Vogue Italia

Amelia’s Magazine | Bubble London January 2014 – Kidswear and Babywear Show Report

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Ruff and Huddle tie dye sweat shirt

Last weekend I decided it was high time I found out more about the world of kidswear, so I made my first trip to Bubble London, a major childrenswear fashion trade show that takes place at the Business Design Centre twice a year. There were a huge number of brands on display, so I scooted around as fast as I could, catching up with old favourites and discovering new charms aplenty. Here’s my run down of exciting kidswear, Amelia’s Magazine style. More than a few of these will be available directly from my website when we relaunch; I can’t wait.

Ruff and Huddle sweatsuit girls

Ruff & Huddle came into being just last year, and unsurprisingly they are attracting loads of attention: think cool urban kidswear, with many of the designs put together in collaboration with street artists and illustrators including Zakee Shariff. This was an impressively large new collection, encompassing coats, sweats, embroidered pieces, onesies, tees and much more. Aren’t these two girls in their topknots and matching tie- dye sweatsuits just too damn cool?

Slugs and Snails tights - penguins

It was brilliant to meet Kathleen of Slugs & Snails, the Irish boys’ tights brand that she set up to cater to her own boy’s needs. Just before Christmas she had another boy (so well behaved, he happily lay in his cot as we talked) and has somehow managed to add a number of brilliant new designs to her tights collection as well. I particularly love this penguin design, but you will also find a puzzle design, octopi, umbrellas and more. Slugs & Snails offers the perfect combination of practicality and pattern, so it’s no surprise that I dress Snarfle in their tights every day during the winter. I really can’t get enough of this brand and am very excited that they will feature on the new website’s market place: read my interview with Kathleen Redmond here.

Raspberry Plum kidswear

It was also a pleasure to meet Jenny Mortimer of Kyna Boutique – an online store which stocks some of the best organic baby wear brands around. She was at Bubble London to catch up with some of her brands and judge the Rising Star award: this went to new brand Raspberry Plum by RCA graduate Aleksandra Stasic. The label specialises in the kind of unique tailoring that would not look out of place in an adult wardrobe.

Matthew Bromley print

I must have missed the Anorak Magazine creative sessions but I fell in love with this risograph print on the wall. When I could not locate a credit several people on social media were able to inform me that it’s by Matthew Bromley. Gotta love those dinosaur vibes.

Smafolk kidswear - owl print

Smafolk kidswear print - tractors

Smafolk hanger animals

I am so upset it is not easier to buy Småfolk kidswear in the UK. Thanks to The Killing and The Bridge the Danes have inadvertently pushed a minimalist grey aesthetic on the world, but they are just as good at vivacious brights. I adore the liveliness of their all over prints; even the Småfolk animal hangers rock. Yet again I have to thank my friends on social media for recommendations to buy from these websites if you live in the UK: Juicy Tots, Bebaboo and Emilea.

Mini Melissa cat shoes

I’ve been a Melissa fan for many a year, and have now discovered there are Mini Melissa shoes for little people: with cat faces.

Wild Things dresses, placement patch -house

I want to live in this house! This placement patch print comes on the front of a yellow dress from the new print range by Wild Things dressmaker Kirsty Hartley. Despite operating entirely from a shop on Etsy this brand has deservedly been gaining lots of attention. Truly magical kidswear.

Le Bluu moon and robot print - kidswear

This robot and moon design features on a sweatshirt design from Le Bluu, a Spanish brand focused on the application of new environmentally friendly technologies in garment design. Think futuristic dye techniques, light up panels, sound responsive designs and more!

Holly and Beau colour change anoraks - kidswear

Another Bubble London discovery was the brand new launch collection from the Norwich based graduate siblings behind Holly and Beau. The rockets and spaceships on these anoraks take on colours in the rain. What an incredibly cute and practical idea.

There is now a huge variety of kidswear available on the market and whilst I think it’s madness to spend silly money on ridiculously expensive clothing for children who will quickly outgrow it (ahem, big name designer labels) I’m all for supporting the more reasonably priced independent brands. Why not buy a few key pieces from nice labels as your child grows, thereby spending on quality rather than quantity? I’d also like to recommend our very own local kidswear label, Oh Baby London, based on Brick Lane. Lovely designs, organic materials, and built to last.

Written by Amelia Gregory on Wednesday January 29th, 2014 3:55 pm

Categories ,2014, ,Aleksandra Stasic, ,Anorak Magazine, ,Babywear, ,Bebaboo, ,Brick Lane, ,Bubble London, ,Business Design Centre, ,Emilea, ,etsy, ,fashion, ,Holly and Beau, ,January, ,Jenny Mortimer, ,Juicy Tots, ,Kathleen Redmond, ,Kidswear, ,Kirsty Hartley, ,Kyna Boutique, ,Le Bluu, ,Matthew Bromley, ,Mini Melissa, ,Oh Baby London, ,Raspberry Plum, ,review, ,Rising Star, ,Ruff & Huddle, ,Slugs and Snails, ,Småfolk, ,Trade Show, ,Wild Things, ,Zakee Shariff

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Amelia’s Magazine | Aware: Art Fashion Identity at the Royal Academy

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this web Little Rich Girls, capsule 2010″ src=”http://www.ameliasmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Installation-shot-from-GSK-Contemporary-Aware-Yinka-Shonibare-Little-Rich-Girls-2010-.jpg” alt=”” width=”480″ height=”654″ /> Yinka Shonibare MBE, abortion Little Rich Girls, 2010, Installation shot from GSK Contemporary – Aware: Art Fashion Identity, Commissioned by the London College of Fashion and the Royal Academy of Arts, © The Artist, Photo: Andy Stagg, Courtesy Royal Academy of Arts, London

In 2009, the Royal Academy of Art’s exhibition exploring contemporary art, Earth: Art of a Changing World featured a selection of artists engaging with the physical impacts of Climate Change. For 2010 the Royal Academy turned it’s attention to the subject of identity and clothing in Aware: Art Fashion Identity. Broken down into three segments; Storytelling, Building and Belonging and Confronting, the exhibition endeavors to examine the possibilities provided –as explored by artists and fashion designers- by clothing to reveal and conceal our cultural and physical identity.

A new commission from Yinka Shonibare focused on cultural perceptions of the origin of a cloth usually associated with Africa. Under closer examination, these perceptions turn out to be false. Shonibare’s ghostly installation reveals that the origination of the batik pattern thought to be synonymous with Africa, is in fact Holland. The Dutch pattern makers sold the fabric em masse to Africa, only after a European buyer could not be found.

Yoko Ono, Cut Piece, 1965, A film by Albert and David Maysles of Yoko Ono’s performance of Cut Piece at Carnegie Recital Hall, New York, 21 March 1965, 16mm black-and-white film with sync sound, transferred to DVD, running time 9’ Courtesy of the artist

After entering the Royal Academy via Burlington Arcade and walking up the stairs into the main exhibition space. The audience moves through the three sections in a circular motion; first encountering Storytelling (announced by the presence of an embroidered kimono by Grayson Perry) then Building and finally Belonging and Confronting. The audience departs Aware: Art Fashion Identity via the two of the exhibition’s most interesting works – both of which are nearing 30 years old.

Yoko Ono and Marina Abramovic’s performance pieces lay bare the artifice and cultural constructs which lay at the heart of both fashion and art identity. In the 9 minute video, Marina Abramovic and Ulay stand naked in a gallery doorway, forcing visitors to confront the physicality of the naked body, stripped of it’s adornments. Meanwhile in a video opposite Yoko Ono sits quietly on a stage whilst members of the audience snip her free from the garments of femininity. An exciting introduction to these two artists, it is a shame that more of their work was not included.

The limited inclusion of performance art is a lost opportunity, specifically because the three included pieces (Marina Abramovic Yoko Ono and Cindy Sherman) lend themselves vividly to the concept (i.e. the relationship between our cultural and personal identity and how we are perceived by others) this exhibition was starting to explore.

GSK Contemporary – Aware: Art Fashion Identity
Royal Academy of Arts, 2 December 2010 – 30 January 2011, Marina Abramovi?, Imponderabilia Performance 1977
Galleria Comunale d’Arte, Bologna © Marina Abramovi?. Courtesy of Marina Abramovi? and Sean Kelly Gallery, New York. © DACS 2010
Photo by Giovanna dal Magro

Cindy Sherman’s Paper Doll, an early video piece from the acclaimed artist, which lasts for 2.30 minutes, was located within the first room of the exhibition. In Paper Doll Cindy Sherman questions the accepted popularity of a toy heavily steeped in gender stereotyping: the paper doll. In the piece Sherman reduces herself into an inanimate object whose sole purpose is to decide what to wear depending on that day’s activity. At the end of the film, a hand removes the clothes displaying the doll’s nudity and places her back in her box. An intriguing piece of work, this singular nod does nothing to encourage the exploration of Sherman’s overture, including Untitled, a series of stills in which the artist explored the creation of a particular type of femininity after the rise of the movie.

Cindy Sherman, Doll Clothes 1975, Stills from 16 mm film on DVD, © Cindy Sherman / Sammlung Verbund, Vienna / Sprüth Magers Berlin London

Throughout the exhibition, Aware: Art Fashion and Identity makes rapid nods to artists and fashion designers alike – a single McQueen stands in the corner. Devoid of its context and standing alone within the white walls of the RA the identity of the dress becomes lost. When viewed within an entire collection, this beautiful object becomes a brutal critique on historical and modern notions of femininity.

Alexander McQueen, Autumn Winter 1998: Joan, Photo © Chris Moore, Courtesy of Catwalking

An enjoyable exhibition, though the art appears to be spread too thin and the outcome of which is that interesting ideas are left hanging or barely graspable unless you enter the exhibition with prior knowledge of the artists or fashion designers previous body of work.

The final section of the exhibition explores ideas surrounding Belonging and Confronting. Sharif Waked’s Chic Point places the daily humiliation the Palestinian man undergoes at Israeli checkpoints onto the catwalk. The photographs included at the end were taken by the artist, visualising the moment when clothes cease to become clothes and mutate into something – whether imagined or not – fearful and different.

Sharif Waked, Chic Point, 2003, DVD, running time 5’ 27” Courtesy of the artist, Photo Sharif Waked

Coco Chanel suggestion that we “look for the woman in the dress and if there is no woman, there is no dress” is taken up by Hussein Chalayan’s latest commission. In Son of Sonzai Suri, the fashion designer uses the 300-year-old Japanese tradition of Bunraku puppet theatre to lay bare the hidden puppeteers at the heart of the fashion industry.

Hussein Chalayan, ‘Son’ of Sonzai Suru, 2010, Installation shot from GSK Contemporary – Aware: Art Fashion Identity, Commissioned by the London College of Fashion and the Royal Academy of Arts, © The Artist, Photo: Andy Stagg, Courtesy Royal Academy of Arts, London

Aware: Art Fashion Identity closes with the video pieces of Marina Abramovic and Yoko Ono. With the decision to close the exhibition here, it appears that the critique of identity and femininity stopped in the 70’s. It could have been an interesting experiment to juxtapose 70′s performance art against the catwalk shows of Alexander McQueen or Maison Martin Margiela.

The past few months have been fantastic for those interested in fashion, with a splurge of fashion related exhibitions across the capital, get to the Royal Academy quick before Aware: Art Fashion Identity closes on the 30th January 2011.
Royal Academy, 6 Burlington Gardens, London

Written by Sally Mumby-Croft on Monday January 10th, 2011 3:23 pm

Categories ,6 Burlington Gardens, ,Alexander McQueen, ,Aware: Art Fashion Identity, ,Belonging, ,Cindy Sherman, ,clothes, ,India, ,London College of Fashion, ,marina abramovic, ,Mumbai, ,politics, ,Royal Academy, ,The Body, ,Yinka Shonibare, ,Yoko Ono

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Amelia’s Magazine | An Interview with Photographer Vikram Kushwah

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Looking through Vikram Kushwah‘s dream-like work, it’s clear to see that the New Delhi-born photographer is a real fantasist at heart. Growing up in a boarding school with the enchanting Himalayas as the backdrop, Vikram’s childhood and love for all things magical has clearly influenced his work today.

Vikram Kushwah Photography
All photography by Vikram Kushwah

Vikram moved to London just three years ago and his career is already proving successful. With three critically acclaimed exhibitions under his belt, not to mention an international artist award and interest from the likes Vogue Italia, big things are predicted for Vikram Kushwah. I caught up with the ambitious photographer to find out a little bit more about his work and the inspiration behind his current book project Memoirs of a Lost Time, a collaboration with writer, Trisha Sakhlecha.

Vikram Kushwah by Estelle Morris
Vikram Kushwah Illustration by Estelle Morris

What first inspired you to start taking pictures?

The fact that photography is a direct representation of reality, yet it almost never fails to lie. It does so by allowing you to stage a setting, something that reality doesn’t allow you to do. It just exists and takes shape on its own. There’s this tension that I’ve always associated with photography and reality. You think of something and a picture is like a memento you keep, to remind you of your thoughts.

Vikram Kushwah Photography

You grew up in a boarding school in the Himalayas. How does your background inspire your work today?

It was a very big school and I had a lot of free time to explore and to read children’s storybooks. I took the stories as real happenings since there was nobody there to tell me otherwise. I was also close to nature and a bit of a dreamer; I was bound to be growing up in a place like that. Every Sunday I would watch tadpoles in a pond for hours, waiting for ‘papa frog’ to turn up and make a big splash.

Students were given a lot of freedom to discover themselves in this way. I saw magic and sorcery as real life, holding a very strong bond with wildlife and the natural world. When I studied the mystery filled art of Surrealism and the romantics’ pastoral, it took me right back to my childhood. Each of these elements play a strong part in my work today; some conscious and some sub-conscious.

Vikram Kushwah Photography

How much of your Indian heritage can be found in your work?

None. My formative years, from when I was two up until sixteen, were spent in a boarding school. Although it was in India it was a typically English school, maybe because it was founded by an English lady during the British rule during 1937. Though I come from a very traditional Indian family, my roots actually took shape at school where I spent two-thirds of every year since I was thirteen.

Vikram Kushwah Photography

What encouraged you to move to London?

It has to be the rich art and cultural heritage of Britain. The exposure, the opportunities to progress, innovate and transform, the resources to learn, the vast open country. All of this creates, within me, a mental space from where I can continue to grow as a photographer and artist.

Vikram Kushwah Photography

Do you think living in London has inspired your work in any way?

There’s so much for this ‘mental space’ to soak up here. The English countryside takes me back to my school days, back to my storybooks about pastoral landscapes and wooden cottages surrounded by forests and meadows, peasants and farmers. I keep looking for a tumbling Alice, ghoulish wolves and evil stepmothers; I sometimes do find them.

Vikram Kushwah Photography

Earlier this year you shot the photography for Hairspray: The musical. What was it like working with team behind the production?

It was a totally new experience. I enjoyed the rehearsals as much as I enjoyed photographing the play. I was left on my own and given complete freedom, and I really enjoyed the space on the balcony where I shot from. The atmosphere was exceptional and one could really see the hard work being put in by the very young actors and crew. By the end of it I knew all the lines by heart!

Vikram Kushwah Photography

Your work tends to combine both elements of fine art and fashion editorial; is there one medium you most enjoy?

There’s a definite crossover no matter how much I want to pull them apart. I have these peculiar ideas and strange stories in my head, which inform my pictures, and they never escape the thought of fashion. Not just in terms of clothing, but also in the sense of time and place. For example, there was this one picture that I only wanted shot with a certain type of Peter Pan collar. Afterwards I knew the picture wouldn’t have worked without it.

There are lots of elements in my photos that act as pieces of information about my work. Fashion is essentially one of them. The information is subject to interpretation and that’s when the mind starts to wander and stories begin to take shape.

Vikram Kushwah Photography

What is the story behind Ofelea?

The Ofelea series is a portrait of my imagination and memories, often twisted by the dark underlying layers of the storybooks I read as a child. The series of pictures is a juxtaposition of the Freudian concept The Uncanny; the constantly recurring mysterious environments in the Surrealist art movement and reconstructions of my distant childhood imagination.

There is an interesting story behind the name ‘Ofelea’. To begin with, my Ofelea had nothing to do with Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Ophelia is in fact the protagonist of one of my favourite films, Pan’s Labyrinth; this is what originally drew me to the name. During the research stage of my project, I studied both romantic and surrealist art. Here I came across the famous painting Ophelia by English painter John Everett Millais, a co-founder of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. I learnt that Millais‘ drowning of Ophilea was a depiction of Shakespeare’s very own character, thus bringing all three Ophelias (very co-incidentally) into the equation.

Vikram Kushwah Photography

What was the inspiration behind your new book Memoirs of a Lost Time?

This book project was actually Trisha’s idea. She knows my work really well and we both draw inspiration from similar aspects – escapism, daydreams and so on. We all know what clothes designers make, what song musicians write, but we wanted to know more about the formative days of such creative individuals: the elements of childhood that ultimately inspire their work today. So we set about capturing the memories of their bygone days in our own dream-like style. They themselves feature in the photographs, though nothing too defined. We’ve left the images open-ended – just like dreams and fading memory – yet there’s a strong flavour to each story.

Each chapter takes you into the personal and never seen before world of our subjects, presenting photographs, a short story and an insightful interview. Each section weaves in and out of reality where you begin to drift into a realm of imaginative possibilities, yet always remaining attached to the facts that were. It’s a representation of not only what was, but also a very whimsical take on what could have been.

Vikram Kushwah Photography

What was it like working with Trisha Sakhlecha?

In a way it’s like working with myself. We share a common paradigm in terms of aesthetics. We’re the best of friends too, which always helps. We can rubbish each others’ ideas without hesitation and more importantly the process of storytelling and taking pictures doesn’t feel like work to us; it feels like we’re in a trance. We definitely compliment each other well: she’s the more organised one, whereas I can lift heavy things. It’s a balance.

What can we expect to see next from you?

Memoirs of Lost Time; it’s only half complete. There are some real surprises yet to come in the forthcoming chapters. We’re hoping to release the book mid-2012.
Oh and Vogue Italia are also interested! They’re publishing one of my photographs in their January 2012 issue, featuring London-based fashion designer Elizabeth Lau.

Exciting times lie ahead!

Vikram Kushwah Vogue Italia

Written by Sarah Deane on Thursday December 8th, 2011 3:38 pm

Categories ,art, ,books, ,elizabeth lau, ,Estelle Morris, ,Freudian, ,Hairspray: The Musical, ,Hamlet, ,Himalayas, ,India, ,John Everett Millais, ,london, ,Memoirs of a lost Time, ,Ophelia, ,Pan’s Labyrinth, ,photography, ,Sarah Deane, ,Shakespeare, ,Surrealist Art, ,Trisha Sakhlecha, ,Vikram Kushwah, ,Vogue Italia

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