Knotted by amelia curwen

issue 01: - Of all the places that we know This place is ours.

K N O T T E D North Staffordshire. Music. Fashion. Art.

The City

STOKE - ON - TRENT

Illustration Maya Pletscher

map of

C ontent s 6

editors letter our heritage: The Place fost things fost

editor amelia curwen

7 8

contributors Stephanie beach hair stylist maya pletscher illustrator

victory vintage and stoke born owner jake hammmond discusses with knotted dressing in the north

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;a stone island jacket is never just a stone islandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; jacket. the spirit of stoke is alive.

james daley photographer

matthew miller talks to london fashion week about growing up in stoke

The Sunshine Stoke: welcome home

100 years at 34 kinver street, a celebration of vintage style: clothes, architecture and decor.

ambitious young things

angel from the north

Shine

macclesfield silk museum

north staffordshire

The smoke that drenches this landscape Is never far from my heart Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m holding out for a new day A place to start

E d i tors

L etter

With the recent whirlwind success of All The Young, the Stoke born saviours of British rock and roll, what better way to kick off the first issue of Knotted than a homage to the song ‘Welcome Home’. Welcome home to the creative people of north staffordshire an outlet is here! Whether it be art, music, fashion or any other creative culture I have put every effort into tailoring this new publication supply an answer to a lot of question marks AND full stops that seem to appear at the end of a lot of fresh creative careers. When initially starting to research into putting the magazine together I started to brainstorm ‘who can I get involved’ ‘what can I write about’ within 5 minutes I had a page full of names and ideas because in my opinion finding creative talent in North Staffordshire is like finding hay in a haystack. All about favours - there’s a loooooooooonngg list of people I ‘owe one’ to now! On a serious note there are some thank you’s to be dished out. Jake Hammond: my employer at Victory Vintage and a fashion business minded man, literally having worked under him for 4 months now I can honestly say he could sell snow to the Eskimos and the interview we did had to be the easiest interview in the world. I sat back listened and took notes, the opinions on the fashion from stoke that Jake had then inspired a documentative photo shoot of ‘the boys who keep the dream alive’ a pack of stokes unknowing fashion followers wearing it well. Then the ambitious youngs, Jim Mcshee, the talented musician singing the blue - that is a man I could talk to about stoke’s music scene, and the worlds music scene for a long time! Stephanie Beach, beautiful with her own business that turned over profit in two months and has now been expanded to keep up with clientèle and she is only 20. Little Lauren Noakes. Wow. There is a girl who is so full of enthusiasm some points of our interview I though she might burst London bound. Sophie Callear, it has to be said is my best friend, no favouritism needed she is 19 and has actually physically literally saved lives. I wish I could say that. Now to the famous names firstly Matthew Miller, who despite being in New York and on deadlines took the time to email me back and joined me on a rant about the lack of opportunities for the creative industries in stoke, his suggestion of a ‘big warehouse’ to give the creative people work space I personally thought was brilliant. Unfortunately we haven’t had our exclusive this issue but Matthew is definitely someone we will be staying in touch with, next time there will be an interview with the genius himself and hopefully some inside information about his S/S 2013-14! If so you heard it here first! The four Stoke-on-Trent lads Ryan Dooley - vox/guitar David Cartwright - lead guitar, Jack Dooley - bass/vox, Will Heaney - drums , that make up All The Young have escaped an interview this time yet I am in talks with ‘there people’ about setting up an interview for next issue - this issue however is a poster dedicated to the band and an ‘all you need to know about all the young’ write up. I did have the pleasure of going to there Keele gig last weekend and I can honestly say they were pretty amazing. One final thank you to the models used in all the photo shoots included. Thank you to Oliver and Sara the cover stars. 10 o’ clock on Saturday morning looking beautiful (even if one Oliver did get locked out the house in shorts and in Sara’s words a shirt that looks like a ‘ hospital gown’, therefore borrowing a plain T-shirt and his girlfriends size 8 jeans (ouch)) was most definitely above and beyond the duties of friendship. The 8 weeks it has taken to research and put this publication together have been stressful at times but amazing at most and I would do it all over . I will never meet such grand people. To everyone reading welcome home.

Amelia Curwen, Editor

Hanley. A good night out? Its alright. The 1960’s? The ‘place’ to be. The Place was a nightclub, in Bryan Street in Hanley, and was one of the country’s most famous nightspots during the 60s and 70s not to mention the first of its kind; basically a new kind of entertainment – dancing to a dj who played well-chosen, popular records – that The Place became really famous. It was that new phenomenon, a discotheque, and it happened here first.

F o s t

t h i n g s

F o s t

“There was a big fashion vibe in Stoke, you wouldn’t think it but it was there. Clothes meant something

people”

JAKE HAMMOND

“Being in the Sentinel was more important to people who know me than if I’d been in Vogue or something,” he says, chuckling. “Never mind that I had a show at London Fashion Week. It was like, ‘Oh, you’ve been in the paper now… Epic!’”

Matthew miller

“INSPIRATION FOR PEOPLE, THEY WORK SO HARD FOR EVERYTHING THEY ACHIEVE. ITS NICE TO COME BACK WHEN EVERYONE IS SO FRIENDLY. I STRUGGLED WITH THAT IN LONDON THEY AREN’T THE SAME DOWN THERE.”

SOPHIE CALLEAR

Welcome home: “Its born from living in stoke, and areas like that with industrial hangovers if you like, that aren’t very pretty on the eye but they can be if you want them to be, there’s some gems if you look hard enough, It’s what you make of it I guess.” ryan dooley 08

MATTHEW MILLER What is Matthew Miller’s proudest moment to date? Although the rising 30-year-old designer is quick to downplay his achievements, there are still a good few to pick from. Perhaps it’s his widely lauded shows and presentations at London Fashion Week? Or maybe his McArthurGlen Spirit of Fashion Award? Or his collaboration with the British Olympic sailing team? Or the fact that his intelligently realised menswear – picked up by Selfridges in only its second season – is building up a significant and steadily growing fan base? No. According to Miller, none of these holds a candle to his finest hour: a small feature in Stoke-on-Trent’s local newspaper, The Sentinel. “It was more important to people who know me than if I’d been in Vogue or something,” he says, chuckling. “Never mind that I had a show at London Fashion Week. It was like, ‘Oh, you’ve been in the paper now… Epic!’” Not surprisingly, his work has been well received by the kind of guys who like their fashion intelligent and masculine, as opposed to retro-flavoured and flamboyant (Miller’s last collection featured industrial-strength rock-climbing carabiners as fasteners; Fashion East’s Lulu Kennedy has called his approach “geeky in a good way”). Describe Miller as a “guy’s designer” to his face, however, and the response is a barrage of laughter. “If I go back to Stoke-on-Trent, people definitely don’t see me as a ‘man’s man’,” he says. “But then you come to London and… well, I guess it’s horses for courses.” Man’s man or not, Miller acknowledges that the majority of his ideas stem from his own particular background. “You can only reappropriate what you know – and

MENSWEAR FASHION DESIGNER BORN AND BRED IN STOKE-ON-TRENT TAKING 2012 BY STORM

the thing I know is growing up in quite an industrial area,” he explains. “So for me, it’s all about industry, football, mechanics… even getting my first computer when I was seven – that was a really big thing. It was a Spectrum but, for me… oh my God! It was like the dawning of the digital age.” Born and raised in Stoke, it wasn’t the most auspicious of starts, according to Miller. “At school, I was automatically labelled ‘trouble’, simply because I lived on the rundown estate where all the crime was,” he says. Attending a Catholic school in a posher part of town, Miller felt a certain distance from his contemporaries – something that he used to positive effect. “It always made me think, ‘Am I supposed to go with the label that I’ve got and become, I dunno, a mechanic or something?’ Even going to art college was seen to be weird. People were like, ‘What are you doing, what are you messing around with art for?’” It was only during his foundation year at art school that Miller began to seriously think about fashion… sort of. “I know it’s a bit of a cliché but there were loads of girls in the fashion class – that’s how it started!” he says. “Until then, it was a toss-up between ceramics, because Stoke-on-Trent’s really famous for all that, and industrial design, which is quite boysy. But then that class came along and got me thinking…” Around that time, Miller was also a regular at the infamous Stoke club night, Golden – a place that also had a big impact on his visual education. “I used to go there loads and was interested in the way that everyone would go out at night and became completely different people,” he says. “I think it was then that I started thinking about the idea of identity.”

‘ I w i s h someone on t h e co u nc i l bollocks an d b u i l d a g i ant ware h o creat i v e i n d u str i es aro u n d stoke start u p ’ s as i t h i nk i t wo u l d be

wo u l d g row u se , or g i v e on trent , to ama z i n g f or

a pa i r o f one to t h e enco u ra g e t h e area ! ’

MATTHEW MILLER BACKSTAGE AT LONDON FASHION WEEK

MATTHEW MILLER A/W 12/13

Vintage clothes store

Victory Vintage

, Soon to turn Fashion Brand, store owner and budding designer ,

Jake Hammond

– now living and working in London - is a home grown addition to the fashion industry. For several months now I have worked in Victor y Vintage 2 days a week as an intern, shadowing Jake in the shop. What a figure to shadow. He is a perfectionist and he knows his shit when it comes to clothes. I remember being quite astonished the first time a supplier arrived with a black bin bag brimmed and ripping full with a disorganised mix of gar12 ments [easily confused with cast

offs from a charity shop and smell that hits like a smack in the face] and Jake instinctively began selecting the ‘quality’ then reciting to me each precise decade, cloth, and location of tailored suit jackets – bespoke of course. Presently when told the histor y below a calf length thick tweed C41 overcoat I absorb like a sponge. No longer does it shock me. His expert eye had been developed from his time with David Saxby, menswear expert and founder of vintage menswear store Old Hat.

with a brown collar, the collar didn’t lift, you couldn’t pull it up. But why would you need to? People in the south didn’t get it.

What first led to you wanting a career in fashion? Well I first remember my parents I suppose, they dressed me in slightly different clothes, striped trousers and shirts and I loved it. Though I think I am quite artistically minded, designing and colours, the aesthetics of dressing, it has something to say. At school I liked dressing differently and looking different but then that was Stoke back then. Was there a notable fashion presence in Stoke? We had infinities, everyone looked like mods, they wanted to look like the Beatles, Stone Island, Paul and Shark but not jeans. There was a big fashion vibe in Stoke, you wouldn’t think it but it was there. Clothes meant something to people. A Stone Island jacket was something you definitely had not just because they looked cool but they had a purpose. There was a time when One True Sackson would not sell anywhere south of Nottingham. They had a Staffie bulldog logo, they had waxed Harrington’s, very Barbour style poacher’s jacket which pre-existed the brands over endorsed second coming, and the whole country gent thing at the football by quite some time, a lot of it was pretty daring. I remember having this white polo

What other things drive you aside fashion? Music, to be honest, was my primary passion – If I had a million pounds I would be in music. Southern American Blues, The Rolling stones and there generation of R & B music. Thats my thing but then more recently... I’ll always be into Paul Weller and Oasis.

Do you think there is a north and south divide in terms of dressing? The whole way of dressing in the south is different. It’s the attitude towards it. Back then in Stoke you didn’t put gel in your hair you did not wear fake tan. If you’re a fag you don’t win a fight. You meet guys in Stoke you respect, dressing respectable in respectable clothes, in Stoke or in other northern places – Stone island the brand look at that! It’s all about the hard guy in a soft world. I am proud of being a traditional Northern guy. The main difference though is what is right and what is decoration, in the midlands and the north it’s about function and practicality, in the south its decoration. They haven’t got a clue!

Do you think there is a strong connection between music and fashion? I think the link between the two is massively overrated. Big names, big icons like Jagger and Richards and Bowie, they were quite often told what to wear – they didn’t start the trend, it was what suited there personality but what came first? No more does fashion influence music than music influence fashion. But the clothes come first, how they are expressed, ideas. No music and fashion influence are one and the same thing so many other factors go with to contribute to major ‘fashion’ movements like culture. Having said that parts of the way some of the icons dressed was special when it made sense. It was pretty exciting and mesmerising someone like Hendrix dressed the part, when Bowie but on a show, but there was this Stones gig on a hill, and it was cold, so they wore

turtle necks, sheepskins and scarves! That was connecting clothes to music. It was necessary! It was a great show. [Laughs] A guy in formula one, wearing his suit, absolute top of the range but it won’t start a fashion trend. Like German influence with The Beatles. It evolves. Do you think that you will always work in fashion? I have always worked in retail. I went from [Tommy] Hilfiger to David Saxby and I learnt everything from him that really started to change things. I am enjoying running the Menswear – I think the creative side of me is itching to get out and start the design process. I used to always think I would end up a designer. But I am really enjoying it at the minute.

Interview complete, time to start work. I’ll get the steamer then.

...

‘ T h e w h o l e wa y o f d ress i n g i n t h e so u t h d i f f erent . . .

. . . It ’ s

t h e

i s

att i t u d e

towar d s

i t . ’

ke y o u re spect , d ress i n g respectable i n respect able clot h es , i n S toke or i n ot h er nort h ern places – S tone i slan d t h e bran d look at t h at ! It ’ s all abo u t t h e h ar d g u y i n a so f t worl d . ’

‘I remember having t h i s w h i te polo w i t h a brown collar , t h e collar d i d n ’ t l i f t , y o u co u l d n ’ t p u ll i t u p . B u t w h y wo u l d y o u nee d to ? P eople i n t h e so u t h d i d n ’ t g et i t . ’

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC; A

Stone

I s l a nd

j acket

was

somet h i n g

y o u

d e f i n i tel y

h a d . . .

. . . not j u st be ca u se t h e y looke d cool , b u t t h e y h a d a p u r p o s e . â&#x20AC;&#x2122;

O ne T r u e S ackson wo u l d not sell an y w h ere so u t h o f N ott i n g h am . T h e y h a d a S ta f f i e b u ll d o g lo g o , t h e y h a d wa x e d Harr i n g ton â&#x20AC;&#x2122; s , v er y B arbo u r st y le poac h er â&#x20AC;&#x2122; s j ack et w h i c h pree x i ste d t h e bran d s o v er en d orse d secon d com i n g , an d t h e w h ole co u ntr y g ent t h i n g at t h e f ootball b y q u i te some t i me , a lot o f i t was prett y d ar i n g .

‘ T h ere was a b i g f as h i on v i be i n S toke , y o u wo u l d n ’ t t h i nk i t b u t i t was t h ere .

E v er y one wante d l i ke

looke d t h e

l i ke to

mo d s ,

t h e y look B eatles . . ’

A mb i t i o u s

y o u n g

AMBITION:: an earnest desire for some type of achievement or distinction, as power, honour, fame, or wealth, and the willingness to strive for its attainment.

Fforuture is not just bright its glowing for the Stafdshire Creative youth so put on some protec tive NAME

James Mcshee

AGE

CURRENTLY

HIGHLIGHT

eye

wear

and

read

I would describe myself as a country/ Blues artist -I get called something different everywhere I go, I have been likened to Johnny Cash to Marcus Mumf o r d ! I a m p l a y i n g a c o u s t i c g i g s m a i n - STOKE ly on the local circuit at the minute, branching out a bit in Manchester. I have 3 top moments: it was mad to be asked to support Pete Doherty at the underground last summer. The gig was amazing; during sound check I chatted to Pete’s sound team and they liked my stuff but its rare Pete will have support and obviously he didn’t turn up to sound check so minutes before the show I didn’t even know if I was going to get on, luckily I had been given a half hour set! To play a sold out venue that was packed was a first. I was worried about playing the Pete gig with the contrast b e t w e e n o u r m u s i c - I t h o u g h t t h e c r o w d NEXT were gonna eat me alive! They were so welcoming, people were shouting ‘I love you Jim!’ But the lights were so bright I couldn’t see a fucking thing! But after that I was on top of the world. I played to an older crowd at a charity gig in Leek one time that was pretty special the crowd sort of got it , was a perfect setting and you know when you put on a good show maybe it was because they appreciated it - they even laughed at

how

its

done.

my bad one liners! My favourite show had to be my first away, in Manchester. There was literally 10 people in the crowd but they really really listened. It was a small gig, small place but the way they listened I didn’t know gigs like that existed anymore! The music scene here is really bad, there’s not much to do or places to go but there is a lot of talent, because its a small circuit shelf life can be short. Having said that though the way that you have to work harder to achieve here can make the right people determined. Its very easy to get into a routine here, its very important to be determined. Bands like All the young are excellent they are doing excellently way they have achieved it as well, there’s definitely something special people have who are from here. Robbie has it . The sport, Agent Blue, are both brilliant. I am very good friends with Paper Tigers they are recording at the minute with the same label as Lost Prophets. Something I am looking at doing is putting a band together, its sort of the next step really. At a recent gig a bassist got in touch with me after, said he loved my stuff and would like to play with me, I have had a few others getting in touch and that is one of THE most flattering things - to have someone seek you .It would be a totally new sound as well. Gigs over summer - the next is April 4th at The Brown Jug, and I am playing the local festivals. Mainly I am looking to move out of stoke a bit into Manchester etc.

“ I was worr i e d abo u t pla y i n g t h e P ete [ Do h ert y ] g i g I t h o u g h t t h e crow d were g onna eat me al i v e ! T h e y were so welcom i n g t h o u g h , P eople were s h o u t i n g ‘ I lo v e y o u J i m ! ’ b u t t h e l i g h ts were so br i g h t I co u l d n ’ t see a f u ck i n g thing!”

t h i n g s

“ T h e trans i h a i r d resser ness opens d i f f erent s i

NAME

Stephanie Beach

AGE

CURRENTLY

I am running my salon, No1 Westreet. I recently brought the building next door and expanded salon so that was hard work, but now that’s over literally working 6 days a week all day.

HOW

I have known I wanted to be a hairdresser since I was 15, I think, I have always been brought up around salons, my mum had always had a salon so I qualified academically in 9 months, worked a Toni and Guy briefly, worked with the Francessco Group for a while, saved up, then brought t h i s p l a c e w h e n I w a s 1 8 . I t w a s n ’ t STOKE a salon before I bought it. I put everything in, but then that makes it feel much more my own I think.

SUCCESS

f rom j u st a a v i n g a b u s i p to a w h ole t h e i n d u str y .

floor. Its hard work, but worth it! I could never work for anyone else now! I had started making a profit after 2 months of opening which was a relief! I threw a white party with champagne and a fashion element to help publicise, oh and we were the first salon in Staffordshire to have Garra fish. FASHION

I have always been used to working within a business as my mum has always had salons, but the transition from just a hairdresser to having a business opens you up to a whole different side of the industry. Its not just a shop

t i on to h y o u u d e o f

I like to do competitions, we do a lot of fashion colours, a lot of creative cuts, the trends, it brings the creative side out of us hairdressers. I am going to carry on the competitions each year. You have to get your name out there and build on that. Then one day start setting the trends yourself! I went to Leek college, it was very creative that helped. I think its difficult to come by opportunities here, or to feel like there is a way forward but I think it makes you want to work harder, to make something of yourself within staffordshire; and your not too far from Manchester and Birmingham and Liverpool as well, so there are some big cities close with big opportunities.

Its not j u st a s h op f loor . Its h ar d work , b u t wort h i t ! I co u l d ne v er work f or an y one else now ! ”

“I worke d on the C lot h es S h ow L i v e at t h e N E C i n B i rm i n g h am . T h at was ma d ! T h e y j u st g a v e me a p i ct u re of M a d onna an d sa i d j u st d o i t . i t was d o y o u r j ob now an d sa y h i later ! ”

ABOVE: Catwalkmodels at the NEC Clothes show. FAR RIGHT: Close up of a proffessional example of Laurens work on a model at the NEC. RIGHT: Lauren and her favourite model from the Clothes Show.

NAME

Lauren Noakes

AGE

CURRENTLY

At the moment I am doing a course at LMA, the London Make-up Acadamy. I h a v e b e n g o i n g d o w n t o L o n d o n a l o t a n d NEXT I love it down there. I cant wait to go and once I am there its like a totally different atmosphere. The acadamy is good as well we have briefs and real models to work with. Its costing a lot of money though! The most recent time I went down to London was for an interview at the London College of Fashion for a place on there make up artist course. So now I am waiting to hear back from that really and working at Elizabeth Arden counter in Debenhams!

SO FAR

I h a v e d o n e a f e w t h i n g s t o g a i n e x p e - STOKE rience, I am friends with Jade Thomspon the most recent winner of Britians Next Top Model so I have done her make up quite a few times, well I have just finished doing the music for a music video she is in with a local artist. That was actually very professional and it was really good. I had a lot of creative licence. I worked on the Clothes Show Live at the NEC in Birmingham. That was mad! I had applied on line and it was not long before the show I found out I got the job. Getting there was a nightmare I had to get the train then a bus, I got lost was late, and when I did get

there they just gave me a picture of madonna and said just do it. You could tell it was do your job now, no talking, and say hi later. But that was really good experience to get as well. I do really want LCF but if I don’t get in its not the end of the world I am only 17. What I think I will do is open my own salon. Thats what my mum wants me to do. But here in stoke I don’t think many people would get me. I don’t want my salon to LOOK like a salon. I want to have screens with displays of my work artistically shot instead of windows! [laughs] I would hate it to look like a nail bar. I am actually meeting with someone in a couple of days to sign the rent lease for a property in stoke I can’t wait to move. I have been trying to get test shoots and there is nothing here to help! there is no one to go to and its such a shame there are so many talented people. People I know. They see they can’t really go anywhere here then they give up. If you have ambition and your from stoke though you will go far I believe you just have to want it. Something needs to be done here. Something to help people who are into fashion or beauty or whatever. And the course they offer at Newcastle for beauty! It was Only way is Essex or no way at all. One other thing though people here are definitely nicer than London!

The idea to articulate the achievements of this girl first struck me early October 2011 during a casual catch up trip to our venue of choice, Costa Coffee. The only thing extraordinary about the day, it was the first meeting since Sophie and I had moved away from

“ He d i d n ’ t look r i g h t

our semi-rural cul-

at all . S tra i g h t awa y I

de-sac in Stafford-

knew somet h i n g was re -

shire and we were

all y wron g h e was too

not ‘up anley’, but

st i ll an d st i f f an d k i n d

Oxford Street, Lon-

o f bl u e . F i rst t h i n g I d i d

don.

was c h eck f or v i tal s i g ns

Sophie had moved

b u t h e wasn ’ t breat h i n g ”

to London to study to become a children’s nurse. ‘Two medium skinny

an g el

f rom

t h e

nort h

hazelnut lattes’ I requested as we reached the till point

the words falling so naturally from my

it? ‘I absolutely love it’.

First thing I did was check for vital

something to do with the thought of

mouth – the same words uttered too

Daily responsibilities ranged from

signs but he wasn’t breathing I then

that little girl from stoke being out

many times before – then a familiar

keeping terminally ill children com-

had to get the mums attention to see

there and making such a huge dif-

voice with an unknown song chirped

pany through unimaginable hardships

if she knew how long her son had

ference and being so determined to

up: ‘Erm, sorry can I get one of those

to a host of medical procedures that -

been like that but she had been pray-

do so – the tone in her voice always

with an extra shot of coffee please?’. I

to my untrained ear - sounded far too

ing so didn’t know. Only 30 seconds

determined and humble. Not even

could not believe what I had heard and

complex for an 18 year old. Next she

later the experienced nurses came

as she showed me the special socks

the shock must have reflected well in

went on to describe days she worked. 8

and took over from my attempts at

she has now been advised to wear

resuscitating the baby. Thank god he

due to loss of circulation in her feet

my face as Sophie acknowledged it with days in a row. 14 hour shifts. One day ‘I like it with a stronger coffee-y taste.’

off. 3 night shifts in a row. Today is a

was alright they were able to restart

(effect of standing up for almost two

Sophie insisted I tell her everything

day off. Back in up at 5.30am tomorrow

his heart.”

thirds of the day sometimes without

about my first month at university. So I morning to be there for 7:00am. Now I

Whether it be a gut feeling, natural

breaks at all), not even when depict-

did. For about a good hour I would say

fully appreciated that extra shot of cof-

instinct or just a lucky coincidence,

ing that was there so much as a note

I went on about Fashion: the course,

fee!

the doctors later informed her that

of complaint present.

the people, how people dress, what my

“It was late on in my shift and it was

if she hadn’t intervened the way she

So now, 2012, Sophie is just starting her

flat mates are like, what the nights out

prayer time, when the prayer lights

did that the little baby would have

second university year after passing the

are like, what the boys are like! A sec-

are on you aren’t supposed to disturb

died. After only 5 weeks of place-

first with an astonishing 98%.

ond latte was purchased and it was So-

the families [on the international

ment only 2 on the actual ward this

Edit::

phie’s turn to unveil everything... She

ward where religion a key factor].

little girl is now in the real REAL

In spite of how busy Sophie one thing

had started placement in a REAL hos-

After checking on the list of patients,

world saving lives. Disbelief was

has to be said; she always looks immac-

pital round about the same time I had

there was one patient that wasn’t

set up on me; the bitter autumn air

ulate. Her bedroom is wallpapered with

started University. Not just any hospital

mine but as I was walking past, I

chilled a tear as it dragged down my torn out pages from the latest fashion

but world famous children’s hospital

went over to check on him while his

cheek. It was a combination of ev-

magazines. For all her hard work she

Great Ormond Street, so unforeseen

mum was praying. He didn’t look

erything that perhaps made me well

tells me, she does treat herself, most

was the way the next hour made me

right at all. Straight away I knew

with pride so much, the articulation, recently to a pair of black leather, shoe-

feel. The first words when I asked how

something was really wrong he was

mass of impressive medical termi-

boot, stiletto, Louboutins. This one

too still and stiff and kind of blue.

nology. Most of all I think it had

deserves it.

36 it was: ‘Exhausting!’ So you don’t like

T h e s u ns h i ne stoke

1 0 0 y e a r s at 3 4 kinver street

!920â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s style burgundy oversized coat with faux black and cream fleck lining, Douglas macmillen hanley. black gothic necklace, cancer research.

1940s paisley/art deco smoking jacket, Cancer Research Leek. silk & lace Teddy, The closet leek.

1960s shift dress, Ebay vintage. felt hat, next hanley.

1980s Wool w/ suede panel cardigan, British heart foundation leek. scarf, closet vintage leek.

BEAUTY

S HI N E The contrast in dusk and dawn, from vibrant rays of golden sun to the subtle shimmer that the light creates just as it leaves the day. Inspired

Stoke-on-Trent

Hair styled by Stephanie Beach, Make-up by andrea martin Styling by Amelia Curwen Photography by James Daley

sunset.

M a c c l e s f i e l d S i l k M u s e u m : H i d d e n T r e a s u r e s Article written by Amelia Curwen

Macclesfield’s marvellous reputation for producing the finest quality silk, rivalling that of the fashionable French importers, has been a prestigious and beneficial one for centuries. When entering through the turnstile at the Silk Heritage Centre Galleries museum you are thrust into the exciting tale of the lucrative industry - tainted with the hardships suffered throughout the changes in native British Industry. I gazed on admirably at the beautiful collections of silk samples dating as far back as 1804. Intricately hand made garments such as Victorian wedding attire to a striking 1940s orientated display; of which showcased a stunning two tone, large check, formal jacket, with red and cream stripe detailing, that would fall into any current fashion conscientious women’s wardrobe, all made for compelling viewing.

Yet as remarkable as this all was, the extraordinary cave of wonders opened its doors as I entered the Museum shop. Far from the usual clichéd gift shop, selling the same mass produced novelties, here I was surrounded by luxurious apparel. A seemingly endless array of silk scarves from delicate neckerchiefs - favorably a deep burnt

orange shade, to hand painted complete originals concocted by local artists, amongst the selection were four vintage Libertys silk scarves all on sale for under £10! However the piece that caught my eye instantly: a 100% raw silk short sleeve shirt, silk covered buttons leaping from the meeting point of a low sharp cut collar, timelessly elegant and versatile - the only question is camel, cream or musky pink? A

unique alternative to Topshop. I was invited by Sales assistant and Illustrative Artist, Ruth Denise Lear (whom recognised -due to my keen interest combined with the hour spent in the relatively small shop- me as a fashion student ) to view a selection of silk scarves, prior to there release on sale, that she herself had designed. I was astonished to see three designs, sporting a silk moth motif print, each one in two juxtaposing hues. Midnight blue and cream combination stole the limelight.

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exclusive interview with all the young Matthew Miller talks more about fashion after stoke and being a collaborator in olympics sportswear model charly wright talks of her career as a catwalk and editorial model Round two: summer gig guide part 2 the golden torch - when stoke was on fire Soul Boy film review 6 towns Radio stations best band Vellocet interview emily baddeley young fashion designer and her label patchwork apparrel. the south meets the north - what happens when a group of southerners are brought for a long weekend in stoke. and a lot more...

This issue is available on the website so get knotted and find out how to get involved, more detailed insights to the articles, online exclusives, and competitions. Be one of the first 100 subscribers to win gig tickets in association with music mania.

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See the view from my window, This place is under my skin,