Photography: David Ferrua at Ellison / Lee
Creative Direction: Kim J Palmer
Make-up: Linda Öhrström using Maria Åkerberg Deepskin Organics and Couleur Caramel
Hair: Keiichiro Hirano at David Artists using Less Is More
Nails: Tinu Bello using Butter London
Fashion: Jason Leung
Model: Lou @Established & May B @Elite
Make Up Assistant: Jemma Grace
Studio: Location 18
Design: Rebecca Hawkes
The post THE END appeared first on Volt Café | by Volt Magazine.
At VOLT, we love young talent, so we’ve decided to feature our three favourite students from the Canvas event a few weeks ago. All three of them have just graduated the BA (Hons) Fashion Promotion & Imaging course at UCA Epsom and have a bright future in the industry to come. It’s a bit of a girl-power moment with these fresh and inspiring ladies.
The first of our wonderful three is Scarlett Giannotti. Scarlette is 22-years-old and graduated this past summer. She has recently secured herself a position working for ASOS Magazine (yay)! Scarlett specialises in styling, however, art directs all of her own private projects and is confident to take the creative lead, yet still remaining a great collaborator.
If you love her stuff as much as we do, she is open to any opportunitues, so check out her site here: http://cargocollective.com/ScarlettLucia
Scarlett Giannotti
What are the most important characteristics of a designer / photographer today?
Be ambitious, passionate, innovative and open-minded, combine your artistic and creative skills – inspiration is all around you.
Where does style end and guise begin?
For me my style and guise begins with a memory or photograph. As a 90’s kid, a lot of my Art Direction and Styling has this decade’s flare. I have to ground myself sometimes otherwise my imagination can go off on an unrealistic whim!
What was the last drink you ordered in a bar?
I’m a bubbles kind of girl – Prosecco.
What do you miss in the clothing industry?
I miss the catwalk shows that make you question where the inspiration of the entire collection came from. Shows that you don’t ‘get’ first time around. I don’t think anyone is able to top the mystery, depth and ore of Maison Martin Margiela – he’s forever faultless, even in his non-existent self. A lot of designers are now celebs themselves and sometimes their designs may do well off of their reputation/persona alone…. Martin Margeila lets his designs do their own talking portraying his hidden identity through the models by covering their faces, his shows are not a celebrity endorsement, he is ‘never seen’.
Tell me three words starting with “S” than characterizes your work?
Sensual, Subconscious, Self.
Optimist or realist?
Realist, always realistic.
What is the number one on your bucketlist?
Currently it’s spending my upcoming birthday weekend Shopping in Paris!
What would you say to sell a wooden saucepan?
This perfect piece of art cannot be labelled in it’s usage, it’s natural material, shape and texture is perfect for being creative with what you use this beautiful vessel for.
When was the last time your were really happy and why?
I am a happy person generally and maintain a positive outlook on life. Most recently I have graduated, secured a job with the Fashion Team at ASOS Magazine and as said earlier, I am going to Paris for my Birthday yay!
If someone would film your life till now. What would be the title and who would play a main role next to you?
Oh Gosh – If someone had filmed my life up until now! I can guarantee it would be a novel that would win a Grammy. Many people have come in and out of my life, there has been lots of mayhem and I have so many stories to tell….. I would say my Mum would be the person to play the main role next to me, it may be a cliché but I would not be where I am today without her, as much as we are different, she has taught me so much about life. The title hmmm… Life Of A Fashion Student…….
Tell us three trivial things about yourself?
Last night I watched the Disney cartoon movie Tangled….. I’m still a daydreamer oohh and I love Chocolate!
If you were a fast food restaurant, what one would you be and why?
YO SUSHI – my close family and friends will get this one. I could eat Sushi all day everyday and am addicted to Soy Sauce. So I would say the amount of Yo Sushi I do actually consume I think naturally I would just evolve into this Fast Food chain restaurant.
When school is not stealing your life away, where will we find you?
Partying! There is a side to me that loves picnicking, attending exhibitions or simply watching movies in bed all day and of course shopping….. But I love to go out, dance and have fun with my friends – that’s what makes me happy!
Have you found your artistic aesthetic yet? Enlighten us?
I would say I have for now at this early stage in my career and I am happy with the results of the recent projects I have worked. But, as an artist you are forever growing and evolving. I am ambitious and very self-critical of my work so always want to do so much more and I believe my style will develop with me as I move forward.
Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
I would love to eventually be working for myself as a Personal Stylist with a strong Clientele.
The post VOLT INTRODUCES: SCARLETT GIANNOTTI appeared first on Volt Café | by Volt Magazine.
As part of VOLT Introduces, this week we have chosen three talented girls from UCA who surprised our eyes at the recent Canvas event.
Our second lovely lady is Nadina Cameron, a 22 year old powerhouse whose been living it up in London for the past few years. Nadina is currently working as a teaching assistant with her goal of becoming a photography teacher in the future. She keeps her self busy by juggling her day job with freelance work in graphic design and photography. She also intends to start a creative business with her partner who is a car designer (cool combo huh?).
Nadina is a refreshing and unqiue fashion photographer and we love her! Check out her website to have a gander or get in touch here: http://nadinacameron.com/
Nadina Cameron
What are the most important characteristics of a designer / photographer today?
I would say innovation is key, with a drop of reason and a dash of surprise.
What was the last drink you ordered in a bar?
A round of Tequila shots to kick start the weekend.
Tell me three words starting with “S” than characterizes your work?
Seamless, surprising and strategic
Optimist or realist?
Realist
What is the number one on your bucket list?
Dipping my toes in the Blue Lagoon, Iceland
When was the last time your were really happy and why?
Sunday, I got given roses. I get really love watching them age and darken in colour.
If someone would film your life till now. What would be the title and who would play a main role next to you?
Gigi- The girl with the long neck filled with a barrel of laughs. I guess my boyfriend he puts up with me.
If you were a fast food restaurant, what one would you be and why?
‘Oh my Cod’ I love a fishy joke
Have you found your artistic aesthetic yet? Enlighten us?
I’m enjoying exploring and challenging myself to create different styles through my work, so not yet its still playtime.
Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
Developing my skills outside of the UK and exploring my interests in astronomy.
The post VOLT INTRODUCES: NADINA CAMERON appeared first on Volt Café | by Volt Magazine.
Photography: Martin Petersson
Make-Up: Åsa Elmgren
Hair: Joe-Yves Asmar at Mikas Looks
Stylist: Gorian Lauseger at Rockson
Model: Line Brems at Elite Stockholm
Photography Assistant: Nicklas Bergstrand
Design: Rebecca Hawkes
The post ECO REBEL appeared first on Volt Café | by Volt Magazine.
Ten or even five years ago, I would have only associated a backpack with my high school years. The days where my hideous navy blue backpack, adorned with as many zips and pockets as you could possibly fit, brimful of heavy books and giving off the faintest tang of rotting fruit. Backpacks sucked. They were big, annoying and didn’t look very cool, unless you were ‘one strapping’, which was actually a lot harder than using both straps but we would all suffer the pain.
However, backpacks have seemingly eased their way into our lives again. Maybe that’s because of this crazy 90s revival we are going through at the moment. It seems every girl I know is longing to be thrown back into Clueless mode so she can wear Cher’s yellow tartan skirt and blazer, accompanied by her perfectly white, fluffy backpack. I guess the item we all used to loathe is morphing into a love that is both stylish and functional. Quite frankly, I am an avid supporter of the backpack, as it means I can multi-task like Go-Go-Gadget and sneak a bottle of vodka into the club just that little bit easier…
Sheer functionality paired with fashionability ensures a nonchalant look. We’ve picked out five backpacks that will convert you in an instant.
1. HOUSE OF HOLLAND – The Backpack and Sack shearling, calf hair and leather backpack £490
2. ALEXANDER WANG – Dumbo textured leather backpack £945
3. HEMSLEY LONDON – Derby Backpack £725
4. MCM – Small Stark Backpack £395
5. Moschino – Biker Leather Backpack £1,695
These amazing illustrations were drawn by Analisa Aza!
Check her work out here: http://cargocollective.com/analisaaza
Words by Rochelle Bambury
The post BACKPACKS: 5 THAT WILL CONVERT YOU appeared first on Volt Café | by Volt Magazine.
Our final girl of the UCA three is the lovely Rosie Cartwright. Rosie is a 22-year-old Northerner who has been living in London since she started her degree. Since graduating in the summer, Rosie has started working at LGA Management London as Agent and Production Assistant. As well as focusing on her new job, she is undertaking a lot of freelance work to develop her photography aesthetics.
Rosie specialises in photography and image making.
Check out her work at: http://cargocollective.com/Rosiecartwright
Rosie Cartwright
What are the most important characteristics of a designer / photographer today?
For me personally it’s less about the individuals themselves and more about the work they produce. I think it’s important to remain relevant and sincere within your practice. Especially with photographers, I like to see images that are honest and have truth to them.
Where does style end and guise begin?
I believe style is a way of thinking, almost like a lifestyle or philosophy and with guise it’s more about the exterior or how you want to make something look. I think it used to be obvious to see who had true style and who didn’t. These days it’s really easy to buy into a certain look – you can walk into a shop and buy a whole outfit that’s already been put together on a mannequin and be instantly stylish. So I guess now it’s harder to see where one ends and the other begins.
What was the last drink you ordered in a bar?
A Skinny Bitch
What do you miss in the clothing industry?
Decent leather jackets. I haven’t found a really amazing one for a few years now.
Tell me three words starting with “S” than characterizes your work?
Subversive, Stylistic, Straightforward
Optimist or realist?
Realist.
What is the number one on your bucketlist?
To go on a Hot Air Balloon ride in Los Angeles.
What would you say to sell a wooden saucepan?
I’d probably just say it belonged to Britney Spears. Didn’t someone buy a piece of her chewed gum for like $10,000 on eBay once?
When was the last time you were really happy and why?
Last night when I got out of Waterloo Station. Worst pile up of commuters I’ve ever seen.
Tell us three trivial things about yourself?
I don’t drink hot drinks, I’ve met Kate Moss and I’m always on trains.
If you were a fast food restaurant, what one would you be and why ?
5 guys – because it’s amazing and has every single variety of Coke.
When school is not stealing your life away, where will we find you?
Well I’ve graduated now, but if I’m not in the office I’m normally at some sort of art event/exhibition, at a gig, or in the pub.
Have you found your artistic aesthetic yet? Enlighten us?
I think as an artist your aesthetic changes and develops all the time. I do think I’ve found it in a sense. It used to depend on what I was influenced by at the time but I feel now it’s more focused. I know what I like and what I don’t like.
Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
Hopefully working in another amazing city – New York maybe. Who knows!
The post VOLT INTRODUCES: ROSIE CARTWRIGHT appeared first on Volt Café | by Volt Magazine.
Viviane Sassen has never been one to stick to the conformities of the fashion photography world (and we thank her for it). She has often expressed her love/hate relationship with the industry, and it is that very opinion that injects her work with an unconventional and experimental twist. It is obvious that growing up in Africa has made a huge impact on her images, thrusting her deeply ingrained love of colour, graphic shapes and strong contrasts into her work, leaving it with a signature aesthetic.
This aesthetic has made her one of the most sought-after fashion photographers of our time. Her experimental vision of the fashion world speaks a unique language that has ultimately left her shooting campaigns for some of the biggest names of the industry, names such as Stella McCartney, adidas and Miu Miu. But it was magazines like i-D, Dazed & Confused and POP that provided her with the freedom and a platform to explore and bring out her photographic genius.
“It’s important that images somehow confuse me, or disturb me, or grasp me for a long time. We live in a culture where there are so many images being thrown at us all the time. I try to make them more challenging for the eye and the mind.” (dazeddigital.com)
Sassen’s work is characterised by her subversion of the prevailing codes and practices, which dominate the world of fashion and advertising. Her models often seem secondary in her images. Figures obscured by light are often faceless, intertwined with other bodies or transformed with props and garments to create sculptural compositions. She favours location shooting and will always bring elements of nature into the studio to leave her viewers constantly questioning.
Sassen’s archive of surreal fashion photography is finally on display at her first London exhibition, Analemma: Fashion Photography 1992 – 2012. And if you think you’re going to walk into your standard ‘photos on the wall’ kind of space, you’re wrong. Sassen has stayed true to her unconventional aesthetic and featured her work in a multi-media centred installation where 350 of her most influential fashion images shift around the space. Showing only a handful of images scrolling by at a time, it leaves you dying to see more. (let’s just say I sat there in awe for over an hour!)
Definitely not one to miss, so get your arses down there asap. Oh, and you most likely won’t be able to resist all her books – available in the gallery shop – so bring cash money!
Analemma: Fashion Photography 1992 – 2012 will run from 31 October until 18 January 2015 at The Photographers’ Gallery, for more information click here.
Words by Rochelle Bambury
The post VIVIANE SASSEN: ANALEMMA appeared first on Volt Café | by Volt Magazine.
Photography: James Robotham
Fashion & Art Direction: Nickque Patterson
Set Design: Andrew Tomlinson @Streeters
Make Up: Molly Portsmouth using MAC
Hair: Show Fujimoto using Bumble&Bumble
Model: Caroline Davis @ Elite
Digital: Morgan Murphy
Fashion Assistant: Lu Feng
Set Assistants: Lyndon Ogbourne and Patience Harding
Design: Rebecca Hawkes
The post Undone appeared first on Volt Café | by Volt Magazine.
Checking out the Fiorentini + Baker range, these guys really stood out. For anyone like me who literally wore her Converse All-Stars to death, the Lennox is the natural progression.
The Lennox range first put in an appearance in S/S11 and although really well received, Deborah Baker (the British born designer behind F+B) felt that the line, with its distinctive sports feel, wasn’t really part of her design ethos, so it was dropped from the proceeding collections.
Luckily, possibly due to the launch of the NYC and LA stores and the Shoreditch flagship store, there suddenly seemed to be a demand for a Converse-style shoe to sit alongside the rugged weathered leathers and general artisan style of boots we already know and love.
Thus the Lennox has been given a revival for S/S15. The distinctive, yet typically underplayed Fiorentini + Baker style traits are ever present – such as the printed logo, the easy-on-the-eye colour combinations and the hand stitching details. And of course the way they, just like the boots, already look like your favourite, go-to item in your wardrobe. The range is unisex and features a subtle mix of colours and materials.
The Lennox comes in a variety of styles and retail from £290 – £305
Words by Anna Bang
The post The Lennox | Fiorentini + Baker appeared first on Volt Café | by Volt Magazine.
Jane Bowler SS15 film from Volt Magazine on Vimeo.
Jane Bowler is at the forefront of British fashion and textile design, constantly pushing the boundaries between fashion and art. This season, Bowler has embraced her love for sculptural drama yet mixed it with a sporty twist. Her SS15 garments explore her signature sculptural silhouettes and exciting, innovative materials such as plastic meshes, sports mesh, plastic appliqué, patent leather and macrame. Bowlers signature plastic accessories complete the collection.
This video is Bowler’s exciting collaboration with animator Alice Dunseath. Together they have created a film which merges art, science and textile innovation to create a magical fashion landscape which enlightens the importance of materials and process.
Jane Bowler SS15 Film by Alice Dunseath
The post JANE BOWLER: SS15 FILM appeared first on Volt Café | by Volt Magazine.
Photography: Yuji Fukuhara
Styling: TOMO
Make Up: Waka Onishi
Hair: Hiromi Iizuka
Models: Darya Savchenko @ Premier & Alex Rose @ Select
Design: Rebecca Hawkes
The post Lost Memory Theatre appeared first on Volt Café | by Volt Magazine.
Photographer: Oskar Gyllenswärd
MakeUp: Vassilis Theotokis using NARS and skincare by Kiehl’s
Hair: Susanne Lichtenegger using Maria Åkerberg
Model: Ewa Sillem @ Select
Design: Rebecca Hawkes
The post GREY DAYS appeared first on Volt Café | by Volt Magazine.
Shura makes the sort of music you want to listen to for hours and learn every word to and cry to and be happy to and I guess… everything to. The British/Russian singer-songwriter producer, whose real name is Aleksandra (Shura being the Russian abbreviation of her name) has already caused a stir with her hypnotic debut single “Touch” and now with the release of her new track “Indecision” we sense she is not going to be one to forget about.
She has a fragile, yet melodic approach to music that makes listening bliss. The dreamy sound is thanks to her über crush on analogue synths, which have a massive affect on the feel of her tunes. Citing Madonna and Janet Jackson among her influences (and possibly Cyndi Lauper?) she meshes 80’s pop with splashes of hip hop and 90’s R’n’B flawlessly.
Shura is one of the more exciting singers we’ve heard in 2014 and we are excited to see what she has in store for us next. Unfortunately her recent London show sold out instantly and we heard it was a banger, luckily she’s promised “Gonna have to do another one then innit!”
Fingers crossed it is soon, because we’re yearning to sway to her tunes. Here’s a taste of “Indecision”, her newest single that everyone is melting over and which has already been Huw Stephens’ (BBC Radio 1) Single of the Week . Enjoy! Be warned though, you’ll have it on repeat forever.
Words by Rochelle Bambury
The post SHURA: EAR MELTING MUSIC appeared first on Volt Café | by Volt Magazine.
Photographer: Diana Gomez
Assistant: Oliver Rudkin
Model: Dioni Tabbers @ Models 1
Stylist: Harriet Gregory
Set Designer: Dalia Gellert
Design Team: Neil Collins & Adam Collins
Make up: Barrie Griffith using MAC Cosmetics
Hair: Ernesto Montenovo
Nails: Leanne Harris at Nails by Baptiste
Location: Shoreditch Studios
Retouching: Happy Finish and Melissa Jenkins
Design: Rebecca Hawkes
The post Room 1710 appeared first on Volt Café | by Volt Magazine.
Photography: Soulla Petrou at Beth Wightman
Stylist: Jo Shippen
Make-Up: Linda Öhström using RMS Beauty & Kure Bazaar
Hair: Sascha Breuer at Starworks Artists
Model: Egle B at Nevs Models
Photography Assistant: Ben Duah
Make-Up Assistant: Rosana Vilela
Design: Rebecca Hawkes
The post HEAVY METALS FILM appeared first on Volt Café | by Volt Magazine.
Photographer / Director: Diana Gomez
Cinematographer / Editor: Xiao – Wei Lu
Model: Dioni Tabbers @ Models 1
Stylist: Harriet Gregory
Set Designer: Dalia Gellert
Design Team: Neil Collins & Adam Collins
Make up: Barrie Griffith using MAC Cosmetics
Hair: Ernesto Montenovo
Nails: Leanne Harris at Nails by Baptiste
Assistant: Oliver Rudkin
Location: Shoreditch Studios
Music: ‘Slepp Walkin’ by Tom Verlaine
The post Room 1710 appeared first on Volt Café | by Volt Magazine.
Pentax calendar, 1980 © Guy Bourdin
Guy Bourdin’s characteristic style is probably the most imitated in the past 50 years. It looks very contemporary, probably due to the many photographers who have felt ‘inspired’ by his work. Yet, compared to Newton, Avedon and Klein, as with so many pioneers, Bourdin never became a household name, despite his photography leaving a strong imprint on our visual culture. Inspired by Magritte, Balthus and Buñuel, his pictures were the epitome of what the surrealists called ‘convulsive beauty’. His work was characterized by a severe style of formalism and solitude, a recurrent trope.
Charles Jourdan, Spring 1976 © Guy Bourdin
Influential and enigmatic, Bourdin was the very antithesis to today’s relentless self-promotion. He turned down the offer of solo exhibitions and books and never gave interviews. Once his images had been published, the negatives would be dumped behind his front door in boxes and black bin liners. Such was his desire for privacy that he refused to have his photograph on the Vogue credit page.
While initially wanting to be a fine artist, Bourdin had to conclude his work wasn’t good enough and he reluctantly chose photography as a medium instead. He met Man-Ray and managed to become his protégé. In 1954, after several exhibitions in Paris galleries, Bourdin showed his portfolio to Edmonde Charles-Roux at Vogue. Although it lacked commercial work, Charles-Roux thought the quality of his photos ‘exceptional’ and he managed to get his very first shoot, a hat story. Bourdin chose to set this at the meat market, juxtaposing the elegantly dressed models with calves’ heads hanging from hooks, their eyes closed and tongues lolling as if in revulsion at the bourgeois ladies coolly posing below. Appropriately titled Chapeau-Choc (Hat Shocker) this story caused a mini-scandal and a flurry of cancelled magazine subscriptions yet was the beginning of a 30 year long relationship with Vogue. Bourdin always tried to disrupt any potentially lazy showcasing of clothing by injecting an element of the unsettling; thus an elaborate flower-covered hat would be shot on a model who had flies and bees swarming all over her neck. His voyeuristic set-ups seduced the viewer with their suggestions of illicit sex and violence. Francine Crescent, also at Vogue, was a ferocious supporter of Bourdin’s work. She introduced Bourdin to Roland Jourdan, ensuring financial stability and a platform for Bourdin to explore his art both within Vogue editorials and through the medium of advertising campaigns.
Charles Jourdan, Fall 1977 © Guy Bourdin
His working style was characterized by shoots involving elaborate, self-built sets which took days to construct. Usually he would only do one shot a day, according to Nicolle Meyer, a former model.
The legend goes that to be a true artist you have to suffer and/or make others suffer. Bourdin’s background wasn’t great and is clearly an important part of the picture. Abandoned by his mother, he was adopted by his father’s parents. The only time he met his birth mother, an immaculately groomed woman with red hair, was when she turned up at his adoptive parent’s restaurant, the Brasserie Bourdin, and handed him a present. His sole contact with her was being forced to speak to her on the phone, locked into the restaurant’s cramped phone booth. Many of his images feature beautifully made up redheads – a coincidence or a desire to make a mother substitution bend to his will? Joan Juliet Buck, ex-editor of French Vogue and a former collaborator who was in charge of making up models’ faces with Leichner stage paint, remembers gradually feeling uncomfortable about the doll-like appearance of the models. ‘They began to look dead to me’, she recalls. Something else that introduced a certain vibe on shoots was Bourdin’s blacked-out, black painted studio with only an outdoor toilet, which you had to access by walking on planks over a rat-filled yard. And rather than using the big names of the day, he chose models based on ‘would she’? Not would she sleep with him, rather would she be the kind of woman you could get to pose hanging upside down, pockets full of slowly melting ice. On one occasion his vision was two women with skin made of black pearls. Models were covered first in glue from head to toe, then encased in jewels. As their skin couldn’t breathe, both blacked out. When told the models would eventually die under those conditions, he smiled and replied ‘beautiful’. Insert creepy voice-over… According to legend, his voice was high-pitched, whiny, despite Bourdin being short and stocky. He once said that the purest pictures were of someone dying or unconscious. In a way there’s an honesty to Bourdin’s work, because it is all so obvious in his images, you don’t have to probe for a hidden subtext.
Charles Jourdan, Autumn 1970 © Guy Bourdin
At the age of 34 Bourdin married Solange Gèze. Six years later they had a son, Samuel, and subsequently became estranged.
In New York he became involved with Holly Warner, and a redheaded model named Eva Gschopf. Friends reported that the women who lived with him appeared trapped; unable to see people, never allowed access to a telephone. Maybe Bourdin wanted to make sure they could never leave him like his mother did.
Warner tried to kill herself by slashing her wrists, but survived and broke away from Bourdin. Gschopf died in a fall. Afterwards, Gschopf’s best friend Sybille Dallmer (also be a redhead) asked to meet Bourdin, and they became lovers. Shortly afterwards, Solange Gèze died – rumour had it was an overdose, some suggested it was a heart attack. This incident was supposedly used as inspiration for an image for the Charles Jourdan S/S75 campaign, that of a headless woman lying inert on a bed, a TV blaring at her side and a young boy silhouetted in the doorway. In 1981, the then 13-year-old Samuel came home to find Dallmer hanging from a rope in the stairway of their apartment.
The backstory makes us look at his work in a different way. Does the fact that he ‘merely’ acted out tableaux of his desires rather than kill women make it more justifiable? Do we, by liking these images, make the thought process behind them acceptable? Is it reasonable to jazz up commerce by exploiting a sophisticated staging of violence towards women? Was he trying to numb our sense of right and wrong by disguising malice as beautifully executed fashion imagery?
Guy Bourdin: Image Maker at Somerset House is the UK’s largest ever exhibition of Bourdin’s work, featuring over 100 colour exhibition prints, as well as early and late works in B & W that challenge Bourdin’s reputation as a colour photographer. Unique Polaroid test shots, double page spread layouts, contact sheets and transparencies marked for composition all explore Bourdin’s craftsmanship and the processes involved in producing startling and provocative imagery in a pre-digital age. It also shows Bourdin as a pioneer of fashion film, displaying a range of Super-8 films he made at the same time as his on-location photo shoots.
Included are a selection of paintings, working drawings, sketches and notebooks.
Guy Bourdin: Image-Maker promises to be the most in-depth and insightful exhibition staged since his death in 1991 and is a must-see.
Curator’s Talk: Guy Bourdin
Thursday, 11 December 2014, 19.00-20.00
Screening Room £12.00 (£10.00 concessions)
Guy Bourdin remains one of the most distinguished figures in twentieth-century fashion photography. His bold sense of pictorial design and uncompromising approach to his subject matter have left a remarkable legacy. His body of work is examined in Guy Bourdin: Image Maker, the most extensive UK survey of his work to date. In this lecture, curator Alistair O’Neill will examine Bourdin’s influence, not only within commercial fashion, but in the wider field of photography beyond.
Guy Bourdin: Image Maker
27 November 2014 – 15 March 2015
Somerset House
Embankment Galleries,
South Wing
Words Anna Bang
The post Guy Bourdin | Somerset House appeared first on Volt Café | by Volt Magazine.
There really isn’t much that Quentin Jones can’t do. She has dashed her signature ink scribble on ad campaigns for the likes of Kenzo, Chanel and Louis Vuitton and recently got Miley Cyrus all tongue tied in her BDSM- lite themed animation. Her talents span across the disciplines of filmmaker, illustrator, animator and model and now the young artist is teaming up with innovative spacial designer Robert Storey for an exciting new collaborative exhibition at the Vinyl Factory.
While fashion imagery is typically sleek and glossy, Jones gives her work a lo-fi feel using stop-motion photography, roughly hewn collage gifs that are ripped apart as quickly as they appear, grungy illustrations and a monochromatic palette. Cats, eyes and lips are recurring motifs. It’s surreal, playful and a little bit naughty, and that subversive streak stems back to Jones’ childhood in London. And although Storey’s work may almost be the polar opposite aesthetic-wise to Jones’, everything comes together in an unholy union when combined.
This exhibition will be the first to feature the full range of Jones’ work and Robert Story will create a specific set space for each collection on her work. The separate areas will be connected through the use of light and positive and negative space within the walls creating a surreal and disorientating playground of five years of work.
With two of the freshest artists in the London scene at the moment, this is an exhibition you cannot miss.
The Fractured and the Feline: Quentin Jones with Robert Storey is presented by The Vinyl Factory from 19th November – 13th December. Keep an eye out for Jones’ sister, whose catering company Tart will be hosting a pop-up restaurant, but only on certain days.
The post QUENTIN JONES & ROBERT STORY: THE FRACTURED AND THE FELINE appeared first on Volt Café | by Volt Magazine.
Gia Coppola
W Hotels are noted for their support of music, film, design and fashion. This time W New York has collaborated with cultural brand Liberatum to present a short film featuring creatives discussing their most transformative moments. As a nod to the life-changing instances that define us which can range from childhood, gender, city and location, career to parenting and beyond, the observations by these luminaries pay homage to music, film, design and fashion, pursuits that are loved by us all. The commission was inspired by W New York’s recent $2.2 million Living Room renovation, which is clearly a transformation of sorts. One that resulted in an important place for socializing and a meeting place for a variety of creative individuals.
JR
Transformation is thus a celebration of the transitional moments of an A+ list of talent, both dwellers and frequent visitors to NYC, including: Dita Von Teese, Liberty Ross, Lil Buck, JR, Dianna Agron, Andreja Pejic, Yves Béhar, Gia Coppola, Francisco Costa and more.
Dita Von Teese
The film contains comments from individuals in multidisciplinary fields, and although possibly at times very first-world concerns, the humanity overrides any skepticism. A lipstick might not be a weapon of discovery to you but it put Dita Von Teese on the map. The musings on motherhood by a beautiful model who is now an extremely rich, beautiful model with a serious art collection to boot is easily derided if you’re in a snarky mood but take a second to listen anyhow. You could discover something about them and about yourself. Careers and personal stories of transition come alive, giving a fascinating insight into what happens once you decide to take that leap. And how the initial leap can be just a very tiny step. Going to the library to do research sounds like an everyday event but it was the first milestone on the way for Andrej Pejic to become Andreja Pejic. Maybe it will inspire you to take transformative action? As Henry Ford famously said, ‘Whether you think you can or you think you can’t – you’re right’.
Andreja Pejic
Transformation and the New York City culture theme are of integral importance to W New York. Visitors to W New York can order a bespoke Transformation cocktail until the end of December.
Liberatum is a unique arts and culture organisation founded by Pablo Ganguli in 2001 that creates and produces some of the most spectacular multidisciplinary festivals, summits, content and fascinating cultural happenings in the world attended by Academy Award winners, Nobel Prize Winners, creative pioneers and cultural icons. Liberatum projects range from education to human rights, science to fashion, and literature to cinema.
Words by Anna Bang
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As a human you’re constantly having to make choices. Sometimes right and wrong is very easy, sometimes we’re led into believing we’ve made the right choice. And sometimes we know deep down it probably is a load of bull but we sort of want to believe it anyway because it suits us. ‘Origin Assured Fur‘ sounds so wholesome – a bit like ‘organic free-range chicken’, you imagine the fox or mink living a happy life running around with its friends in a Disney-style landscape till it one night expires in its sleep and the fur (which would go to waste anyway, let’s face it) is gently slid off its body to be turned into something exquisite you’ll treasure forever.
Wrong.
PETA has just released a new video montage, narrated by Paloma Faith, of footage taken from farms in the 29 countries that make up part of the fur industry’s grossly misleading ‘Origin Assured’ marketing scheme. The footage is horrific. And now, armed with this exposé, PETA is calling on Harvey Nichols – which recently abandoned its decade-long fur-free policy in order to start selling ‘Origin Assured’ fur – to rejoin virtually all other UK department stores, including competitors Selfridges, House of Fraser and Liberty, in banning fur.
The images below are sad and upsetting. These were the ‘nicest’ I could find. The point is no animal should live a life like this just so a hat can be trimmed with a silly pom-pom that doesn’t even keep you warm.
The ‘Origin Assured’ label was created by the International Fur Federation and other big players in the fur industry, including Saga Furs and Kopenhagen Fur following years of plummeting sales as a way of ‘green washing’ fur. Coming from Denmark, a country renowned for its democratic and liberal qualities, I’m particularly ashamed of the huge role Danish fur companies such as Saga Furs and Kopenhagen Fur play in keeping this revolting practice alive. Not just by greenwash flimflam like Origin Assured but also by the underhand practice of seducing emerging fashion designers with money in return for using fur in their collections. Usually when they’ve just graduated from college and desperate for any capital to kickstart their careers. While the label Origin Assured attempts to allay the public’s fears about the treatment of animals raised and killed for fur, sadly the reality is that nothing has changed. As in PETA’s film, the label would read more correctly if said ‘Cruelty Assured’. Cruelty free fur is no more possible than cancer free cigarettes. Watch the film if you can – I lasted 44 seconds in. For more information about ‘Origin Assured’ cruelty, visit PETAUK.org/originassured. If you want to do one good thing today, please join PETA in asking Harvey Nichols to reinstate its fur-free policy by clicking here.
As Faith says in the video, “All fur is the product of extreme cruelty and abuse of animals. That’s why I always choose faux fur. With so many extraordinary alternatives on the market, there’s just no excuse for tearing the fur off an animal’s back.”
Words by Anna Bang
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