The dull winter days are near over, the sun is making a more regular appearance and the temperature’s slowly creeping up. What better than to start planning and accumulating your summer wardrobe. Perhaps, like me, for this season you feel as if colour takes a backseat, after all, the weather will hopefully provide the flush to your outfit. Taking inspiration from designers such as Dawn Han, Gemma Slack and fashion label ALPHA60, my summer wardrobe will contrast with the anticipated hot weather, and consist of the androgynous with a twist of Goth.
Dawn Han’s collection SS12 collection works against the conventional blooms of summer, as she takes inspiration from NYC’s subtle grittiness. Though producing items of monochrome tone, it is with this lack of colour that she produces an eclectic boundary-pushing collection, bursting with attitude. This gritty collection highlights her unique take on the modern aesthetic and femininity; perfect for those who wish to stand out from the bright floral prints that will no doubt engulf the streets. Effortlessly modish, though this slight gothic trend may seem a little heavy for summer, the sheerness of her designs no doubt counteracts this.
Already a rising star in the fashion world, Gemma Slack designs are a key source of inspiration for those wishing to attempt this daringly unconventional summer trend. As with Han’s collection, Gemma also focusses on colourless tones and the sheer. Yet what stands them both apart is Gemma’s use of leather and punk inspired prints which with no doubt gives her designs a greater edge.
More feminine of the three but still androgynous, is the fashion label ALPHA60.Hailing from Australia, the brother and sister design duo started out designing t-shirts for men and women. Describing their designs as having a “sophisticated quirk”, they give classic garments a darker edge. With mysterious prints and grunge inspired colours, this label highlights the sheer diversity of this trend. Less vigorous than the previous 2 designers, I personally, shall be incorporating both intensities of this trend into my wardrobe.
Images: Ftape.com Notjustalabel.com Numodemag.com
Since attending the Pure trade show in Olympia, London last week there is one brand in particular that I have not been able to forget; a fantastic upcoming brand called Vodka Vintage.
As soon as I saw the cute and quirky stand with its floral wallpaper and old-fashioned furnishings I fell in love. Those little extra features really made the stand eye-catching with glass perfume bottles, vanity brushes and suitcases piled on top of a Prie Dieu chair. My favourite feature, however, was the brand name spelt out in scrabble letters; inventive and making use of a game that is probably forgotten about in the back of your cupboard!
Vodka Vintage clothing is described as ‘a timeless collection inspired by classic shapes and prints with a touch of femininity and vintage designs’, which basically means that they have that vintage style but without the old musk and outdated style that in no way fits you but you buy anyway because its only £10!
Vodka Vintage clothing is reasonably priced, ranging from £25-£35 so you don’t even have to splash the cash, just like you wouldn’t on vintage.
The name ‘Vodka Vintage’ itself is interesting because vodka is a renowned remedy for getting rid of that old, used odour that sometimes accompanies vintage clothing. This is quite representative of the brand itself as it is a fresh, new take on vintage.
Pattern was very big within the Vodka Vintage clothing range, which will go down a treat for Winter 2012. The WGSN global trend forecast for Autumn/Winter 2012-13 predicted that ‘hyperculture’ was going to be a strong trend, which focuses on clashing and mismatched prints and strong colour. ‘Eco-hedonism’ was also another contender where nature is used as inspiration and foliage and natural prints are used on throw on, simplistic dresses.
Due to privacy they would not let me take photos of their products or stand but google will pretty much find anything for you and I managed to find some on a blog.
This collection will be the first for Vodka Vintage and is for Spring/Summer 2012, which means that they should be hitting the high street in a matter of weeks and I for one cannot wait.
They were also discreet about where they will be retailing and the website will only give you a tempting ‘coming soon’ which quite frankly could not come soon enough!
Keep updated at www.vodkavintage.com.
Name: Lee Taylor
Occupation: Editor-in-chief
Industry: Media
Lee is the Editor-in-chief of FLUX, an independent fashion, music and arts magazine. Set up by Lee, his partner Claire Lomax, and Martin Craddock in 1997, FLUX started off life as a fanzine. Since then, it has quickly evolved into a nationally distributed publication and website (Fluxmagazine.com). As somewhat of an aspiring editor myself, the first question I wanted to ask was how Lee might describe his average day as editor-in-chief of FLUX Magazine. He replied ‘Well as an editor & father of 2 young kids I have to say I'm spinning plates. Flux is an independent magazine so we tend to wear many hats too so we're dealing with editorial, writers, PR people, galleries and such plus any advertising enquiries that might come about’. He describes his job as ‘exciting mixed in with periods of tedious tasks. So you have to try and stay calm and focussed as it is very up and down. As we're a small indie we wear many hats as I said previously which can be a pain but in another way it keeps you levelled more as a person I think. Plus I have kids too so it all goes to make a busy, hectic mix’.
Asked to describe the aims and style of FLUX Magazine, Lee responded ‘What I love personally are those things, little cultural nuggets that make you go wow or simply make you think. I want some kind of reaction in myself and then we want to show other people. It's very much a cultural journal but we don't want it all dry and cold. Want it to be engaging, enjoyable experience. Flux is a current culture magazine so we're always in search of mad, bad, strange or thoughtful cultural nuggets we can unearth. Officially we say on the website "FLUX is a spirited, independent fashion, music and arts magazine featuring the best, living, breathing culture from the UK & across the globe."’
What are the best aspects of the job?
‘Discovering a great new artist, designer, song. Having a great writer come up with an original idea for an article’.
And the worst?
‘The harsh cold world of advertising. This makes or breaks lots of well intentioned, brilliant magazines’.
Finally, I asked Lee if he had any advice for aspiring editors. ‘You don't have to wait for someone to hand you a job. Make your own magazine. It's much easier nowadays, get a group of you together as we did. See it almost like a band. You can be the lead singer but you need to your team firing on all cylinders (or at least most) and you'll get somewhere. Or join in on another indie mag. You'll learn tons because they are small enough to give you an insight and get you fully involved’.
Whether you fancy yourself as an entrepreneur, or employee of another magazine, website or publication, I think it’s safe to say the world of media is a tough business but one that is well worth entering if you have the drive to succeed.
Website: Fluxmagazine.com
Images: Newsstand.co.uk Junodoran.net Pdfcast.org
Meg Bentley is a very interesting artist. Bentley mainly works with watercolours, producing simple shapes and figures mostly to include in the zines she produces. Yet, on closer inspection, “simple” is clearly the wrong word to use. Bentley’s greyscale images are incredibly evocative, with each one conjuring up a different memory or feeling depending on the person looking at them. They are subtle portrayals of the most poignant feelings we all tend to have. There is a clear theme of nostalgia throughout her work as she explores ideas of family, memories and the past. These are things that do not need complication, and the way in which Bentley shows them is perfect to stir up the right reaction. Her mixed media ‘Family’ series is reminiscent of Victorian-era artwork, particularly that of L.S. Lowry and silhouette portraiture. To describe Meg Bentley’s work, perhaps it is better to say that she produces pieces that rely on subtlety, rather than simplicity.
Bentley is also clearly influenced by science, managing to work these themes into her artwork. This can be seen in her zines ‘Travelling through the Fifth Dimension’ and ‘The Man in the Moon’. ‘The Man in the Moon’ shows not just the traditional figure in the satellite but a variety of other beings on the moon’s surface. Bentley then goes on to depict stars, planets and even a moon alphabet.
Meg Bentley is intriguing to say the least: influenced by science as much as art; using “simple” shapes to say a lot, and producing sometimes stark images that are heart-warming too.
More of her work can be found at: Cargocollective.com/megbentley
It’s strange how one city can behold such a variety of different fashions but I suppose that is why London is the fashion capital of the UK. If there is one place that you go to feel inspired or just do a spot of trend forecasting there is no better place than London.
Shoreditch is particularly one of my favourite areas for fashion in London because it possesses that vintage, urban quality, where people have a disregard for the latest trends and use style to personalise themselves.
Shoreditch is inventive, artistic, cultural, and the people on the street are representative of this.
As soon as I stepped into Hackney I came across this first lady and I was entranced by her naturally nonchalant style. I love her casual attire and her biker boots are a great feature. My favourite part of the outfit is her military inspired coat; purposely or not, the way that some buttons are undone and the hem is slightly uneven really adds character to her outfit.
This second gentleman was the owner of a stylish, urban store on the Shoreditch high street called ‘Present’ and he proves that whatever age you are you can still exude a timeless style.
Ray-bans appeared to be a popular choice of sunglasses within Shoreditch and this man contrasts a summery accessory with a thick winter puffer jacket. I love his ‘just rolled out of bed’ look in his tracksuit bottoms and his colour coordination is down to a tee.
As I moved further towards Brick Lane I was sure that I would spot further vintage inspired fashion and I was not wrong.
I thought that this lady was fantastic, so relaxed and joyful. I love her sheepskin lined denim jacket, probably bought from one of the many vintage stores along Brick Lane (vintage lovers MUST visit here).
This man is wrapped up for the weather but his clash of blues, greens, beiges and browns work perfectly together and look effortless. If you look carefully too he accessorizes with a fantastic tartan printed satchel!
The final lady that I met was probably my favourite of all. The colour pop of red in her jacket really brightens up a dreary day in London and looks perfect cinched in at the waist with a belt (similar to that of the Mulberry Autumn/Winter 2012 collection). Her maxi skirt will take her all the way through the summer too.
I would recommend for anyone who hasn’t been to Shoreditch before to go and absorb the atmosphere there, it is well worth a day trip!
Believe it or not what you’re looking at are not photographs but ultra-realistic paintings by Jason De Graaf. Although his paintings appear photorealistic, he does not reproduce the images completely; he wants to try and add something that cannot appear in photographs, which is the illusion of depth and sense of presence. Within his work he tries to explore the relationship between light and reflective and transparent surfaces.
The detail and his ability to understand the effect of a surface on an image is unmatched by most artists. I have not seen photorealism to this level of detail before. His work reminds me of M. C. Escher in some respects, in that he in experimenting with light and images. One great example of this is the second image which resembles Escher’s self portrait with a mirrored ball.
One of the best paintings is the kiwi slices dropping into a glass of water. It is interesting for a lot of reasons, the first is the moment that he captured within his painting,.It’s unusual that an artist would try and paint such a vibrant and active scene (many prefer to use still life), considering his level of detail as well. The second is the shapes that he has used - the style of glass, the kiwi slices, the water against the stark background all compliment each other well. Finally, his ability to make the spectrum of colours he has using just paints is unreal. It’s obviously a natural talent that he has worked hard to develop.
I have real respect for Jason, obviously a talented artist that has spent years honing his abilities till he can produce work like this. I hope he continues painting like this, but I’ll be interested to see where he evolves from here.
Website: Jasondegraaf.com
Name: Hugo Barros
Age: 29
Occupation: Collage Artist
Inspiration: Poetry and Music (Animal Collective, Panda Bear, Pink Floyd)
Hugo’s fragmented paintings are a sight of mathematical ingenuity, artistic talent and, in his own words, ‘pop surrealism’. Hailing from Alfama, Lisbon, it is no surprise to find out one of Hugo’s main inspirations for his work are the Portuguese musical styles, Fado and Flamengo. The meaning of Fado in English is “destiny” or “fate”. Songs are characterised by fairly melancholy tunes and lyrics. Although the subject matter can be absolutely anything, Fado music must always follow a certain structure, something which Hugo’s collages appear to imitate, mostly in his repeated use of graphic shapes such as triangles and circles. Asked about his preference for collage, Hugo replied ‘I like this process because it is a way to achieve a point between painting and collage techniques. This way I feel that I am creating my own narrative’.
Much like a novel’s narrative, Hugo tells a story layer by layer, shape by shape. Unlike a novel however, the viewer is immediately confronted by these layers of image story-telling. The image above for example appears to be a narrative of eight parts: six triangles, one prism and one sliced-into-circle. Each of these parts has a certain element of ambiguity. Does the predominantly black triangle represent night, or is it a symbol of emotional darkness? Is the top orange triangle set at sunrise or sunset? All that is clear is the sliced-into-circle and the prism of four different colours. I can almost say for certain that the image depicted in the sliced-into-circle is that of a woman’s face. I can pretty categorically say that the prism is made up of the colours green, orange/yellow, red and black. Hugo plays with uncertainty, fragmenting what could be eight distinct narratives into one: a woman looking out at something unknown, perhaps on a boat (the image as a whole resembles that of a small sail boat). But something within this seemingly simple narrative is conflicted and uncertain (the culmination and paradoxes of shapes and colours).
This element of chaotic simplicity is symptomatic of Hugo’s spontaneous working method ‘I just turn the radio (on) and it happens. It just takes some inspiration, lots of work and research. Sometimes an idea arises from something that I had given as finished’.
By 2022, Hugo hopes to ‘gather a group of friends, somehow related to arts, and publish a magazine’.
Blog: Mesineto.tumblr.com
If you’re passionate about the big screen and a keen filmmaker then the Encounters Film Festival taking place this September is for you. The festival is the perfect opportunity to project your talent and showcase your work and ideas to the future world of film. From the 18th-23rd September 2012, this international festival hits the city of Bristol, with delegates coming from far and wide. Submissions open on 1 March so get those cameras rolling...
The festival which began in 1995 is now in its eighteenth edition and its popularity is growing year upon year. The wide ranging opportunities available for delegates to get involved in has resulted in recognition of the festival as a leading gateway to some of the most prestigious short film and animation awards including the BAFTAS and the European Film Awards. It provides the fantastic opportunity for emerging talent to meet other filmmakers as well as having the chance to network and get advice from some leading figures in the film industry. As well as the chance to gain awards, including an award only available to first time filmmakers, the festival will host a packed programme of activities and sessions across the six days. Student focus days from the 19th-21st September will give you the chance to take part in workshops that will enhance your knowledge of filmmaking as well as providing some tips on how to enter this very competitive industry. A digital viewing library has been organised to showcase all the films that will be submitted this year providing the perfect opportunity to see what other filmmakers, first timers as well as professionals, have produced.
The 2011 festival saw a massive submission of 1800 films, a tenth making it to the festival competition programmes. Dan Ojari was awarded the Animated Grand Prix for his entrancing tale Slow Derek, a story of office worker Derek’s struggle with the true speed of planet earth.
The Brief Grand Prix award went to Ulrike Vahl for his short film Utter Null (Below Zero) which was praised for its “sensitive exploration of a family under stress through the mental illness of the father, the quality of the performances and layering of the narrative”.
Both winners received £2000 in addition to other prizes for their contribution to the festival. A part of Encounters Film Festival - DepicT! will once again be running in 2012. This branch of the festival challenges filmmakers to produce masterpieces of only 90 seconds long. The 2011 winners included Michelle Arbon with her short film Above As Below (first image below), and an award also went to Nick Fogg for her film Wake (second image below) which follows the story of 87-year old Lis who is determined to live life to the full and does so by hosting her own wake so as not to miss out on the party.
So if you like the sound of a festival with the opportunity to showcase your work and talent in a vibrant and unique environment then get ready to submit your work from 1st March up until 6th June 2012. The festival not only acts as a pivotal base for up and coming filmmakers but is a great chance for the public to witness artistic talent from around the world in a celebration of short film and animation. For more information on how to submit films and to get involved in the festival, head to Encounters-festival.org.uk.
Images: Encounters-festival.org.uk
Everything about this film is haunting, from the chilling voice-over to the subject matter to the colour scheme. Kevin McGuiness’ film ‘Red’ takes its name from the classic fairy tale ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ in which the caped heroine is fooled by a wolf in her grandmother’s clothing. McGuiness brings the French tale up to date by setting it in an unknown, presumably American, urban environment. His use of a black, red and white colour scheme gives this film a distinctly comic-strip style, perhaps inspired by such works as Sin City, adapted into a film in 2005.
‘Red’ is beautifully animated and written. A winner in the animation category of the 2010 Indie Short Film Competition, I cannot wait to see where McGuiness’ dark side goes next: ‘Red. Red is the love. Red is the haze. Red is the blood. Red is the face. Red is the heart… on her jacket sleeve.’
Winkler+Noah create stark and intense images that are hard to initially digest; however their work always evokes a personal response. It is work that you have to be mature and open minded in witnessing, due to the nature of the work. It’s this sort of photography, which for me, is the best kind of art. It’s personal and unique to the audience and most of all brings peoples personal opinions to the surface.
All of their projects have a meaning and story behind them; there are often slightly edgy meanings, some which are taboo, their examples of death, or surreal, their vision of children as dolls. Winkler+Noah produce work that fuses traditional photography with experimentation. Their pictures are strange; they give the sensation of hyper reality; because the focus of the photo appears in a real situation however they seem to stand out, as if the reality is highlighting them; it’s something I haven’t seen before. The other side of their images is the enclosed ideas and powerful emotions contained within, all of which is controlled by the artists throughout the process as they handle everything personally.
The first image is about ‘Short Life.’ It stems from a tourist that died whilst waiting to witness an art exhibition and everyone just took out their cameras and started taking pictures as if it was the most natural thing in the world to do. They tried to represent that the end of respect for man means the end of everything and that nothing is private anymore.
Secondly is the visual representation of living on the other side of the Berlin wall. On the other side reality is just a surrogate offered by the authorities. They portrayed this by taking close up shots where the eyes are covered by a film making their vision of the world impossible.
Next is ‘Dolls.’ This is in response to people expecting too much of children, for them to be perfect, like dolls. As well as children who have become sons and daughters of perfection, pretence and image, manipulated by the media and the social context and who are inevitably losing their naturalness.
The last image is about how beautiful skin is. It’s the ‘box’ of the body and although we can have such a different variety from Extra White to Dark Black, it all shows the soul of the person both behind and in front the camera. It’s also a deeply private thing; the eye can always find a secret scar, a strange mole, a wonderful curve, or a part of the body that it doesn't like.
Website: Winkler-noah.it
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