Varon magazine vol. 11

varon

Winter/Spring 15 -16Vol.11

eS E 5.50it E 5.50

Fr E 8gB £5.00

USA $10.99

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3 avril 2015, ParisAdrien Sahores photographié par Karim Sadli

Boutique en ligne : defursac.fr

Varon-DPQ-450x280.indd All Pages 06/11/15 11:01

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U S C I F I F W 1 5

VA R O N 8

Gelatin silver print

Contents

VA R O N 9

11

Masthead

13

Contributors

14

Collections a/w 2015

26

Time Square

32

Out Of Hours

38

The Clue

44

Grayscale

Saint Laurent Accesories

48

Opinion:

Ramblings From Paris

50

Lixo

52

Darkstar

54

Sean Nicholas Savage

56

Devon Welsh

58

Smiler:

Photographs Of London

64

Tracksuit Nation

72

Alex Mullins

78

Daniel Fletcher

89

DSquared2

79

Paul Smith

107

Glaswegians

118

Hundred And twenty

133

Sculptures Of Remain

142

Stockist

VA R O N 1 0


EDiTORS iN CHiEF

Hugo Lavín

Nacho Pinedo

CREATiVE DiRECTiON

Lavín / Pinedo

EDiTOR

Nazanin Shahnavaz

DESiGN

Jorge Zarco

Printed in Spain by Gramagraf

Distributed by Export Press Paris +33 1 40 29 15 51 [email protected]

iSSN 2171–6439 - Dep.Leg.: VG 66–2010

No part of the publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means

Copyright 2015 VARON

Cover: Connor Newall in shirt Alexander McQueen; jacket Dior Homme; trousers McQ

Photography Charlotte Hadden; Styling Hugo Lavín

V a r o n V o l . 1 1

Studio 1 - 171 Riversdale Road N5 2SU London, England

Calle Pedro Muguuruza, 8 - 28036, Madrid Spain

Advertising [email protected] - www.varonmag.com

CONTRibUTiNG FASHiON EDiTORS

Hamish Wirgman

John Alexander Skelton

Mari David

Michael Darlington

Natalia bengoechea

CONTRibUTiNG PHOTOGRAPHERS

Alex Franco

baker and Evans

Charlotte Hadden

Dham Srifuengfung

Gareth O’Connell

Kim Jakobsen To

Lonny Spence

Nacho Pinedo

Piczo

Rosaline Shahnavaz

Ryan Skelton

Sarah O’Drisoll

CONTRibUTiNG WRiTERS

Hynam Kendall

James brown

Johnny Utley

Kate Eringer

Matt Williams

Simon Frank

Tom Hannah

Tom Richard Hart

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varon

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Hamish wirgman

Hamish is a London based,

Winchester raised, London

born stylist. His work stems

from Casualism and how

this can be defined and

decontextualised

to create new meanings

and futures.

Nazanin Shahnavaz

introducing Nazanin Shahnavaz,

the new editor of Varón Maga-

zine. A journalist from London,

Nazanin covers fashion, music

and culture and has worked for

publications such as Under the

influence Magazine, where she

held the title as Music Editor,

and Tank Magazine where she

wrote and produced across the

group’s print, digital and agency

platforms. She now contributes

to Dazed Digital and broad-

ly and when she’s not putting

pen to paper, Nazanin runs a

creative agency with her sister

Rosaline and moonlights as a

DJ playing international gigs,

label parties and festivals.

Contributors

Lonny Spence

born in Vancouver Canada

Lonny had been living in London

for 12 years. Having studied

photography in high school he

made the move to Europe to

assist some of the industry’s

biggest names. A long time

contributor to Varon his

timeless style portrays

menswear in a calm and

confident way. He recently

married his long time girlfrend

and lives in Hackney with his

two cats.

Hynam Kendall

Hynam Kendall is a London-

based writer and consultant

for luxury brands. His Art,

Design and Architecture writing

has featured in titles including

Architecture+, Frame,

Dazed&Confused and The

London Review and he has

curated and hosted design

debates in galleries

internationally. His fashion

writing has featured in Esquire,

AnOther Man, Wonderland,

Rollacoaster, Ponystep and

Dazed&Confused.

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1 4 1t o t o t t e n h a l l

r o a d

p H o t o g r a p H y

S t y L I N g

P i c z o

H u g o L a v i n

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Craig Green

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Alexander Mcqueen

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JW Anderson

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Lou Dalton

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Matthew Miller

Paul Smith

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Astrid Andersen

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Vivienne Westwood

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Casely-Hayford

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Christopher Shannon

Hair Gary Gill usinG

Wella Professionals

Model William linton

at Tomorrow is Another Day

Hair Assistant rob CzlaPka

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E.Tautz

T i m e S q u a r e


S t y L I N g

B a k e r a n d e v a n s

J o H n a L e x a n d e r s k e Lt o n

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VA R O N 2 7

Previus pageWatch by

iWC SCHAFFHAUSEN Da Vinci automatic; vintage French shirt

Watch by ROLEX Prince Cellini;

vintage French shirt

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Watch by TAG HEUER Monaco calibre 12 automatic 34mm; shirt stylist’s own

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Watch by PiAGET Emperador; vintage French shirt

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Watch by bREGUET Heritage; vintage French shirt

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Watch by PARMiGiANi Kalpatraphs;

vintage French shirt

set design SARiANNE PLAiSANT

model ADNAN at HiRED HANDS

styling assistant RYAN SKELTON

O U T o f H O U R S


S t y L I N g

W i L L c o r r y

J o H n a L e x a n d e r s k e Lt o n

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Jacket and shirt by E. Tautz;

latex scarf by ATSUKO KUDO;earring by ACNE

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Jacket by HENRY POOLE;shirt by bROOKS bROTHERS;necklace by bUNNYcollar by JOANNA LARK

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Shirt and tie by EDWARD SEXTON;

scarf by iSSEY MiYAKE;

earring by PiETER

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Jacket and waistcoat by bROOKS bROTHERS;collar by JOANNA LARK;coffee spoon by JW ANDERSON:gloves by LOEWE

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Jacket by CASELY HAYFORD;

shirt by bROOKS bROTHERS;

tie by RiCHARD JAMES;

necklace by VERSACE;

scarf by LOUiS VUiTTON;

mask by JOANNA LARK

Grooming REbECCA CHANG

ModelJOE FRAMPTON

@supa model Management

Phtography Assitant JOSH COOPERStyling assitant

RYAN SKELTON

T h e C l u e

VA R O N 3 8

p a j a m a s

Come a s You Are

S t y L I N g


H u g o L a v i n

L o n n y s P e n c e r

Spring/Summer 2016 will see the launch of Alex Mullin’s holiday-inspired collection. Continuing

to explore storytelling through apparel, this season the NewGen recipient seeks to capture the

notion of “All holidays ever.” It is an abstract concept, which he translates through poetic narrative

and his signature painterly graphics. He writes about a euphoric journey that takes him

on a “scorched” and “zooming” car ride to a party, where “warm knees touch” and “flowers start to open”.

Manifesting into a white wardrobe of cottons and denim, the relaxed, almost untailored silhouettes

of the collection become a canvas for the designer. Mullins transforms memories of crumbling

graffiti walls and tourist markets into swirling brushstrokes, whilst speckles of sunlight

become pockets spotted over the garments. During his preparations for London Collections

Men, we spoke to Mullins to find out more about the inspiration behind his SS16 collection.

VA R O N 3 9

knitwear and pyjamas by A.P.C;

turtleneck by FALKE;

apron stylist’s own; boots by

UMbRO

knitwear by ADOLFO DOMiNGUEZ; knitwear over his shoulders by ADOLFO DOMiNGUEZ; turtleneck by FALKE; apron stylist’s own

VA R O N 4 1

knitwear by DSQUARED2;

knitwear over his shoulders by

ADOLFO DOMiNGUEZ; apron stylist’s own;

pyjamas by bROOKS bROTHERS;

boots by UMbRO

knitwear by ADOLFO DOMiNGUEZ; turtleneck by FALKE

hair ALEXANDER SOLTERMANN using bumble & bumblemodel JACK Lat TOMORROW iS ANOTHER DAY

VA R O N 4 2

When it comes to fashion in countercultu-

re, biker jackets, parkas and Dr. Martens

boots usually come to mind. However,

a new garment is resurfacing: paja-

mas. Made stylish by the likes of James

Franco circa Freaks and Geeks or Kurt

Cobain, who famously wore checked blue

pajamas to his wedding, a renaissance

of the 90s grunge pajamas is under way.

The modern update can be seen in the

layering: rollnecks worn underneath silk

or satin sets or heavy cable knits thrown

on top, revealing only an unassuming

striped sleeve. it has grunge sentiment

whilst remaining svelte; a sturdy leather

or denim jacket and sneakers seals the

look and renders it an outfit. Though a

step away from wearing sweats, collec-

tions by Dries Van Noten, Louis Vuitton,

A.P.C and Daniel Fletcher confirm that

this pervading catwalk trend is appro-

priate outside the bedroom. it maintains

the “don’t give a damn” look without

looking like a sluggard. it’s i-Just-Rolled-

Out-Of-bed in the best possible way.

B y

k a t e e r i n g e r

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GRAYSCALE

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S t y L I N g


n a t a L i a B e n g o e c H e a

n a c H o P i n e d o

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All clothes by SAiNT LAURENT;

swimwear stylist own

Model GAbi SAHHAR at

TOMORROW iS ANOTHER DAY

digital workLUCÍA DAKOTA

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ramblings from Paris


VA R O N 4 9

From tHe runWay to tHe retaiLer

t E X t

J a m e s B r o W n

This has never been more prevalent than in the women’s Spring/Summer 2016 Ready-To-Wear collections. The fanfare shifted focus away from the collections and onto Simon Porte Jac-quemus leading a white horse across a stage, roaring motorbikes riding around the courtyard at Faculté de Médecine Paris Descartes before the start of A.F Vandevorst, and women strapped as backpacks at Rick Owens. is this really where we are at with fashion? Perhaps it’s the cynic in me, but the pressure of this relentless production cycle is really starting to show; it not only dilutes the integrity of the designer’s work but it im-pacts the industry as a whole.

For the retailer, this translates into a constant flow of products, which can be good for some and bad for others. For bricks and mortar stores, this cycle makes no sense. Deliveries are now ei-ther too early or too late; next season’s products arrive at the start of sale pe-riods and late runway deliveries land when the season is coming to an end.

This accelerated cycle suits e-tailers very well, whose biggest priority is ge-tting the product in as early as possible and hopefully before their competitors. Even if it means silk and linen in win-ter and heavy wools in the summer, it doesn’t matter so long as they are win-ning the “distribution race”, months ahead of the physical shops.

having spent the last seven years traveling back and forth to Paris in search of fresh ideas for men’s and women’s fashion, all that seems left now is a huge void of inspiration and creativity.Gone are the times where designers would let the

quality of their garments be the talking point of the shows. Gone is the concept of the “stand out pieces”, replaced instead with the spectacle of turning the runway into a stage for theatrics.

Nonetheless there are refuges from the-se industry pressures; some brands and shops are choosing to take a different path, one that is more sustainable and built on respect for each other’s busines-ses. Take Geoffrey. b. Small as an exam-ple, one visit to his humble showroom in Paris and you will be blown away by the level of creativity he dedicates into building a collection. Each season re-quires months of in-depth research and technical skill; every piece is carefully handmade, intelligently thought out and executed. The designer also implements a selective stock strategy, which sees his collection in no more than two sto-res per city. His strict no sale-reduction policy ensures that his garments always maintain their value. it’s a bold state-ment for a designer, but it demonstra-tes that he stands by his work even if an item of clothing is from ten seasons ago. At Hostem, this is an ethos we can support. Having worked with Small for six years, we still display items from his very first collection with us. it is a remin-der that there are other options and that longevity and genuinely timeless pro-ducts can still exist.

Though clichéd, as Oscar Wilde once said, “Fashion is merely a form of ugli-ness so absolutely unbearable that we have to alter it every six months”. but does it have to be altered so frequently? An idealistic thought, but perhaps one worth considering. if fashion’s seminal institutions cannot keep up, then is it not time to reevaluate?

Take Raf Simons’ recent departure from Dior as an example. After three brief but formative years at the helm, Simons took his last bow shortly after he expres-sed concern with the speed of fashion in an interview with Cathy Horn for Sys-tem Magazine: “The problem is when you have only one design team and six collections, there is no more thinking time. And i don’t want to do collections where i’m not thinking.”

Simons, like all creatives, needs time for his ideas to develop, but with the current state of the “machine”, he says, there is no incubation time, which for him is very important. “When you try an idea, you look at it and think, hmm, let’s put it away for a week and think about it later. but that’s never possible when you have only one team working on all the co-llections.” Unable to find the necessary time to realise his work properly and unwilling to accept mediocrity during his time at the house, he rejected the incessant production cycle and made a dignified exit at the height of his career.

VA R O N 5 0

nightclubbing, we’re nightclubbing.

L i x o

GetMe! is a London-based record label and club night founded by Alex Hislop, a twenty-eight-year-old producer and d.j. who goes by the name Lixo. in 2006, Hislop began GetMe! as an alternati-ve electronic night, in a small room at The Globe in Ladbroke Grove, not far from where he grew up. “it’s [The Glo-be] a pretty dodgy venue,” recalls His-lop. “There were in-house dealers, no set opening hours, and girl’s handbags would systematically get stolen by the management, i think.” Home to the an-nual Notting Hill Carnival and many of London’s underground music scenes since the 1960’s, the area is rich in cultural and musical history and made the perfect backdrop for Hislop, wholooked to provide an eclectic offering.inspired early on by producers J Dilla and Premier, who committed their ca-reers to redefining the limits of hip hop; GetMe! became a vehicle for Hislop to explore the boundaries of electronic music. “i like to think GetMe! is eclectic, whilst retaining a certain tone that all the music shares,” says Hislop. “We’re not trying to be specific and that’s a reflection of my own taste and who we book at the club night.” by shifting away from genre specificity, Hislop’s headli-ners have ranged from The xx to Congo Natty, King Krule, SbTRKT, Nguzun-guzu, Kode 9, Trim and Julio bashmore.

Across the city, East London be-came home to a new generation of creative industries during this period and a burgeoning nightlife followed shortly after. “The London club scene felt really exciting back in 2006,” says Hislop. “There were loads of warehou-se parties, lots of music scenes were emerging and it was the beginning of things not being so genre focused.” His-lop eventually migrated GetMe! across town to Haggerston, launched the label with releases from Slime, beco-ming Real, Kit Grill, Dam Mantle, and landed a residency at the acclaimed London-based internet station NTS.

Now, after almost a decade at the helmof GetMe!, Hislop releases his debut EP, Gloomer, admitting to have been quietly

working on material all the while. “i’ve always wanted to make music, but i kept on thinking what i was making wasn’t good enough and preempting what kind of reception it might get. i realised thou-gh, you should make music for yourself rather than focus on any expectations.”

Produced over a period of six months, Hislop describes the EP as “melancho-lic”, explaining that the title sets the tone for the mood. “it was a working tit-le, almost tongue in cheek but i think it works. it’s a moody EP, definitely a cul mination of the past half a year or so.”Following suit to GetMe!’s exploratory ethos, Gloomer meanders through the landscape of electronic music, harnes-sing soft textures that touch on house, techno and electronica. The results are sumptuous and emotive; filled with soaring, melodic synth work, glitchy beats and detuned vocal chops, crea-ting intimate dance music.

For 2016, Hislop plans to work on new music and has two new signees for the GetMe! imprint. Looking further ahead, he hopes to develop the self-funded label over time; “i want to help new artists but GetMe! is still a DiY ope-ration, in many ways the better for it because i don’t have to compromi-se what it is we do or how we evolve.”

“the London club scene felt really exciting back

in 2006. there were loads of warehouse parties, lots of music scenes were emerging

and it was the beginning of things

not being so genre focused.”

VA R O N 5 1


t E X t

W i L L c o r r y

t o m H a n n a H

L i x o “Gloomer” by Lixo is out now on GetMe!

VA R O N 5 2

h i t t h e n o r t h

D a r k s t a r

To an outsider, life in Manchester could seem fundamentally similar to life in London. Part of what makes listening to Darkstar so interesting is how they acknowledge the distinction between north and south, then nonchalantly toss differences aside in the very next mo-ment. The duo of writer/producer James Young and singer/producer Aiden Wha-lley both hail from the post-industrial north of England but have been based in affluent London for more than a decade.

Darkstar have always sat on the edge of scenes, both musical and geographic. Their early singles emerged on Hyper-dub, the London label run by Kode9 and known for releasing the most in-teresting music on the blurry edges of dubstep. Yet their 2010 debut album was simply titled North and placed at its centerpiece a cover of a song by She-ffield synth-pop innovators Human Lea-gue, revealing a direct pop impulse in their music and interests not necessa-rily tied to self-consciously ‘cutting-ed-ge’ electronic music in the capital. Their third and latest album, Foam island, combines these two strands; though

the bulk of recording was done at their studio in London, a key element of the album are the interviews conducted with residents of Huddersfield, a fa-ding industrial town in West Yorkshire, northern England. They wanted to cap-ture the current state of the north, “We thought it was important to document peoples’ opinion in 2015 and portray it in a way that was as honest as possible.”

Therefore Foam island is more than just a token political album in the United Kingdom’s age of austerity. Rather than presenting their perspective as objecti-ve, Darkstar lets the people of Hudders-field speak for themselves about pover-ty and governmental neglect, samples from the interviews scattered around the album. A man at the end of “inherent of the Fibre” talks about crime on his street but seems relieved to be discus-sing it with the duo, while in “Through the Motions” a young woman laments not going to university.

Musically things are complicated too. “There’s northern connotations and subject matter, but musically it’s diffi-cult to pinpoint,” admit the duo. As with their previous work, Grime, a genre in-nately tied to London, remains a strong touch point. The pinging, pointillistic synths and rimshot clicks of lead single “Pin Secure” call to mind classic grime productions by the likes of Wiley. “Gri-me for us is the most important thing to come and influence us. it’s constant in everything we do. it’s irresistible becau-se it’s relentless in energy,” they enthu-se, sharing memories of legendary club night FWD>> when it was still at its original home of the now defunct East London venue Plastic People.

Darkstar references these sounds whi-le drawing them into new territory, ra-ther than just trying to create tracks for MCs. Much of the album’s construction may be electronic, but between Wha-lley’s breathy, melodic vocals and a certain off-kilter propulsion the music also recalls wiry guitar pop. While they weren’t necessarily going for a live feel, “All types of synths and live drums were

“DaILy LIfE IS poLItIcaL.

WE WaNtED to coNvEy HoW EvEryDay LIfE SItS SIDE By SIDE WItH poLItIcS

aND WaLKS HaND IN HaND WItH It.”

VA R O N 5 3


t E X t

r y a n s k e Lt o n

s i m o n F r a n k

recorded then whittled down to what got on the album,” creating varied organic textures that match the mu-sic’s theme. Like the album title, Foam island seems at once tropical and bleak, pop melodies balanced with fo-reboding ambient intros and outros.

However, Darkstar are more optimistic now than when they finished writing the album, around the time the Conservati-ve Party grabbed an election victory in May. if not providing all the answers, the Jeremy Corbyn’s victory in Labour Party leadership contest “has shown that the-re is hope for left leaning politics here in the UK.” And ultimately Foam island reaches beyond political distinctions of parties and leaders. “Daily life is politi-cal” the duo insists, linking the everyday stories of their music and the interviews to broader issues. “We wanted to convey how everyday life sits side by side with politics and walks hand in hand with it.”

“Fo a m Is la nd” by Da rks t a r

i s out n ow o n Wa rp

“DaILy LIfE IS poLItIcaL.

WE WaNtED to coNvEy HoW EvEryDay LIfE SItS SIDE By SIDE WItH poLItIcS

aND WaLKS HaND IN HaND WItH It.”

VA R O N 5 4

i’m a freak, wild and free

t E X t

t o m r i c H a r d H a r t


r o s a L i n e s H a H n a v a z

VA R O N 5 5

i’m a freak, wild and free

S e a n N i c h o l a s S a v a g e

Singer-songwriter Sean Nicholas Sava-ge is a self-confessed “freak” from Edmonton, the provincial capital of Al-berta, in western Canada that also gave rise to Mac DeMarco, Purity Ring and Cadence Weapon. And, like most aspi-ring creatives from the region, who ge-nerally head west to Vancouver or east to Montréal, Savage chose the latter and set himself up in Québec’s creati-ve heart. There he found a place in the city’s musical scene by the way of Lab Synthèse, a DiY arts space, which la-ter evolved into Arbutus Records, the label that helped launch his career and those of Grimes, Doldrums and Maji-cal Cloudz during the late-noughties.

Seven years on and a staggering ten albums of raw R&b infused soft-pop la-ter, Savage resurfaces from recording in L.A. with his latest LP, Other Death. Known for his searing romantic sensi-bilities, Other Death bursts and bends with energy and emotion as Savage ba-res his heart once more via faster tem-pos, groovier grooves and simplified lyricism. “i didn’t want to go as deep lyrically and that was a little frighte-ning,” admits Savage. “When you’re un-der pressure to be great, and you want to produce great work, it’s bullshit.”

Having consciously shunned these pressures, Savage spent the summer in berlin “Going crazy with friends and falling in love”, pushing himself into a headspace where he says he’s now free to write unencumbered and open-ly. “i think it was the right move, to wri-te more exclusively and thoughtlessly. Thoughtlessness is often undervalued and misunderstood. i’m excited to em-ploy this way of thinking to everything i do from now on”. With this new out-look, Savage says, his lyricism is less acute and more ambient, something he feels he couldn’t get away with before.

Like the directness of his performan-ces, Savage is open and deeply perso-nal about his ideas and philosophies.

He simultaneously relishes in a sense of confusion and clarity, forming a lar-ge part of his current consciousness as a writer. He discusses “Promises” and how the single is made up of two ideas; “The first idea is that a promise implies fear,” he says, “And second-ly, i exist beyond the confines of this ‘body’ or this ‘mind’. All that this mind is, is the environment and variables surrounding it, not geographically, but the whole network that influences it makes it up entirely. The skull, the body, they’re meaningless. i mean that down to the bone, you’ll have to checkout the tune.”

For someone who is striving towards “thoughtlessness”, there’s still seems to be a lot of deep reflection unfolding. “Other Death focuses on the path,” he muses. “The wondering and the knowing that this wondering conti-nues onwards and within.” Nothing is ever that straight forward with Sava-ge, but that’s part of what makes him such a compelling artist. He writhes with an intensity that’s both empowe-ring and fragile, displaying itself in an unceasing stream of creative ou-tput: “i have no patience or time left in my life now for anything but magic”.

“I have no patIence

or tIme left In my lIfe

now for anythIng

but magIc.”

VA R O N 5 6

are You alone?

D e v o n W e l s h

Varón talks to singer songwriter De-von Welsh at his Montréal apartment, following Matador’s release of the la-test and potentially last Majical Cloudz album, Are You Alone?. Written over a two-month retreat last winter at a friend’s house in Hamtramk, Detroit, the album sees the Canadian duo continue with their unique breed of minimalist soul that deconstructs pop music con-ventions and gently pushes the formal and aesthetic limits of the genre.

Known for their austere restraint and high-contrast mien, both recordings and live sets see frontman Welsh test himself and his audiences of their com-fort with themselves and each other. Typically dressed in a white t-shirt and black jeans, he sings about the emotio-nal condition of a confessional observer, offering sincere and sober reflections that linger in the ambiguous and vulne-rable moments around love and anxiety and approaching fate and finality most of us flee from. Delivered with emphatic cries and soft-spoken croons, his focus wavers between the intimate and the depersonalized; the lyrics feel as much like instructions for himself as insights for others to ponder.

Partner Matthew Otto’s syntheszed soundscapes cast each song in a vivid

hue and create both the space for Welsh’s words to ring out as well as the dramatic support to complete a lyrical, compositional apex. Much like the simplicity of the black and whi-te uniform, Otto’s electro-acoustics provide a metaphysical starting point, a simple and consistent context with an understated but overly sentient orchestra of melodies, textures and beats that are as articulate as Devon’s poetry. Combined, Welsh and Otto produce an emotionally engaging mu-sic from this unique sentimental ethic.

Those familiar with Majical Cloudz’s 2013 album impersonator will find that the same emotional intensity remains on Are You Alone?, however, it reaches up towards the serene. The gravitas oftheir previous release felt like an earnest reaction to quotidian and ja-rring trauma, an acknowledgment of fear and the account of someone mo-ving through it. While still touching on the morbid with songs like “Silver

their previous release felt like an earnest reaction to quotidian and ja-rring trauma, an acknowledgment of fear and the account of someone mo-ving through it. While still touching on the morbid with songs like “Silver Car Crash”, Welsh’s tone feels more comforting and comfortable, like he’s engaging with the world in a less re-active, more self-determined and deli-berate manor. The upbeat title track of the album ticks along assuredly while still confronting the loneliness of our lives. Like their earlier work, this is an intimate album about existential darkness but one that makes it sound less like a eulogy than a warm ascent towards a light in the sky.

Otto and Welsh are touring Europe, North America and Australia into 2016 to support the release of Are You Alone? and while these may be the final dates the two perform to-gether under their current moniker, they have much to be proud of. The project ensured a future for itself be-yond Montréal’s verdant yet hyper-lo-cal DiY synth-pop community when they signed with New York-based and beggar’s Group-affiliated Matador Re-cords, joining the likes of Pavement, Yo La Tango, Cat Power and Queen’s Of The Stone Age on the label’s roster.

“an intimate album about existential darkness but one that makes it sound less like a eulogy than a warm ascent towards a light in the sky.”

VA R O N 5 7


t E X t

saraH o’drisoLL

a u s t i n m i L n e

D e v o n W e l s h

Their first full-length produced and performed together, impersonator, received unanimous acclaim from music publications around the world and won them a nomination for the Polaris Prize, Canada’s annual award for best full-length album based on artistic merit. Together they toured across Europe and North America repeatedly, and within a year they worked their way up from frustratin-gly empty small-town shows in Ame-rica’s nether regions (documented in Welsh’s tour journal blog posts, later published as a small book) to opening

for teenaged pop icon Lorde at amphi-theatres across the continent.

With such a quick and thorough ascent within the pop world, it’s clear Majical Cloudz lacks no ambition or determi-nation to master a steep learning cur-ve, which may partially explain Welsh’s decision to bring the project to an end and resume his solo career: “i just nee-ded to have a new adventure,” he said. “Performing on my own has made me feel like i’m figuring out something that’s brand new, and it’s been a good feeling.”

S m i l e r

by

m at t W i L L i a m s

P h o t o G r a P h S

o f l o n d o n

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british photographer, Smiler aka Mark Cawson, documented London squats on an analogue camera during the 70s, 80s and 90s. Mainly shot between West London and Kings Cross, Smiler turned his lens to the city’s rebellious anti-es-tablishment sub-culture, capturing the social and political upheaval of this pe-riod. in conjunction to Smiler’s recent exhibition, Photographs of London, iCA curator Matt Williams chairs an inter-view between photographer Gareth McConnell who discovered the body of work and Smiler.

Matt Williams: So how did you both meet? And Gareth what was it about Smiler’s photographs that you found so engaging?

Gareth McConnell: i can’t quite re-member exactly, but i know we met through mutual friends about 15 years ago. i was living in Hammersmith at the time. i didn’t know about Smiler’s photo-graphs until he came around one day to use my photographic slide scanner. Mark Cawson: i had heard that Gareth was quite nifty with the camera at the time. So i asked “Do you know any way i can get to develop these black and whi-te slides?” and you said, “Oh come over, i’ll give you a hand and show you how it’s done,” and then you scanned them for me. it must have been years later when he asked if he could take the pho-tographs away with him for a closer look because he thought that there was so-mething really special here. Gareth then kindly put them into some kind of order and made contact sheets. And the rest is, you know is history.

“Kings Cross at that time was

a fascinating place, a crazy

mix of bikers, prostitutes, pimps,

gangsters, artists, and musicians

– just all thrown together.”

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GM: When i first saw the photographs i was absolutely blown away by them and they stayed with me for years and years. Even after we had lost touch, i remembered two pictures in particular, Diane collapsed in Kings Cross and the portrait of Angela smoking. And then when i set-up my own imprint and pu-blished Horse Latitudes i immediately thought about Smiler’s photos and felt that it would be a really great follow-up. So, i tracked him down in Kings Cross a couple of years ago, and, obsessively went through everything again. Thank fully everything was still there intact.

MC: And then predictably we had a few colorful episodes along the way. What you might call a lovers tiff, was it on, was it off.

GM: Which i think developed because we had very different ideas about what it should be like. And of course i un-derstand and respect that it’s very diffi-cult to hand over your personal work to someone else to let him or her do their thing with it. but as you can imagine i was really excited by the material and keen to develop something out of it, es-pecially because the subject matter felt so rich, plus technically they’re really good photographs. That’s when i started showing a couple of people; i think you were maybe the second or third person i showed them too.

MW: Thanks for thinking of me. i think my response initial response was proba-bly not dissimilar to Gareth’s; i was intri-gued and interested in seeing more. The photographs felt genuinely honest; they didn’t shy away from the harsh realities of that period of time, which can often be romanticized. i do think that collec-tively they’re a fascinating document

Smiler portrait byGareth McConnell

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of that period of time in London, which now looks totally alien. Do you think that the selection of photographs in the exhibition successfully managed to capture the sense of community and spirit of squatting in London during the 1980’s and early 90’s?

MC: i think so. it was interest ing period. Some of the characters in there, for example Angela who was a friend during my time in Kings Cross, she used to come around a lot before she just disappeared. She was, like a lot of people were at the time, transitory, es-pecially the working girls, they would just disappear. She was around a lot and then one day off she went and that was it. Kings Cross at that time was a fascinating place, a crazy mix of bikers, prostitutes, pimps, gangsters, artists, and musicians – just all thrown toge-ther. There was a real scene at that time, especially at the Scala Cinema and at the back of Judge Street. Looking back it was a very bizarre time.

MW: The photograph of the children playing on the street depicts a very di-fferent image of Kings Cross that you have described, it feels strangely poig-nant because it shows what appears to be a sensitive and intimate moment, but also because you so rarely see children playing out on the streets today, whilst subtly demonstrating London’s multi-culturalism.

MC: i personally believe that the pre-vailing aspect of the photographs in general is how they illustrate what a different place London was then compa-red to now. i think i was able to capture that moment and number of others was simply because i used carry my camera around with me. it was a simple little

instamatic camera with a flash. it was great. i used to just leave it in my poc-ket and then click, and then you had the image.

MW: Another powerful example of cap-turing that “moment” and an image that further illustrates how different London was then is the photograph entitled Man with Psychosis. How did you come to take that photograph?

MC: it was taken near what used to be the Ladbroke Grove frontline on All Saints Road, close to the Mangrove Club and the Apollo Pub. My friend li-ved on that street. i was walking to his house and the man was just standing on the street with a pillowcase over his head next to a mattress on the floor. Apparently he had been living there on the street. i don’t really have an explana-tion for what was going on, it felt incom-prehensible at the time, i just took it and then walked on.

MW: Was that around the time that you were living in a squat around Latimer Road? How was it living squat back then? MC: Yeah, i think so. For me, to be honest, it wasn’t great fun. i was moving so often from one squat to ano-ther pushing a shopping trolley and a couple of trunks around. i was never luc-ky enough to stay in a decent squat for a long period of time. Take the school-house for example, it was an amazing squat, but it was full. People didn’t move on that often or the opportunities to move in were always offered to a friend of friend who already lived there. if i las-ted nine months somewhere, that was great. MW: Did you ever know in advan-ce if you were going to being evicted?

MC: Yeah, i think so. For me, to be ho-nest, it wasn’t great fun. i was moving so often from one squat to another pushing a shopping trolley and a couple of trunks around. i was never lucky enough to stay in a decent squat for a long period of time. Take the schoolhouse for example, it was an amazing squat, but it was full. People didn’t move on that often or the opportunities to move in were always offered to a friend of friend who already lived there. if i lasted nine months so-mewhere, that was great. MW: Did you ever know in advance if you were going to being evicted? MC: Yeah, sometimes you would get some warning, it varied really. And it wasn’t that easy to go and crack a house. i mean, the properties were out there, but it wasn’t as easy as probably a decade beforehand. it was also really exhausting sofa surfing and squatting in various properties for such a short period of time. Never having any long-term security. i remember vividly when i got a studio flat in Kings Cross and the symbolism of being given a key. i remember thinking, “My life can start here.” That was the start for me getting settled. it was a fantastic feeling.

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S t y L I N g


H u g o L a v i n

n a c H o P i n e d o

tracksuit nation

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tracksuit by PUMA;

turtleneck by TOPMAN;

shoes by J.W.ANDERSON

jacket by polo by FRED PERRY bY RAF SiMONS;turtleneck by SAiNT LAURENT;trousers by PUMA

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tracksuit by LE COQ SPORTiF;

polo by FRED PERRY

bY RAF SiMONS; turtleneck by

TOPMAN; shoes by

J.W.ANDERSON

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“Men’s fashions all start as sports clo-thes and progress to the great occa-sions of state”. So said the recently departed columnist Angus McGill and a quick study of the Spring/Summer 2016 collections confirms his discerning foresight ; the tracksuit is here to stay.

Designers have approached the broade-ning appeal of the tracksuit in two dis-tinct ways: those looking forwards – to refine and elevate it from its modest origins – and those looking backwards, to reinvent sportswear through the lens of their own adolescence. Collec-tions that strayed towards the former included Joseph’s beautifully draped leather joggers and Christopher bai-ley’s tux-trouser silhouettes in cashme-re. On the more nostalgic side, Nasir Mazhar’s urban guerrillas were clad in flared three-quarter length nylon, while Rubchinskiy invoked the Soviet running track with his bold 80s pieces cuffing at the ankle. Christopher Shannon, howe-ver, took a slightly more “tongue-in-cheek” approach and sent models down the runway in bubble-gum pink tracksuit bottoms. The range of interpretations this season is certainly refreshing, but ultimately the tracksuit remains the same; it’s casual wear and is as comfor-table on the street corner as it is on the catwalk.

Originally designed to keep athletes warm between competitions, the trac-ksuit’s history arguably began in the 1970s when America first obsessed over recreational exercise and the “jo-gging suit” made its way into the war-drobes of ordinary people. in the UK, it

was embraced by aspirational football fans: young men with mod sensibilities for high quality, minimal styling and subtle designer branding who found their kit on the high streets of italy as they followed their clubs through Euro-pe. Specialist sports-knitwear brands such as Cerutti, Sergio Tachinni and Fila were not available in the UK; inves-ting in them brought with it a sense of affluence and exoticism, ideal for the sartorial one-upmanship that went on in the stands. For the fashion conscious macho man, the sharp slim cut sweats projected continental sophistication in a distinctly working class way. The “terrace casuals”, as they came to be known as, shifted tracksuits out of the gym and on to the field of leisure wear.

Around this time, hip-hop culture emer-ged in the bronx and unified rap music, turntablism, graffiti and b-boying aka break-dancing. Valued for its skilled gym-nastic step-work and improvised athle-ticism, break-dancers, required to wear clothes they could move in and boldly coloured shellsuits became the go-to uniform. Run–DMC’s track “My Adidas” celebrates the breakers’ style and contri-buted to the commodification of hip-hop culture by fashion retailers. After Adidas executive Angelo Anastasio saw them invite the audience to hold up their tra-iners during a performance at Madison Square Gardens in 1986, he immediate-ly signed them up to a $1million dollar sponsorship deal. The deal signaled the dawn of non-athletic promotions in the sporting goods industry and positio-ned sportswear as the definitive style of young Americans for a generation.

From tHe Jogging suit to grime

B y

J o H n n y u t L e y

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As the thumping kicks of Detroit house music arrived on british shores in the mid 1980s, the tracksuit, specifically tracksuit bottoms, became synonymous with rave culture. United in hedonism, young people discovered a newfound freedom in dance music and embraced it in an ecstasy-fuelled haze. 1987 was dubbed “The Second Summer of Love” and the anti-fashion aesthetic of the baggy tracksuit was less a style state-ment than an unself-conscious gesture towards comfort and the joys of dancing all night.

in the 90s youth culture continued to flourish, britpop and Cool britannia seized the national consciousness whi-le subcultures cross-pollinated in all major cities. Acid House merged with break beat to form Happy Hardcore, which flirted with Dancehall and Dub to create Jungle. Trip-Hop slowed down and embraced the grittier elements of its American cousin, just as the glitzy excesses of Gangster Rap became en-coded in UK Garage. Whether it was Damon Albarn wearing a terrace jacket or Goldie in a puffed out nylon two-pie-ce, the tracksuit became emblematic of an emboldened youth.

Tony blair’s “tough love” approach to working class communities, the rise of ASbOs and the introduction of the 696 risk assessment form contributed to the growing stigmatization of inner city youth at the turn of the millennium. As the image the “hoody” spread through the mainstream media, the tracksuit became associated with violence and street crime. it also became an object

of derision, as seen with comedy cha-racters such as teen delinquent Vicky Pollard from Little britain and Sacha baron Cohen’s Staines wide boy Ali G.

in spite of the condemnation, aspects of the underground music scenes still championed the look. born out of under-privileged areas of East London, Grime was a fast-moving local phenomenon with MCs, DJs and producers darting between bedroom studios, pirate radio stations and vinyl cutters, often at a moment’s notice. Laughing off the unpa-latable stereotype and fighting against censure by the Met police, artists such as Dizzee Rascal and Wiley succeeded in bringing a soundtrack of profound social discontent to a mass audience, becoming the tracksuit-clad heroes of the decade. The cultural context that surrounds the history of the tracksuit in-dicates its symbolism for designers to-day; a utilitarian skin adapted for the ri-gors of urban living, an innovative push against popular convention and an ode to the effervescence of youth. Even with its newfound catwalk ubiquity, desig-ners remain inspired by its pioneering countercultural roots. And if the great McGill is to be believed, it won’t be long before the Prime Minister’s wearing one.

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jacket by REEbOK;jacket underneath by FRED PERRY bY RAF SiMONS; turtleneck by SAiNT LAURENT

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jacket by FiLA; polo by FRED PERRY

bY RAF SiMONS; turteneck by

TOPMAN

Model MiCHAEL SHARP

Photography Assistant bORJA LORENZO

Thanks to JOHN A. SKELTON

and RYAN SKELTONdigital work

LUCÍA DAKOTA

a l e x m u l l i n S

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B y

H y n a m k e n d a L L

O n T h e h O l i d ay …

“it’s really important that i capture a feeling with the clothes that i make. Summer is always about feeling light, fresh, spontaneous, with lots of day drinking and falling in love with everyo-ne. For Spring/Summer 2016, i wanted the collection to evoke the feeling of that holiday you took when you thought you were mature, but you were actua-lly really young and still a kid in many ways. You know, climbing into a car with friends, smelling the hot leaves in the air and skin pungent with sunscreen.”

Spring/Summer 2016 will see the launch of Alex Mullin’s holiday-inspired collection. Continuing to explore storytelling through apparel, this season the NewGen recipient seeks to capture the notion of “All holidays ever.” It is an abstract concept, which he translates through poetic narrative and his signature painterly graphics. He writes about a euphoric journey that takes him on a “scorched” and “zooming” car ride to a party, where “warm knees touch” and “flowers start to open”.

Manifesting into a white wardrobe of cottons and denim, the relaxed, almost untailored silhouettes of the collection become a canvas for the designer. Mullins transforms memories of crumbling graffiti walls and tourist markets into swirling brushstrokes, whilst speckles of sunlight become pockets spotted over the garments. During his preparations for London Collections Men, we spoke to Mullins to find out more about the inspiration behind his SS16 collection.

O n P a i n T i n g …

“Painting is so honest; it shows the slightest of hand gestures and holds energy within each stroke of paint. it has limitations, i can’t rub it out and start again, i just have to commit and let it take on a life of its own. it makes me curate a piece in a 360 degree for-mat, carefully considering the vision of the guy walking around and what will be revealed with his movement. Generally my work is less about paint as a specific medium, but more about my aim to capture a sense of energy within the textiles and construction.”

O n T h e j O u r n e y …

“i like balancing ideas of opposites, to contradict each other. it encourages me to be objective with myself, it’s im-portant for me to question everything. Creating narratives though my work allows me to be thorough with what i’m creating, which becomes a pri-mary source of inspiration. These stories are usually my gut trying to tell me something: a point of view, a feeling of the moment, a reflection. i only seem to realise the true nature of my work when i see the final show.”

a L L H o L i d a y s e v e r

Spring/Summer 2016 will see the launch of Alex Mullin’s holiday-inspired collection. Continuing

to explore storytelling through apparel, this season the NewGen recipient seeks to capture the

notion of “All holidays ever.” It is an abstract concept, which he translates through poetic narrative

and his signature painterly graphics. He writes about a euphoric journey that takes him

on a “scorched” and “zooming” car ride to a party, where “warm knees touch” and “flowers start to open”.

Manifesting into a white wardrobe of cottons and denim, the relaxed, almost untailored silhouettes

of the collection become a canvas for the designer. Mullins transforms memories of crumbling

graffiti walls and tourist markets into swirling brushstrokes, whilst speckles of sunlight

become pockets spotted over the garments. During his preparations for London Collections

Men, we spoke to Mullins to find out more about the inspiration behind his SS16 collection.

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S t y L I N g


H u g o L a v i n


Hair ALEXANDER SOLTERMAN

using bumble & bumble;Model

WiLLiAM at TOMORROW iS ANOTHER DAY;

All the clothes are ALEX MULLiNS SS16

boots model’s own

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D a N I E L

W.

f L E t c H E r

o n l y fo ol s a n d H o r s e s


d H a m s r i F u e n g F u n

B y

n a z a n i n s H a H n a v a z

S t y L I N g

m i c H a e L d a r L i n g t o n

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hair PATRiCK FORiNi make up MiN SANDHU All looks DANiEL FLETCHER;necklace stylist own;trainers stylist ownsocks NiKE

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Central Saint Martins graduate, Daniel

W. Fletcher, had not envisaged starting

his own label so early on in his career.

But after presenting his Peckham-

Ruth-Glass-inspired BA Menswear

collection, through which he highlights

London’s rapid gentrification, the young

designer received a wave of critical

acclaim. “The Business of Fashion wro-

te my first brand feature,” says Fletcher.

“Then I started getting approached by

stockists who wanted to carry my line

and it was at that point it became real

and I thought, ok, I’m actually doing

this.” During his studies Fletcher also

interned with Burberry, Hussein Cha-

layan, Lanvin and Louis Vuitton, where

he now spends a couple of days a week

designing leather goods. “I spent six

months of my placement year at Louis

Vuitton and seeing what a fantastic

place to work it is, it was a dream to be as-

ked back and still be given the freedom

to continue with my own label.” Now as

Fletcher moves into his first studio, we

spoke to him to find out more about the

inspiration behind his debut collection.

“As a designer, i wanted to use my practice to raise awareness to the negative impact gentrification and redevelopment is having on London’s communities.”

on gentrification…

“As a designer, i wanted to use my prac-tice to raise awareness to the negative impact gentrification and redevelop-ment is having on London’s communi-ties. in the collection, i’ve represented this by combining traditional british heritage pieces with sportswear and street-inspired garments to capture the mix of people in the neighbourhoods that have become gentrified. At one end of the spectrum, there are the super-rich developers who have cashed in on areas they have no connection to and at the other, the long term residents and sma-ll business owners who can no longer afford their rent. There needs to be more measures in place to protect people and the communities they are part of.”

on ruth glass…

“i wrote my dissertation about the res-tructuring of urban space in London and read a lot of Ruth Glass’ works during my research. Glass was the sociologist who coined the term gentrification and it was fascinating to learn that all the is-sues she wrote about during the 1960s are still happening in the same cycles today. She described an “urban gentry” as the transforming of the working-class areas of London. i liked the poetry of this term and it had a strong influence on my collection. Glass believed that the purpose of sociological research was to influence government policy; i’d like to hope the same thing was possible in fashion. if my collection could raise any sort of awareness on these issues then that’s already a step in the right direction.”

on peckham…

“When i first moved to London i lived in Peckham because as a student it was one of the few affordable areas of the city. it has changed so much in the past few years, people who would have only associated it with Only Fools and Horses before are now sipping Campari on top of a car park there, the whole social dy-namic of the area has changed. i’m not saying i’ve not been up to Frank’s myself, i think it’s great to see young entrepre-neurs setting up independent busines-ses. but it concerns me when i see big developers and policy makers planning to build luxury apartments and wipe out all the artist studios around the station in favour of a shiny new shopping centre. There doesn’t seem to be much thought for the low income and long-term resi-dents of the area, who potentially face displacement. in my collection there are leather jackets and briefcases embla-zoned with “Peckham Pony Club” appli-que; this is a fictional tongue-in-cheek society i created to take a satirical look at how people’s perception of an area can change so rapidly.”

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DSquared2

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S t y L I N g


H a m i s H W i r g m a n

k i m J a c o B s o n t o

B y


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Shoes and socks throughout models own; special thanks: KERENA and RODERiCK WiRGMAN

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“We do not want to give didactic mes-sages to people,” say twin brothers, Dean and Dan Caten, the Canadian founders behind the multi-million-pound fashion empire, DSquared2. From their vibrant campaigns to outrageous runway shows, infamous parties and energetic ready-to-wear collections, fashion for them is all about fun. Take the opening of their Spring/Summer 2014 Menswear show as an example, which saw models in tighty whities and beaded jewellery, standing in spilling springs, rubbing down their statues-que muscles with pink towels. Or the celebrity appearances made by their “beautiful” friends such as Rihanna who entered the stage in an American muscle car and Christina Aguilera who stripped male models of their clothes.

Though it is nearly impossible to tell the brothers apart, Dean is by his own admission the mischievous one, the one most likely to crack open the cham-pagne in an interview and instigate ce-lebrations. Whereas Dan, supposedly the “sensible” one, is possibly the more muscular of the two. What is obvious, however, is the duo’s inseparability; they share almost everything, most auda-ciously a bed. The brothers even dress similarly. Typically wearing something from their own label, you will often see them in one of two guises: the preened and immaculate dandy in dinner suit, or classic Americana in denim and whites – a nod to the Caten’s childhood and the history of the label, which first launched as a premium denim brand in 1992.

born and raised in Toronto by their English mother and italian father, the Caten children were not allowed to wear jeans. They had little money and their father, a welder who emigrated to Ca-nada, thought jeans “were for poor peo-ple”. The boys instead went to school in “dress pants”, spurring what seems a life long infatuation with denim. Though a prominent feature in their collections, they are quick to say that they don’t just create for themselves; “As designers, this is not our mission.”

At 19, the brothers decamped to New York to study fashion at Parsons School for Design, only to drop out after just one semester. Returning to Toronto, they where employed by Ports interna-tional where they worked their way up to the position of joint head designers. in 1991, the brothers went back to their ita-lian roots and relocated to Milan. in the space of a year, they managed to secure financial backing from Diesel president and founder Renzo Rosso and launched DSquared2.

Almost twenty years on and the Ca-tens’ success has seen their portfolio expand from jeans to include menswear, womenswear, fragrances, sunglasses, accessories and, most recently, hand-bags. Amassing an annual turnover that exceeds £152 million, the brothers also implemented an aggressive retail stra-tegy that saw the recent opening of a new flagship boutique in London’s Ma-yfair on Conduit Street. “Honestly, we think that always being passionate and positive [is the secret to our success],” they say. “Also working with skilled sta-ff helps!”

Having dressed everyone from Kay-ne West to Nicholas Cage and George Clooney, a personal peak, they say, was designing for Madonna during her 2001 Drowned World Tour and for her music video “Don’t Tell Me”, which featured Madonna as cowgirl in dirty jeans. For the Caten’s, Madonna is the perfect DSquared2 girl: “A constant muse” they assure. “A Dsquared2 woman should be fascinating, self-confident and stylish. She impresses through her allure and attitude. She doesn’t show-off or exag-gerate. She has to be herself. That’s it.”

As for the Dsquared2 man, he comes in his most masculine and recognised for-ms: the lumberjack, the Adonis, the sua-ve Milk Tray man in suit and tie or James bond via structured tuxedos. This sea-son was built around the surfer, inspired by their wave-riding holidays to bali and barbados. The action packed collection featured wetsuit-inspired outerwear, bleached oversized denim silhouettes, mesh tops and leather neoprene board shorts with tattoo printed tulle body suits worn underneath.

in true Caten style, the show was elabo-rate, camp, macho and larger-than-life. Though highly entertaining, their elabo-rate productions may conceal the level of detail the brothers labour into their collections. The intricate embroideries, beading, studs and fringes are at risk of going unnoticed because the image that they portray is loud and about “ener-gy, power, freedom, passion and love”. but behind the smoke-and-mirrors is craftsmanship, honed from a lifetime of design. beneath the style there is subs-tance.

Anything that you might do, i’m gonna do too

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all clothes by PAUL SMiTH SS16;model’s vest;all jewerly by FiNE bLUE

paul

smith

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S t y L I N g


H u g o L a v i n


B y


The story of Paul Smith’s road ac-cident is as well known as his iconic stripe pattern: Smith was not an aspi-ring fashion designer, in fact not fas-hion-oriented in any capacity during his formative years. This towering, handsome figure with a thick mane of dandyish grey hair, now almost cons-tantly wrapped in a suit and shirt of his own design, was, instead, desti-ned to be a bike racer until a passing fender impacted upon his torso and changed everything. Smith was sud-denly no longer a sportsman and had to give up racing to pursue design.

it was at the age of 16, and the sight of a green four-button suit, that Smi-th had first been made aware of “fas-hion”. Fashion was something he had never thought about at all. in truth, he had thought of little other than racing. And then this suit arrived and sudden-ly Smith’s interest was piqued. Rather ironically, this always tall, always slim man with limbs lithe and deft was born to wear a suit; the perfect figure for tailoring.

Sir Paul Smith, today, revels in the im-perfections. He can talk at length of

the un-parallel floorboards in his lu-xury Covent Garden store, of the shop’s façade that was cast in sand, and the resulting pitter-patter of dappled pot marks left by each modular sand gra-in. The imperfections remain, unchan-ged, celebrated even. “With age,” he has said, “these things get better.” The same can, and often has been said of Smith’s eponymous brand, Paul Smith. by no account edgy – Smith by his own admission is not an edgy de-signer, but a designer more aptly des-cribed as “very capable”, he himself

suited and booted

model’s ring

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model’s vest and ring; jockstrap

stylist’s own

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HairJONATHAN DE FRANCESCO;Model TONY bRYAN at FM LONDON

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comparing his role to that of a stylist – Smith’s brand has been born of a need for, simply put, well-made clothes. He famously dislikes moodboards, and, as a rule, neither he nor his team work from one. instead they search for inspiration from the ever-growing collections of kitsch and modernist objects he assem-bles throughout his office, documented so well by the touring exhibition “Hello, my name is Paul Smith”. Of these, some favourites include a miniature model of his actual office in steel and Japanese newspaper, amazingly accurate and contained in a Perspex box, and the beautiful paintings of James Lloyd – a previous recipient of funding Smith gave to the Slade School of Art, and later the recipient of the bP Portrait Prize. “So-mebody once described the office as being like a beach where the tide comes in and goes out and things are always changing as a result,” says Smith. “Are you a collector?” i ask, a term, perhaps, suggestive of excess. “Absolutely!” he exclaims, and then, “because you can find inspiration in everything. And if you can’t, look again!” Over the years Smith’s brand has be-come synonymous with classic british design, especially in regards to sui-ting. While he has repeated the mantra “Nobody cares how good you have been, fashion is not for yesterday, but for now and tomorrow”, and he later presses this point with a curt “Personally, i never look back”, you certainly do know what you are getting with Paul Smith. His pieces, seasonally, are always reliable in their well-proportioned design, nod-ding to a more precise era of tailoring.

And there are the staples you can come to rely on: nobody can do a trouser like Smith; this season long and wide, paired with a double-breasted jacket or tunic. There is a reason Smith’s extensive list of loyal customers include David bowie, Patti Smith and Gary Oldman.

Smith has garnered a knack, and repu-tation, for updating classics, most no-tably adding modernity through vibrant colourways. SS16 Womenswear’s most critically lauded piece was a bright orange collar-less wrap-around coat. Stabs of tangerine were also seen in li-nings, paired with banana yellow block heels. SS16 Menswear, a series of looks with no fixed silhouette, clearly the re-sult of digging through his own archive and re-addressing the differing types of tailoring, contained bolts of cobalt blue, burnt orange and sunshine yellows too. Smith, a magpie with unrivaled passion for hue, is often inspired by Rothko pain-tings, and, for SS16, specifically took to David Hockney’s teeming back catalog for influence and inspiration of palette. Post-show Smith cites Hockney a man with an “extraordinary eye for colour”. As the old adage goes, it takes one to know one. “black and navy will always be very popular in terms of sales and commer-ciality,” says Smith, “but, fortunately, we’re very famous for our colour, so peo-ple come to Paul Smith to buy some-thing exceptional and colourful. i think it would be quite a shock to everyone if one day we showed nothing but black on the catwalk!” and then, “We’re an optimistic company and colour cheers people up!”

Smith’s myriad collections have been described, by Smith himself, as “nice, good, fashion”, which is, indisputably, how the brand came to be and how the brand came to last. Why others have faltered over the years and Smith has flourished, is because, Smith unders-tands the basics: quality, quality, qua-lity. Quality is a term Smith both lives and dies by. Without the quality there is nothing. The label may have not been taken as seriously as some other design houses, but the most important factors of design are always those which Smith labours over and perfects: proportion, scale, stitching and the quality of the garment. These are the skills Smith became aware of early on from then-girlfriend, now-wife, Pauline, a trained fashion de-signer who learned the mastery of cou-ture at the Royal College of Art. She tau-ght Smith how to put on a sleeve, how to stitch, the importance of a simple button. The fact that Smith never truly was ‘high fashion’ has only, really, aided him in his success. it has helped with the continuity of the brand. it has paved the way for a reputation and legacy, and ensured that the brand – irregardless of trend – is, above all else, wearable. in fact, “wearable” is one of the words Smith’s friend David bowie has used to describe the designer’s apparel. To some designers this word may signal the death knell, but it is a word Smith loves, and, in fact, uses himself often to describe his clothes. because, if not to wear, what is he creating all these gar-ments for in the first place?

“Somebody once described the office as being like a beach where the tide comes in and goes out and things are always changing

as a result”

W I N t E r

S p r I N g

1 5 / 1 6

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Overall Kenzo

GlaswegiansSoul

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S t y L I N g


H u g o L a v i n

c H a r L o t t e H a d d e n

sweater and trousers by AGi&SAM; trousers underneath by McQ

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shirt by GiVENCHY by

RiCCARDO TiSCi; t-shirt by

LANViN; trousers by

McQ

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shirt by E.TAUTZ;jacket by DiOR HOMME

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trousers by AGi&SAM;

trousers underneath by

McQ; braces stylist’s own

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vest by XANDER ZHOU; vest underneath stylist’s own;trousers by AGi&SAM;trousers underneath by McQ

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jacket by DiOR HOMME;

trousers by DSQUARED2; trousers underneath by

McQ

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shirt by ALEXANDER MCQUEEN;jacket by DiOR HOMME;trousers by McQ

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sweater by J.W.ANDERSON; trousers by

CHRiSTOPHER SHANNON;

trousers underneath by

McQ; shoes by

LANViN

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shirt by E.TAUTZ;vest by ASTRiD ANDERSEN;trousers by McQ

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polo by PAUL SMiTH;

trousers by McQ;

shoes by LANViN

hair

ALEXANDER SOLTERMANN

using bumble and bumble

make up NObUKO

MAEKAWA using MAC

model CONNOR NEWALL at MiLK

MANAGEMENTstyling assistant RYAN SKELTON

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h u n d r e d

a n d

t W e n t Y


S t y L I N g

r y a n s k e Lt o n

H a m i s H W i r g m a n

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jacket by J.W.ANDERSON;cuff and chain by

FLEET iLYA;previous page

shoes by Prada

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both pagessuit by

VALENTiNO;tutleneck by

JOHN SMEDLEY;belt by

PAUL SMiTHshoes and socks by

PRADA

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jacket by MARTiN MARGiELA;shirt by ACNE;turtleneck by JOHN SMEDLEY;trousers and belt by LANViN;cuffs by FLEET iLYAnext page suit by CORNELiANishoes and socks PRADA

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jacket by KENZO;shirt by MARGARET HOWELL;turtleneck by SUNSPEL;neck piece byFLEET iLYA;shoes and socks by PRADA

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jacket by PAUL SMiTH

shirt by LANViN

turtleneck by SUNSPEL;trousers by

MARGARET HOWELL;cuffs by

FLEET iLYA

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suit by GiVENCHY bY RiCCARDO TiSCi;shirt and turtleneck by SUNSPEL;shoes and socks by PRADA;cuffs by FLEET iLYA

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top by J.W.ANDERSON;

shirt by CORNELiANi;

trousers by ALEXANDER MCQUEEN;

shoes and socks PRADA;cuffs by

FLEET iLYA

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suit by DRiES VAN NOTEN;turtleneck by JOHN SMEDLEY;shoes and socks by PRADA

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coat by LANViN;

suit by ALEXANDER MCQUEEN;

turtleneck by SUNSPEL;

shoes and socks by PRADA;collar by

FLEET iLYA

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shirt and shoes by PRADA;turtleneck by SUNSPEL;trousers by DRiES VAN NOTEN;belt by LANViN; neck piece by FLEET iLYA;

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jacket and trousers by ERMENEGiLDO ZEGNA;

top and shoes by PRADA;mask by

FLEET iLYA

grooming TAKUYA UCHiYAMA

using TiGi;stylist assistant

JENNY HARTLY; model

GEORGE KiRKUP-DELPH at MODELS1

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sweater and cardigan by iSAbEL bENENATO; Jeans by HED MAYNER;belt by SAiNT LAURENT by HEDi SLiMANE;Sneakers by AMi

next pageSweater FAiTH CONNEXiON;underneath sweater THEORY;Trousers ViViENNE WESTWOOD

S C u l P t u r e S

o f

r e M a i n S

S t y L I N g


m a r i d a v i d

a L e x F r a n c o

Jacket ACNE STUDiOS;Top iSAbEL bENENATO;Trousers JULiEN DAViD;Jeans HED MAYNER;Scarf as a belt bERLUTi

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sweater, shirt and trousers

FAiTH CONNEXiON;belt

SAiNT LAURENT by HEDi SLiMANE;

sneakers AMi

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jacket THEORY;topFAiTH CONNEXiON;jeansHED MAYNER;scarf bERLUTi

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sweater and white thin top

FAiTH CONNEXiON;jacket and trousers YOHJi YAMAMOTO

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jacket AMisweater iSAbEL bENENATO;jeans HED MAYNER;belt SAiNT LAURENT by HEDi SLiMANE

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Pierojacket and t-shirt VERSACE;trousersHED MAYNER

Dzhovanisweater FAiTH CONNEXiON;Thin under sweater THEORY;trousers ViViENNE WESTWOOD;beltSAiNT LAURENT by HEDi SLiMANE;cape ACNE STUDiOS

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Pieroshirt and trousers ViViENNE WESTWOOD;sweaterACNE STUDiOS;large wool scarf iSAbEL bENENATObelt Stylist own

Dzhovanishirt and trousers ViViENNE WESTWOODbelt SAiNT LAURENT by HEDi SLiMANE

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all clothes bySAiNT LAURENT

by HEDi SLiMANE

hair by bENEDiCTE

CAZAU @ ARTLiSTmake-up by

SATOKO WATANAbE

models PiERO MENDEZ

& DZHOVANi GOSPODiNOV

at bANANAS MODEL

assistant stylistMATHiLDE REGNAULT

ACNEwww.acnestudios.com

ADOLFO DOMiNGUEZwww.adolfodominguez.com

AGi AND SAMwww.agiandsam.com

ALEXANDER MCQUEENwww.alexandermcqueen.com

ALEX MULLiNSwww.alexmullins.co.uk

AMiwww.amiparis.fr

ANTONiO MARRASwww.antoniomarras.it

A.P.Cwww.apc.fr

ASTRiD ANDERSENwww.astridandersen.com

ATSUKO KUDOwww.atsukokudo.com

bAUME ET MERCiERwww.baume-et-mercier.com

bERLUTiwww.berluti.com

bREGUET www.breguet.com

bROOKS bROTHERSwww.brooksbrothers.com

bUNNEYwww.bunney.co.uk

CASELY-HAYFORDwww.casely-hayford.com

CHRiSTOPHER SHANNONwww.christophershannon.co.uk

CORNELiANiwww.corneliani.com

CRAiG GREENwww.craig-green.com

DANiEL FLETCHERwww.danielfletcher.com

DiORwww.dior.com

DRiES VAN NOTENwww.driesvannoten.be

DSQUARED2www.dsquared2.com

EDWARD SEXTONwww.edwardsexton.co.uk

ERMENEGiLDO ZEGNAwww.zegna.com

E.TAUTZwww.e.tautz.com

FAiTH CONNEXiONwww.faith-connexion.com

FALKEwww.falke.com

FiLAwww.fila.co.uk

FLEET iLYAwww.fleetilya.com

FRED PERRYwww.fredperry.com

GiVENCHYwww.givenchy.com

HARDY AiMESwww.hardyaimes.com

HED MAYNERwww.hedmayner.com

HENRY POOLEwww.henrypoole.com

iSAbEL bENENATO.www.isabelbenenato.com

iSSEY MiYAKEwww.isseymiyake.com

iWCwww.iwc.com

JOANNA LARKwww.joannalark.com

JOHN SMEDLEYwww.johnsmedley.com

JULiEN DAViDwww.juliendavid.com

J.W. ANDERSONwww.j-a-anderson.com

KENZOwww.kenzo.com

LANViNwww.lanvin.com

LE COQ SPORTiFwww.lecoqsportif.com

LOEWEwww.loewe.com

LOU DALTONwww.loudalton.com

LOUiS VUiTTONwww.louisvuitton.com

HARDY AiMESwww.hardyaimes.com

HED MAYNERwww.hedmayner.com

HENRY POOLEwww.henrypoole.com

iSAbEL bENENATO.www.isabelbenenato.com

MARGARET HOWELLwww.margarethowell.co.uk

MARTiN MARGiELAwww.maisonmartinmargiela.com

MATTHEW MiLLERwww.matthewmillermenswear.com

PARMiGiANiwww.parmigiani.ch

PAUL SMiTHwww.paulsmith.co.uk

PiETERwww.sebastiaanpieter.com

PRADAwww.prada.com

PUMAwww.puma.com

REEbOKwww.reebok.co.uk

RiCHARD JAMESwww.richardjames.co.uk

ROLEXwww.rolex.com

SAiNT LAURENTwww.ysl.com

SUNSPELwww.sunspel.com

TAG HEUERwww.tagheuer.co.uk

THEORYwww.theory.com

UMbROwww.umbro.com

VALENTiNOwww.valentino.com

VERSACEwww.versace.com

ViViENNE WESTWOODwww.viviennewestwood.com

XANDER ZHOUwww.xanderzhou.com

YOHJi YAMAMOTOwww.yohjiyamamoto.co.jp

Stockist

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Varon magazine vol. 11

Documents

Transcript of Varon magazine vol. 11