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| | E d i t o r s L e t t e r
Editors Letter
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In awe of our own flaws we stare | |
P a g e 6 Page 14
c o n t
F a c t o r y g i r l s
I n t e r v i e w : The rodnik Band
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& O t h e r s t o r i e s
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Page 22 Page 45 Page 60
e n t s
E L
d i t o r e t t e
s r
For this first issue I wanted to create a
visual commentary about fame, excess and the trappings of celebrity. In this celebrity obsessed culture people can get caught up in the idea of celebrity, fame, luxury lifestyle but all it really is is an idea, a misleading fantasy. They’ve all done everything that every person has done, but they just live under a constant microscope. That Magazine shows celebrity culture in a light we don’t always see. People think that fame is so glamorous because the truth lies behind red carpets, photoshopped images and designer clothes. However there are prices to pay for all this fame, all of these things that people think they want. I just want to show all of that. Welcome
to
the
dark
side.
The Plastics mo de l
Hannah make
Rachel
Brooks up
Martin
N i p Pull
The Plastics mo de l
Tuck
Hannah make
Rachel
Brooks up
Martin
i n a w e o f o u r flaws, we stare... Vanity and self-obsession. model
rebecca baillie make
up
Allison Johnstone
t fac ory girl s The endless production of personalities. models
Laurie Duffy Akvile Suchodmicovatite make
up
Georgia Sinclair
Desperate FameWhores The
illusion
of
reality
Tv. m o d e l
Laurie make
Rachel
Duffy up
Martin
w
reality killed t h e wannabe s t a r
r e a l i t y
Expectations
The ingenious Philip Colbert began his foray into the fashion world in 2003. Inspired by a shop opened by Princess Teneshava in Moscow in 1904, Colbert and business partner Richard Ascott created Rodnik Fashion and began selling Russian goats wool scarves inspired by their adventures. Soon Rodnik Fashion attracted attention of celebrity clients such as Matthew Williamson, Karl Lagerfeld and Sienna Miller with it’s quirky designs. With his continued success, Colbert went on to establish a venn diagram label, (a clever word for combining fashion, music and art), called The Rodnik Band. Their collections walk the satirical line between art and fashion.
the Rod
nik band
Colbert’s designs have been hailed as wearable art. Each design within the limited edition collection is hand made using intense hand-sewn and embroidery techniques. Colbert’s unique approach to branding by combining different media creates a meaningful brand identity that stands out amongst his competition. Colbert is known for his attention grabbing publicity stunts which included a Guerilla fashion show during London Fashion Week at the National Gallery, where 100 bowler hats were handed out in reference to The Thomas Crown Affair and a spoof fashion show with the front row consisting of celebrity look-alikes, including the royal family, Katy Perry and Elton John.
1 What is your concept behind the rodnik band?
When I graduated I wanted to do something different. I started by getting into scarves, so I got into fashion in quite a random way. I think the reason why I tried to make it a bit different was to keep it interesting for myself and give it a bit of value. Sometimes when you come at something from a totally different angle, you don’t have the same stereotypes about it. The idea of being a designer in the conventional sense seemed a bit boring to me so that’s where this whole ‘band’ idea came from.
2 do you try and stir up some controversy with your designs? The brand is definitely satirical. I want to slightly take the piss of the idea of clothing and fashion. I liked that idea particularly because it was a reference to art, to Tom Wesslemann’s paintings when he would paint a nude girl but she would have the tan lines so in a way it was giving a wink to Pop Art. There are different conceptions of fashion, for some fashion is a serious statement of femininity, or it can be seen in a more romantic or abstract sense. For some its more trends based and seasonal but for me fashion, is a very bold expression or statement.
3 how do in the with big
you compete marketplace brand names?
If you’re small and trying to compete then I think in actuality the shows don’t necessarily relate directly to the sales figures. That’s the other side of the business, the sales. The shows are sort of the fantasy, the attraction. So for me if I’m not really going to compete with Burberry and the really hyped brands then instead of spending all this money and not getting a fair return I thought well, my brand is more about tongue in cheek stuff so why don’t I just be completely ridiculous so even if I don’t get commercial press I can get known and establish an identity. It’s certainly great in terms of getting publicity that I wouldn’t otherwise get. It’s different publicity because it’s not directly fashion related, its more news coverage. For me it’s the perfect kind of press because it helps push the spirit of the brand.
4 You obviously have alot of fun with your designs. how do you maintain the balance between fun and business? Well success is basically creating a business empire, because fashion, more than art is a business in terms of clothes have to be sold in such volume, and you want it to have longevity. In fashion if you create a show, you create a dress, it’s a spectacle object for people to go ‘oh wow, I really like that’, but for buyers if they like it they have to order, let’s say a thousand of them and then put them in
a department store and then a thousand people have to come along and say ‘oh I like that, I’ll wear that’ because fashion has this very commercial follow through. Even though we’ve definitely been lucky to have a fun journey and had little bits of good fortune, the challenge is the hard work and trying to sell in lots of different countries, and trying to create a commercial side.
An injection of drugs and glamour. m o d e l
Maja
Jankowska make
Rachel
up
Martin
&7 O
t h e r Stories
I
don’t have many guilty pleasures in life, maybe if I did my type A personality would let up a bit. I don’t smoke, do drugs and I rarely drink so one of the only stress reliefs I have left is being incredibly nosy. I’m not sure if this is a consequence of growing up in the 2000’s when the news consisted of stalking well known actors and singers, politicians and athletes and analysing everything they did, wore and went. Or perhaps it’s just ingrained in my DNA. Whatever the cause, I find it oddly comforting looking at others lives, real or fictional. I seem to get a strange amount of pleasure from scrolling through the ‘Sidebar of Shame’ on the Daily Mail: aptly named after the deep humiliating disgrace you feel while pouring over these poorly written articles about celebrities going to the supermarket. When others are looking at what they’re buying at that supermarket or what they’re wearing or any other discernible detail about them, I like the dark, seedy, mostly unseen side. The side that society tries to hide away and the arts bring into the light. My intense interest in the dark side of celebrity stems from the total lack of anything dark or disturbing within my own life ( which i am grateful for!) and from my love of movies. I still remember sitting on my mum and dad’s bed, I couldn’t have been more than 7 years old, getting ready to watch Jaws with my Dad and brother for the first time. This memory and this film started my obsession. I found immersing myself into a world that was so opposite to the life i was living in Scotland, i could dream outside of myself and experience emotions, ideas, fantasies that otherwise i would not have thought of. The interesting thing about the entertainment industry is that it seems to feed not only celebrity culture, but almost every facet of our lives. They are all intricately intertwined together and perhaps thats why it almost overruns my every creative thought.
After Jaws, i found myself gravitating to films that at the time i probably didn’t fully appreciate, but i continued to be obsessed by them. Next film on my hit-list was Leon: The Professional. A young, spunky Natalie Portman, with bobbed hair and a scruffy backpack, was all the girl that i wanted to be. It wasn’t so much that i wanted to move in and hang around with a french man, i just wanted her style, her confidence to be unequivocally herself. Natalie Portman came at the right t ime,just as i was starting high school,where being different and standing out meant ‘social suicide’.
C I N E M A
Next up was the classic Pulp Fiction. Considered a cultural masterpiece, Pulp Fiction’s influence has been felt in several other medias and has touched many generations. I legitimately wanted to be Uma Thurman. The blunt black bob, white shirt and bootleg black trousers has influenced my styling choices since then. Black, white and grey are the only ‘colours’ i continue to wear. The overdose scene was the most disturbing scene i had witnessed to date and single handily prevented me from ever doing drugs. That scene alone should be the anti drug video they show in schools.
WILL
NEVER
And then there was Fight Club. I’m breaking the first rule of Fight Club but i think its acceptable to help explain my unconditional love for this film. Fight Club violence serves as a metaphor for the conflict between a generation of young people and the value system of advertising. Helena Bonham Carter as Marla Singer was the anti-brand. Marla was quirky, fun and sort of depressing in the way she dressed. When you’re young your life is occupied with having the latest phone, the coolest shoes, the best of everything. Looking at where my life has gone now and what career path i have chosen, i almost rebel against the superficial idea of fashion, glamour, and fame and produce images that by no means are considered pretty and commercial. It is a film that has and will stay with me forever. Plus, even as a teenager i could see the appeal of Brad Pitt. When thinking about all the films that i love and continue to add to my never ending ‘Top 10’ i began to notice that each of these films had a strong female character. A dark character that i’ve taken inspiration from and some of which moulded my personality while growing up. In the time of Twilight, where a pathetic young woman cries and runs away because she has to choose between two incredibly beautiful boys, young women need films that show strong, fearless, individual women to look up to. If that means that they look up to Jennifer Lawrence and follow her style, her hair colour, what she buys at the shops, then who cares? At least for a moment in time, they have something that inspires them.
D
I
E
Inspiration for me still lies in the dark unspoken world of celebrity and my plain old curiosity.
THESE
THINGS
ARE
MAGICAL.
THANK YOU
First of all I would like to thank my wonderful and supportive family, especially my Mum and Dad for helping to bank roll this operation, driving across the country with me, being “location managers� and much more. No other parents would run around an abandoned wasteland with smoke bombs for their daughter. You two taught me about hard work, perseverance and resilience all of which has made this magazine possible. To my fantastically weird brother and sister. A thank you to both of you for being my constant inspiration and providing me with endless laughter in a stressful time. A huge thank you to my beautiful, hardworking, talented models who were undeterred by my slightly obscure ideas and shoots, including Laurie Duffy, Akvile Suchodimcovaite, Maja Jankowska and Hannah Brooks. The team behind the camera that help make this all possible, the boys at the SpaceClub, make up artists extraordinaires,Rachel Martin,Georgia Sinclair, Allison Johnstone and hair stylist Annie Keenan.
Lastly a thank you to my lovely friends who have put up with being neglected for a year and still found time to send sweet and encouraging texts.
Thank you.
T h a t
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