Amelia’s Magazine | Pam Hogg: London Fashion Week A/W 2012 Catwalk Review

Pam Hogg A/W 2012 by Mitika Chohan
Pam Hogg A/W 2012 by Mitika Chohan.

We have sadly not been invited to a Pam Hogg show for two years now, and boy have I missed them: they are an incredibly hot ticket, so when I arrived late I was only able to secure a good position with the magic addition of a fold up chair. Only when I checked twitter later did I discover that the front row had been the usual celeb fest – I missed Nick Rhodes, Alexandra Burke, Janice Dickinson, Jo Wood and no doubt a host of others. Some of them can be found in this Fashion Scout blog post, as can I, in a lesson on how not to be caught on camera during LFW: looking like a giant warthog (I am HEAVILY PREGNANT) and desperately hoping to escape the photo. Note to self: if in doubt, smile.

Pam Hogg A/W 2012 by Faye West
Pam Hogg A/W 2012 by Faye West.

Pam Hogg AW 2012 -photo by Amelia Gregory
Pam Hogg AW 2012 -photo by Amelia Gregory
Pam Hogg AW 2012 -photo by Amelia Gregory
Pam Hogg AW 2012 -photo by Amelia Gregory
Pam Hogg AW 2012 -photo by Amelia Gregory
The Pam Hogg A/W 2012 catwalk show WILD life began in stately fashion, with a sawing Appalachian violin to accompany the sedate steps of a model in towering ribboned heels. She wore a swinging latex dirndl skirt adorned with Hogg’s trademark geometric shapes in red, black, white and grey that were reminiscent of smaller knitted folk patterns, whilst a huge matching bonnet swallowed her head. Make-up was similarly bold: monobrows met sharply in the middle and accompanied Geisha-like dots above and beneath the eyes.

Pam Hogg AW 2012 -photo by Amelia Gregory
Pam Hogg AW 2012 -photo by Amelia Gregory
Pam Hogg AW 2012 -photo by Amelia Gregory
Pam Hogg AW 2012 -photo by Amelia Gregory
Pam Hogg AW 2012 -photo by Amelia Gregory
Pam Hogg AW 2012 -photo by Amelia Gregory
Pam Hogg AW 2012 -photo by Amelia Gregory
Pam Hogg A/W 2012 by Lo Parkin
Pam Hogg A/W 2012 by Lo Parkin.

Jaime Winstone was next to stride out with a bouncy swagger, stopping briefly for a languid barndancing turn with a fellow model in the middle of the catwalk. Then it was on to Pam Hogg‘s inimitable skintight catsuits – this time in an array of geometric, mesh and beribboned combinations.

Pam Hogg AW 2012 -photo by Amelia Gregory
Pam Hogg AW 2012 -photo by Amelia Gregory
As more and more flesh was revealed the models retained a demure demeanour more befitting the previous wide skirts, even as they struggled to stay upright on crippling heels. Well, I say heels: what would have been heels were angled impossibly towards the platformed soles so that the girls appeared to balance on thin air.

Pam Hogg AW 2012 -photo by Amelia Gregory
Pam Hogg AW 2012 -photo by Amelia Gregory
Pam Hogg AW 2012 -photo by Amelia Gregory
Pam Hogg AW 2012 -photo by Amelia Gregory
Pam Hogg AW 2012 -photo by Amelia Gregory
Pam Hogg A/W 2012 by Veronica Rowlands
Pam Hogg A/W 2012 by Veronica Rowlands.

Red lace, silver lame, and furry merkins… it’s not a mixture I would ever have considered putting together myself, but Pam Hogg somehow combined incongruous materials to extravagant effect. Some of my favourite bodysuits featured carefully placed panels of rucking that puffed out sexily to emphasise womanly curves on buttocks and bosom.

Pam Hogg AW 2012 -photo by Amelia Gregory
Pam Hogg AW 2012 -photo by Amelia Gregory
Pam Hogg AW 2012 -photo by Amelia Gregory
Pam Hogg AW 2012 -photo by Amelia Gregory
Pam Hogg AW 2012 -photo by Amelia Gregory
Pam Hogg AW 2012 -photo by Amelia Gregory
Geometrics in copper, gold and silver created a futuristic effect as the music segued into something more modern, albeit with violins still at the forefront of the brilliant soundtrack – a testament to Pam’s love of music. Tight fitting dresses and culottes that swung just on the knee were beautifully sexy, especially in mesh with black arrow patterns – proving that these body hugging wonders suit more voluptuous creatures too.

Pam Hogg AW 2012 -photo by Amelia Gregory
Pam Hogg AW 2012 -photo by Amelia Gregory
Pam Hogg AW 2012 -photo by Amelia Gregory
The show finished with a trio of stunning pieces: a sequinned full length dress in lilac, rose and gold, a dolly like mesh culotte dress with strategically placed lace cascading down the buttocks, and the denouement: a boudoir influenced outfit constructed entirely from red bows, complete with red ribbon garter. For the finale Pam Hogg – sporting cartoon bright yellow hair – was dragged down the catwalk by Jaime Winstone to whoops and hollers from the crowd.

Pam Hogg A/W 2012 by Faye West
Pam Hogg A/W 2012 by Faye West.

Pam Hogg AW 2012 -photo by Amelia Gregory
Pam Hogg AW 2012 -photo by Amelia Gregory
No one can beat Pam Hogg when it comes to reinventing the catsuit – and this show proved that she can cut a mean skirt and bonnet too. In a 2009 interview she spoke honestly of the financial difficulty in creating such avante garde designs and her reliance on friends to sponsor her comeback fashion show: one wonders how she continues to survive, creating such uncommercial but fantastical outfits without which London Fashion Week would be a poorer place.

Pam Hogg A/W 2012 by Gilly Rochester
Pam Hogg A/W 2012 by Gilly Rochester.

Pam Hogg AW 2012 -photo by Amelia Gregory
Pam Hogg AW 2012 -photo by Amelia Gregory
Pam Hogg AW 2012 -photo by Amelia Gregory
All photography by Amelia Gregory.

Categories ,A/W 2012, ,Alexandra Burke, ,Appalachian, ,Catsuits, ,Dirndl Skirts, ,Fashion Scout, ,folk, ,Freemasons’ Hall, ,geometric, ,Gilly Rochester, ,Jaime Winstone, ,Janice Dickinson, ,Jo Wood, ,Latex, ,lfw, ,Lo Parkin, ,London Fashion Week, ,Merkins, ,Mesh, ,metallics, ,Mitika Chohan, ,Nick Rhodes, ,Pam Hogg, ,Ribbons, ,Veronica Rowlands, ,WILD life

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Amelia’s Magazine | Larmer Tree Festival 2011 Review, Friday: Bellowhead, Russell Kane, Yoga, Bane

russell-kane-by-finn-obrien
Russell Kane by Finn O’Brien.

Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review tom leadbetter
We woke up early on Friday at Larmer Tree Festival, order baked out of our tent by the brilliant sunshine… and turned up to witness the very end of the traditional morning yoga session on the main lawn… hundreds of people sat on mats in front of the Garden Stage in what has apparently become a Larmer Tree ritual. That was swiftly followed by Tai Chi… see if you can spot Tom Leadbetter. I’m gutted I didn’t get to sample these classes, viagra but rain was to blight Larmer for the rest of the weekend.

Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review Polly and the Billets Doux, <a target=hospital ” title=”Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review Polly and the Billets Doux,” width=”480″ height=”480″ class=”aligncenter size-full wp-image-45956″ />Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review Polly and the Billets Doux,
Polly and the Billets Doux by Claire Kearns
Polly and the Billets Doux by Claire Kearns.

First act of the day for me was Polly and the Billets Doux, first encountered at Wood Festival a few months back.

Larmer Tree Festival 2011 reviewLarmer Tree Festival 2011 review
Their laid back bluesy folk was the perfect accompaniment to a lazy morning with the Guardian (rather amusingly the locally run general store had heaps and heaps of the Grauniad and, for variety’s sake, about three copies each of every other paper…they know their market alright).

Larmer Tree Festival 2011 reviewLarmer Tree Festival 2011 review colour garden
Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review colour garden
Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review colour garden
Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review colour garden
Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review crochet
Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review crochet
Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review dish
During our daily walk through the woods we discovered more interesting stuff… natural dye techniques from foraged plants with Francesca Owen, a bell tent devoted to knitting and crochet, a lovely little cake parlour called Dish.

Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review HEALING
Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review HEALING
Of course I looked longingly inside all the healing tents…mmmm….massage. Didn’t have one though.

Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review cutashineLarmer Tree Festival 2011 review cutashine
Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review cutashine
Cut A Shine Barndance by Hollie McManus
Cut A Shine Barndance by Hollie McManus.

Then we popped over to see my old band Cutashine teach barndancing in the Big Top.

Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review the spreeLarmer Tree Festival 2011 review the spree
Outside I was intrigued by indie anthems from Devon based The Spree. Searching for them online proved a major problem though!

YouTube Preview Image
Turns out Spree is a popular band name… when I did finally locate them I rather handily found this video of them playing the ARC, which I missed

Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review arts tentLarmer Tree Festival 2011 review arts tentLarmer Tree Festival 2011 review arts tentLarmer Tree Festival 2011 review arts tent
Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review arts tent
A quick scout around the arts tent revealed a wealth of grassroots creativity.

Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review circus
Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review circus
Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review circusLarmer Tree Festival 2011 review circus
Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review circus
Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review circus
The fine weather continued as children learnt circus skills alongside parents. But we had another destination: Bane, in the Daytime Club Larmer.

Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review Bane Joe BoneLarmer Tree Festival 2011 review Bane Joe Bone
Performed as a one man show by Joe Bone (with a little atmospheric help from guitarist Ben Roe) this was an outstanding blend of fill noir, graphic novel, mime and comedy, as narrated by fictional hit man Bruce Bane. An absolute must see if you get the chance.


Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review The Joker & The Thief,
Back on the stage we listened to The Joker & The Thief, with some excellent sax driven blues tunes… but why the American accent? You’re from London! Someone has been listening to just a bit too much Kings of Leon

Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review -Goodnight Lenin
Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review -Goodnight Lenin
Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review -Goodnight Lenin
Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review -Goodnight Lenin
Goodnight Lenin by Sumi Senthi
Goodnight Lenin by Sumi Senthi.

Then to visit our friends Goodnight Lenin, with whom I’ve been conversing since I first heard them at Wood. They were as charming as ever ‘We never used to be a cabaret act but we’re branching out…‘ They gave away a signed Bookcrossing book… by Jeffrey Archer, and totally wowed the relatively laid back daytime audience: I had to part the crowds when I went to say hi to them in the Songlines signing tent afterwards.

Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review Mama Rosin
Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review Mama Rosin
Mama Rosin must be one of those rare French speaking bands to appeal to Brit audiences. The Larmer Tree crowd thoroughly enjoyed the folky accordion driven tunes of this three piece.

Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review -Kidnap Alice
Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review -Kidnap Alice
We missed My First Tooth for tea (there was a generally very high standard of food on offer at Larmer Tree) but I could hear some beautiful boisterous sounds wafting out of the ARC. Then it was time to see friends in Kidnap Alice, fronted by (unsurprisingly) a girl called Alice – whom I have known for sometime, but had absolutely no idea could sing so amazingly fiercely well. Also in the band are banjo player Joe Buirski, double bassist Felix and other assorted old time musicians who make up the current version of Cutashine. My friend Dan (also known as Danimal for reasons best not mentioned here) was present on accordion – which he seems to have taught himself in the blink of an eye. Well well impressed… particularly by their own Appalachian inspired foot stomping anthems. ‘How come no one’s dancing… are you dead?‘ importuned their dungaree clad mandolinist. I can see his point. Definitely worth checking out live.

Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review Bellowhead
Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review Bellowhead
Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review Bellowhead
Bellowhead by Amy Rogers
Bellowhead by Amy Rogers.

Friday’s big band was Bellowhead… fronted by Jon Boden, with whom I used to attend folk singing Glee camps (well before the term Glee became fashionable) It’s funny because back then he was a right stickler for sticking to prescribed folk techniques, but Bellowhead takes trad folk and blows it right out of the water with a high octane jump up and dance hoedown of a show. I think that for many festival goers this was an absolute highlight of Larmer Tree this year – it was certainly one of mine. Bellowhead have gone out on a limb with something completely unique and different and it works amazingly well. I suppose I should have known where Jon would eventually go when he turned up on camp one year and played a superb fiddle version of Hit Me Baby (One More Time) by Britney Spears.

Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review Kidnap Alice
Kidnap Alice by Claire Kearns
Kidnap Alice by Claire Kearns.

There’s a certain beauty in the way that both Bellowhead and Kidnap Alice have grown in part out of a love of fireside singing on FSC camps – Joe and Dan of Kidnap Alice have taken traditional American tunes of the type we sing and turned them into something totally new, whilst Jon Boden has played around with traditional British songs for Bellowhead. And at Larmer Tree they were programmed up against each other…

Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review -Ozomatli
Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review -Ozomatli
Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review -Ozomatli
Ozomatli were something of a let down straight after Bellowhead, but then I’m not the biggest world music fan.

Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review -James Acaster
Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review -Tom Wrigglesworth
Comedy was compered by a double hatted James AcasterTom Wrigglesworth was on first and I’m ashamed to say I can’t remember much of it… probably because I was sat squished into a small blob on the floor with no view of the stage: the tent was absolutely rammed.

Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review -Russell Kane
Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review -Russell Kane
Luckily I found a boyfriend’s lap in time for Russell Kane, who was my unreserved comedy highlight of the festival. He leapt on stage with a brand new look clearly prompted by a break up that formed the backbone of much of his material… a spinning whirlwind of peroxide blonde quiff and tight jeans. There were many ‘postmodern’ digressions into some hilarious anecdotal stories about the middle class Jemimas whom he had overheard at the festival and I’ve honestly not laughed so much in ages. His hyper energetic set was totally up my street, probably in part because it reminded me of my own manic presenting style (ask anyone who’s seen me talk or call a ceilidh) but also because I could relate so closely to his material… I’ve had my heart totally and utterly broken, and I recognise so many of his traits in other men who would never so honestly admit to their feelings. Want. To see. Again.

Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review
Overheard the next day: a group of posh Devonshire teenagers (pretending they knew how to hold a fag) discussing what Russell Kane meant by the word ‘totes’ peppered liberally through his set – they were convinced he meant Tilly or Antonia. ‘Definitely, yar.’ Hilar.

Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review poetry Polly Malone
Polly Malone performing in Lyrical Lostwood.

Larmer Tree Festival 2011 review tunnel vision
Before bed we took a last minute walk through a ghostly installation in the woods… bubbles of light floating past us as we negotiated the laurel tunnel to the sounds of Brian Eno. Tunnel Vision was put together by Ulf Mark Pedersen.

Categories ,Amy Rogers, ,Appalachian, ,ARC, ,Bane, ,Bellowhead, ,Ben Roe, ,Big Top, ,Bookcrossing, ,brian eno, ,Camps, ,Claire Kearns, ,Cutashine, ,Daytime Club Larmer, ,Dish, ,Finn O’Brien, ,folk, ,Francesca Owen, ,FSC, ,Garden Stage, ,Glee, ,Goodnight Lenin, ,Guardian, ,Healing, ,Hit Me Baby (One More Time), ,Hollie McManus, ,James Acaster, ,Jeffrey Archer, ,Joe Bone, ,Joe Buirski, ,Jon Boden, ,Kidnap Alice, ,Kings of Leon, ,Lyrical Lostwood, ,Mama Rosin, ,My First Tooth, ,Ozomatli, ,poetry, ,Polly Malone, ,Russell Kane, ,Songlines, ,Sumi Senthi, ,Tai Chi, ,The Joker & The Thief, ,The Spree, ,Tom Leadbetter, ,Tom Wrigglesworth, ,Tunnel Vision, ,woodland, ,World Music, ,Yoga

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Amelia’s Magazine | Ben Schneider of Lord Huron describes the making of new video Time To Run

Lord Huron
I love Time To Run, the new single by LA based alt pop band Lord Huron: it’s a big Appalachian infused pop melody accompanied by a wonderful spoof video of a bad ‘spaghetti’ Western (complete with indecipherable Indonesian subtitles) that was shot on a shoestring in the searing desert heat. Founder and front man Ben Schneider thoughtfully describes the making of the video below. Sounds like fun…

YouTube Preview Image
Working from source material, our concept was pretty clear from the beginning. We were really looking for a collaborator to bring the idea to life and enhance it without much of a budget. I’ve been friends with (director) Evan Weinerman for a couple of years. We share a lot of similar references and had talked about working together for a while so it seemed like a natural choice. I knew he was good at thinking creatively and stretching a budget. In general, I like working with people I know personally because we can speak freely and call each other’s bullshit without feeling awkward. It just makes the ideas flow easier.
 
Lord Huron
The first thing we did was spend some time looking at references and pinning down the aesthetic. I had something pretty specific in mind – a western with some exotic touches. We watched some classic westerns, a few Bollywood clips, read some pulp novel passages. Once we were on the same page, we took a day with our producer (and LH guitarist) Tom Renaud just driving around in the desert looking for a good location. We found it, way out there. A big stretch of nothing.
 
Lord Huron
We spent a couple days at prop and wardrobe houses. That was really interesting. Being in LA, we’ve got access to just about anything you could think of. Egyptian armor? Why not. Ceremonial Hindu belt? Sure thing. It was pretty tough choosing just a few items and staying within our budget. Thanks to everyone’s hard work, things started taking shape. We spent the night before the shoot making some final props. Stained clothes, colorful banners, old camp supplies.
 
Lord Huron
We had one day to shoot. Of course, a couple of our actors dropped out at the last minute. Not surprising, as it was supposed to be about 102 degrees farenheit at our location. No matter. We called up some good mates who graciously agreed to play hooky from the office and join us on our desert adventure. We set out at about 5 in the morning, packed like sardines into a few cars and a rented truck.
 
It was, indeed, quite warm, but we had shade and plenty of water and the sweat really helped sell the dirty cowboy thing. The looks of exhaustion and torture you see on the actors’ faces are only partially put-on. We spent about 14 hours out there and then headed back to LA to shoot the night scene. Another 5 hours or so. Not a soul complained. Good sports all-around. Damn fine group of people. I’m proud to have worked with all of them and proud of what we made together.
 
Video Credits:

Director: Arms Race
 (Evan Weinerman)
Producer: Tom Renaud

Director of Photography: Garret Curtis

Editor: Benjamin Dohrmann

Makeup/Hair: Talia Londoner

Assistant Camera: Hilkiah P Browne
Wardrobe Consultant: Annie Jewell

PA: Caitlin Schneider
Actors: Mark Barry, Brett Farkas, Tom Renaud, Miguel Brinseño, Ben Schneider, Kenny Apel, A-iya, Anthony Nickolchev, Lynette Emond, Kevin Kinsella

Download Time To Run for free above. The debut album Lonesome Dreams by Lord Huron is out in October.

Categories ,A-iya, ,Annie Jewell, ,Anthony Nickolchev, ,Appalachian, ,Arms Race, ,Ben Schneider, ,Benjamin Dohrmann, ,Bollywood, ,Brett Farkas, ,Caitlin Schneider, ,Evan Weinerman, ,Garret Curtis, ,Hilkiah P Browne, ,Kenny Apel, ,Kevin Kinsella, ,Lonesome Dreams, ,Lord Huron, ,Lynette Emond, ,Mark Barry, ,Miguel Brinseño, ,single, ,Spaghetti Western, ,Talia Londoner, ,Time To Run, ,Tom Renaud, ,video

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