GLAMCULT / 2015 / ISSUE 2 / #110 / EU

“Once you label me you negate me.”

United Kingdom / FREE 2015—Issue 2 #110

Glamcult Independent Style Paper

Issue 2 #110 Update

Visual Essays

Cult 10 Spring/Summer 16 2015 Albums 22

Turn and face..

46 Rapture.. 54 Plus

Stockists 62

Interviews

Siki im 24 Vetements 30 Ed Atkins 32 Susanne Sundfør 36 Denai Moore 38 TOPS 42

Colophon Editor-in-Chief Joline Platje joline@glamcult.com

Art Director Marline Bakker marline@glamcultstudio.com

Creative Director Rogier Vlaming rogier@glamcultstudio.com

Graphic Design Glamcult Studio: Karen van de Kraats Rutger de Vries Yuki Kappes

Fashion Editor Leendert Sonnevelt leendert@glamcultstudio.com Copy Editor Megan Roberts Editorial Intern Iris Wenander iris@glamcult.com Sales & Marketing Filippo Battaglia filippo@glamcult.com

Contributors: Becky Willoughby Connor Roberts Daniël Heijl Daniëlle van Dongen Edgar Jacobson Fay Breeman Jean-François Adjabahoué Kelsey Lee Jones Matthijs van Burg Maricke Nieuwdorp Sander van Dalsum Sarah Johanna Eskens

Photographers: Jouke Bos Laurence Ellis Lea Colombo Michiel Meewis Oliver Hadlee Pearch Sanja Marušić Trine Hisdal Tyson Ernste Yaël Temminck

Quotes Once you label me you negate me.

—Søren Kierkegaard Turn and face the strange.

—David Bowie Rapture, be pure.

—Blondie

Sales sales@glamcult.com

Cover Photography: Jouke Bos —Witman Kleipool Styling: Venus Waterman —Eric Elenbaas Agency Hair: Hester Wernert-Rijn for Wella and Balmain Hair—UNSPOKEN Make-up: Kathinka Gernant for Chanel—UNSPOKEN Model: Sophie Vlaming —Wilma Wakker Model Management Assistants photography: Anne Noa Moolhuijsen and Merel Klaassen Assistants styling: Giedre Malinauskaite and Selen Kan Assistant hair: Chris Völkers Top MM6 by Maison Martin Margiela

Publisher Rogier Vlaming / Glamcult Studio P.O. Box 14535, 1001 LA Amsterdam, The Netherlands T +31 (0)20 419 41 32 rogier@glamcultstudio.com www.glamcultstudio.com Distribution distribution@glamcult.com © All rights reserved. Nothing from this publication may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher and other copyright holders. The publisher cannot be held responsible for damage done by incorrect provision of information in the magazine. The views expressed in the magazine are those of our contributors and do not necessarily represent the views of Glamcult or its staff.

ISSN: 1874 1932

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The Chuck Taylor All Star

Made by Amanda Ba-Pe

Made by you

Cult

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Olmec 4, 2014

Displaced (Smartphone), 2014

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Spiros Hadjidjanos Site specific digital photo, 2014

Carl Krull

4 James Howard

The Future of Flesh, 2013

S/S15 collection, photography: Bror Ivefeldt

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Luke Gilford

Marta Jakubowski 1

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In Carl Krull’s oeuvre, lines work together to form large-scale sculptural drawings, within most of which the human form can be detected. Having always favoured contour drawing, Krull’s previous techniques (linear hatching and cross-hatching) separated the background from the figure—a result he wanted to break away from. Before going on a road trip across the US, he started stacking lines one by one. Every line had its own unique flow yet related to the previous one.

On his trip he became inspired by phenomena found in nature, such as growth rings in trees and stalactite caves. Sitting in the front seat, he made six drawings.

Like a human seismograph he drew line after line on paper rolled around a tube, letting the bumps in the road affect the rhythm of each line. After decades of drawing, Krull still confesses surprise when he finishes one, feeling as though he’s tapped into something that’s bigger than himself—as do we. By Daniëlle van Dongen

Londoner James Howard takes us on an excursion through the internet’s back alleys and into what he calls “the deep web”. Howard’s art practice was born out of a fascination with the dark side of the web (broken links, dodgy spam mail and scammers) and aided by his background in teenage hacking. His works are digital clutters made up of (illegal to use) images and text (often illiterate) taken from the spam folder of his own inbox. Howard even likes to keep his work faithful to the dark-side aesthetic by using illegal versions of Photoshop and design software to manipulate his work. The digital ephemera Howard has collated over time has a dial-up broadband aesthetic: images of burning sunsets, Chinese brides, pyra­ mids, energy crystals, grinning doctors, micro bacteria and Viagra are blended into internet banners, multi-screen videos and room-filling plastic posters, serving as a modern-day social commentary.

By Kelsey Lee Jones

www.carlkrull.dk

www.luckyluckydice.com

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Berlin-based artist Spiros Hadjidjanos approaches his work almost as a scientist would, researching his theory on a microscopic level then presenting it macroscopically for all the world to see. In one such experiment, named Displacement Maps, Hadjidjanos scanned German artist Karl Blossfeldt’s black-and-white botanical photographs, turning the delicate-yet-dramatic magnifications of flora into ones and zeros. Hadjidanos then added depth to the images, creating digital 3D avatars of their biological selves.

Using a 3D printer he later brought the specimens back into the physical world, thereby completing the circle. Exploring the notion of connectivity through technology, Networked Gradient saw Hadjidjanos place rows of wireless routers opposite one another, connected with just the flimsiest of fibre optics.

With his focus on modern technology and urge to show the intangible, we’re excited to see what this artist/scientist will have to show in the future.

By Iris Wenander

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The emotion experienced through the loss of her mother and the “matter” rolled out in jersey, crepe and neoprene comprised Marta Jakubowski’s MA graduate collection from the Royal College of Art in 2014. A collection of outfits connected by voluminous trains of fabric attached to metal headpieces bent into different shapes created contorted storytelling silhouettes, tracing a personal journey, craving connection with what was lost and then moving on independently. This theme of connection and disconnection reflects Jakubowski’s fashion-fuelled nomadic lifestyle: born in Poland, raised in Germany, living in Berlin, Antwerp, New York, London and working for Alexander Wang and Hussein Chalayan along the way. Her ongoing trajectory is as clear and strong as the palette of her debut: “black for sorrow, red for love and white for a new beginning.” Watch this space. By Becky Willoughby

“We’re glad you’ve made the decision to join us,” the voice of former fitness guru and Barbarella star Jane Fonda tells us in Luke Gilford’s The Future of Flesh. His sci-fi-esque short film for Prada features women in nude latex suits with regal high foreheads, as well as Gilford’s stylish grandma, Rosalie. Starting out as a photographer, it wasn’t until Gilford photographed a close friend’s gender transition that he felt the need to create moving images. It motivated him to further develop his narrative storytelling and tell queer stories with a colourful West-Coast aesthetic. And by not being a stranger to the strange, the Californian continues to amaze with his playful imagination. Currently shooting a new film starring Pamela Anderson, the future can be nothing but bright for our new darling director. We’re very pleased to have joined his alternate universe.

By Iris Wenander

www.martajakubowski.com

www.lukegilford.com

www.spiroshadjidjanos.net

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Gc Update

The Chuck Taylor All Star

Made by Adam Selman

Made by you

Cult

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Skull Coffin Manifold KNMER 1813 and Skull Coffin Manifold KNMWT 17000, 2014.

Courtesy of Société, Berlin

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My fear makes me do, 2013

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Wu Tsang Condition for Ordinary Settlement, 2012

Timur Si-Qin

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Xooang Choi

S/S15 collection

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The Tribe

Charlotte Tydeman 6

Filmmaker, artist and performer Wu Tsang’s practice adopts and empowers queer and transgender counterculture and underground culture as spaces of resistance. Born in 1982, Tsang, who lives and works in Los Angeles, questions identity and the restrictions of perception. Very recently, the artist transformed Amsterdam’s Stedelijk Museum into the real-life and virtual location of his Untouchable performance, starring the beautiful Boychild as a sci-fi pop star surrounded by Dan Flavin’s worldfamous light installation. In arguably the most powerful of his works, Shape of a Right Statement (2008), Tsang mimics Amanda Baggs’s In My Language, in which she makes a plea for the rights and understanding of autistic people.

In a style of method acting that Tsang refers to as “full body quotation”, he precisely mimics every aspect of Baggs’s manifesto, thus raising questions about the authenticity and intention of speakers and how through delivery one can enable different readings of the original content through a contextual shift. You can view Tsang’s new work as part of an upcoming collective show, Real Human. By Connor Roberts Real Human, until 19 April, Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf www.kunsthalle-duesseldorf.de www.wutsang.com

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What are the problems of today’s humans? In the world of Xooang Choi, people are painfully sewn to their significant other. Tongues are reaching out to satisfy bodily needs and anonymous beings try to form bonds by whispering maliciously to one another. There’s not much happiness but plenty of des­ pair. The Korean artist explores the inner struggles of ordinary people and his works reflect how we linger between being subject or object, dominant or submissive, alone or together. Choi obtained his Master’s in sculpture at Seoul National University in 2005 and since then has participated in a mass of group exhibitions, mostly in Asian countries but more recently his work has found its way to Paris. Feel a bit sick after watching? The artist has no sympathy: “If one feels uncomfortable physically or mentally when viewing my work, I would say it worked.” By Sarah Johanna Eskens

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Timur Si-Qin, a multimedia artist of German and Mongolian-Chinese descent who grew up in Berlin, Beijing and the American Southwest, is one of a growing troop of what one might dub “post-internet” artists, who often associate with the contemporary philosophical terms “New Materialism” and “Speculative Realism”. Drawing comparisons with futurists such as Oliver Laric and AIDS-3D’s Daniel Keller and Nik Kosmas, Si-Qin’s oeuvre is influenced by the deep past and the chain of events that make up contemporary image culture, concentrating primarily on the universality of aesthetic motifs in adverts. In past works Si-Qin has utilized commercial products (surrounding preoccupations with health, vitality or luxury) like Axe body wash, Yoga mats, stock photography and promotional display structures, presenting objects as though they were biological artefacts in an investigation of why visual conventions reoccur so persistently. He finds his answers in a range of factors, from human physio­ logy to evolution, and thus reveals processes by which humans interpret and respond to the world around them. Here, art steps in to examine the fingerprints of our cultural imagesearch algorithms. By Kelsey Lee Jones

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Recent Central Saint Martins graduate Charlotte Tydeman excites with her unconventional yet feminine silhouettes.

Foam bodices, powder-pink tulle nightgowns, bright-red ruffled skirts and white feathery slippers all come together in a ’50s-inspired symphony.

But instead of the narrow waists and full skirts commonly associated with that time, Tydeman sends her models out on to the runway looking like twisted ladies; one of them almost resembles some kind of exotic jellyfish— beautiful but deadly. Previously having interned at Alexander McQueen, it’s clear that Tydeman has a love for couture and a flair for the dramatic.

She did, however, confess to 1Granary recently that in the end she just wants “to make pretty dresses”. Hopefully this newly spawned fashion/fabric designer will show us plenty of pretty dresses as well as eccentric shapes in the future.

By Iris Wenander www.ctydeman.com

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Sometimes a gesture says more than a thousand words—certainly in the corridors of the Ukrainian institution for deaf youth that serves as the locale for director Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy’s debut full-length film, The Tribe. Communicating via sign language—which is never translated for the audience—the pupils live double lives, running prostitution rackets and crime rings outside the classroom. Newcomer Sergey enters into this world and crosses a dangerous line when he falls for one of the girls to whom he’s assigned as pimp. Tackling sweeping themes such as friendship and love, everything in The Tribe happens in total silence, the cinematography as energetic as the students, whose frenzied behaviour teeters on the brink of anarchy. As shocking as it is technically impressive, the film’s impact is intensified with only ambient noise to frame it.

By Maricke Nieuwdorp Release: now playing (BE + NL), 15/5 (UK)

www.timursiqin.com

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Gc Update

The Chuck Taylor All Star

Made by Petshop Girl Joe

Made by you

Cult

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Restore to Factory Settings, 2014

Still from All Is Full of Love directed by Chris Cunningham, 1999, courtesy of Wellhart Ltd & One Little Indian

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Felicity Hammond

Björk 13

Still from Swimming in Your Skin Again,2014

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Chappie

Terence Nance

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We associate blue with many things. It can be the colour of the sky or of your jeans. It calms and depresses. In Felicity Hammond’s dystopian cyanotype photo­ graphs, it’s the blue screen of death; it’s the blueprint to past or future factory landscapes. In her series Restore to Factory Settings, Hammond meticulously documents empty factory plots in transition—once accommodating efficient industries; now existing only as vacant spaces awaiting further instruction. While working, Hammond “records” the different components of the scenery with a zoom lens instead of the wide-angle traditionally used when shooting landscapes. That way she has total control over what to use and what to discard in her collages. In post-production, she then assembles the various elements as you would a building or structure— the result being simultaneously realistic and artificial. As a recent graduate, Hammond’s future is definitely in the blueprint stage—but we predict it’s going to be triumphant. By Iris Wenander www.felicityhammond.com

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Not content with unsettling the masses with the hurried release of her new record, Vulnicura, bonkers Icelandic songstress Björk has also secured a well-earned spot in the limelight this spring. An all-encompassing retrospective will shed light on Björk’s unconventional career, comprising 20 years as a singer, composer, musician and fashion muse, including seven LPs replete with outlandish experimentation in the fields of sound, visuals, costumes, performances and technology. Featuring the Biophilia app (the first to be used by MoMA), which combines each track of the album with an interactive visual component, the highly experimental exhibition will mostly consist of the juxtaposition between music and the visuals arts, offering visitors a direct experience of her collaborative body of work. “Björk is an extraordinarily innovative artist whose contributions to contemporary music, video, film, fashion and art have had a major impact on her generation worldwide,” says Klaus Biesenbach, director of MoMA. The Big Apple this spring: all is full of love.

By Jean-François Adjabahoué

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A South African filmmaker who makes it big in Hollywood with his first feature?

That’s not a common thing. But Neill Blomkamp (b.1979) managed to do so back in 2009 with District 9, an extended version of his short Alive in Joburg (2006).

It was a story so fresh and smart—a fantastic mix of anti-Apartheid and science fiction in which alien robots are social outcasts—that big-shot American producers backed Blomkamp to make his project. And yes, the special effects were also amazing. Chappie, Blomkamp’s latest film, in a way builds upon the gallant themes of District 9, meditating on the nature of being an outsider in several ways. Titular character (and robot) Chappie was kidnapped during “birth”, and is now growing up in a dysfunctional family, looking after himself on the tough city streets. Also featuring outrageously cool fellow Saffers Ninja and Yolandi Visser of the Die Antwoord fame. By Maricke Nieuwdorp Release: 4/3 (BE), 5/3 (NL), 6/3 (UK)

8 March until 7 June, MoMA, New York www.moma.org

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Terence Nance resides in Brooklyn, lived in Paris for a while, is a bona fide thoroughbred artist and likes to surround himself with like-minded people.

The epitome of cool, right? And with his beautiful Afro and characterful gap between his teeth, he also looks the part. But whatever you do, don’t call him a hipster; the term is forbidden in his circle these days. Even so, the fact remains that Nance is le plus cool— whether he likes it or not. We met Nance in 2012, after the world premiere of his poetic and romantic feature An Oversimplification of Her Beauty. And recently, while working on the final version of his new project, we spoke again. Love and his own life experiences were not the inspiration for his short video essay Swimming in Your Skin Again: this time, Nance gathered his ideas, images and dialogue from the music of Norvis Jr.— his brother. The spitting image of Terence (without the ’fro), Norvis Jr. also stars in the film, and as a musician, animator and editor, he’s equally as talented as the filmmaker himself. It’s all in the family, anyway: “Everything I make is a direct result of my background and upbringing,” says Terence. “My mother is an actress and a theatre director, my father a photographer and a photojournalist.

And almost every family member is a musician. I saw my mother at work during

rehearsals, we hung around in my uncle’s studio and learned early on how to recognize good pictures; all pictures in our house are one hundred per cent a work of art.” And Terence’s body of work, comprising animation, poetic lyrics and creative assembly, is just as artful. “Art-first cinema,” he labels his work. “The story is not always the most important thing.” By Maricke Nieuwdorp www.terencenance.com

Gc Update

Cult

By Daniëlle van Dongen Photography: Laurence Ellis

Ophelia Finke, backstage image from the S/S15 McQ by Alexander McQueen campaign

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Image from the S/S15 McQ by Alexander McQueen campaign

Ophelia Finke

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“I’m a split personality—but both are blonde,” declares German-born, Londonbased artist-slash-model Ophelia Finke.

Both blondes are gorgeous and talented: as an artist, Finke’s three-dimensional installations have seen her dubbed one of the UK’s most promising fine art graduates; as a model, she starred in Marques’Almeida’s S/S14 campaign.

A quick glance at Finke’s Instagram account and the dichotomy immediately starts to make sense, creating a growing sense of admiration (and not a small amount of intimidation). We see her calmly fire a rifle one minute—hash­ tagged #home #germany—and concentrating on a painting the next (yes, she paints too). To combine a modelling career with an artistic life is easy, according to Finke: “The only difference between a model and an artist is that the artist needs clay to model.”

“My childhood room might have been one of my first adventurous instal-

lations,” she recalls. “It was impossible to walk or sleep in it.” These days, the artist builds up her new worlds with objects like motorcycles, jerrycans and puffer jackets. “My work references all kinds of ‘heroic’ professions such as archaeologists, surgeons, explorers and racing drivers. I enjoy working with objects that we connect with those professions, manipulating them until they become something new, something worth exploring,” she explains.

The manipulation of said objects can be anything from complicated chemical processes to a simple layer of paint.

The puffer jacket is omnipresent and essential in Finke’s work. In all her installations it seems like an invisible person inhabits the jacket or as though someone just took it off before continuing their journey. “It stands for protection within my adventurous installations.

They might remind you of a Joseph Beuys felt suit or the outspread cloak of the

Virgin Mary,” Finke explains. Dressed in a “uniform” that underscores the heroic professions her work refers to (most frequently a doctor’s coat, a direct reference to her father’s profession), Finke is often present in her own installations.

“I was looking at some Renaissance paintings where the artists placed themselves in between various crowds of people. The artist’s presence opens up the piece of work and at the same time makes it more accessible for the beholder,” she says.

A year after graduating from the fine arts department of London’s prestigious Central Saint Martins with Paris Dakar, a large installation featuring a Jeep Cherokee in a desert scene, McQ

by Alexander McQueen approached Finke to take part in one of its Instagram takeovers. It ultimately resulted in McQ giving her total freedom to create an installation for its S/S15 advertising campaign. Her deeply rooted admiration

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for the fashion house made her jump at the opportunity right away. “Alexander McQueen was the reason I applied to study at Saint Martins!” she declares.

“I’ve always felt that collections from both McQ and Alexander McQueen create new worlds that their wearers inhabit—exactly as I do.”

Finke’s McQ campaign images engender a feeling of ease. Ophelia is present, wearing her cowboy hat (a new addition to her “uniform” and yet another reference to a heroic persona), ready to help viewers explore this fun yet chaotic world. The installation is named Carrara after the Italian city that is known for its marble quarries (Michelangelo carved David from Carrara marble). The installation is a reference to ateliers—and in particular, to Finke’s own. Her assistants roam around the workspace, which is filled with objects that—at first glance— have no connection to each other. Yet

Finke manages to connect these random objects by covering them up in a neutral, sandy colour palette, like a florist binding flowers into a bouquet. “Colours are like a language to me, they are essential for creating my ‘worlds’. I like to work and play with our understanding of them,” she explains. The models dressed in McQ’s S/S15 collection are placed throughout the installation. It’s a remarkable collaboration, and we at Glamcult can’t wait to see what Finke’s explorations will bring us in the future. www.opheliafinke.net

Gc Update

Loewe

Unlike fashion capitals such as London, where most shows take place in a small number of venues, Paris likes to surprise.

In the case of S/S15, the Japanese garden of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre (designed by Isamu Noguchi) was one of them. Since JW Anderson took over Loewe’s creative direction and rich history in 2014—starting with a new logo—the Spanish label has undergone respectful rebranding. Really, who’d have thought that a 169-year-old luxury house would define cool in 2015?

Presenting his womenswear collection for Loewe as an “uplifting dreamscape”, Anderson infused each design with a sense of classy weightlessness. With the majority of the textures—think: leather, suede and latex—referring to surface and skin, the designer presented a deconstructed sense of brilliance, a modern wistfulness that formed a stark contrast with the architectural Japanese garden. Say hello to avant-normcore: back to bland basics and beautifully bleached eyebrows.

S/S15 meant a first for Parisian designer and Central Saint Martins graduate Faustine Steinmetz, who took over London’s Institute of Contemporary Arts for the first time to “explore the relation between the product itself and the way in which big fashion houses present it to you”. Glossy models in highly intricate designs resembled a Chanel-like shopping window come to life, were it not for the ready-to-party presentation mood. Last season, Glamcult praised Steinmetz for going back to the heart of fashion, spreading her blue-toned, minimalist aesthetic from behind the handloom. This time around, we’d cordially like to celebrate and praise the fulfilment of our every expectation.

If anyone deserves the Newgen sponsorship, it is this rising talent, who some­ how manages to blow up recycled denim to haute-couture proportions.

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Craig Green

Faustine Steinmetz

By Joline Platje and Leendert Sonnevelt

With a solar eclipse on the day spring officially kicks off, we can’t help but wonder what mysterious things are on the rise this season. But we don’t fear this omen—on the contrary! Glamcult noticed an overall positive shift in attitude. After these dark months we feel awakened and begeistert. We feel free to experiment. We feel free to protest.

We feel free to love.

Junya Watanabe

Spring/Summer 2015

Yielding to an obvious weakness for graphic and conceptual symbolism, Glamcult collectively went into a fit when this theatrical collection struck the runway. Junya Watanabe’s living dolls—dressed in rubber, PVC, leather and Perspex, among others—perfectly embodied the transgression of fashion into a state that is beyond human.

Whereas the poppy polka dot, a radical diversion from Watanabe’s dark A/W14 collection, reminded us of the brilliant Yayoi Kusama, the fixed and experimental silhouettes made it impossible not to reminisce on Das Triadische Ballett. Watanabe’s puppets boasted a plethora of references to various eras, scenes and places, yet epitomized a result far ahead of their time. If we could have suggested an alternative sound­ track, The Soft Moon’s Remembering The Future would have stood a good chance. And before we forget: credit where credit is due for the face-altering headpieces and make-up by Isamaya Ffrench. You make us spin right round, right round.

As we all know, the fashion world loves its share of drama. So when Craig Green hosted his first solo presentation at London Collections and front-row guests simultaneously reached for their handkerchiefs and smart phones, the news spread like wildfire. It wasn’t the drama that made tears flow, however. Green caused a storm by means of a hushed debut, underscored by Flemish minimal composer Wim Mertens and queen of Zen, Enya. The designer’s “silent protest”, as expressed in the show notes, came in black, white and various tones of blue. Models with bare feet sported Green’s characteristic frames, the silhouette of their attire either large and blown-up or lean and imploded. Both the grand and subtle gestures in this “mass exodus to the brink of abandon” expressed a sad sort of tranquillity, much like a 21st-century crusade. Yes, we’re still talking fashion. Yes, the future looks bright.

Who’d have thought so much was about to change when Maison Martin Margiela’s menswear presentation kicked off with the illustrious white coat?

Perhaps an unconscious premonition caused Glamcult to—once again— fall for MMM, in the meantime silently shortened to MM. But superstitions aside, this minimal menswear collection reminded us of everything excellent about the Maison: match and mismatch, order and disorder. From men in classic suits to boys in see-through tops with embroidered sequins, Margiela always thrives in questioning the accepted.

As if a huge and pleasant hand swept us off our fashion feet, Glamcult fell for the flawlessly misplaced balance, most clearly portrayed by these asymmetric slacks. In fact, some looks didn’t even include pants at all—as if the model and/or stylist simply made a last-minute decision to go without. With riotous boys like these, how could we object?

Basing a (wearable) fashion collection on the ’60s and ’70s without sketching a ludicrous caricature—leave it up to Topman Design. Free love comes in the form of flared suits, oversized printed shirts and charmingly appalling sneakers this season. Using the musical / spiritual flow of Woodstock, as well as recent Britpop influences as starting points, creative director Gordon Richardson and cohorts employed the best of “genu­ ine ghastliness”, as rightly expressed

by Style.com honcho Tim Blanks. Sure, this Topman trip could’ve been wilder, the prints much more psychedelic. What Glamcult loved most, however, were the dull-as-dishwasher compositions, resulting in the type of sexy you won’t find in the brightest of colours. Yes, we said it: we’re going back to boring. Camel is the new black, frills are freedom!

Ed Marler’s runway debut at Fashion East reminded us of rummaging through our childhood treasure chests, full of vintage negligees, oversized wedding gowns, embellished tiaras, hats and flags, to re-enact Jim Jarmusch’s Only Lovers Left Alive. For people who’d seen Marler’s 2013 Central Saint Martins graduate collection The Trials of an Impossible Princess (a pretty accurate title) this flamboyant goth collection came as no surprise. And we’re backedup by The British Fashion Council, which describes Edward’s signature as “over the top dress-up”. He designed his lush looks for a vampire gang, because we all know they possess eternal beauty and a fabulous wardrobe. The rising designer street-casted the girls and boys parading the catwalk in lace, draped silks, brocade tapestries, shiny snakeskin and spacey sunglasses.

Bobbing our heads to a delayed version of Kylie’s On a Night Like This, we wondered: To what marvellous party is this bloodthirsty bunch headed?

Ed Marler

Maison Martin Margiela

Gosha Rubchinskiy

From the streets of Russia to the Parisian runway, Gosha Rubchinskiy has quickly garnered cult-like critical acclaim. Very few were invited to witness the runway debut of the sportswear-inspired designer and Comme des Garçons darling, who presented his collection at a bare but intimate construction site. A mix of models and street-cast boys—the fastpaced teens you might recognize from Rubchinskiy’s photographic work—wore his quirky S/S15 collection. Clean, sporty and classic silhouettes with high waists, contrasting tops and bottoms, timeless sneakers and vivid colours lit up the strip.

Finalizing his looks with a logo here and there, as well as distinctive accents such as a shoelace worn as a belt, the designer stayed true to his roots while reaching out to a new level. Glamcult especially appreciated the innovative mix of archetypal shirts and comfy sweats, impeccably executed in baby blue. Go Gosha!

Topman Design

Spring/Summer 2015

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Gc Update

Matthew Miller

Alexander McQueen

Spring/Summer 2015

Louise Alsop

Another Fashion East sweetheart Glamcult loves to highlight: Louise Alsop.

The womenswear designer attained her BA at the University of Westminster, which, albeit a lesser-known London art academy than the Royal College of Art and Central Saint Martins, schooled Britain’s most prominent fashion icon: Vivienne Westwood. Just like her predecessor, Louise incites the punk movement within the fashion world—a Nineties variation, that is. Her collection of comprehensible silhouettes (crop tops, skate shorts, T-shirt dresses) distinguished itself with graphic prints, layers and sheers in black, white and crocus yellow. No complex concepts or scholarly themes for Alsop: she just wants to see people wearing and enjoying her clothes: “That’s what it’s about for me.” Her streetcast girls wore Baby-Gs, white sneakers, belly chains and dreadlocks on the runway: very cyber-goth-chic. The punky iron-on patches passive-aggressively screamed “Born to Lose.” Now that’s what we call bold!

It’s no secret that Ashish is one of Glamcult’s all-time favourite designers.

We’ve featured the amiable artist— who’s been around for over a decade (!) now—numerable times. The New Delhi-born, London-based couturier pleads for a more light-hearted approach to fashion. So, like always he strewed his collection generously with shiny sequins and other sparkling materials, glorifying everyday outfits (think: track pants, jeans sweaters and shirt dresses), transforming them into cocktail-party material: we believe Ashish even bleeds glitter. But don’t be fooled by the rocks that he’s got: even though Mr Gupta is all for fun in the fashion world, he is by no means a hedonist, considering his choice of models. Seeing Chantelle Winnie sporting a chequered twin-set filled our hearts with joy: due to her auto­ immune disease, vitiligo, she would’ve been stigmatized in Ashish’s native country, India. To i-D she said: “Changing the face of beauty makes me proud.

I’m just being myself and I’m happy with myself, it’s like passing on a smile.”

Muse and artist—a happy-go-lucky match made in heaven!

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Diesel Black Gold

Ashish

Mixing a slice of (family) history with a clear political statement and his refined tailoring skills, Matthew Miller’s S/S15 collection embodied a response to the hopelessness of war. His grandfather’s ‘demob suit’—given to all returning soldiers at the end of the Second World War as part of the official reintegration process—served as this season’s starting point. The British designer deconstructed the pinstriped ensemble, mixing collage-like patchwork with classic menswear shapes and textures. “All war does is create more war,” Miller stated uncompromisingly. Velcro patch slogans reading ‘ANTI-WAR / -YOU / -society’ were emblazoned on a number of his strongest looks, while floral wreaths provided a poetic contrast to the starkness of Miller’s post-war references. Even though the flowers served as an organic accent, they most of all intensified the quiet torment that marched down the catwalk.

Oh, Sarah Burton, how you make us long for faraway places… Mixing fetish with frills, Alexander McQueen’s S/S15 collection once again delved into Asian territory, its inventor unmistakably inspired by the Japanese kimono. Burton didn’t just fall for the geisha, however; leather harnesses concurrently transformed her woman into a defiant sam­ urai. Renowned British make-up artist Pat McGrath furthered the opposition of strength and constraint by outlining the models’ faces with black glossy warrior masks, while large white orchid sculptures by Marc Quinn expressed another —ultra-sensual—extreme on the runway.

Dark romance might no longer be the most original of themes but with an execution like this, how could the dark side ever stop seducing us?

Remember when every hot city boy dreamed of being in an indie band?

That rebellious era recently revisited

by Hedi Slimane, which was also a big thing in the beginning of the Nought­ ies? Andreas Melbostad, box-fresh head designer of Diesel Black Gold, seems to love it still—and so do we.

His S/S15 man has that skinny silhouette, digs leather and lives in military boots.

Unlike Slimane’s rock’n’ roll youngsters, however, Black Gold boys are also into athletics and racetrack action.

Without any pretence they embody an eclectic mix of many things cool— much like Diesel’s show soundtrack, which ran the gamut from Missy Elliott to Modeselektor without a glitch. You might have already guessed by looking at these pages: camel is our new favourite colour. Wear it like this, and we promise we’ll get you a gig.

Spring/Summer 2015

The highly anticipated collection of LVMH prize winner Thomas Tait (quick reminder: €300,000) was set among sober décor with brightly coloured blocks painted on raw concrete walls.

Tait wasn’t rolling out these cubes himself; he asked Parisian artist Georges Rousse, known for his optical illusionary single-perspective installations, to do the job. It all had to do with the tempor­ ary: Rousse’s works stand the test of time through (photographic) documentation only, and Tait, working in the fastpaced media-fuelled fashion industry, wanted to reflect on that. His collection was clean and smooth as ever, but the designer predicted a little more naughtiness for this season with nocturnal satins, dashing asymmetrical skirts and loads of see-through pieces.

Towards the end of the show nearly every piece revealed skin, a literal reference to Rousse’s work. We were happy that Tait has started collabor­ ating and further experimenting, and we applaud anyone who reinvents skin-coloured tights!

This spring was already the sixth season for the New York-based design duo Mike Eckhaus and Zoe Latta. The two college friends and fine arts graduates from the Rhode Island School of Design decided to join forces after a period of working for impressive employers— Marc Jacobs, Mary Katrantzou, Proenza Schouler, Opening Ceremony and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, to name but a few—and release their own collections semi-annually during NYFW. The couple wasn’t officially educated to create clothing (Eckhaus studied sculpture; Latta textile design) and its presentations are often seen as performance art. For S/S15 they lined-up models in neutral beiges, soft whites, light blue denims and a gamut of nat­ ural rust- and moss-coloured fabrics and knits. While a children’s choir chanted hymns, The L Word actress Miggi Hood stomped across the catwalk in clogs, along with a trance monk with doublestacked trainers and a virgin cave man with painted tube socks. The whole thing felt sexy like the Sixties, fun like the Nineties and unclear like the 2010s. Unconventional, a little odd, but super hot.

A$AP Rocky might no longer be into it, but—sorry, darling—Glamcult is. In a (fashion) system still largely governed by conservative hierarchies, sending Boychild on to the runway with a transparent choker by James Garland and a Great Dane by her side comes as a breath of hopeful air. Sure, Shayne Oliver’s logomania might get a tad tiring at times, but Hood By Air’s slicedup street tailoring embodies a high-end statement, a rigorous critique of binary binds, which we can only endorse.

Presenting his S/S15 collection in three shows named id, superego and ego, Oliver built a narrative that was sometimes fetishist, sometimes fun and sometimes heavy, but always politically and aesthetically on point. Just imagine a hushed gospel choir singing the show soundtrack, and enough’s said. Though the night is dark and I am far from home, the storm is passing over. Hallelujah, the storm is passing over.

Hood By Air

Thomas Tait

Eckhaus Latta

Saint Laurent

There you have it: our favourite look within the big army trend. Every now and then the established fashion institutes and glamour heavyweights speak of a renewed interest in military green, camo prints and other war paraphernalia. Now that soldiers are being summoned to wear their regular clothes in the public space, we’d love to put new heart in our men. But we fear this combat jacket is as battle-worthy as it gets in Glamcult’s S/S15 overview. We love how Hedi Slimane used just this single item in his overall Seventies glam collection and incorporated golden accents on the pockets and sleeves. The red kimono-print mini dress only adds to his sophisticated cheapskate signature.

Now all we need is world peace. No pun intended.

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Gc Update

Replay proudly presents the Replay Boardroom Gallery.

In this unique exhibition space Replay provides upcoming art talent with an exceptional platform to present their outstanding work to the public in the actual boardroom of their Amsterdam office. Curated by Glamcult Studio, the Replay Boardroom Gallery offers emerging artists the stage they deserve.

First in line of the carefully selected artists to display their work is the Brussels-based duo pussykrew. The collective’s interdisciplinary practices range from innovative multimedia installations, sculptures and videos to live visuals, projections and (sound) performances. pussykrew creates visual journeys that Open to public Every Friday from 20 March until 15 May 10AM until 4PM

constantly challenge the viewer through an explor­ation of post-human identity, urban landscapes and their transformations.

For updates on the artists and their work stay tuned to: www.replayboardroomgallery.com Address Replay Boardroom Gallery Herengracht 280, Amsterdam

Initiated by

www.replayboardroomgallery.com

Albums Future Brown

Romare

Purity Ring

Björk

Tropics

Future Brown

Projections

Another Eternity

Vulnicura

Rapture

Warp

Ninja Tune

4AD / Last Gang

One Little Indian

Innovative Leisure

It’s hard not to resort to hackneyed terms such as ‘super group’ now that Future Brown’s debut has surfaced. The selftitled team effort from Nguzunguzu, Fatima Al Qadiri and J-Cush is a globetrotting, genre-bending record in which the many influences of the different artists make up for a prolific collection of anthems. Working with their very own dream line-up of vocalists, the quartet makes trill, grime, reggaeton and more sub-genres their own. Soon-to-be-astar Chicagoan Tink lends her viciousyet-seductive vocals to Room 302 and Wanna Party, while Al Qadiri’s trademark bell melodies mingle with Nguzu’s war-mongering synths. That same temper is to be witnessed on Asbestos; here it’s Ruff Sqwad general Prince Rapid devouring low-res hi-hats and sinister sampling, reminding us of the early grime days of Lord Of The Mics.

Killing Time, however, is a mystical, bassheavy production on which Chi-Town rappers turn the use of auto-tune into a lean-fuelled art form. You can recognise who did what on some of these productions, but for the most part Future Brown is heading into unexplored, wonderfully composed territories.

By Sander van Dalsum

Borrowing his name from America’s “foremost collagist” and Dizzy Gillespie collaborator Romare Bearden, Romare —without the Bearden—released his first EP, Meditations on Afrocentrism, in 2012. Support from heavyweights like Bonobo and Tiga soon followed, as well as Boiler Room sets and a clever Alt-J remix. With his infectious debut LP, Projections, Archie Fairhurst pays homage to African-American culture in the US. In the same vein as his namesake, the producer crafts a pastiche: blues, hip hop, jazz and funk elements mingle with vintage and contemporary electronics. Sampling Christian spirituals, ’70s queer disco and Nina Simone alike, Romare presents the musical alternative to an endlessly pleasant Tumblr page.

Truth be told, finding out that the goodlooking musician in question is actually based in South London had us a little surprised. Discovering that Romare aca­ demically examined African-American culture in the US made Glamcult even more curious. In fact, we’d love to talk influences, race, ethics and appropri­ ation with Romare. But until then, we’ll simply bob to the beat. By Leendert Sonnevelt

Pink seems to be the new black for Canadian duo Purity Ring, who have risen from their ghostly shrine of powerful synths to a celestial universe of bursting earth and moon. A shift in environment means a shift in sound and the electronic duo has let in just the right amount of light to make their good old witch house feel like new. The experimental production by Corin Roddick has made an interesting turn from mournful into almost hopeful, making Megan James’s vocals sound somewhat sweet and light-hearted. Add the occasional “eh, eh, eh”s and catchy piano hooks and you suddenly wonder if the duo has gotten a little more commercial. However, with powerful bangers (Dust Hymn, Stranger Than Earth) and atmospheric lyrics (“Get inside and build your castle into me…”), their sophomore album, Another Eternity, still has Purity Ring’s signature feel of distortion and state of trance we love so much. By Daniël Heijl

After breaking the internet and—all things are possible—the internet being entirely unable to break her, it feels somewhat odd to comment on Björk’s Vulnicura. Now that the media storm has slowly passed over, however, we can’t help but wonder: What now?

Björk’s ninth full-length album isn’t an easy one, after all. Weighty words such as wounded, inward, startling, desolate and wrenching have been repeated over and over to describe the heartbreak coda. “When I’m broken I am whole,” the Icelandic icon sings on her final track, Quicksand, “and when I’m whole I’m broken.” That being said, Björk wouldn’t be Björk without radiating exceptional strength —albeit the raw power of vulnerability, in this case. Talking to Pitchfork—make sure you didn’t miss the interview—she added: “It’s been a strange album— the most painful one I’ve done, but also the most magic one.” So what can we add? Blessed are the broken-hearted, the brilliant souls that somehow manage to turn their sorrow into dancing and break the web. Blessed are the Björks, the Arcas and the Antonys. By Leendert Sonnevelt

Home & Consonance was the track that eased us into Tropics’ heavenly music.

The warmth of his tunes instantly reminded us of the light filtering through the offerings of Deptford Goth, a music truly and effectively unveiling the depth of Chris Ward’s sentimental tales. The opener (and first single) Blame showcases Tropics’ greatest appeal—soothing vocals set amid flourishing piano chords and synthesized heights. In this heartfelt electronic ballad, Ward implores the subject of his affections to “blame me for all of this, just come back home”. Upon first listen, we were elated.

Indeed, with this song—along with the entire record—the multi-instrumentalist captures the essence of what has nurtured his talent. Managing to craft songs that feel equally poppy, avantgarde and ambient, he draws influence from artists like Arthur Russell and Peter Gabriel. Tropics has offered his followers a gracious first full-length that we are now dying to see in its livelier form on stage. And right now, we do indeed “blame him for all this”. By Jean-François Adjabahoué

Marika Hackman

Fyfe

Tobias Jesso Jr.

Keath Mead

Egyptrixx

We Slept At Last

Control

Goon

Sunday Dinner

Transfer of Energy [Feelings of Power]

Dirty Hit / Caroline Benelux

Believe Recordings

True Panther Sounds

Company Records

Halocline Trance

Let’s clear this up once and for all: Marika Hackman has many more interesting qualities besides being Cara Delevingne’s school friend! Her voice, for one: it’s soft, steady and wonderfully laidback. You could have heard it on one of her three EPs, which were all pretty good but not as mature and convincing as her full-length debut, We Slept At Last. On it, Hackman sings us stories like a modern-day minstrel.

She worked with Charlie Andrew, who’s known for producing Alt-J’s This Is All Yours, on which Hackman has a guest appearance alongside Conor Oberst and Lianne La Havas. And that brings us back to ‘celebrity’ name-dropping.

If it must be done, then let’s do it like this: Marika Hackman is a contemporary Marianne Faithfull (anno As Tears Go By), a British Sharon Van Etten, a folkier Warpaint woman gone solo. See how we aren’t mentioning any supermodels?

By Fay Breeman

You don’t get a second chance to make a first impression that often, especially not in the music biz. Fyfe is Paul Dixon’s second attempt to make it after he was dropped by a major record label as alias David Lyre (Patrick Wolf-esque electro-croon-pop). Dixon has reinvented himself as a songwriter, influenced by classical music and minimal electronics, topped with a semi-falsetto voice. Without any PR, management or label, his song Solace got picked up “in the momentum”. According to the blog hype, millions of Soundcloud plays and sold-out showcases, Dixon seems to have succeeded in reinventing himself. Mission accomplished? Not really, since being somewhere in the right place at the right time doesn’t make you original. And that’s why this debut already sounds slightly perished. Obviously, Dixon is talented and some songs are notable (Keep it Together, St Tropez) but the complete set doesn’t stand out. It’s derivative and soon-tobe-forgotten (again). Third time lucky?

By Matthijs van Burg

Patience is a virtue. After Tobias Jesso Jr. shared his first recording in 2013—the tender piano ballad Just A Dream—we had to wait for two whole years. But oh Lord, was it worth the wait: debut album Goon is a collection of timeless songs that will bring anyone with a life to tears.

The modern-day John Lennon reflects on the most popular of love clichés: a tough break up. Jesso Jr. doesn’t like to beat around the bush, and without pretence he whines: “Why can’t you just love me?” Kapow! Touching upon this universal pain, the Vancouver native catapults himself right into your heart with his uncomplicated yet overwhelming lullabies. His press release cautiously questions whether we’ve found the classic songwriter for our time in this nostalgic fellow. All we can say is that we’d love to make up for all of his unrequited longing. By Joline Platje

Imagine the discovery of a long-lost album from an obscure ’70s singersongwriter that had been collecting dust somewhere in the vaults of a rec­ ord company. That’s a vinyl collector’s fantasy, right? Well, it’s also how Keath Mead’s debut, Sunday Dinner, sounds.

This 25-year-old South Carolina resident flashes back to classic rock, pays tribute to psychedelic folk and manages to stay à la mode by using electronics.

Whether or not this is Toro Y Moi’s Chaz Bundick’s influence (the pair recorded the songs together), the merging of vintage and contemporary songwriting works out pretty well. It’s Broken Bells meets Todd Rundgren and Death Cab For Cutie meets The Beach Boys’ Dennis Wilson. Grow Up comprises comingof-age lyrics and beautifully sung harmonies, Navy is a Lou Reed-inspired guitar-riffed song to remember, Holiday an AM-friendly soundtrack for your road trip. Discover Sunday Dinner before it’s Discogs’ highest-priced record in 2055.

By Matthijs van Burg

If David Psutka were a filmmaker, his movies would most likely be archived between science-fiction classics like Ridley Scott’s Alien and George Miller’s Mad Max. The Toronto-based producer operating under the Egyptrixx moniker has a knack for creating dark, thematic ambient music, in which the listener gets deeply entranced. On Transfer of Energy [Feelings of Power], the producer depicts a barren, post-apocalyptic landscape—where the last inhabitants of a demolished earth dance to industrial techno. In contrast with his first Night Slugs album, this third record on his own Halocline Trance label is a minim­ alist offering. While Conduit [Repo] is a frigid dance-floor killer, Mirror Etched on Shards of Amethyst is as atmospheric as the title suggests, while retaining the same tone. Let’s hope Egyptrixx discovers a hidden talent for moviemaking—or at least uses his gifts as a producer to score a film in the near future. By Sander van Dalsum

22

Gc Update

Interviews

Earrings Calvin Klein

By Leendert Sonnevelt Photography: Tyson Ernste Visual direction: Karen van Binsbergen and Tyson Ernste All clothing Siki Im S/S15

Styling: Ekaterina Razgonova—Eric Elenbaas Agency Hair and make-up: Carlos Saidel—House of Orange Model: Jelle—IAmELK Agency

What happens to humankind as technology becomes ever more intelligent? It is this dilemma that Siki Im explores in his S/S15 collection Human/Machine. With a distinct interdisciplinary approach, the designer questions the (future) relationship between the physical and the mechanical through critical design. “Fashion lives beyond technology, not within. Fashion is emotional.

Fashion is imperfect, and free.�

Sunglasses Etnia Barcelona, earrings Calvin Klein

Siki Im

26

Siki Im

There are very few fashion designers whose brainwaves are as candidly structured and publicly shared as those of Siki Im. A single glance at the website of the NYC-based designer reveals a detailed overview of his musings, themes, influences and—ultimately—the beautiful menswear collections they lead to.

Siki Im is not a designer who often takes the spotlight. Instead it’s his work—the thought processes as much as the finished products—that repeatedly grabs the attention. Which makes Glamcult all the more curious. Who is the man behind a steady oeuvre of laudable collections?

And what keeps him busy from day to day? The answer to the latter is charmingly uncomplicated: “Usually I go running or meditate in the morning. I make my own yoghurt, watch YouTube, read the newspaper and then go into the studio by 10am until… Unfortunately I don’t have much time or energy for a social life. I watch a lot of HBO shows, that’s my vice.”

To the first question, however, the answer must be found between the lines. “My job is to propose different ideas and to question them. I’m not here to give answers and endings.

I have an opinion that you can call ‘pol­ itical’, but I don’t think there is only one.

I am not black or white, red or blue (in the American sense). I’m interested in the in-betweens.” Perhaps surprisingly to some, Siki Im’s academic background is not in fashion, but in architecture. “I was always interested in fashion and style, but never had formal training nor applied for a job in fashion,” he explains.

“I was blessed enough that people approached me and liked me.” Yet ten seasons after his very first collection, the connection to Siki Im’s original discip­ line remains strong. “I believe archi­ tecture is not just the study of buildings and exteriors, but also of spaces or voids—be they psychological, polit­ ical, social or spiritual. The same goes with fashion. Fashion is not just about clothes but also about intangible and invisible notions. Each collection is a study and research. I want to tell a compelling story. A lot of time, thought and energy go into each one.”

For the Spring/Summer season of 2015, Siki Im found inspiration in a revered post-modern thinker, a Hollywood blockbuster and the alleged father of cyberpunk—all to explore the relationship

between human and machine. The strict division between fashion and science, a severance still often upheld, definitely does not apply to the designer’s practice: “I think science is a very broad term,” he counters. “What interests me always is the psychological, social and anthropological side of design, which includes fashion. These are sciences; they’re not separate from design or fashion. But everyone has a different, valid viewpoint.

Even in the fast retail and garment world there is a science; that of economics and marketing.” That being said, translating complicated concepts into clothing is all but simple. “That is the biggest problem of any creative. The good thing is, in fashion you have the parameters of commerce, branding and actual clothes. These can help. I am not doing art here.”

Once again, Siki Im leaves us puzzled. If his fashion isn’t a form of art, what is? Do art or artists inspire his work?

“In the creative sphere there are many,” he clarifies. “Buckminster Fuller, Bauhaus, Mies Architectuur, Rem Koolhaas, Steve Jobs, Dieter Rams, Johann Sebastian Bach, Martin Margiela, Rei Kawakubo, Wu-Tang Clan, My Bloody Valentine…

27

But I get more inspired by the ideas of people who want to create better and humane environments at work, in life and spirituality.” It’s not just humans that have an inspirational effect on Siki Im, however. If anything—or should we say, anyone?—influenced Human/Machine, it was WALL·E. Yup, that’s the 2008 Disney/ Pixar film. “That movie is truly one of my favourites,” he says, smiling. “It’s crazy that only half of the movie has verbal dialogue and the first half is just slapstick with a mute robot! It’s incredible how you can personalize and feel WALL·E. The storyline is just so honest and pretty dark and messed up—for a blockbuster animation it’s unthinkable. It’s a social critique. I hope people pay attention and don’t get too dependent on their smartphones and computers.”

Once again, Siki Im touches on one of his many inspirations. “Nomophobia”, reads his website, referring to the fear that is also known as no-mobile-phonephobia. “We are habitual people. Not that long ago we made mixtapes, sent postcards to friends and actually talked.

Now we text, have friends look us up on Instagram and use dating apps. That’s all good, but we need to be careful not

Gc Interview

28

Earrings and bracelet Calvin Klein

Siki Im

to lose our handwriting. If this [technological dependence] is unpleasant or somehow hindering us from being free, there might be an issue.” But how does the fashion designer himself deal with this 21st-century angst? “I don’t want to be a hypocrite: I have nomophobia as well. I need to discipline myself. I don’t do social media. In the mornings I don’t read email until I go to the studio, but read the news right away when I wake up. I’m also trying to text less and write thank-you notes with a fountain pen.”

Human/Machine reflects the dichotomy of technology and anthropology. Not only does the collection depict Siki Im’s fascination with robots, aircrafts

and drones, it also comments on the future of mankind. Unlike the Futurist proclamation of the late 20th century, however, Siki Im’s multidisciplinary view of things to come is not “a bleak crooked cyberspace with stiff sterile uniforms”, dominated by machinery. Instead, he has envisioned a combination of the bionic and the robotic with the natural, the soft and the airy: the human. Symmetry and asymmetry are employed to complement each other. Robotic shapes are balanced out with tie-dye prints.

“Trust me, I’m not a fan of the Grateful Dead,” the designer laughs. “The tie-dye is present because I wanted to have something visual on the garments that

could represent the closest to human imperfection. I think dyeing, which is a beautiful ancient process, solved it. Also, I’ve been surfing a lot and wanted to bring in that nature/human aspect. Why do surfers wear tie-dye?”

He continues: “When you think of the future in a materialistic and aesthetic sense, then you’re likely thinking of Star Trek, The Jetsons and Blade Runner. But I don’t want the future to look like this— even though I love Blade Runner. I don’t want to wear uniforms and look like every­ one else! Jean Baudrillard once said: ‘Science fiction has absolutely no prophetic value. It has practically nothing to do with the real future of technological

29

development…’ Design has become more complex and sophisticated, but also very generic, in my opinion.” But the designer does not pretend to be a fortune-teller either. “I don’t know what the future of fashion looks like. I don’t care. I just hope it will be interesting, challenging and fun. I hope we humans will always have the consciousness of individuality, self-expression, freedom and dependence on nature. That’s why I love WALL·E. We will die if we don’t touch each other.” www.sikiim.com

Gc Interview

By Danielle van Dongen and Leendert Sonnevelt Photography: Lea Colombo and Oliver Hadlee Pearch

Vetements Shrouded in a veil of ambiguity, Vetements stepped out of and into fashion in 2014. A mere year later, the Paris-based “team of individuals” is enchanting both lovers and critics of the fashion arena. The label is like an oxymoron in itself, the garments subtle but outspoken, dreamlike but ironic, eerie but comfortable. Led by curiosity and appreciation, Glamcult got you the nuts and bolts of the stylish collective. Let us introduce you.

Tell us about the name. Why did you go for this straightforward signature?

We didn’t want to use a personal name, but a generic one that expressed our approach. We make up a mixed collective that is based in Paris, so “Vetements” came naturally and it really expresses all we want to do in fashion.

The name was a unanimous thought in January 2014, just before the launch of our first collection in March. That was the moment when our thoughts started to materialize.

So when exactly was Vetements born?

In the summer of 2013. Demna Gvasalia [former senior designer at Louis Vuitton and Maison Martin Margiela] founded the brand with a couple of friends and ex-colleagues.

Could you describe your vision in a few words?

Vetements stands for the study of clothes about clothes.

With various individuals forming one collective, how do you manage to find common ground?

Is it ever challenging to find each other aesthetically?

It’s a permanent discussion and dialogue. In order to achieve the right result, we go through a lot of brainstorming. It’s really all about teamwork.

Could you describe the process of making a Vetements collection?

Who does what?

It starts with general brainstorming about what would we like to see people wear in six months’ time—what vibe, what type of garments—and then it grows into fabric research, imagery, trying out new shapes and ways of wearing clothes, the attitudes this can create. Then three months of constant fittings and adjustments follow, the perfecting of each garment.

Your designs go beyond conventional boundaries, yet they’re very wearable. How important is this?

The balance is vital! We definitely want to make wearable and desirable clothes, but they can’t be basics. We work around the wardrobe but always look for ways to put our designs into a new context.

Your history at Maison Martin Margiela, Balenciaga and Céline is—of course—often mentioned in the press. How do you deal with recurring comparisons to these iconic fashion houses?

The places we worked at have defined a part of our aesthetic, but Vetements is a new story, not linked to the past but to our present.

What does “gender” mean to you?

How does it relate to what you do?

Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to, and differentiating between, masculinity and femininity, if we have to believe Wikipedia. We think the idea of gender is outdated.

You’ve clearly stated that Vetements wants to move outside the established frame of the fashion industry. How is that aim translated into your S/S15 collection?

We didn’t create a collection with a seasonal theme, as our approach is making whatever garments we want to make, without a necessary thematic link between the pieces. What puts them together is the person wearing the clothes.

Your Collar shirt has quickly become a key piece. What’s its story?

We love the simplicity of a tight black T-shirt, and the word “collar”, in its straight-forwardness, questions that simplicity. There is absolutely a sense of irony to it.

We love the strong and unconventional characters you picked for this season’s show and look book. Who is the customer for whom you create?

She’s an individual: a woman with her own strong character who has no frame to fit in. She’s cool, has a sense of style and loves wearing clothes.

Despite becoming more and more well known, will anonymity always be an important characteristic of Vetements?

No, anonymity is not the fundamental characteristic for us. We simply prefer to put our product in the foreground, rather than the people behind it and their stories. We don’t want to be anonymous; we want our work to be the turning point of our brand. www.vetementswebsite.com

31

Gc Interview

Happy Birthday!!, 2014, HD video with 5.1 surround sound, 6 minutes, courtesy of the artist and Cabinet, London (UK)

By Joline Platje

Ed Atkins, moving-image artist, performer and poet, is one of the coolest representatives within the field of digital art. With characteristic dark humour, he critiques our fascination with virtual worlds by creating his own, using the digital body to remind us of our own physicality.

Glamcult asked him about (not) being born in the digital era, CGI and magic.

33

Gc Interview

Even Pricks, 2013, 16:10 HD video with 5.1 surround sound, 8 minutes (looped), courtesy of the artist and Cabinet, London (UK)

Ed Atkins

It should come as no surprise that a digital artist prefers to do interviews by email rather than phone, face-to-face or even Skype. Despite the fact that most of his works feature talking heads—and even his own voice—Glamcult has not had the honour of actually seeing Ed Atkins talk about his work except in YouTube clips. Which is a shame—especially given that his answers are rascally, deadpan and, most of all, intriguing. Of his formative years—born in Oxford in 1982; grew up in a small village in North Oxfordshire; attended the local comprehensive school; moved to London for his undergraduate degree at Central Saint Martins; completed his MA in 2009 at the presti­ gious Slade School of Fine Art—he insists there are no fun or noteworthy facts.

Using cutting-edge digital technologies in both production and display, Atkins is best known for his high-definition videos, surround soundtracking and digital compositing—rather than his drawings and collages, which are equally impressive and just as sinister as his digital works. But it wasn’t until 2012 “or so” that Atkins entered the field of computer-generated imagery as an artist: “I was struggling to work out what to point a camera at, what a photographic representation could possibly bring that was critical and new, to its subject.

CGI eludes this problem: it’s generative.

I can build from scratch, cleave very very close to discourse as the images

generated never fall back into the imminence of reality but rather skirt it palpably,” he explains. In doing so, Atkins investigates the way we experience reality in a world that is becoming ever more virtual, addressing existential questions about how love, sex, death and relationships are experienced in a digitalized, disembodied world.

Widely considered one of the most authentic and factually one of the most talked-about artists of his generation, it is often said that Atkins is working on the artistic frontlines of the “digital native” generation. Atkins himself, however, being in his early thirties, rejects that descriptor: “I think I’m too old to be a digital native, so far as I understand the term: I wasn’t born into a world of computers and the internet.” But on a personal level at least, Atkins is far from mournful not be entirely at home at all fronts in the digital: “There’s a vast swathe of life and lives and the world that has nothing to do with any kind of digital. Insofar as ‘digital natives’ (and I don’t think the term has much of a proper grounding) might privilege the digital as the predominant condition, they might be pretty shit at coping with other things—things that happen when the power goes out.”

Atkins’ videos combine animated faces, body parts, animals, liquids— basically all the things that are most difficult to animate digitally—with repeti­ tive fragments of spoken texts, poetry,

music and rhythmic sound to create a grim fantasy world in which the body is a digital fantasy. Commenting on social networking and virtual societies, Atkins’ way of working connects with these worlds, in which we can play different versions of ourselves. Working predominantly on his laptop, Atkins builds avatars of himself, using his own voice and movements to animate his raw and emotional digital doppelgangers; the artist is literally acting in his videos.

“I think of an expansion of the term ‘performance’, to include the processing power of a computer, the ways in which something succeeds at being ‘real’, at being convincing. In these terms, my videos pitch themselves.”

Atkins’ most remarkable CGI performance, No-one Is More ‘Work’ Than Me, lasted eight hours. “It was a little draining, but far easier that any other working day,” he quips. In it, the to-scale, shaved and tattooed 3D head makes a desperate bid for his own humanity.

Observing a real-life person activating an avatar, witnessing a digital alter ego becoming a convincing person, makes the viewer all the more aware of his or her life in the physical world. And this is precisely Atkins’ intention when creating his hyper-real worlds inhabited by chain-smoking, alcohol-driven thugs, monkeys and disembodied hands.

Atkins’ newest cosmos can be entered this spring at Amsterdam’s Stedelijk

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Museum, which will present his first exhib­ ition in the Netherlands, Recent Ouija.

The museum’s ground-floor gallery will be transformed into an immersive envir­ onment of monumental operatic videos, collages and drawings. But what can we expect from the somewhat ominously titled Recent Ouija? “A chorus of works from the last two years, all of which speak to performance, representation, bodies and alienation. It’ll be a riot,” Atkins assures us. Of the title, he says: “I really like it! Ouija is a term for the board used, more or less jokily, to summon spirits, demons, whatever—who then communicate via a planchette that skates over letters, numbers and ‘Yes / No’. To me, it speaks of language, possession, occultism, symbolism, belief and genre: horror, a certain ambience and hauntings.

Magic is a disease of language.” It’ll doubtlessly be just as deadpan cool as the original soul himself—or his dark avatars. But we’re wondering how this non-digital native thinks the digital world will develop. “I really don’t know.

Mine is a responsive, discursive position —not prophesying or, indeed, particularly hopeful.” Just as we feared. www.edatkins.co.uk Recent Ouija will be on display at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam until 31 May 2015.

Ribbons, 2014, Three channel 4:3 in 16:9 HD video with three 4.1 channel surround soundtracks, 13 minutes 18 seconds (looped), courtesy of Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (NL) 2015

Happy Birthday!!, 2014, HD video with 5.1 surround sound, 6 minutes, courtesy of the artist and Cabinet, London (UK)

Ed Atkins

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Gc Interview

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By Leendert Sonnevelt Photography: Trine Hisdal—Tinagent

Top FWSS, jacket RAVN via Høyer Eger, skirt Ganni, bracelet H&M

Styling: Lotte Shephard—Pudder Agency Hair: Lene Skaug—Style Management Make-up: Kjersti Andreassen—Style Management Assistant photography: Torjus Berglid Assistant styling: Vilde Bjørnødegård

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Susanne Sundfør Releasing a collection of ten intricate gems last month, Norwegian pop virtuoso Susanne Sundfør demonstrated that love songs do not have to be about happy endings. “I actually wanted to make an album about violence. As I wrote the songs, it turned out to be about love.”

We wanted to believe that love Could lift us and above But they wouldn’t Follow It is with this heartbreaking excerpt that Susanne Sundfør announced her fifth full-length album last spring. It is also this song lyric that haunts the opening track of Ten Love Songs, which explores all dimensions of its main subject: love.

Sundfør’s initial concept was anything but sweet, she tells Glamcult: “I actually wanted to make an album about violence. Why? I don’t know. But as I wrote the songs, it turned out to be about love.

It’s very contradictory.” Shifting in a range of directions in terms of sound, the 28-year-old artist adopted an approach that she describes as straightforward.

“It’s difficult to call it dark or light, negative or positive. Maybe these love songs are more mysterious than my former work.

It’s hard to explain it another way than to say they’re more straightforward.”

Releasing five records before the age of 29 is anything but a given, especially for a musician whom many are yet to discover. “I guess I just started early!” Sundfør answers lightly. “I’ve been doing this since I was 19. I released my first album when I was 21, and then I just kept going. I like to create new material, I like to be productive.” For those looking for answers online, Wikipedia provides

a somewhat unusual introduction, noting in the second sentence that the Norwegian singer-songwriter is “the second granddaughter of linguist Kjell Aartun.”

“Yes, that’s how Wikipedia works!”

Sundfør laughs. “Just write whatever you want… You know, a friend of mine created that article many years ago, even before my first album came out.

There were some errors in there—for example, about the artists I’m inspired by. I’ve tried to correct it, but people keep changing it back!” Regarding her grandfather, Sundfør concludes: “He’s still a scientist, his expertise lies in ancient languages from the Middle East, and he’s very good at it. But let’s get off this side track…”

It was Sundfør’s third work, The Brothel, which garnered her much international and critical acclaim. Additionally, collaborations with the likes of Röyksopp, Kleerup and M83 paved the way from critical to popular approval.

“I love working together,” Sundfør explains. “That’s not necessarily a conscious choice. I’ve been privileged to work with so many talented people. If I like the people that ask me and I like their music, I simply do it.” Commenting on her contribution to Röyksopp’s final album, she adds: “It’s very inspiring because they’re great songwriters and have so much knowledge about music— both technically and historically. It’s also

great to have people who are good at mixing vocals. No one makes my vocals sound better than Röyksopp.”

If anything has changed throughout her young but established career, it’s the way Sundfør approaches her own work. “I think I’ve become more outgoing, more sure of myself. When I started making music, I didn’t have any studio experience. I didn’t know many musicians and didn’t know what to ask for when we were recording. The same was true for the live stuff. Now that I do, it’s easier for me to be very specific about what I want. That’s why I decided to produce most of Ten Love Songs myself. It’s really cool to end up doing my own material.”

Working entirely alone is not the artist’s ideal situation, however. “It’s very intense work, all this responsibility can be exhausting. Working by yourself doesn’t have to be motivating or creative. I am a very social person and love sharing ideas with people. Yet I was fixated on producing this myself; I now know what I want.” Starting out with very small blocks, Sundfør’s creative process is typified by its gradual build-up: “I usually collect the ideas that are on my mind— melodies, lyrics, bass lines, et cetera.

Then I try to find the things they have in common: a concept or even an album title. And then I start working on the music.”

Whereas Sundfør’s previous album, The Silicone Veil, carried a dark, even

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threatening aura, her latest single Fade Away is a poppy ballad in which the singer’s voice swirls over an optimistic disco beat. “Yes, it’s definitely the most poppy song on my new record,” she confirms. “Can you hear the difference?

I produced this one myself!” That being said, Fade Away is not necessarily representative of Sundfør’s compilation of love songs—which references JS Bach and delves into pulsating trance and techno in a matter of minutes. “Corny” would be the very last term to describe Sundfør’s depiction of l’amour. And yet the artist wouldn’t find that problematic at all. “I like cheesy,” she laughs. “I think it’s important that an artist objects to what people find ‘correct’ to like, questioning what is defined as good and bad art. A lot of acts were described as cheesy ten years ago, but now they’re experiencing a huge revival. Their music was actually really good.” We can’t help but wonder: what love songs would Sundfør herself listen to? “That’s a very tricky question,” she thinks aloud. “I think Wuthering Heights by Kate Bush is the best pop song ever written, so maybe that one?” www.susannesundfor.com

Gc Interview

By Leendert Sonnevelt Photography: Sanja Marušić Your first song to make waves was The Lake. Tell us about it.

That’s an interesting question, because that song was very defining for my musical direction. I wrote it with Ben Drew [also known as Plan B] a few years ago. It was the first time we worked together, and Ben was the one who told me it should be a piano song rather than a guitar song. People connected with it. Wherever I play, I always get asked to play The Lake.

How do you usually write?

It’s different every time! When I was writing songs for my new EP, it was really just me in my house. Working on my first record, I started off entirely different: without instruments. I would produce sounds on my laptop, and teach myself how to play them afterwards. I don’t think I have a real process; I tend to just sing into my phone. Most of my ideas are born when I’m out and about, so there are loads of voice notes on my iPhone.

It would be odd to speak to you without touching on your collaboration with SBTRKT. How did that happen?

I basically just got an email!

[Laughs] I said YES, obviously. A week after our first conversation I went to his

Denai Moore Growing up in London, Denai Moore would secretly play her father’s keyboard even before strumming her first guitar at the age of ten. Just a decade later, the gloomy folk-pop songstress shares the stage with heavyweights like electronic allrounder SBTRKT and star producer Rodaidh McDonald (The xx, Adele, How To Dress Well). Glamcult met Denai and discovered that—despite her beautiful melancholy—dreams do come true.

house. He played the tracks that he had in mind for me and days later I wrote the lyrics. It all went really fast, but he’s one of the nicest people I’ve met and he’s extremely inspiring in terms of pushing sonic boundaries.

Touring with SBTRKT has also been great.

Before we toured together, I’d never played for so many people. I actually got to play in New York City with him; they flew me out just to sing The Light.

“Tell me, am I the only one? Getting lonelier and losing love in my heart.” Are those words from The Light about you?

Yeah… I’m really fascinated by the fact that the internet makes people stay in a lot. At least, I do! Whether it’s making music or spending time online all weekend, it’s now very easy to lose track of what’s going on in the real world. That’s where the inspiration for that song came from.

We’ve noticed you’ve been paying tribute to St. Vincent on Instagram.

Does she influence what you do?

Yes, Annie Clark is amazing. I admire artists that are really bold and uncompromising. St. Vincent is one of the women who’s not afraid to push herself.

She says what she wants to say. When

I listened to her last record, it felt like I was hearing something entirely new.

I appreciate artists like Kanye and Bon Iver for the same reason. They don’t make music people expect them to make—and that’s incredible.

From the editors of Vogue Paris to Glamcult, the fashion-minded seem to be extra fond of you.

Yes, but don’t ask me why! People tell me I’m fashionable, but I really have no clue. Maybe it ties into the boldness that I was speaking about earlier. Take another good look at St. Vincent, for example. Her strength is visible in the way she dresses.

Let’s talk about your new EP. The subject matter seems to be rather weighty.

Yes, it is. I wrote I Swore after having a really long writer’s block. Whenever I can’t write, I get really strange. I get really weird. Music is the central point of my life, so when I can’t write, I go crazy.

I start to do things I don’t normally do.

That’s why I sing: I swear at my mother, I swear at my father. That’s something I would never do, I would never swear at my parents! The songs are all about losing myself. I got to work on this EP with James Vincent McMorrow, whom I

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saw live about two or three years ago.

It’s so bizarre that I now have a song together with one of my favourite artists.

Your dreams are coming true.

Yes, and that feels really strange.

The circle is full now. I supported Bon Iver’s Volcano Choir recently, and he’s been giving me some great advice.

These things are happening! As for my first album, it’s kind of there and ready to be released. I actually saw Taylor Swift speaking about this the other day…

About your album?

I wish! [Laughs] But no, about releasing her own album. She described it as sending her baby to school, which felt like a great description to me. I started on some of the songs years ago; I’ve seen them grow. Hearing a little sentence from one of my notebooks over club speakers now is crazy. I’ve listened to my songs for so long, I know them inside out. But I don’t know who will listen to them, I don’t know who will cherish them.

And I will probably never know. www.denaimoore.com

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Gc Interview

65 Years of Clarks Desert Boots

Timeless Craftsmanship

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This year, Clarks Originals will be celebrating the 65th anniversary of its iconic Desert Boot, a shoe that resembled nothing anyone had seen at the time of release. A shoe so radical, no one could have imagined it would become the classic it is today. Famed for its unique combination of crêpe sole and suede upper, the latter has been created of the finest hides from English tanner Charles F Stead since the boot’s inception. Because even though shoemaker Nathan Clark proved himself a forward-thinker, he was also devoted to timeless craftsmanship.

Today, the Leeds-based family factory Charles F Stead continues to supply the buttery suede that defines the Clarks Desert Boot’s distinctive look.

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Charles F Stead was founded in 1895. For almost two centuries the tannery has been refining its techniques while staying true to its heritage. The quality of its leathers and suedes is checked by hand to ensure only the finest materials are used for each

Advertorial

pair of Clarks shoes: every hide is carefully inspected for cuts and scars before approval for use. And for consistency, the inspectors also ensure that every pair of Desert Boots is made from the same skin.

65 Years of Clarks Desert Boots The foundation of every Clarks boot is the last: it determines the shape of the shoe.

At Clarks, the artisans favour handmade, hornbeam wooden ones, since they neither shrink, expand nor bend. Every last is thoroughly smoothed and measured to a perfect fit, sanded and filed by the best last crafters in the industry.

From Cairo...

The Clarks Desert Boot was initially inspired by a suede boot made in a Cairo bazaar for British Eighth Army officers, and soon became a favourite among generations of youth cultures, each incorporating it into their original style.

Before some dozen subcultures embraced the Clarks Desert Boot—praising it for its comfortable fit and nonchalant coolness—it was the so-called ‘Desert Rats’ that inspired the trend. Back in 1941, dur­ ing the Second World War, the young shoemaker Nathan Clark was sent to Asia as part of the Royal Army Service Corps to join forces with the British Eighth Army, which had just served in the desert

of Northern Africa. Clark observed these veterans, known as ‘The Desert Rats’, wearing their peculiar-looking rough ankle boots off duty, and immediately understood that this war-time shoe— especially designed for these elite troops by cobblers working in the Khan el-Khalili market in Egypt—were going to be a major hit back home if he made some adjustments to the design. In the last six and a half decades, British Teddy boys, mods, Hollywood movie stars, Jamaican rude boys and Noughties hipsters have all adopted the comfortable crêpe-soled shoe to perfect their look and express their allegiances.

...to Kingston One of the many tribes that have claimed the Clarks Desert Boot are Jamaica’s rude boys, a nickname originating from the early 1960s for the disillusioned young men from the poorest, most turbulent and overcrowded streets of the island.

The expensive, well-crafted and supercomfortable Clarks Desert Boot swiftly became the hottest item among this subculture. All the rude boys on the streets in Kingston wanted to get up, stand up in style—and they weren’t alone in their dedication: famous Jamaican music producers including Trinity and Bunny ‘Striker’ Lee all wore their swaggy footwear with pride. Clarks Desert Boots are de ting!

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To find out more about the Clarks Desert Boot visit www.clarks.com

By Edgar Jacobson Photo: Yaël Temminck

TOPS A product of the much-mythologized Arbutus Records loft scene (breeding ground for Glamcult favs Grimes and Sean Nicholas Savage), Montréal-based quartet TOPS is spreading its wings with sophomore album Picture You Staring, capturing Europe and the Americas by storm with ’80s-inflected sugary indie-rock.

Two girls and two guys: symmetry seems to be key for this Canadian art-pop band, who burst on to the scene with debut single Turn Your Love Around, which received rave reviews back in 2012. Likewise, the name of the band, although chosen at random, as elatedyet-earnest singer Jane Penny explains— “We just wrote down a lot of words when we started the band and then we liked that one”—appealed because: “I like that there’s just four letters and there’s four of us.”

TOPS was born when Penny and guitarist David Carriere, who’ve known each other since they were 13, started collaborating in 2009. “We added Riley to the band because he’s badass,” they explain of the addition of drummer Riley Fleck—the only American in the band. “He was, like, practicing drums for hours every day in the same studio as us so we felt, like, Well, he’s pretty good.

He has great timing.” The band was completed with the addition of bass player Madeline Glowicki in 2013—who Penny went to elementary school with and who’s being replaced by Jenny Roberts while the band is touring. “I’ve known Jenny for a long time, and she’s always been, like, a musician that I really admire,” Penny hastily sets Glamcult’s mind at rest.

Hailing from the Montréal art-pop scene—and launching at the height of

label-mate Grimes’ popularity—the city’s aesthetic has indelibly informed the band. As Carriere puts it: “Nobody cares about you, so you don’t have to care about anybody. You don’t get a lot of hate or judgement and you can do whatever you want.” That climate has produced artists as diverse as Arcade Fire, The Unicorns, Suuns and Braids, because, Penny confirms, the scene is about people rather than a certain kind of music: “There’s a lot of openness and it’s not like anyone’s trying to do a certain thing. Everyone’s doing their own thing.”

The success of certain Montréal musicians has, perhaps inevitably, produced a plethora of wannabes, and after a long day in the studio TOPS like nothing better than to have a beer and check out the “competition”. But how do they relate to fellow Arbutus Records artists? “Well, Sean [Nicholas Savage] has been in Europe for a long time. And I think Grimes—Claire—is now living in LA, and she’s part of some whole other world. We did hang out with her a couple of years ago in Montréal, but she’s moved to a different pasture I guess,” says Penny, adding with a laugh: “Maybe a greener one—I don’t know.”

Penny is quick to laugh, and describes herself as the squirrel of the group: she likes to run around and occasionally wants to destroy things—just

like the baby squirrels on her balcony.

Carriere is the funny man of the group— a duck, Penny says, while Jenny is the koala: sweet but with a temperamental edge. About Fleck they agree: “He’s a dolphin, playful and peaceful. Riley is very peaceful.” While that menagerie may sound like a disaster waiting to happen, having starting TOPS as friends has given the band a stable and joyful basis: “We don’t fight. Well, we haven’t fought yet…” they laugh.

That positive group dynamic is at the core of TOPS’ success, leading to an open-minded, creative music-making process. Penny and Carriere write the majority of the lyrics, but it’s an organic process: “Lots of times we’ll start jamming songs before there’s, like, words,” says Penny. “Usually the more quieter, the softer songs, start more written and with the more band-orientated ones, the music starts and then the words, like, fit.”

Carriere totally agrees: “Yeah, usually it’s me dabbling on the guitar and then we add lyrics and we’re like: It’s not good, whatever, and then we practice and Riley helps with the arrangements.”

Of their relationship to their fans, Penny says: “People would tell me their personal stuff—what connects them to the music. It’s strange, because I see more of them than they would see of me.”

Expressing feelings—rather than literal

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lyrics—is just what their music is all about.

“We really believe that songs exist outside the person that creates them.

They can possess a quality but they have lots of their own. You leave that. You leave it to do something.” That sense of letting go is perfectly captured on the last song of their sophomore album, Destination, as Penny explains: “You want to be in the same place with everybody but you don’t really live with them any more. And that’s okay.”

As for the future, Penny feels both in and out of control: “I think, as an artist, you can determine things a little bit more.

You can plan what you’re going to say in your videos and your songs and how it’s all contextualized. I feel like we conceptualize that. I kind of see it as a way to have some authority over who I am. Have some legacy or something.” Or as drummer Fleck puts it: “Destiny works backwards. I mean, you look back; I’m here now and I was meant to be here and then you see the path and everything makes sense... But it doesn’t work forwards.”

Letting go, it seems, is the only option. www.tttopsss.com

Gc Interview

ECLIPSE ART SS 2015 Hair composition handcrafted

by Michael Polsinelli & Shay Dempsey.

Created with Liquid Steel, Shine Shaker and Re-Shaper

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WHAT’S NEXT.

Visual Essays

Spring/Summer 2015 McQ by Alexander McQueen

Shoes Robert Clergerie

Spring/Summer 2015 Meadham Kirchhoff

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Spring/Summer 2015 Kenzo

Jacket Moncler

Spring/Summer 2015 Issey Miyake

Shoes Robert Clergerie

Spring/Summer 2015 Diesel Black Gold

Shirt COS, jewellery stylist’s own

Spring/Summer 2015 Matthew Miller

Photography: Michiel Meewis—CAKE Film & Photography Styling: Madeleine Østlie Hair: Kiyoko Make-up: Michelle Boggs Set design: George Lewin Assistant photography: Sami Havuluoto Assistant set design: Bryony Edwards and Elsie Abdy Collins

Left: shirt and top Acne Studios, skirt Maison Martin Margiela, shoes MM6 by Maison Martin Margiela

Right: shirt Chanel, jumpsuit Won Hundred

Left: jumpsuit Azzedine Ala誰a, sandals Dr. Martens

Right: dress Jacquemus

Left: jumper and sandals Sportmax, shorts Maison the Faux

Right: top Azzedine Ala誰a, skirt Loewe by JW Anderson

Left: top Peet Dullaert, trousers Yohji Yamamoto

Right: jacket Trussardi, top Maison Martin Margiela, pants MM6 by Maison Martin Margiela, sandals Marni

Photography: Jouke Bos—Witman Kleipool Styling: Venus Waterman—Eric Elenbaas Agency Hair: Hester Wernert-Rijn for Wella and Balmain Hair—UNSPOKEN Make-up: Kathinka Gernant for Chanel—UNSPOKEN Model: Sophie Vlaming—Wilma Wakker Model Management Assistants photography: Anne Noa Moolhuijsen and Merel Klaassen Assistants styling: Giedre Malinauskaite and Selen Kan Assistant hair: Chris Völkers Set design and furniture: Sajocha Talirz

Call for applications Sandberg Instituut Temporary Master’s programme 2015–2017 Fashion Matters Course director Christophe Coppens Apply before April 1st 2015 Sandberg Instituut Amsterdam Masters of art and design Part of the Gerrit Rietveld Academie www.sandberg.nl/fashionmatters

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