Lloyd Johnson: The Modern Outfitter

Thursday, 26 January 2012 Comments Off





Some names transcend generations and mean different things to different people. To me it was that cool, somewhat intimidating shop selling amazing Hawaiian and fifties shirts, pleated trousers in candy and pop colours, biker boots and leather jackets at the far end of the Kings Road - that open air catwalk of unscripted style. I’d walk its length - from Sloan Square Tube towards Worlds End - passing the Chelsea Barracks, the punks on the park bench, then looking into the antique market, R Soles, Woodhouse, Boy and Flip and American Classics as I made my journey down what was to me an unmatchable fashion parade. These mannequins would occupy the windows of the my final destination, Johnson's.
But going to this new exhibition featuring Lloyd Johnson's archive isn’t (just) a nostalgia trip, it’s a celebration of taste and a kind of creative resistance which provided an antidote to the various mainstream attitudes of the seventies, eighties and beyond.
An unsung hero of British style culture this is both timely and way over due. Few people can claim to connect the dots between Britain's dirty bikers (no offence Dave C.) and America's best dressed man, Fred Astaire, or between a young Siouxsie Sioux and Liza Minneli (of indeterminate age), or between the maverick Tom Waits and sharp dressed modernists like Phil (Stedy) Stedman and Harry the Pencil. From Billy Fury to The Clash, Lloyd Johnson has a story to tell and the pictures to prove it.  
Curated by Mr Paul Gorman, it's no surprise that this is a complete and comprehensive show. Itself an exercise in style, Lloyd Johnson: The Modern Outfitter is relevant not just to folks wishing to stroll down memory lane, but to anyone with an interest in one of Britain's most important style visionaries.

Lloyd Johnson: The Modern Outfitter, Chelsea College of Art & Design, London SW1. Thro 'til March 3rd.


In A Silent Way/Part 8: Incase

Saturday, 21 January 2012 Comments Off

So we're at the airport - waiting in the lounge for the plane back to London. It's mid afternoon. Slow. Quiet. A small lobby with nothing to do. It's just a few feet away from the passport and hand luggage check, which is way less intense than the ones at Heathrow, but still requires you remove hats, coats, coins - and for some reason - your laptop  from its bag.
Our plane is late.  We chat, watch the clock and relax. Then we hear a huge bang! followed by this almost primal, guttural moan. We look  back towards the luggage check just behind us - a young woman, hair pulled back, dressed neat and business-like is picking her laptop up from the concrete floor. A tense silence  falls over the whole lobby as everyone registers the likely consequence of what has just happened.
Note to self:  Those new Incase laptop covers you saw at Bread and Butter? Get one.


goincase.com
www.hideoutstore.com/

In A Silent Way/Part 6: Wood Wood Windsor coat

Friday, 20 January 2012 Comments Off

Always loved Wood Wood, ever since I first saw their stuff in Goodhood all those years back. They're clever. And they're funny. And they have conversations with each other and their crew that we get to overhear via their designs. 
Caught a glimpse of the forthcoming collection a couple of days ago. This is Laust wearing Wood Woods new Windsor coat. 
It's based on the classic MA1 bomber jacket and uses the same classic olive green and orange colourway.
He asked me to keep quiet about it 'til they had their catwalk show on Wednesday. A top secret military style embargo; very apt I thought.


woodwood

In A Silent Way

Wednesday, 18 January 2012 Comments Off

Not posted for a while. Some people have asked why. Why the silence. There's always a place for the occasional pause - like a prolonged intake of breath. The suspended moment usually elects itself, finds its own beginning and end - naturally. 
Right now I'm trying to keep my head down in Berlin - attending Bread and Butter for a couple of days; travelling light and eating heavy.
First things first, lunch at Rosens - best burgers in town.

Rosenburger: Brunnenstr. 196, 10119, Berlin
U: Rosenthaler Platz

Garmsville Exclusive: Margaret Howell MHL opens in East London - tomorrow

Friday, 2 December 2011 Comments Off


For those who know, Old Nichol Street is a secret street - a quiet shortcut between Shoreditch High Street and Brick Lane. It’s the one you walk down when you're looking to avoid all the cool kids on Redchurch Street, with which it runs parallel.
 As from tomorrow, however, those days are over.
While there's a mass of hype and bill-poster size attention being stirred up around the opening of Box Park this Saturday, a few really switched-on folks’ll be heading down a road less travelled, making their way to the first ever stand-alone MHL store in the UK and the very first fashion shop on Old Nichol Street.
The MHL brand, concentrating on Howell’s more utility centred apparel and product, retains the same understated qualities found within the main line. It’s already hugely popular in Japan. It’s been around for about six or seven years - growing gradually as a range each year. The forthcoming collection will see its UK offering and therefore the shops inventory broaden even further.
This weekend will be what the brand prefers to call a soft opening, hoping to keep the store relatively under wraps 'til the full launch which is planned for next year.


All things considered, the MHL store is unlikely to stay much of a secret for long. But remember, if anyone asks, you never heard it from me.


19 Old Nichol Street London E2
margarethowell.co.uk/

"Close Up and Private For CoSTUME NATIONAL" A Subjective Response

Monday, 28 November 2011 Comments Off

CoSTUME NATIONAL and CoNSCIOUS clocked what a lot of people failed to notice; that the work of Sergei Sviatchenko is first and above all that of an abstract artist, a collage artist, and a modern artist. Fashion, yeah, he loves, but it also provides him with a context to explore and play with stuff way beyond fit, fabric and trend.
It has a lot to do with the relationship between memory and inspiration, I feel. It's about not allowing memory to collapse into nostalgia, but using it as a building block with which to relate to the present. 
Visually, this notion lends itself easily to the (seemingly) abstract, allowing memories to impact on things that might otherwise be viewed objectively as separate or unrelated. Essentially, our most potent memories are the enemy of common sense.
They force us to perceive stuff in random ways, making us associate things on a personal level in ways that defy accepted logic. It's this process, which seems to be played out in Sviatchenko's response to the current collection by CoSTUME NATIONAL.
As he says of the works theme and title: The Beetles News. 
Beetles - it's not a mistake. I felt like a beetle - to come, to see and fly away. The Beatles Live in Milano 1965 was the strongest inspiration for the project.
The viewer is rewarded with new ways of seeing the familiar by exploring images where the objects have become detached (literally and symbolically) from their common-sense definitions.
Very much like listening to a piece of jazz – the narrative or rhythm is grounded but it’s punctuated and overridden by a spontaneity which makes the familiar fresh and other-worldly.
And like listening to jazz, the quality of the audience's attention here is an active not passive one. The work demands that the viewer interact with it’s internal drama in a non-linear way. In doing so the viewer can make their own connections,  perhaps triggering their own memories on some subtle level.
Celebrating subjectivity, maybe the gift of Sergei Sviatchenko's work is to encourage us to experience other aspects of the real world on a similarly personal, non-prescriptive premise.

costumenational.com/sergei s-editorial
closeupandprivate.com

Northern Soul: A Film

Tuesday, 22 November 2011 Comments Off

Wild Bill explores redemption and the dark side of a city. Northern Soul is about people searching for - and finding - the light.
Still at funding stage, the film's director Elaine Constantine looks to capture the sense of euphoria and belonging she experienced in Northern Soul clubs as a kid.
Set in the mid 70's it focuses on two clubbers who discover an underground dance scene called Northern Soul and in doing so test themselves and their friendship.

Part rites of passage, part social commentary, part historical re-enactment, all heart; this film promises to be an upful exploration of a much underrated moment in British youth culture.
Let's dance.


for more info: northernsoulthefilm.com
facebook.com/northernsoulthefilm

Wild Bill - Straight out of Stratford

Friday, 18 November 2011 Comments Off

Director of Wild Bill, Dexter Fletcher is proper people. Bumped into him and Mr Mark Haddon a couple of months ago. Mark insisted Dexter show me a clip of the film on his phone. 
This won't do it justice, he said. Maybe not, but  it looked incredible, anyhow. Wild Bill is about the non-hipster side of the East End, real frontier territory,



http://www.wildbillthefilm.com/




Smokin' Joe:RIP

Wednesday, 9 November 2011 Comments Off

Joe Frazier.
January 12, 1944 - November 7, 2011.

the nod: brick lane

Sunday, 6 November 2011 Comments Off


James Brown: NKU

Thursday, 3 November 2011 Comments Off

On tour. Each night, before a gig Mr Brown will spend two hours with his private hairdresser  - one among an entourage of 38 people - preparing his do.Then, from a travelling wardrobe including 75 suits and 45 pairs of shoes he will select his attire for that evenings performance.
If possible, he'll also take some time out to deal with the avalanche of mail he receives each week from fans all over the world.


James Brown circa 1965, Never Knowingly Underdressed.

Orange...!

Wednesday, 26 October 2011 Comments Off 



I'm guessing that what makes orange so attractive to designers and brands right 
now is not only that men are becoming less and less afraid of colour.


It might also have something to do with the fact that it's almost pointless trying to 
co-ordinate the colour orange with any other dominant hue. 






This makes it easier to add to an already substantial winter wardrobe; it 


doesn't match with anything, so it can be worn with everything.












It works like an unexpected exclamation mark bringing an otherwise considered and well 


balanced statement to a bold, if not a little incongruous end! 




These great images are courtesy of Sergei from Close Up and Private. He shot 
them in collaboration with Gant Rugger for the Denmark store's official 
lookbook. The first image is previously unpublished..!






 facebook - gant rugger dk & close up and private collab 
































          

        

        

      

        

      







Nine Targets: Styles Will Vary




Wednesday, 19 October 2011
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With a handmade product comes the possibility for variation. This is one of the surprising qualities of the new collection of key fobs and wallets by British brand Nine Targets.







Each piece is the result of the craftsman’s singular response to the raw material.







A feel thing, a mood thing, it's these subtle differences - produced by using traditional techniques  predating mass production and industrialization - which gives each product its uniqueness.











In that sense, altho’ Nine Targets is a new brand, its true linage is centuries old.











Go see: available at Present, 140 Shoreditch High Street London E1 6JE



























          

        

        

      

        

      







Everyone's talking about: Justin Deakin




Tuesday, 18 October 2011
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Next time you walk down Hanbury Street, pop into
Justin Deakin's new store. You can't miss it: it's the one with scaffolding
outside. There's still a few things need doing upstairs, but since we were
ready to open, we figured we wouldn't let the scaffolding put us off, he explains. They opened on Saturday.







Right now Deakin and his wife are running the shop. We wanted to get a feel of the place, of the area and see how people responded to the shoes first-hand before we got any staff in.













The shop's interior is both opulent and understated: kinda
like the shoes themselves, there's a lot going on but not in an obvious way. I've been consulting for shoe brands for years, he explains, spent a
lot of time working in Italy. About three years ago I decided I wanted to do
something that was really about my vision, about why I got into making shoes in
the first place. So, I went back to Northampton and started designing my own
collection. 



You can tell why Deakin is regarded as one of the countries top shoe designers. The shape of the last, the materials, the detailing; his work is both original and classic. I've been working with the same last-maker for twenty-five
years, he says, and all the shoes are made in England. 







Even the silk trim featured on the boots and tasselled loafers is sourced in England. I drive up to a textiles specilaist I know; I prefer to buy the remnants rather than a whole roll of silk;  it's up-cycling in a way, and it also means that each shoe becomes even more individual. 







With a wealth of considered details like this, in contrast to many brands currently on the market, what's refreshing about Deakin's design is that it isn't all about the facade. And for the time being at least, it's a principle which also applies to the new shop.







Go see; Justin Deakin .. 22 Hanbury Street, London E1 6QR





































          

        

        

      

        

      







That's Lester Bowie baby.




Tuesday, 11 October 2011
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Gotta love Lester; playful, challenging, always restless Lester. Ever see The Art Ensemble Of Chicago? A complete assault on the senses - all six of them. The musicians would come on stage and take you on a crazy journey thro' the past, the present and onto the future of music - Great Black Music, as they'd announce at the end of the show. So extreme; from the verge of collapse, the music would magically become something beautiful and mesmeric, and yet with the threat, (or promise, maybe) of anarchy never far away.











And there in the middle would be Lester, mad professor Bowie in his lab coat, two-pronged goatee beard and a mischievous smile on his face.




Here's the epic, classic piece from the film soundtrack Les Stances A Sophie, featuring Lester's wife Fontella Bass on vocal.







Lester Bowie was born on this day in 1941. He died in 1999. His music is still avant-garde.
































          

        

        

      

        

      







Little Roy on Later with Jools Holland




Saturday, 8 October 2011
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Spent some of the week working with Little Roy and his crew prepping for the Jools Holland Show. What's amazing is how it's steadily grown from those late nights in Prince Fatty's Brighton studio to yesterdays epic broadcast. At its core, this is a versions project. And yet it's become more than that; it's now a thing all its own.




Miles Kane - who also performed that night - seemed totally shocked when Roy's band broke into Lithium. Given that they probably know the original inside-out, it must have been a revelation to see Roy and co. step up and claim this incredibly familiar song in that way.




We can talk for days about the similarities between the original Grunge scene and the world of Reggae which Roy inhabits and has helped pioneer. Alternatively we can simply check out this band and witness those parallels played out in style.









battleforseattle.com





























          

        

        

      

        

      







What's wrong with this picture?




Sunday, 2 October 2011
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Maybe this is one for the trade descriptions board; here's a guy in a hi tech wheel chair, all lightweight, flexible and super-fast and we're meant to pretend that it's either invisible or, equally absurd, that those amazing stats were achievable without it.  







State of the art technology helps all top athletes, be it while they compete or while they train and it's always been surrounded by various levels of controversy or fascination - think Jimmy Connors' steel tennis racket, Michael Phelps' swimsuit or Wayne Rooney's T90s.







Is it the Shoes? asked Spike Lee of Michael Jordan's Air sneakers and people all over the world, many of whom knew nothing about the NBA or the Chicago Bulls waited eagerly for the answer.







This ad denies our almost universal obsession with technology, our fascination for the relationship between ourselves and machines and the idea of infinite potential. Nul points, as the French would say.































          

        

        

      

        

      







Supreme London - a roadblock




Friday, 23 September 2011
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The launch party was epic; a who's who of the street wear world turning out to celebrate Supreme's new store.







But the real celebration started even before that with kids queuing over night outside the store eager to get a piece of Supreme London for themselves.







By yesterday morning the line had reached around the corner and across the street - these images show only part of the actual queue and were taken a block down from the store.







It's the same again today and who knows what the weekend will be like...







Supreme London: 2/3 Peter Street, London W1F 0AA 































      

    









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