Amelia’s Magazine | Secret Garden Party 2010: Stylish Headwear Photo Gallery

SGP 2010-headdress by Amelia Gregory
SGP 2010- headdress by Amelia Gregory

On my rambles around festivals this year it has been hard to escape the omnipresence of floral head garlands on the ladies, viagra and indeed worn by some of the more daring men… I recall a particularly dashing pair of matching flower topped bald male bonces espied through the crowd in the Cabaret Arena at Latitude for instance.

At Glastonbury and Latitude these garlands were usually bought off the peg at a stall, about it but Gardeners (as they are called) at Secret Garden Party were a little more inventive with their head gear. From customised top hats to Indian feather headdresses to stuffed birds, recipe decorative headwear provided ample opportunity for experiment in colour, combination and height.

Here are some of the most inventive and appealing creations I saw at Secret Garden Party.

Photography by Amelia Gregory.

SGP 2010-headdress by Amelia Gregory
I loved this creation – the height, the space, the use of colour. Beautiful.

SGP 2010-headdress by Amelia Gregory
This girl had used her own hair to create ears.

SGP 2010-headdress by Amelia Gregory
Gorgeous butterflies. Simple but effective.

SGP 2010-headdress by Amelia Gregory
Bees. Leaves. Flowers. Stuffed animals. Pile em on!

SGP 2010-headdress by Amelia Gregory
This girl had found loads of crap in her house and stuck it all on, including a Sheriff’s badge, handcuffs and a Toucan (just visible on the top)

SGP 2010-headdress by Amelia Gregory
A boy with a stuffed bird in his ‘fro. As you do.

SGP 2010-headdress by Amelia Gregory
A huge holographic rainbow butterfly headdress.

SGP 2010-headdress by Amelia Gregory
Native American Indian inspired headdresses were very popular.

SGP 2010-headdress by Amelia Gregory
My friend Dora does a simple red top hat extremely well.

SGP 2010-headdress by Amelia Gregory
A little molecular number.

SGP 2010-headdress by Amelia Gregory
Channelling Louix XVI via Burlesque.

SGP 2010-headdress by Amelia Gregory
Sometimes more is more, don’t you find?

SGP 2010-headdress by Amelia Gregory
Jemima with a found thistle and fake flowers.

SGP 2010-headdress by Amelia Gregory
Classy, and strangely inaccurate too.

SGP 2010-Pearl and Ivy headdress by Amelia Gregory
Lastly, Pearl and Ivy, or should that be Carly and Sam, here seen modelling their own creations which were for sale at Secret Garden Party.

SGP 2010-Pearl and Ivy headdress Amelia Gregory
And myself wearing one – c’mon, I had to get into the spirit of it all didn’t I?! You can buy a similar feather headdress from Pearl and Ivy from their online website.

Categories ,Cabaret Arena, ,Feathers, ,glastonbury, ,hats, ,Headdresses, ,Headwear, ,Latitude Festival, ,Native American, ,Pearl and Ivy, ,Secret Garden Party

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Amelia’s Magazine | Sister by Sibling: London Fashion Week S/S 2013 Catwalk Review


Sister by Sibling S/S 2013 by Antonia Parker

On the Saturday morning of fashion week I cycled to Somerset House. It was such a sunny, cool morning that I couldn’t help myself. Despite sitting outside the main courtyard for a breather for nearly thirty minutes, I still arrived at the Sister by Sibling salon show sweatier than the Editor-in-chief of French Closer. I couldn’t help it. I don’t know what’s wrong with me at the moment, I just can’t stop bloody sweating. I’m just saying.


Sister by Sibling S/S 2013 by Krister Selin

Anyway, the queue for this hotly anticipated show was enormous and as I stood dabbing my brow I wondered how we were all going to fit inside the tiny Portico Rooms. I managed to find a so-so spot to stand in as the photographers began blocking the entrance. The room was already full, a good percentage of guests modelling this season’s marvellous leopard print numbers. Last minute guests, including my favourite woman (Dame) Suzy Menkes barged in as the show was about to start.

There’s nothing like a bit of dayglo and some X-Ray Spex at a million decibels to wake you up on a Saturday morning. This collection, wonderfully titled ‘Warriors in Woolworths‘, had all the aspects we’ve come to love and expect from Sibling; I was in no doubt when the first model popped from behind the screen that I was going to love everything I was about to see.


Sister by Sibling S/S 2013 by Antonia Parker

Said first model appeared in a white sweater with Sister paint logo daubed across the front and a white ruffle tutu skirt. This was accessorised with the only item you can accessorise a white ruffle tutu skirt with: a full-on lace face mask.

Next came a crocheted top and skirt, complete with ruffles and cap, shortly followed by a pair of white ruffled knickers – but all this white wasn’t fooling me. I knew there’d be some colour pretty soon, and before I could say ‘oh sure’ the colour came coming. Flashes of hot pink, baby pink, yellow and dayglo green appeared on floor length straight-up-and-down no nonsense dresses with matching cardigans.

Crew neck, short-sleeved jumpers and baggy cardigans reminded me of those my grandmother used to wear, expect hers weren’t in illuminous green or embellished with glitter to form reverse skulls. I don’t remember them like that, at least. I much prefer these. A polo-neck dress in green leopard print was a particular favourite, as was a black number with vibrant but delicate flowers splashed all across it.

Punk never looked so fresh.

Categories ,Antonia Parker, ,Cozette McCreery, ,crochet, ,dayglo, ,fashion, ,Joe Bates, ,knitwear, ,Krister Selin, ,london, ,London Fashion Week, ,Matt Bramford, ,Poly Styrene, ,Portico Rooms, ,Punks, ,S/S 2013, ,Sid Bryan, ,Sister by Sibling, ,SS13, ,Suzy Menkes, ,Womenswear, ,X-Ray Spex

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Amelia’s Magazine | Spijkers en Spijkers: London Fashion Week A/W 2012 Catwalk Review

Spijkers en Spijkers A/W 2012 by Cristian Grossi
Spijkers en Spijkers A/W 2012 by Cristian Grossi

From the looks of the feminine and pretty invite (which was beautifully illustrated by Dutch artist Martine Johanna) I didn’t expect anything too shocking from this A/W 2012 collection by Spijkers en Spijkers.

Spijkers en Spijkers A/W 2012 by Claire Kearns

Spijkers en Spijkers A/W 2012 by Claire Kearns

The mood music as we sat down consisted of haunting, screeching quotes, so I suspected that we were in for something dark, haunting, and a little different. The quotes were from the original 1975 Grey Gardens documentary depicting the life of Big Edie and Little Edie, the aunt and first cousin of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis. It is a real-life tale of a mother and a daughter driven to an eccentric state of solitude, after falling from the grace of high-society New York when Edie’s father left them penniless. Little Edie, in the eyes of Spijkers en Spijkers, was a colourful ‘Bird of Paradise‘ and served as a muse for the collection.

Spijkers en Spijkers A/W 2012 by Amelia Gregory

Spijkers en Spijkers A/W 2012 by Amelia Gregory

Spijkers en Spijkers A/W 2012 by Amelia Gregory

All photography by Amelia Gregory

Spijkers en Spijkers A/W 2012 by Sam Mardon

Spijkers en Spijkers A/W 2012 by Sam Mardon

The music set the tone perfectly; the despair, drama, and frailty in the voices echoed the strong yet feminine use of colour and 1940′s silhouettes. Lyrics about houses being set on fire and Edie Bouvier Beale’s mother telling her what to do sent chills down my spine as I simultaneously warmed to the mixed-up styling by Karen Binns. It was well documented that these two women had to make do with what they had, forcing them to mix clothes up in new ways. ‘Never throw anything old away‘ the music boomed, echoing dresses paired with clashing tops or fluorescent jewellery.

Spijkers en Spijkers A/W 2012 by Amelia Gregory

Spijkers en Spijkers A/W 2012 by Amelia Gregory

Spijkers en Spijkers A/W 2012 by Amelia Gregory

spijkers en spijkers A/W 2012 by anna higgie

Spijkers en Spijkers A/W 2012 by Anna Higgie

There was some of Spijkers en Spijkers unmistakable graphic detailing in the accessories and makeup, too. Little birds adorned shoulders and dresses in the form of a print or a brooch, hair was finger-waved and set into strong curves, set off with sweet but modern-day plastic headbands. The make-up was fresh, reminding me of when you first start to try wearing makeup as a teenager, sticking to bold lines and bright colours and not really knowing how to do subtle looks just yet.

Spijkers en Spijkers A/W 2012 by Amelia Gregory

Spijkers en Spijkers A/W 2012 by Amelia Gregory

Spijkers en Spijkers A/W 2012 by Amelia Gregory

Silks, satins, wool and prints were in a gorgeously covetable range of vintage-looking colours. Lime green and yellows reminded me of old stained-glass windows, while the rich purples and oranges referenced faded but no less opulent interiors.

Spijkers en Spijkers A/W 2012 by Rebecca Hendin

Spijkers en Spijkers A/W 2012 by Rebecca Hendin

Something I’ve noticed this London Fashion Week is that while a lot of designers are referencing the dark and frightening for A/W 2012, they’re doing so in an unexpected way: making a conscious effort to hint at the macabre, court the morbid and inject collections with a touch of despair in beautiful and new ways. Even though the inspiration for this collection was part tragedy, the result was charming. The strong tailoring, warmer colours for winter and underlying tale of two women – all make you want to engage with this story.

Spijkers en Spijkers A/W 2012 by Yasmin Mason

Spijkers en Spijkers A/W 2012 by Yasmin Mason

The catwalk show itself was a little bit like the thrill you feel when watching a scary movie; dark and even a little disturbing, but you can’t look away, making it all the more appealing. Spijkers and Spijkers have found a way to make you want the collection even more, delivering a desirable collection for those who like clothes that tell a story, especially if it’s as lavishly haunting as this one.

Spijkers en Spijkers A/W 2012 by Amelia Gregory
Spijkers en Spijkers A/W 2012 by Cristian Grossi
Spijkers en Spijkers A/W 2012 by Cristian Grossi

Spijkers en Spijkers A/W 2012 by Amelia Gregory

Spijkers en Spijkers A/W 2012 by Zulekha lakeca

Spijkers en Spijkers A/W 2012 by Zulekha lakeca

Spijkers en Spijkers A/W 2012 by Zulek Halakeca

Categories ,Alia Gargum, ,Amelia Gregory, ,Anna Higgie, ,birds, ,Claire Kearns, ,Cristian Grossi, ,Edie Bouvier Beale, ,Fluorescent, ,Grey Gardens, ,London Fashion Week A/W 2012, ,new york, ,Rebecca Hendin, ,Sam Mardon, ,Silk, ,Spijkers en Spijkers, ,Vauxhall Fashion Scout, ,vintage, ,wool, ,Yasmin Mason, ,Zulek Halakeca

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Amelia’s Magazine | Supermarket Sarah meets Fred Butler for London Fashion Week 2009

I’ve been on the road with Climate Rush, more about erectile with 3 horses, erectile a couple of caravans, cheapest plenty of publicity and a heck of a load of energy. We’ve been on a mission to raise awareness about the threat of climate change.

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On the tour of the rural South West, the group has been focusing on solutions to the looming climate chaos and towards positive initiatives rather than looking to attack the corporations and government. The starting point of the month-long journey was the village of Sipson, under threat from the third runway we talked to concerned locals and held activity days for the community.

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At an impromptu kids activity, we made some amazing potato faces sourcing all the veg from the Green plot allotment.cr8.jpg
…which also provided our meals for the 3 days we camped, thanks to the dedication of some of the local residents.

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We also held a tea party and provided daily evening entertainment for the local community.
Peggy Sue, who recently headlined the Secret Garden party, was a highlight. Our caravan stage was a unique experience for the locals and the band alike, and with a full moon over us it was a night to remember.
Climate Rush have roped in a range of guests to join them along the route with climate scientists, comedians, politicians and plenty more special guests. Workers from the Vestas wind turbine factory who were sacked after it closed down came to offer their experiences and views as well as representatives from the welsh climate camp. Locals also showed their grievances and it was heartening to see how people can become so radicalised when the threat from corporate expansion and climate change affects them.
Today we are in Aylesbury and have held our very own Green fair in the centre of the town, with screen printing, music and free fruit, we’ve chatted to a fair few locals and hopefully spread our message a little further. Caroline Lucas, the Green party MP,also joined us to speak to the locals about the threat of climate change and outlined the importance of community led action and debate.

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Climate Rush are ending their journey at Totness at the end of the month, it is a ‘Transition Town’ model where the community has looked at how to live in a post-oil world and it feels like a fitting way to end the journey, especially with the motto “Deeds not words” used by the climate suffragettes.
If you can’t make it to Totness, fear not, there are a host of place you can catch up with the group, they are planning to hold a demo at Oxford airport to protest against the planned airport expansion and will also be in Bristol for the International Peace day as well as joining in with‘Co-mutiny’ hosted by the city. Check the website for the whole route and I really recommend joining them at some point. There is always space around the fire, blankets to go around and a great learning and rewarding experience to have. Never thought I would be learning how to put a bender tent up or learning how to groom a horse in the few days I’ve been with Climate Rush.

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As always the police have been keeping a watchful eye and often seem to know more about our plans than we do ourselves. Luckily the rambling Climate Rush party haven’t yet ruffled too many feathers apart from the long line of cars and lorries we manage to accumulate behind the 5 mile an hour caravans. But watch this space to see how things progress and are getting on later on this month.
Supermarket Sarah is a lovely online shop with an intriguing alternative homepage to the usual multiple image interface popular with online shopping websites. The website loads a picture of Sarah’s living room wall decorated with vintage and recycled items looking for a new home. After having great fun perusing the wall and hovering the mouse over bottles transformed into lamps and carefully selected vintage dresses. The viewer can select their favourite item, viagra approved by clicking the mouse and hey presto! be taken into Sarah’s shop to examine the chosen item. The wall display changes regularly and is often themed check out the red and white version of the Sarah’s Wall!

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For Fashion Week September 2009 Fred Butler, designer extraordinaire has designed Supermarket Sarah’s wall. Amelia’s Magazine are particularly excited to see the result having previously featured Fred Butler’s innovate designs. View her film for February’s London Fashion week here. .

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Hello Sarah! Where did the inspiration for Supermarket Sarah come from?

It’s a supermarket with a personality. I guess it’s a fun spin on consumer culture. In today’s world of homogenous brands this is a shop where items have no sell-by date and everything is a one of a kind. It’s my selection of weird and wonderful things and great young talent.

I worked as a creative online and really wanted to touch and feel the real world again. I started doing Portobello market and loved meeting people and really interacting with the world again. I was also assisting top stylists and getting a feel for my own style. My boyfriend Henrik Delehag is an artist and helped me to find my voice.
For Fashion week I asked the extraordinary props stylist and accessories designer, Fred Butler, to guest curate my supermarket wall and I’m so excited with the result. It is a blast of colour and creativity! I aim for my wall/homepage to occasionally be a canvas for artists that I admire and I couldn’t have hoped for anyone else to kick-start the guest curation. The ‘Browse’ section will continue to be populated with my finds and new designers.

In today’s world of homogenous brands Supermarket Sarah is all about putting a fun spin on consumerism. All items are a ‘one of a kind’ with a story to tell. Fred’s work really resonates with me, as her creativity is idea based and full of humour. I felt Fred’s work really fitted with the Supermarket Sarah ethos as she often works with recycled every day objects like J-cloths and sponges to create beautifully crafted work. I love these hairpieces By Fred Butler for Kate Phelan / Tim Walker.

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They are made of recycled J-cloths. They are such fun and beautifully crafted. I think when you work with odd materials like this, attention to detail is so important otherwise it might just look like rubbish. This is definitely my kind of recycling!
What makes Fred so unique is that she is conceptually brilliant but is also is an amazing crafter. A true creative genius!

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We have some super guest curators and super Sarah walls coming up so keep checking in! I aim for the wall/homepage to act as a gallery that will keep changing with the idea being to inspire and surprise users on every visit. There is no time limit on the walls online presence. Some may be up for a day; some might be available to view for a month, the idea being that you have to be quick as items sell out. The ‘browse’ section will be populated regularly and acts like the inside of the shop. We have a great Art Wall coming up to coincide with Frieze Art Fair.

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Art Director Fred Butler is a props stylist and accessories designer based in London. See examples of her designs in the above still from La Roux’s latest video. Her fashion collection A/W08 won official sponsorship for A/W09 and Fred will officially be opening Fashion week on the 18th September at 10 Downing Street! Find Fred here.

Categories ,consumerism, ,Fred Butler, ,La Roux, ,LFW, ,online, ,shopping, ,Supermarket Sarah

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Amelia’s Magazine | Tatty Devine and Supermarket Sarah Launch Party!

Feelin’ hot hot hot… we arrived at the field with a blanket and straw hat, viagra stuff and headed straight to the bar. Queuing for what felt like a life-time in the blistering heat, price cheap sounds of Johnny Flynn drifted through the air along with the smells of barbecued sausages. Queuing aside, we were happy.

Ciders in hand we weaved through camping chairs and stepped apologetically over blankets, occasionally catching the odd sandaled foot or splashing a little cider over a resting head… all part of the joy of festivalling, we found a spot, lay the blanket on the ground just in time for Laura Marling to take to the stage. ‘Afternoon everyone!’ Laura’s soothing voice echoed over the masses, ‘what a day!’…. people woo’d and clapped and cheered. In two years, Marling’s voice and lyrics have matured from pretty ditties to soulful folk… and her performance this weekend reeled in an eclectic crowd. Folk of all ages stood, eyes fixed and humming and Marling’s voice resonated. Songs from Marling’s latest album I Speak Because I Can mixed with original tracks from My Manic and I had us reminiscing, spinning around and singing-along.

Between sets we ate, drank and lay gazing into the brilliant blue ether… catching a bit of celebrity football, Mumford & Sons giving it their best. Seasick Steve was next up, and took to the stage with crowds-a-roaring. Unfortunately, due to minor sunstroke, we weren’t around for the whole set, but from what we saw, as always Seasick gave a cracking performance.

Mumford & Sons belted out there emotive country-inspired folk, now well-known from their vast radio coverage, and had the audience fixed. Looking and sounding the part, and slotting in perfectly to the Hop Farm scene.

Whilst queuing for a lamb kofta and chatting to a wonderful lady who lives on a pig farm in Cambridgeshire, who told me stories of her days as a festival queen in the 70s… (she was so small she used to crouch on the loo seat, feet on the seat – to avoid sitting on it… little ladies – take note!) Ray Davies performed and it came as pleasant surprise to hear the well-known Kinks records: Lola, You Really Got Me and all the rest. At the age of 66, Ray’s voice carried across fields, still very much in tact.

Last but not least, good old Bob Dylan appeared on stage, his (very) husky tones hooking the expectant field of fans, and taking them on a tumultuous journey through a plethora of songs steeped in sentiment.

Finally, an incredible set from Devendra Banhart ensued; no longer the long-haired folky-dolky guy that once plucked at our heartstrings, Devendra has completely reinvented his style: short-back-and-sides, checked shirt and long yellow cardie buttoned up; the sounds were funky and playful, his voice endearing and still with that jagged edge that made him famous. Even a few Roxy Music covers were thrown in to get us grooving. We danced until the cows came home.

All in all, a grand day out. Thank you Hop Farm!


Illustrations by Jenny Costello

With businesses struggling to survive through the recession armageddon, this site a few innovative individuals are thriving, using their imagination and collaborations with other creatives to succeed. Sarah Bagner, or ‘Supermarket Sarah‘ transformed a wall of her own home into a window dresser’s dream; featuring both vintage finds and handmade creations from the likes of Donna Wilson. Inviting shoppers into her home for tea and cake has gained her such a following that Selfridges even invited her to curate a wall for them.


Supermarket Sarah, illustrated by Emma Block

Her latest collaboration is with the queens of cool, Tatty Devine, whose Brick Lane store has been transformed into an Aladdin’s cave of Sarah’s goodies. Tatty Devine is also famous for pioneering the collaborative spirit, teaming up with the likes of Rob Ryan, Charlie le Mindu and Mrs Jones to make their iconic statement jewellery ranges. Last night fellow creatives Fred Butler and Anna Murray were spinning some tunes on the decks, whilst cupcakes were supplied by Fifi and Lola.

I snapped Sarah wearing her Tatty Devine ‘Supermarket Sarah’ necklace in front of her wall which will soon be online here. The installation will be in store until the 16th August, alongside Tatty Devine’s regular stock which is currently on sale. This is your one stop shop for sorting your festival outfits; grab some neck candy from Tatty Devine and something from Sarah’s vintage dressing up box and you’re set! 

Photographs by Katie Antoniou

Categories ,Anna Murray, ,Brick Lane, ,Charlie le Mindu, ,cupcakes, ,Donna Wilson, ,Fifi and Lola, ,Fred Butler, ,london, ,Mrs Jones, ,rob ryan, ,Sarah Bagner, ,Selfridges, ,Supermarket Sarah, ,Tatty Devine, ,vintage

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Amelia’s Magazine | The Black Sheep Rules

Undercover: Lingerie Exhibition at the Fashion and Textiles Museum

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“Welcome to Limehouse.” With those words, about it Jarvis Cocker set off on the latest instalment of his 30 year musical odyssey, visit this site launching into set opener Pilchard from his new solo album, Further Complications. For such a long, often tortuous journey which began at a Sheffield secondary school and the formation of what was originally known as Arabicus Pulp, the Troxy did seem a rather apt stopping point – a former theatre turned bingo-hall in the deepest End End, where Stepney and Limehouse blur into each other, now restored and reborn as an unlikely concert venue.

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In fact, Cocker did remark, in his own inimitable way, that the place reminded him of an ice-rink from his youth, where he went to “cop off” with someone, and you still half expected to hear calls of “clickety click” and “legs eleven”, even as support band the Horrors were going through their Neu! meets Echo and the Bunnymen infused motorik indie.

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There were a few half-hearted requests from parts of the audience, but tonight was most definitely a Pulp-free zone (the presence of longtime sidekick Steve Mackey on bass was as near as we got). The set leant heavily on Cocker’s sophomore solo effort, which has a rockier, heavier edge to it than its’ predecessor (not surprising given the pedigree of producer Steve Albini). That said, old Jarvis still has the wry wit and subtle smut that made albums like Different Class such stand outs back in the day (witness news songs Leftover and I Never Said I Was Deep), and he still has plenty of those weirdly angular dance moves up his sleeves. As if that weren’t enough, he even dusted off his old junior school recorder skills on the introduction to Caucasian Blues.

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A couple of numbers from Cocker’s debut solo album made an appearance towards the end of the set, including a driving Fat Children, whilst the encore opened with Don’t Let Him Waste Your Time. We ended on the closer from Further Complications, You’re In My eyes (Discosong), where Jarvis appears to channel the spirit of Barry White – there was even a glitterball to dazzle the Troxy’s faded glamour.
As Jarvis took the adulation of the massed faithful, it seemed like, after a bit of a wilderness period post-Pulp, old Mr Cocker has most definitely got his mojo back.

12 June – 27 September 2009

The Fashion and Textiles Museum‘s summer exhibition hopes to present the evolution of underwear over the last hundred years. The result is a lacklustre exhibition with a thrown-together-in-minutes appearance.

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The exhibition is organised into areas covering research, more about innovation, seek materials, order celebrity, marketing, print and colour. Despite the ‘evolution’ title, there isn’t any sense of a chronological representation, apart from a small part of the opening corridor of the exhibition where underwear is displayed by year.

It is here where the most interesting pieces are displayed. Beginning with a Charles Bayer corset from the 1900s, we take an (albeit short) walk through the brief history of underwear. There are great examples from Triumph International – then a pioneering underwear brand, now underwear powerhouse governing brands like Sloggi.

We see a sanfor circular conical stretch bra, reminiscent of Madonna’s iconic bra designed by John Paul Gaultier in the 80s (which the placard reveals, to nobody’s surprise, is where JPG sought his inspiration).

In the main arena, there are corsets hanging from the ceiling, of which there are 8 or 9 examples. The corset, as the information details, is one of fashion’s most iconic items. So how can so few examples tell us anything we didn’t already know? Only one of the artefacts is pre 21st century – most are borrowed from burlesque ‘celebrities’ such as Immodesty Blaze and Dita von Teese – hardly representative of underwear’s evolution.

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The bulk of the exhibition centres around print, pattern and colour, and again the exhibition relies too heavily on modern pieces, with a small scattering of interesting M&S items. This area, again, relies too heavily on modern underwear – usual suspects La Perla and Rigby & Peller extensively featured – but other key brands, such as Agent Provocateur, fail to get even a mention.

Pioneer of modern underwear Calvin Klein isn’t covered nearly enough as he should be, save for a couple of iconic 1990s white boxer shirts. In fact, men’s underwear isn’t given any coverage at all, which is a shame considering this exhibition’s bold title.

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This exhibition does hold some key pieces, and regardless of what I think, it’s definitely worth seeing if you are a fashion follower. Its many flaws could have been ironed out with more attention to detail, and it’s a shame that the FTM isn’t more of a major player in London’s fashion scene. If you want to see stacks of salacious, expensive, modern-day underwear, why not just take a trip to Harrods? They have a larger selection and don’t charge an entry fee!

Dear Readers, symptoms

I am writing to share something a little bit special with you. We all know that warm butterflies-in-the-belly feeling when envelopes arrive through the letterbox with your name and address handwritten carefully on the front with a return address of a friend or lover on the reverse, pilule a beacon of personal correspondence among a mundane plethora of bills, more about takeaway menus and bank statements. How much more sincere is a ‘Thank You’ or a ‘Sorry’, how much more romantic is an ‘I Love You’ or ‘Marry Me’ when it comes in pen to paper form rather than digitalised and, heaven forbid, abbreviated via modern technological means.

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Letter writing may be an old fashioned and somewhat dying art, one that we all claim to still do or intend to do, but actually don’t make time for in a world of convenient instant messaging, free text plans and social network sites, but Jamie Atherton and Jeremy Lin refuse to abandon the old worldly ways of communication just yet.

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Finding their stationery was like being invited to a secret society for letter writers, a prize from the postal Gods to congratulate and reward all those who participate in mail exchanges, to inspire us to keep going to strive on and not let the Royal Mail network collapse from lack of traffic. The more I find out about this creative pair of gents the deeper I fall under their spell. Two handsome young men, madly in love with each other, one English one American, live together in London nowadays but in the 12 years that have passed since they fell head over heels they have lived in San Francisco too and co-created Atherton Lin, the name under which they produce, distribute and sell their products.

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Their work, such as the collections of Winter and Summer greeting cards, is as collectable as it is sendable. Each of the four cards in a set tells a tale; funny, sentimental, melancholic and earnest. They strive to avoid clichés or overused formulaic recipes for ‘commercialised cute’, but instead the boys have created a world of butterflies, badgers, bicycles and balloons, using recycled materials and harm-free inks. It is not just their illustrated correspondence materials that Atherton Lin have become known and adored for, that paved the way to being noticed by and sold alongside Marc Jacobs’ wears and tears, as well as being stocked at places such as London’s ICA, LA’s Ooga Booga and San Francisco’s Little Otsu.

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Working on the basis that not all correspondence is text, stationery therefore does not have to be exclusively on paper. With a nod to their burgeoning passion for mix tapes, which featured heavily through their transatlantic courtship, they created artwork for a series of blank CDs. The pair have collaborated with a number of talented outfits such as the musicians Vetiver and Elks, and for a book of poems published by Fithian Press, in addition to eye wateringly lovely calendars.

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They cite their inspirations to include the charmingly unaware wit of Japanese stationary with its mysteriously nonsensical English translations, Peanuts comic strips, the lyrics to strumming shoe gaze bands such as Ride and poet Dylan Thomas. Having conducted the first three years of their blossoming relationship as long distance partners, they perhaps know better than anyone the value and worth of the handwritten word, the virtues of patience while awaiting the postman and the magnified importance of every tiny detail when letters are sustaining your longing heart.

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Now that I’ve been well and truly bitten by the Atherton Lin bug, I have an overbearing urge to dig out my address book and scribe catch up letters to friends in far-flung corners of the globe, and those just around the corner. And for the scented pastel coloured envelopes about to reach the letterboxes of my acquaintances in the next couple of weeks, you have Jeremy and Jamie to thank, for restoring my faith in the romantic, timeless pastime of writing letters.

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Yours ever so faithfully,

Alice Watson
Last Thursday, order I negotiated my bicycle through the customary crush of Trafalgar Square to the RSA, find for a talk by R Beau Lotto in association with the Barbican Radical Nature series. Beau heads up Lotto Lab, whose aim is to explain and explore how and why we see what we do (do check out their website) – mainly through looking at how we see colour, which is one of the simplest things we do.

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All images by R Beau Lotto, courtesy of Lotto Labs

Here’s a quick science bit, which he gets in at the beginning of the talk to a packed full lecture theatre – light and colour are not the same. Light can be represented on a linear scale. It has just wavelength and intensity. Colour has three bits to it. So it’s much more complicated to describe : hue (red-green-blue-or-yellowness), brightness, and saturation (greyness).

The whole talk is full of questions I asked as a six-year-old, and I’m left with a kind of wide-eyed amazement at how clearly everything is explained and presented – I’ll pick out one of the most satisfying.. Why is the sky blue? This is one to try at home. Get the biggest glass bowl or see-through container you can find, and fill it with water. Shine a desk lamp through it – the lamp’s now the sun and the water space. If we had no atmosphere, the sky would be black with a bright sun – as it is from the moon. Now add a little milk at a time to the water, stirring as you go. As it spreads through the water, the milk will scatter the light like the atmosphere does, and at the right level, will scatter blue. Add a bit more, and you’ll make a sunset – the longer-wave red light scatters when it goes through more atmosphere, as sunlight does when it’s low in the sky. Add more again, and it’ll go grey : you made a cloud, where all the light scatters equally.

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The colour of space changes. We never quite see the surface of anything in the world – we see the result of the light shining, the character of the surface, and the space in between. So colours really are brighter in St Ives than Old Street. So the patterns of light that fall onto the eye are strictly meaningless.

We learn to see. We find relationships between things we look at – the context of anything we look at is essential to how we see it. This is what the ‘illusions’ spread through this article show so bogglingly. And context is what links the present to the past – we associate patterns with what we did last time, and learn from it. Beau asked at one point for a volunteer from the audience. I was desperately far back, in the middle of a row – smooth escape from that one. But the demonstration itself was quietly mind-blowing. A target was projected on the screen, and Rob the lucky volunteer was asked to hit it (this as a control – the exciting bit comes next). Next, he put on a pair of glasses which shifted the world 30 degrees to his right. Throwing again, he missed by miles. After a few goes, though, Rob’s whole body movement changed and he hit the target every time. Then he took the glasses off again, and immediately missed the other way – his mind had learnt for that moment to see the world utterly differently.

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We don’t see the world as it is – in fact it doesn’t make much sense to talk about the world ‘as it really is’ – only what’s useful. Colour, for example, is great for not being eaten by orange tigers in a green jungle. We constantly figure out what is ‘normal’ – and what should stick out from this normal. So… there are no absolutes – only perceptions of a world relative to a changing normal. No one is outside of this relativity. We are all defined by our ecology. We all learn to live in the world that’s presented to us – and that in a very relative way.

Beau has four ‘C’s that he leaves as teasing thoughts – Compassion, Creativity, Choice and Community. And this is where, if you’ve been reading along wondering quite why I thought this was a good idea for an ‘Earth’ article, I started thinking about the way we tell stories about the environment, the way we tell stories about what happens in the world around us. Getting your head around different mindsets could be wonderfully informed by these ideas – things like understanding how to persuade business profit-heads that sustainability is the only way to long-term profit, or grassroots activists that FTSE 500 companies have been organising and managing disparate groups of employees for years – there’s surely something to learn there.

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Knowing that everything we do – down to something so simple as seeing colour – is essentially informed by what we did before, and the kinds of context we’ve ever been exposed to – this can only add possibility to whatever buzzes round our brains : more compassionate, as we see where others might have come from; more creative, questioning these reflexes; more conscious in our choices, if we think a little past the instinctive; and more communal, in a broad sense, as we’re each a unique part of a whole, all sharing in individual perceptions and histories.

That was what I took from it, anyway. Do get in touch, or leave a comment, if you saw any other cool patterns here – I’d be intrigued to hear.

Come July 16th, ampoule Amelia’s Magazine will be packing the bikini’s, sunglasses and factor 15 to rock up to one of the biggest highlights of our social calendar. Continuing our Festival season round up, we are going to focus our attention on the Daddy of the European festivals; Benicassim. Building rapidly in status, this cheeky Spanish live wire began its incarnation in 1995, but even then it was reaching for the stars, with heavy hitters such as The Chemical Brothers, The Jesus and Mary Chain, and The Stone Roses headlining. Now firmly established as a major player on the summer festival season, Benicassim is the ultimate go-to when you want your music fest to go easy on the mud, and heavy on the sand, sea and sun.

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Desde Escenario Verde by Oscar L. Tejeda

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Getting back to the music, the organisers have come up trumps for this years festival. Just in case you were unaware of the lineup, allow me to share the treats that will be in store if you’ve got tickets. Top of the bill will be Oasis, Kings of Leon, Franz Ferdinand and The Killers. It is not just about the headliners though, Beni makes sure that there is something for everyone, and while most acts indie rock , the many stages showcase plenty of other genres, such as electronica, experimental and dance. Each night will see a plethora of fantastic and diverse acts and my personal favourites that will make me nudge through the crowds to the front are Telepathe, Glasvegas, Paul Weller, Tom Tom Club, Friendly Fires, The Psychedelic Furs, Lykke Li and my BFF Peaches. With guaranteed sunshine and a beachside backdrop, it promises to be a memorable event. While the 4 day passes have all sold out, there are still one day passes available for Thursday 16th July. You might consider it impractical to get down there for just one day (not that we are going to stand in your way), but if you happen to be passing through the Costa De Azahar around that time, then why not get yourself a wristband, grab a Sol and pitch up?

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You know, the more we think about it, the more we realise that Benicassim is tailor made for Amelia’s Magazine. As our loyal readers know, we are strong supporters of all things sustainable and environmentally friendly and Benicassim is leaps and bounds ahead of many of the other festivals in terms of environmental awareness. Having been awarded the Limpio Y Verde (Clean + Green) Award by The European Festival Association, Beni is serious about taking initiatives which minimise the impact that a festival causes. For example, to offset the Co2 emissions that are generated while the festival is underway, they are creating an authentic Fiber forest, which has come as a result of planting over 2,000 trees during the 2008, 2009 and 2010 festivals. For those attending the festival, the organisers have laid on a number of shared transport facilities to get to and from the site, including frequent shuttle services into town and bicycle hire. Once inside the site, ticket holders will find that there is a strong and active recycling policy, with different bins for glass, plastic and paper and reusable glasses in the bars and restaurants which are made from biodegradable material. Several charities and NGO’s will be on hand – look out for the stands where Greenpeace, Amnesty International, Action Against Hunger and Citizens Association Against AIDS amongst others will be distributing information.

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Bear in mind for future visits to the festival (or if you haven’t yet booked flights to get there), that there are various options for how to get to Benicassim that don’t involve flying. While most people will be boarding planes, the options of rail, or even ferry as transport can turn the holiday into a completely different experience. Spain has a fantastic and well regulated rail system, with all major cities such as Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia operating trains to the town of Benicassim. Full details on how to arrange your rail itinerary are here . If you were interested in beginning the journey by ferry, (information on routes can be found here there are regular services from Plymouth to Santander, or Portsmouth to Bilbao (both cities have rail links that will get you to Benicassim). Otherwise, there are plenty of ferries from Dover to France, if interrailing it through part of Europe was also a consideration. Obviously, these options are considerably longer than flying, but there is something much more civilized about this way of travelling, and you get to see much more of the country which is hosting the festival, and that can only be a good thing.

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Fibers En Zonas De Acampada by Pau Bellido

For more information on Benicassim, go to Festival Internacional De Benicassim
Bless-ed: Superimposing The Thought Of Happiness

Cosa
7 Ledbury Mews North
London W11 2AF

10th July – 31st July

11am – 6pm Tuesday – Friday
12pm – 4pm Saturday

Free

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“Artworks created from smashed vinyl records and recycled packaging. Hot on the heels of their highly successful New York show, no rx Robi Walters & Leanne Wright, side effects aka ‘Bless-ed’, dosage hit London with their unique series of collages and constructed works featuring smashed vinyl and recycled packaging. “

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Robots

The Old Sweet Shop
11 Brookwood Road
London SW18 5BL

10th July 2009 – 25th July

Monday to Saturday 9.30am – 5.30pm
or by appointment

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Image: Doggy Robot (Detail) by Ellie Alexandri

“Do you remember when robots were a futuristic fantasy? The Old Sweet Shop gallery’s latest exhibition takes a warm hearted look at these retro-tinged creations through the eyes of up-and coming artists and illustrators, peeking into the inner world of clunking creatures built to make human lives easier. ‘Robots’ will appeal to all ages, and features a diverse range of talent in many different media.”

Robots exhibition featuring work by: Alec Strang, Emily Evans, Freya Harrison, Moon Keum, Vinish Shah, JMG, Catherine Rudie, Hanne Berkaak, Cristian Ortiz, Elli Alexandri and Serge Jupin.

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Antony Gormley: One & Other

Fourth Plinth
Trafalgar Square
London

6th July – 14th October

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Trafalgar Square’s Fourth Plinth, ordinarily reserved for statues of the bold and brave, is staging one of the most exciting art ventures of the year. Under the direction of Anthony Gormley a steady stream of voluntary contributors will, every hour on the hour for the next 100 days, be occupying the space to create, make, do or perform as they wish. One such selected applicant is Tina Louise, whose slot will be Sunday 12th July, at 11am. She plans to stage “involves a bit of a sing-along where I am inviting various choirs, a Muslim call to prayer man, some whirling Dervishes (fingers crossed)” and invites you all to get down there this week and help celebrate human diversity in all it’s glory.

Find out more about Tina here.

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The Museum of Souvenirs – The Surrealist Photography of Marcel Mariën

Diemar/Noble Photography
66/67 Wells Street
London W1T 3PY

Until 25th July

Tuesday to Saturday 11am – 6pm

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An exciting UK premiere of Belgian Surrealist Marcel Marien’s photographs taken between 1983 and 1990. Marien was a master of many trades, and not all of them art based; as well as being a poet, essayist and filmmaker, he branched out as a publisher, bookseller, journalist and even a sailor.

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The Importance of Beauty – The Art of Ina Rosing

GV Art
49 Chiltern Street
Marylebone
London W1U 6LY

Until 25th July

Tuesday to Friday 11am to 7pm
Saturday 11 am to 4 pm
or by appointment

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Inspired by her interest in inner silence and beauty, Ina Rosing’s work sails through immovable mountains and vibrant red flowers with dignified grace and spirituality. She explores the personal yet universal connections with landscape and culture, asking where and how can we capture the true importance of beauty using graffiti-like political and environmental messages.

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James Unsworth: I Love You Like a Murderer Loves Their Victims

Sartorial Contemporary Art
26 Argyle Square
London WC1H 8AP

8th July – 30th July

Tuesday – Friday 12:30pm – 6pm
or by appointment

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James Unsworth is not a new name for us here at Amelia’s Magazine, having featured him a short while ago in Issue 8 of our publication, but this new collection of work from the controversial outspoken illustrator and filmmaker takes his hyper-unreal visions of all things dark and disturbing to a new level. The movies and photographs use low-budget charm and dangerously close to the bone references to murder, sex and dismemberment to win us over, free our minds and freak us out, not particularly in that order.

Monday 6th July
Why? The Garage, buy London

“Why should I go and see Why?” you ask.
Well, cialis 40mg because Why? are probably one of the most innovative exciting bands around at the moment their albums Alopecia and Elephant Eyelash are very high up on my “Most-Listened-To List”. Fronted by the excellently named Yoni Wolf, Why? fuse hip hop and indie rock to create something totally unique. Wolf’s lyrics are strangely intimate and often funny; bar mitzvahs and Puerto Rican porno occassionally pop up- and why not?

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Tuesday 7th July
!!!, The Luminaire, London

Here are two facts about !!!
1. You have probably had the best time dancing to them.
2. According to Wikipedia: !!! is pronounced by repeating thrice any monosyllabic sound. Chk Chk Chk is the most common pronunciation, but they could just as easily be called Pow Pow Pow, Bam Bam Bam, Uh Uh Uh, etc.
So go along to the Luminaire and make strange noises (“thrice”) and dance your socks off.

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Wednesday 8th July
White Denim, Heaven, London

White Denim are the best thing to come out of Texas since ribs and good accents, they have been compared to Os Mutantes and Can which is no mean feat. Expect a healthy dose of psychadelia with a smudge of grubby rock n’roll

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Thursday 9th July
The Twilight Sad, We Were Promised Jetpacks, Kill It Kid, The ICA, London.

What are Fat Cat doing on Thursday?
Oh, you know, just being as awesome as ever at the ICA.
Fat Cat seem to have excellent taste in music, and the three bands playing tonight carry on the high standards of Fat Cat label veterans like Animal Collective. Expect melancholy and sweetness from The Twilight Sad and post-punk from the others. Lashings of fun all round.

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The Weekend
Loop Festival, Brighton.

Let’s go to the sea! Brighton’s Loop Festival; a celebration of music and digital art has the most mouth-watering line-up ever. Fever Ray, Karin from The Knife‘s solo project, play alongside múm, the hot-to-trot Telepathe (pictured) and Tuung to name but a few. If I were going I’d invite them all to make sandcastles with me afterwards…hopefully they would.

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Monday 6 July

Whose landscape is it anyway?

Nicholas Stern and Ramachandra Guha consider the tensions between environmental concerns and industrial and economic development in South Asia today.

£5 including day pass to Royal Botanic Gardens, mind Kew.
6.30pm, cost British Museum, Great Russell Street, WC1.

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Illustration by Joanna Cheung

Tuesday 7th July

Garbage Warrior Film Screening

The epic story of radical Earthship eco architect Michael Reynolds, and his fight to build off-the-grid self-sufficient communities.

7pm (86min), Passing clouds, Dalston (review + directions)

An Alternative Energy Evening?·

Lecture and Panel Discussion?· Professor Vernon Gibson, with Jonathan Leake, ??Chief Chemist of BP, in discussion with key experts in the field of sustainable and renewable energy.
Please join us to hear the latest on this hot topic.

Free to attend. Admission is by guest list only.
??Email events@weizmann.org.uk to reserve your place.
+44 (0)20 7424 6863?  www.weizmann.org.uk

7pm
Royal Geographical Society
1 Kensington Gore
London SW7 2AR

Wednesday 8th July

Renewable Energy, All Party Parliamentary Climate Change Group meeting with WWF

Dr Keith Allott leads the discussion.

4-6pm, House of Commons, Westminster SW1

Thursday 9th July

Conflicting Environmental Goods and the Future of the Countryside

Caroline Lucas MEP talking on possible futures.

Contact – judithr@cpre.org.uk
5-7pm, The Gallery, 77 Cowcross Street, EC1

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Illustration by Faye Katirai

A Climate Mission for Europe: Leadership & Opportunity

Lord Browne, Roger Carr, Lord Giddens, John Gummer MP and Roland Rudd

8–9.30am
Royal Academy of Engineering,
3 Carlton House Terrace, SW1Y

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Illustration by Michaela

Wise Women Speaker Event: John D Liu

John D Liu speaks on integrated poverty eradication and large-scale ecosystem rehabilitation. Since the mid-1990′s he has concentrated on ecological film making and has written, produced and directed films on many aspects of the ecology. In 2003, Liu wrote, produced and directed “Jane Goodall – China Diary” for National Geographic. Hailed as a visionary for the future, Lui is director of the Environmental Education Media Project (EEMP) and will discuss his groundbreaking work.

RSVP: polly@wisewomen.me.uk

7pm, ?£10 on the door
The Hub,Islington,
Candid Arts Trust,
5 Torrens Street, London,
EC1V 1NQ

Friday 10th July

The End of the Line

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Imagine an ocean without fish. Imagine your meals without seafood. Imagine the global consequences. This is the future if we do not stop, think and act. The End of the Line is the first major feature documentary film revealing the impact of overfishing on our oceans. This screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Rupert Murray.

7pm, Frontline Club, 13 Norfolk Place, W2.
Contact – events@frontlineclub.com

Saturday 11th July

The Artic And Us

Lemn Sissay discusses the making of the poem “What If”, inspired by his recent trip to the Arctic to highlight climate change.

£7, 3.30pm, South Bank Centre

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Illustration by Lea Jaffey
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This year I spent a record six days at Glastonbury. On Tuesday we set off from London with a mission to “tat” along the way. Tatting is a favourite occupation of the fictional Wombles and is a process central to Climate Camp – it basically means relieving skips and front gardens of useful discarded objects – such as sofas, pilule chairs, tables and carpeting – for reuse in another situation. En route to Glastonbury we managed to fill the van up with various items including a full set of dining chairs that looked swanky but collapsed as soon as we sat on them and a rather manky looking mouldy mattress. It was pointed out that this would seem the lap of luxury after a couple of days in a field with no soft surfaces to rest upon, so we duly lugged it into the van. In fact we needn’t have worried – the mattress was left out to air as soon as we arrived and stolen almost immediately. Desirable already!

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Our journey had an added frisson of excitement given the rumour that everyone was being locked out of the site at 10pm every night. Fortunately (and thanks to GPS on my poncey new iphone) we made it to Pilton Farm on time, whereupon we were greeted by the cheery sight of our big red and yellow marquee. It seems that making merry in the fields of Somerset has turned into a week long affair for many, so vast quantities of people were already cruising the fields, beers in hand.

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For us there was still much work to be done, so in the morning we dressed our area with significant amounts of bunting and colourful flags that we had screenprinted beforehand, all bearing Mia Marie Overgaard‘s beautiful artwork.

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Climate Camp was given a generous corner of an otherwise predominantly camping field – with a big fire pit in the middle and a yurt (housing Ecolab‘s Future Scenarios exhibition) demarcating one corner. Around the yurt I strung the story of Climate Rush so far – printed upon weather resistant banners that billowed dramatically in the gusty winds.

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By the field boundary a “tripod stage” had been constructed – an inspired bit of naming that made reference to the grand pyramid stage down where the rabble doth hang about.

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As we beavered away to beautify the site some classic festival munters pitched up and decided to erect their box fresh tents directly under our Welcome to Climate Camp banner – thereby easily misleading the public in to believing that they were indeed Climate Camp. Within minutes they were yelling “Ogee-ogee-oy” at each other through a megaphone. I kid you not. They were the perfect festival munter cliche right on our doorstep. Needless to say these same creatures left an absolute disaster zone in their wake when they left the festival – but more on that later…

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Many more Climate Camp kindred spirits arrived as we sorted out our space, and by Thursday many curious festival-goers were stopping by to listen to a bit of music or take a wander around our exhibition. Danny Chivers delivered his usual wonderful poetry to a rapt audience and Billy Bragg’s Jail Guitar Doors (set up in honour of Joe Strummer and named after a Clash song) took a turn on the stage.

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Billy Bragg’s Jail Guitar Doors provides guitars with which to rehabilitate prisoners through music, and the two lads playing for us had since left prison and are trying to build a career in music. After a shy start they were soon regaling the receptive crowd with tales of prison life and left amidst promises that they would return, possibly with the real Billy Bragg in tow – a rumour that quickly gained momentum but was sadly never fulfilled.

Then out of nowhere came possibly our most exciting idea yet; instead of just teaching how to take direct action in workshop form, we would actually do some mock actions right there in Glastonbury. It all seemed too good an opportunity to miss – this year Greenpeace had created a full-on third runway experience, including a miniature Sipson with it’s own international airport which was clearly ripe for the blockading.

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We all donned one of the Climate Camp t-shirts that I’d printed up (I’ve been on a bit of a screenprinting frenzy) and marched noisily down to the Greenpeace field with our tripod and an orangutan in tow. As you do.

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Twenty people blockaded the entrance to the bemusement of passersby, as faux security guards tried to pull them off and the orangutan climbed triumphantly to the top of the tripod. It was a pretty good re-enactment of a real direct action, until actors hired by Greenpeace waded in and stole our thunder with some attention grabbing shouting.

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On Thursday night there was the most spectacular storm, with torrential rain pouring down off our Climate Change is Pants bunting (made from, erm, pants, of course) and into the tent as we sheltered from the monsoon. It stopped just in time for our Mass Night Game, for which I played the part of a security guard (they’re never far away on a direct action)

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As each team arrived at our base in the stone circle they had to climb the tripod as fast as they could before the guards could pull them off. In one surreal moment as the dusk fell some real Glastonbury stewards materialised in pink dayglo waistcoats to my yellow dayglo one, and really confused both themselves and those playing the game.

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As evening fell a group of us went off to discover the new Shangri-La area, where a gaggle of totally drunk pre-pubescent girls fell into us yelling “Michael Jackson’s dead!” Soon the whole festival was ringing with the news – as well as his back catalogue – though we all remained uncertain about the veracity of the rumours and decided to spread a counter rumour that Timmy Mallett was dead. Looking back it was odd that noone seemed particularly sad to hear the news, but then I think most of us have already mourned the cute little black boy who vanished under drastic surgery long ago. It was almost as if Michael Jackson had been one big fat joke for so long that his death was as fantastical and unreal as his life had become, and therefore hard to take seriously.

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The rest of the festival was spent in a whirlwind of outreach and fundraising. I wasn’t so comfortable with the bucket rattling, but luckily others were brilliant at it and we managed to raise loads of much needed cash to help put Climate Camp on this year.

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I spent most of my time chatting to people, both in our field and out around the Green Fields area. And of course taking lots of photos – because that’s where I feel most comfortable of all, recording everything that we do for future posterity.

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We facilitated another few mini direct actions – one day in defiance of the cheap flights on offer in the mock travel agents in Shangri-La, and on another using arm tubes to blockade the mini village of Sipson.

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Friends wandered by to see me but I didn’t really go further than the Green Fields for much of the festival. I have a love hate relationship with Glastonbury and tend to be happiest away from the seething crowds down near the main stages. There were a lot more police on site this year and there were at least two arrests in our field, presumably for drug dealing – thus we found ourselves offering solidarity to the friends that were left behind “we get arrested quite a lot you see…” We got the paddling pool out when it was especially roasting, and I jumped in with all my clothes on before rushing onto the path to offer wet hugs to passersby.

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On my rare trips down to “Babylon” I got in a mild panic – huge crowds of fucked people crashing into me is not my idea of fun. Bruce Springsteen was a major disappointment and I only saw brief bits of Blur from the very back of the field before wandering off to find a friend at the Prodigy, where I got thoroughly freaked out by the gazillions of men and women screaming “smack my bitch up” at the top of their voices, I mean – I like the tune, but there are some totally suspect lyrics going on there. Over by the John Peel stage I was amused to see a huge (high as a skyscraper) board of protest banners bearing one of the Climate Rush picnic blankets from our Heathrow protest.

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It was very surreal to see it high above me, when last it was sitting in a crumpled mess in my hallway. On more than a few occasions we found ourselves at the uber decadent Arcadia area of an evening.

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It was the ultimate irony that the closest stage to Climate Camp featured hugely wasteful gas flares that shot into the night and made a mockery of our frugal ways; any energy savings made by our solar powered camp so obviously swallowed in the dystopian heat of the dramatic flames. Needless to say we were drawn to Arcadia like fossil fuel moths, dancing under the sizzling spectacle with all the other revellers, all part of the same species careering towards self-destruction.

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But back to the beautiful green space of Climate Camp, where our little tripod stage proved to be a real winner. My trusty music editor Roisin had contacted some music prs a mere day or so before I left for Glastonbury and secured performances from the wondrous First Aid Kit and the equally brilliant 6 Day Riot. First Aid Kit arrived fresh from a gig on the Park Stage with their parents in tow, and wowed everyone with a simple acoustic set that highlighted their delicate use of harmonies.

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Unfortunately I missed 6 Day Riot due to outreach with our “aggie animals” whereby a homeless alcoholic orangutan, polar bear and tiger went out to engage with the general public.

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The idea was to subvert the traditional cutesy perception of said animals, a plan which worked really well during the day, but in the evening faltered as the distinction between performance art and actual fucked festival munter blurred to the point of impossibility. Especially when one of our animals spewed into the bushes in a prize bit of method acting (she’d just downed a pint of homebrewed cider)

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On Sunday afternoon we held a random raffle, which was made possible by blagging prizes from various stalls and performers during the course of the festival. A large amount of people were happy to part with cash to purchase a raffle ticket, and a small crowd was persuaded to attend the actual event, compered with aplomb by our resident poet Danny. Prizes included the beer can that Jack Penate had allegedly drunk from (won by a child, woops)

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It was all beautifully ramshackle but seemed to entertain. The girl who has inadvertently become part of this year’s logo (by virtue of an image of her at the Kingsnorth camp that is strewn across the interweb) stopped by and did some dazzling acrobatics on our tripod stage.

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By the evening I still hadn’t managed to figure a way to get out of the festival so I ended up staying on until Monday evening for “tat down” – taking down the tents and sorting stuff to be transported back home. The mattress that we had lovingly cleaned made a sudden return, and small children started to circle our site like hyenas on the look out for valuable abandoned belongings, and undrunk alcohol (festie children eh?! Cheeky buggers!)

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Stories reached us of people leaving their tent for one moment and returning to find it removed within moments by opportunistic “tatters”. I went on a roam of our general area to search for useful stuff, but returned feeling sick to the pit of my stomach and unable to take anything for myself.

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Is it really that much hassle to take your pop-up tent home? What kind of person abandons so many reusable things? Do you really have that much disposable income in the age of the credit crunch? The festival munters camped under our welcome banner departed leaving a wasteland behind. Piles of rubbish streaming across the ground, a stereo, blow up mattresses, perfectly good tents (not pop-up!) – debris of an unaware society.

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I returned home exhausted, but already formulating plans to put forward Green Kite Midnight as the Climate Camp house band next year – a celidh would really have set things off a treat. Until then there’s always the Big Green Gathering, where we’re house band for the Last Chance Saloon. Come see us there!
At Glastonbury when not navigating through guy ropes clutching half drunk bottles of cider with dirty shorts, order haystack hair and generally looking like I’ve emerged from the mountains, medicine I like to ‘do’ things. Last year, store I paid eight pounds to have an astrology reading, where I crouched goggle-eyed in a small tipi opposite a warm, smiling, apple-cheeked evil money-sucker who ethereally told me the biggest pack of lies you’ve ever heard.

Eight pounds! Not going back there, NO WAY JOSÉ! Given the size of Glastonbury, there are, of course, a multitude of ways to enjoy yourself in the most concrete and non-superstitious of manners – in fact, in the spirit of ‘Reclaiming Craft’ making something with my hands seemed the perfect antidote. On the Thursday Amelia’s Magazine floated on over to the Green Craft Fields where we found ourselves in a tent filled with lots of small drawing children. On the other side were some adults milling around a life model like no other. Life-drawing: a sensual sketching of the nude human physique? Less so if it’s an unshaven superhero clad in a spandex bodysuit and purple pants – and that’s Mr Spandex to you and I. So I got involved, producing a multi-angled ‘sketch-book’ of questionable quality that sadly got ruined when my tent turned out not to be waterproof, but while it’s destruction is in fact probably a blessing for the art world, I appreciate that such a catastrophe may have accidentally granted my artistic skills with an unearned aura of mystique.

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Chatting to the mistress of ceremonies Leanne afterwards, she told me a bit about R-ART, their creative collective based in East London. They are fusing ideas of art and fashion in an interactive and educational capacity, providing holiday workshops, after-school clubs and Saturday schools; all with a push towards sustainable making, free-thinking and responsibility that’s locking horns with that image of the pie-eyed child with a peanut-butter sandwich in one hand and a Nintendo controller in the other on a sunny Saturday afternoon.

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Set up by Leanne and her friend Ita and developed with eco-entertainment company BASH Creations, they naturally play the big sister role to the kids, with a sole mandate to lighten the ecological footprint of the British entertainment industry and to teach them the heart behind the making of things with your own two hands. Given my own scribbling skills, I too belong at the children’s table, a bit like Jack out of that Robin Williams film (except not really, I do get ID’d a lot, so I don’t look that old. But I digress.)

One of their projects involved working with Nova Dando, constructing a couture gown out of old copies of the Financial Times, which again, in its trashionista spirit hammered home the process of recycling making and getting everyone involved – children doing couture! Great stuff.

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To get in touch and to find out their workshops and other upcoming projects, visit their website at www.r-art.co.uk, or e-mail Ita and Leanne at us2@r-art.co.uk. Look out for a report on how it all went down at Glastonbury for them too – if you too managed to swing by their tent let us here at Amelia’s Magazine know about it!
Futuresonic is one of the most stellar event’s on Manchester’s musical calender. Not only does it symbolise (to me) the beginning of the summer festival season but it’s one of the most musically challenging and varied events of the year. Unlike so many other festivals it doesn’t concentrate on the commercial or press friendly artists but solely musicians and artists alike who constantly flaut convention, view breaking boundaries and sticking flags in musical territories previously unchartered. Rarther than touting the Guardian‘s Top ten of 2009 it digs a little deeper and promotes some of the more interesting artists from around the globe in a myriad of genres like Electronic, drugs Metal and Bastard Pop!

After 13 years of pushing the envelope the organisers have managed to do it again this year. Beginning with Murcof, information pills they have shown that music can be ever changing and that when seamlessley combined with other mediums of artistic endeavor can create something truly original and mind expanding.

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First on the RNCM main stage is Manchester based (Skelmersdale born) Denis Jones with his bone shaking ryhthm’s and dirge infused shouts and beats looped back through a whole host of pedals and electronic gadgetry. Projected behind this is a sextuplet of Denis’s, or should that be Den-i, layered on toip on one another to compliment the layering of clucks, slaps, plucks and claps. Having seen a few artists these days who do a similar thing it’s great to see someone do it so intricately and beautifully on a large stage to a strong audience. It can be rather sloppy and the point can be lost in the masses of equipment that I don’t know the first thing about. As he meanders his way into a vibrant crescendo it’s easy to see why Denis is being hyped as a musical giant of the future.

To contrast with this high octane solo operation comes Icelandic composer Johan Johansson with the Iskra Quartet, who create sombre laptop and piano accompanied string pieces that I feel comfortable in equating to classical Estonian Raconteur Arvo Part. These pieces are complex but the delicate sounds are all somewhat identifiable to a techno dope like myself. The sounds are highly mellifluous and they toggle between Melancholy and high drama evoking the counterpoint of Moondog at times. With a break before Murcof I had an opportunity to reflect on the beauty of the moment which led me almost to tears, the air was rife with emotion but anxiety of what was to come soon remedied this.

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As the curtain re-opened, behind a sheet of white, is lurking who we can only assume to be Mexican electronic music pioneer Murcof. We know Anti VJ (comprised of Joanie Le Mercier, Simon Geilfus and Nicolas Boritch) must be hiding somewhere but as there is only one other face in the shadows we can’t be sure who it is. As a faint hum begins, a tiny spec of light appears in the centre of the sheet which grows as the music explodes into loud bursts. The dot becomes a sprawling mass of spider webs and creates a haunted house like atmosphere that’s not for the faint hearted. From this we travel through a myriad of imagery such as a multifarious star system and regimentally swirling, shooting stars accompanied by Lygeti-esque composition. The imagery at all times compliments the minmal soundscaping of Murcof fantastically but neither is at any point subdued. For me there couldn’t have been a better way to kick off the 13th Futuresonic and the festival season as a whole.

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All photos by Anne-Laure Franchette
From previous years, viagra this looks set to be the one summer gathering any activist or aspiring campaigner needs to attend. A report of last year’s camp speaks warmly of the ‘lasting sense of genuine kindred spirit and camaraderie’, viagra 100mg between old hands and newcomers alike.

If the Resurgence Reader’s Weekend will provide a few days of quiet reflection, the Earth First! Summer Gathering promises an inspirational week of skill sharing and planning for direct action.

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Illustrations by Adam Bletchley

Earth First! is all about networking and building strength through community and communication. Direct action is what they do – not relying on government or industry to act sufficiently, this network without leaders takes action to them. And whether your campaign takes up the issue of opencast mining, genetic engineering, agrofuels, dam-building, hunt-sabbing, general climate actions, oil pipeline resistance, road stopping, anti-whaling, squatting, or rainforest protection, you’re sure to find something to learn here.

The gathering will be communally run, non-hierarchical, in true anarchist tradition. So far, there are over eighty workshops planned – but everyone coming along will contribute and help run the camp. Get in touch in advance if you’ve an idea for a workshop, or want to help with the setup or takedown of the site.

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Too many workshops on practical skills for direct action are already planned to list here – though to whet your appetite, they include tree climbing, activist medic first aid, and a full day of water based training. This should help to build on the several campaigns already taking to the water – at Rossport against Shell’s pipeline laying, and the Great Rebel Raft Regatta of last summer’s Climate Camp.

There will also be the chance to brush up your practical ‘sustainable’ living skills – grounding that ever-slippery term in real things : field trips, learning to recognise plants and animals, wild food, getting your own power from the sun and wind, squatting and bike maintenance. And vegan cake making, which for me is quite the cherry on top.

Have a collective think, too, about ecology, ecocentric ethics and alternatives to the corporate world of exploitation. Which should come neatly round to an excursion to some of the beautiful vallies of the area, on the Monday (24th August), to visit communities threatened by an expansion of coal mining around the North East.

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Here are the practicalities:

BRING
Bring tent and sleeping bag. You can either cook food for yourself or for £4 per day chip in with collective cooking of delicious vegan organic food – organised by the wonderful Anarchist Teapot collective. There’ll be quiet sleeping areas, toilets and running water, a children’s space and spaces for workshops and info stalls. Veggies will provide vegan cake and snacks. Children and young adults welcome with subsidized meals.

WHEN
19th-24th August 2009 – Arrive Tuesday afternoon. Workshops run from Wednesday morning until Sunday afternoon.

WHERE
The site is in or near the Lake District, Cumbria. The nearest train station is Penrith and there is a bus service to the site, there are car and living vehicle spaces outside the camp.

The exact location will be announced the week before the gathering so that it doesn’t turn into a festival. For travel directions check the website where they will be posted on 12th August.

DOGS : This year well behaved owners with dogs on leads can be accommodated, but think about whether your dog will feel comfortable in workshops. Please call beforehand so we know numbers.

COST : £20 – £30 according to what you can afford. It’s not for profit – all extra cash goes to help fund next year. Under 14′s free.

CONTACT
summergathering@earthfirst.org.uk
www.earthfirstgathering.org.uk
Or ring 01524 383012 – though it might take a while to get back to you.

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Central St Martin’s graduate Phil Hall draws in the same way that some of us dream; streams of consciousness, information pills themes interspersed with sudden hints and whispers of unrelated recollections. Some of his work contains snippets of dialogue, viagra often witty and astute but again with an undertone of the surreal and reminiscent of muddled hallucinogenic dream talk (yes, sick that is a technical term).

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His commissions to date include the magazines La Bouche, Crafty and Torpedo, as well as for the G2 Guardian supplement and animation company Kanoti. Animals, both actual and fictitious, are nestled between cityscapes and underwater worlds, while everyday objects are comically personified and everyday scenes playfully reinterpreted.

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Figures and portraiture are also common threads throughout Hall’s work, which he has an incredible skill for undertaking. Subtle use of lines and marks, but nonetheless full of expression, the characters are often solemn and appear loss in thought. I wondered whether this was a reflection of Hall’s own state of mind and so challenged him to a quick fire round of questions. Turns out he’s actually a pretty sharp guy.

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So, Phil, what makes you so awesome?

I don’t know about that, but I think people who want to create, try new things, provoke through art are pretty awesome.

Which artists or illustrators do you most admire?

Anybody who is trying new and interesting things, especially people who take risks.

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Who or what is your nemesis?

That darn negative voice in my head

Which band past or present would provide the soundtrack to your life?

New Radiohead stuff, i know, i know…

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I say Modern Art is Rubbish, you say…?

Some of it

If you weren’t an artist, what would you be doing?

climbing the walls

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What would your pub quiz specialist subject be?

90′s video games, yes, I’m slightly embarrassed by this but as an 80′s child in was such escapism.

What advice would you give up and coming artists?

Believe in your own ideas, but always question them.

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What piece of modern technology can you not live without?

The Internet and hoverboard

What is your guilty pleasure?

Crap TV

Tell us something about Phil Hall that we didn’t know already.

I’m a triplet, I have two sisters, ones a florist the other a teaching assistant.

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When I fall asleep tonight, when I slip into that state of meditative relaxation and my mind lets go of the reality of my day, I hope my dreams are as vibrant and vivid as Phil Hall’s illustrations.

What do you dream about?

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So. A whole new batch of graduates all with a different vision – and what to do with them? With the music industry completely revolutionised beyond recognition by the internet, sale the world of fashion has also recognised the lucrative possibilities of the online community to spread the word beyond the catwalk and the pages of glossy magazines. Networking sites like Nineteen74.com are making an obsessively international industry international for the earliest of starters, viagra approved connecting stylists, unhealthy designers, editors, make-up artists, press and hairdressers across the waters.

But with fashion as a site where art and commerce (especially when globalised) traditionally sit uneasily alongside one another, individual expression so often has to be tamed and tapered to fit. Yet Stefan Siegel, owner and founder of the website NOT JUST A LABEL believes that “fashion finds its freedom in the art of individuals”, so set up an online store dedicated to embracing such creativity, and crucially taking it to an accessible level but making it a place where “everything goes”. It’s an online base of up and coming designers, giving its members an esteemed platform where they can showcase and sell their clothing without having to compromise. This is 2009, and this is the world showroom. Here, Stefan talks to Amelia’s Magazine about his designers, his successes and his motivations.

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When and why did you start NJAL and what motivated you to open the shop-section of the website?

Young aspiring fashion designers face enormous hurdles at the beginning of their career; we wanted to provide a stage where designers could showcase their collections at no costs. The goal was to formulate and implement a vision; linking designers with the fashion industry.

How long did it take for the shop to materialize?

Only 10 weeks, we decided during Paris Fashion Week in March that it would be a good idea and all our designers supported the idea. We started developing it in April.

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How do you decide which designers to sell?

The recently launched Not Just A Label shop gives birth to a new kind of online shopping experience offering unique, one-off designer garments. Addicts and admirers alike now have the opportunity to purchase special and limited edition pieces from designers recognised as the leaders in avant-garde fashion.

With so many people wanting to get their work out there, how is it possible to keep up?

Selected collaborators like Robin Schulié and Diane Pernet hand-pick designs from the collections. On a monthly basis a new key industry figure will be asked to join us in the selection process, resulting in a different monthly collection. The chosen participants will be launched as a group to the press a month before their launch on the website.

Have you been successful as of yet?

The response has been amazing, we had thousands visitors on our page when we launched and the reactions are all positive so far. We believe it was really something the market was missing.

How do you think attitudes are changing in young designers?

Young designers recognise the responsibility in creating sustainable fashion. By applying artisan craftsmanship they are known to create products that have classic values with longer lasting qualities and we hope that consumers and buyers will soon recognise this opportunity. Every item displayed on THE SHOP is unique or part of a small production, we believe it is more valuable and eco-friendly to buy an item you can keep for more seasons.

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Having a snoop around the website, it’s great to see that designers can create their own free individualised showrooms online with personalised web addresses, with picture and video galleries and contact information. It’s in essence a place where the individual wields the power – what NJAL has called ‘the black sheep’s environment’. Here you’ve got to be the black sheep or else! Now just imagine what this flock would look like – pretty fabulous we bet.

Categories ,Bespoke, ,Eco-friendly, ,New Designers, ,Online Shopping, ,Sustainable Fashion

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Amelia’s Magazine | The House of Viktor & Rolf

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This month, physician more about daydreams can be dedicated to Loulou Androlia. At 27, the Camden based designer has tumbled, head first into her own Alice in Wonderland fairytale.
Just last month, Loulou Loves You, was just another great, one-woman DIY design outfit, with Loulou cutting and crafting her way round the indie e-shop block. Her handmade lingerie and giant silk hairbows won her fans and friends aplenty across the usual social networking sites, but it wasn’t until she was contacted by Agent Provocateur, wanting to use her bows in their current window display, that things really started to get curious.

“The June windows were to have an Alice in Wonderland theme,” explains Androlia. “I think a quick Google search revealed my designs and so the lovely lady from display at Agent Provocateur got in touch.”

Testament to the powers of the Internet, Loulou then wasted no time in fashioning up a series of her oversized, surrealist bows fit for the fashion worlds most notorious window display designers.

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Babydoll colourways. Cartoon Proportions. Salacious Silk. These creations were never going to look out of place amidst the forthright, frilly and downright fabulous subtext of Agent Provocateur’s own, renowned, window display drill. And now Agent Provocateur stores from London to Los Angeles will have their windows adorned with Loulou’s playful accessories.

While the Alice in Wonderland theme continues to conjure up contradictory readings around rule breaking and reality, Loulou’s designs symbolise carefree, childlike charm, albeit with a slightly naughty, Lolita edge. Androlia admits her designs being featured in Agent Provocateur’s latest display is her biggest project to date.

“It’s just been really exciting. More people than ever are starting to recognize what I do, and recently stylists have picked up on my work for use in photo shoots” she says.

Loulou’s designs offer a modern mix of fantasy and parody. Her story offers the perfect anecdote to another season of celebrity infested clothing lines and copycat creations. Still she remains indebted to the independent design roots that led Agent Provocateur to find her in the first place.

“I get a real buzz out of discovering a tiny e-shop that might be run from another home thousands of miles away,” she says, clearly excited at the possibility of finding the next Christopher Kane in his bedroom, stitching and sewing his way to fashion superstardom, via an online universe.

Quirky and Curious. Loulou Androlia. She’s just like Alice after all.
Last week I popped into transition gallery in east London to view FAN FAIR. Being somewhat of a disaster with map reading and directions in general, tadalafil I was surprised to find that I found the exhibition space relatively quickly.
On entering the exhibition room, information pills which was relatively small, price I was immediately struck by the frivolity of seaside pleasures. The pastel colours of folded hankies hanging from a wall, a candy walking stick, letters, a shed with a mystic inside, painted skittles, metal scuba-diving head and deviant helter skelter made for a varied showcase. The handkerchiefs, knitted in cutesy pink colours you can only imagine being made by your nan, were pieces with a rather anti-cutesy message! One read, ‘Cum inside/ Candy floss/only £1.00/adults only.’ Fun and fruity messages continued.
The helter skelter was made from stolen road signs, fairie lights, vintage flags, treasure chests, lobster figurines and little toy figures probably picked from charity shops and car boot sales. Crowned with a disco ball; this all made for a cluttered, wonderful assortment of the fantastical and perverted. Barbie dolls in playgirl positions, blowjobs by ken dolls, ‘alcohol restriction zone’ signs, a ship floating in an imagined journey through air; this all reminded me of the drunken pleasures of a 15 year old on alcopops (although probably a bit more risqué)!
Intricately painted ceramic skittles altered the intoxicated landscape of excess with a rather muted addition. The painted flowers had an oldsy feel like those found in 1950s agriculture magazines.
The ‘deep sea diver’ statue painted gold and turquoise felt almost too solid compared to the other fantastical musings. However, the bold colours and rigid reluctance to fade into the background made me think of arbitrary images from dreams that randomly peep into focus.
Next door to this stood a walking stick made of pink rock. I couldn’t help but wonder that maybe these should be a new invention for those that need sugar rushes on journeys (just imagine all those granddads on buses licking their walking sticks- A strange sight indeed)! As part of the piece, there were postcards from two corresponding artists in the transition group. They contained ideas for the collaboration, which were written months ago. One postcard was scrawled with, ‘I’d really like to discuss working with you…Filling the gallery with home made seaside ephemera. Snow domes, sticks of pink rock, postcards. Totally bespoken horse shite’- (nice to see a humble account of their work)!
Last stop was to enter the mystical shed where the virtual Madam Sosostris lay in wait. On entering the small enclosure I realised Madam S was reading cards from a TV set. With a pack of tarot cards in front of me she told me to start dealing. Not one to mess with a virtual mystic on a TV set; I did what I was told. I ended up with a card that said something about being more brave and taking more chances, but I was just relieved I didn’t get the death card!
FAN FAIR took about 15 minutes to view merely because it is such a small space. Yet I’d recommend it for those who want a serving of seaside fantasy with the supernatural; and you even get a session with your very own virtual mystic!

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Last Saturday, cheapest my friend and I ventured to Tate Modern for the raw canvas ‘Tate Takeover: London Calling’ in the café level 2. With a flyer that promised performances from Poeticat and ORIGAMI as well as ‘cellar door sound, magic, charly flynn, illustrations and more..’ we had high expectations.
Arriving to find my friend making friends with a cat near the entrance of the Tate (I was late- he is sane, I promise), we made our way in. Having sauntered in an hour into closing time we were a tad confused to see people on the floor making boats out of newspaper. Most of people were involved in making houses and other creative masterpieces. So, sitting down on beanbags we decided to attempt a hat. But alas our arty skills were thwarted by the fact that neither of us are any good at origami-but we did enjoy looking at others like fascinated kids at the zoo.
The next room had a guy painting a black and white landscape that he was absorbed in. The main café/bar area also had a live performance from Poeticat who we listened to whilst chatting. The ambiance was chilled and the people who sat around were mostly young people who were obviously friends of the raw canvas team. But the event was inclusive and had a mixture of people and age groups involved.
The evening was certainly ‘raw’ with excitement and a blank ‘canvas’ for ideas to be penned, inspiring young people back into art. My friend and I certainly enjoyed the laid back arty evening. Here’s to the next one.

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Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeron, approved aka Viktor & Rolf, ampoule got skills. This summer sees the highly acclaimed fashion designers present their entire time together in an exhibition at the Barbican, and what an exhibition it is.

It’s rare that fashion designers present their collections in galleries – since Vivienne Westwood’s retrospective at the V&A in 2004, there has been little to celebrate the makers of fashion as we know it – especially on this grand scale.

The exhibiton showcases their work from humble beginnings in 1993, when the pair launched their first collection, aptly titled ‘Launch’ – to varying acclaim. Never to follow the norm, the duo presented this collection entirely in minature – with models (of the replica sense) of a catwalk show, the pieces they had designed and even the simultaneous advertising campaigns.

It seems, then, that V&R have come full circle, presenting to us here their collections in their stunning lifesize glory AND in model replica. On Level 3 of the Barbican (the one with rooms spanning from the balcony), you might think that this exhibition space had been purpose built to display fashion collections, but this is not the case. Thanks to exhibition designer Siebe Tettero and the ready state of this 1960s brutalist masterpiece of a building, the space has been transformed to allow viewers to freely move between collections. The centrepiece of the show is a stunning three storey Georgian doll’s house which fills the centre of the room. Each room in the house has no exterior wall, and has a different doll of about 1 or 2 feet tall, wearing an exact replica of dresses from each collection. Incredible. Silver binoculars are provided to view the detail of the pieces from the viewing platforms. The V&R emblem is brandished (no pun intended) at the top of the house, and some of the dolls even look longingly in the direction of their life size counterparts.

On Thursdays, as part of the Lates season of late night art events, the Barbican presents different workshops and talks about matters surrounding the duo and fashion in general. The first featured talks about themes in the collections, and I had the enviable pleasure of meeting Emma Cammack, a body artist who had been commissioned to produce two bodies based on themes from V&R’s collections. Emma has worked for a variety of high profile clients in advertising, fashion and film, and it was a joy to see the models come to life.

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Highlights from the exhibition, in no particular order, include: Flowerbomb (SS05) which tied with the launch of the duo’s first fragrance. Black chiffon dresses with bow details and black bicycle helmets were presented on the catwalk, with the models stalling at the back of the stage. When all models had taken their turn, the stage revolved to reveal an almost identical collection but in baby pink. Following this stunning piece of theatre was never going to be easy, but then came Bedtime Story (AW05-06) where V&R took the bed to the catwalk, with the infamous mix of duvets and sheets. Duvets became extravangant dresses with ‘I love you’ spralled across, mostly in white with red defining features. The collection relies on quilted fabrics and takes on board old bed linen processes such as broderie anglais, a specific type of stitch.

The most stunning aspect of the exhibition is the realisation that Viktor & Rolf are capable of concept after concept, and no two seasons are the same. The ‘One Woman Show’ collection of AW03-04 is the work of geniuses. After a chance meeting with actress Tilda Swinton, the pair were so enthralled by her presence at unique style that they devoted an entire collection to her – with even the models made to have her stark, androgynous appearance. Sharp tailored suits emphasising and advancing the human form were presented to reflect the theme of androgyny. This is the complete opposite of the very feminine ‘Silver’ collection of AW06-07, featuring more feminine shapes like the Dior silhouette popularised by the New Look collection of the fifties (low busts, small waists and large skirts). nude lycra tulle number with oversized embroidered stars shows the designer duo’s ability to challenge fashion norms.

And if that wasn’t enough to make you gush with envy or start saving for the ‘I Love You’ wedding dress, take the ‘The Fashion Show’ collection of AW07-08. V&R make the model a walking fashion entity – they each have their own outfit (featuring traditional Dutch checks and pleats with a contemporary twist), lighting (the models wear scaffolding above their heads, rigged with lights, which presents the silhouette of a ancestral Dutch milk maiden) and music (said rigs were fitted with individual music systems, and speakers). This metal structure not only provides the support for sound and light, but on a more artistic scale enhances the silhoutette and modifies the human form we are accustomed to – a key theme throughout V&R’s luminescent history.

Viktor and Rolf’s first UK exhibition is an inspirational tour of their illustrious history, even for those not overtly interested in fashion. So switly decide between your nude tulle number or your duvet, brush your hair over a pillow, pick out your favourite clogs, and head down to the Barbican for what might be the best fashion exhibition we get in 2008.

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Amelia’s Magazine | The Twilight Sad Merchandise

What a macabre bag. Imagine the Peter and Jane books of our childhood; now imagine what the Ladybird illustrator would have drawn if he’d been on acid. The bag from The Twilight Sad‘s merchandise collection reminds me of Martin McDonagh’s play, The Pillowman. In this, the Pillowman is styled as a kindly Father Christmas character that helps children (who will otherwise have deeply traumatic lives) pre-emptively kill themselves. It employs the same absurdist humour as this lovely bag which shows a son with a cloth mask about to smother his sleeping mother, with an inset of a mystery hand pouring a bottle of poison. It’s a series of confusing cartoon events that would have Jonathan Creek baffled for at least twenty minutes about who is to blame and who is the real victim in this two-dimensional world. But this is not just a generic piece of merchandise aiming to make money with as little creative effort as possible, in fact it doesn’t directly advertise the band at all. There’s no huge slogan distracting the eye from the unnerving image (taken from the Fourteen Autumns And Fifteen Winters LP artwork). This style of artwork has become a recurring theme for the Glaswegian band, as there are a series of these images available on t-shirts, screen prints, and previous EPs, all of which complement their passionate anthems. You can be sure you won’t be mugged with this subversively vicious image hanging from your shoulder.

The Twilight Sad and other Fat-Cat merchandise available here

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Amelia’s Magazine | Triton AW10 at Sao Paulo Fashion Week- Exclusive Report

Angel3Courtesy of George and Betty Woodman and Marian Goodman Gallery, case New York

When I hear the word Surrealism, instantly the likes of Salvador Dali, André Breton, André Masson and Max Ernst come to my mind. Well I can now add Frida Khalo, Leonora Carrington, Eileen Agar and many more female Surrealist artists to that male dominated list, thanks to Manchester’s Art Gallery! Their current exhibition, Angels of Anarchy, sets out to not only celebrate the works of female artists but to educate and inform those who know little (people like me) or nothing at all about the important role females played in the Surrealist movement. How about that?

Angel Courtesy Private collection, Dilbeek, Belgium © DACS 2009

The exhibition covers five main categories within Surrealism – Portrait/Self-Portrait, Landscape, Interior, Still Life and Fantasy; the medium used ranges from sculpture to photography to film and the more traditional oil on canvas. Thanks to Salma Hayek’s performance in the eponymous film, Frida Khalo -who features in both Portrait/Self Portrait and Interior – is probably the name most will recognise but you will not be disappointed with the other lesser-known artists on display.

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Courtesy ADAGP Paris, Musée National d’Art Modern – Centre Georges Pompidou. Courtesy Photo CNAC / MNAM, Dis. RMN / courtesy  Jacques Faujour

The most interesting piece comes in the form of film by photographer/filmmaker Lola Alvarez Bravo -who incidentally went to school with Frida and was one of her closest friends. The 30 seconds (approx) of rare footage is left untitled but is captivating from start to end, not least thanks to the presence of Frida herself; the artist is more stunning on film that I had imagined. There is no audio in this eerie film and it’s quite foretelling that Frida is welcoming death into her home in the shape of an innocent looking girl; this was shot when Frida was in ill health and I thought this was one of many nice surprises within the exhibition. Bravo documented much of Frida’s life and she went on documenting even after her death; there is a poignant shot of Frida’s room after her death (Frida’s Room 1954), where her wheelchair, paintbrushes, a self-portrait and a picture of her husband are strategically placed in order to sum up her life. This particular scene left a lump in your throat!

Fini_Le-Bout-du-MondeCourtesy Manchester Gallery

Another big name featured in the exhibition is Eileen Agar – whose Angel of Anarchy (1936-1940) mixed media head dress is featured alongside its opposite number Angels of Mercy (1936-1940) – only two surviving pieces of four, are portraits of Joseph Bard (her husband) and to see them both is quite magical. Angel of Anarchy is wrapped in rich African bark cloth decorated in Chinese silk, beads and osprey and ostrich feathers and has a decadent aura about it. Angel of Mercy is quite the opposite but none less impressive to its corresponding part, using only her skills to sculpt the piece and her hand to paint it.

Agar_Angel-of-AnarchyCourtesy Manchester Gallery

Whist big names like Kahlo, Agar, Oppenheim and Cahun are used to encourage people to visit the exhibition the lesser known artists really do shine and in some cases surpass their well known counterparts. Kay Sage’s beautiful black and white, landscape photography will lead you into the word of the extra-ordinary within the ordinary – her vision of seeing something interesting within what seems to be an ordinary landscape impressed me a great deal! Leonora Carrington’s self portrait (1937-1938) will immediately grab your attention as it did mine; I faced this one particular piece for a good10 minutes and I must admit I was truly transfixed and consumed in my trail of thought! This, in my opinion, is by far was the best self portrait (oil on canvas) in the entire show. I felt deep sympathy for Carrington and I was left wondering and wanting to know more about this wonderful talent.

Angel1

Courtesy Banco de Mexico Deigo Rivera & Frida Kahlo Museums Trust, Mexico DF / DACS 2009

The exhibition is over teeming with beautiful oils on canvas and sculptures that include a rarely seen Lee Miller torso cast that has only even been exhibited once before. Surrealist literature is present in the form of Leonora Carrington’s En Bas ( Down Below 1945) a memoir of her emotional journey after Max Ernst is arrested by the Nazis which leads her to being institutionalized in a mental hospital in Spain. There are video instillations by Francesca Woodman documenting herself exploring the female form and a beautiful interpretation of ‘There was a Miller on a River’ (1971), by Eva Svankmajerova. This old folk song tells the story of a young soldier returning home after 20 years. His parents do not recognise him, rob and murder him; once they realise it was their son they take their own lives. Such a brutal act is given a beautiful lease of life in Svankmajerova’s gorgeous illustrations.

Oppenheim_SquirrelCourtesy Manchester Gallery

Another nice surprise is the room ‘Teenangels’ in which the Manchester Art gallery has teamed up with art students from Levenshulme High School who have came up with their own Surrealist inspired artwork. I would have happily been left to think they were part of the Angels of Anarchy exhibition had I not seen the sign! Seeing interaction between a prestigious art gallery like Manchester’s and GCSE art students topped the exhibition off perfectly.

All in all this was a good exhibition which ran from the 26th of December 2009 to the 10th of January 2010. Penny Slinger describes her work as ‘a protest against females being seen as mere objects at a male’s disposal’. This exhibition sets out to break the notion that Surrealism is a male dominated movement and it does so successfully. Without the likes of Frida Kahlo, Claude Cahun, Edith Rimmington, Meret Oppenheim and the rest of the female Surrealist featured in the exhibition I doubt very much that women in art would be where they are today. They helped the female cause for decades to come and paved the way for equality in Art. They proved that chicks can do what guys do… and dare I say in some cases even better? If you were one of the lucky few who visited the show then you surely came away enlightened, informed and inspired by those surrealist amazons…just like I did.

Visit www.manchesterartgalleries.org/angelsofanarchy for more information.
Angel3Courtesy of George and Betty Woodman and Marian Goodman Gallery, cure New York

When I hear the word Surrealism, this instantly the likes of Salvador Dali, André Breton, André Masson and Max Ernst come to my mind. Well I can now add Frida Khalo, Leonora Carrington, Eileen Agar and many more female Surrealist artists to that male dominated list, thanks to Manchester’s Art Gallery! Their current exhibition, Angels of Anarchy, sets out to not only celebrate the works of female artists but to educate and inform those who know little (people like me) or nothing at all about the important role females played in the Surrealist movement. How about that?

Angel Courtesy Private collection, Dilbeek, Belgium © DACS 2009

The exhibition covers five main categories within Surrealism – Portrait/Self-Portrait, Landscape, Interior, Still Life and Fantasy; the medium used ranges from sculpture to photography to film and the more traditional oil on canvas. Thanks to Salma Hayek’s performance in the eponymous film, Frida Khalo -who features in both Portrait/Self Portrait and Interior – is probably the name most will recognise but you will not be disappointed with the other lesser-known artists on display.

Angel2

Courtesy ADAGP Paris, Musée National d’Art Modern – Centre Georges Pompidou. Courtesy Photo CNAC / MNAM, Dis. RMN / courtesy  Jacques Faujour

The most interesting piece comes in the form of film by photographer/filmmaker Lola Alvarez Bravo -who incidentally went to school with Frida and was one of her closest friends. The 30 seconds (approx) of rare footage is left untitled but is captivating from start to end, not least thanks to the presence of Frida herself; the artist is more stunning on film that I had imagined. There is no audio in this eerie film and it’s quite foretelling that Frida is welcoming death into her home in the shape of an innocent looking girl; this was shot when Frida was in ill health and I thought this was one of many nice surprises within the exhibition. Bravo documented much of Frida’s life and she went on documenting even after her death; there is a poignant shot of Frida’s room after her death (Frida’s Room 1954), where her wheelchair, paintbrushes, a self-portrait and a picture of her husband are strategically placed in order to sum up her life. This particular scene left a lump in your throat!

Fini_Le-Bout-du-MondeCourtesy Manchester Gallery

Another big name featured in the exhibition is Eileen Agar – whose Angel of Anarchy (1936-1940) mixed media head dress is featured alongside its opposite number Angels of Mercy (1936-1940) – only two surviving pieces of four, are portraits of Joseph Bard (her husband) and to see them both is quite magical. Angel of Anarchy is wrapped in rich African bark cloth decorated in Chinese silk, beads and osprey and ostrich feathers and has a decadent aura about it. Angel of Mercy is quite the opposite but none less impressive to its corresponding part, using only her skills to sculpt the piece and her hand to paint it.

Agar_Angel-of-AnarchyCourtesy Manchester Gallery

Whist big names like Kahlo, Agar, Oppenheim and Cahun are used to encourage people to visit the exhibition the lesser known artists really do shine and in some cases surpass their well known counterparts. Kay Sage’s beautiful black and white, landscape photography will lead you into the word of the extra-ordinary within the ordinary – her vision of seeing something interesting within what seems to be an ordinary landscape impressed me a great deal! Leonora Carrington’s self portrait (1937-1938) will immediately grab your attention as it did mine; I faced this one particular piece for a good10 minutes and I must admit I was truly transfixed and consumed in my trail of thought! This, in my opinion, is by far was the best self portrait (oil on canvas) in the entire show. I felt deep sympathy for Carrington and I was left wondering and wanting to know more about this wonderful talent.

Angel1

Courtesy Banco de Mexico Deigo Rivera & Frida Kahlo Museums Trust, Mexico DF / DACS 2009

The exhibition is over teeming with beautiful oils on canvas and sculptures that include a rarely seen Lee Miller torso cast that has only even been exhibited once before. Surrealist literature is present in the form of Leonora Carrington’s En Bas ( Down Below 1945) a memoir of her emotional journey after Max Ernst is arrested by the Nazis which leads her to being institutionalized in a mental hospital in Spain. There are video instillations by Francesca Woodman documenting herself exploring the female form and a beautiful interpretation of ‘There was a Miller on a River’ (1971), by Eva Svankmajerova. This old folk song tells the story of a young soldier returning home after 20 years. His parents do not recognise him, rob and murder him; once they realise it was their son they take their own lives. Such a brutal act is given a beautiful lease of life in Svankmajerova’s gorgeous illustrations.

Oppenheim_SquirrelCourtesy Manchester Gallery

Another nice surprise is the room ‘Teenangels’ in which the Manchester Art gallery has teamed up with art students from Levenshulme High School who have came up with their own Surrealist inspired artwork. I would have happily been left to think they were part of the Angels of Anarchy exhibition had I not seen the sign! Seeing interaction between a prestigious art gallery like Manchester’s and GCSE art students topped the exhibition off perfectly.

All in all this was a good exhibition which ran from the 26th of December 2009 to the 10th of January 2010. Penny Slinger describes her work as ‘a protest against females being seen as mere objects at a male’s disposal’. This exhibition sets out to break the notion that Surrealism is a male dominated movement and it does so successfully. Without the likes of Frida Kahlo, Claude Cahun, Edith Rimmington, Meret Oppenheim and the rest of the female Surrealist featured in the exhibition I doubt very much that women in art would be where they are today. They helped the female cause for decades to come and paved the way for equality in Art. They proved that chicks can do what guys do… and dare I say in some cases even better? If you were one of the lucky few who visited the show then you surely came away enlightened, informed and inspired by those surrealist amazons…just like I did.

Visit www.manchesterartgalleries.org/angelsofanarchy for more information.
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The third day at the Sao Paulo Fashion Week saw the show of one of the hippest brands among Brazilian youngsters. Triton has been showing at the biggest fashion week in Brazil for a while now, visit this site with the main inspiration behind their designs having always been music, here technology and a cool lifestyle.

trit_i10_093_altaImages throughout courtesy of Triton

For AW10 they invited CSS‘s lead singer Lovefoxxx (who used to work for the brand before becoming famous) to design not only some of the prints, but also the show’s soundtrack, which started dense and melancholic, with the sound of Crystalised, by English band The XX.

trit_i10_063_altaPrimarily inspired by the trendy Japanese area of Harajuku, Lovefoxxx, together with Triton’s designer Karen Fuke, created one of the most playful scenarios seen on the runways of Sao Paulo. With models made up to look like Gothic Lolita’s taking to the runway Triton superbly illustrated the epicentre of Japanese excesses to a Brazilian audience.

trit_i10_001_altaThere were so many patterns, so many shapes, so many references, that it was impossible to sort the designs in any distinct trend. The kooky prints referenced everything from spider webs and owls to mushrooms, teamed with heavy boots with super high heels which broke the romantic vibe. It couldn’t have ended better than with a rainbow coloured jumpsuit, making Luisa Lovefoxxx’s input and presence clear to all.

trit_i10_084_altaTriton’s AW10 show was a great example of creativity and coherence, from a brand to its public. No wonder it had one of the most amazing finales so far; with a standing ovation from the fashion-hungry crowd.

trit_i10_015_alta

Categories ,Barbara Mattivy, ,css, ,harajuku, ,Karen Fuke, ,lovefoxxx, ,Sao Paulo Fashion Week, ,The XX, ,Triton

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Amelia’s Magazine | Vauxhall Fashion Scout Ones to Watch A/W 2011 – A Preview


Kirsty Ward, cialis 40mg pilule illustrated by Gabriel Ayala

Oh God, doctor more about is it really that time again? Do I really have to stay up, approved night after night, sending all those emails? Worrying about outfits? Processing 12,000 photographs? Yep, London Fashion Week is just around the corner, and yesterday Vauxhall Fashion Scout announced their line up for their extra special Ones to Watch show.

Previous winners of the accolade include Ada Zanditon and Lu Flux (both in Amelia’s new book) as well as Eudon Choi and David Longshaw. Last season’s outing was an ecclectic mix of ‘dandyish’ menswear, cream pleats and yellow ruffles. The line up this time around looks certain to impress, though – Central Saint Martins’ graduates Anja Mlakar and Kirsty Ward, along with Sara Bro-Jorgensen and Tze Goh.

While we all get excited about London’s most fashionable five days, here’s a little round up of the new design talent.

Tze Goh

Illustration by Lana Hughes

Tze Goh graduated with a BA from Parsons in New York before completing an MA at Central Saint Martins. Tze’s collections to date have had that strong, minimal aesthetic with emphasis on shape and sculpture.

They’re definitely futuristic, and each garment appears to have been moulded from an unknown material rather than sewn from jersey. Pieces emphasise the shapes of his models – exaggerated shoulders and discrete twists in fabric make for modern, appealing clothes. Hopefully he’ll stick to his minimalist principles during his outing this coming season.

Kirsty Ward

Illustration by Gabriel Ayala

Kirsty Ward is brilliant. She’s one of the most unique designers I’ve seen in ages, and it’s no surprise that she’s, yep – you guessed it – Central Saint Martin’s alumni and went on to work with Alberta Ferretti in Italy. Amelia reviewed her collection last season , a vertiable wonder of sculptural jewellery and clothing that echoes the contours of the body.

I loved her work with David Longshaw (creating jewellery that he teamed with his collection) during his debut on the very same Ones to Watch stage a year ago This season promises another fashion-forward outing.

Anja Mlakar

Illustration by Willa Gebbie

Anja Mlakar is – you guessed it – another Central Saint Martins graduate. I’m feeling fatigued typing those three words already and the shows haven’t even started. Anyway, Her debut collection harboured much interest and having only graduated last year, Anja is set to cement herself in fashion this coming season.

Her S/S 2011 collection was a welcome ray of sunshine, with bursts of pastel yellows and pinks. Her aesthetic features structural forms and body-concious frocks, and her style straddles the fine line between flattering and futuristic. The most diverse collection, it will be intereting to see if Anja develops a particular element or mixes it up again.

Sara Bro-Jorgensen

Illustration by Jaymie O’Callaghan

Sara, a Royal College of Art graduate (at last!) takes a different approach to fashion and is heavily influenced by 2D forms like black and white photographs. She’s been nominated for awards here and there.

Her previous collections contain a mix of knits and deconstructed pieces, and I’m not exaggerating when I say this girl digs black. As it’s the A/W 2011 we’re looking forward to, I wouldn’t be surprised if we see more of fashion’s favourite colour on Sara’s outing, but then what do I know?

Categories ,A/W 2011, ,Alberta Feretti, ,black, ,Central Saint Martins, ,David Longshaw, ,fashion, ,Gabriel Ayala, ,Italy, ,Jaymie O’Callaghan, ,Lana Hughes, ,London Fashion Week, ,new york, ,Ones To Watch, ,parsons, ,Royal College of Art, ,Vauxhall Fashion Scout, ,Willa Gebbie

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