & COOL fanzine….
See them talk about it here, Alice, Letty & Louise. You can also see chat from the lovely Bip Ling, Bip Ling featuring Aldene Johnson
Plus, East London”s resident fashion fairy godmother Lulu Kennedy, Madeleine Ostlie featuring Lulu Kennedy
Love blogging? See the whole Vice Style series here, ViceStylecom/loveblogging
As promotional stunts go, Nike’s Destroy to Create campaign rules. Corralling a whole gang of contributors – many of them (like Harry Malt) from the Twin family – to be a part of a special merger of art, sport, music and mayhem marking the launch of their Destroyer jackets. Lucky for those who weren’t there to see the chaos unfold on the night, Niall O’Brien filmed the proceedings.
The ‘Destroy to Create’ artworks are currently on show at 1948, Arches 477- 478 Batemans Row, Shoreditch now.
We are near saturation point when it comes to pop-up shops, but have an insatiable appetite for pop-up art spaces. Flash Projects is the latest photography project from the really rather good James Hyman Gallery, who consistently impress with their selection of vintage photography (take this paparazzi shot of Bridget Bardot, top). Now, the gallery will take their archive of prints on the countercultures of the Fifties through Seventies to spaces all over London with exhibitions and limited-edition sales.
Flash Projects’ delicious debut is a collaboration between photographer and artist Jean Clemmer and Franco-Spanish couturier Paco Rabanne entitled, Canned Candies The Nudes of Jean Clemmer (images above and below), a body of work originally produced in 1969. Rabanne’s wicked ‘unwearable’ fashions, crafted from unconventional materials like metal, are the perfect match for Clemmer’s hazy aesthetic. The little-known Clemmer (1926-2001) was immersed in painting, music and photography, and worked as Salvador Dali’s personal photographer for two decades.
The photographic series is seemingly bathed in a silver glow, and recalls the sci-fi spirit of Barbarella (1968), for which Rabanne was costume designer. Clunky chainmail get-ups deemed risqué at the time seem just as modern and fresh now (see young designer Fannie Schiavoni’s chainmail harnesses Fannieschiavoni.com). Canned Candies is a climatic collection that’s the result of an early art and high fashion clash. Invest now.
Canned Candies. The Nudes of Jean Clemmer runs from the 26th November – 18th December at Flash Projects, 8 Kingly Street, London W1B 5PG.
flash-projects.co.uk
Fashion house of fun Boudicca are hosting their third annual cake off tomorrow. All friends of the brand are welcome to showcase their culinary prowess – but entries must be received by 1.30pm. This year’s judges include ice cream makers Leila & Kitty, and 8 and 10 year old Jonny and Mercy. Points are scored for aesthetics as well as taste. So start perfecting your cake walk now.
When Japanese visionaries Issey Miyake, Rei Kawakubo and Yohji Yamamoto stormed the catwalks in the early Eighties they redefined fashion. The androgyny of their architectural shapes not only blew apart how women in Europe dressed, but succeeded in turning fashion into art.
Thirty years on and Japanese fashion continues to challenge Western notions of beauty and the Barbican’s new exhibition, ‘Future Beauty: 30 Years of Japanese Fashion’ charts the history and impact of the country’s inimitable style.
As Kate Bush, Head of Barbican Art Galleries says: “The tight silhouettes of Western couture were jettisoned for new fluid shapes. Out went the magnificent ornament and extravagant techniques of the post-war tradition and in came a stark, monochrome palette and an entirely new decorative language – holes, rips, frays and tears – emerging from the stuff of fabric itself.”
An epic journey through Japanese fashion history, featuring over 100 beautiful pieces by labels such as Comme des Garcons and Junya Watanabe – courtesy of the Kyoto Costume Institute – as well as catwalk footage and archive interviews, the exhibition dazzles the senses. Spanning the grand masters to the new radicals of Japanese design, it’s the story of an avant-garde fashion culture where breathtaking beauty and innovation are all part of the same rapid beating heart.
‘Future Beauty: 30 Years of Japanese Fashion’ is at the Barbican Centre until 6 February 2010.
Barbican.org/JapaneseFashion
Images by Lyndon Douglas. Words by Boudicca Fox-Leonard.
Right now photographer Alasdair McLellan can do no wrong. Take this short film for menswear brand Sunspel – McLellan lets Welterweight Olympian boxer Billy Joe Saunders – aka the Caravan Kid – do his thing, while the camera clicks away doing its. The footage celebrates male physicality with a pure sensuality that recalls Eighties stylist Ray Petri. In other words it’s cool as fuck.
Stylist, creative director, jewellery designer, Polaroid artist, cult film producer, boutique owner: Maripol’s CV reads like a Soho House members list. But no, this is one woman’s work. Wholly appropriately, then, is it that her first monograph, entitled ‘Little Red Riding Hood’, should be a mixed media scrapbook.
Drawings, designs, Polaroids and writings chart her creative journey from a stint at the famous Fiorucci house to her recent collaboration on a line of accessories with Marc Jacobs. Thrown into the mix are snapshots from her work with Grace Jones, Deborah Harry and, most notably, Madonna, whose iconic ‘Like a Virgin’ style was Maripol’s brainchild. This is one seriously covetable coffee table book.
Published by Damiani.
Though fashion’s fanfare is currently en route to Paris for the SS/11 collections, the nip in the air means we’re focused on what to wear for warmth right now. And judging by their winter campaign – shot by Josh Olins and styled by Kate Phelan – Topshop could have the answer.
This series of soft and autumnal images stars Ajak Deng (she of Prada catwalk fame) and Gwen Loos in an abundance of cable knits, shearling capes, camel hues and leather (or pleather). We’re coveting the hooded scarves and heavy-duty satchels – but love that the campaign is full of ideas that don’t cost a thing. Just add a turn-up here and a belted skirt there, layer like crazy and you’ll be bang on trend.
Words: Catherine Hudson
Twin are huge fans of Alexander Wang. We love the whitewashed, ethereal summer collection that he sent down the New York catwalk last week. So there was an audible in-take of breath when we heard that Mr Wang had created his own Nike shoe. What would a Wang Nike look like?
Alexander Wang’s Bespoke Air Force 1 design is typical of his cool, understated aesthetic. And like most of his creations – we want.
NOWNESS, ‘luxury lifestyle online’, today unveiled an exclusive fashion film entitled ‘Chronology’. In collaboration with Net-A-Porter, the film, by I Am Love director Luca Guadagnino, features highlights from the Autumn Winter 2010 collections of such Net-A-Porter bestsellers as Christopher Kane, Sigerson Morrison, Miu Miu and Yves Saint Laurent. Styled by Cathy Edwards and modeled by MariaCarla Boscono, the film combines commercial sense, a sharp edit and a dreamlike surrealism which is evocative of 2005 feature film Mirrormask.
Alison Mosshart is one of the most genuinely rock and roll women alive. Once again – with her musical partner Jamie Hince of The Kills – Mosshart is the face of the brand Zadig & Voltaire. Ok, the merger between fashion and music has been seen before – think Mark Ronson with Gucci, Kanye West with Louis Vuitton – but we love it anyway! Photographed by Olivier Zahm – the editor of Purple magazine and France’s answer to Terry Richardson – the band’s poise and pout is enough to make us head to their shop to find out whether their collection is as cool as their campaign.
Words by Felicity Shaw
Nashville blue skies, blazing sun and railroad tracks – cult film maker Harmony Korine’s fashion short Act Da Fool for Proenza Schouler’s A/W 10 collection is charming. Korine follows a sweet gang of suburban girls clad in the labels paint drip patterns and leather as they idle away hot days – spraying, drinking and getting wild. These high-end little ladies roaming shopping trolley and tyre-strewn landscapes are – refreshingly – a million miles away from Proenza’s usual slick Manhattan habitat. It’s Kids gone high fashion. Korine clearly ain’t no fool.
Words by Boudicca Fox-Leonard.
Artist Gemma Land’s work references the surreal and the uncanny. With influences such as Dali and Lynch, her photographs of North London suburbia and moribund twins feature an unsettling symmetry.
For Land it’s all about contradictions. “The identical twins wearing the same outfits question our perception of the real,” she says. “They appear the same and yet are different at the same time.”
It’s an oxymoron that fascinates her and in her series of images of suburban semi-detached houses, Bourgeois Utopias, she shows how homes that started out as identical structures over time become individualised by their owners.
And like Dali before her, who merged fashion and art with his designs for Schiaperelli, earlier this year Land launched a collection of scarves of her surreal photographs for A/W 10 London Fashion Week. She is now planning a new range inspired by Gothic writer and Art collector Horace WalpoIe. In Land’s words: “It’s art disguised as fashion.”
In the meantime though, her fascination with all things twin continues and she is currently on the hunt for more identical siblings. It’s a subject we too find fascinating.
‘The Twins: Once and Again’ is at the Silent Room gallery until the 9th September.
www.silentroomgallery.com
www.gemmaland.com
Words by Boudicca Fox-Leonard
This season, Yohji Yamamoto has created a Y-3 collection that returns to his avant-garde roots. Asymmetrical kilt skirts, big knit one-pieces and zipped-up jumpsuits all recall the Yamamoto of old, one set on both breaking and applying the traditions of his native Japan.
We love the collections’ brooding, moody and functional feel – T-shirts and coats read: “33 With You” and “23 Years In Prison”. This melancholic, prisoner of love theme has been brilliantly translated onto the small screen for a short fashion film starring brooding French footballer Zinedine Zidane, and a huge model clan. Its tough, heady and undeniably urban.
Watch it here….
Creative Direction: Lloyd & Co.
Still Photography: Alasdair McLellan
Cinematography: Theo Stanley / New Mountain
Editing: Frederic Taxi
Styling: Nicola Formichetti
Music: David Salom
Hair & Make-Up: Didier Malige & Gucci Westman
Location: Pier 54, Hudson River Park – New York City
Twin enjoyed a sneaky peak of Reiss’s AW10 campaign at the Soho Hotel last week. The brand have cleverly commissioned Jamie Morgan to create a fashion film to show off their upcoming collection. Entitled, ‘Elements’ the two minute black and white short heralds dramatic climatic condition – as models battle against wind, rain and blizzards. We love the silent, powerful and symbolic presence of a glossy thoroughbred horse, which leaves one with the question – is style nature or nurture?
Last year, Anglo-Brazilian design duo Basso & Brooke embarked on an unusual research trip. The print obsessed pair set off along the great and ancient Silk Road in Uzbekistan. Along the way, they drew inspiration from the landscape, history and fabrics they encountered. Now, their silk route trail inspired collection is on show at the Design Museum.
With them for the ride was film-maker and regular Basso & Brooke collaborator Chloe de Carvalho who, as well as documenting the trip, made a 10 minute film full of folk-dancing, catwalk shows and ornate architecture that accompanies the exhibition.
Twin spoke to Chloe, who has collaborated with Basso & Brooke since 2003, about her enduring relationship with the duo – and the weird and wonderful sights of Uzbekistan.
What is it that you enjoy about working with Basso & Brooke?
Most of all because I love their work. I also love how when they call me up to invite me to work on something it’ll always be something completely unexpected and unpredictable: Uzbekistan?!
What was the most inspiring aspect of being in Uzbekistan?
The light in Uzbekistan is amazing. It’s this beautiful crisp, white light. And the country’s landscape is so vast it’s just asking to be shot with anamorphic lenses. It really inspired me to go back and shoot a fiction film there one day.
The other thing is the traditional dress sense: they do not shy away from prints and colours, actually, the more the better. And the layering is a brilliant: you can see a mixture of traditional Uzbek cloth with made-in-china prints with fluorescent detailing or velvety textures.
What was the most unexpected thing that happened while you were there?
Well, I gave an interview during the Uzbek fashion week only to realize by the last question that the journalist thought I was “Basso & Brooke”. That cracked us up quite a bit.
Oh, and I went down for breakfast on the first morning in Tashkent to find Luiz Felipe Scolari (ex-brazil football coach) and Rivaldo (football player) having breakfast. As a Brazilian, in Uzbekistan, I have to say that was pretty unexpected.
What’s up next?
There are a couple of different things I’ve been talking about with Basso and Brooke and I’m always looking forward to see what unexpected project will pop up next.
I’m also working on the script of my first feature film, a mystical road movie to be shot in Brazil.
Basso & Brooke – Adventures on the Silk Road is at The Design Museum until the 21st August.
www.designmuseum.org
Basso & Brooke’s research tour to Uzbekistan:
Image above and below: Basso & Brooke, Design Museum by Ashley Woodfield.
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