Set in the basement beneath the Rich Mix Studios, It’s About Time exhibits five women artists, all originating from the Arab world and now living in Britain.
KENZO release 2015 spring/summer campaign
By Alyss Bowen
Parisian fashion house KENZO joins forces with the artists from Toilet Paper Magazine on their fourth collaboration for their spring/summer 2015 ultramodern advertising campaign.
Released in three chapters, Toilet Paper created a cityscape scene with a nod to the future through over-saturated vibrant colours and geometric designs.
Captured by the Toilet Paper collective, photographer Pierpaolo Ferrari, artist Maurizio Cattelan and art director Micol Talso. The campaign lends inspiration from the bright and futuristic, showing an optimistic paradise where the models run riot.
The first chapter shows the two ‘hero’, models Mona Matsuoka and Qing He, in their modern, concrete jungle. The simplest of the three chapters we are able to see the real essence of KENZO, with the new collection showcased effortlessly.
The second chapter portrays a magical, mysterious playground. The two heroes stomp through the high-tech city, with their giant like limbs, grabbing buildings and asteroids and imitating puppet shows with KENZO accessories.
The third and final chapter is based upon a child’s fantasy. Toilet Papercreated a 3D origami world in which the KENZO kids play with dinosaurs, skate on planets and explore the waters of a secret island.
The spring/summer campaign is instantly recognizable as a KENZOadvertisement. The consistently modern brand reflects both the bright and the future through their collaboration with Toilet Paper.
It sits perfectly in between being a piece of fashion advertisement, and artist reflection and showcases their men’s, women’s and children’s spring/summer collection in an animated dream.
XIMON LEE : Winner of the H&M Design Award
Recent Parsons graduate Ximon Lee, real name Simon Dongxing Lee, winner of this year’s H&M Design Award is a promising new design talent - and a name to familiarise yourself with in 2015.
The 24-year-old New York based designer that grew up in Hong Kong, China, made history at the end of last month at Stockholm’s annual fashion week as he became the first U.S, and first menswear designer to win the prestigious Design Award, chosen from 400 applicants by an international jury in London.
In a statement the young designer said: "The H&M Award means so much to me at the beginning of my career - I cannot imagine how I'd start my own label without it.” H&M have previously collaborated with international fashion houses including Alexander Wang, Maison Martin Margiela and Isabel Marant.
Pushing the boundaries of menswear with his big cuts, architectural shapes and denim textiles, Lee had previously been noted as one of the New York designers to watch after winning Parsons Menswear Designer of the Year award in 2014. His graduation collection explored the contrast between synthetic and organic textures, inspired by the documentary titled “Children of Leningradsky”.
“Oversized, ill-fitted and layered clothes on these orphans are keys to survive in cold Russian winter. However, the unexpected mixture of materials and the contrast between synthetic and organic textures from these found clothes are pieces of art and love.” Lee said on the collection.
The designer is now concentrating on launching his own menswear label. He takes home the €50,000 prize fund, and gains a period of mentorship which will offer an opportunity to develop select pieces from his line for sale globally at H&M beginning October of this year.
BRIAN CALVIN: The Physiognomy of Comfortable Lethargy
As the decade of “status updates” and “selfies” passes in the name of social-media’s ebullient narcissism, Brian Calvin’s works accentuate the perturbing boredom of a population affected by endemic self-awareness.
Born and raised in California, Calvin is a master of mischievous “pausing-as-an-activity” portraits, his work becoming synonymous with the sun-drenched sands and relaxed lifestyle of Los Angeles. Hyper-exposed, bleary-eyed youths with glossy lips and crooked teeth pose for an unseen observer against the backdrop of what Calvin describes as “generalized glimpses of the California coast”.
Mastering a unique proficiency of composition in his portraits, Calvin assembles scenery, features, and expressions to loiter indecisively between states of abstraction and figuration. Thus, the characters of Calvin’s colourful eye-candy portraiture manage to all but evade narrative traits. What remains, captures centre stage nameless, story-less characters with provocatively parted lips and “dents du Bonheur”, suggestive of playful lasciviousness. Conjuring up images of Brigitte Bardot and Sophia Loren there is something profound and subtly charged about the spirit of melancholia, which permeates the seemingly vain and conceited faces of Calvin’s portraits. Simultaneously an intense sense of innocence and an aura of present-mindedness coat the colourful imagery.
Despite the chronicler’s manifestation in modernist figurative painting, which some might be excused for considering a cynical distortion in the name of narrative content, Calvin’s quietly disconcerting style has a more sincere quality. Rather than a caricature of form and figure, Calvin’s work muses the conundrum of a society, in which, consciously or not, we endeavour to influence the perceptions of others. Whether “stoic or stoned” Calvin’s aloof and emotionally cool characters imply a rampant monotony of selfie-culture and the increasing lack of human relations within it. Yet Calvin’s choice of colour and form covers the gloomy message of his subjects in an icing so delicious, the spectator is at risk of missing it entirely. And despite little or no sign of communication in his portraits, the close-ups display a sense of relaxed comfort within their environment and the unidentified spectator. Despite the grip of a “selfie-self-love-culture”, there is something decidedly comforting, uplifting even, about Brian Calvin’s enchantingly self-aware young subjects.
Colour block: What’s trending for SS15?
1970s revival: Retro tones - warm oranges, reds, yellows and greens.
French-Japanese fashion label Maison Kitsuné presents its FW15 collection in Paris
The Maison Kitsuné brand was born out of a very interesting fusion. With an exotic background mix, this French-Japanese label showcased its Fall/Winter 2015 K.I.M collection last week in Paris
The timeless luxury leather designer ÚNA BURKE
Designer and Artist, Úna Burke is a multi-award winning leather sculptor in the fashion world. Burke achieved her masters at the prestigious Cordwainer’s College at the London College of Fashion, and her graduate collection won the 2009 Design Awards for ‘Best Static Collection’.
I am Dora x LSFF: ‘Is it Peculiar That She Twerk In The Mirror?’
I am Dora is a curatorial initiative exploring how women interact and identify with one another through film
Spooky Black aka Corbin feat. Psymun at Birthdays, Dalston
An hour and a half before the show, I overhear the crowd queuing for Spooky Black and Psymun in front of Birthdays in Dalston, discussing how fast the tickets to his show sold out back in December – in a mere two hours, my friend tells me, as the entire line of casual yet cool people await in the cold to see Soundcloud sensation Spooky Black, now known by his real name Corbin. Some people have even come up all the way from Brighton and even Germany, and the excitement is palpable in the air, as this is one of Corbin’s only dates in Europe.
Corbin, an American teenager whose music video Without U went viral back in 2014, is, to put it simply, impressive on the stage. Rather than make use of superficial sounds and take detours in his music, he delves deep into the songs of his latest album, Black Silk, and his EP Leaving. Covering also Radiohead’s Weird Fishes/Arpeggi, Corbin delivers everything that his online presence promises – a bizarre, yet sensuous show that doesn’t care what you think. It is too busy being good to care.
Paired with the exceptional Psymun on the guitar, the atmosphere quickly shifts from warm and impatient to a haze of dancing bodies slowly entering a trance. Corbin also sings a song which he will ‘never release’, a mixture of a funky, groovy tune and chilled R’n’B – not exactly a departure from his dreamy, sleepy-like songs, but still quite different. It’s touching, gentle, fresh, new and probably one of the most promising sounds of the year.
This is an artist who leaves you thinking ‘this is what music should be about’ after every track: restless young people changing the face of music without artifices, bringing us back to the days of the dark’n’dirty gigs in the basements of dubious venues. A small and dark room of sweaty, scantily-clad bodies chanting desolate tunes and jumping up and down when hearing their favourite song come up (the crowd responded amazingly to every song, and the climax came when he finally performed Without U).
Corbin’s stage presence was perfect, and although unpretentious it came off as shy – he remained simple on stage, with no dramatic lighting or smoke, which turned out to be a smooth decision since it allowed him to deliver everything in his songs. At his peak, his performance was ethereal, anxious, perfect, thrilling, gentle and ferocious at the same time – it’s not Spooky anymore, it’s Corbin and we’re glad he’s owning up to his talent. His voice suddenly enriches all the possibilities of R’n’B and makes you wonder why he isn’t a much bigger deal – because he should.
Corbin’s gig was a haunting siren’s call for the deepest parts of us –the longing, the yearning, and the beautiful. Atmospheric, and slightly erotic (as all good music is), his ghost-like voice is complimented by the excellent Psymun, who, although always there, is sometimes not given enough credit. Corbin takes his music seriously –just the way he languorously clutches at the microphone, eyes half closed and pushing himself to deliver on certain parts of a song.
The show was definitely a must-see and one that remained flawless, and we cannot wait to follow his next steps – Corbin is heading in the right direction.