Here we take a closer look at what happened when Twin sent photographer Masao Yufu backstage at the Veronique Leroy Autumn/Winter 2014 show in Paris.
TWIN BACKSTAGE: VERONIQUE LEROY
Sofie Winterson Q&A
Combining the ideals of folk with the beats of electonic music may sound a bit strange, but for Sofie Winterson she’s found a common ground that creates a modern sound. Her songs could be labelled indie pop but we think her music is going to be much more than that. With only a few songs released, one EP under her belt and an album on the way Twin caught up with the singer/songwriter from Amsterdam to find out more. She even lifts the lid on the albums title.
Did you always want to become a singer?
As a kid I wanted to be a writer until I got more and more involved in music and then it changed from writer to actress to singer. And now I can combine it in songwriting.
What’s your earliest musical memory?
There were a lot of musical instruments in the house and I remember seeing the violin and hearing my father playing it, the instrument made a big impression. I started learning to play the violin myself at age 6.
If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing?
That’s hard to say, maybe a writer or a doctor.
What does Said & Done mean to you?
It means a lot of things but one aspect is the fact that something can feel so exiting and new even though it is something you experienced before.
What inspires you to make music most?
I get a lot of inspiration for writing songs when I travel by car or train or when I read. And it’s really inspiring to play the first drafts of a song with the band. I love the moment when a song is finished and that you from then on can keep on playing and arranging it.
What was it like working with Pinar & Viola on the video?
It was a special and lovely experience. There work is really creative and innovative and I was really excited about working with them. It’s always a special moment when you give your music to someone else and together create an image around it!
What can you tell us about your debut album?
The album has a more melancholic and darker side as well. I arranged a lot together with my band members and it’s produced by Rimer London. It’s gonna be released on Magnetron Music this spring and I can also give away the title; Wires.
Twin Backstage: Vanessa Bruno
Now we turn our attention to the Vanessa Bruno AW14 show. This time photographer Masao Yufu focuses solely on the runway, capturing beautiful images of the clothes and the models who wore them.
Photography: Masao Yufu
CONVERSE JACK PURCELL X HANCOCK
Converse Jack Purcell has announced their first collaboration with Hancock, the British luxury brand and with trainers being big news this spring, these caught our attention. The design collaboration has created a collection of the Jack Purcell mid-top sneaker that combines rubber bonded, waterproof materials in a range of spring hues such as indigo, mastic grey and a summery yellow all perfect for the upcoming sunny season and festivals alike. The trainers all feature a soft printed lining and the Hancock Vulcanised Articles logo on the heel tab.
Available at endclothing.co.uk
Twin Backstage: Issey Miyake
Next in our series we find ourselves at the glamorous Issey Miyake AW14 show. This time we give you a glimpse of what happened, both on the catwalk and backstage during Paris Fashion Week.
Photography: Masao Yufu
COMPLETEDWORKS Q&A
Just last year, siblings Mark Jewsbury and Anna Jewsbury founded contemporary jewellery brand COMPLETEDWORKS. They see jewellery design as an art form, fusing together creative concepts and ideas that produce stunningly simplistic pieces that give us a fresh take on fine jewellery. Twin caught up with the two of them to talk inspirations, signature collections and carving out a path.
As a brother and sister duo, who does what respectively when it comes to COMPLETEDWORKS as a brand?
Anna: As we’re still in the early stages of the brand, we still have very overlapping and interchangeable roles and we often find ourselves working on the same thing, but bringing our own perspective to it.
Anna, your degree is in Mathematics & Philosophy. What do you feel that brings to the table? And Mark, what did you do before starting COMPLETEDWORKS?
A: I think everything depends on the approach you take. I’ve found that the common thread between mathematics, philosophy and fine jewellery, is that there is a way to approach each of these disciplines where the first test of quality is beauty. Of course, when you make the piece nothing stays so theoretical.
Mark: I studied History so I wasn’t doing anything directly relevant to jewellery either. But I think this has forced us to be more observant in our approach. I think you can learn a lot by just looking around at how people in different disciplines operate, you don’t necessarily need a lot of access to them to observe them and see how they work and get a sense of how they would react in certain situations.
What made you decide to start a jewellery brand together?
M: I don’t think we ever really set out to work with jewellery. I think what happened was that we had an interest in exploring ideas and a curiosity with history and stories, and we kept developing these themes and we found we wanted to find a way to represent them. The jewellery came about as a result of our looking for a process that would allow us to balance these interests visually and in clear compositions.
A: In setting up the brand we were very much influenced by the old idea of an artistic or literary movement. We wanted to set up a business that emulated that continuity, a group of people who retain their individuality but at the same time are able to relate to one another.
Where do you find most of your inspiration?
A: The idea inspires us first and at the moment that has come from literature or history, then we look for the aesthetic or the way to connect the idea visually and the inspiration for that comes from everywhere. In the case of the Pillar collection a trip Mark took to Lebanon was one of our references.
Pillar is your signature collection. What do you think this says about you as a contemporary jewellery brand?
M: We want to share the ideas that lead to the creation of the collections and in doing so create a shared interest with the people who engage with the brand. We talk a lot about putting ideas into our work, but at the same time we don’t want those ideas to engulf the person wearing the pieces. It is good to maintain a certain lightness in the jewellery. You have to get all the other things right first: it has to fit perfectly and be striking and have a certain uniqueness, then you can layer an idea into a piece or connect it with a certain way of thinking.
A: Yeah, we think it is important to craft the jewellery so that it can integrate with the real world, not the other way round. We’re not trying to force art or anything else into jewellery, but say that our pieces can still function as pieces of jewellery and as products and be enjoyed as such, while at the same time having an element of critical thinking to them. This is why at the moment distortion is very important to us. We find distortions are a very simple and minimal way of inviting the wearer to mentally enter the work in a way that doesn’t become overbearing or arrogant.
You are stocked at SHOWstudio and have your own e-store. Where would you like to see your designs in the future?
A: We’d love to see our pieces in places that build around an aesthetic with original values.
Having launched just last year, what does 2014 hold for COMPLETEDWORKS?
A: We feel that we should earn our place in the jewellery world, so we’re simply going to be concentrating on building a body of work and from this point we hope to carve our own path.
Photography: Trinity Ellis
Twin Backstage: Tsumori Chisato
In our second Twin Backstage series, we focus on the last stop during fashion month, Paris. We sent photographer Masao Yufu backstage at Tsumori Chisato’s AW14 show to document everything that happened behind the scenes.
Photography: Masao Yufu
Pamflet x Twin: March
Anna-Marie Fitzgerald and Phoebe Frangoul are the co-editors and co-founders of the London grrrl-zine and literary salon Pamflet. Here they discuss the releases, trends and going’s on in the literary world worth knowing about. Follow them on Twitter and Instagram @Pamflet.
This month’s literary picks include the reissue of a controversial classic and a very modern love story…
Naomi Wood’s Mrs Hemingway (Picador, out now) tells the story of Ernest Hemingway’s four wives in a series of flashbacks and interlocking first person narratives. The macho, huntin’ shootin’ fishin’ Hemingway is depicted by turns as selfish, needy, childish and charming, a man who loved being married, just not always to the same woman. Naomi Wood skilfully creates the conversations that might have played out between Ernest and his wives, making them feel totally authentic. You can feel his first wife Hadley struggling with her jealousy as Ernest becomes involved with her best friend, Pauline ‘Fife’ Pfeiffer, trying to be bohemian and mature (and French!) about the situation. Then chic, sophisticated, wealthy Fife, so confident that she’s different to Hadley, finds to her horror that she loses Ernest to the tough, independent writer Martha Gellhorn. And she in turn loses him to a fellow journalist named Mary Welsh.
Hemingway and contemporaries like F Scott Fitzgerald fictionalised their own lives while they were living them, so it feels totally natural to read this imagined account of Hemingway’s wives. Naomi Wood has given voices to the shadowy figures who played a vital role in helping Hemingway become the titanic figure of twentieth century literature that he was.
2014 sees the reissue of Radclyffe Hall’s controversial lesbian novel, The Well of Loneliness (Hesperus Classics, out now). Subject to a landmark obscenity trial when it was first published in 1928 and banned for twenty years, the Sunday Express said of Hall’s book, “I would rather give a healthy boy or a healthy girl a phial of prussic acid than this novel”, which naturally made everyone want to read it. The heroine, Stephen Gordon – so named because her parents longed for a boy – isn’t a particularly sympathetic character. She’s abrasive and self-absorbed, but when you consider the stifling society she was born into and her painful isolation as she discovers her nature as an ‘invert’ (a term used at the time to describe homosexuality), you can see why. Stephen’s wealth allows her a certain amount of freedom – she can indulge her love of masculine attire, travel and live independently – but ultimately because she is attracted to women, she is an outcast.
In the centenary year of the outbreak of World War 1, it seems pertinent to revisit this novel, as it is during her time driving ambulances on the Western Front that Stephen discovers other women like her and falls in love. WWI saw huge social changes in Britain and marked the end of the gilded Edwardian age. As well as the colossal losses that blighted the lives of so many, there were gains for women – the vote and a new freedom to work – that shaped Britain as we know it. The Well of Loneliness might not be a ‘fun’ book, but like The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists and The Female Eunuch, it’s a very necessary one. We have three copies of the new edition to give away so visit us at Pamflet to find out how to win one.
Zoe Pilger’s Eat My Heart Out (Serpent’s Tail, out now) is an astonishing debut that gives a frightening insight into the lives of a new lost generation who are facing a bankrupt future. It reads like a drunken late night illegal cab ride, recklessly careering through the London of your early twenties. Everyone’s a poet or a performance artist, there’s lots of bad drugs and nasty sex in squalid flats paid for by indulgent relations. Bleak and brilliant, Pilger ruthlessly flays the social mores of the liberal intelligentsia to the bone. Protagonist Ann-Marie feels like a Holden Caulfield for the twenty-first century and a natural successor to modern literature’s anti-heroes – nihilistic, narcissistic, gloriously deranged, bleak and bright by turns. This is an anti-love story, brutal and brilliant.
Helen Walsh is one of Pamflet’s favourite literary bad girls. She writes about complex women in difficult circumstances, giving a voice to characters who we might only ever get a brief glimpse of in contemporary literature otherwise: a single mother cursed with postnatal depression in Go to Sleep, a Sri Lankan-Irish girl coming of age to an acid house soundtrack in Once Upon a Time in England and Liverpudlian prostitutes in the notorious Brass. In her new book The Lemon Grove (Tinder Press, out now) forty-something Jenn is on a doomed family holiday in intoxicating surroundings and it’s Walsh’s most fearless, tense and tightly written work yet. After gulping this down, I was pretty sure that she’s the kind of lady I’d like to put the world to rights with over several glasses of red wine (Tinder Press).
Two debut short story collections to look out for this month are Molly Antapol’sThe UnAmericans (Fourth Estate, out now) and The Rental Heart and Other Fairytales (Salt Publishing, 15 March) by Kirsty Logan. For me the most satisfying short stories should take the bigger picture and shrink it into a perfect miniature or snapshot and both of these do just that. Logan’s occasionally surreal and gorgeous tales defy categorisation and Antapol’s stories of fathers and daughters and distant homelands offer many thought-provoking reading pleasures.
Our glossy book of the month is Fashion Africa (Jacaranda Books, out now) by designer and Director of the Africa Fashion Guide Jacqueline Shaw. An overview of where the continent’s industry is right now, it provides a dazzlingly illustrated portfolio of African textiles, footwear and clothing through practitioner profiles and interviews.
Prada: The Iconoclasts Project 2014
During Milan Fashion Week, Prada presented a new chapter of The Iconoclasts project. Having launched in 2009, it has already seen the likes of Katie Grand, Carine Roitfeld and Olivier Rizzo stamp their trademark on the Prada brand.
This time it is the turn of Edward Enninful, currently fashion and style director of W Magazine. Taking over stores in Milan and St Petersburg, Enninful’s vision was inspired by the energy and original thought of the 1920’s ‘Harlem Renaissance’ in America. “Miucca Prada’s work always begins with a conversation. Drawing from this notion I looked to the ‘Harlem Renaissance’… a period of original thought when creative minds inspired and embraced a new cultural identity. I felt that this was an appropriate narrative to incorporate into this season’s Prada collection,” he explained of the project. His installations were on display last week, and information about future iterations of The Iconolasts series will be released soon.
Twin Picks: Metallics
Metallics are big news this spring. Expect to see sparkly fabrics and tinsel-coloured embellishements a plenty. Although coloured metallics may still be shining bright, the shade that has everyone reaching for their wallets is silver. Style in a minimal, chic fashion and you’re good to go, looking effortlessly cool. Here Twin picks the top four pieces that shone above the rest.
Moxham Otto Cuff in silver, £62, moxhamstore.com & Silver Leather Skirt by Unique, £195, topshop.com
Limited Verity Rucksack in metallic, £295, whistles.co.uk & Stella McCartney Fold Heel Metallic Faux-Leather Mules, £455, matchesfashion.com
#SNEAKERSCLASH
Converse have been creating a worldwide stir, popping up across Europe, the Middle East and Africa with their latest project #SNEAKERSCLASH. Designed to disrupt and clash against the dull greys of the world, the series started in Amsterdam and last night made its way to London. The whole initative is brought to life through two different interactive activations – Wall of Clash and Photo Clash. Clash Wall brings together street artists with clashing styles and techniques at unexpected locations, asking them to create their most visceral work against lifeless walls and spaces. And so that’s what happened at The Old Vinyl Factory, the former record-pressing plant of EMI in Hayes, London. The abandoned 107-year-old building has been brought back to life through the colourful work of artists Remi Rough and System from the Agents of Change collective. They painted the exterior in designs inspired by Converse’s newest collection, the new All Star Chuck ‘70 and the mural itself is set to be London’s biggest to date.
If I Could Change Your Mind
Playing with the girl group ideology, Haim, who have toyed with synchronized dance moves in their previous videos, give us a complete choreographed routine in their latest visual offering, If I Could Change Your Mind. Taken from their debut album, Days Are Gone, the video is directed by Warren Fu (who directed the last two Daft Punk videos). It has a retro-cool feel about it, somthing these three sisters are becoming known for, as well as their musical talent of course. Watch the video below.
Image by Bella Lieberberg
Pavane
During London Fashion Week Twin headed to the Designer Showrooms at Somerset House to meet the designers behind a young London-based label Pavane. Having worked for a range of big names in design, Hussein Chalayan, Yohji Yamamoto, Marc Jacobs, Erdem and Richard Nicoll to name a few, the designers, Georgina Edmonds and Fiona Ransom, decided to go it alone. Showing their third collection for AW14, they bring together their different disciplines (cutting and textiles) to create pieces that are both delicate yet strong, and structured, but with a certain fluidity in their designs. When asked about their process, they talked about their differences: “as we are both women with different aesthetics and body shapes, what we each want from a garment is different – this sets up an interesting tension with our design process – a questioning dialogue about the desirability and even validity of each piece.” It is this dialogue between the two designers that helps them create highly considered collections.
The Pavane woman, come autumn/winter 2014, will be wearing winter florals and kimono inspired silhouettes in a colour palette of blush oranges, deep reds, pale pinks and shades of charcoal. Key pieces from the collection: “the coat dress and jacket made from the bespoke woolen roses jacquard – strong and feminine at the same time.”
Photography: Rupert Tapper
Twin Picks: Mascara
It’s one of those can’t-leave-the-house-without-it-on products, one that has the power to make you look more awake at 8am on a miserable Monday morning. That’s a great power indeed. Mascara just so happened to be big news at the Prada AW14 show in Milan. Pat McGrath created a clumpy lash look for Miuccia Prada’s vision which saw models walk the catwalk with large defined eyes that complimented their fresh nude faces. This look is also a SS14 favourite, so here Twin picks some of the best mascaras on the market today.
EYEKO Fat Brush Mascara, £15, spacenk.com & Bobbi Brown Intensifying Long Wear Mascara, £19, houseoffraser.com
Clarins Be Long Mascara, £21, clarins.co.uk & Butter London WINK Mascara Union Jack Black, £15, butterlondon.co.uk
Twin x Birds Eye View Competition
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.
Twin Backstage: Jonathan Saunders
For our last look back at the shows at London Fashion Week, Twin focuses on the details backstage at the Jonathan Saunders AW14 catwalk presentation. Here we take a look at photographer Ash Reynolds‘ interpretation of what happened.
Photography: Ash Reynolds
Twin Backstage: Richard Nicoll
For the second in our backstage series, Twin sent photographer Ash Reynolds to capture the atmosphere behind the scenes of the Richard Nicoll AW14 show at London Fashion Week. Here we can take a closer look at the models, styling, beauty and designs that made the show what it was.
Photography: Ash Reynolds
Twin Backstage: Erdem
With London Fashion Week officially over, Twin reflects on some of the fabulous shows. The first in our series takes a closer look at the goings-on backstage at Erdem’s Autumn/Winter 2014 show.
Photography: Ash Reynolds
PopUp Painting
Have you been yearning to release that inner artist? Or are you scared to death at the thought of simply picking up a paintbrush? PopUp Painting is the answer to all of the above. Established in January 2013, the latest art mania introduces a practice, that many of us consider nothing short of a nightmare, into a social environment: “We want to make painting accessible to everyone, and highlight the fact that it is fun. Most of our guests haven’t painted since their school days and just want to try something different (normally with a drink in their hand).” Popping up across venues such as Le Pain Quoitidien, PopUp Painting invites us to overcome our fear of the canvas, whilst mingling with likeminded guests at some of London’s most social and beloved hangout spots.
Originating in the States, PopUp Painting hit a home run and within months dispersed internationally, from Canada to Australia, and over to the UK where Phylissia Shelton, the UK’s Founder and Director, was quick to take note of the creative craze. Shelton set the ball rolling and joined forces with a select number of artists and supporting staff to launch in the UK’s capital at the Soho Hotel last April. It spread like wild fire and the past year has seen the company expand and ‘pop up’ across Central London and its surrounding boroughs. From Kensington to Richmond, the trend has attracted both students and parents alike to rekindle their love for painting across some of London’s favourite pubs, cafes and bars.
Last week Twin Magazine was lucky enough to head down to East Dulwich’s The Plough for the Roy Lichtenstein class to see what all the fuss was about. Taking on the American pop artist’s classic Oh Jeff, guests were welcomed to The Plough, a.k.a ‘Dulwich’s Friendliest Pub’, where a section had been cornered off especially for the painting class. At the flick of a switch, 60’s music filled the room and merged with the joyous sounds of guests socialising amongst one another. Priced at £25 per ticket, guests were provided with a fresh white canvas, a palette of acrylics, brushes and an upbeat talented art tutor who guided them through the course of the night. With an example to follow and a white canvas to fill, guests were slowly navigated through sketching the basic outlines of the pop art ‘fantasy drama’ piece. Newcomers showed no hesitancy in applying the brush to the canvas and as a result Oh Jeffs sprung up in minutes, followed by a wave of determination and elation. With not a single restriction in sight, participants bid farewell to their painting woes and transformed blank canvases into mini masterpieces. As the night drew to a close, the painters reviewed and praised the clashing and charming interpretations that had resulted from the experimentation of colours and the choice of text in the speech balloon.
With a selection of fantastic nights to boot, from Banksy to Picasso, PopUp Painting is set to be the next best thing to sweep the nation.
Sorelli Presents: The Evil Rock N Roll Hollywood Cat
Juliana Sorelli, the young french director who we interviewed when she released her film Pretty Pretty, is launching a store in Hollywood. Technically the store has no name, only a logo, but lets just call it The Evil Rock N Roll Hollywood Cat. Located in a 1920’s blue house just off of Hollywood boulevard, it gives the impression of someone’s living room from that decade, one that has been taken over by a group of punks and jailbirds – an aesthetic also found in her film work. As well as Julianna’s own designs, which consist of custom made denim and leather jackets, embroidered sweatshirts and a basics range, the store will feature pieces by JFO, a new brand by Matthew Damhave who originally started the label Imitation of Christ, a new designer named James Flemons and his brand PHLEMONS and custom made jewellery from her friends. You can also expect to find photographic prints by Brad Elterman, books, zines and other smaller items such as pins, patches and records. In the future Juliana hopes to host events such as screenings, talks, shows and she even has plans of turning another room into a small secret gallery, so keep an eye out.
To celebrate the launch of her unique boutique, the Los Angeles based director has created a film titled Hollywood Lucifer. Watch it below…
The Evil Rock N Roll Hollywood Cat – 1608 N Las Palmas Ave. Hollywood, CA
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