BRITAIN’S URBAN WORKING CLASSES AND YOUTH CULTURES IDENTIFY THEMSELVES THROUGH BRANDING

But then nothing is new. Since at least the late 1960s, Britain’s urban working classes and youth cultures have largely identified themselves and each other through the brands they favour. It’s every much a part of the country’s famous street style as more celebrated and ‘organic’ strands like punk and new romantic. Forty years ago, Ben Sherman shirts, Dr Martens boots and Crombie coats were de rigueur for the first skinheads. Since then, successive UK youth cultures and scenes have each made individual brands, even specific designs, key to their own signature looks. Fred Perry, Levi’s, Lacoste, Pringle, Aquascutum, Fila, Diadora, Kickers and Adidas are just some of the international names to have been co-opted by aspiring adolescents from the council estates of London, Liverpool, Manchester and beyond. In the late 1980s, some football ‘firms’ even donned Miami Vice-style Armani for their Saturday afternoon shenanigans.

I’ve seen it argued that the 90s acid house scene, which cared little for clothes, and the homogenising power of global fashion trends, have helped defuse British street style, historically the hotbed for so many new looks. That in these post-modern days, everyone’s out to dress uniquely, ensuring no new fashion cult ever wins enough adherents to break through. But Burberry’s close encounter of the ‘chav’ kind suggests to me that, back on Britain’s streets, kids are still using clothes and labels to show they belong.

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by Yeowatzup

The winner of the competition was an entry named Eskimoerindens Skinnbuxa (Swedish for Eskimo Woman’s Leather Breeches.) The designer behind the entry turned out to be the 38-year-old Finnish architect, Hugo Alvar Aalto (1898-1976). His proposal was a collection of heavy, wavy glass vases and bowls of varying heights and widths.

TODAY THE AALTO VASE IS A SYMBOL OF FINNISH DESIGN

Aalto was also the architect of Finland’s Paris Expo Pavilion, a design feat that the press of the time called the exhibition’s best. The expo building and the vases carried all of Aalto’s signature traits: simplicity, flowing shape and practicality. Aalto disliked square corners and geometrical forms. Throughout his career, he pushed production methods past standard norms so that his furniture, buildings or objects could be manufactured. To make his furniture, Aalto established Artek in 1935 with his wife Aino. Artek continues to manufacture and sell Aalto furniture today. Aalto’s name for his competition entry, Eskimo Woman’s Leather Breeches, is often described as mysterious. For some reason, I have always thought that he had simply seen the exact form of the vase in a stiff leather pant leg, perhaps in a photograph or even in real life. Being an architect and thinking spatially, he had seen the unique, perfect form and probably sketched it on the spot. However, the more popular version is that the vase’s inspiration was the Finnish nature and its footprint is the outline of a Finnish lake. Aalto was the son of a cartographer, and he certainly loved Finnish nature, so this explanation is not far-fetched. It could also be that he based the design simply on his last name. Aalto is the Finnish word for “wave.” In 1937, the vase was named Savoy, when Aalto and his wife designed the interior and fixtures for a new luxury restaurant by the same name in Helsinki. The 60-centimetre-tall Savoy vase on each table became the most striking feature of the interior. (I think it is really easy to see the leather pant leg in the vase at that size.) Today, the vase, known simply as the Aalto vase, is a symbol of Finnish design, a glass design classic. It is also one of Iittala’s flagship products.

Almost every year, Iittala introduces yet another extension of the line with new colours and new items such as tea light holders. I still love the basic, original clear vase the most, but Aalto would probably be happy with the innovations. To his competition entry, he had attached a note on silk paper that said the glass vessels should be used in as many ways as possible vases “for example as trays, fruit bowls and gardens for cactus plants.”

Aalto would probably also approve Czech designer Jan Ctvrtník’s recent modification of the vase. Ctvrtník won the Climate Competition organised by Droog with Alvar Aalto’s famous design modified to express the effects of global warming.

For two years, Yamamoto devoted himself to custom clothing. He is often described as an avant-garde designer: he ignores current trends in favour of creating styles that express his own desires and ideas for clothes instead of the fashion du jour.

CLOTHES BY YAMAMOTO ARE INTENTIONALLY OVER-SIZED, THEY ARE FLATTERING WITHOUT SHOWING THE FIGURE

In 1972, he started his first company, which featured ready-to-wear clothes that showed off his characteristic style of a slightly tousled look, with fabrics often appearing wrinkled, well-loved and worn. Clothes by Yamamoto are generally oversized but not baggy: they are carefully calculated to be flattering while not showing off too much of the figure. For Yamamoto, the focus of the model or woman wearing his clothes is most definitely the fashion item itself.

Yamamoto’s love for fashion moves past his occupation as a fashion designer and into the film world: he famously collaborated with Wim Wenders for the director’s 1989 film Notebook on Cities and Clothes. Through this film, it is obvious that for Yamamoto, fashion is not just a way of making a living but a way of life.

Yamamoto’s fall/winter 2008/2009 lines for women and for men continued in the vein of his previous work. For women’s fashion, flowing skirts and fitted tops in fabrics with contrasting textures were all over the runway. Most fashions were in simple black, drawing attention, as always, to the shape of the clothing rather than brightly popping patterns. In men’s fashion, Yamamoto took his inspiration from the military. In an interview, he mentioned that he thought that in past years, men’s fashion had been becoming too feminine. There is nothing feminine about this men’s line, and influences from this masculinity can even be seen in some of the pieces from his women’s collection for this season.

The new womens Spring/Summer collection for 2009 is dutifully coloured in the trademark black and white but has a lighter air than its winter counterpart, concentrating on suits with over-stitching and loose fitting dresses.

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by LeeLeeLu

IT’S MORE THAN JUST A TOY STORY

On a recent trip to London I was reminded of those innocent youthful days from my childhood when in the street I noticed a person so small they made Danny Devito appear to have the height of a runway supermodel. These little people were hand painted figurines that you normally associate with model train sets and they had been manipulated then sited in scenarios around the London streets as works of art for people to discover and admire. The work is by an anonymous street artist, though aren’t they all, named Slinkachu who creates the art pieces then takes a snap shot to be uploaded to his blog site online for his fans to follow. The art is then left in the street to develop however its destiny decides.

Other “street art celebrities” such as Banksy, Truth and Faile have paved the way in which art is now presented to the public showing that there are no limits or restraints any longer and truly anything goes. Art galleries have had to sit up and take note of this and through fear of being left behind they began stocking prints of these street art masterpieces which would then be sold off at exhibitions. Slinkachu’s most recent exhibition Ground Zero wowed the art world at the Cosh Gallery, London and was launched amidst much publicity with a unique treasure hunt of his work around the city in which the winner would get a limited signed print. The exhibition contained pints from Slinkachu’s first book that is available now and contains images of his best work to date.

During the week of January 26, 1962, Esquire magazine’s dashing photographer, Jerry Schatzberg pointed his lens at the scenes beside and behind the catwalk and captured the mood of one of fashion’s turning points.

The main occasion was the presentation of Yves Saint Laurent’s first independent collection in the former residence of the painter, Forain, on rue Spontini in Paris. That same week, while Yves Saint Laurent established himself as a star in his own right, Marc Bohan showed his latest collection for Christian Dior. The book covers both shows.

SCHATZBERG’S HONEST PHOTOGRAPHS REVEAL THE STRESS BEHIND THE FASHIONABLE FRONT

With his filmmaker’s eye for a story, Schatzberg registers the incessant smoking, spilling ashtrays and empty champagne bottles. He spies on the visible stress of the models and their dressers, the debonair manner of fashion photographers at work, the nonchalant boredom of the famous and wealthy in the audience. He lets us sense the tantrums, the tears, the fake kisses and the elation. We see the fashion, too, but the intrigue lives in the surroundings.

The importance and high drama of the week become more apparent when you know this: When Christian Dior died in 1957, the 22-year-old Algerian-born Saint Laurent was named his replacement at Dior, where he made a mark immediately. Soon thereafter, during the Algerian War of Independence, Saint Laurent was conscripted by the French army. He lasted less than a month in the rough world of soldiering and ended up in a mental institution. In the meanwhile Bohan took over his job at Dior. In 1962, fresh from the loony bin, YSL finds a backer (his partner Pierre Bergé) and debuts his own collection. Emotions run high, law suits are launched, gossip is rampant.

Proving once again that a skillful picture makes words redundant, Schatzberg’s images carry the story, although the essays by Julia Morton and Patricia Bosworth whet the reader’s appetite even more. Now I want to know everything about the two men behind the two megabrands, Dior and YSL.

The haunting imagery of 1962 — Yves Saint Laurent and Christian Dior, The Early Collections is even more poignant today than it was just a few months ago. With Saint Laurent - the King of Fashion, the last of the great couturiers - passing away this June, and with Schatzberg’s age topping 80, the value of what is between the covers of this book has only increased.

So looking at the above sentence would you take offence if someone described you as being the Godfather of your profession?

I would describe Klaus Nienkamper as the Godfather of the furniture design industry; and I’ll tell you why. Yes a Godfather and his organisation may allegedly perform the above but they also show great qualities in the meaning of family. A Godfather will always put his family first and make every decision with their family in mind, constantly looking out for them and his customers [the extended family]. Klaus is a man very much like this and after forty years in the industry is still to this day always putting his workers and clients at the forefront of his mind. This may go somewhat to explaining just why this legend is at the top of his game with a company whose reputation is world renowned.

KLAUS NIENKAMPER MANUFACTURES HIS DREAM

German born Klaus moved to Canada in the early 1960’s and whilst starting out with manual everyday jobs Klaus kept his vision of working within the furniture industry and over the years built up more contacts than the local phone directory. In 1968 design company Nienkamper was launched with the philosophy “A furniture company succeeds when it meets human needs while pursuing the highest ideals in design and manufacturing. At Nienkamper we never compromise”. Nienkamper met these human needs by not only producing high quality distinctive furniture but also exporting the best in classic European design to provide clients with the designer must haves they desired.

Forty years since standing on the once rundown King Street outside his newly opened showroom Klaus now resides at a 120,000 sq. ft. Toronto based factory where he is still Canada’s leading innovator and promoter of furniture design, winning countless awards throughout his outstanding career. Over his forty years within the business Klaus has also had more collaborations than a Mark Ronson album, working with big name designers such as Karim Rashid, Arthur Erickson, Yabu Pushelburg and Shim-Sutcliffe on a number of projects and limited edition ranges, keeping him firmly at the top of the design scene. One of his most recent collaborations with Daniel Libeskind, producing limited edition versions of the Spirit House Chair, has split fans as to whether they like his current direction. The limited edition version of the chairs look great within the space at the Royal Ontario Museum and Klaus is again moving forward with what is now happening in the design scene. Unlike some designers Klaus likes to take risks and set the trends, not wait for them to happen and follow by example - He is the example.

To acknowledge this amazing forty-year achievement Klaus appeared at the IIDEX/NeoCon Canada 2008 in September of this year where he took up the role of a keynote speaker. Sitting down with Mr William Thorsell of the Royal Ontario Museum, the discussion was a highlight of the event as Klaus looked back over his illustrious career.

DELICATE PRUNE AND PORT FLAVOURS

And they’re not kidding. Priced at 2008 Danish Kroner, that’s 269 Euros or $395 US, a bottle, it’s unlikely any of this elite elixir will make it past the lips of any but the world’s richest and most discerning drinkers. Doubtless, they’ll find the limited-edition full-bodied barley wine a petulant delight, the delicate prune and port flavours blending exquisitely with its caramel and vanilla aroma. Certainly, they’ll delight in the knowledge that only 600 of the misty green flasks have been produced, each waxed and cork-sealed like a bottle of champagne. Surely, they’ll relish the handmade labels, especially created by Danish artist Frans Kannik and depicting Sif, wife of the pagan thunder-god, Thor. And at 10.5 per cent alcohol by volume, the beverage packs an elegantly gloved punch. But short of winning the national lottery, I think I’ll have to stick to less epicurean forms of intoxication.

NAMED AFTER THE HEROIC CELT QUEEN BOUDICCA, WHO ALSO ACTS AS THEIR MUSE AND INSPIRATION

The name of Broach and Kirkby’s label comes from history: Boudicca is named after Queen Boudicca of Iceni. Boudicca is famous for being a powerful British woman; she led a rebellion against the Roman Empire in the early first century A.D. She embodied the strength of women, and even today, she represents this power for the fairer sex. By naming their label in such a way, Broach and Kirkby set goals for themselves: they look to embody Boudicca with their line of clothing, to give power to the women who wears their clothing. In this way, the name of their label becomes their muse as well; Broach and Kirkby look not to a well-known woman from today, but to a legend of a woman as inspiration for their designs.

Broach and Kirkby take qualities from Boudicca’s fearsome persona and weave them into their collections; their clothing designs for women are edgy and experimental, but they still retain a feminine quality, embracing the natural shape of a woman and emphasizing all of her best qualities. Emulating Queen Boudicca, Broach and Kirkby seek to lend strength to women through their designs, not by making them look or seem more like men, but by forcing them to embrace who they are in their feminine essence and the power that they already have.

Their current collection, Fall/Winter 2008-2009, is full of simple blacks and whites; it is the shape and cut of the clothing, not the color, that makes these pieces pop. Another important characteristic of the pieces featured in this collection are the fabrics used; the choice of materials such as lace and chiffon in these pieces draw attention to femininity. However, these clothes are made with a 21st-century woman in mind, and long, classic gowns found in other designers’ collections are nowhere to be seen here. Dresses from the Boudicca collection are cut well and short, showing off the powerful bodies of women today.

BAT FOR LASHES HAVE EXPERIENCED RAPID SUCCESS

Success has been impressively rapid - three years ago Bat for Lashes were playing tiny venues around Brighton and London, and this June they supported Radiohead on their European tour, performing in front of 10,000 people. Natasha’s arresting stage outfits bear witness to a collision of textures and fashions that appeal to her magpie, eclectic nature; native Indian headbands, plumes and a heavy wooden stick lend her the appearance of some sort of pagan priestess. She has been photographed by Dazed & Confused, Vogue and Lula Magazine, as well as labelled one of The Guardian’s most stylish and influential people in 2008. From the shadowy bat cave to the provocative lashes, this artist haunts and dazzles in equal measure.

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by Richt/Toblf’s

There are many reasons to publish and read this 300-page tome right now. Valentino presented his last couture collection this spring in Paris, so there will never be another chance to see a collection of new Valentino creations in real life. Until September 21, the famed costume department of Museé des Arts Decoratifs of the Louvre in Paris hosted an exhibition of 225 mostly haute couture pieces, also called Valentino: Themes and Variations. The book is an integral support feature of the exhibition and the book’s author, Pamela Golbin, is also the curator of the exhibition and the Curator in Chief of the costume department of the museum.

VALENTINO: THE LAST EMPEROR BY MATT TYRNAUER OF VANITY FAIR

Another reason to read up on Valentino is a new film, Valentino: The last Emperor. Produced and directed by Matt Tyrnauer, special correspondent for Vanity Fair magazine, the film follows Valentino and his entourage through various events and celebrations during his illustrious career. The film will be especially intriguing because Valentino is known as much for his extravagant lifestyle and lavish possessions as for his sensual and elegant couture for the stars. The film premiered in North America at the Toronto International Film Festival in September. The European premiere took place at the Venice International Film Festival in late August. Tyrnauer is also one of the authors of Taschen’s decadent, limited-edition September 2007 book Valentino Garavani. Una grande storia Italiana.

What I love most about the book Valentino: Themes and Variations is that it is not a chronological, historical account of his life or career. Instead, it explores - as does the exhibition - the various themes and variations that have been evident in his work. The themes of volume and movement and silhouette; and the variations on pleats, piping and flowers, are all illustrated in spellbinding images, some highlighted by Valentino’s own comments.

Through Valentino’s haute couture fashion, the book offers much more than just images of pricey clothing. In addition to allowing us to peek inside the fascinating world of glamour, it opens a door into a period of recent history, into the business of fashion, and into the life of a uniquely captivating man.