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C ON T E N CONTRIBUTORS: Editors Note - pg. 12
TRENDS: Wardobe transitions for Autmn/Winter - pg. 24 Most Wanted - pg. 28 Key Looks - pg. 34
Designer Profile: Spotlight on: UMASAN - pg. 44 Rediscovering: Tom Ford - pg. 50
Culture: Music and Film releases - pg. 62 Focus on the Artist - pg. 66 Eye For Talent - pg. 72 48 hours in Berlin - pg. 84
conversation: Jared Leto on Dallas Buyers Club - pg. 132 Life after Breaking Bad with Aaron Paul - pg. 140
Fashion: A Modern Man - pg. 150 World Traveller - pg. 160 The New Age - pg. 172
in closing: pg. 204
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s p ot l ig h t o n :
UM A S A N
UMASAN MEN: Spring/Summer 2013
THE HIGH FASHION BRAND WITH AN ETHICAL EDGE
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any fashion designers are taking action to make their brands more eco-friendly, but none quite like UMASAN. Even as a relatively new brand, having only being founded three years ago by twin sisters Anja and Sandra Umann, UMASAN designs clothing for men and women and already has a strong ethos which sets them apart. What makes them so unique is they are the first and only vegan High Fashion brand, using innovative fabrics such as seaweed and eucalyptus wood to create clothing that is not only desirable, but also eco-friendly.
creating balance and timelessness while opposing industry standards, allowing their collections to have a consistent aesthetic season to season. Before founding UMASAN, Anja Umann designed for a number of fashion houses, including Yohji Yamamoto in Tokyo and Paris, while Sandra pursued photography and has been published in various magazines including Vogue. The desire to create an ethical clothing label stems from the sisters’ fascination with art, literature, traditional yoga and eastern philosophy, which lead to the development of the SPA-Wear collection - designed specifically for those travelling and to be worn by guests and staff at luxury spas. The collection prides itself on highquality craftsmanship while providing unique comfort and style due to the Japanese technique of pattern cutting, something that was no doubt inspired by Anja’s time working alongside Yamamoto.
UMASAN’s main philosophy is “slowing down”, to create a calmness within the fast-paced, ever evolving fashion industry and to completely disregard the idea of trends. In their collections you won’t find any garish prints, contrasting fabrics or explosions of colour. Instead, the pieces are all neutral shades of grey, black, white and soft browns, something they describe as
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hile some may scoff at the term ‘vegan fashion label’ and write them off hippies or a fad, the belief and dedication that the sisters have in their brand is undeniable. They make a conscious effort to focus on humane and ecological production of fabrics that cause as little damage to the environment as possible, choosing only to use natural materials and resources. In doing so, they completely eliminate animal products in their collections. You won’t find a single piece of wool, cashmere, leather or fur here - not even faux - a bold statement for such a new brand to make. This is what makes UMASAN’s clothing so unique: by using an Eastern-inspired way of cutting, the pieces fit perfectly to the body to provide the wearer with the highest level of comfort. There’s no unnecessary embellishment; the detail instead being created by an oversized fit and the unique and soft folds of the fabric, while the minimal colour palette allows for the layering of garments to give a sleek, clean look. Anja and Sandra say “Our demand and at the same time our motivation was to create something new which goes far beyond the production of clothing and establishment of a fashion brand. As innovation in the fashion industry also means to correct luxury mistakes, to re-define collective values and to increase individual values.”
text by: FAYE MCARTHUR
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He’s toured the world as frontman of the award winning band Thirty Seconds To Mars, but this year sees Jared Leto’s spectacular return to the big screen for Dallas Buyers Club in what is undoubtedly his most ambitious role to date.
MARLOW STERN Interview
CHRIS PIZZELLO Photography
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JARED LETO at TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, September 2013. All clothing and accessories: Jared’s own.
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here’s been plenty of awards chatter for Matthew McConaughey’s riveting portrayal of Ron Woodroof in Dallas Buyers Club. Directed by Jean-Marc Vallée and loosely based on a true story, Woodroof is a sexual tyrannosaurus who is diagnosed with HIV in 1986 and given just 30 days to live. With his treatment options limited by FDA regulations, he begins smuggling nontoxic, non-FDA-approved antiviral medications from foreign countries into the U.S. to distribute to AIDS patients—much to the chagrin of his doctor, played by Jennifer Garner. Soon, he establishes the Dallas Buyers Club, charging “subscribers” $400 per month for meds.
And McConaughey continues his midcareer “McConaissance” by dropping 38 pounds for the role, which he knocks out of the trailer park. But it’s Jared Leto, as Woodroof’s right-hand lady, Rayon, who steals the show. Rayon is an HIV-positive transsexual drug addict who helps Woodruff get his business up and running, peddling antiviral HIV meds in the local gay clubs. Soon a strong bond forms between the homophobic Woodroof and his dresswearing gal pal, who is the heart and soul of the film.
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FELT LIKE THIS PART WAS SOMETHING I HAD TO DO, THE CHALLENGE WAS TOO GREAT THAT IT SEDUCED ME”
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t’s Leto’s first film since 2007, when he gained 60 pounds to portray John Lennon’s demented assassin, Mark David Chapman, in the poorly received Chapter 27. In the interim, he’s been rocking out with his band Thirty Seconds to Mars, which released their fourth studio album, Love Lust Faith + Dreams, earlier this year, and they just took home an MTV VMA award for Best Rock Video. SO, RAYON ... Yes, darlin’? [Laughs] HOW DID YOU SUMMON YOUR INNER WOMAN FOR THIS ROLE? It’s inside of all of us. It’s about identity. All of us,
at some point in our lives, ask ourselves who we really are. But I started by listening—meeting with transgendered people who were so generous and shared very private, personal aspects of their lives with me. And I worked, and I worked, and I worked some more. DID YOU HAVE ANY SAY IN THE OUTFITS YOU WORE IN THE FILM? Of course! You start to get involved. “That’s not going to work for me.” There was one area where I kind of stood my ground. We had a fantastic wardrobe department, but they were encouraging me to wear women’s pants, but I didn’t want to do it. I really wanted dresses, because for me, in that short period of time filming, I wanted to feel as feminine as possible.
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“WHEN I WENT OUT [IN DRAG] I GOT A LOT OF STARES... IF I WAS IN CHARACTER, THERE WAS SOMETHING UNSETTLING ABOUT ME”
It’s a rare thing that you feel your legs touching in that way ... unless you sit around naked a lot. But it was a wild process. Things like that can be really important. The heels make you walk differently, having a handbag over your shoulder makes you carry yourself differently, and if you lose 30 pounds, weigh just 112 pounds, you’ll walk differently. YOU LOST 30 POUNDS FOR THE ROLE? At least 30 pounds. I stopped counting at 30. WAS IT TOUGHER TO LOSE 30 FOR DALLAS BUYERS, OR GAIN A TON FOR CHAPTER 27? Gaining is the hardest, and it’s the hardest on you, because it changes you forever. You can never recover from that, in a way. It’s still with me. It affects your body and your health in a really bad way. It’s a very
dangerous thing to do. And I’d gained 60 pounds, so you can only imagine what that was like. DO YOUR FRIENDS JUST PULL UP A PICTURE OF FAT JARED FROM CHAPTER 27 TO RAG ON YOU SOMETIMES? [Laughs] I enjoy the transformative process. I would have it be that way every time, although I kind of do, I suppose. It seems to be an area that I enjoy. IS THIS THE FIRST TIME YOU’VE EVER TRIED ON WOMEN’S CLOTHES, OR HAVE YOU EVER HAD AN ED WOOD MOMENT? An Ed Wood moment ... or three? [Laughs] I remember when I was a kid, I put on lipstick once. I was goofing off, and I put it on, and then I stared at myself in the mirror for a moment just being startled, in a way. I think lipstick is really powerful; it’s a signifier. 136
JARED LETO (L) and MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY (R) on the set of Dallas Buyers Club. (photo c/o Focus Features)
Someone might wear eyeliner on a stage, but lipstick is your mouth, it’s where you communicate, it’s a very sexualised thing, and if you kiss someone, you’re going to leave your mark. BUT ISN’T IT ARMOUR, IN A WAY? WHEN I’M OUT WITH A GIRL AND SHE’S WEARING HEAVY LIPSTICK, I THINK, SHIT, THIS IS GOING TO LEAVE MARKS ALL OVER ME. Sometimes that’s a good thing, man! TOUCHÉ. I READ THAT YOU, LIKE RAYON, HAD YOUR OWN PERSONAL BATTLE WITH DRUGS DURING YOUR TEENAGE YEARS. I did. As far as the drug usage and dysfunction, my own personal experiences with that helped me inform the performance. It was actually a blessing, because
all that stuff back in the day helped me prepare, so I didn’t have to go down that path again.
EVERYONE EXPERIMENTS, BUT HOW BAD DID IT GET? I would say I moved past the experimental phase pretty quickly and into the full-blown phase. SO IT’S A PRETTY INTERESTING FULL-CIRCLE MOMENT, THEN, THAT YOUR FINEST SCREEN PERFORMANCE TO DATE IS AS AN ADDICT STRUGGLING WITH INNER DEMONS. That’s a great way of putting it. This performance is related to some of the biggest challenges I’ve had in my life.
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LETO as Rayon in Dallas Buyers Club. (photo c/o Focus Features)
OK, THIS IS GOING TO BE A HARSH TRANSITION BACK TO RAYON, BUT DID YOU EVER GO OUT ON THE TOWN IN DRAG? I did! I remember I went to Whole Foods once, and it was interesting, because I got a lot of stares. Nobody recognised me, but they certainly stared. Some people stared in curiosity, some in amazement, and others in judgment, so it was interesting to get that glare. That happened to me when I was fat, too [for Chapter 27]. If I was in character, there was something unsettling about me, and I remember asking someone for the time on the street, and they shooed me away. And I remember seeing people I knew who saw me with the gained weight, and they didn’t know it was for a film. I’ll never forget this. It was a producer in Hollywood, and they treated me really badly. They thought I’d just gone off the deep end. They said, “Oh, wow, you’ve
certainly grown up, haven’t you?” in a very, very patronising, judgmental way. And I couldn’t believe it. But those are the important things to understand, especially with a character like Rayon. SO YOU DIRECT MUSIC VIDEOS, FRONT A POPULAR ROCK BAND, AND ACT IN FEATURE FILMS. HOW DO YOU MANAGE TO WEAR ALL THESE DIFFERENT HATS? Whether I’m directing, or acting in a film, or standing on stage, it really comes from the same place. It’s creative problem solving, and making something and sharing it with people. I was just downstairs editing the new video for Thirty Seconds to Mars during lunchtime and then warming up my voice a little for upcoming shows, and now I’m here talking with you. You have to look at it like that, or else you’ll go crazy.
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“I MET [MCCONAUGHEY] IN TORONTO FOR THE FIRST TIME. I WAS IN CHARACTER THE ENTIRE SHOOT”
That being said, if I’m working on Dallas Buyers Club, I’ll shut everything else out.
I just met him yesterday for the first time. I was in character the entire shoot, every single day. I met the director and McConaughey and Jennifer [Garner] for the first time yesterday. They were joking about that, but it’s actually the truth. We had our first conversations.
IT’S BEEN OVER FIVE YEARS SINCE YOU SHOT YOUR LAST FILM, SO DID YOU VIEW THIS ROLE AS A PERSONAL CHALLENGE, TO SEE IF YOU’VE STILL GOT IT? Yeah, it has been over five years since my last film. I thought, what a steep climb. This is great! I felt like this part was something I had to do. The challenge was too great that it seduced me. I’M GOING TO CLOSE THIS OUT WITH A DALLAS BUYERS QUESTION TO TAKE IT FULL CIRCLE. DID YOU AND MCCONAUGHEY HAVE ANY SORT OF BONDING RITUAL BEFORE SHOOTING?
SO PEOPLE WERE CALLING YOU RAYON WHILE ON SET? Yeah, they were. HOW FAR DID YOU TAKE IT? DID YOU SLEEP IN YOUR DRESSES? A lady doesn’t sleep in her garments, honey! Dallas Buyers Club is released on February 7th via Focus Features.
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A MO D E R N MAN
CORAL-ANNE HOUGHTON Photography
FAYE MCARTHUR Styling
SUNGLASSES: Vintage
JACKET: Vintage TROUSERS: Next SHOES: Topman SUNGLASSES: as before
SUIT: Next TSHIRT: Zara
SUIT AND TSHIRT: as before SCARF: Zara SHOES: Next MODEL: Andrew McArthur
C O N TA C T : FAY E M C A R T H U R 9 3 @ G M A I L . C O M FAY E S U C K S . B LO G S P O T . C O . U K 07450221337 5