Amelia’s Magazine | Sorapol presents IMMORTAL: a fashion film for the A/W 2013 ready-to-wear collection

Sorapol IMMORTAL by xplusyequals

Sorapol IMMORTAL by xplusyequals.

Extravagant Bangkok born fashion designer Sorapol Chawaphatnakul and his equally extravagant creative director – the irrepressible Daniel Lismore – have together created a fantastical short fashion film to accompany the inaugural Sorapol ready-to-wear collection. Take a peek below, and read on to find out more.

What was the inspiration behind the new collection?
This will be the first SORAPOL ready to wear collection. Each collection is usually inspired by one or two elements of history and culture merged together with aesthetics. The new collection is inspired by the common ground between mysticism, surrealism and the animal kingdom. The Fabrics used include, silks, wools and leathers, with much of the collection using natural fibres.

Sorapol Immortal by Leah Nelson

Sorapol Immortal by Leah Nelson.

Which materials feature most heavily in your creations?
Sorapol has worked with a number of extravagant fabrics, from silks to lavish prints, to produce a collection embodying decadence and Oriental contemporaries. Every season we use new materials and try to create new techniques in embroidery and knit. Sorapol like to experiment with new ideas born from couture skills. Our garments have been designed for the modern woman who appreciates timeless designs. The collection includes coats, tailored jackets and evening gowns.

Sorapol by Kimberly Elle#21

Sorapol by Kimberly Ellen Hall.

What was the idea behind the creation of the video?
The Immortal video was based on a tale from 1001 nights. There was once a king who discovered that his wife had been disloyal. He had her executed and then proceeded to marry every fair lady in his kingdom. He protected himself from the treachery of women by putting each wife to death the morning after their wedding. After his marriage to his 1001st wife had been consummated, they lay back on the royal bed. To pass the hours she began telling the king wondrous stories of love and destiny, cutting short each tale just before dawn so that the king would let her live another night to hear the end of the story. After their final night together she escapes with her new lover. The woman portrays our client, who is both strong in character & fearless in style. Sorapol designs are beautiful pieces of armour, fit for the trials and tribulations that life throws at us. A woman who wears Sorapol feels confident about herself in any situation. 

Sorapol By Briony Jose

Sorapol by Briony Jose.

How long did it take to make the video and what were the biggest challenges?
The biggest challenge in making this video was to make a high production film in a short amount of time and on a tight budget, with just one day of shooting which was done at Castle Gibbson in Dalston. It took a while to get the music and sound recordings right, requiring a day in a studio with four singers. The rest was easy. Stephen took two recordings which he sent to us. 

Soropol IMMORTAL by xplusyequals

Soropol IMMORTAL by xplusyequals.

Where are the words from?
The words were written by one of the best wordsmiths we know, Sigmund Oakeshott. We called him one night and asked him to write a piece of art for us. The next day we got it back and it was perfect.

Sorapol illustration by Mitika 28.1.14

Sorapol illustration by Mitika Chohan.

How did you get so many big names involved?
Aiden Shaw, our muse Wei Chiung Lin & BB Kaye are all great believers in making art, the progression of fashion and are all supporters of the brand. They loved the ideas that the head designer, Sorapol and myself as creative director, Daniel Lismore, put to them. Daniel sent the unfinished film to Stephen Fry to ask his opinion. He loved it and kindly agreed to do the narration.

Sorapol by Ste Johnson

Sorapol by Ste Johnson.

What do you hope for in the coming year?
This year we have had the choice of starting to create a ready to wear collection. Showing at The Serpentine Gallery will be the changing point for us as it will be our first show during the time period of London Fashion Week. We plan to launch an accessible diffusion line later on in the year for our large fan base.

Categories ,1001 Nights, ,Aiden Shaw, ,BB Kaye, ,Briony Jose, ,Castle Gibbson, ,dalston, ,Daniel Lismore, ,Fashion Film, ,IMMORTAL, ,Kimberly Ellen Hall, ,Leah Nelson, ,London Fashion Week, ,Mitika Chohan, ,Serpentine Gallery, ,Sigmund Oakeshott, ,Sorapol, ,Sorapol Chawaphatnakul, ,Ste Johnson, ,Stephen Fry, ,Wei Chiung Lin, ,xplusyequals

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Amelia’s Magazine | Hiroko Nakajima: Fashion Scout Ones to Watch, London Fashion Week A/W 2014 Catwalk Review

Hiroko Nakajima A/W 2014 by Emma Farrarons

Hiroko Nakajima A/W 2014 by Emma Farrarons.

Japanese born London based knitwear designer Hiroko Nakajima is another Central Saint Martins graduate with an intriguing approach to fashion design. Her philosophy is that ‘The human body takes a backseat to the graphic, but upon wear, reappears as one with the artwork.’ Her new collection of bodycon cashmere dresses worn with bright tights and classic stilettos was a wonderfully bold celebration of graphics as worn on the body, inspired by the Bauhaus.

Hiroko Nakajima by Slowly The Eggs aka Maria Papadimiriou

Hiroko Nakajima by Slowly The Eggs aka Maria Papadimiriou.

Hiroko Nakajima AW 2014-red dress

Hiroko Nakajima AW 2014-handbag

Hiroko Nakajima AW 2014-green top

Hiroko Nakajima AW 2014-pink bag

Hiroko Nakajima AW 2014-red bag

Hiroko Nakajima AW 2014-red hat

Hiroko Nakajima AW 2014-yellow skirt

Hiroko Nakajima AW 2014-back view

Hiroko Nakajima A/W 2014 by Emma Farrarons

Hiroko Nakajima A/W 2014 by Emma Farrarons.

I love the way that Hiroko Nakajima employs intarsia to create big asymmetric shapes and eye catching slashes of colour. Great curves of knit that draped artfully around the shoulders like Delauney shawls were particularly successful, as were the mini geometric clutch accessories and pointy knitted hats, which could have looked ridiculous but somehow worked beautifully. This is what all knitwear should be like: totally wearable, flattering and so much fun. I had no shortage of illustrators volunteering to draw this collection, and I can see the appeal!

Hiroko Nakajima by Kimberley Ellen Hall

Hiroko Nakajima by Kimberly Ellen Hall.

Hiroko Nakajima AW 2014-portrait

All photography by Amelia Gregory.

Categories ,A/W 2014, ,bauhaus, ,bodycon, ,Cashmere, ,Central Saint Martins, ,Emma Farrarons, ,Fashion Scout, ,Hiroko Nakajima, ,Intarsia, ,Kimberly Ellen Hall, ,knitwear, ,Maria Papadimiriou, ,Ones To Watch, ,review, ,Slowly the Eggs, ,Sonia Delauney

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Amelia’s Magazine | Reports of Snow: an interview with Abe Davies of Reichenbach Falls

Reichenbach Falls_Reports of Snow album_cover

Reports of Snow is the new album by Reichenbach Falls, a collective headed up by singer songwriter Abe Davies, and based out of Oxford, that ever burgeoning hub of musical creativity. The album is chock full of mellow tunes with a tinge of Americana, perfect for those long winter evenings…

Reichenbach Falls portrait

How would you describe the sound of Reports of Snow?
Reports of Snow started out as a solo acoustic record – it was going to be just me and my guitar, with maybe a little keyboard and piano, that kind of thing. But as we worked on the songs we kept thinking ‘this should be an acoustic song, for sure, but maybe with electric guitars, drums, bass, piano‘ … so not really an acoustic song at all! So once we’d decided to let the songs go wherever they wanted to go, we worked on the basis that there should be a sort of approach tying them together, to make sure it remained an album rather than just a collection of songs – every one should have the heart of a fairly simple folk song, and the listener should be able to hear that, but that from there one might go in a pop direction, another in a rock, another in a more arty direction and so on. Which is I guess a long-winded way of saying: I’d describe it as ‘experimental folk-pop-rock‘!

Reichenbach Falls by Amberin Huq

Reichenbach Falls by Amberin Huq. ‘I found whilst listening to the Reichenbach album I was reminded to cold winter mornings by the sea and absence so it was just about finding an image that reflected that feeling I had. I wanted to create something that could be quietly beautiful and quite sparse to accompany the music.’

What are the lingering themes of the album and what inspired them?
Well, I guess the lingering theme would be lost love or something like that. It’s kind of a break-up album, and though a couple of the songs are a little older (written when I was living in St Andrews in Scotland) the vast majority were written over a couple of months after moving to Oxford a couple of years ago. So whereas I think the next record will be a little more wide-ranging in terms of subject-matter, this one’s pretty single-minded. I guess every songwriter has to get a break-up album out of their system every few years, and this is ours. 

Reichenbach Falls by Emma Russell

Reichenbach Falls by Emma Russell. ‘Reichenbach Falls have an outdoorsy, Americana feel that I wanted to echo. Listening to Risky, I liked the idea of escape and the image of the Southern Cross shining.

Where are you from originally and how did you end up here?
My parents came over here from Canada for my dad to train as an actor, so weirdly enough I was born in Wales. But all our family was in Canada still, and after a few years my dad moved back, so we were always back and forth and I lived in Calgary, near the Rocky Mountains, for a while when my dad lived there too. Then I lived in Spain for six months, Norwich, Scotland for a while, now Oxford for the foreseeable … so kind of all round! I consider myself 40% English, 40% Canadian and 20% somewhere in the Atlantic, maybe a little south for warmth. 

Reichenbach Falls by Kimberly Ellen Hall

Reichenbach Falls by Kimberly Ellen Hall.

How does the ‘rotating membership’ of the band work in practice?
The rotating membership is a pain! It’s allowed us to make an album that I’m really proud of, and that I couldn’t possibly have made without the generosity and skill of all these people, but everything takes forever and is a nightmare to organise. On the other hand, I’m super lucky with the talented friends I’ve made over the last couple of years and also with the fact that to play live I don’t necessarily need anybody but me. I’m kind of at the point where if I want to do a show I’ll agree to do it solo, and then if there’s the possibility to add components I’ll see if I want to and then make some calls to if it’s going to work schedule-wise. So having that solo option takes a lot of stress out of the rotating membership. Sorry, are these answers going on forever?? I feel like they are …

Reichenbach Falls tarot shop

Is that Joe Bennett, founder of Truck Festival who you are collaborating with? how did that come about? He gets everywhere!
That is indeed Joe Bennett of Truck fame. And it came about because he’s a friend of mine and does get everywhere … He’s also an incredibly talented and fun guy who lives to play music, so that doesn’t hurt either! He’s a great guy to have around – I ended up playing Y Not Festival with Co-pilgrim, a band that he’s in, and so he joined me for a few songs. That was cool, and I’m sure won’t be the last time. 

Where was the video for Risky shot? it looks suitably depressing and grey…
That was shot in a single take in Jericho in North Oxford – coincidentally, only a few hundred yards from the studio where we made a lot of the album. It was in February, I think, so you get that washed-out light that’s beautiful but sort of sad. Ben Johnston, who conceived and directed it, is also pretty nifty with getting the look just right in post-production – there’s a video for the song Stay Home, Elizabeth that he’s in the process of making with an amazing actress from here in Oxford which is going to be really beautiful, too, I think. I’m really looking forward to seeing it myself!

Who was the dancer and what was her brief, and who is polishing the gun and where did you acquire that from?!!! Looks real…
Actually, the dancer is Breeze Murdoch, a great friend of mine who I met through her husband, Michael de Albuquerque, who co-produced, engineered and mixed the album – and that’s him with the gun at the end, which I think is actually a very realistic, powerful air-rifle. As far as I remember, her brief was to make it feel as if it were a little ‘risky’ just being outside, with all these strange, pretty, dangerous things happening. But she’s both a musician and a professional dancer, so the kind of person to whom you don’t really have to spend a lot of time explaining these things. 

Reports of Snow by Reichenbach Falls is released on 2nd December 2013 through Observatory Records.

Categories ,Abe Davies, ,album, ,Amberin Huq, ,Ben Johnston, ,Breeze Murdoch, ,Calgary, ,canada, ,Co-pilgrim, ,Cornershop, ,Elizabeth, ,Emma Russell, ,Goldrush, ,interview, ,Joe Bennett, ,Kimberly Ellen Hall, ,Little Fish, ,Michael de Albuquerque, ,Observatory Records, ,Oxford, ,Reichenbach Falls, ,Reports of Snow, ,Risky, ,Stay Home, ,Truck Festival, ,Viarosa, ,wales, ,Y Not Festival

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