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20 If Easily Offended...Look Away Now Double dose as Gemma Lewis meets notorious illustrator Gemma Warren to discuss art, sex, passion and politics that will shock and delight
POWER OF THE STORM 12
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124 One Man’s Trash Is Another Man’s Treasure Emma Saunders reveals the revolting powerful truth of David Newton’s renowned artworks...heres one sense we wish we didn’t have!
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22 Stark Contrast
8 The Il usionist
29 Exquisite
Philipe Stark empowers VEX with her revolutionary new designs
Fake fashion takes on a new meaning as Gemma Lewis delves into the world of smoke and mirrors
Blind dining takes dining out to a whole new dimension
34 10 in 10 The decades most life changing designs in art, fashion, architecture and technology 78 Propelled Matthew Pryde explores the future beasts transporting us from A to B
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98 Want to get your mits on our next issue? Join our growing family of followers by signing up online today. VEX membership also makes the perfect gift.
10 Rise of the fierce Wild fashion unleashed 45 Bullet Proof
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36 The City That Time Forgot See the City that has been lost...until now
112 New Ways Of Seeing Lose a sense and learn the power to explore life with whole new meaning
57 The Art of Dynasty Power dressing is back with a punch
68 Urban Warrior
136 Know The Overwhelming Power Of The Mind How faith heeling has more than meets the eye
BEWARE: Roam the streets at your peril
Call our subscription hotline on 0884485202 or register your order at www.vex-magazine.com (always quoting reference: 5553)
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MAGAZINE Issue One
POWER ‘The Power of imagination makes us Powerful.’ VEX explores every dymension of your senses with multifaceted high impact. Propelling fashion, art and design into new ways of feeling and captured within its own unique collectable box, where high fashion meets high concept, to create instant art to be discovered again and again. Uncover
the
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Go beyond the obvious and ignore boundaries. Challenge yourself to feel. Stimulate your mind. Awaken your senses
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R N R O I CO T BUT S
London Based stylist and designer, Joseph Dunstone whose clients include Gwyneth Paltrow and Keira Knightly adds a touch of ethereal packed with a punch for VEX’s shoot “POWER of the storm” on page 12. WHAT DOES POWER MEAN TO YOU? “I’d say the most powerful thing in the world is yourself. If you can overcome adversity then nothing in the world can stop you.”
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Newcastle born Sophie Goymer is more artist than mere hair and make-up stylist. Creating dramatic impact, she’s not affraid to take the look to the next level for VEX’s “POWER” shoot. WHAT EMPOWERS YOU? “The feeling of self-worth and confidence my mother instilled in me. Failing that, red bull.”
Young, wild and restless would best describe our commpaning model Jennifer Baker. At the tender age of 18 she is already making whispers amongst fashion’s elite and she graces our front cover of VEX’s very first issue. WHAT DOES POWER MEAN TOY YOU? “power to me means the ability to know your strenghts and weakness and to use them wisely and to the best of your advantage.”
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Meet self confessed enfant terrible Gemma Warren on page 21. She tells us, “if your easily offended look away now”...well we had a take a peek. W H A T P O W E R INSPIRED YOU? “Power and submission and how one can encourage the other. To gain power in love you must surrender to the other person.”
There are certain expectations attributed to models; long legs, beautiful face, stunning figure. But non of these do model come dancer Jenny Luard justice. Demonstrating an awesome presence Jen stirs up the storm on page 12. WHAT POWER INSPIRES YOU? “Bravery, confidence, wisdom and the ability to use these strengths carefully to create powerful women. That and a pair of killer heels...”
Editors Letter I am proud to present the first ever issue of VEX Magazine to inspire, delight and intrigue you. VEX bi-annual publications aim to deliver instant art for Vision, Taste, Sound, Smell and Touch. Exploring the infinitely beautiful unknown boundaries of fashion, art and design VEX delivers a sensuous experiecnes on all levels. Hidden beneath its jet black casing lies the anticipated secrets to tingle all five senses. We believe art in all its forms should be celebrated uniquelly, independently of one another to deliver a truly overwhelming sensation that is as personal to you as it is the next person. Inspired by POWER in all its glory, VEX’s ventures through unchartered territory. Vision demonstrated the truly stunning power of female power in our first shoot “POWER of the storm” including the talents of one of the fashion industry’s rising stars, Jennifer Baker who graces our front cover. Taste presents the extraodinary groteschue scorpian Vodka; small but deadly, held within its bottle prison, such a beast is not only to be starred at in delight but respected for its undeniable venomous power. One sting alone is enough to kill a man in 20 seconds...Drink it if you dare. The talents of dynamic sound designer and musical genius Fennesz with his erie yet awesome sound, can only be described as the outer body experience here on earth such is the power of his music. Sexual desire and the power of lust is another theme that VEX explores this issue so we felt that only one smell could reflect true power amongst all mankind. All animals on earth react to each others smell, even humans. Although subtle Pheramones empower and overpower our senses driving us wild with passion and even sometimes to rage to defend that who we love most. It is basic animal instinct and claims the title of most powerful scent. Finally we come to Touch. VEX’s whole experience is that of touch; opening the perspex box for the first time, feeling the items inside, running your fingers through the silk ribbon between each plate enhances the ultimate VEX issue. I have already touched upon all other 4 senses and as powerful as they are non is more important or more powerful than that of touch. Whilst most of us could live without the ability to smell or to taste and possibly even to hear, the majority of us could not imagine a world where we could not see. Sight gives us independence. They are the gate way to the soul. And yet to lose our sight we are literally left in the dark. Touch gives to the ability to see again, to read, to explore the world, to dream. This is why we felt VEX must pay homage to the POWER of touch and for that reason brail fills the enitre fifth perspex plate with the work of one of the worlds most powerfully influential writers, William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18. Our senses are indescribaly powerful. To lose one would be imaginable and yet we take each and every sense for granted on a daily basis. VEX hopes that from this day onward more consideration will be taken to enjoy each sense, to notice the change within ourselves when we feel them and to appreciate how lucky we are to have them.
Gemma Lewis EDITOR IN CHIEF
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Fashion is an illusion. A carefully constructed image of deception. A façade we all take part in, feeding our self-image. We obsess over it so often it has become second nature to us all. Image has become one of the most important aspects of ourselves and one that we spend millions on each year perfecting and embellishing to upgrade our best possible persona. From behind hidden doors we riffle through wardrobes and rummage through make up bags, prepping ourselves for the daily theatrical performance. Decorating our outer masks. But how much of your own image is actually, intrinsically “you”? Has image become an all too powerful illusion on which we base ourselves? Appearances have become the currency of our generation. We desperately acquire to achieve the look that will hail us as the new Kate Moss to only then discard our wardrobes before we’ve even had the chance to remove the tags. There is always a new dress or pair of shoes that I think will give me that instant recognition of “cool”. Hopelessly trying to justify to myself that without them, my life would be incomplete. We reconcile in our minds that our image is worth trading for fashion. But the fashion stakes are high and fraught with risk.
ple persuasion has become the fashion propaganda of our time and we hunger to consume image after image of beautifully airbrushed image. We have come to feast with our eyes the same way we have come to consume alcohol, fast food or fast fashion; to excess. We gorge on a diet of illusion. Once upon a time we all indulged in this fantasy world. As children playing dress up was an innocent transformation into a make believe character. Even then we played at illusion as if it were a game. Like make believe, we could imagine ourselves as the person we wished most to be, acting out our alter ego for an imaginary crowd. But as adults we hide behind the façade rather than expressing our identity. We project an alter ego, the character we wish we were.
But maybe, we should all learn to embrace our alter ego? Rather than hiding behind the veneer, our masks can empower us to resist the temptation of fading into the crowd. It can become the artful performance that shirks the restraints and insecurities we often reveal through our vulnerable selves. The act is surprisingly addictive. Our alter egos flourish on a diet of compliments so boosting our outer confidence restoring our belief in ourselves. Shallow? Yes. But We don’t give a second thought, although our own image is so powerful because we might give a second glance, as we it is so emotionally charged. It represents judge outfits of strangers, dismissively to the world what and who we are. We T C EATEST A condemning anyone based entirely on see it every single day, a mirror image ofFASHION’S GR their appearance. If we like what we ten reflecting back at us the hidden angst and insesee then we are instantly accepted, part of fashion’s curities we want to hide. Fashion affords us the distraction we elite club. Make a foe-par and you may as well have been draped need to inspire a stronger persona. If fashion has a sickness it in garbage such is the powerful cruelty of image. Today we has multiple personality disorder to extremes. From masculine seem to dress more as sheep following the crowed than peato feminine, confident and authoritarian to boarderline insanity, the cocks attracting attention. The power of the mob overcomes our image we project enables us to assemble our own characterisaneed for self-expression and individuality, too afraid to raise the tion, ever changing from day to day echoing our mood. Il usion is stakes. Instead we dress to conform than to make a statement. boundless in its creativity and yet we are held back by insecurities. Dressing alone has the power to influence and persuade. In And it’s obvious why when you begin to look all around you. its hay day, power dressing was the ultimate form of fashion; ugly it may have been but 80’s fashion had the essence we’ve Images are inescapable. From billboards, to advertisements on all lost in our image; the ability to empower ourselves through television and magazines, images have come to dominate our fashion. It is the ultimate ego trip. The illusion might be held toevery waking moment. They constantly invade our lives whether gether with fabric and stitches, but fashion can give us the platwe like what they represent or not, influencing our perceptions form to express who we really are, or least who we really about brands, products and even people. Their agenda is blatantly want to be. So indulge in the illusion of your own self-image. manipulative cunningly disguised by Emma Watson draped in the latest Burberry Trench or Scarlet Johansen languidly caressing Life is one big performance, so let the show begin. a bottle of Dolce and Gabbana perfume. What was once sim-
The ILLUSIONIST
By Gemma Lewis
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If easily offended...look
away now
Gemma Lewis meets Warren: Sex, Fanstasy and Power with the Provocative Illustrator
With the horrors on the news and explicit content on television it’s difficult to find something or someone who truly shocks us these days. That is of course until you gaze upon the chic smut of illustrator and designer Gemma Warren. Never shy of a late night invitation I was invited by Warren to meet her at her London based studio in White City...Little did I know what I was letting myself in for. Hard to suppose from the outside of the typical Victorian style town house that inside would conceal such a sexually charged array of art genius. Her ethos is simple, “I aim to provoke, to shock but most importantly to excite” she explains, dressed all in black with vertigo inducing heels. Warren’s trademark. “I’ve always found it strange how most people get embarrassed by sex or even nakedness, to me its just another form of expression,” she explains whilst walking me through her modest studio flat. It’s clear to see that Warren is most certainly no shrinking violet. Photos span every inch of every wall, some of herself, friends and family striking ridiculous poses, others of outrageous strangers parading themselves on the London circuit; “I like the element of surprise” she says with a rye smile. Her style is just how she likes it, rough and ready, mostly drawn in simple HB pencil and highlighted with sporadic splashes of colourful paint, her work has attracted much interest from the press and celebrities alike for her outstandingly beautiful albeit outrageously kinky pieces. Many critics have
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blasted Warren’s work as offensive, aiming to glamorise the archetypal excesses of our generation. To this she laughs; “I thrive on this reaction. Art should provoke, question, and open up debate. Art should always reflect the culture you live in, but on the flip side it should raise questions about those elements people are too scared to talk about; those are the topics and themes that run throughout my work. If easily offended, then just don’t look.” Emotively powerful, most of her pencil-based art is surprisingly subtle and almost childlike in its delivery, reflecting the innocence of Gemma’s character; a quality unexpected of an artist renowned for such sexually charged content. This paradox defines Warren’s whole essence and why she is so compelling to talk to. On face value she may look sweet and innocent but what inspires her most is her allow women the ability explore the seedier sides of female sexual fantasies without the accompanied vilification that often results; “its stereotypical to expect women to be asexual beings. Like men we have desires and fantasies, but it’s still a taboo for women to explore them. I want to open that door.” With her debuting collection being snapped up by the likes of Daisy Lowe and Vivienne Westwood more doors appear to be opening for this impromptu star than she could have ever imagined. By Gemma Lewis
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