Catalogue Magazine Issue 10 by Catalogue Magazine

JONATHAN SIMKHAI

PETER JENSEN

INTERNATIONAL DESIGNERS. Free Express Delivery, Australia wide.

eocene.com.au

OPENING CEREMONY

@eocenestore

SYLVESTER SESSIONS #9

September 18 2014 Sydney Australia

Amy Sinclair - 23 TELL US ABOUT WHAT YOU DO? I like to think I’m using my creative powers to change the world. I am a photographer/illustrator/designer who also has a knack for cooking. Over the past few years I have combined all of my talents and passions to create what is now known as The Lush Scoop (magazine & blog): an exploration of cruelty free food, culture and the arts. YOU HAVE JUST HAD YOUR FIRST MAGAZINE PUBLISHED IN PRINT, WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF PRINT OVER DIGITAL? I have always loved print design. I currently find myself sitting in a tiny flat overtaken by books and magazines that I have purchased over the years. I feel like technology is replacing everything, and while that has its benefits – it also takes us away from the reality of the present. Not only that but I feel as though print design is something you can treasure. I showcase my favourites all over the house including on my coffee table and beside my bed. INSPIRING BOOK PUBLICATIONS ON THE MARKET ATM? I don’t even know where to begin. In the magazine department I love Dumbo Feather, along with Filmme Fatales, and Alphabet Journal, which are both new short run magazines much like The Lush Scoop. As for books, I love Emily von Euw’s raw vegan cookbooks, I find Miranda July’s books raw and empowering, and The Selby is also super inspiring. WHAT IS YOUR DEFINITION OF BEAUTY? I don’t think I could limit beauty to a single definition. To me, beauty can be described as not only physical but also as a feeling or some form of fascination. I think Mother Nature is perhaps the most beautiful thing on the planet. With all of her natural raw beauty, her imperfections and her peaceful yet temperamental ways. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO AT THE MOMENT? I am loving ambient sounds at the moment, things I can work to without the distraction of lyrics, such as Brian Eno, Dustin O’Halloran and Jonny Greenwood. I also love anything chill with groovy beats. Some things I have on repeat: Little Dragon, Dorothy Ashby, Bonobo, Taylor McFerrin, Boards of Canada, Connan Mockasin, Twin Sister, Mac DeMarco, Luluc (just to name a few). My boyfriend J.Dale Pearson is an incredibly talented musician and has been creating some amazing ambient music lately; he inspires a lot of what I listen to. See Amy’s full interview. http://katesylvester.com/blog/category/sylvester-sessions/ Photography: Carine Thevenau

Amy wears Sylvester Poppy dress

FKA twigs The debut album LP1

SBTRKT The new album Wonder Where We Land

remotecontrolrecords.com

EDITOR’S LETTER

Richard Nicoll dress

“When we use fantasy to escape, we’re really using fantasy to extend our reality.”

actually had my editor’s letter written well in advance for this issue (for once!) but then Richard Nicoll did an incredible – and incredibly relevant – thing at his recent London Fashion Week show and I had to rip it up and start all over again. (Which only reinforces my self-serving belief that procrastination pays.) His Spring 2015 collection, “I Had This Dream, I Had This Feeling”, is inspired by Tinker Bell and fairy tales (and sponsored by Disney), and features a dress – a collaboration between Nicoll and Studio XO – made from fibre-optic cables that glows like a magical underwater sea creature in the dark and looks like a feathery, chiffon slip in daylight. (And will probably be worn by Rihanna at her next red carpet appearance with nothing underneath because where else can she go post-Swarovski dress moment?) While Nicoll’s creation may have captured the most attention (and imagination) at London Fashion Week, there were little pieces of the yellow brick road fantasy everywhere. Erdem’s emerald feather-covered pencil skirts exist to wear specifically in an enchanted forest, Mulberry held their presentation in a space they turned into an enchanted forest and Mary Katrantzou sent sparkling little slips down a sparkling runway. After celebrating norm(core)alcy for so many seasons, it’s about time we celebrated fantasy. When you think about it, Richard Nicoll x Studio XO’s Tinker Bell dress is simply an extreme version of reality, or in other words: reality + imagination. Which is exactly what fantasy is, too. Sometimes we use fantasy to escape our reality, but because we can only imagine things using our current accumulated knowledge, when we use fantasy to escape we’re really using fantasy to extend our reality. Which is kind of more exciting anyway because it means that at some point in the future – possibly when technology catches up to our imaginations – our fantasies can become our realities. In this, our “It’s a Kind of Magic” issue of Catalogue, Hannah Cooke uses this exact premise – that fantasy is an extension of reality – to valk (sorry) us through the history of vampires, I celebrate Disney’s representation of our gender-equal society in their most recent fairy tale incarnations (particularly Maleficent) and Dominic Corry spoke with Jena Malone, who has starred in her fair share of futuristic realities – from Contact to Donnie Darko – and is about to embark on her biggest yet, as bad girl Johanna Mason in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (Part One). Our Fashion Director Elle Packham became obsessed with the tortured story of a humble piece of fruit, the apple, throughout history and re-told its relationships with everyone from Venus Goddess of Love to Alan Turing, inventor of the first version of the modern computer (and star of forthcoming biopic starring Benedict Cumberbatch). She also spirited Emma Balfour away into a ghostly enclave with photographer Max Doyle. We go on a magical mystery tour through our cover girl Myf Shepherd’s multiple personalities in “Myf-ical”, Kat Patrick argues that Goosebumps is actually excellent and deserves critical acclaim and English novelist Zoe Pilger takes us on a journey into the heart of a peachobsessed swinger’s party in her short story “Daisy”. In “It’s a Kind of Magic” we’ve taken our favourite fantastical tales and tried to explain why they’re important to us – to trace them back to some version of their realities – and we’ve found those origins are usually as exciting, or even more exciting, as the fantasies themselves. So go forth and dream all of the time please, because at some point in the future, they’ll probably come true!

www.ametrine.com.au

CONTENTS

PEOPLE

BEAUTY

IT’S A KIND OF MAGIC

The devil’s in the detail.

We look at the history of fashion’s most fantastical incarnation, and ask whether or not it’s relevant in our age of austerity. By Rosie Dalton.

I’VE PUT A SPELL ON YOU

FASHION 50

THE EDIT

Her upcoming film Dear White People is a racial satire, and it’s about time we start discussing race in popular culture.

Not only did she discover Kate Moss, but Corinne Day invented an entirely new way of seeing and depicting fashion.

TESSA THOMPSON

CORINNE DAY

From the girls of The Witches of Eastwick to David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust to all of Verushka’s scarves, we pick the best of the best so you don’t have to.

VERONIQUE LEROY

The multi-talented musician and writer on why she doesn’t “want to be in some special vagina Olympics”.

MISH WAY

French people are so annoyingly stylish, aren’t they?

MARQUES ALMEIDA

The fringe benefits with London’s next big things.

108

The YouTube stars on their new feature film, and working with Diesel’s creative director Nicola Formichetti.

Her new album, Taiga, is about our devolving relationship with who we are and where we come from: nature.

I VANT TO SUCK YOUR BLOOD (SOMETIMES)

Did you know that every vampiric incarnation is representative of the values of the age in vich it exists? Or so argues Hannah Cooke.

116

SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES

Friendships between teenage girls at high school are so intense that they require magical assistance in order to be adequately explained. Enter cult movie The Craft. By Courtney Sanders.

119

THE PINK FLAMINGOS’ TECHNIQUE

John Waters’ work is so disturbing that it exists outside the realm of reality. By Mel Kenny.

120

DAISY

Our cover star gets magical!

A short, fictional tale about a peach-obsessed swinger’s party. By Zoe Pilger.

124

134

Max Doyle’s spookily good fashion editorial with Emma Balfour.

BE HERE NOWISH

SKIN OF SCARLET, FLESH SO SWEET, THE BEAUTY OF NATURE, TEMPTATION’S CREEP

MYF-ICAL

THERE’S A GHOST IN OUR HOUSE

104

She’s currently taking on her biggest role yet: the badass Johanna Mason in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (Part One).

They may not have been critically acclaimed, but everybody everywhere will be scared of ventriloquist dolls forever after The Night of the Living Dummy. By Kat Patrick.

Wear Julia Baylis’ clothing any way you want.

Because you should be able to have your “it” bag and eat it too.

JENA MALONE

GOOSEBUMPS

The tumultuous history of the humble apple.

JULIA BAYLIS

REAL OR CAKE?

HAUTE OR NOT

THE DEATH OF PRINCE CHARMING

A celebration of Disney’s new era of fairy tales and, more specifically, of bad gal Maleficent. By Courtney Sanders.

ZOLA JESUS

EDITOR IN CHIEF

Steve Bush

steve@cataloguemagazine.com.au

CREATIVE DIRECTOR Markell Hughes

markell@cataloguemagazine.com.au

EDITOR

Courtney Sanders courtney@cataloguemagazine.com.au PHOTOGRAPHER CHAD MOORE STYLIST SHIBON KENNEDY HAIR AND MAKEUP DOMINIQUE FARINA USING NARS COSMETICS PHOTOGRAPHER’S ASSISTANT ZACK SKY SPECIAL THANKS TO VANDERVOORT STUDIO ThreeASFOUR 3D dress, Laurel Hill Crescent Moon earrings, WWAKE neck cuff

FASHION DIRECTOR Elle Packham

elle@cataloguemagazine.com.au

SALES AND MARKETING DIRECTOR

Laura-Jade Harries

laurajade@cataloguemagazine.com.au

WEB EDITOR

Elfy Scott

elfy@cataloguemagazine.com.au

SUB EDITORS

Rosie Dalton, Melissa Ellis melissa@cataloguemagazine.com.au

EDITORIAL CO-ORDINATOR

Jillian Tasker

jillian@cataloguemagazine.com.au

FASHION ASSISTANT Rachel Colless

CONTRIBUTORS Emma Anderson Julia Baylis Bart Celestino Durga Chew-Bose Hannah Cooke Dominic Corry Rosie Dalton Mari David Jo Duck Fiona Duncan Graham Dunn Max Doyle Emma Gibney Spela Kasal Shibon Kennedy Mel Kenny Marcelle Lourie Chad Moore Bec Parsons Clement Pascal Kat Patrick Zoe Pilger Justin Ridler Jody Rogac Hunter Ryan Phebe Schmidt Alpha Vomero Karla Welch P.C. Williams Autumn de Wilde Bobby Whigham

assistant@cataloguemagazine.com.au

INTERN

Olivia Suleimon

facebook.com/cataloguemagazine @cataloguemagazine

Alt.Control.

CATALOGUE 123 Reservoir Street Surry Hills NSW 2010 Australia cataloguemagazine.com.au info@cataloguemagazine.com.au

Distributed by Network Services +61 2 9285 9011 Catalogue is published four times a year by Alt.Control. © Alt.Control. 2014. All rights reserved. The contents of this magazine, including stories, photographs and artwork, are strictly not to be reproduced without the express written permission of the publisher. The advertisers and suppliers of editorial information and photographs warrant that any material published in Catalogue is in no way an infringement of the Copyright Act or other such acts, is not unlawful, defamatory or libelous or does not infringe the Trade Practices Act or other regulations, laws or statutes. Advertisers and suppliers agree to indemnify the publisher against any claims, damages or costs including legal expenses, penalties or judgments occasioned to the publisher in consequence of any breach of the above warranties. All information and prices are correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of print. Printed by Offset Alpine Printing 42 Boorea Street, Lidcombe NSW 2141 under ISO14001 Environmental Certification.

CONTRIBUTORS ALPHA VOMERO STYLIST

SHIBON KENNEDY STYLIST

Tessa Thompson, Be Here Nowish and Zola Jesus

Myf-ical, pages 108-115

I wish “cuddling” was a profession. I think I’d be really successful at it. Watching the girls from Be Here Nowish spoon in pyjamas in the middle of Prospect Park was the closest I think I’ve ever been to professional cuddling.

Myf was amazing, and up for anything! Chad [the photographer] is my buddy and I’m obsessed with his vision, and Dominique is the dream everything hair and makeup girl. SO, duh! It was basically a recipe for an epic shoot.

HANNAH COOKE WRITER

EMMA GIBNEY PHOTOGRAPHER

I Vant To Suck Your Blood (Sometimes), pages 104-107

Leutton Postle, pages 34-37

I spent this month learning heaps of facts about vampires. I read a book called Our Vampires, Ourselves. Then I made my boyfriend watch Interview with a Vampire with me in the name of research.

I shot a selection of pieces from the archive of London-based up-andcoming knitwear label Leutton Postle. I worked with stylist P.C. Williams and an amazing all-girl team! P.C.’s playlist was legendary!

ELFY SCOTT WEB EDITOR

JODY ROGAC PHOTOGRAPHER

I’m incredibly excited to be Catalogue magazine’s new online editor, and to be part of an inspiring team that are changing the face of women’s fashion magazines. Also, I get free movie tickets sometimes, which I can’t complain about.

Zola Jesus, pages 42-45

MEL KENNY WRITER

EMMA ANDERSON PHOTOGRAPHER

For this issue I photographed musician Zola Jesus because she’s just released her new album. She was an absolutely wonderful subject – I loved the calm and serene presence she projected for the photographs.

The Pink Flamingos’ Technique, page 119

This Must Be The Place, pages 62-27

For this issue I overused the Google search query “silly corporate jargon”. I now feel confident I could get a serious job and participate in important meetings and talk a lot without actually saying much.

I photographed New York multi-talented creative Julia Baylis’ fashion collection for this issue. It’s incredibly empowering to work with women who all have strong voices and creative minds. It reminds me I don’t need to ask for permission.

PATRICIA WILLIAMS STYLIST

ROSIE DALTON WRITER

Leutton Postle, pages 34-37

Haute or Not, pages 88-91

I got to pick some of my favourite pieces from Leutton Postle’s awesome archive to photograph with Emma Gibney for this issue. The shoot day was also day one of my raw diet. I think I made it to midday before caving in. I blame Emma!

I died and went to heaven while trawling the archives of some of the world’s best fashion houses and designers, from Alexander McQueen to Nicolas Ghesquière and from Chanel to Dior, as research for my feature Haute or Not.

PHEBE SCHMIDT PHOTOGRAPHER

KAT PATRICK WRITER

Real Or Cake? pages 68-73

Goosebumps, pages 92-93

I worked alongside Catalogue’s Fashion Director Elle and shot designer bags, reconstructed by commissioned artists from unconventional materials: a Maiyet bag constructed entirely from Lego and a Moschino bag in cake-form, for example.

We can love Jonathan Franzen, Jennifer Egan and John Updike all we like, but for many of us it all started with Goosebumps; sponges, scarecrows and houses where the windows seem to frown will remain in our hearts and our minds forever.

PEOPLE

TESSA THOMPSON Tessa Thompson is the star of Sundance Film Festival stand out Dear White People, a satirical study of race in America set at an Ivy League college. Considering the recent death of Michael Brown and the resulting riots in Ferguson, Missouri, a study like this is a crucial part of our cultural conversation right now. By Fiona Duncan.

WRITER FIONA DUNCAN PHOTOGRAPHER CLEMENT PASCAL FASHION ALPHA VOMERO HAIR JAKOB SHERWOOD MAKEUP ERIN GREEN

t one edge of Brooklyn, Tessa Thompson sat in a small white room with both legs folded under her bottom. To reach the building one had to have been there before, or be directed by someone who had, as address numbers weren’t evidently marked on the dead end street, and the most current map apps dropped you a truck lot down from the actual entrance. The site was old industrial, now culture industrial; a factory building converted to offices and studios. It was peak summer when I met Tessa. She had spent the first half of it posing around the neighborhood. I biked 20 minutes under the sun to meet her – the lead actor of a forthcoming film and potential major-hit (already Sundance favourite) Dear White People, a satirical take on race in America. As promo for her role, Tessa had two interviews and photo shoots scheduled during her trip, but her first reason for being in New York was to perform with her pop soul band Caught a Ghost. They were booked to play the Gramercy Theatre the next day. Four days after that, an unarmed 18-year-old black man named Michael Brown was fatally shot by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. Brown was set to start college two days later. His death resulted in weeks of protests in Ferguson, and extended an ongoing debate on police brutality and racial profiling in America. This “national conversation,” as anchors dubbed it, naturally shifted to a wider one on race and class in the United States. All summer long my newsfeeds were weighted with such debate. Brown’s death came after other, similar incidents. In Staten Island in July, Eric Garner, a 43-year-old African-American father suffered a heart attack during a police chokehold; his death was ruled a homicide in late August. Last November, a 19-year-old Detroit woman, Renisha McBride, was shot on a white >

Grand Street Bakery vintage jacket, Grand Street Bakery vintage jeans, Tocca coat, Mecura sunglasses

Araks top, Grand Street Bakery vintage pants, Topshop coat, Converse shoes

PEOPLE / TESSA THOMPSON man’s doorstep. She had knocked for help after crashing her car. It was early morning and the man, Theodore Wafer, assumed she was a burglar. The McBride trial ran began in June. On 3 September, Wafer was convicted of murder. One had a sense that such racially charged violence was not new, just that the news of it was. Citizens were reporting. Garner’s case was evidenced by a smart phone video. I watched the protests in Ferguson in near real time on Tumblr and Twitter. The proximity of the events engaged American audiences. In sight, in mind. Recognising ignorance within oneself can be humiliating. It shouldn’t be, because if it weren’t, more people would be willing to open up to learn. Instead, in the States especially, we default to defense. One defense on matters of race we like to level is that we live in a “post-racist” society. The guard goes that slavery, segregation and Civil Rights are history. We’re passed all that. We have a Black President. Ideologically, on the surface, we may be post-race. Ideally, anyone can rise to any position in society. Structurally though, that’s an untruth. All you need to do to see that we still live under white supremacy and patriarchy is watch American media. Our most powerful talking heads, our business leaders and politicians are almost all straight, white men. (If not straight, white men then it’s diverse person X acting like a straight, white man.) To fail to recognise this is to be willfully colourblind, a lack of sense that’s posited as a virtue in “post-racist” land. The character Tessa Thompson plays in Dear White People, Samantha White, seeks to “pop the post-racist bubble”. So says writer and director Justin Simien (this film is his first feature). Sam White is a college campus radio personality. On her show “Dear White People” she calls out common racist behavior with comic gravity. In a seductive smartass tone she voices dissent like: “Dear White People, the minimum requirement of black friends needed to not seem racist has just been raised to two. Sorry, but your weed man Tyrone does not count.” Sam is a student at “Winchester University”, a fictional American Ivy. The school is archetypal. Everything in the film is archetypal. Dear White People is glossy like a CW show (its episodic structure adds to the Gilmore Girls effect). Sam White’s type is the righteous activist. She performs like Angela Davis, Malcolm X and The Cosby Show’s Lisa Bonet. Or, as a fellow classmate says: “It’s like Spike Lee and Oprah had some pissed off baby”. Beneath Sam’s hard leader veneer, though, is a bundle of basic contradictions: she loves Taylor Swift and is sleeping with a kind, white guy. “What I really dig about Sam is she’s someone who is really trying to master persona,” Thompson told me from her post-shoot perch in Brooklyn that August day. “I felt in some ways Sam White’s story was a little love letter to a previous incarnation of myself.” Sam’s arc, as Thompson sees it, is about learning to accept seeming contradictions within oneself. As someone who phased through several personas growing up, Tessa identified. “Like in the 9th grade,” she explained, “I was all about Wu-Tang and wearing oversized clothes, and the next year I was a cheerleader. I was trying on different vernaculars.” Thompson campaigned to play Sam. Along with her video auditions she sent an effusive, personal letter to Justin Simien telling him how much she loved the script and connected to Sam. “I wanted to help tell Sam’s story because I thought it could help people be kinder to themselves, be closer to who they are and let people see that. If I’d seen this movie when I was younger, it would have helped me.” When I spoke to Simien on the phone he didn’t recall the contents of Thompson’s letter. It was her audition tape that convinced him she was right for the role. “I look for actors who can bring an element of surprise to these characters I’ve already totally envisioned,” he said. “Tessa brought a beautiful complexity to the character. It’s in her eyes.

You can see the wheels turning in her eyes.” Tessa’s eyes are wide set and slightly downcast. Her near-black irises make her look perpetually rapt. Before Dear White People Thompson’s absorbing eyes hadn’t been put to much on screen use. As an actor she’s still probably best known for her role on the show Veronica Mars. She’s also starred in the Tyler Perry movie For Colored Girls alongside Janet Jackson and Whoopi Goldberg. By the end of 2014 though she’ll have two major features out: Dear White People and Ava DuVernay’s Selma, a telling of the Selma to Montgomery Civil Rights Marches. In Selma, Thompson plays Diane Nash, “an unsung hero of the Movement” according to the actor. An activist in the non-violent Movement, “Nash was the one who got the Mayor of Nashville to admit that he thought segregation was immoral. She was 19 at the time”. Both movies are progressive films on race in America: one a recent history drama, the other an of-the-moment comedy. Thompson’s involvement in such projects suits her interests. Compared to other LA-native actors, she only belatedly became interested in the craft. Before acting Tessa considered working in a non-governmental organisation, in politics, urban planning, and as a social worker. She always acted as a hobby, but never considered it for a profession. In her early 20s she took a semester off from community college. Working odd jobs while acting in plays she found herself “just really broke”. At a friend’s suggestion she got an agent and started to go on commercial auditions (“an LA way to make money”). One role led to the next. “Acting turned out to be the only thing I cared about being good at,” says Tessa, and so she’s kept on. Dear White People employs archetypes only to flip them. Each character turns out to be more than they seem, more than they believed themselves to be. The script is tight. Every line feels purposeful, with the aim to deconstruct myths and cliché. Simien spent years working in Hollywood publicity, and it shows. The package is a market bull’s eye. The content, however, is radical for Hollywood. Here is a non-threatening, feel-good college comedy in the tradition of Rushmore and Legally Blonde that manages to pull off lines such as: “Black people can’t be racist. Racism describes a system of disadvantage based on race. Black people can’t be racist since we don’t stand to benefit from such a system”. Simien was originally going to call his film Two Percent, attesting to (and this is Tessa speaking) “the experience of being a minority and other in a dominantly white institution”. The title he ended up going with was, as Tessa explains, “purposefully provocative”. Dear White People’s direct address reflects something that’s currently trending on social media: the calling out and defining of whiteness. Left blank, whiteness gets to be default, the norm. Simien’s script functions to fill a void. Through it, white American audiences get to see what they look like from the outside, and experience black subjectivity from the inside. In August, in that small, white room, I asked Thompson who she thought the “white people” the film is addressing are. She laughed nervously and replied she’d never had that question posed before. After some quiet, she responded that she didn’t “know that it’s actually speaking to a particular kind of white person, and I’m not even sure the person is white. I think more so the person is someone who is... who is... moving in or behaving in a space that assumes that we are post-race”. Her speech picked up in pace. “Some people claim colourblindness. But I think that all people see colour. I just think that not all people make value judgments or attach anything to it. I think we need to be in a space where we can talk about colour; it gets problematic when we are afraid to.” “I do worry when people think of the film as an indictment of white culture,” she added. “I think it’s an indictment of dominant culture.” c

“It’s like Spike Lee and Oprah had some pissed off baby.”

No. 21 dress

“I do worry when people think of Dear White People as an indictment of white culture… I think it’s an indictment of dominant culture.” Grand Street Bakery vintage t-shirt, Tocca dress, Converse dress, Mecura sunglasses

PEOPLE

CORINNE DAY May The Circle Remain Unbroken is a new limited edition book (and the title of a song by the 13th Floor Elevators, which is important) that celebrates the revolutionary work of photographer Corinne Day. By Courtney Sanders.

Corinne Day (right) and friend.

orinne Day, who created most of the work of her profound career during the ‘90s, is a household name – in the fashion world at least – for her discovery of Kate Moss; those black and white images, published by The Face, in which two ratty little plaits frame a beautiful adolescent face covered in freckles and distorted by that squint, and by that smile. You know: genes. But while Corinne could capture that bone structure and Kate Moss could show it off, it was their ability to capture and evoke something much more significant – the human spirit – that made these images so iconic, and their careers so successful. “Millions of men have lived to fight, build palaces and boundaries, shape destinies and societies; but the compelling force of all times has been the force of originality and creation profoundly affecting the roots of the human spirit,”

explained visionary American photographer Ansel Adams. This spirit is at the heart of everything we do, but it’s also indefinable, fleeting and abstract, making it simultaneously the most important and the hardest quality to capture on film. That Corinne Day effortlessly understood it, and could effortlessly conjure it from her subjects, is what makes her work profound. Mark Scazy was her partner in life and in art, from their meeting in the ‘80s to her passing in 2010, and he’s been her work’s tireless champion ever since then. In 2011 he organised an exhibition, Heaven Is Real, consisting of 200 photographs from her early career, and the popularity of this exhibition accelerated the publication of May The Circle Remain Unbroken, named after one of Corinne’s favourite songs, by the 13th Floor Elevators. When you think about her work, naturally

the shots of Kate Moss, particularly in black and white, particularly for The Face, come to mind. It’s because of that freckly face and those gangly pre-model limbs, sure. But moreover it’s because of the impermanent smile that creases those freckles, and the flailing, unique (and dorky) poses that give the images life. And life is the only thing that really matters; it’s not a “light” or a “spark” or – and please don’t ever call it this – an “x-factor” that’s noteworthy in the photographs in May The Circle Remain Unbroken, it’s the life. The book contains photographs of her friends, of herself, of her life. And life was something Corinne Day tragically didn’t possess enough of, but it’s something that will be present in her work forever. c May The Circle Remain Unbroken is published by Morel Books in a limited edition of 1000 and is available now at www.morelbooks.com

PEOPLE / CORINNE DAY

PEOPLE

JENA

MALONE Over the last 20 years Jena Malone has played a number of complex characters in a myriad of films, including Contact with Jodie Foster, cult classic Donnie Darko and Lettie in Howl’s Moving Castle. But right now she’s reprising one of her most challenging roles to date, Johanna Mason, in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay (Part One).

WRITER DOMINIC CORRY PHOTOGRAPHER AUTUMN DE WILDE STYLIST KARLA WELCH PHOTOGRAPHER’S ASSISTANT MARCEL VOCINO PHOTOGRAPHER’S REPRESENTATIVE CECILY CHAMBERS AT WEISS ARTISTS HAIR BOBBY ELLIOT AT TOMLINSON MANAGEMENT GROUP LOS ANGELES MAKEUP BETHAN MCCARTY AT THE MAGNET AGENCY SPECIAL THANKS TO MILK STUDIOS

ena Malone has been acting for almost two decades, co-starring in high-profile films like Donnie Darko, Cold Mountain; Pride and Prejudice (the Keira Knightley one) and, more recently, Sucker Punch. The 29-year-old has enjoyed a long, fruitful career balancing artful and commercial cinema and has often generated comparisons to Jodie Foster, whom she played the younger version of in Contact. But awareness of the poised, intelligent, stunning actress exploded last year when she appeared as the kick-ass Johanna Mason in The Hunger Games sequel, Catching Fire. Has she noticed much of a difference in her life since then? “More doors are opened, more elevators are yours to use, you’re not always taking the stairs,” she told me recently from Los Angeles. “Things become much easier to get at in a way. But I don’t know. I’m just there because I love the > character. I guess it would be different if I did the film because I knew it was

Roksanda Ilincic top and skirt, Valentino collar, Gaspar opera gloves

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Tears of love from 15-year-old girls can change your perspective about what kind of art you wanna make.â&#x20AC;? Blumarine dress

PEOPLE / JENA MALONE It’s only since I’ve been doing music that I’ve started experimenting gonna be big, but the bigness, the grandness, the amount of more with my film work. I grew up basically learning film on my feet. people who love it – I feel like that was just a bonus. Like this extra At 10 years old, just throwing myself into it, trying to learn as I go. beautiful thing. And you only really get to act for about seven hours a year in such “For me the biggest thing that I’ve taken away from The Hunger isolated moments. Painstakingly crafted with a sense of when and Games is really getting to connect with the fanbase. I’ve been so where and what. With music for me I wanted to feed a different overwhelmed by such incredible support and passion. Tears of love expression of creating moments and living in a moment in a way that from 15-year-old girls can change your perspective about what kind I don’t get to control as much obviously. of art you wanna make. You can’t argue with an army of teenagers, “I think I started making music at a time when I wasn’t working their unadulterated power and love and passion for something. You that much and I wanted to become a better actor and become a can’t argue with that. It’s a powerful force to be reckoned with. With better storyteller and it was scary – singing in public and freestyling The Hunger Games they said: ‘Yes, yes, yes. I want this female in public. It really helped me develop a strength of having to perform heroine, I want this story that’s kind of a little bit harder to read, I in front of people, and fall on your face and skin your knee in front of want a story about survival, I want a story about war and the effects people. Be very vulnerable in front of strangers.” of war on myself and my family’.” That vulnerability is key to the appeal. Did she approach Johanna differently to her other roles? “It can get to the point where I’m in the middle of something and I “I think you have to approach every role differently because every can get so lost in a freestyle, you have to really let people’s role is an individual. I don’t think I’ve ever approached a character the judgement of you go. There can’t be any judgement in your heart or same way. Maybe I’ll reuse a tool here or there that’s similar. With freestyle can’t really exist. You have to be really open and okay with Johanna there was such an expectation of who she was, the way she sitting and vomiting and bleeding and crying and loving and shouting looked, and I also had three novels to work with which I’ve never had and smiling, and not really knowing what each moment is going to before. And so so much of the character work had been done for me I be, but kind of being okay with that. I’ve felt like it was more about removing myself definitely gotten into some tricky situations and what I wanted from the situation and where I might say: ‘Oh, we’re doing a show allowing it to be the best that it already was. on the street corner tomorrow at 7.00pm’ Bringing her to life, in a way. Having all the and then at 5.00pm I have a horrible anger and hate, and having all that emotional headache or I get my period and I still have trauma and being able to pass it off as cool to go up there and find some place in me that and empowered. That’s a very tricky thing, feels open and raw and intuitive. That can be what that line is.” a challenge for sure!” When I speak to Malone she’s just heading “For me, film and music are very similar off on a special kind of tour with her (twothings – they’re both forms of storytelling. person) band The Shoe, descriptions of which But I get to do so much in film that I can’t do invariably use the word “experimental”. in music, and I get to do so much in music “We basically take over hotels. We’re that I can’t do in film. And they both kind of partnered with Thompson Hotels and we get inform each other in the sense that you’re to basically play wherever, whenever we want taking risks and you’re developing your around the entire hotel. The reason I like to instruments, developing the instincts for play improvisational spaces as opposed to character. And the drive to follow your own traditional bars and venues is because I really instincts, really... which can be a hard thing love taking the audience out of the traditional to do.” music listening space and putting them in a Malone has clearly always followed her space where they’re not used to hearing 17-year-old Jena Malone in Donnie Darko. own instincts, going back to her first ever music – street corners, rooftops, elevators, film role, in the controversial 1996 drama Bastard out of Carolina. bathrooms, living rooms, hotel lobbies. And it allows them to kind of Directed by Anjelica Huston and co-starring Jennifer Jason Leigh, experience music in a different way. the film was attacked and marginalised for addressing sexual Although The Shoe continues to evolve, it’s still about pure molestation head-on. expression for Malone. “When I made the film, a really dear friend of mine when I was “When I first started making music it was mostly all freestyle, all younger had been sexually abused, and I knew a lot about it. She improvised. And we still do a lot of that in our shows because I just opened up to me and talked to me, and her family would talk about can’t help it, it’s my love, but now that we have a few albums under it. And so it was something I actually felt really passionate about our belt we’re able to go back and forth between playing songs that doing because I thought that it was a very important story. So I guess we know and getting to sort of interpret and intuit music. Maybe I was confused when it came out that people didn’t want a story like sometimes a melody will haunt me in a day and I’ll use the show as this to be told, because I thought it was so important. I thought it an experiment, to play with the melody and see where I go, see what was a really important thing to be talking about, and I guess I just kind of story I can cook up. But it’s all pretty much created out of didn’t understand that people didn’t wanna hear this story. I the moment. It’s all just feeling. Lem Jay [Ignacio], who is my partner understood that it was hard to tell, but that it was something to be in crime in the band, and I start singing a melody and he’ll just come heard. And I think it really pushed me further into wanting to tell up with something completely in the moment. Then we’ll both vibe stories that need to be heard instead of things that are just on that and then I’ll change and he’ll change, so it’s all pretty free. pleasurable to the senses.” Sometimes it’s terrifying but I kind of love that, y’know?” “If you’re functioning in the right way, it doesn’t matter what you In a sense, Malone started performing music as a response to what do, as long as you care about it. If you trust in that, it’s not about box she wasn’t getting from acting. office or what’s successful. It’s about building things that will be “As an artist, wherever you’re not being fed, you should feed valued and appreciated over the course of time.” c yourself, and I don’t get to do that much improvisation within acting.

“I’m just there because I love the character…the bigness, the grandness, the amount of people who love it – I feel like that was just a bonus.” Valentino dress

Katie Ermilio dress

PEOPLE

MISH WAY WHITE LUNG American punk band White Lung’s third album is called Deep Fantasy. This is absolutely perfect when you consider that frontwoman Mish Way’s lyrical concerns – love, sex, rape – are the same as the concerns in her formidable written work. And that she assaults, in the best possible way, her live audiences. And that she gave up a “normal” 9-5 life in favour of a lifestyle most people only dream about. By Courtney Sanders.

WRITER COURTNEY SANDERS PHOTOGRAPHY GRAHAM DUNN GROOMING TAMI SHIREY

ish Way is a feminist. She’s a writer. She’s a musician. She writes about feminism for Rookie, BUST and Vice. And for her band White Lung, who have just released their third studio album, Deep Fantasy, on their new record label (and major independent) Domino. All of this is to say that she has many opinions on the subject, and therefore makes for an incredibly intimidating interview subject (her veracity on stage withstanding). However, down the line from her home in LA, only a small amount of the vehemence with which she approaches her written work is at play; only a pleasant amount of curse words and dismissing of her detractors remain. >

“I don’t think I should have to agree with someone just because we both happen to have a vagina.”

PEOPLE / MISH WAY Instead, she approaches our conversation – which inevitably becomes a discussion about the current state of feminism – with the same kind of measure with which she approaches the subject itself. While she explains that the songs on Deep Fantasy are about brutal subjects like rape (I Believe You), she also notes that she writes them like diary entries: honestly, vulnerably. And while she considers herself a feminist, she’s sick of “the misconception that it describes women who don’t want men to be involved in the conversation”. Hey Mish! How are you? I’m good! I just got back from Japan, and now I have a break. I’m relaxing! How did the new album come about? Wellllll... we knew we wanted to write a new record, and we knew that Domino Records was interested, and we also knew that we were going to kick out our bass player... Haha! Yeah, so there was some thinking that had to go into it. We decided that just the three of us would write the record and that Kenny [William], our guitarist, would handle bass duties as well. As a professional writer, the lyrics are obviously pretty important to you. What did you want to say? Well, in the past my lyrics have been really reactionary. I’m the kind of person who, if something happens to me the night before I sit down to write, I’ll write about it. The way I write lyrics is the same way I used to write in my diary, which is in little jokes to myself. Also, I’ll always use the word “you” when I’m talking to someone – whether I’m talking to myself or to another person or to a bigger cultural entity – because as a kid I was super paranoid that people would find my journals and read them. I’ve asserted myself as a feminist writer, and right now I’m really sick of the misconception about what “feminism” means, so I really wanted to make a feminist record that wasn’t alienating. I wanted it to be smart and quick and culturally relevant, but not so radical that it was alienating because I don’t find that productive. I wanted to be able to write songs about things that were messing up my life, or making me frustrated, and I knew other people would relate to those. Your lyrics, as with your essay writing, are honest and frank and give a lot of you to the public. Was there a moment when you were just like: “Fuck it! I’m going to tell everybody everything”? Yeah, there was. It was when I started being public with my writing, because all of the people I’d looked up to, whether they were musicians or writers, were really vulnerable, and that vulnerability gave them a new kind of power. Admitting your humanness is important. That was how I wanted to story tell: I wanted to give away a piece of myself and be vulnerable, because it brings the person who’s digesting the work closer to me. I just made a choice a while ago that I wasn’t going to be embarrassed about anything, and that I was going to replicate the kind of writing that I found inspiring. I imagine that you’ve received both positive and negative responses to your work, right? Haha, yeah! If you put yourself out there you have to expect there’s a million other people out there who are going to disagree with you and say something mean, and I’m actually an extremely sensitive person! But I just got to a certain point where I stopped caring. If someone wants to tell me I’m a slut or I’m a whore it’s like “Wow. Big deal. Those words don’t mean anything to me”. A, you’re not using those words correctly; and B, why don’t you dig in and actually criticise my work?

You mentioned before that you’re sick of the misconception about what feminism is. Can you elaborate? Yeah. I feel like the word “feminism” has taken such a hammering in the last little while and people are completely misunderstanding what it means. Maybe, at one point, it was important to respect the marginalisation of women and let them do their thing on their own. But feminism today isn’t supposed to be exclusive, it’s supposed to be inclusive. I think it’s supposed to be a discussion that anyone can be a part of. There are all those weird “Why I Don’t Need Feminism” Tumblrs that are getting it so wrong! They’re taking all the negative stereotypes that have been put against the word feminism and rebelling against those. I don’t really know how to solve that problem, and I don’t think being angry or taking it too seriously is the answer. I just think conversing more with other people and writing about it in a positive way helps. The misconception of feminism is basically that it describes women who don’t want men to be involved in the conversation. There’s an angle in contemporary feminism where women who consider themselves feminists are incredibly critical of other women, which is quite unhealthy too. Yeah, totally – I know what you mean. When I used to teach music we had this rule: “You’ve got to support all other women, whether you like what they’re creating or not, because they’re women and it’s important to support other women”. I don’t necessarily agree with that. I don’t think I should have to agree with someone just because we both happen to have a vagina. On the other hand, when women are critical of other women it can get twisted in a way that makes it look like unhealthy female competition, which it isn’t. The older I get, and the more I’m questioned about my values, and the more I’m using my life experience instead of my academic experience, the more I have to re-think what being a feminist means, which is exciting. But it’s really confusing too. With specific reference to women in music this is all interesting, too. I interviewed Joan Jett and Savages in the same week last year. Joan Jett, as one of the first female rock stars who had to deal with a lot of criticism for being a female rock star, vehemently believes that we should specifically promote women in music. Savages thought the opposite: they wanted to be spoken to as musicians, not female musicians. And I totally understand both viewpoints. Joan Jett came of age in the ‘70s and her fight was totally different to Savages’. She had to say: “Look, I’m a young woman, I can play this guitar, and I want you to see me as both a female and as someone who is playing guitar, or like, fuck you!” She had to puff up her chest and do it! My band goes through the same thing as Savages go through, where all the media focuses on is the fact that we’re girls; we get associated with music genres that we sound nothing like such as Riot Grrrl just because we’re political and we’re female. We’re like: “OK, all of these other great women have been playing aggressive music for a really long time, there’s nothing new, get over it, we don’t want to be seen as just women”. I don’t want to be the best female frontperson, I just want to be the best frontperson. I don’t want to be in some special vagina Olympics. Both points are completely valid, and it is possible to straddle both. That comes back to what we were talking about earlier: feminism doesn’t have to be about one thing, it can be about many things and still be valid. That’s the great part about it! And also having something that is so deeply personal be political. c

“I wanted to give away a piece of myself and be vulnerable... it brings the person who’s digesting the work closer to me.”

PEOPLE

SAM LEUTTON AND JENNY POSTLE

Sam Leutton and Jenny Postle are the two designers behind Leutton Postle, a London knitwear label. They’re honing the eccentricity behind their groundbreaking graduate collection into a wearable and – importantly – sellable brand.

WRITER ROSIE DALTON/PHOTOGRAPHER EMMA GIBNEY/FASHION PC WILLIAMS/MAKEUP CLAIRE CARTER USING MAC COSMETICS/HAIR MEGGIE COUSLAND AT CAROL HAYES MANAGEMENT/MODELS LYDIA H AND ELLA CROCKETT AT MODELS 1/FASHION ASSISTANT TONI CAROLINE/PHOTOGRAPHER’S ASSISTANT BRIDGET SCHURCH

ased in London, Leutton Postle is a brand known for their unique style of freehand textiles rendered in delightfully outlandish patterns and colours; each season, their collections evoke a new kind of fantasy. Sam Leutton and Jenny Postle are the two designers behind the brand, and they first met while doing their BA at Central Saint Martins and have been close friends and collaborators ever since. “We’ve never been big planners. We try not to look too far in the future,” Leutton tells me via Skype from their studio just north of Hackney. Speaking about the brand’s aesthetic evolution over the past few years, both designers reveal that this growth has been very organic. “I think [Leutton Postle] has matured a bit and become more accessible overall,” Leutton explains of their departure from pricier and more eccentric structural garments. While their initial designs may have been more akin to works of art than wardrobe staples, the colourful and unique texture knits seen in recent collections are more covetable than ever. “It’s a combination of factors that have changed overall,” Postle explains of the brand’s coming of age. “Mostly it’s the expense, the time, the finish and wearability.” As a new label starting out in London’s fiercely competitive fashion industry, cost is understandably a major factor. Though not always thought of as a luxury product, knitwear can in fact be a very costly exercise. Combine that with the brand’s sophisticated approach to construction and it can understandably be a challenge to produce garments that fans aspire to and are actually able to buy. “I know it sounds boring,” Postle says, “but margins for knitwear designers are practically nothing compared to other designers.” The pair cite this as one of the major challenges they’ve faced as a young brand. “I think people tend to spend less on

something they wear more,” Leutton explains. “Which is really weird to me!” Postle adds that many people don’t expect to pay much for knitwear simply because it’s knitted. “For some reason there tends to be a price barrier on knitwear,” she explains. “Even if it’s a totally amazing piece, people are programmed to expect a lower price point. I don’t know if it’s because knit is seen as more casual wear, but it does tend to be received this way.” Stretch and silhouette also provide a challenge for the young label. “Knit is quite complicated,” Postle explains. “But it’s something that we’re always thinking about and, as a result, our silhouette has actually become more feminine over the last couple of seasons. For some reason this just felt like a good balance to some of the weirder textiles.” It’s this sense of harmonising the outlandish with the practical that demonstrates Leutton Postle has really come into its own. But not without considerable support, of course. Both the support of one another — something that both designers count as critical — as well as the encouragement they’ve received from others. Susie Lau of Style Bubble, for example, is a big champion of their work, while organisations like the British Fashion Council have also been instrumental in their success. Though Leutton Postle originally made their debut at London Fashion Week for S/S 2012 as part of Fashion Scout — a collection for which they were awarded the prestigious Vauxhall Fashion Scout Merit Award — the

past three seasons have seen them showcase their collections at Somerset House as part of the British Fashion Council’s digital schedule. It’s as a result of this initiative that the designers have been able to explore a sense of organic evolution. It’s also because of this support that they’ve discovered their affinity with fashion film. “Film is something that’s become really important to us as a brand, kind of out of nowhere,” Postle explains. “We never really thought about it much before, but because of the way that things have worked out, it’s now a very big part of our approach.” Working closely with filmmaker Amy Gwatkin and stylist Nell Kalonji, they have already received critical acclaim for their showcase films. A little bit eccentric — just like the brand — there’s a hint of wry humour and playful soft focus to these films. “For the last two seasons they’ve been about the theme of Englishness, and I don’t even know how that started,” Postle recalls. “It was really a Martin Parr reference that kind of kicked it all off,” Leutton jumps in. “And then it just carried on from there.” Being a part of this initiative has undoubtedly been fundamental to Leutton Postle’s coming of age as a brand. “We would definitely like to continue working with the British Fashion Council and presenting under their initiatives into the future,” Leutton says of the support they have received, and the experience overall. One of the things that’s particularly refreshing about Leutton Postle is the way >

“It’s just like, if it feels good, then wear it!” Sam Leutton

the designers reject out-dated notions of exclusivity in fashion. Instead, they choose to adopt a much more democratic approach. “I don’t think we really have a specific customer,” Leutton says. “It’s just like, if it feels good, then wear it!” It’s for this reason, too, that they’re so drawn to showcasing their designs through the medium of film. “It’s not like someone has to come to the show, where it’s super exclusive,” Postle explains. “You can just put it up on the Internet and people will watch it.” Though their collections don’t adhere to a specific subject matter per se, the designers say that there’s certainly a visual theme that runs throughout; a colour palette and textural direction that are based around a specific group of textiles. The thematic directions for their films also emphasise the overall brand values: not just a sense of Englishness, but also creativity and a desire to separate oneself from the masses. Leutton believes that the intrinsic relationship fashion has been enjoying with film is one that’s here to stay. “It’s a nice way to show the work, and also for people to view the collections,” says Postle. “You’ve got a lot of creative control in making something that’s small but quite intense.” Ultimately Leutton Postle is a brand that doesn’t take itself too seriously. Their garments represent a transformative experience, and they’ve already captured the imaginations of many key players. As the label continues to grow and evolve, there’s little doubt we’ll be seeing much more of these kaleidoscopic knits. c

“Margins for knitwear designers are practically nothing compared to other designers.” Jenny Postle

NATALIA LEITE & ALEXANDRA ROXO

Natalia and Alexandra are two BFFs navigating their way through their millennial lives by documenting them on the critically acclaimed (and very hip) You Tube series Be Here Nowish. They’ve just finished their first feature film, Bare, starring Dianna Agron and Paz de la Huerta, and are now being recruited for freelance projects by the likes of Nicola Formichetti at Diesel, and TV on the Radio. By Durga Chew-Bose.

PHOTOGRAPHER BOBBY WHIGHAM STYLIST ALPHA VOMERO HAIR AND MAKEUP DOMINIQUE FARINA USING NARS COSMETICS

Alexandra (left) wears Preen by Thornton Bregazzi turtleneck, Natalia (right) wears Jill Stuart turtleneck. Eckhaus Latta blanket

PEOPLE / NATALIA LEITE AND ALEXANDRA ROXO current touchstones for 20-something women narratives, Be Here Nowish distinguishes itself as sexually progressive, portraying the unruly everyday drudge of being young and at an impasse, of struggling to figure it all out, and perhaps in the process unwisely surrounding yourself by people who speak in maxim-type declarations like “group sex solves everything!” Stuck in traffic I decide to hop out of my cab and hurry down the Bowery towards Cooper Square where I’m meeting Leite and Roxo at The Standard East Village. Having watched the show’s first 10 episodes earlier in the week, I spot Leite and Roxo

immediately: they’re sitting in the hotel’s blue-tiled café sipping sparkling water with limes. Roxo’s copper-hued corkscrew curls are impossible to miss. Her petite yet sturdy frame brings to mind that of an Olympic gymnast ready for her floor routine. She’s wearing a black haltertop and her lips are painted bright matte rouge which later, I come to notice, pucker tightly when Roxo (who is half-Portugese and Miami born) is listening or deliberating. Leite’s big, liquid-lined eyes, thin brows and sharp jaw are offset by a toothy smile. Her voice, which still holds some of her Portuguese accent (she was born and raised in Sao Paulo, Brazil and moved to San Francisio when she was 18 years old) is soft and measured but firm, and she gesticulates with her hands when she speaks, her gemstone rings catching the midday light. Both women inhabit a witchy, doll-like quality. “Magical collision”, it turns out, are the words Roxo uses to describe the collaborative nature of their projects. “It’s very rare that we come to a point where we don’t agree with each other,” says Leite. “We met a few years ago at a party,” says Roxo (during Saturn Return, notes their website). “We were both in the same extended community in Williamsburg, which has shifted a bit since we met, and we were going out and our friend was DJing at this place and we struck up a conversation.” Leite then invited Roxo to a rough-cut screening of a film she had made and that’s when, as Roxo puts it, the two friends began to “engage more at an artistic level”. They started collaborating on short films and music videos but were also ready to develop more ambitious projects and push things, as Roxo adds, “to the next level”. They have since formed their own company, Purple Milk (a translation of their Portuguese last names) and worked on smaller projects like a holiday special for Nicola Formichetti’s NYC pop-up shop and a music video for TV on the Radio. Most recently the pair wrapped production on Leite’s feature film debut, Bare, which Roxo produced and stars Dianna Agron as a young girl from a small town in Nevada who meets an older woman drifter, played by Paz de la Huerta. They become romantically involved while working at a seedy strip club. Agron’s life soon spirals, and as Leite adds: “She breaks into this world of psychedelic experiences in the desert”. While some points of reference for Bare were more obvious (like Andrea Arnold’s 2009 coming of

“Be Here Now is Portlandia for Los Angeles’ vast New Age community.” Karley Sciortino

Natalia (left) wears Grand Street Bakery vintage t shirt, Topshop Unique vest, Rachel Comey skirt, Grand Street Bakery vintage shoes. Alexandra (right) wears Grand Street Bakery vintage t-shirt, Topshop Unique jacket, Rachel Comey skirt, Grand Street Bakery vintage shoes

t’s a hot afternoon in early September and I’m running late to meet Natalia Leite and Alexandra Roxo, co-creators and stars of Be Here Nowish, a web series that follows the misadventures and tongue-in-cheek spiritual awakening of two women who escape New York’s workplay grind for LA’s take on “lifestyle”. You know, shamans, sage-cleansing, girls with names like Aurora and – wait for it – communal colonics. Yes, that happens on this show. Having played at the Tribeca Film Festival’s new N.O.W. section, Be Here Nowish has been described by one of the show’s regulars, Slutever sex blogger and Vogue columnist Karley Sciortino, as a “Portlandia for Los Angeles’ vast New Age community”. Like it or not, with Girls and Broad City as television’s

Alexandra (left) wears Grand Street Bakery vintage turtleneck, enSoi denim jacket, Karen Walker coat, enSoie pants, A Détacher shoes. Natalia (right) wears Preen by Thornton Bregazzi coat, Grand Street Bakery vintage shoes

age drama, Fish Tank), Leite also drew inspiration from more unlikely films such as Harold and Maude. Roxo and Leite have also shot the pilot for a Vice show called Every Woman that they hope to take to series and which explores the daily lives of women in various communities. “We want to keep the focus on female representation and femininity, but also sexuality,” says Roxo. “Because we’re not journalists,” says Leite, “we’re just here to tell our experience through our point of view and wear another woman’s shoes.” In the first episode, Roxo and Leite work as strippers at the same club where Bare was shot in a small town called Moriarty in New Mexico. When asked if they were ever scared of shooting at a strip club, Leite was clear to note that while “yes, there are people there with guns”, the isolating impact

of the truck stop was far more significant. “At night when you leave the club there’s just a bunch of trucks parked outside and not much else.” Collaboration comes easy for Leite and Roxo. “It’s great because we speak Portuguese, so on set we have a private space that a lot of people don’t have,” says Roxo. That sense of privacy affords them the room to finalise decisions or reconsider a shot “without it becoming a group discussion” which is – it’s important to note – especially crucial in an industry that is disproportionately male. “It’s so deeply a part of our culture that

people don’t see [sexism in our industry] as a big deal,” says Roxo. “If somebody says something about your body or your appearance in a meeting, and you’re with a bunch of guys in that meeting, it undermines you.” Leite remembers how, on the set of Bare, there was a crew member who insisted on calling her “little one”. “Maybe he thought he was being cute, but if a guy was directing this film would he ever call him ‘little one’? No,” she says firmly. “He was just saying that because I was a girl. So I told him: ‘Please don’t ever call me that again’.” Roxo and Leite’s ease with working together is not just beneficial on set but is crucial to their process. During brainstorming sessions their simpatico is clear. “All of the projects we do, we bounce ideas back and forth and end up coming up with something, and once we get to the minutiae of the script it’s more of a ‘tag, you’re it’ vibe,” says Leite, who describes the early stages of Be Here Nowish as more of a means for creating rapidly rather than wait for financing for their feature film. “We had an idea that we wanted to do a web series because so many things were happening in our spiritual and personal lives. So we did it.” While the characters of Sam (Roxo) and Nina (Leite) – a dating consultant and a “drug delivery gal” – are not directly reflective of Roxo and Leite’s Brooklyn experience, thematically the connection is strong. “Our characters aren’t based so much on us but their qualities are things that we embody.” As with many narratives about the down and out and often ridiculously-faulted lives of young people navigating New York, Roxo and Leite came up with their ideas at dinner parties or through friends. And even, as Roxo notes, through research: “I had never had a colonic before or considered doing that communally! But for the show I did it,” she says, laughing. “I didn’t do it communally though! It was research… but also, it was… cleansing,” she adds with a grin that creeps up her face, her piercing blue eyes especially aqua. When asked how they feel about the inevitable comparison to Girls and Broad City, Roxo admits that, while “those shows have such a unique voice that’s theirs”, she hopes that Be Here Nowish can carve out its own singular voice. Then, as if repeating a punchy line from their show, Roxo pauses and says: “Look, the thing that we have in common is that we’re white… and we have a vagina”. c

“Magical collision” are the words Roxo uses to describe the collaborative nature of their projects.

PEOPLE

ZOLA JESUS Canadian musician Zola Jesus, real name Nika Roza Danilova, describes herself as “incredibly pessimistic” and is influenced by existential, nihilist and atheist philosophers. Her new album, Taiga, tackles our connection to the natural world and – while the current state of this connection is pretty bleak (according to Nika we build cities to “insulate ourselves from the vulnerability of the natural world”) – she’s imbued the songs with a restrained kind of optimism. Interview by Courtney Sanders.

PHOTOGRAPHER JODY ROGAC/FASHION ALPHA VOMERO/WRITER COURTNEY SANDERS HAIR SIOBHAN BENSON/MAKEUP GRACE AHN/PHOTOGRAPHER’S ASSISTANT HEATHER STEIN SPECIAL THANKS TO NATALIE DODDS AT SECRET SERVICE

Hey Nika, how are you? The new album is called Taiga, which is a sort of swampy, coniferous forest. Why did you call your record this? It just felt like it symbolised a lot of the themes that I was conceptualising on the record. It’s not necessarily about taiga specifcally, it’s about the natural world. That’s something that’s always been close to your heart, right? Especially considering where you grew up... Yeah, I grew up in an area that was close to a taiga forest, but it was mostly just normal forest haha. I don’t know how it was very different from other people’s up-bringing in that it was a standard rural upbringing, but it allowed me to seek my own entertainment and have a rich inner life because I didn’t have a lot of cultural distractions. You became interested in singing and opera at a really young age, right? Yeah, singing is something that was just always my entertainment – I would roam around the house and just sing. It became a reflex, and now when I’m doing it I don’t even really notice I’m doing it most of the time. When I’m very content, I’ll start singing. It became my natural release and I just tried to focus on harnessing it a little more through opera. It sounds like singing came naturally to you but you were really shy about performing, to the point where you gave yourself the pseudonym Zola Jesus because you thought people would find it controversial and uninviting... Yeah. Studying opera at such a young age is actually quite difficult because there’s so

ABOVE:Topshop Unique vest, CoSTUME NATIONAL top, Kenzo pants, Jill Stuart shoes RIGHT: Preen by Thornton Bregazzi coat hood, stylist’s own vintage coat

much discipline and criticism involved, especially self-criticism. When you’re seven or eight years old you can’t really handle that; it’s really hard to deal with. If someone’s criticising the way you sing, it’s not because they think you’re bad, it’s because they’re trying to make you better. It really affected me and I became very insecure about singing in front of people, and it’s not until really recently that I’ve become comfortable doing it. I guess to an extent I have these layers that protect me and insulate me from failure; that’s probably what the Zola Jesus thing is. What are some of those other layers? What else do you use to insulate your true self from your performance persona? I try to cut off my personal self off from my work. Even though my songs are so personal, there’s a line because I’m naturally a very self-deprecating, very humiliated person, so it’s really hard trying to create something that feels confident when you have the kind of personality that I do. So I need to cut that self-criticism off and disassociate myself from my music. You studied business and philosophy at uni. Did any particular philosophers make a big impact on your work’s themes? I’m not sure if studying philosophy influenced my music or if that’s something that’s always been there and that’s why I was studying philosophy, but the thing I like about the study of philosophy is that it’s the study of life; it discusses all of these different discourses that I’m very interested in. I’m very curious about how the world works, so it’s been really important to me ever since I was a teenager and discovered people like >

“The thing I like about the study of philosophy is that it’s the study of life.” Jill Stuart dress, CoSTUME NATIONAL coat, Kenzo pants

PEOPLE / ZOLA JESUS Nietzsche and Albert Camus. I loved existentialism, and I’ve grown more into nihilism. I like pessimistic and atheist philosophers because they’re looking at the world in a more jaded way, which reveals things about the world that you don’t think about. Are any of those philosophers part of the process when you’re thinking about what you’re going to put on a new album? Sometimes, because if I’ve read a philosopher and they’ve changed how I see the world, either directly or indirectly, that’s going to affect what I write about. Of course, everything you do – whether it’s art or your perspective on life – is influenced by what you read and what you learn. I actually haven’t found a contemporary in the ideas I’ve been going through on this record, though. What are the ideas you’ve explored for the album? Some of the main themes are regarding the natural world: how did man reconcile his place in nature when he feels so disconnected from it? We build ourselves out of nature, we build these cities to insulate ourselves from the vulnerability we feel in the actual world. These were the things I was thinking about when trying to come to terms with how man views himself. All of those were the biggest themes, but there were definitely other ones about ancestry and identity, whether it’s cultural identity or a communal identity that people share. The idea of our connection to nature is particularly relevant now considering how closely connected we are to technology and how disconnected we are from the environment a lot of the time... Definitely. It’s getting more and more difficult to feel like you can be part of the world, and technology is probably the biggest reason we feel more and more distant from our roots as animals, really. It’s distancing ourselves from the reality of what’s true. It’s frightening to watch it progress so rapidly. What’s your process like? Do you start with ideas or sounds and weave them into an album? Well, it depends. I’ll start with an idea, or with a vocal melody – a lot of the songs are written a cappella for this record. Then I’ll try to figure out what the song needs on top of or around the vocal, and I’ll add things as I feel the song calls for them. I was actually trying to be really reductionist on this record because I feel like all of my past records were dense to the point of suffocation. I wanted to create actual space in which you could hang out and really understand everything that’s going on. Taiga is actually really emotionally uplifting. Did you plan it to be that way? I think sometimes when you write music that’s considered sad, there’s no end to it; there’s no productive solution. Having done that for the past couple of records it wasn’t healthy to put that out into the world again. I’m a very pessimistic person, but I still feel like it’s important to have some sort of solution about how to deal with things. c

Eckhaus Latta vest, Carven coat

CoSTUME NATIONAL turtleneck

PEOPLE

FACES OF THE FUTURE

Most people go through their whole lives dreaming of what could have been. Not these ladies, though. They all took destiny into their own hands when they walked, with stone cold confidence, into modelling agencies in London and demanded to be noticed. The futureâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s bright for Soraya, Karolina, Claudia and Emory. PHOTOGRAPHER JO DUCK

KAROLINA (16) PREMIER MODEL MANAGEMENT, LONDON

CLAUDIA (21) UNION MODELS, LONDON

Bra top by Nike, bejewelled jeans by Ashish

SORAYA (20)

PREMIER MODEL MANAGEMENT, LONDON Pink bra by & Other Stories, black lace shorts by La Perla

PHOTOGRAPHER JO DUCK/STYLIST MADELEINE ØSTLIE/HAIR LOUIS GHEWY AT THE BOOK AGENCY MAKEUP ADAM BURRELL AT THE BOOK AGENCY/FASHION ASSISTANT CHARLOTTE DAVEY

EMORY (19)

PREMIER MODEL MANAGEMENT, LONDON

Gold shorts by Xander Zhou, brown sailor jumper by Margeila, loafers by Moncler

THE EDIT

Bare Minerals Ready eyeshadow in Dream Sequence 4.0 $39 OPI nail lacquer in Skating on Thin Ice $19.99

Kenzo mini skirt $707 (from stylebop.com)

Philosophy Di Alberta Ferretti dress $622

Zimmermann Tempo Flip dress $595

Lucy Folk Golden Grapevine earrings $385

WITCHES OF EASTWICK Lonely Hearts Summer 2014/2015

The Witches of Eastwick is like any other romantic comedy: three witches (played by Susan Sarandon, Michelle Pfeiffer and, er... Cher) all become romantically involved with Jack Nicholson, but things start to fall apart in an intense way because: magic. Hold on, it’s actually not like any other romantic comedy ever. And that’s why it’s so good.

Karen Walker Broken Heart brooch $40

Giuseppe Zanotti pumps $633 (from stylebop.com)

Nina Simone vinyl available at amazon.com

Saint Laurent by Hedi Slimane Fall 2014

FIVE MINUTES WITH

EMMA KNOTT AMETRINE Emma Knott’s clothing and accessories label Ametrine is based around leather, a “hard wearing material that customers will use for a really long time”; an admirable sentiment in this current “fast fashion” landscape.

River Island velvet shawl $150

Matt Blatt Spell Potion bottle $48

ModelCo Party Proof lipstick in Purple Sangria $16.95

Tête-à-tête Incendere Blue Lagoon candle $50

Carven Fall 2014

Maniamania Eclipse choker $260

Lover Summer 2014/2015

The name Ametrine comes from a stone that has some particular qualities that are super interesting and relate to your label, right? Ametrine is named after a rare and unusual stone that’s formed from two separate crystals, which means that no two ametrines are the same. My label’s aesthetic stems from this concept: the marriage of staple styles to innovative fabrics that give each piece a unique, fashion forward edge. Ametrine’s physical properties make it an extremely energetic stone: it stimulates creativity and supports taking control of one’s own life. Each collection is designed to have a sense of strength and individuality. What drew you to leather? I had an instant attraction to the qualities of leather, particularly the texture! I love the longevity of it, too; that a leather garment will soften, change and mould to the body over time. Do you have anything that constantly inspires you? I’m constantly inspired by what’s going on around me, from the mundane to the exceptional. I often look toward minimalist architecture and neo-minimalist art for inspiration as I’m drawn to the notion of elevating and isolating the ordinary. What are you inspired by right now? I was really inspired by Public School’s Spring 2015 collection and the concept behind their “controlled chaos” clothing. Something that really resonated for me was what designer Dao-Yi Chow said backstage after the show: “You need to make sense of the chaos to find the truth that matters to you”. This sentiment comes at a time for me where the label is growing so fast that I need to remember to take a step back and focus on its core. What’s your process, from the start of a garment to the finished product? For me the process is quite linear. It usually starts when I experiment with various leather manipulations or techniques that reflect what’s inspiring me at the time. From there I’ll sketch up some ideas, draft a pattern, then make the first sample. There’s a lot of trial and error; fitting and reworking of the patterns to reach the final sample. I’m very involved in the whole process, as I love seeing the evolution of each garment. Some people have ethical concerns about the use of leather for aesthetic purposes: what do you think about this? Leather is a natural by-product of the meat industry. Unlike exotic furs and leathers, sheep and cows are not bred or killed for their leather. I can understand that some people might be uncomfortable with using leather for aesthetic purposes but in my opinion the lack of ethics in “fast fashion” – the high volume turnover of disposable garments – is much more problematic. I use leather because it’s a hard wearing material and that means customers will have it, and use it, for a really long time. www.ametrine.com.au Subscribe to Catalogue for an awesome $49 for 12 months and receive an Ametrine patent leather and matte clutch (pictured on page 138) worth $40! Head to www.cataloguemagazine.com.au for more information.

THE EDIT

Vickisarge rose gold plated Swarovski crystal brooch (from Net-a-Porter) $650

Camilla and Marc Golden Myna dress $620

Schiaparelli Haute Couture Fall 2014

Marc Jacobs Daisy Dream perfume 50ml $90

Hunt leather coin purse $49

BC by Bless’ed are the Meek cropped pants $149.95

Maniamania Esoteric earrings $240 Nars blush in Orgasm (from Mecca Cosmetica) $39

Givenchy Modern aviators $515

VERUSCHKA

At the height of her modelling career in the ‘60s, Veruschka was earning up to $10,000 per day. Naturally, she moved from modelling into acting and has starred in over a dozen films (including 2006’s Casino Royale). And, as if she hadn’t cemented her place in the History of Fabulous People enough, she’ll also be remembered for her killer style (which we like to refer to as Eurovision-Arabian Nights). 52

Lulu Frost Sun and Stars gold-plated crystal necklace (from Net-a-Porter) $553.94

Desert Designs Rainbow Mountain scarf $99

FIVE MINUTES WITH

EMILIE COSTECHAREYRE ELVIS ET MOI

Shourouk Piuma necklace (from Farfetch) $1615

Rimmel London Wonder’Full mascara with argan oil $17.95

Napoleon Perdis Mattetastic lipstick in Lucille $38

Soot Summer 2014/15

Topshop eye palette in Atlantis $40

Kim Victoria Jewels ring stack $660

BC by Bless’ed are the Meek crop top $99

Designer Emilie Costechareyre is as effortlessly stylish as her French background suggests: she worked in luxury fashion for years before uniting her passions for rock ‘n’ roll and jewellery to create Elvis et Moi.

When did you first become interested in jewellery design? I guess I always have been. For as long as I can remember I’ve been fascinated by jewellery. I used to steal my mum’s rings haha! You had a wealth of experience in the luxury fashion industry before pursuing jewellery design, yeah? Yes, I worked in fashion in France for many years. I managed retail spaces for the likes of Max Mara and Comptoir des Cottonniers. You don’t have any formal training, which is amazing for such a technically precise craft! How did you learn silver-smithing? No, I haven’t had any tuition! I just did a short course on silver-smithing and then watched thousands of YouTube videos, and then created countless pieces of crap before I made something that looked like something I’d wear! When and why did you decide to start your own label? I started in July 2011. One of my friends told me that The Standard Store was opening in Surry Hills and that they needed some new stuff, so I went and met the owners, Orlando and Nicola. They gave me their trust and I bought what I needed to design and make my first collection, which they then stocked! I’d always wanted to do my own thing but I’d been too scared to do it up until then – I was working, and making jewellery at night. Then I became a single mum and decided to stop everything else and just concentrate on my jewellery. I am so glad I did it! You seem to have a particularly strong connection to music and rock ‘n’ roll and the symbolism that comes with that... Music makes me travel, in time and in space, and makes me smile, laugh or cry for hours. To me the message of rock ‘n’ roll is live fast, enjoy every moment, don’t worry about what you can’t influence, and do what you wanna do. Be a rebel, at least within the boundaries of what’s legal! That’s why creativity is the best thing ever: there are no boundaries or limitations. Who’s your ultimate Elvis et Moi customer? It’s for EVERYONE! My customers are all ages, with all different personal tastes. There are some little pieces, some bigger ones, and I’ve got a male collection that’s versatile enough to be worn by women. The Elvis et Moi customer is someone who knows who they are and isn’t afraid to show it! You’re French and the French have such inimitable and impressive style. Why do you think this is? Haha, I don’t know! Maybe it’s because we like classic shapes? It makes me think of the ‘30s French interior designer Jean-Michel Frank. He always wore impeccable grey flannel suits and a white shirt. He had 40 identical grey flannel suits in his closet. As you can imagine, that kind of closet appeals to French people – when we’ve found our “dress identity” we stick to it! What are you working on at the moment? I’m working on the winter collection, and I’m also working on expanding Elvis et Moi overseas. I have a few shops in France and would love to have some more. I am also working on a collaboration with a luxury men’s accessories brand in London. elvisetmoi.com

Mary Katrantzou Fall 2014

THE EDIT

Saint Laurent glitter-finished leather boots (from Net-a-Porter) $1292

Dyspena Mermaid flares $770

M Missoni wool coat (from The Outnet) $547

ZIGGY STARDUST Ziggyology by Simon Goddard $60

OPI nail lacquer in It $19.99

A fictional bisexual rock star, and the alter ego of David Bowie, Ziggy Stardust acts as a messenger between humans and extra terrestrials on Bowieâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 1972 album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars, trying to deliver a message of hope to the human race in the last years of our existence. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s unclear whether this message included the compulsory wearing of satin jumpsuits at all times, but we like to think it did.

Noir Jewelry Wonder Woman cuff (from Napoleon Lifestyle) $115 Topshop Allsorts chelsea boots $100

Dyspnea Reptilia suit jacket $660 Meadham Kirchhoff Fall 2014

Opening Ceremony Mini Paloma Tech clutch from Eocene $250

54 Topshop skirt $65

FIVE MINUTES WITH

LAUREN JONES EOCENE New Australian online store Eocene stocks amazing brands like Opening Ceremony and House of Holland and offers free nationwide express shipping. Founder Lauren Jones explains the philosophy behind her business. Frends Taylor Frends with Benefits headphones (from The Iconic) $239

Zimmermann Tempo Guitar dress $450

Witchery pants $149

ASOS Premier pointed high heel $72

Elvis et Moi Noche cuff earring $65 Kate Sylvester Summer 2014/15

ModelCo Party Proof lipstick in After Hours $16.95

Romance was Born Summer 2014/2015

Why did you start Eocene? We were living in London and buying everything online when we first came up with the idea for Eocene. We were particularly interested in the idea of bringing cult and emerging brands to Australia that weren’t widely known or widely available here, and saw a gap in the online market for what we had in mind. Why digital instead of physical retail? We felt that there was a bigger opportunity in the Australian market for an online space. It also allows our brands, many of which are hard to find in Australia, to be accessible to everyone no matter where they’re based. Digital also stood out for us as one of our founders is a software developer and was able to build the website, which has been a great advantage. You have a really interesting mix of international designers. How did you choose them? We wanted each of our designers to bring something unique to Eocene and to represent a different facet of the overall style of the store and of our customer. We’re drawn to brands that have unexpected elements in their designs and an interesting concept, and we have a real soft spot for emerging brands that have an exciting perspective and who we think have a lot of potential. Some of our more established brands like Opening Ceremony, House of Holland, Peter Jensen and Soulland have cult followings in Europe and North America, but are still quite hard to find here in Australia. What do you think makes a successful online store? A site that builds confidence, which involves a combination of high quality photography, an intuitive, easy-to-use website, a strong brand mix and, of course, great customer service. Being online, our customers want to see how a garment looks on a person, so it’s important to present and describe each item clearly and accurately so there are no surprises. We have a very low return rate that we think is due in part to this. Having a user-friendly website is also very important, and we’ve kept our site quite minimal so that the focus is on the clothes and on navigating around the site with ease. Your Summer 2014/15 product has started to drop online. What are your favourite pieces? I’ve got my eye on a Francis Leon Avenger 2 jacket, and there are some fabulous summer dresses coming from House of Holland and Opening Ceremony this season. Henry Holland’s first bag collection is also landing very soon, and the black backpack is definitely a standout! You saw all the ranges a while back: what do you think are the major trends for Summer 2014/15? It’s quite a mixed bag this season but there’s certainly a lot of colour and summery prints, which are always popular in Australia. As we buy from the northern hemisphere the clothes we get during summer are actually from the Autumn 2014/15 collections, so black will certainly be making an appearance on Eocene this season as well. We try not to buy into trends too heavily as we want pieces that our customers will be able to wear, and feel great in, for a long time. www.eocene.com.au

BEAUTY

I PUT A SPELL ON YOU PHOTOGRAPHER BEC PARSONS AT COMPANY 1 FASHION DIRECTOR ELLE PACKHAM

BEAUTY

Sarah & Sebastian stud earring, Maniamania earring

BEAUTY

Acne sweatshirt (worn throughout)

BEAUTY

From left to right: Petite Grand ring, Maniamania ring, Sarah & Sebastian rings

Petite Grand earrings, Sarah & Sebastian necklaces

PHOTOGRAPHER BEC PARSONS AT COMPANY 1/FASHION DIRECTOR ELLE PACKHAM DIGITAL OPERATOR BARTOLOMEO CELESTINO/MAKEUP NAOMI MCFADDEN AT NAMES AGENCY HAIR DALE DELAPORTE AT PREMA USING TIGI/MODEL EMMA CHAMPTALOUP AT PRISCILLAS STYLIST’S ASSISTANT RACHEL COLLESS

LABEL WATCH

THIS MUST BE THE PLACE JULIA BAYLIS PHOTOGRAPHY EMMA ANDERSON MODEL RACHEL STICKLEY DESIGNER AND STYLIST JULIA BAYLIS MAKEUP ALLIE SMITH

ight now feminism is complicated (as if it hasn’t always been). There’s basically a war being fought between those who believe fourth wave feminism means women have to act in a particular way, and those who believe fourth wave feminism means women can act any way they want to. But it’s not as black and white as those two camps either; there are lots of little beliefs, groups and movements scattered right across this spectrum which at least means feminism is proliferating and affecting a whole lot of people, albeit in different ways. Enter Julia Baylis, a young New York-based artist and fashion designer who is addressing issues of feminism – and femininity – in a way that’s simultaneously intellectually profound and aesthetically naïve-as. Her Instagram is basically the love child of Sofia Coppola and Pretty in Pink, which is to say that it features pink satin, roses and embroidered underpants. Baylis’ dream girl is pretty fucking girly, which is something we’re totally OK with as long as living this dream involves Trip Fontaine. Her eponymous clothing line is similarly ethereal: a baby blue dress is embroidered with little blossoms, a silk wrap top is fringed with layers of delicate chiffon. The escapism present in Baylis’ collection is perfectly evoked on these pages by Emma Anderson, who photographed the story in upstate New York. So go forth and wear these transparent garments with or without undergarments: we believe you should be able to do – and wear – whatever the hell you want to. c

& WIN A SUMMER WARDROBE FROM SABA VALUED AT $2,000

STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3

TO ENTER BOOK A COLOUR SERVICE AT A TONI&GUY SALON UPDATE YOUR CONTACT DETAILS AT YOUR APPOINTMENT SIT BACK, RELAX AND ENJOY THE TONI&GUY EXPERIENCE

TONIANDGUY.COM.AU

LABEL WATCH

REAL OR CAKE? NET-A-PORTER PHOTOGRAPHER PHEBE SCHMIDT FASHION DIRECTOR ELLE PACKHAM

emember an era when people had all sorts of practical skills and they used those practical skills to make all sorts of things? Nah, me neither. But our Fashion Editor Elle Packham obviously does. Either that or she envisages a futuristic era in which she will be able to eat, play with, pop or otherwise be entertained by her hand bag over and above it performing its only present day function: to hold things inside itself. For this story Elle commissioned Lego, balloon, cake, hair and mosaic artists to reinterpret her pick from Net-A-Porter’s Fall 2014/15 season of “It” bags. Do you think your new Maiyet Peyton shoulder bag should be more modular? No problem, because it’s available in Lego. Would you like to be able to also use your Pierre Hardy metallic leather shoulder bag as a child’s birthday decoration as well as a very expensive arm accessory? Easy, take it in the balloon-animal version. Are they real or are they cake? It doesn’t really matter because either way, they’re certainly not fake. c

CAKE BAG Moschino reverse quilted leather shoulder bag interpreted by Sweet Art Cakes

MOSAIC BAG Marni printed PVC tote interpreted by Miriam Ross at Creativity Wild Mosaics

64 70

HAIR BAG Miu Miu fringed leather shoulder bag interpreted (in hair) by hair stylist Dale Delaporte

LEGO BAG Maiyet Peyton Mini snake and leather shoulder bag interpreted by Lego Artist Bruce Lowell

BALLOON BAG Pierre Hardy metallic leather shoulder bag interpreted by Balloon Twisting

67 73

LABEL WATCH

JE NE SAIS QUOI VERONIQUE LEROY PHOTOGRAPHER SPELA KASAL STYLIST MARI DAVID AT QUADRIGA MODEL YULIA MUSIEICHUK MAKEUP GRIGORIOS PYRPYLIS AT CALLISTE HAIR DEKI KAZUE AT CALLISTE PHOTOGRAPHER’S ASSISTANT DIMITAR MITKO FRANGOV STYLIST’S ASSISTANT PAULINE COLLET

he French, rather annoyingly, are consistently very, very stylish. They wear their Breton t-shirts, their slim-cut stonewash denim jeans and their “It” bags with unrivalled je ne sais quoi. Which is appropriate when we consider that je ne sais quoi literally means “I don’t know what” and therefore doesn’t have an accurate translation into English that represents its true meaning. Not only can we not walk their walk, we can’t even accurately talk about their walk. Now consider Belgian fashion design, in particular the “Antwerp Six” – Walter Van Beirendonck, Ann Demeulemeester, Dries Van Noten, Dirk Van Saene, Dirk Bikkenbergs and Marina Yee – and that, while each designer has a unique style, they’re all equally renowned for their originality. Designer Veronique Leroy is a Belgium native who moved to – yes – Paris in 1984 to study at the prestigious École de Coupe and Berçot School. She spent the beginning of her career assisting Azzedine Alaia before launching her own eponymous label in 1991. Unsurprisingly (and yes, kind of annoyingly for people who aren’t blessed with anything slightly reminiscent of “effortless style”), Veronique Leroy the brand marries the designer’s French dedication to removing any unnecessary flourishes to experimental elements: an electric geometric print, an oversize pa-pa-power jacket and a sterling silver belt because: sleek but still, like, wild. If we can’t accurately describe je ne sais quoi we can at least, via the work of people like Veronique Leroy, accurately point to what it is. c

LABEL WATCH

SAY IT WITH FRAYS MARQUES ALMEIDA PHOTOGRAPHER HUNTER RYAN STYLIST MARCELLE LOURIE HAIR AND MAKEUP LILY SWAN MODEL SYLVIE AT IMG

ome fashion trends arrive quickly and completely inexplicably. In “Something Wicked This Way Comes”, our editor Courtney describes the “Grey Marle Trackpant Phenomenon” that took hold of her high school for a year or so. Also: Paul Frank. Also: Ed Hardy. However, unlike all of the above, some trends arrive because the cultural climate of the day is ripe to enjoy something that’s usually been enjoyed before. Denim and ribbed, knitted fabric never really go out of fashion, but London-based label Marques Almeida have definitely hit on something hot with their utilisation of both of these, particularly in their primary colour, Friends-evoking Fall 2014/15 collection, currently in store at cult Melbourne retail space Pet Shop Girls. Marques Almeida is Marta Marques and Paulo Almeida, who both trained in womenswear before working at Vivienne Westwood and Preen respectively. Their bio cites Helmut Lang’s quote that “fashion is about attitude, not hemlines” as a major influence, which makes sense when you consider that Marques Almeida’s hemlines – whether they be on the cropped flares, denim t-shirts or bright singlet dresses from their current season – are distressed, unfinished things, only taken on by those with serious amounts of that other thing. c

Marques Almeida open back turtle neck, Marques Almeida Capri jeans, Miu Miu head piece (from Archive)

Marques Almeida denim robe, Marques Almeida skirt, Doc Martens

Marques Almeida ribbed skirt (worn as dress)

Marques Almeida ribbed trousers, Marques Almeida racer back dress, Doc Martens

85 67

Marques Almeida denim long sleeve mini dress, Issey Miyake Pleats Please pants (from Archive)

CATALOGUE / ISSUE 10

IT’S A KIND OF MAGIC For our “It’s A Kind Of Magic” issue we followed our fantasies, wherever they took us. And because these fantasies are created by us using our accumulated knowledge and experience, they are essentially more magical (or more futuristic) versions of our everyday reality. Which is to say that, while this part of the magazine is made up of all of our daydreams, it’s also just made up of us, and who we dream of being tomorrow.

YOUNG & RESTLESS

Jean Paul Gaultier Barbarella body corset, Les Actrices (Movie Stars) Collection, Haute Couture Autumn/Winter 2009/2010 (ÂŠ Patrice Stable/Jean Paul Gaultier)

IT’S A KIND OF MAGIC

HAUTE OR NOT Fashion designers, at every level, are dealing with a contracting economy and a globally competitive environment. As a result they’re seeking refuge in both pre-established and brand new kinds of fashion’s most fantastical form: haute couture. By Rosie Dalton.

think there’s still a fantasy element to haute couture that makes it the pinnacle of fashion,” Susie Bubble told Vogue earlier this year, capturing the transformative quality of this centuries-old tradition. “In an age when fashion is so readily available in many guises and forms,” she said, “haute couture, with its petites mains, time-consuming processes and ateliers, is the diametric opposite of fast and accessible fashion.” As with most of fashion there are several schools of thought when it comes to haute couture. An unequivocally French craft that can be traced back to the court of Marie Antoinette, it was in fact an Englishman who opened the first official couturier in 1858. Charles Frederick Worth is also credited with establishing what is now known as the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture, the body that polices which houses may or may not make claim to the legally protected term “haute couture”. To qualify, these maisons must satisfy rigorous criteria, including producing made-to-measure clothing with multiple fittings twice per year, having an atelier in Paris and employing no less than 20 full-time staff. But in an age where immediacy rules and choice is considered to be a basic human right, there’s a great deal of debate about the relevancy of haute couture today. Some argue that it is a dusty tradition rooted in French haughtiness while others believe it should be preserved as an art form; the ultimate expression of a designer’s strength and skill. Perhaps more significant than this, though, is what haute couture represents for fashion today and how these ideas are gradually being assimilated into ready-towear collections. In fact, as ready-to-wear embraces the fantastical and haute couture

“In an age where immediacy rules and choice is considered to be a basic human right, there is a great deal of debate about the relevancy of haute couture today.”

strays from outlandish eveningwear into the realm of the everyday, what we seem to be witnessing now is a role reversal. In Elsa Schiaparelli’s autobiography Shocking Life, she describes her blind and limitless courage when first starting out as a designer. Regarded as one of the longestablished couturiers, Schiaparelli describes this time of her life in the third person: “She had no capital to speak of. She had no superiors. She did not have to report to anybody. The small freedom was hers.” It is this lack of freedom today — at least economically speaking — that some critics are now wary of. Cathy Horyn is one such critic who believes that haute couture may not live to see another century. She argues that this is because many people are missing the mark in terms of couture’s true value. “Pierre Bergé, the former chairman of Yves Saint Laurent, summed up the contemporary problem of couture when he called it ‘the opposite of business’,” she wrote for The New York Times. “Even though people recognise the marketing value of an extravagant couture show — to help promote and sell less costly products like sunglasses and perfume — they find it harder and harder to grasp its real value, which is to make exquisite, one-of-a-kind clothes using all the various needle crafts.” Certainly, the use of haute couture as a powerful marketing tool remains paramount, but can we set aside the fast values of our contemporary society and pause a moment to appreciate the art form? Paola Di Trocchio describes haute couture as the ultimate expression of fashion merging with art. “It is fashion in that it is worn and presented on the body,” she explains. “But it also represents a certain level of craftsmanship. It is the specialist skills behind haute couture >

IT’S A KIND OF MAGIC that really elevates the medium. The couturiers symbolise the elite of fashion.” Whether it’s the growing visibility of haute couture collections for a mass market, or the proliferation of homogenous fashion, something certainly seems to have piqued a revived interest in the art of couture. Indeed, The Wall Street Journal hints at a sort of renaissance for the industry, with new markets opening up for couturiers in China, Russia and the Middle East. These trends have resulted in increased sales for the longestablished couturiers like Chanel and Valentino as well as a significant shift in other demographic factors. According to Women’s Wear Daily, younger clients have been driving industry growth in recent years, with the average age of Dior’s couture customer falling from mid 40s to early 30s. Perhaps, then, whisperings of couture’s demise have been somewhat premature. It appears that the success of haute couture is largely dependent upon the values of the society in which it exists. Haute couture was born out of a bourgeoisie that valued its privacy and was able to use fashion as a vehicle for establishing wealth. It seems ironic then that we may be rediscovering new value in couture today, where matters of the private world are frequently splashed across our social feeds. Perhaps this is something we need to hold onto, though, in the midst of our hyper-connected society. We may not all be able to afford the garments we admire on the YouTube video of Chanel’s latest couture presentation but there certainly does seem to be a re-invigorated interest in the individualism, the rarity and the fantasy of haute couture. Then there’s the growing number of designers currently mining the vault of haute couture for their ready-to-wear collections. Of course nothing can ever really replace haute couture in scope. The level of time and skill involved alone is remarkable, with some garments taking upwards of 700 hours to create and stretching price tags into the millions. “Les petites mains” refers to the 2,200 or so seamstresses who bring haute couture creations to life, and there is an expert for every type of stitch — plumassiers for the featherwork, brodeurs for the embroidery and so on — but the question remains whether or not it still holds a place beyond the gallery walls. Anne Zazzo and

Olivier Saillard believe that it does. In their seminal book on the subject, Paris Haute Couture, they concede that the position and practices of haute couture have certainly evolved over time, but maintain that the work of many contemporary couturiers reveals a strong sense of endurance. They are talking not only about the longestablished couturiers like Chanel and Dior but also those designers newer to the field who continue to push boundaries in more ways than one. Maison Martin Margiela is one such fashion house and has been presenting couture now since 2012. In keeping with the allure of the discipline, the appeal of Margiela lies largely in its mystery. Take Fall 2013, for example, when that Margiela trope of using masks to veil identity reemerged and models were masked with cabochon and petal embroidered balaclavas. Dripping with themes of transformation, pieces from an alternate time and place were reinvented for the catwalk — embroidered Art Nouveau curtains anyone? – giving new meaning to the notion of owning a piece of art. While the elaborate masks may be best left to the likes of Kanye (oh yes, he went there), reimagined jeans saw the designer blend the high with the low in, ah, seamless fashion. Jean Paul Gaultier is another expert of this “nouvelle couture”, deftly working his hand at some of the simplest, but also the most elaborate garments in couture history. As Melbourne’s National Gallery of Victoria prepares for their upcoming exhibition of Gaultier’s couture work in October, the gallery’s Curator of Fashion and Textiles, Paola Di Trocchio, has got couture on her mind. Di Trocchio believes that there has been a lot of focus on haute couture recently and that this conversation has got a lot to do with the changing nature of our fashion landscape. “Now, compared to 20 or 30 years ago, there seems to be more of a divide occurring in fashion, with fast fashion at one end of the spectrum and haute couture at the other,” she says. Gone are the days when everyone had his or her own personal tailor and fashion shows were reserved for a very select few. As high fashion continues to move ever closer to mass media, though, many critics believe that the couturiers are under increasing pressure to simplify in order to remain viable. Olivier Saillard doesn’t see

“As ready-towear embraces the fantastical and haute couture strays from outlandish into everyday, what we’re witnessing now is a role reversal.”

this simplification as a bad thing. “A lot of people don’t understand what haute couture is really about,” he revealed in an interview with Women’s Wear Daily. “It does not always have to be a richly embroidered evening dress. The idea is to boast savoir faire, to create something very simple sometimes made from just one fabric.” But as some couturiers continue to simplify their art, we are also witnessing this new guard of designers dabbling in couturelike techniques for ready-to-wear. Saillard refers to this as “another” couture, citing the work of designers like Rei Kawakubo and Yohji Yamamoto, Nicolas Ghesquière and Azzedine Alaïa. He told Dazed and Confused: “They’re doing singular and complex clothes. For me, they’re people who are doing clothes that are even more haute couture than the ones that are supposedly haute couture”. Suzy Menkes tends to agree with this viewpoint, heralding the arrival of Raf Simons at Dior and Hedi Slimane back where he began – in the ateliers of Yves Saint Laurent – as significant in this regard. “The concept of exceptional clothes has taken on a different dimension,” she wrote for T Magazine. “Couture, or at least aspects of it, has crept back into fashion almost unnoticed.” Menkes, like Saillard, believes that there are now a growing number of designers bridging the gap between couture and ready-to-wear. We’re talking about the exceptional garments seen at Balenciaga and the floor-sweeping duchess satin skirts that Raf Simons introduced to Jil Sander. “There seems to be a ‘sort of’ couture growing among the ranks of smart designers,” she says. “It is as though playing with couture has become a rite of passage.” Though this reinvigorated interest in couture craftsmanship is undoubtedly a positive one, it seems unlikely that ready-towear designers will ever truly replicate the fantasy of couture. In Paris Haute Couture, Zazzo and Saillard discuss the dualities of modern haute couture as an exclusive and somewhat mythical aura, countered by an ever-growing reach into popular consciousness. Though some ready-to-wear designers may be able to emulate the techniques of haute couture, it is this sense of fantasy that will remain integral to couture’s lasting power. Looking back through the archives it isn’t difficult to spot this underlying theme of fantasy. Of course, in some collections it’s more obvious than in others, but between the sets, the designs and the sheer opulence of it all, this otherworldly quality is undoubtedly key to couture. Take Alexander McQueen’s debut collection for Givenchy (Spring/Summer 1997), for example: it was inspired by Greek antiquity and featured

Givenchy by Alexander McQueen Spring/Summer 1997 haute couture

Christian Dior haute couture

Maison Martin Margiela Fall/Winter 2014 haute couture Chanel Fall/Winter 2015 haute couture

twisted horns and gilded busts. Or the opulent gowns in Yves Saint Laurent’s Ballets Russes collection for Autumn/ Winter 1976. Inspired by Léon Bakst’s 20th Century costumes for the Ballets Russes, this collection was a celebration of ornamentation, opulence and excess; in other words, the ultimate incarnation of fantasy. John Galliano, too, is perhaps one of the most fantastical couturiers there is. Lending his madcap romanticism to Givenchy before McQueen took the reins, Galliano became the first Englishman to design haute couture in Paris since Charles Frederick Worth. Then, at the helm of Dior, Galliano continued to amplify the illusory with collections such as his twisted take on Alice in Wonderland, where Renaissance met punk rock for Autumn/Winter 2006. Finally, who could forget the brilliant Kaiser? Now 80 years of age, Karl Lagerfeld began his career sketching for Balmain. Though the garments presented in his couture collections for Chanel are certainly less outlandish than some of his peers, his sets are perhaps the most aweinspiring in the business. From reproductions of decrepit theatres to larger-than-life incarnations of Chanel signatures – everything from perfume bottles to a Brobdingnagian jacket – Karl Lagerfeld always manages to capture our imaginations. Not least of all with his Spring/ Summer 2013 collection in which he conjured an amphitheatre within a forest. If shipping an entire woodland wonderland into the Grand Palais is not the definitive expression of fantasy, then surely nothing is. As with anything, the effects of technology have been fiercely felt in the fashion industry. Nowhere has this been truer than for the ancient tradition of haute couture. In our age of the ubiquitous hashtag, this heavily regulated art form has undoubtedly undergone some significant changes over recent years. But, with a new boost in financial growth for couturiers, as well as a growing number of ready-to-wear designers paying homage to this level of craftsmanship, it seems that we are now increasingly enraptured by the fantasy of couture. After all, haute couture is and will always remain the ultimate form of #fashion #escapism. c

Christian Dior haute couture

Chanel Fall/Winter 2015 haute couture

IT’S A KIND OF MAGIC

GOOSEBUMPS IS THRILLING FICTION Goosebumps books may be a slimy blip on the literary spectrum, but their terr(or)ific plots made us all avid readers, which arguably makes them more important than any other literary series. By Kat Patrick.

iscussing favourite books is a pretentious event, and it’s unlikely that R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps series would ever pop up in conversation among earnest Gen Y types, even though the spooky series stalked our collective pre-teen years with serious menace. We all recognise the gruesome covers that promised pure terror: the dripping neon, open-mouthed skulls and epic amounts of slime. We’d throw them into bins and cupboards and hide from them when the scary shit got too real, because in author R.L. Stine’s world you were safe from nothing. These were the days before sexy vampires when we were forced to worry about actual dangers; sponges that could make you fall off ladders, whether your BFF is a ghost, and whether that super cool camera you just bought is out to kill you. It’s tragic that the series has never quite made the transition into cult status; Goosebumps and our collective addiction to them is instead relegated to embarrassed half-comments. After all, unless you’re Tavi Gevinson, remembering what it was like to be a pre-teen is a pretty gross affair; so many feels, so much pending puberty and the consequent spate of embarrassing moments, don’t usually make for fond memories. As a result, the various trends that endured throughout our pre-teen existences are often unfairly forgotten. In 1992 we were blessed with the first Goosebumps original, the endearingly-titled Welcome to Dead House. For the next five years bookshelves around the world groaned under the weight of 60 volumes in total, including classics such as Night of the Living Dummy, Why I’m Afraid of Bees and Monster Blood. The names were as ridiculous as the kitsch covers, and the content was even worse, which didn’t stop us from compulsively churning through each and every one. How did he do it? Well, R.L. Stine knows how to fucking terrify children, and true fear sticks. Despite reading It Came From Under The Sink almost two decades ago I still handle sponges with suspicion, waiting for

them to sprout knowing, creepy eyes and ruin my life. The plots all follow the same, perfect formula: absent parents, lame suburbia and a terrifying supernatural element. The protagonists are boys and girls (there are no stereotypical “girl-gets-stalkedand-killed-in-a-dark-alley-by-a-man” characters here!), all with annoying siblings, and all doomed. R.L. Stine’s realms are secular and socially neutral. While such a blank canvas made way for ceaseless cliffhangers, it also provided ample room for imaginations to run wild. The books were infamously free from happy endings: while the dummy or transparent ghost-neighbour might eventually be overcome, the final page would guarantee that the cycle of terror continues. There was no moral didactic, no closure, and certainly no subtext. They were genius. Such escapist literature is necessary for pre-teens, panicking about surprise body hair, and how to smile without flashing their braces. Goosebumps suited our anxious, obsessive natures. We could endlessly read ourselves out of reality and into a land where scarecrows were more unforgiving than curfews and piano lessons could, and often did, result in death. Commercially those slinky Goosebumps volumes are nothing to sneer at. In 1995 R.L. Stine was busting out one per month, and to date he’s sold over 400 million copies worldwide. In 1996 Stine made it onto the Forbes Entertainment Rich List with an estimated worth of $41 million. As it turns out they’re still selling and he’s still writing. At last glance, the man had a Twitter following of 127,000. It’s the kind of career that keeps publishing afloat, and scrolling through his tweets provides evidence that hardcore fans still exist. There are people who have tattooed Slappy, the horrifying dummy, onto their faces; people who

demand even more books and people who create intense, therapy-worthy fan art. But, because all good things eventually end in a movie adaptation, Goosebumps is becoming a feature film later this year. Jack Black will be playing R.L. Stine AKA a father keeping demons and ghouls locked up in his books until, naturally, a stupid child accidentally releases them. It’s not strictly based on a Goosebumps title but there’s still time for Revenge of the Garden Gnomes to become a cinematic classic (*crosses fingers*). Perhaps there’s even hope for Goosebumps to hop onto the legitimate cultural radar. After all, a film franchise can be all-powerful; it has the ability to turn what might have been just another ephemeral trend into a phenomenon. Sponges, scarecrows, haunted masks and evil chickens might wind up giving vampires a run for their money. It’s good to look back. Quaking under the covers with a torch and a copy of Say Cheese and Die deserves remembering because R.L. Stine provided a generation with ultimate literary escape. We disappeared into a universe we had to pull together on our own: we were the casting directors, the cinematographers and the simultaneous masters and victims of our own fear. Sure, R.L. Stine is never going to make the Man Booker shortlist but he’s responsible for unlocking all of our young imaginations. As the man himself has often said, the biggest reward is the parents who continue to thank him for getting their kids into books, and in this day and age there’s certainly no shame in that. Here’s hoping he keeps it up for a few more generations, because, while the world has enough dystopian trilogies, there’s room for at least another 60 old-fashioned scares. Bring on It Came From Beneath The Sink 2. c

“I still handle sponges with suspicion, waiting for them to sprout knowing, creepy eyes and immediately proceed to ruin my life.”

SKIN OF SCARLET, FLESH SO SWEET. THE BEAUTY OF NATURE, TEMPTATION’S CREEP. The humble apple is ruby red and perfect on the outside, but beneath the skin it’s fleshy and juicy and – quite frankly – a little ugly. These conflicting physical attributes explain the way it’s been depicted throughout history; the stories in which it appears – from The Garden of Eden and Snow White and the Seven Dwarves to Alan Turing’s suicide and every myth in-between – are always passionate, mostly beautiful, but often ultimately tragic and deathly affairs.

PHOTOGRAPHER JUSTIN RIDLER FASHION DIRECTOR ELLE PACKHAM

According to Scottish folklore, women were able to discover the first initial of their future spouseâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s name by paring an apple. The skin was removed in a single length then thrown over their shoulder at the strike of midnight, and the skin formed the shape of a letter as it hit the ground. The Vintage Clothing Shop dress, Isabel Marant earrings and bracelet (from The Corner Shop)

ater this year a film starring Benedict Cumberbatch, The Imitation Game, will be released. In this film Cumberbatch plays Alan Turing, an English mathematician and code-breaker who worked at the Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park in England during WWII, supported by his secretarial side-kick, played by Keira Knightley’s annoying pout. During this time he cracked the Nazi’s “Enigma” code, which the German military was using to camouflage sensitive correspondence, and by doing so Turing both helped the Allies win the war... and invented the first version of the modern computer. He should have been celebrated as a war hero, but in 1952 he was tried for crimes of homosexuality (it was illegal in England at the time), found guilty and sent to “rehab” where he was chemically castrated. Arguably tormented, and torn between his natural desires and the way they were perceived by society, in 1954 he reportedly injected cyanide into a red, shiny, healthy apple, ate it, and killed himself. He was obsessed with the tale of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. What drew Alan Turing to Snow White and The Seven Dwarves, and particularly to one of the central motifs in the story: the poisoned apple? Perhaps it’s because the dichotomy present in his personality is the same dichotomy that the image of an apple possesses, the same dichotomy that makes it such a popular motif in stories of both innocence and love, and stories of lust and tragedy. On the one hand Alan Turing knew himself to be a truly brilliant man and a successful mathematician and scientist. On the other, he was hiding from the world his true self, his homosexuality and all of the characteristics that went with it. The rules that control us in modern democracies are written based on beliefs about human nature: that we’re incapable of resisting temptation; that we’re capable of both good and evil acts; that we’re likely to commit evil acts when presented with the opportunity. This belief stretches back to Eve’s inability to resist the “forbidden fruit” in the Garden of Eden, and arguably ever since then the apple has represented both good and evil, and both sides of human nature. Who knows (somebody probably does, but it certainly isn’t “God”) whether the apple was chosen for the story of Adam and Eve because of its dichotomous physical properties – at once scarlet, hard and white, soft, sustaining – or whether its physical properties are considered dichotomous precisely because of the story of Adam and Eve. In Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, the division of good and evil is clear. Snow White is, literally, angelic – in skin-tone, in name, in behaviour – while the witch is incredibly ugly, as much on the inside as on the outside. The apple unifies good and evil in a single object, and in a single action: it looks harmless, healthy even, from the outside, but secretly possesses the power to kill. Similarly Snow White’s action in eating it is naïve and trustful, but ends up sending her into a seriously heavy coma (there’s an obvious lesson here, which is that no-one should trust an evil-looking stranger who knocks on your door and offers you deliciouslooking fruit for free). There are myriad other examples of the apple representing both good, evil, and good and evil throughout history. An apple a day keeps the doctor away is pretty obvious in its meaning: health! “The apple of your eye”, from a verse in Deuteronomy 32:10, implies great value. The “Adam’s Apple” represents “forbidden fruit” getting stuck in Adam’s throat and the resulting shape is sexually seductive (which is, apparently, really evil). In Greek mythology, an eligible young lady, Atalanta, was tricked into marrying Hippomenes after he distracted her with three golden apples (apparently v. distracting). In Native American slang, an “apple” describes someone who is red on the outside but white on the inside. Red on the outside, white on the inside. The level of tragedy of Alan Turing’s life story is only matched by the level of mystery in his tale: was he attracted to the tale of Snow White because he could see his life reflected in it? Or did his life reflect it because he was attracted to the tale of Snow White? Which is to ask: what did the apple represent first – good, or evil? Which is to ask: are we inherently good, or inherently evil? Which is to suggest that perhaps, a little like the apple, we’re a relatively healthy combination of the two. c

The custom of eating an apple dipped in honey on Rosh HaShanah, the Jewish New Year, signifies a sweet start to the forthcoming 12 months. Scanlan Theodore dress, Isabel Marant earrings and bracelet (from The Corner Shop), Natalie Marie rings

The Roman Goddess Venus represents women and love and is often depicted in paintings – such as Dante Rossetti’s Venus Verticordia – holding an apple, suggesting the temptation of Eve in the Garden of Eden.

A man’s Adam’s Apple is so-called because the shape suggests the “forbidden fruit” from The Garden of Eden stuck in Adam’s throat.

Alan Turing was a mathematician who, during WWII, worked for the British Government’s Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park. Turing cracked the Nazi’s famous “Enigma Code”, an acheivement that was instrumental in bringing the war to a close, and he invented the first version of the modern computer in the process. But after the war ended he was found guilty of homosexuality (which was illegal in England at the time) and reportedly committed suicide by poisoning an apple with cyanide, and eating it. He loved the fairy tale Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. Acne coat and shirt, model’s own ring

100

The tragic story of Ailinn, from Irish mythology, is strikingly similar to Shakespeareâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Romeo and Juliet: the granddaughter of a local king, Ailinn is in love with Baile but a vengeful fairy tells them both separately that the other is dead. On hearing the news, they both die from broken hearts. The star-crossed lovers are buried in adjoining graves over which apple trees are planted. The Vintage Clothing Shop dress and petticoat, Isabel Marant earrings and bracelet (from The Corner Shop), flowers supplied by Ruby Slipper Florist

To avoid execution, legendary marksman and political dissenter William Tell was forced to shoot an apple off his sonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s head using a bow and arrow. He split the apple in half, straight down the middle. Dries Van Noten shirt and vest (from Poepke), Isabel Marant earrings (from The Corner Shop)

A fallen apple sweetens the breeze.

PHOTOGRAPHER JUSTIN RIDLER/FASHION DIRECTOR ELLE PACKHAM WRITER COURTNEY SANDERS MAKEUP NAOMI MCFADDEN AT NAMES AGENCY/HAIR LUANA COSCIA AT DLM MODELS ELODIE AT CHADWICKS, TODD AND JAYCE AT IMG, TAHNEE AT PRISCILLAS PHOTOGRAPHER’S ASSISTANT PETER PLOZZA STYLIST’S ASSISTANT RACHEL COLLESS/ILLUSTRATION ADRIANA PICKER

103

Twilight

104

IT’S A KIND OF MAGIC

I VANT TO SUCK YOUR BLOOD (SOMETIMES) It’s unequivocally true that human beings are obsessed with vampires. But why? What’s so enviable about living forever, in the dark, and having blood as your only delicious food treat? Here, Hannah Cooke argues that each vampiric incarnation has reflected the social and political ideal of its day, and asks why then, in our liberal age, we get the dullest (even though he’s physically quite sparkly) and most conservative of the lot: Edward Cullen from Twilight.

et’s set the scene. It’s a dark and stormy night in 1815, and in a villa on Lake Geneva, Lord Byron and a small party of friends are gathered in the drawing room, reading ghost stories. It was Byron’s villa – he’d escaped to Europe to avoid marital problems in England – and the other guests included the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, Byron’s personal physician John Polidori, Shelley’s lover Mary Godwin and Godwin’s step-sister (and Byron’s mistress) Claire Clairemont. When it was his turn, Byron began to recite Coleridge’s Christabel, a long poem now seen as the grandmother of lesbian vampire stories. The titular Christabel encounters an alluring young woman, Geraldine, in the forest. In spite of all sorts of dark omens (dogs barking, a flame on a dead fire, a terrifying and mysterious mother figure) Christabel invites the obviously-aproto-vampire Geraldine back to her place, and they embark on some serious heavy petting. Geraldine begins to undress: Her silken robe, and inner vest, Dropt to her feet, and full in view, Behold! her bosom and half her side---A sight to dream of, not to tell! At this point Byron’s recitation must have reached a dramatic high because Shelley lost it and ran “shrieking” from the room. Polidori recalled that at the moment in the poem when Geraldine exposes her unspeakable breast, Shelley looked at Mary Godwin and “thought of a woman he had

heard of who had eyes instead of nipples” and torpedoed out of the room. The bosoms have eyes. The group reconvened over the following days but instead of telling ghost stories, decided to write some instead. From this, two quite incredible things happened: Godwin – just 18 years old – wrote Frankenstein and Doctor Polidori, inspired by his employer, wrote The Vampyre: A Tale, and the Byronic vampire – brooding, other-worldly and seductive – was born. The vampire had existed long before 1815, of course. Undead spirits that rise from the grave and haunt or torment the living have been around since, well, forever. And unlike other mythological creatures (werewolves, ghosts, zombies) that stick to a certain set of rules (silver bullets, intangibility, brains) vampires are versatile, and that keeps them relevant. Some sparkle, some are foul, some want to assimilate, others want to rule, some kill and some save. That’s why there’s almost always an “expert” character in vampire tales – Giles from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Dracula’s Van Helsing spring to mind – who explain what type of creature the story deals

with, and how they can be killed. With their unique and specific traits, each new wave of vampires, reborn, hold a mirror up to whatever zeitgeist or fears are taking hold of a generation. As Nina Auerbach writes in Our Vampires, Ourselves, what vampires are in any generation is “part of what I am and what my times have become”. Or, more succinctly – we get the vampires we deserve. The flexibility of the vampire myth is good for writers and great for keeping the vampire alive (or undead). Playing with conventions keeps audiences on their toes, and when authors have a template to play with, as Slate.com notes, “every minor variation they make becomes loaded with meaning”. So it makes sense that Doctor Polidori’s story followed the brooding, wandering vampire Lord Ruthven, who formed a dangerously close friendship with his orphaned friend Aubrey. In 1820s England, family was everything, and Ruthven represented a dangerous (homoerotic) alternative. Marriage was essential and enforced. Home and family life was the centre of society, and friendship, when it >

“With their unique and specific traits, each new wave of vampires, reborn, hold a mirror up to whatever zeitgeist or fears are taking hold of a generation.”

105

IT’S A KIND OF MAGIC

Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles won over these obligations, was positively taboo. Lord Ruthven bound his friend to him with a promise of secrecy – “remember your oath!” – exerting power over Aubrey by tapping into his deeply ingrained values of honour and fairness. To make matters worse, Ruthven then corrupted Aubrey’s fragile family unit by marrying, and killing, his sister. This Romantic Byronic vampire who, like the poet that inspired him, threatened the bonds of family, class and marriage, was an inverse reflection of the behavioral rules of the age. But Polidori was not breaking new ground; 20 years earlier Ruthven’s progenitrix Geraldine had already taken Romantic vampire friendship to the next level. By current standards, Geraldine was not much of a vampire. It’s not mentioned that she sucked blood, or how she felt about daylight. But Auerbach points out that as a “best friend who offers dangerous sympathy” she fits the definition neatly. Unlike the male vampire of the period, who often travelled into the eastern edges of the continent, Christabel and Geraldine’s story unfolded within the confines of the home, threatening family values from within. Deep friendship between these ladies had a physical, erotic element, with feverish embraces and mysterious bosoms. Under Geraldine’s influence Christabel grew ill and prone to swoons, all the while unable to control her growing attraction. She even took on the vampire’s qualities, hissing at her father, who went on to become obsessed with Geraldine himself. This is all classic vampire/victim behavior, just minus the obvious bloodsucking. Blood and biting was incidental, and it was the intimacy of close friendship that aroused desire. In 1895, almost a century after Geraldine

106

and Christabel’s heady make-out session, Bram Stoker’s Dracula was published and Romantic vampire friendships disappeared. Dracula, a Slav from the ancient eastern reaches of Europe, is as far from Lord Ruthven as you can get. In the wake of Stoker’s friend Oscar Wilde’s prosecution for homosexual acts, the author divested his vampire of any hints of homoeroticism through close friendship. Instead, Dracula was vampire made animal, whose affinity wasn’t with Jonathan Harker or Lucy Westenra but with the wolves that howled outside his mansion. He crawled down castle walls like a spider and transformed into a bat at will. His concern was ownership – of property, Jonathan, Renfield and Lucy. He was everything the over-confident “sunnever-sets-on-our-empire” pre-WWI Britain wanted to avoid – immigrant, foreign, anti-progress. He wasn’t here to make friends. As an amalgamation of every phobia that took hold of British society in the 1890s,

Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)

Dracula didn’t upend conventions like Geraldine or Carmilla, he upheld them. Drinking blood had not been that important to vampire stories prior to Dracula. Previously it was more of an annual chore, a “drink a virgin’s blood once a year to maintain eternal youth” ritual. Stoker changed that by making blood, rather than friendship, the means of creating connection with the human characters, and the transformation aspect of vampirism became a key plot point. Where his predecessors were corpse-like and ethereal, Dracula’s diet made him ruddy, “gorged with blood…like a filthy leach”, obscenely undead. Dracula’s female characters, the efficient secretary Mina and flirtatious Lucy, were made more vital and beautiful in death – or near-death. As an undead corpse Lucy was “more radiantly beautiful than ever”. The bitten ladies became animalistic and prey to their instincts, but any rebellion from the rules of lady-like behavior (rising from the dead, acting “wantonly”, trying to pash up your husband in public) was swiftly put down via a man repeatedly, gratuitously, charging a stake through the heart. This bloody restoration of masculine authority over newly empowered women kept Dracula orthodox and very Victorian. But, in line with the vampire’s flexibility, Dracula has changed with the times, from ghoul (Bela Lugosi in the Universal movie of 1931) to sex-god (Robert Pattinson), lover to reluctant killer, and even – thanks to Buffy the Vampire Slayer – a post-modern punch-line. The British company Hammer Films produced nine Dracula films in the ‘60s and ‘70s, most starring Christopher Lee as the Count. These films included The Brides of Dracula (1960), Taste the Blood of Dracula (1969), The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973) and even The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (1974). They’re cheesy, shot in glorious Technicolour with cardboard

Dracula (1931) sets and feature endless ways of resurrecting Dracula to keep the storyline alive. In these films, vampirism – the act of transforming into someone who lives outside of natural laws – could be interpreted as an anti-patriarchal act. The films reveled in the immediate experience of vampirism, the “click” sound of fangs appearing out of nowhere, the swelling sex appeal of bitten ladies. The formerly docile and well-behaved Lucy and Mina characters hug fur coats indulgently to their necks and sensually touch their bite marks, looking knowingly into the camera. They behave unusually, dress provocatively, laugh louder, talk more and dance harder. Auerbach writes that these “grins of aroused discovery” hint at the “delights of awakening” – a subliminally thrilling sight for teenage girls in the ‘60s and ‘70s. Of course these dangerous new women were almost always staked by the end of the film. This ultimately sexist theme of vampire stories, in which a woman is bitten against her will, declared unclean and killed by a man thrusting a stake between her breasts, began to fade from the ‘70s onwards as the women’s lib movement gained traction in the US. Dracula became more sensitive, motivated by love rather than power. In the telemovie Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1973), Lucy is the reincarnation of Dracula’s long-dead wife and one true love, which makes him much more sympathetic. The tagline for the 1979 Dracula was “Dracula: the story of the greatest lover who ever lived, died, and lived again”. Starring Frank Langella, the Count is the film’s hero, and Lucy and Mina jump at the chance to become vampires and escape the confines of the patriarchy. For the first time in almost a century the vampire was suave and sexy, and not in a repulsive way. The coercive behavior of past incarnations all but disappeared and

Dracula sat back and let the ladies come to him. Lucy flirts with Dracula and comes of her own volition to his castle. When Dracula comments that the howling wolves outside sound sad, she replies: “Do you think it’s sad? I think it’s a wonderful sound. I really love the night; it’s so exciting”. In this version, Lucy survives. And it continues. The vampire is resurrected every few years, along with new experts to explain their cravings and proclivities. Byronic throwback Lestat, from Anne Rice’s The Vampire Chronicles series, is surrounded by beautiful male vampires, glowing with health. Written during the AIDS crisis in the late ‘70s and ‘80s, for young men forced to come to terms with their mortality, Lestat’s eternal life and sexual freedom must have seemed a radiant dream. Vampirism in Buffy the Vampire Slayer was an ill-advised way of escaping the pressures of the middle American high school experience. More recently, Charlaine Harris’ Southern Vampire series, according to The New Yorker, “openly treats vampires as a persecuted minority” who are chased by lynch mobs or beaten by rednecks. Vampires “come out of the coffin” to join mainstream society, sipping on synthetic True Blood. Clever and playful as Harris’ stories are, it’s the vampires of the Twilight series that will go down as the defining creatures of this generation. The angelic Cullen vampires are rich beyond belief, fashionable, impossibly good looking, with fancy cars and a glassy,

sunlit home. They’re barely vampires. The immortal teen idol Edward explains his vampirism to the desperately infatuated human Bella. Blood? They survive on the blood of animals. Sunlight? Makes them sparkle. Garlic? A myth. Mirrors? Nah. Bats? Impossible. Sex? Only when married. Theorist Angela Stapleford wrote that these vampires are the personification of the American dream, reflecting the current “fantasy of aspiration – a conservative, consumer heaven”. Conservative is the right word. Strangely, for a vampire, Edward is a virgin and suppresses all sexual instinct out of fear of “losing control” and breaking Bella’s back mid-thrust. Her understandable desire to sleep with him causes Edward to literally throw himself off a bed and against a wall. It’s an amazing reversal of Shelley’s terror at Geraldine’s bosom in Byron’s Swiss villa: these days it’s a teenager’s sexuality that causes a vampire to run out of the room in fear, and not the other way around. Unlike the liberated ‘70s incarnation of Lucy, Bella enjoys the relative freedom of a millennial adolescence. Vampirism is an aesthetic decision, rather than a liberating one. Dating someone as handsome as Edward is terrible for her self-esteem, so she chooses to transform, and be pretty forever. Vampirism as a life style choice is an example of how far we’ve come – but if this is the kind of vampire our generation deserves, perhaps we need to ask what we’ve done to deserve them. c

“Dracula was everything the over-confident ‘sunnever-sets-on-our-empire’ pre-WWI Britain wanted to avoid – immigrant, foreign, anti-progress.”

107

MYF-ICAL STARRING MYF SHEPHERD AT NEXT PHOTOGRAPHER CHAD MOORE STYLIST SHIBON KENNEDY HAIR AND MAKEUP DOMINIQUE FARINA USING NARS COSMETICS PHOTOGRAPHER’S ASSISTANT ZACK SKY SPECIAL THANKS VANDERVOORT STUDIO

Nomia lurex cropped t-shirt

108

116

Marc Jacobs Ruffle Hem dress, Lady Grey Cheval collar. Bracelets (left to right): Pushmataaha Lynx cuff, Pushmataaha Hangman cuff

111

Steven Alan quilted tie-dye jacket and pants, Nomia lurex cropped t-shirt

Mathieu Mirano fur coat, Marc Jacobs thermals, Laurel Hill crescent hoop earrings, Nancy Caten necklace. Rings (from left to right): PushmataahaÂ Hangman ring, LHN Sunrise Signet ring, WWAKE Cutout Arc ring, LHN Ruskin Signet ring, WWAKE rings

Osklen silk and mesh print top, Tableaux Vivant latex panties. Rings (from left to right): Tamara Akcay Thingol and Olwe ring, PSYCHE Double Bar ring, Tamara Akcay Thingol ring and Thror ring, Lady Grey Double Band ring

Suno Metallic Swirl dress, Species by the Thousands earrings

Marc Jacobs Ruffle Hem dress, Lady Grey Cheval collar. Bracelets (left to right): Pushmataaha Lynx cuff, Pushmataaha Hangman cuff. Modelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s own boots

IT’S A KIND OF MAGIC

SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES While cult ‘90s film The Craft appears to be about four witches attempting to make their lives better via magic (but ending up making them a whole lot worse: “what you send out into the world will come back to you, times three”), it’s actually about how intense female friendships are at high school. It’s an intensity only magic can adequately explain. By Courtney Sanders.

he Smiths’ anthem How Soon Is Now is the soundtrack to the credits on both the movie The Craft and the TV show Charmed (which I’ll admit to watching, and badly wanting to be the lamest sister of the trio – Piper), and is therefore the song most closely associated with teenage magic in popular culture. In this song Morrissey declares: “I am the son, and the heir / I am everything I need to be loved” (I actually totally thought the lyrics were: “I am the sun and the air” which seems more relevant to witchcraft, but anway...). I’m not sure what Morrissey intended this song to mean but when I think about him, as both incredibly self-aggrandising and a sufferer of depression, I can only assume that the subtext of How Soon is Now? is both “I am totally happy alone and do not need anyone else” and “I really need to hold somebody right now”. This meaning is relevant when you consider most people become fans of The Smiths and The Craft and Charmed during high school, and that high school is simultaneously the best and the worst time of our lives. High school sucks, at some point at least, for absolutely everybody, and it probably sucks more for a witch-girl who finds kinship with three girls at her brand new school who then threaten her with eternal hell-fire (“when witches abandoned their coven in the old days, they were killed”) and the deaths of everybody she loves via Manon, The Creator of Everything. Which is what happens to Sarah Bailey (played by Robin Tunney) in The Craft. In our last issue of Catalogue, two millennials went head-to-head with regards to social media, and 22-year-old Djinous Rowling recalls being unable to escape high school bullies at home: “That computer with dial-up Internet in the corner of my room is definitely tied to some of my first experiences with boys my age, and – because I was a bit of an awkward adolescent – rejection. This is where cyber bullying started, too; people started writing cruel things on the Internet’s seemingly invisible slate. Teenagers seem able to separate their actions from people’s reactions”. Her argument is two-fold: firstly, that teens are better at bullying than adults because they don’t really care about other people and secondly, that bullying has gotten a lot

116

worse with the advent of Internetbased communication technology. The Internet is, ironically, aghast at the increase in frequency and veracity of cyber bully cases, as The Guardian noted earlier this year: “Stranger danger, for example, rarely comes up in contacts to ChildLine [the UK’s child help phone line] but online bullying is increasing exponentially”. Bascially we hurt people we know more than people we don’t know because we know where their buttons are, and which ones to push. All of this makes for a devastating high school confluence. Bullies are young enough to ignore reactions to their actions, victims are the most emotionally susceptible they’ll ever be, extreme bullying happens among friends and teenagers are all desperately trying to make friends and hold on to them. Furthermore, according to the Clinical Director at the Sydney Child Psychology Centre, development and educational psychologist Fiona Martin, there is an entrenched “fear of isolation” in teenagers. High school sucks, at some point at least, for pretty much everybody, and it now sucks to the extreme. There’s a common perception that bullying between girls is emotional while bullying between boys is physical, and although it’s obviously not that black and white, Fiona Martin provides some evidence to support it via something called the “Psy Factor Model of Personality”. In this model, “personality” is a set of five characteristics – openness, conscientiousness, introversion, agreeableness and neuroticism – possessed to varying degrees by every individual that in turn affect our environment, cognitions, emotions, motivations and behavioural science. Citing an article in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology called “Gender Differences in Personality Traits Across Cultures”, Martin explains that “women consistently report higher neuroticism, agreeableness, warmth (a facet of extroversion) and openness to feelings, while men often report higher assertiveness (a facet of extroversion) and openness”. The qualities that women possess based on the Psy Factor Model of Personality, as well as the fact that bullying – and the qualities that cause bullying – are most prevalent during female teenage-hood basically combine to form the swirling, tumultuous psychological environment for the most >

117

IT’S A KIND OF MAGIC / SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES intense relationships known to man: friendships between teenage girls. The Craft is obviously about magic but it’s also about a few other things that made our generation fall in love with it: excellent candles; lace-up boots; leather pants; butterflies. Cool, adult-like bedrooms. How to change your hair colour, instantaneously. How to remove the physical attributes that have plagued your life instantaneously. Everyone had, or at least wanted to have a “Sarah Bailey moment” where they would wear pastel blue floral tea dresses and speak in a seductive, throaty voice. (Unfortunately my Sarah Bailey/Robin Tunney moment was lifted from Empire Records, involved a shaved head and resulted in everyone declaring “Sinead O’Rebellion: shock me, shock me, shock me” any time I went anywhere or did anything). We all then wore the outfits as we sat around playing “light as a feather, stiff as a board” and being incredibly disappointed when we were unable to defy gravity and lift our mates off the ground with our fingernails. What the girls of The Craft wear is important because what teenage girls wear to high school is crucial, and often inexplicable. At my high school, for example, a particular brand of incredibly expensive grey-marle track pants were The Thing to have for a number of years. Your parents (my parents) thought it ridiculous to spend that kind of money on track pants? Sorry: you can’t sit with us. Being able to change one’s appearance at the flick of a wand is incredibly exciting because it’s incredibly important. The Craft totally kills this when, for example, Sarah Bailey performs a glamour to change her hair colour from burnt orange (not ideal) to peroxide blonde (fact: she had just finished filming Empire Records so her head was shaved and she’s therefore wearing a wig throughout The Craft... which is actually quite obvious quite a lot of the time). Or when Bonnie, played by Neve Campbell, asks Manon to “remove her scars”, and Manon obliges. Or when Nancy Downs, played by Fairuza Balk (who is Wiccan IRL BTW), gets rich and buys a new apartment, car and wardrobe. All of this magic to achieve particular aesthetic goals is actually magic in order to fit in. And the importance of fitting in at high school can never be understated. If I could have magic-ed myself a pair of those aforementioned track pants, regardless of the consequences, I absolutely would have. Once you’re “in” it’s about staying “in” too, right? Near the start of The Craft, when Sarah Bailey has first moved to her high school, she’s

118

simply trying to find a science group; she literally just needs three people to let her sit beside them so they can collectively stare at a dead frog. In high school it’s perfectly reasonable to deny a person this, which everybody does to her. This is obviously not a magical act. However, the fact that Sarah Bailey has to have magical powers in order to finally be accepted by a group at high school is pretty intense, but absolutely no less intense than any of the myriad requirements set by every group, in every high school, everywhere (track pants in New Zealand withstanding). Eventually Sarah Bailey – the “white witch”, the “true witch” – wants “out” of all of the crazy of the other three. Nancy is not impressed: “When witches left their coven in the old days, they were killed”. At the end of the movie, Sarah’s home alone in her weird, desolatemansion-house when Nancy and co. pop over to exact revenge, which involves Nancy unleashing the most disgusting (*arachnophobia*) collection of spiders, snakes and cockroaches on her. A teenager’s fear of isolation may not look exactly like this, but it certainly feels this intense. And this horrible. This fear contributes to what Fiona Martin calls “group think” (commonly known as “pack mentality”), which is a “a psychological term we use to talk about a dominant force in a social group who influences the decision-making, and how a group thinks about things. Loyalty to the group means that competing views are shut down”. Nancy, the dominant; Bonnie and Rochelle, the submissives; Sarah, the outsider. In the movie Sarah Bailey ends up surviving, Nancy ends up institutionalised (“I’m flying!”) and the other two end up apologising to Sarah for fear of magical retribution. Ask yourself this: if Sarah Bailey wasn’t a witch, and therefore couldn’t threaten them, what would have happened? And would a non-magical outcome be worse than a magical one? c

“We were incredibly dissappointed when we were unable to defy gravity and lift someone off the ground with our fingernails.”

IT’S A KIND OF MAGIC

THE PINK FLAMINGOS’ TECHNIQUE John Waters’ infamous film Pink Flamingos features every perverted thing you can imagine, and probably a few you haven’t thought of. Drag queens eating dog shit. A husband and wife selling babies to lesbians. A man with a sausage for a penis. Because of all this, it’s really a lesson in liberation says Mel Kenny.

ohn Waters is the Pope of Trash and his taste in tacky is unexcelled.” Those sentiments, by William S. Borroughs, are a succinct reminder that Waters commands a vehicle of profound disgust, tailgated by few. It was 1972 when John Waters famously made audiences shriek and recoil, only to obediently return them to the screen, transfixed beyond logic. The film was Pink Flamingos, degenerate Baltimore its milieu, and its characters various “sorts” vying for the mysteriously-conceived title of “Filthiest Person Alive”. The movie is probably best summed up by its notorious closing scene: gargantuan 300-pound drag queen Divine is prancing along the pavement, her eyebrows painted on at sharp right angles to her heavily made up eyes, her lips smacking together in anticipation as a dog defecates before her. She kneels to collect the fresh excrement. She pops it into her mouth as though it’s a rare delicacy. And all of this to the soundtrack of that absurd song, How Much is that Doggie in the Window? Is Divine in a position of superlative filthiness? Absolutely. Her adversaries are worthy opponents too, though. Of particular note is her bestiality-inclined son Crackers, who penetrates a non-consenting chicken, and a husband-wife duo who operate a black market baby ring, abducting backpackers, impregnating them and selling their offspring to lesbians. Oh, and the husband also affixes a sausage to his penis, approaches two unwitting girls and waves the double threat about like a feather duster. Despite these curly characters and their transgressions, Waters maintains an innocent cadence throughout Pink Flamingos. He weaves subtleties into this torrid mashup of filth that ensure Pink Flamingos is filed as

trash but certainly not as garbage. It’s got a little to do with the meagre $10,000 budget, a lot to do with fuzzy aesthetics and shitty editing, and everything to do with the amateurish performances; as if one day some overgrown children climbed into gaudy dress-up clothes and dreadful wigs and acted out a nonsensical nightmare. It’s a nightmare in which the grown-ups of the world renounce all responsibility and use their genitals for whatever errant impulse they may have: incest, rape, dismemberment... anything. These unspeakable (though not unactable) acts are peppered through the film, and while children don’t feature, a childlike atmosphere certainly does. “The movie Pink Flamingos is a kindergarten movie. It’s people doing babyish things,” Waters explained in a YouTube interview. He continues, discussing the faecal feasting that has become so notorious. “It’s not even in the bible. It’s not even a sin in Catholicism to eat shit. It’s only babies and monkeys that do that, really. So, it’s innocent.” Who, then, is all of this dichotomous, childlike revulsion for? Everybody. Everybody on earth, but most importantly business people. Show it to the stormy-faced wearers of stiff suits who occupy the inner city on weekdays. They may swarm together on the street like one faithful unit but they’re desperate to escape. Desperate for a vacation away from the sweet smell of synergy. Here, shirts can be untucked. For these corporate prisoners, being serious has become a serious obsession.

And John Waters knows obsession. “Obsession is great if it brings you pleasure and helps you make your living doing something you love,” he explains. “It’s only bad if you make the same mistake over and over with some obsession that brings you unhappiness.” Basically, all corporate suits everywhere should watch Pink Flamingos because, just like working out, if you don’t change things up you won’t see progress. You need to shock the body. There’s a scene in the movie in which Divine has a birthday, and it illustrates this need to shock. A convivial celebration of smut, Divine’s special day is marked by the gift of a severed pig’s head. Its black, desolate eyes are frozen open, dried blood is clumped all over. In response to this gift she erupts into an uproarious, elated cackle. In that spirit a guest at the party grabs his own butt, bends double and flexes his sphincter in rhythm with The Trashmen’s Surfin’ Bird. How are those corporate suits feeling by this point? Hopefully, quite well: the movie is a fantasy designed to liberate. But Pink Flamingos is far more ridiculous than it is menacing. Credit the amateurish acting, comic dialogue and haphazard editing. (And the hillbilly-toothed, crib-dwelling character Mama Edie also deserves a little credit.) The harmless and the reprehensible form a gorgeous dichotomy: one ripe for creating genuine emotion, and one that can’t possibly fail to expand trapped minds. c

“Of particular note is Divine’s bestialityinclined son Crackers who penetrates a nonconsenting chicken.”

119

IT’S A KIND OF MAGIC

DAISY WRITER ZOE PILGER/PHOTOGRAPHER PRUE STENT/STYLIST ELLE PACKHAM

e had seen the scars on her arm in the light of the low green glass lamp on the bar. He thought it was most likely an original art deco antique. The green of the glass made her arm glow in a sickly way. The scars seemed slightly green, no longer bloody. No longer bleeding at all. She had healed completely from whatever she had done to herself. “After you break something, you can’t unbreak it,” he told her, sidling along the bar. “What?” she looked into his face. Her eyes were large, like mirrors. He thought he could see himself in the reflection of her eyeballs. They seemed so wet and shiny and white. Had she been crying? She turned away from him and leaned across the bar to the bartender. “I’ll have a Manhattan, please.” “Are you here alone?” the man asked her. She ignored him. He moved closer towards her and aligned his forearm with hers. He let the sleeve of his shirt touch the scars on her arm. She didn’t move away. He whispered into her ear: “Breaking something is very seductive. I mean, the desire to break something very precious and fragile can be overwhelming. It’s the sound of the shattering – I mean, like glass shattering, that does it for me.” She pulled away and looked at him. And then she laughed: “You’re a strange man,” she said. An hour later, they were sitting at a corner table. The seats were dark green leather, to match the lamps. The ceiling was painted with a delicate Pre-Raphaelite scene of dragonflies and women with sorrowful eyes and long, flowing hair. They seemed to be in a fountain, which was

120

gushing olive green water. The whole world up there looked olive green. “You’re beautiful,” he told her. She smiled, and sipped her drink. He looked at the scars on her arm. “I’ll never stop telling you you’re beautiful,” he went on. “Never?” she sipped her drink. “I like your name,” he said. He sat back. “Daisy. Daisy like in a field. Daisy like what children play with. They pluck the daisies and then they gore a hole in the thin, green stem with their thumb-nails and then they get another daisy and they poke the stem through it… so it goes through it.” “I like your name too,” she said. “Roland.” He smiled with all his teeth now and leaned forward and ran his hand over the scars on her arm and said: “I’d like to take you somewhere.” They were in a taxi and the dark road outside seemed flooded with green light. Daisy was staring straight ahead. They approached a traffic light, which was green, and another, which was green. Roland had told the driver to take them to the airport. “I don’t have my passport,” Daisy had said. “You don’t need it,” said Roland. After an hour, Daisy began to see symbols of aeroplanes appearing on signs by the side of the road. They were simplified to their essence; just a body, with wings. They were always in the air. The green light of the city had been replaced by a deep black. When she looked out the window of the taxi, she saw aeroplanes flying overhead: slender white swans, made slender, stripped of their feathers, somehow flying. Didn’t swans always go two by two? But these were alone.

“If they get too close, they die,” she told Roland. And she laughed: “There’s an air-traffic controller somewhere who is directing the planes and making sure that none of them come anywhere near each other. If they get too close, they die.” “They crash, you mean,” said Roland. He leaned forward and told the driver: “Left here please mate, and left, and left again.” The taxi stopped outside a terrace house not far from the airport. There was a winding path up to the front door and gnomes with red hats visible in the moonlight. It was a thin moon. There were no streetlights, and no lights on in the house. Roland paid the driver and he drove away. Roland took Daisy’s hand. They walked up the winding path together. He rang the doorbell. Soon there was the suggestion of a torch shone in the hallway behind the glazed window of the front door. It seemed to roam around the walls, and then it shone directly through the glass at Roland and Daisy. She could feel a presence standing behind the door. “Soft fruit,” said Roland, very loudly. A second later, the door opened. The woman who had opened the door was holding the torch and shining the way through the dark house. Doors were closed on either side of the hallway. Daisy couldn’t see anything except that spotlight ahead, showing red carpet. She had seen the woman’s face only briefly: at first, it seemed she was very young. Her skin was smooth and pale and she was fat. She had blonde hair. But Daisy knew from the way she walked that the woman was old. They walked right through the centre of the house, into a dark kitchen, and then out >

IT’S A KIND OF MAGIC a back door into the garden, which was well kept. The lawn had been recently mowed. The woman shone the way down another path, keeping the light low, trained on the ground. Daisy saw gravel, pink and grey stones. And then they had reached a shed. It was rectangular and solid with a flat roof. The woman knew the code, and then they were inside. She led them down a flight of concrete steps. They were underground. She opened another door. Peaches were piled on a long table to the left; they were the first thing that Daisy saw. Peaches with skins a brilliant pink, orange, yellow, some splitting. Some were cut in half and their stones were showing, their colours bleeding outwards from the centre. The flesh was made more brilliant by the candle-light. There were white candles around the peaches. There were shadows on the walls. The walls were white. There was a smell of peaches turned sour from resting too long in a dark place, Daisy thought. But it wasn’t dark in here. People were standing around in a circle wearing white togas. The woman who had led them here was removing her coat and she was wearing a white toga underneath too. One of her breasts was exposed. The people all seemed to be middle-aged; most were fat. No-one was eating the peaches. They were looking at her. Roland was looking at her too. He was smiling. Daisy could hear the drone of planes overhead. She heard the planes come very close, and then go. A man with a pot-belly and a hairy chest turned to Daisy and said: “Would you like a peach?” “No, thank you.” “Would you like a peach?” said the woman. “No,” said Daisy. She turned back to look at the stairs, and then turned to the people again. “What would you like?” said the woman. “A peach?” Roland paced over to the table of peaches and selected one. It was whole, not split or cut. Daisy could see the fur on its skin in the candle-light. Roland offered it to her, and said: “Eat.” “No, thank you,” said Daisy. “Eat,” said Roland. “No,” said Daisy. “Eat, eat, eat,” chanted the woman, and the man with the pot-belly joined in: “Eat, eat, eat.” “Her,” said Roland. “Let’s eat her.” He bit the peach aggressively so that juice ran down his chin, and into the collar of his shirt. “Do you want to be an object?” he asked Daisy as he ate. “Haven’t you always, always wanted to be an object?”

122

Daisy didn’t move. People had formed a circle, and the woman led Daisy into the centre. “All you have to do is stand here,” the woman said. “And don’t move. And you are an object. We need something still, something alive that’s pretending to be dead. We need you.” “You have a use here,” said Roland, throwing the peach stone onto the table. “Whereas outside in the world, you have no use.” Daisy looked at Roland. “I want to leave,” she said. The next morning, Daisy woke up in her own bed. She stared at the blue ceiling for a while. She listened to her cat meowing. Then she got up, got dressed, ate a bowl of cereal, smoked a cigarette, left the flat and sat in her car. She didn’t turn the engine on. She stared at her front door. She waited for the sound of a siren. There was always the sound of a siren. After five minutes, she heard one. She turned on the ignition, and drove, slowly, down her street. She turned right onto the main road, then she drove down

“Do you want to be an object?” he asked Daisy. “Haven’t you always wanted to be an object?” another street, until she reached the corner. There was the wall of a house. There was no one standing in her way. She drove, as fast as she could, straight into the wall. Daisy woke up in hospital. A nurse was looking at her. Daisy’s face hurt; her body hurt. “I’m an object,” she said. “I’m not useful in this world.” She turned her face to the wall, which was white. There was a picture of a cartoon mouse being chased by cartoon cat, who was brandishing a hammer. After a week of recovery at home, Daisy returned to the bar where she had met Roland. She had two black eyes, and a line of stitches across her forehead, where her skin had split on impact with the steering wheel. Her arm was in a sling, and she felt as though her spine had shortened and turned from bone into metal. She lay her good arm on the bar, just as she had when she met him. She let the light from the low green lamp fall over it; the hairs on her arm, the scars on her arm. Those were old scars; her cat had scratched her six months ago, before he was neutered.

She waited for the bartender to turn around from restocking the spirit bottles, and saw his expression when he saw her injured appearance. “I’ll have a Manhattan please,” she said. She waited. He made the drink very slowly. She drank it, slowly, turning her head every few seconds to check the door. But Roland didn’t come in. When she got home, she searched online for Soft Fruit Sadomasochism Airport. She searched online for Roland, but there were so many Rolands. Roland The Rat appeared on the screen, with his small white eyes and floppy pink ears, and later, in her dreams, Roland The Rat appeared again. He was shovelling unripe peaches into the back of a van. Daisy got dressed with difficulty the next morning. Her wounds made it painful for her to move. She left the flat, and stood for a moment outside her front door, looking at the space where her car was usually parked. There was an empty space; she had destroyed it. She walked very slowly, painfully, to the end of her road, where she hailed a taxi. She asked the driver to take her to the airport. She said: “Soft Fruit, perhaps a military bunker of some kind? Something underground?” The taxi driver looked at her in the windscreen mirror with concern. “Just the airport then,” she said, sitting back. All the traffic lights on the way to the airport were red. They had to wait again, and again, and again. Finally there was a clear stretch of motorway, and Daisy began to see the signs: the brutally reduced symbol of the aeroplane, which didn’t take into account any of its idiosyncrasies, any of the feats of engineering that had accumulated over time to allow human beings to make an object fly. Daisy couldn’t remember the route through suburban streets that she and Roland had taken eight days before so she asked the driver to leave her at one of the terminals of the airport. She paid him. She got out. She was suddenly very tired of looking, of not finding things where they were supposed to be. She went into the airport and bought a coffee. She sat in a chair and watched people pull their luggage along the ground. She stood up and wandered past the check-in desks: Barcelona, Madrid, Riga. She stared at a man wearing a bright orange baseball cap and a bright orange polo shirt. He was checking the passports of a family, and loading their luggage onto the conveyer belt. It was Roland. Yes, thought Daisy. It must be convenient for him, working here. She hesitated before she got in line and waited to

Brunton&Co.

www.bruntonandco.com

PHOTOGRAPHER MAX DOYLE FASHION DIRECTOR ELLE PACKHAM

THERE’S A GHOST IN OUR HOUSE MAKEUP PETER BEARD AT WORK AGENCY HAIR CARL REEVES AT NAMES AGENCY MODEL EMMA BALFOUR AT PRISCILLAS PHOTOGRAPHER’S ASSISTANT MASON STEVENSON DIGITAL OPERATOR KYLIE COUTTS STYLIST’S ASSISTANT RACHEL COLLESS

124

Dries Van Noten coat and shirt (from Poepke), Scanlan Theodore pants, Miu Miu belt (from Pelle)

125

116 126

Christian Dior dress, Purl Harbour knitted tights, Acne boots

Carven cape (from Parlour X), Givenchy dress (from Robby Ingham)Â

127

128

Zhivago jacket, Jac + Jack shirt, Scanlan Theodore trousers

Acne shirt and pants

129 119

130

Comme des Garรงons velvet jacket and pants (from Parlour X), Acne shirt, themata.ch belt (from Pelle), Acne shoes

Top hat from The Strand Hatters, Vintage Clothing Shop jacket, Chloe blouse (from David Jones), Stella McCartney trousers (from Robby Ingham), cane from The Strand HattersÂ

132

Stella McCartney dress (from Robby Ingham), Purl Harbour knitted tights, Acne boots

Josh Goot dress

133

IT’S A KIND OF MAGIC

THE DEATH OF PRINCE CHARMING In Maleficent, Angelina Jolie rules. She’s female and she’s a hero, she’s badass and she’s good, she’s selfish and she’s selfless. She represents the progressive new direction of Disney’s re-telling of traditional fairy tales, and, more specifically, the death of Prince Charming. By Courtney Sanders.

“I’m looking for a girl.” – “Prince Charming”. “Of course you are.” – Maleficent.

his exchange between the sarcastic, superior Maleficent and a subservient kinda-Prince Charming confirms everything that is wonderful – magical even – about this 2014 Disney film; everything that is magical, even for an adult who definitively cannot stand the obvious arcs and happy endings of fairy tales, nor any of the other absurd, conservative messages contained therein. Maleficent is the modern re-telling of Disney’s 1959 animated film Sleeping Beauty. “I watched the original and came up with ideas that revealed more about her character,” explained screenplay writer Linda Woolverton earlier this year. “I created a past for her that lead to the singular moment in which she curses the baby Aurora, and then took us past that moment from Maleficent’s point of view.” According to animator Floyd Newman, who worked (tirelessly: it took over seven years to create the specific kind of “moving illustration” Walt Disney demanded) on the original Sleeping Beauty, Maleficent has always been the character everybody loves to hate. “Maleficent was a very compelling character,” he told The Telegraph. “And everyone had questions about Maleficent. Who was she? Where did she come from? Why was she banished from the kingdom by the King and Queen? Why wasn’t she invited to the christening? What grudge does she hold?” Pure evil is basically replaced with a really good kind of bad (in velvet and leather, no less) in Maleficent. Which is to say that the titular character, and the film, turn every fairy tale paradigm on their

head; most notably the tired tropes that heroes are always male, that women are always angelically good (and incredibly naïve), that angelically good is absolutely the only kind of good, and that love is always romantic and heterosexual. And there was only one woman who could have effortlessly denounced all of these status quos in a believable way (because: blood vials and Billy Bob Thornton IRL). “We had Angelina Jolie! So my task was basically to live up to both Maleficient and Angelina,” explains Woolverton. “Tonally, I was looking at the wonderful depiction of Maleficent in the animated film and asking: ‘What is it about her character and who she is that made her choose to curse that baby’? That’s a bad thing to do, and I had to rationalise that one.” And in Maleficent Woolverton rationalises the hell out of it. Short version (including spoilers!): Maleficent is an innocent Fairy Queen who protects her kingdom, and her wings have “never faltered, not once, I can always trust them”. Her teen crush is a power-mongering bad guy who cuts her wings off and delivers them to the kingdom next to Maleficent’s in order to ensure his own succession to the throne. Enraged by this treachery (but moreover, I think, by the loss of her wings,) Maleficent curses Aurora, the baby daughter of the bad guy who has by now become the King. Maleficent, guilty as hell, watches over Aurora until her 16th birthday when the curse will take effect: it’s exactly the same curse as the original movie and involves Aurora falling into a sleep that can only be broken by “true love’s kiss”. The aforementioned kinda-Prince Charming – who Aurora had only met once – awkwardly (and kinda inappropriately – she’s asleep!) kisses her. But nothing happens. The spell isn’t broken. Maleficent then kisses her, and... ta-dah! True love’s kiss! >

Fairy tales are arguably even more important than vampires in our development: they’re read to us from a young age for their moral value.

134

IT’S A KIND OF MAGIC / THE DEATH OF PRINCE CHARMING

“Maleficent, Tangled and Frozen all deliver 21st Century-positive messages, and they also all celebrate the individual unlike any Disney fairy tale before them.”

Maleficent is a bad kind of absolute good! She is the hero! She is essentially a single parent and that is totally accepted – nay – celebrated! So the “true love” in this story is neither random, forced, nor heterosexual! Very importantly, this all plays out across two hours in which Angelina Jolie wears the finest, most gothic velvet robes and dresses and possesses much more sass than she does magic (which, considering she is highly magical, is pretty impressive). Jolie is at her cynical best: she dismisses the sappy, kinda-Prince Charming with an eye-roll, puts the really-quiteannoying-teenage-Aurora to sleep with a hand-flick and fights – and (spoiler!) kills – the bad guy while casually wearing leather pants. She is a boss, and it is excellent that girls everywhere now want to be her. Or some less-dragged-down-by- life version of her. But Maleficent actually translates into “Harmfully Malicious”. Disney’s 1959 movie was based on the Grimm Brother’s story of the early 19th Century, although the original folk tale can be traced as far back as 1330. In Disney’s version Maleficient is bad right down to her magical bones – as far as we’re made aware, anyway. “It was actually about going back to the original [Grimm Brothers] fairy tale and trying to figure out what was missed,” explained Angelina Jolie earlier this year. “Like even the fact that she was actually a fairy.” Of course Disney made the wicked witch so transparent in their original version. It was 1959, after all. The American Presidency and Vice Presidency were held by Eisenhower and Nixon respectively. The world, but particularly America because they go in for extreme versions of everything, was defining what we refer to today as the “American Dream”: post-war, peace-time living where a successful life involved getting a decent job in order to have security (a house, preferably with a white picket fence around it) in order to find a

136

partner and have a family. If you were a woman, you only needed to worry about the latter two things. Theorists have always believed that art, and particularly film (because it encompasses so many different art forms) either reflects the beliefs of the society in which it is made or reflects a progressive version of those beliefs in order to challenge the society in which it’s made. The Indian theatrologist Bharatamuni defined this in his renowned treatise for Indian performing arts, Natyashastra, and more recently – and probably more relevantly – Nina Auerbach, in Our Vampires, Ourselves, explains that vampires are a reflection (just not in a mirror) of who we are: “What vampires are in any given generation is a part of what I am and what my times have become”. She goes on to argue that, while Joss Whedon’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer was representative of the Riot Grrrl movement of the ‘90s, vampires today, by which we specifically mean Robert Pattinson in Twilight, have devolved to reflect our meaningless, consumer-driven lives. (For more on the undead, check out Hannah Cooke’s feature I Vant To Suck Your Blood (Sometimes) on page 104.) Fairy tales are arguably even more important than vampires in our development: they’re read to us from a young age for their moral value. We learn not to trust strangers via horrific incidences of child cannibalism, we learn not to eat anything gifted to us by strangers and, as women, we learn not to fall asleep lest we be sexually abused then “saved” by multiple strange men. And all via the fairy tale format. Through several recent fairy tale re-imaginings, Disney has unequivocally upended these moral values. Like Maleficent and Aurora, Frozen’s Anna and Elsa are saved by each other rather than

by men (and ergo, Disney is saved as Frozen becomes the highest grossing animation of all time, thanks in part to some truly excellent songs including will-even-make-adults-faces-light-up hit Let it Go). Like Maleficent, Anna is a superhero of sorts (Mr. Freeze from Batman and Robin anyone?) who uses her power for both good and evil (because life is complicated!). While men are subservient in both films, Frozen introduces us to one of the most nuanced male characters in Disney history, ice deliverer Kristoff. And, by contrasting him with the charismatic but scheming Hans, the movie argues that it’s actually quite a good idea to get to know somebody before you marry them. Similarly, in Tangled, the 2010 re-telling of Rapunzel, the golden-haired main character spends a lot of time chilling in the forest with Flynn Ryder, which is delightfully entertaining as he has some of the best one-liners in animated history. The sarcasm with which he delivers lines such as “You’re being so strangely cryptic as you wrap your magical hair around my hand” is unrivalled. Which makes sense when you consider that Ryder is a result of a survey, conducted by Disney animators on the women in their office, asking what characteristics the perfect man possesses. As in Maleficent, and as in Frozen, even though Flynn Ryder is adorable and at least somewhat capable, Rapunzel ends up saving herself. This new crop of Disney films may present us with a long-overdue version of gender equality, but they’re presenting us with something else too: some very Gen-Y norms. Read anything, anywhere about millennials and the word “narcissistic” arises. It arises because journalism is incredibly reductive these days, and it’s reductive because of the way in which changes in communication technology have affected it, which is exactly why millennials are narcissistic: “In

my 2006 book Generation Me, I presented data showing generational increases in self-esteem, assertiveness, self-importance, narcissism and high expectations based on surveys of 1.2 million young people,” explains researcher and author Jean Twenge in an article for The Atlantic. Communication technology has provided us with all of the means to be narcissistic – Twitter, Facebook, Instagram... you name it, if we can communicate with other people about ourselves, we’ll be on it – but it’s also the reason we want to be so narcissistic. These changes in communication technology have inimitably affected the job market: we grew up in a boom, we’re living in a bust, we have no idea what tomorrow – let alone the next decade (remember MSN Messenger, circa 2000? Me neither) – will hold. So as a result, we’re looking out for number one. Maleficent, Tangled and Frozen all deliver 21st Century-positive messages, and they also all celebrate the individual unlike any Disney fairy tale before them. Maleficent’s evil streak develops as a result of her losing independence via her wings, while Aurora wants to leave home as soon as humanly possible so she can frolic annoyingly (worst character in any of these films) on her own terms. In Frozen, Anna makes her own freezing fortress and writes and sings of being alone and free from condescension about her powers, which is to say she is free to be herself. In Tangled, Rapunzel finally leaves an overbearing mother and receives (some) help from an hilarious love interest to prove that discovering your biological family is mainly meaningful because it means you can discover who you truly are. Which, surely, is the reason we read fairy tales to each other. Or do do anything, really. c

137

THIS MUST BE THE PLACE

catalogue ON SALE 8 DECEMBER

SUBSCRIBE! Receive your fix of fashion, culture, news and opinion, delivered to your door every two months for a crazy $49. And every new subscriber to Catalogue will receive a totally free Ametrine patent and matte genuine leather clutch valued at $60! What are you waiting for? Subscribe at: cataloguemagazine.com.au

INDEX THE PART OF THE MAGAZINE WHERE WE DO THE GOOGLING FOR YOU

There’s a huge number of interesting people, events and things mentioned throughout every issue of Catalogue. But we simply don’t have enough space in the features to go into all the fine detail. That’s cool, because we’ve hyperlinked them and included more information about them right here because we think it’s very important that you know, for instance, that the Goosebumps books earned R.L.Stine $41 million in 1996. Compiled by Courtney Sanders

Amy Gwatkin Sam Leutton and Jenny Postle of Leutton Postle, pages 38-41

She may not be a household name yet, but that kind of notoriety – in the fashion industry at least – probably isn’t too far away for London-based photographer Amy Gwatkin. She creates the kind of fashion photographs that are both visually and socially relevant, which is to say that she channels the zeitgeist. And that explains why she’s already contributing to industry leaders such as Dazed and Confused.

Albert Camus Zola Jesus, pages 42-45 Albert Camus was a FrenchAlgerian philosopher. A lot of his work dealt with the conflict between the human tendency to seek inherent value and meaning in life versus the

human inability to find any, which is now known as absurdism. While he didn’t consider himself an existentialist – “I am not an existentialist” – at least one half of absurdism is somewhat related to the increasingly relevant question (in our technology-reliant, consumption-driven lives): What is the meaning of life? His views on suicide, detailed in The Myth of Sisyphus, are similarly existential: “There is only one really serious philosophical question, and that is suicide. Deciding whether or not life is worth living is to answer the fundamental question in philosophy. All other questions follow from that”.

Bela Lugosi I Vant To Suck Your Blood (Sometimes), pages 104-107

Just as how the five main actors from Friends will forever be typecast as adorable dweebs (no matter how much they might try to step away from it – like Jennifer Aniston in The Good Girl), early 20th

Broad City Be Here Nowish, pages 24-29 I watched the first episode of Broad City after reading Durga’s piece about the Be Here Nowish girls and, IMO, the show is an irrelevant second-rate Girls in which stupid “naughty” gags replace stupid but 100% relatable moments. Broad City follows two female BFFs trying to make it and discover who they are in the Big Apple. It highlights all the fuck-ups along the way (sound familiar?), but the two main characters are hopeless – yes, more hopeless than Hannah Horvath in Girls – in an unbelievable way. (No millennial is this incompetent. Or if they are, they don’t deserve to be the central figure in a TV show.) Unlike Girls it’s unrealistic and therefore irrelevant. And completely charmless. Century actor Bela Lugosi spent his entire career playing the undead, and as a result his life was both more interesting and more tragic than either Joey or Cougar Town. He first played Dracula in a Broadway production based on Bram Stoker’s novel in 1927. His performance was acclaimed, not least because his stilted,

Hungarian accent evoked Dracula’s Transylvanian origin story; an attribute that arguably exists today thanks to Lugosi. His incarnation of the Count became further embedded in popular culture when Universal Pictures cast him in an early movie adaptation of Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel. Unable to avoid being typecast as the villain

in horror films, Lugosi’s career gradually devolved, as did his health: as a result of treatment for a form of severe back pain called sciatic neuritis he became addicted to morphine and methadone. Lugosi died in 1956 and, proving that no deed goes unpunished, his wife and daughter decided to bury him wearing a > Dracula cape.

139

INDEX

Donnie Darko Jena Malone, pages 28-33

Donnie Darko is the 2001 film in which Jena Malone stars alongside Jake Gyllenhaal and a terrifying giant bunny rabbit from the future. Written and directed by Richard Kelly, it’s about... well, I’m unsure that I fully understand it, even after watching it countless times and even after being more than a decade older today than when I first saw it and definitely didn’t understand it. It’s loosely about the philosophy of time travel, explained by a boy who wakes up in a tangent universe and spends the next month trying to get back into the real world. It alludes to grand time-travel questions such as: “If you time travel and change something in the past, how is the present day affected?” And thus hurts my brain.

Elsa Schiaparelli Haute or Not, pages 88-91

of Rome, she was sent to live in the humble confines of a convent. She was released only after undertaking a lifethreatening hunger strike. She returned to an aristocratic lifestyle in London but renounced it in favour of expressing her creativity. She moved to New York, and then to Paris, where she became a couturier. Schiaparelli became renowned for her clothing from around 1927, initially due to her innovative use of knitwear – particularly a new, double-layered stitch created by Armenian refugees – but later because of her collaborations with surrealist artists Salvador Dali and Jean Cocteau. Dali was famous for his paintings of melting clocks and for replacing telephone handsets with lobsters, and he painted said crustacean onto a Schiaparelli evening gown (now famously – and imaginatively – known as “The Lobster Dress”). When WWII broke out in 1939, Schiaparelli left Paris and moved back to New York, where she remained until 1945. The popularisation of the post-war “New Look” (the full, high-waisted skirts that emphasised waists and busts pioneered by Dior) made Schiaparelli’s designs irrelevant, and her fashion house closed in 1954.

The Face Corinne Day, pages 20-23 This magazine is possibly the best culture magazine to have ever existed. It was founded by 1980 by Nick Logan (previously of Smash Hits and the NME magazines), and combined culture, fashion and politics in a way that never previously existed, and which current industry leaders like i-D and Dazed and Confused have since replicated. The Face gave Kate Moss her first cover, which featured the now-famous photograph by Corinne Day of the young supermodel grinning from ear-to-ear, wearing a hand-made feather crown, on a beach, in black and white.

Elsa Schiaparelli’s early life was basically a study of opposites. She was born into aristocracy – her mother was a Neapolitan aristocrat, her father was a scholar and curator of medieval manuscripts and her uncle was the renowned astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli. But because she wrote a series of shockingly (to her conservative family, at least) sexy poems while studying at the University

140

Fish Tank Be Here Nowish, pages 24-27 This 2009 British film is simultaneously one of the most disturbing and beautiful pieces of cinema I’ve seen. It follows the psychological development of a teenage girl growing up in a relatively impoverished broken home who discovers who she is by doing things like sleeping with her

mother’s boyfriend, played by Michael Fassbender (who really lays the groundwork for a career filled with disturbing sex scenes with one particularly memorable, scarring incident in this movie).

John Galliano Haute or Not, pages 88-91 Putting aside his anti-

Semitic rant in a bar in 2011, John Galliano is one of most renowned couturiers in the world. After graduating from Central Saint Martin’s he moved to Paris where he established his own house in 1993. He was appointed head designer at Givenchy in 1995, becoming the first British designer to head-up a French couture house. He moved from Givenchy to Dior (both owned by

LVMH) in 1996 and remained there until 2011, when he was stood down because of his aforementioned racist behaviour. Known as the “enfant terrible” of the fashion world, Galliano apparently turned up to his first meeting at Dior shoeless and sporting dreadlocks, and his distinct and groundbreaking style marries punk and street style to couture fashion.

Jean M. Twenge The Death of Prince Charming, pages 134-137 In her 2013 article for Slate: “Are Millennials Really More Narcissistic?”, Katy Waldman accurately described Jean M. Twenge as “the narcissist whisperer”. Twenge, who is a psychologist and professor at San Diego State University, has written two books – Generation Me and The Narcissism Epidemic: Living in the Age of Entitlement – both of which detail why teenagers and young adults are more obsessed with themselves today than they have ever been. Considering most people really like to accuse millennials of being the most self-obsessed, and therefore hopeless, generation ever, Twenge is quite the media personality today. Therefore she (somewhat ironically) spends quite a lot of her time discussing her own work.

Karley Sciortino of Slutever Be Here Nowish, pages 38-41 If you haven’t heard Karley Sciortino’s name before you’ve obviously been living somewhere that doesn’t have the Internet (do you know that 60% of the world’s population won’t have access to the internet

by the end of 2014?). Sciortino runs the Slutever blog, which was one of the first corners of the Internet to discuss the sex lives of young people in a way that young people actually wanted to read. She was the first in a wave of columnists who are now drilling down into this subject, and as a result of her progressive attitude she now has a Vice video series, writes a column for US Vogue – appropriately titled “Breathless” – and does a whole heap of other things while looking like a sassy school teacher; twin-set cardigans, pencil skirts, horn-rimmed glasses and all.

Lisa Bonet Tessa Thompson, pages 14-19

the fact that she’s 47 this year, has had three children and looks incredible?) The couple spent the next six years being in love at events and being the most fashionable couple to ever walk planet Earth; they may have singlehandedly created some early ‘90s fashion trends including dreadlocks, top hats, nose piercing and reappropriating ethnic garb into everyday wear. Like Johnny Depp and Winona Ryder, or Johnny Depp and Kate Moss, or Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis, with their powers combined Lisa Bonet and Lenny Kravitz existed in the impossibly cool alternate reality that one could only dream about being invited into because being invited into it required the possession of a specific skill set (including, but not limited to, being beautiful and being talented and being in a blissful relationship with somebody who was equally as beautiful and talented as yourself). Lisa Bonet and Lenny Kravitz were part of the 1% before being part of the 1% meant being an investment banker. Lisa Bonet is the cool girl at school and no, you can’t sit with her (although, antithetically, she actually seems like a really nice person).

KFC complete with beads of fat and slithers of skin dripping from their face. Or somebody pulling their swimsuit out of their butt, caught both in the unflatteringly, UV-heavy, high summer light and in a voyeuristic photographer’s viewfinder. British photographer Martin Parr has pioneered this kind of image for over 40 years. He

describes his work as “serious photographs disguised as entertainment” and in his major projects he details the nuances of the working class (The Last Resort, 1982-1985), the middle class (The Cost of Living, 1987-1989), mass tourism (Small World, 1987-1994) and global consumerism (Common Sense, 1995-1999). >

In honour of our fashion director Elle Packham’s current obsession with Lisa Bonet, let us take a few moments to reflect on all of the amazing things about the real life Denise Huxtable. Her role on The Cosby Show catapulted her to international fame and into the arms of an at-the-time totally covetable Lenny Kravitz, whom she married in 1987 on her 20th birthday. (Can we please also reflect on

Martin Parr Sam Leutton and Jenny Postle of Leutton Postle, pages 38-41 You know the kind of documentary photography in which the lives and actions of everyday people are exposed in an intimate, often grotesque way? Like somebody caught stuffing their face with a piece of

Nicolas Ghesquière Haute or Not, pages 88-91 Nicholas Ghesquière’s interest in fashion started in his adolescence: at 14 he interned at French fashion house Agnes b, by his mid 20s he was creative director at Balenciaga and in 2013 he replaced Marc Jacobs as the creative director of women’s collections at Louis Vuitton. Read an interview with the fully fascinating Ghesquière at: www.businessoffashion.com/2013/04/ bof-exclusive-nicolas-ghesquiere-finally-speaks-onwhy-he-left-balenciaga.html

141

INDEX

Paz de la Huerta Be Here Nowish, pages 24-27

Paz de la Huerta is the personification of “Hot Mess” and we admire her to the maximum because of this.

Pride and Prejudice (the Keira Knightly one, directed by Joe Wright and released in 2005) Jena Malone, pages 28-33

Because I love Jane Austen, Matthew MacFadyen and period dramas, and inexplicably dislike Keira Knightley with the passionate fire of a thousand burning suns, the latest film adaptation of Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is essentially a battle between good and evil. On one hand it has all the good things. It’s directed by Joe Wright, who has directed almost every period drama to ever exist ever including Atonement and Anna Karenina. The cinematography is masterfully opulent (as you’d expect from someone who’s filmed a billion 19th Century dance scenes with all those cheesy but very important slow motion dresses-and-petticoatstwirling-in-just-the-rightway-and-two-people-catcheach-others-eyesobviously-alluding-tofuture-romance moments). Matthew MacFadyen presents both sides of Mr. Darcy’s personality – his pride and therefore prejudice. (And his blatant

142

rudeness: after his first encounter with Elizabeth Bennett he refers to her as “not nearly agreeableenough to tempt me”.) And Darcy’s inherent goodness in a way Colin Firth’s unerring pleasantness (which I do not complain about most of the time) was unable to capture. Mr. Bingley’s sister is a badass mean girl. And finally, pre-fame Carey Mulligan and Jena Malone play adorable, silly, pathetic Bennett sisters which – considering they both became relatively elegant Hollywood stars – is pretty hilarious to watch. And, while my dislike for Keira Knightley is pretty solid (and it’s not a completely unreasonable aversion; after a group viewing of the trailer for The Imitation Game recently I realised I’m not alone), she actually does a good job of embodying Elizabeth Bennett, the second most attractive Bennett sister (Joe Wright cast his future wife Rosamund Pike as the “most agreeable” sister, Jane). Can somebody please tell me whether I should like or loathe this film so I can move on with my life already?

The Ferrets at Teen High is a more realistic Goosebumps title... mutant ferrets, possibly teacherscum-ferrets, that attack teens at high school). His first horror novel was called Blind Date and was published in 1986, while the incomparable and undying (R.L. still writes and publishes them) Goosebumps series was launched in 1992. The books have deservedly made him an incredibly rich and successful person.

In 1996 he was 31st on Forbes’ list of highest earning entertainers, making $41 million! He was America’s bestselling author for three years in a row in the ‘90s and, as of 2008, had sold over 400 million books worldwide. Which basically means that almost every kid everywhere will never look the same at an inanimate child again after reading The Night of the Living Dummy.

R.L Stine Goosebumps, pages 92-93 Firstly, the R.L. stands for Robert Lawrence, which is very important because even though I’ve known and read the work of R. L. Stine for most of my life, I have never until now known his first name. Bizarrely, he first wrote humour books for children under the pseudonym Jovial Bob Stine and under the series title Bananas. They were called things like The Teens at Ferret High, which could also easily be the title of a Goosebumps novel (although perhaps

Richard Nicoll’s Spring 2015 Collection Editor’s Letter, page 9 While we don’t actually mention Richard Nicoll in The Death of Prince Charming this is very important, and Prince Charming-related nonetheless. Call it the collective creative subconscious, or anything you want really, but Richard Nicoll’s Spring 2015 collection – presented at London Fashion Week recently – was, like the theme of this issue of Catalogue – very magical indeed. Called “I Had This Dream, I Had This Feeling”, the collection was inspired by the tiny little fairy sprite Tinker Bell, and while many of the wearable pieces spoke to this via metallic paneling and flowing, feminine chiffon shift dresses, there was one particularly otherworldly piece. Richard Nicoll teamed up with Studio XO – a studio that “operates at the intersection of science, technology, fashion and music” – to create a fibre-optic, glow-in-the-dark dress. Forget the stupid Apple Watch, this is the kind of wearable tech I want.

Robin Tunney Something Wicked This Way Comes, pages 116-118

Robin Tunney is one of those actors like Adam Garcia, star of Coyote Ugly, or Piper Perabo, star of Coyote Ugly, or Eliza Dushku, star of Bring It On, who was incredibly famous for a very short period of time. But while they were famous everybody either wanted to be them, dress like them or date them. Whether it was her “Sinead O’Rebellion: shock me, shock me, shock me” (is this Renée Zellweger’s best role?) moment, or her turn as Sarah Bailey in The Craft, she chose the perfect role at the perfect time and became something we didn’t know we wanted to be until we saw her. Where is she now? Well, she starred in The Zodiac in 2005, in The Mentalist in 2009, and in a whole bunch of other things that I do not recognise between those. But who cares because: Empire Records.

Saturn Return Be Here Nowish, pages 38-41

In horoscope astrology, which I only pay attention to when they’re positive and reinforce my preexisting life goals (and also when they suggest that, because I’m Sagittarius and Fire is my element, I should possess particular >

Givenchy

Mecura

pinkloulou.com

strandhatters.com.au

givenchy.com

mecura.org.br

Poepke

Sweet Art

& Other Stories

Giuseppe Zanotti

Missoni

poepke.com

sweatart.com.au

stories.com

giuseppezanottidesign. com/au

missoni.com

Suno

ModelCo

Preen by Thornton Bregazzi

modelcocosmetics.com

preen.eu

Sunspel

A Détacher

Grand Street Bakery Vintage

Psyche Jewelry

sunspel.com

adetacher.com

grandstbakery.com

STOCKISTS

Acne acnestudios.com

sunony.com

psyche-jewelry.com

Akubra

Napoleon Perdis

Purl Harbour

akubra.com.au

napoleonperdis.com

purlharbour.com.au

Tamara Akcay

Araks

Hunt Leather

Neil Barrett

PUSHMATAaHA

tamaraakcay.com

araks.com

huntleather.com.au

neilbarrett.com

pushmataaha.com

Tete-a-tete Incendere

Ashish

Net-a-Porter

teteateteincendere.com

ashish.co.uk

net-a-porter.com

Themata

Asos.com

Isabel Marant

Nike

Rachel Comey

themata.ch

asos.com

isabelmarant.com

nike.com

rachelcomey.com

The Corner Shop

Atea Oceanie

No. 21

River Island

thecornershop.com.au

ateaoceanie.com

numeroventuno.com

au.riverisland.com

The Vintage Clothing Shop

Jac + Jack

Nomia

Robby Ingham

02 9238 0090

jacandjack.com

nomia-nyc.com

robbyingham.com

threeASFOUR

Jill Stuart

Robert Clergerie

threeasfour.com

Balloon Twisting

jillstuart.com

robertclergerie.com

Tocca

balloontwisting.com.au

Josh Goot

Roksanda Ilincic

tocca.com

Blesse’d Are The Meek

joshgoot.com

roksanda.com

Topshop

blessedarethemeek.com.au

Romance Was Born

topshop.com

Blumarine

romancewasborn.com

Two Feet Ahead

blumarine.com

Ruby Slipper Florist

twofeetahead.com

Karen Walker

rubyslipper.net.au

karenwalker.com

Kate Sylvester Carven

katesylvester.com

carven.com

Katie Ermilio

Chloé

katieermilio.com

chloe.com

Kenzo

Christian Dior

kenzo.com

dior.com

Kim Victoria

Comme des Garçons comme-des-garcons.com

kimvictoriajewels. com.au

Converse

Lady Grey Jewelry

converse.com

ladygreyjewelry.com

Creativity Wild (mosaic murals and garden art by commission)

La Perla

creativitywild.com

laurelhilljewelry.com

laperla.com

Laurel Hill Leutton Postle leuttonpostle.com

LHN Jewelry lhnjewelry.com

David Jones

Lonely Hearts

davidjones.com.au

lonelyheartslabel.com

Desert Designs

Lover

desertdesigns.com.au

loverthelabel.com

openingceremony.us

Di$count Universe

Lucy Folk

OPI

discountuniverse.com.au

lucyfolk.com

opi.com

Saint Laurent

Véronique Leroy

Dries Van Noten

Osklen

ysl.com

veroniqueleroy.com

driesvannoten.be/

osklen.com

Sarah & Sebastian

Opening Ceremony

Dyspnea dyspnea.com.au

Valentino valentine.com

sarahandsebastian.com

Maison Martin Margiela

Scanlan Theodore

maisonmartinmargiela.com

Parlour X

scanlantheodore.com

WWAKE

MANIAMANIA

parlourx.com.au

Simone Rocha

wwake.com

themaniamania.com

Pelle Shoes

simonerocha.com

Eckhaus Latta

Marc Jacobs

pelleshoes.com.au

Sleepy Jones

eckhauslatta.com

marcjacobs.com

Petite Grand

sleepyjones.com

Xander Zhou

Elvis et Moi

Marques Almeida

petitegrand.com

xanderzhou.com

elvisetmoi.com

marquesalmeida.com

Pet Shop Girls

En Soie

Mathieu Mirano

petshopgirlsshop.com

ensoie.com

mathieumirano.com

Eocene

Matt Blatt

Philosophy di Alberta Ferretti

Species by the Thousands speciesbythethousands. com Stella McCartney

eocene.com.au

mattblatt.com.au

stellamccartney.com/au

Zhivago

Steven Alan

houseofzhivago.com

Mecca Cosmetica

philosophy.albertaferretti. com

stevenalan.com

Zimmermann

mecca.com.au

Pink LouLou

Strand Hatters

zimmermannwear.com

143

INDEX personality traits and I do actually possess them), Saturn Return describes the planet Saturn returning to the same place in the sky as it was when a person was born. It takes Saturn 29.4 years to orbit around the sun and therefore Saturn Return apparently affects us, psychologically, every 27-29 years, and when we’re 27-29 years old (which, coincidentally, I am!) I guess this means that Saturn Return is the explanation for all quarter-life and mid-life crisis, then? Or, perhaps horoscope astrologists have noted a couple of particularly tumultuous times in our lives and then spent a lot of time digging around in astronomy to find a phenomenon that takes place at roughly the same time and have created a connection between the two that doesn’t actually exist. Did somebody say pessimism?

Suzy Menkes Haute or Not, pages 88-91 Can I just preface this by saying that Suzy Menke’s Instagram account is the most adorable Instagram account in the fashion industry? Which is surprising when you consider that she has done a very serious job for a serious number of years. Suzy Menkes is a British journalist who has reported on fashion for the International Herald Tribune since 1996, has had four books published – The Windsor Style (1987), The Royal Jewels (1990), Queen and Country (1993) and Hussein Chalayan (2005) – and has apparently written over 1.7 million words about fashion during her career. Her personal style, including but not limited to her bun-cumquiff hairstyle, is also incredible.

144

Selma to Montgomery Civil Rights Marches Tessa Thompson, pages 14-19 The Selma to Montgomery Civil Rights Marches were protest marches between Selma and the capitol of the state of Alabama, Montgomery (a distance of 54 miles), that occurred in 1965. They were organised by the Southern Christian Leadership (an African American civil rights organisation) Conference’s Director of Direct Action, James Bevel, to relieve unrest caused by the recent murder of voting rights activist Jimmy Lee Jackson (by Alabama state trooper James Bonard Fowler), during an evening march in Marion, Alabama. The Selma to Montgomery Civil Rights marches resulted in the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. The first march is also known as the “Bloody Sunday” march because of the attacks on protestors by state and local police using billy clubs and tear gas. The 1965 Voting Rights Act was a revolutionary piece of legislation, signed into law on 6 August by President Lyndon B. Johnson. It prohibits voting discrimination based on race. The veracity and success of the Selma to Montgomery Civil Rights Marches was due to a specific confluence of racial, social and political factors that were similar to those currently in existence in Ferguson, Missouri. In 1961, 57% of the population of Selma was African American, but of that 57% only 1% were enrolled to vote. This meant that the African American population was severely under-represented in local government, and efforts to encourage African Americans to enrol and vote were blocked by state and local officials, the White Citizen’s Council and the Ku Klux Klan (using any method they could, including extreme

Susie Lau of Style Bubble Sam Leutton and Jenny Postle of Leutton Postle, pages 38-41 Unlike most fashion blogs, London-based writer and taker of selfies Susanna Lau, and her site Style Bubble, celebrate new, independent designers and offer well-reasoned opinions regarding the mechanics of this $3 trillion per year global industry (according to an article on the Huffington Post in July 2014). She can also match colours and textures together, and to various Nike Flyknit sneakers, like a boss. Which is obviously very important in her line of work.

violence). Similarly, until the ‘70s, zoning restrictions meant areas in St. Louis were racially segregated, with the “north side” of St. Louis predominantly white. In the ‘80s this changed when white people began leaving the “north side” to find larger properties and African Americans – looking for better housing and schools – moved into the area. Since the ‘70s Ferguson has gone from being 85% white to 70% black. However, local officials have remained predominantly white: just three of Ferguson’s 53 police officers are African American; six of the seven City Council members are white, as are six of the seven school board

members who run a district with a student body that’s 78% black. Statistics taken from Slate’s Political Gabfest, the LA Times and The Washington Post.

Venus Verticodia Apple story, pages 94-103 A pretty incredible painting by Dante Gabriel Rossetti from 1868 that looks like this:

William Tell Apple story, pages 94-103 William Tell never actually existed, but is a fictional character (appropriated by the Swiss from a 10th Century Viking called Toko). In the story, 14th Century Switzerland was occupied by Austria and one day a government official demanded everybody bow to him. William Tell refused, and his punishment was to attempt to knock an apple off his son’s head using a bow and arrow, otherwise they would both be put to death. William nailed it. Twice!

LINDA WOOLVERTON IS OVER “PUSSY LITTLE FAIRY TALE PRINCESSES” Remember when Mufasa died in The Lion King? I know, I know – you’ve probably blocked it from your memory because it was one of the most tragic events in your young life. Well, you have Linda Woolverton to thank for that piece of cinematic brilliance/childhood despair. She’s the screenwriter behind The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, Alice in Wonderland and, most recently, Maleficent. She’s tirelessly dedicated to imbuing contemporary re-tellings of fairy tales with relevant morals and to creating female protagonists who young girls everywhere can aspire to be like because it doesn’t make sense to “depict pussy little fairy tale princesses” anymore. Interview by Courtney Sanders.

Hey Linda! I want to talk to you about Maleficent. She’s such an exciting new kind of character for Disney. How did you create her? Well, someone at Disney had the idea to turn Maleficent into the protagonist of the film – she’s a villain in the original, one of the best-loved villains of all time, apparently. My task, which was daunting, was to take the villain and turn her into a protagonist and yet still retain her unique wickedness, and not just turn her into mush. That was tricky! I didn’t know if I could figure it out! But I accepted the challenge anyway. The breaking moment was when I was watching the original “cursing the baby” scene. She just shows up out of nowhere and she’s pissed off because she hasn’t been invited to the party! It’s like: “OK, that’s worthy of killing a child… not!” Then I read in the original fairy tale that she was a fairy and not a witch, which I’d always thought she was. So I was watching that scene and I thought: “Well, if she’s a fairy and all of the other fairies have wings, where are her wings?” I was wondering what had happened to her wings while at the same time wondering why she’s so incredibly pissed off at that baby. Something so horrific had to have happened to her to make it equal to cursing a baby, an innocent child! What drove her to that incredibly dark place? By giving us the origin story of Maleficent you turned the hero and villain on their heads and presented us with a progressive re-telling of the story – Maleficent representing the values of today’s society. Was that something that you considered? Yeah, of course! If you don’t move with the times and you’re not representing women as we are today, then you’re representing a throwback and you’re irrelevant. Disney movies go worldwide and they affect little girls who watch fairy tales, but they also affect all children and how they

formulate their thoughts about life. It’s a big responsibility for me. It’s like: “Well, I have to move this character into the now, and then she has to go through challenges that people can relate to, and then make her a person that little girls should want to be like”. You’ve worked on some incredible films. I grew up with The Lion King and I will forever hold it in my heart as something super important! Did you realise the impact it was going to have on an entire generation? Well, thank you! I only knew how they were going to affect other people by how they affected me. I’m still traumatised by the death of Bambi’s mother [in the movie, Bambi], so I comprehend the power of these movies. When I was doing Beauty and the Beast it was just a small movie over in the corner – nobody was really paying very much attention to it. But I’ve always known how important it was to present female characters who were a product of postwomen’s movement times, and I didn’t think we could depict another pussy little fairy tale princess in Beauty and the Beast. For me, that was the most significant thing. You’ve pioneered incredible female characters through all of these films. Do you have a hand in deciding who will play or who will voice your characters? Not really! I mean, I did in Beauty and the Beast – I was pretty

involved and I was there when everyone was recording it – but writers aren’t really very powerful in the world of feature films. Once you finish up your work, you’re kind of forgotten. I was actually having that conversation with a work colleague yesterday. I was telling him that I was interviewing you and we were wondering whether you would be like the stereotypical depiction of the Hollywood screenwriter: downtrodden and depressed. Haha! Well, I’m not downtrodden! I have a warrior spirit, but I think without it I would be downtrodden because it’s a tough world as a writer, and it’s a tougher world as a woman. I’ve heard that! Is Hollywood still really misogynistic? Yeah it is, in feature films at least. Not in television so much – I think women pretty much rule television. But, yeah, our business still has a very high glass ceiling. I do not check my gender at the door though; I bring it in with me, every time. What are you working on at the moment? I’m actually stepping into television to see what it’s like. I’m doing a pilot for Lifetime, and Ron Howard’s producing it. It’s based on these books that were published in the ‘80s called Clan of the Cave Bear. They take place in 30,000 B.C! Haha! That’s an interesting time period to try and re-create… Yes it is! But the books are amazing – they’ve sold like 50 million copies! It has a really strong fascinating female at the centre, which I’m really excited about it. It’s pretty cool. c

145

THE LAST WORD

MYF SHEPHERD

When we decided to create a “magic” issue we couldn’t overlook this Australian currently-doing-her-thing-in-the-Big-Apple model because of her character-driven approach to her life, to her work, and – importantly (because this is a fashion magazine after all) – the way she dresses! Multi-colour headscarves, kaftans, badge-covered vests: you name it, if it’s colourful with a DIY sensibility, Myf’ll go there. She’s Myf, she’s Myf-ical, and she’s our magic cover star! Interview by Courtney Sanders.

How were you discovered? I was scouted as a teenager in Brisbane by an agency from Sydney. I went and worked there for about a month before getting picked up to go to New York. I feel very lucky about how quickly it all happened! Did you have an interest in modelling before you started? Not particularly. I’d done some

146

bridal expo work, but that was more like pageantry than modelling; there was a lot of choreography. Once I got on a fashion runway my mind was blown by the lack of twirls! Do you remember your initial reaction to the industry? It all happened so fast for me that I could hardly comprehend what was happening! I thought everything was

magical, but coming from a fairly modest family I also struggled to take the excessiveness seriously. What have been the highlights of your career so far? I always have the best time on any shoots that allow me to play a character, or just be creative and expressive with my movements. So I really enjoyed the Myf-ical shoot!

I love “vacation” shoots as well – I’ve been to some pretty beautiful places, and even if I’m working it still feels good to get out of the city! You’re based in New York now. What do you love about it? The pace and energy of the city really suits me. The fact that everyone always seems to be doing something motivates me to make the most of my time every day. I know that it’s not for everyone though, and it certainly gets exhausting! How is the American industry different to the Aussie industry? I actually find that Australians have a more refreshing perspective on fashion that I think comes from being so far removed from the rest of the world. In America things always seem to reference the past, but Australian fashion has a spirit of fun, freedom and newness. You’ve got killer personal style. How would you describe it? Thank you! I used to make rules for myself like “no jeans” and “no black” to force myself to make more interesting choices. Now I just do what I want. I love prints and colours, and I have a pretty solid mix of designer and vintage pieces. Silk scarves are my favourite things in the world! I actually went an entire summer once wearing only scarves tied in different ways to make skirts, tops and dresses! Who are your favourite high-end designers? Some favourites are Céline, Hermès and Prada. I’m also in love with TOME. Aussies in New York KILLING IT! Do you have any particularly amazing projects coming up? I’ve actually been working on a series of collages for the last six months that I’m using as the base for designs for silk scarves. I just got some samples back, and I’m super excited about that! Right now what are you reading? Delta of Venus by Anaïs Nin. And listening to? The other night I saw a really fun new band called Young Boys. I’m also stoked on the new Ty Segall record. And Blondie never fails to put me in a good mood. And watching? I don’t watch TV or movies very often but I’m into Louie and BoJack Horseman at the moment. I like sitcoms because there’s no commitment: I can just watch an episode and zone out for 20 minutes then do something else... c

PHOTOGRAPHER CHAD MOORE/STYLIST SHIBON KENNEDY

INDEX