STORY BOOK
THE BREATHE ISSUE
Š2014 STORY BOOK Magazine All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the editor, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyrights law. info@stories.com www.stories.com Printed in London. Publication design Sanzose Chua. Cover photographer Ding Rui.
STORY BOOK
CASSIE LIU EDITOR-IN-CHIEF & CREATIVE DIRECTOR SANZOSE CHUA GRAPHIC DESIGNER
CONTRIBUTORS LINZI ZHAN WRITER DING RUI FASHION PHOTOGRAPHER CURRISA CHENG HAIR & MAKE UP ARTIST PEIYAO WANG ILLUSTRATOR SALLY CHEUNG FASHION ASSISTANT JIAYANG LIM FASHION ASSISTANT SIMON QIAN PHOTOGRAPHER ASSISTANT
SPEICIAL THANKS TO LUYAO QI JIAXUAN XU
STORY BOOK
EDITOR’S LETTER
So here we are. We finally made it! This is our big moment! In the past thirty days, we’ve been working so hard to create all the contents for your best experiences. It’s such a great honour to present you with the very first edition of STORY BOOK for & Other Stories. For the creation of this issue, the theme which we called “Breathe”, is hoping to bring some new, fresh and unique ideas to your life. The way we approached this idea was to only share private stories with you. Starting with one of our shoots, “Springtime Breathing” was captured at Kensington Gardens where it was a nature heaven formed by magnificent trees and ornamental flower beds. We would like to invite you to join the adventure with our lovely model to explore this great green space in the spring/summer season. Also, you have probably heard of two big exciting capsule collaborations recently. Yes..? Well we actually met these two talented designers; Vika Gazinskaya who’s good at stimulating her childlike romance imagination on designing demi-couture, and the other one is Richard Braqo, an emerging shoe designer who is obsessed with stilettoes. We are trying to tell you some juicy details behind the collaborations for satisfying your curiosity. We also took a visual trip, following in the steps of our amazing talented young illustrator, to explore five interesting things happening in London which is the birthplace of STORY BOOK. Once again, we hope you’ll enjoy these stories as much as we have enjoyed sharing with you. Let’s breathe!
EDITOR-IN-CHEIF CASSIE LIU
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TABLE OF CONTENT
PORTRAIT OF AN OBJECT
MEETING WITH PERFECT SHIRT 04. CONFESSION OF THE SLIDES 06.
FASHION
SPRINGTIME BREATHING 08. SUMMER DREAMING 32.
PROFILE
THE STILETTO ENTHUSIAST, RICHARD BRAGO 16. A MOMENT WITH VIKA GAZINSKAYA 24.
IN THE KNOWN
PITIFIELD 41. SHOREDITCH HOUSE 43. COLUMBIA ROAD FLOWER MARKET 45. THISISPAPER 47. JEAN PAUL GAULTIER EXHIBITION 49.
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PORTRAIT OF AN OBJECT
MEETING WITH PERFECT SHIRT
TEXTS CASSIE LIU | PHOTOGRAPH CASSIE LIU
She is waiting for me, one sleeve on the armrest, collar open and as innocent as a new-born lamb. In fact, she is a lamb, reborn as a shirt. I look her up and down. Even from the very first time I saw her, I was impressed by her remarkable sharp silhouette already. It’s fascinating as I move closer, and yet still I don’t dare touch. She’s not just a white shirt, leaving me fresh with a pure impression. Her clean aesthetic is like a virgin, being touched for the very first time. Suddenly, here comes the wind, and the shirt is flutters, like she’s waving the hand saying hi to welcome me. She’s a little bit shy and flattered as she’s now being interviewed by me. Unlike the latest new shirt deconstruction trend, for example, the crop shirt designed by Alexander Wang for this season, “I’m being a devoted member of traditional family.” Yet she is unique: there’s a difference. With an essentially wide-sleeved shirt silhouette, the version is made from slightly stiffer fabric that holds a real T shape. These years, the fashion concept of “borrow from boy” seemed to have gained currency: the slouchy, shrugged-on jean or shirt rich with romantic associations and a slightly post-coital spice. The near-elbow-length sleeve and boxy silhouette keeps the look flattering and versatile. And my interviewee, the shirt, is the right choice for fulfilling the need for a boyish girl who is hoping to dress as cool as boy does. “Right, that’s me! I may not be perfect, but I get my unique style,” she giggled. Who says a woman needs a boyfriend for a great shirt, if she has already got one in a shrt?
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PORTRAIT OF AN OBJECT
CONFESSIONS OF THE SLIDES
TEXTS CASSIE LIU | PHOTOGRAPH CASSIE LIU
So here I am in the hot seat! The shoes of choice for this summer have an obligation to tell a story. For a long time, we, slides, had nothing to do with “Style”, but now, the central stage is ours. Ah, when I think of my sister, the one who first caught people’s attention of our big rebirth! That was the Spring/Summer 2013 collection as I remembered, Phoebe Philo, who designed the furry Birkenstock-inspired slides for the fashion house Céline, largely pushed our destiny to move forward. These innovative leather sandals, some were linked with minkfur-inner soles, absolutely shaped the view of how you guys thought about us. Thanks to her, to her big name, we finally found the spotlight. So, why not talk about yours truly, after all? What’s my secret story? Well, I could have remained just in the room or by the pool, but I wanted to progress from slipper duty to a good partner for the easy chic look. I don’t have anything to be proud about, however, I do need to make my own confession. I’m sorry about not making you as super sexy as high heels do, but bring comfortable with a chic style to ankles, which you would probably never have ever thought about my great potential before.” I made a wish, and the fairies gathered around my cradle. Or rather, the gorgeous women give me the chance to embrace their feet on the street, instead of keeping me near the bedsit. “I might not be sexy, but I’m super cool and fabulous with no doubt.” I dreamed of being more responsible? Well now I am the one who is in charge of making them look dashing. My name sits well. Slides, the remarkable trend of shoes in this summer they call me. She is dressing up, a looser white blouse with black baggy trousers. Now, I hear the voice of footsteps, she is approaching me. I know she’s calling me. I shall be silent now. I have work to do. Go onto the street!
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FASHION
SPRINGTIME BREATHING Spring season is like a fresh breeze awakening our love for life. Here is the invitation for you to join the adventure with us. Let’s celebrate and mark the new season.
WORDS & STYLIST CASSIE LIU PHOTOGRAPHER DING RUI MODEL VICTORIA VELMA CLAY HAIR & MAKEUP ARTIST CURRISA CHENG FASHION ASSISTANT SALLY CHEUNG & JIAYANG LIM PHOTOGRAPHER ASSISTANT SIMON QIAN
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THE STILETTO ENTHUSIAST RICHARD BRAQO WORDS CASSIE LIU | PHOTOGRAPHS STORIES.COM
London-based 26 year-old shoe designer Richard Braqo is known for his signature stiletto high heels in the fashion industry. He may have a bad taste in choosing in television programmes, “I watch really bad television and reality shows,” he admits, but his taste in shoes tells another story. More recently, he held hands with high-street brand &Other Stories to create a capsule shoe collection for this summer. Next on his list is working with a ready-to-wear designer for his debut runway outing.
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When I talked to him, he was busy preparing the sale campaign in New York where his heart belongs. Although he didn’t have too much time to talk about this gorgeous collection, I could sense how excited he was, in terms of designing the shoes for &Other Stories girls. To be honest, it was my first time to hear his name, Richard Braqo. Before this collaboration, I have no idea who he was, but obviously now, no one can know him better than I do, as I’m wearing his latest co-lab designs sitting in front of my desk, busy typing and telling the story about him. It is not too hard to recognise his design, typical high heels with extremely thin heels. I may say, it might kill your feet if you are not used to wear high heels, yet they are incredibly exquisite which probably every girl has dreamed about.
PROFILE
Presenting his signature design stiletto heels is not a surprise that we can’t think about, yet it is the very first time that Richard Braqo made his pair of flats, just for &Other Stories. “Richard has a very alluring aesthetic that makes a great addition to our range,” says head of design, Anna Teurnell, of Braqo’s style. “We loved seeing his design evolve and merge with our concept, turning it into a beautiful collection,” he says. Regarding how this great opportunity came out, he recalled that &Other Stories approached him one year ago and wished to create a shoe collection for their stylish customer. “We started out with over 20 designs inspired by different facets of the Stories woman including different silhouettes for day, night and spring summer look and ended up narrowing it down to a tight palette
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of silver black and nude with some of Richard Braqo’s signatures,” says Braqo. The best part behind this collaboration he thinks is “the process was thrilling all around and it was great to change pace and work with a different manufacture at a more affordable price point.” Well, let’s just put the amazing shoes aside and start to listen to a story about the designer himself for a little bit. 26 year-old Ghana born shoe designer Richard Braqo moved to Canda when he was 14 years old, and then four years later, he successfully headed into a prestigious art school, Parsons School of Design in New York, where he first started his fashion journey. During the Parsons time, he honed his skills in womenswear before graduating in 2009. He unexpectedly found his niche in accessories when he entered his thesis collection on a whim into a design
competition by the name of an overwhelming shoe and accessories designer Cesare Paciotti. Luckily, he was the first recipient of the Cesare Paciotti Accessories Award for the shoe design at Parsons School of Design in 2009. With his incredible talent in shoe design, this win led to an incredible opportunity to collaborate with Cesare Paciotti as a sort of capsule of five or six shoes, and the whole collection goes on sale in a famous department store in New York, Barneys and Saks Fifth Avenue. During the time with Paciotti, Braqo learnt a lot there. “He taught me how to liaise and really work alongside such artisans and grasp their craft, and to understand the whole culture,” says Braqo. Before launching his own label, he had a variety of fashion experiences, ranging from working for Helmut Lang and later doing PR at Acne. Also before he turned to an
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independent shoe designer, he was designing menswear for a little while.
Mahani in Dubai and Ssense.
New York City is an apple in Braqo’s eyes, and he considers New York to be the “centre of the universe”. However, it didn’t stop his moving to be based in London, in order to be closer to his factory in Italy where could offer them the best quality of shoes production. As he defines it, the Braqo’s girl is “the one who likes refined footwear. She’s somewhat severe and fashion-forward…and a bit feisty as well. It’s really for the girl who knows how to wear stiletto heels.
In the world of fast fashion, it is such a hard thing to encounter an emerging designer who is designing for a long term goals rather than just creating for a moment. The promise of Braqo’s is making designs of long lasting quality. The next step of Braqo’s will be collaborating with ready-to-wear designers for his first runway outing.
In July 2012, Braqo had his debut collection and it went pretty well, and gained attention from the British Fashoin Council. Thanks to the good response from the press and buyers, now he’s got distribution at Wolf and Badger, a multiple-brand boutique in London and
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A MOMENT WITH VIKA GAZINSKAYA WORDS CASSIE LIU | PHOTOGRAPHS STORIES.COM
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In recent seasons, Moscow-based fashion designer Vika Gazinskaya has attracted attention, not only with her incredible designs, but also her personal style. Lately, she produced her exclusive debut capsule collection for &Other Stories girls, and it definitely hits the fashion season this year without doubt.
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I remembered that day, it was 15th May, I got up so early! I pushed myself so hard to get up at 8 am which was like extremely hard for a morning sleeper. In fact, I haven’t seen the morning sunshine for quite a long time. But all that efforts was only for joining the early birds crew for getting the latest co-lab collection of Vika Gazinskaya × &Other Stories. Well, back to the beginning, the exciting moment when they announced that &Other Stories was going to be paired up with Vika Gazinskaya to create a co-lab collection for our summer wardrobe. It is her debut collection for a high-street brand. Actually, it’s thrilling, if you know what I mean. Well, who can survive from dying for those whimsical and devastatingly feminine dresses and blouses, and endearingly kitschy polka dots prints?
PROFILE
In terms of the inspiration for the silhouette of this collection, she says “the ‘50s and ‘60s shapes were so feminine — almost every girl loves those decades, right?” Gazinskaya loves polka dots and flowers, and likes to show her femininity by exposing her shoulders and wearing doll-like silhouettes. “I put all the clichés together but tried to do them in my own way.” Absolutely correct, the whole collection was so Gazinskaya style! The off the shoulder silhouette and of course a little bit childlike crayon scribbles were totally her signature thing.
“I like handmade, naïve-looking drawings, and for my own line I always create my own prints. If you look back at my collections you’ ll see that pencil strokes became my signature thing.”
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Moscow-based fashion designer Vika Gazinskaya had a long history with fashion. When she was 10, she came to the Mattel store every week. From that time, she formed the habit of observation, she stopped by to see what they did, for example, to check on catalogs for Barbie. In fact, her very first design was for a Barbie. As she recalled, “I started doing small dresses — for example, the gloves that my mom wasn’t wearing anymore, I cut the embroidered part of them and they became a sweater for Barbie. Or I cut a stretchy umbrella cover and it was a skirt for Barbie.”
PROFILE
fashion design. However, during her uni time, she got a great internship opportunity at L’Officiel Russia in 2002, and with her hard work, she became a fashion assistant 2 years later. She began as a freelance stylist in 2004, doing some projects for private clients and MTV. 8 years ago, in 2006, was her very big moment when she launched her eponymous label. Her collections were feminine and sculptural. They were presented with a predilection for cute motifs on luxe French and Japanese fabrics, which are absolutely gorgeous. But what made her really success is commonly attributed to wearing her own designs to Paris Fashion Week, getting spotted by the grand dame street style blogs, which then filtered down to the buyers.
When she was 16, all she could think about was fashion, so she took some drawing and painting lessons. And three years later, due to her family’s poor financial situation, she couldn’t go to Central Saint Martins for professional fashion learning though, instead, Indeed, year 2009 was her first time she she went to Moscow State University to study decided to go to Paris for the shows, and
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this time it really put her on the fashion radar! What happened? Well, her secret was cleverly introducing her works by wearing her own designs at the shows, where street photographers would insanely snapped her for a picture. Especially, she was photographed by influential street style photographers such as Scott Schuman from Sartorialist and Tommy Ton from Style.com, which was a huge help in getting more exposure for herself and her label outside of Russia. Since she became a member of “Russian Fashion Pack” which consisted of other three street style stars Ulyana Sergeenko, Miroslava Duma and Elena Perminov, she has been snapped even more heavily by the street photographer crews.
was wearing in Moscow during my workdays. Those days, there were hardly any street style photographers, so I didn’t even think about it. When Scott asked me to pose for a picture – I didn’t even know who he was.” Today, she has her own showroom in Paris, and her label is stocked globally. Although she really wants to create her second line to expand the brand or set up a studio in New York, unfortunately she knows it’s extremely hard to do so because every simple move in the fashion world cost quite a lot!
“My credo: stay true to yourself, be honest in what you do”.
“I am who I am and never think about any strategy. When I was visiting the fashion weeks in Paris/New York/London for the first time, I was just wearing the same things I
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SUMMER DREAMING Summer is a time to embrace the nature and to do as lazy as you can: Lie in the sandbeach, stare at the clouds and take breath of fresh air. Here are a few more ways to celebrate your summer.
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WORDS CASSIE LIU | PHOTOGRAPHS STORIES.COM
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IN THE KNOWN
IN THE KNOWN London is a great place of exploring new things, And you will never get enough from it. Here are five great experiences in East London. Enjoy!
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IN THE KNOWN
PITIFIELD WORDS CASSIE LIU | ILLUSTRATION PEIYAO WANG
THE FOOD, FURNITURE, ART HYBRID It was a typical lazy Saturday afternoon with a big sun, I was on my way to check on the neighbourhood of Old Street station. Wearing a top of polka dots prints matched with a denim skirt, I was so in the mood! Yeah! You may be wondering where that beautiful colorful girlish top is from…? Correct! It’s from &Other Stories. When I passed by a street, I was surprisingly attracted by the exquisite flowers gathered in front of a coffee shop. And it was called “Pitifield”. Pitfield is a half furniture shop and half coffee house spot. It’s really adorable and yummy with a pop-up art gallery in the back. I went across a big double-fronted with glass door to find a creamy green chair to take in this stylish and accessible interior shop. “Pitifield is a short coffee gallery concept”, as Shaun Clarkson recalled, the founder of Pitifield. Here, you can find homewares, from brightly coloured 1970s sofas to vintage glasswear, Syrian soaps, exclusive Indian rugs and ultra-modern wallpaper from London designers. The blend of old and new, pricey and thrifty lends the shop its distinctive character. Also, the food and coffee here are with great taste. They offer different range of choices for you to enjoy. They sometimes hold talks or event as well as exhibiting art works. If you are the creative and curious and want to have different experiences in East London, then Pitifield is the ideal place for you to go!
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IN THE KNOWN
SHOREDITCH HOUSE WORDS CASSIE LIU | ILLUSTRATION PEIYAO WANG
THE MEMBERS’ CLUB Here’s my little wish: I’ve always wanted to go to a cool places like Shoreditch House, unfortunately it hasn’t happened yet. I was always fascinated by interesting things. The first time I heard about ‘Shoreditch House’ was from one of my best friends when we were shopping at &Other Stories. She told me that she had recently been to a private space, which was so stylishly decorated. The house opened in the summer of 2007, and is used as a template for other clubs around the world. It incorporates the cowshed spa, a small hotel, three distinct dining experiences, a rooftop pool, a secret garden and a heart-stopping view. Not to mention the newly refurbished old school-themed gym. What attracts me most is not the cozy environment of the restaurant which is decorated around light green botany, nor the various ways of entertainment, such as the ping pang table and the spa. It’s the view you can see on the roof which takes all the credit. There is a huge swimming pool on the top floor which is surrounded by dashing chair mixing with red and white lines. What a lovely thing if you can enjoy the sun bath while watching the bright blue sky facing the soft wind at the same time! Does it sound attractive to you? Maybe after all, sooner or later, you will go there earlier than I do.
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IN THE KNOWN
COLUMBIA ROAD FLOWER MARKET WORDS CASSIE LIU | ILLUSTRATION PEIYAO WANG
THE BEAUTIFUL, FUN MARKET Nothing could be much more fun than hanging out at Columbia Road Flower Market on Sundays! Columbia Road Flower Market is one of the most visually appealing markets in London. It is located in the east London, where many interesting things happened, specifically nearby the Columbia Road as the name is. It was three months ago when I first went to the flower market. I remembered it was incredibly a sunny day. It was such a great opportunity to stay around in a sunny day with the temperature of 20 degree. It gave me a chance to wear a brand new sharp white shirt which I had just bought from &Other Stories. I just couldn’t wait to take a picture surrounding by colourful plants. I got there around 12 am. It was super crowded and like half of londoners were all there busy buying flowers to celebrate such great weather! Columbia Road overflows with bucketfuls of exquisite flowers, and unfortunately beautiful things only happen on Sundays. There are bulbs, herbs, shrubs and bedding plants too. And of course, my favourite hydrangea is there as well. I would say that you could find all the flowers you can think about. Besides these lovely things, there are also many independent shops and galleries selling intriguing products such as pottery, and perfume, but they open only at weekends. So why not go there to take your favourite flowers home and enjoy the weekends?
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THISISPAPER WORDS LINZI ZHAN | ILLUSTRATION PEIYAO WANG
A NEW NICHE TITLE The first time I visited the material book shop in Old Street, the lovely owner Lucy introduced a brand new niche magazine to me, Thisispaper magazine. From its surrealist and distinctive style, Thisispaper magazine is strongly influenced by north European aesthetics. Concentrating on the human side of design, Thisispaper only shares the stories of design and creative work in any forms, which is so fascinating to me! The colour tone of cold grey enhances the peaceful environment of the whole book. It feels as if you are deeply breathing the cover, you can get the aroma of fresh grass with water drops on it. And when you open the magazine, it is full of original, sensual, emotional and harmonious modern spirit. From seeking the relationship between westernized education and traditional lifestyles in Papua New Guinea with photography students to sharing the waking hours of photographer’s father in New York, from celebrating Japanese ‘Wabi Sabi’ in Emma’s Fashion design’s silhouette to enjoying the Bauhaus style from KIKI’s chocolate package, Thisispaper steps into the world of unique individuals in a lot of different ways. The second issue just came out, don’t you want to explore this intriguing title a little bit?
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IN THE KNOWN
JEAN PAUL GAULTIER EXHIBITION WORDS CASSIE LIU | ILLUSTRATION PEIYAO WANG
THE EXHIBITION WITH LOVES On the first opening night of the exhibition, I went to the prestigious Barbican Centre to join an invited private view of Jean Paul Gaultier: from the Sidewalk to the Catwalk. Jean Paul Gaultier is the fearless 62 year-old French fashion designer with a great sense of humour, who is super good at avant-garde fashion creations and cutting-edge designs. Gaultier is such a big figure who has great influence on the fashion world to a large extent, and has shaped the look of fashion over the last 40 years. One of the biggest highlights of this exhibition is definitely about the marvellous designs to celebrate his works. Indeed, all of Gaultier’s superstar designs are included – the infamous conical bra worn by Madonna in the 1990s, the best expression of the apex of Gaultier’s fame. And of course the stage costumes designed for Kylie Minogue as well as pieces created for the films of Pedro Almodóvar, among others. Besides the remarkable designs themselves, another highlight of the exhibition is that it features over 30 custom-made 3-D mannequins wearing amazing wigs and headdresses. The 3-D mannequins with a specking recording which probably will scare you a little bit, but it does make the super exciting exhibition much more fun! “I must be honest and say I didn’t want to do an exhibition at first. I thought that exhibitions were for those who are dead. And I am very much alive,” Gaultier says. So wanna get some fashion inspirations? There you go!
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