Issue Seventy NINE DECEMBer 2017
John Boyega
Luxury • Culture • People • Style • Heritage
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Contents dECEMbEr 2017 : ISSUE 79
Editorial Editorial director
John Thatcher Managing Editor
Faye Bartle Editor
Chris Ujma
air
christopher@hotmediapublishing.com
art art director
Kerri Bennett designer
Jamie Pudsey illustrations
Leona Beth
CoMMErCial Managing director
Victoria Thatcher Group Commercial director
David Wade
david@hotmediapublishing.com Commercial director
Rawan Chehab
rawan@hotmediapublishing.com
ProduCtion Production Manager
Muthu Kumar
Forty Four
Fifty Six
Playing a stormtrooper gonegood in the latest chapters of Star Wars, John Boyega’s force has truly awakened
Claudia Schiffer takes us behind-the-scenes of her most iconic shoot, when she became a living doll
Fifty
Sixty
From Trump to the Queen: a tell-all from Annie Leibovitz reveals the truth surrounding the flash
Lou Stoppard examines the well-balanced and sacred intricacies of fashion’s greatest duos, in a new book
Golden Boy
Framework
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Play Date
Together Forever
Contents
AIR
DECEMBER 2017 : ISSUE 79
Eighteen
Sixty Six
The Pirelli calendar never tires of pushing the envelope; this year, it’s a trip to Tim Walker’s Wonderland
Noble Automotive is on a valiant supercar quest – to hand driving control back to the analogue enthusiast
Twenty Eight
Seventy
Look a little deeper at the layered artwork of JeanMichel Basquiat: the late legend was boom for real
Armed with a library of 14th century cookbooks, Ashley Palmer-Watts helms Dinner by Heston Blumenthal
Thirty Four
Seventy Four
An 18th-century muse allows Ferdinand Berthoud to draw inspiration from horology’s once-forgotten great
There’s snow place like Gstaad, and Le Grand Bellevue is a perfect slice of Swiss winter wonder
Radar
Art & Design
Timepieces
Motoring
Gastronomy
Travel
From Thirty Eight
Jewellery
The red carpet stealth of Avakian; plus inside a jewellery masterclass from L’Ecole Van Cleef & Arpels
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Tel: 00971 4 364 2876 Fax: 00971 4 369 7494 Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission from HOT Media Publishing is strictly prohibited. HOT Media Publishing does not accept liability for omissions or errors in AIR.
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Elegance is an attitude Simon Baker
The Longines Master Collection
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Welcome Onboard DECember 2017
hours non-stop. • Embraer Legacy 600, which can seat 13-15 passengers and fly for up to five hours non-stop. • Gulfstream GIV-SP and G450 Aircraft, which can seat 13-14 passengers and fly for up to eight hours non-stop. • Gulfstream GV, which can seat 16 passengers and fly for up to 12 hours non-stop. • Airbus 318ACJ, which can seat 19-22 passengers and fly for up to eight hours non-stop. NasJet is pleased to offer the following services: • Aircraft Purchase and Sales. We have aircraft available for sale and management, or we can manage the purchase or sale of other aircraft. • Aircraft Acquisition, Acceptance, Completion and Delivery. We can find you the new aircraft that suits your needs, customise it to your liking, monitor the build of the aircraft at the manufacturer, and supervise the final delivery process to ensure a smooth and rewarding private aircraft experience. • Aircraft Management, where we are responsible for your aircraft from all aspects to provide you the highest safety standards, the best service and the most economical management solutions. • Block Charter, where we provide you with charter solutions sold in bulk at discounted rates. • Ad-Hoc Charter, where we can serve your charter needs where and when you need us on demand. With the new GACA Rules and Regulations having come into effect as of 1 March 2016, NasJet has established itself as the first to market our Private and Commercial AOC Services. We welcome the opportunity to serve you, and look forward to seeing you aboard one of our private jets.
Captain Mohammed Al Gabbas Vice President
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NasJet DECEMBER 2017 : ISSUE 79
The Pride of Saudi Arabian Aviation NasJet is a leading private aviation operator and services provider, delivering worldclass services in aircraft sales, completions, management, flight support, charter and FBO. The company was launched in 1999, in affiliation with US partner NetJets Inc. NasJet, originally NetJets Middle East (NJME), demonstrated the highest levels of regional expertise by being the first private company in Saudi Arabia to be awarded an Aircraft Operating Certificate (AOC) by the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA). The company has since grown to managing/supporting in excess of 24 fixed-wing aircraft, with a fleet insured value exceeding USD2 billion. As the largest Gulfstream operator in the Middle East – and one of the top 10 in the world –NasJet is also a part of an award winning aviation group, employing 1,800 in-house aviation industry experts. The company operates 24/7 from a state-of-the-art flight centre in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, delivering superior levels of safety, service and value. It is a founding member of the Middle East Business Aviation Association (MEBAA), and was the lead sponsor of the first MEBAA Conference in Riyadh 2014. MEBAA is a principal forum for understanding and gathering information, while communicating the needs and benefits of Middle East business aviation to businesses, governments and 14
media worldwide. It also serves the needs of the Middle East & North Africa Business Aviation Association Members in ways that enhance safety, security, efficiency and acceptance of business aviation throughout the region. NasJet successfully participated in the Middle East Business Aviation Association Conference in Jeddah on 3-4 October 2017, and was a proud Gold sponsor for this event, participating in several panel discussions and providing a comprehensive presentation on the challengers to – and experience of – NasJet. Vice President Capt Mohammed Al Gabbas, Capt Hashim Hashim and CCO Yosef Hafiz of NasJet were in attendance, and each participated in the three panel discussion. NasJet stressed the importance of implementing the new GACA rules and regulations by the upcoming deadline of 1 March 2018, and reassured that this will help enhance safety and productivity in the Saudi aviation market. Gray market was an important topic discussed at a roundtable, which included valuable ideas on how NasJet can regulate the charter market through GACA providing brokers with official license hence constraining them to legal charter. They also discussed the push of the new GACA rules which will help them ensure Private aircraft fly privately and commercial AOC holders are the only ones who fly legally for charter. One of NasJet’s greatest strengths is aircraft management, and it can
better serve the aviation community by being compliant with the new regulations. NasJet Aircraft Management Services provides management services for clients with aircraft that are not fractionally owned, and charter services on selected aircraft from its managed fleet. NasJet has been the first to market in fully supporting the new GACA rules and regulations. The new GACA rules came into effect as of 1 March 2016, and GACA has given the aviation community in Saudi Arabia a two year window to fully comply with the new regulations. All aircraft owners based in Saudi Arabia (‘based’ meaning on-ground for more than 72 hours) will be required to apply for a GACA AOC or join a company which has an AOC. There are two types of AOC’s Private and Commercial, Private will allow only for personal usage of the aircraft (non-charter) and Commercial will allow for full charter benefits. NasJet currently has Private (Part 125) and Commercial (Part 121 Special Unscheduled) AOC’s, and they are able to add any type of aircraft on their own AOC. NasJet will be able to apply for annual landing permits for aircraft and obtain them based on their AOC and provide continued support for the aviation community in Saudi Arabia. Finally, NasJet would like to thank MEBAA for organising such an event and look forward to future participation.
Welcome to NASJET
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Radar DECEMBER 2017 : ISSUE 79
AIR
“It’s no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then,” declared Alice – and so too the annual Pirelli calendar has evolved from its early decorative concept to become a thought-provoking artistic zeitgeist. The Italian tyre company’s 2018 edition of ‘The Cal’ is arguably its boldest yet, transporting viewers to Tim Walker’s star-studded Wonderland, on a Mad Hatter’s ride through New York. Photo sets feature Whoopi Goldberg, Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, Naomi Campbell and Lupita Nyong’o et al, styled as characters from the Lewis Carroll fantasy. pirellicalendar.pirelli.com
Thando Hopa as The Princess of Hearts; Whoopi Goldberg as The Royal Duchess; Cheshire Cat as himself 18
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Critique DECEMBER 2017 : ISSUE 79
Film Hostiles Dir: Scott Cooper A legendary army captain escorts a dying war chief on a perilous journey back to his tribal lands At Best: “A mournful, sorrowful, persistently powerful Western set in a world of beauty, tears and blood.” Hollywood Reporter At WoRst: “Ultimately falls back on the same onedimensional archetypes.” Variety
Downsizing AIR
Dir: Alexander Payne Scientists discover a solution to an overcrowded Earth: shrinking humans to five inches tall. But the effect on one family’s life is huge At Best: “A beautiful, confounding creation.” Globe and Mail At WoRst: “Rife with witty visual touches and inspired comic premises but never quite comes together as a fully successful whole.” AV Club
The Shape of Water Dir: Guillermo del Toro In a high-security government lab, an employee stumbles upon a secret, classified experiment... At Best: “One of the director’s deepest, most complex, most rewarding, and flat-out beautiful films.” RogerEbert.com At WoRst: “There’s enough magic, and extraordinary visual imagination, to smooth the edges of the movie’s problems.” TIME
The White King Dirs: Alex Helfrecht, Jörg Tittel A carefree 12-year-old is raised, blissfully unaware of the brutal dictatorship raging outside his own bubble At Best: “Exudes natural confidence in its execution of tension. It knows exactly when to pull you in and push you back.” Starburst At WoRst: “Would have benefitted from refinement and nuance – a good few moves behind the best films in the genre.” Little White Lies
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Critique DECEMBER 2017 : ISSUE 79
Theatre
AIR
“B
reaking news for Broadway theatergoers, even – or perhaps especially – those who thought they were past the age of infatuation: It is time to fall in love again,” writes Ben Brantley in The New York Times of The Band’s Visit. “One of the most ravishing musicals you will ever be seduced by [has] opened at the Barrymore Theater. Its undeniable allure is not of the hard-charging, brightly blaring sort common to box-office extravaganzas.” The set, says Marilyn Stasio in Variety, “Is a bit grander and the music sounds richer, but success hasn’t spoiled this embraceable musical fable about the surprising friendships that bloom in the middle of a political desert. In this Broadway transfer of an Off Broadway hit, human error sends a military band to a depressed outpost in a desert wasteland.” With nowhere to go until the first bus arrives in the morning, “the band is taken in by the locals, who reluctantly feed them, house them, and, in one scene that is simply out of this world, entertain them at the circa 1970s roller rink”. The performance, “Is unlike any musical I’ve seen – understated, with a dry wit and a yearning soul,” writes Adam Green for Vogue. “Under the masterfully nuanced direction of David Cromer... not much happens on the surface, while underneath worlds collide and hearts and minds open.” The long-anticipated UK stage debut of Bryan Cranston in Network is a roaring success, and the actor is “convulsive, immersive and still mad as hell,” writes Brantley in The New York Times critique. “If there were such a thing as an instant ulcer, then the first five minutes of the National Theatre’s production... would be guaranteed to give you one. This is 22
The Band’s Visit. Photo by Ahron R. Foster
meant as high praise. [It] may be set in the New York of four decades ago, but as you watch the middle-aged newscaster Cranston, preparing for his nightly television appearance, you feel the overwhelming anxiety of a toxic 21st century day at the office.” Showing at the National Theatre until 24 March, the show’s success, “Lies in its capacity to use every facet of live theatre to warn us against surrendering our humanity to an overpowering medium, whether it be television or invasive technology,” opines Michael Billington in The Guardian. “As a satire it hits several targets dead centre. It imagines a world where news becomes a branch of show business, where profit margins dictate editorial content and where nation states are subordinate to ‘a college of corporations’”. Time Out’s Andrzej Lukwoski says, “Cranston delivers a monumental performance. His Howard is a man genuinely on the edge. There is something Lear-like about him, but bigger. He goes from assurance to boiling anger to decay; as he begins his iconic ‘mad as hell’ speech he is a mumbling, weeping mess; but he comes out the other
side, settling into a messianic calm... in the moment and entirely thrilling.” In The Minutes “A town council moves for blood,” pens Chris Jones for Chicago Tribune. “Nothing in this explosive 90-minute drama – which might eventually remind you of William Golding’s The Lord of the Flies or Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery, or maybe even the Duffer brothers’ Stranger Things – is as it seems.” Says Steve Oxman in Variety, “The cast of characters represents a humorously unflattering view of small-time civics in the rainy, unquestionably middle American small town of Big Cherry... As is often the case, the outsider is our way into this world.” It shows until 7 January at Steppenwolf Theater Company, and, “Unfolds in an unsuspecting manner. Both because the play has a smart structure that shifts over the course of the 100-minute runtime and also because the content left me contemplative for days after seeing it,” says Rachel Weinberg for Broadway World. “Letts allows us to contemplate that pivotal question of whether it is more important to go along with the group to achieve success or if it is better to stick to our morals.”
#BornToDare
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Critique DECEMBER 2017 : ISSUE 79
Art
AIR
“T
he idea seems improbable,” says Michael Glover in The Independent. “Was there really much in common between that consummate, wax-moustachioed showman Salvador Dalí and the cerebral, secretive Marcel Duchamp, founding father of conceptual art, and inventor of the idea of the readymade? No exhibition-maker has ever tried to prove a serious connection – until now... The whole thing is a lovely, glancing, pirouetting dance through the converging interests… of two formidably amusing and clever tricksters.” Dalí/Duchamp marks the first exhibition of their friendship, and the Royal Academy of Arts show (on until 3 January) left Matthew Collings remarking that, “Duchamp is more artistically rewarding than Dalí. But as a clown Dalí is a supreme master and mastery at anything is compelling. However... they don’t necessarily work as a double act. They strike sparks but not off each other.” Jonathan Jones concurred somewhat in The Guardian: “There’s plenty of evidence here that Duchamp and Dalí were friends who liked each others’ work – but… this is about one man who told everyone he was a genius, Dalí, and one man, Duchamp, who really was one. What makes this such a great exhibition is that, for all his lapses into cod surrealism and sheer kitsch, Dalí gives Duchamp a shot of down to earth humour and Catalan exuberance.” From what was, to what might have been: Never Built New York (at Queens Museum, Flushing Meadows Corona Park until 18 February 2018), looks at the architecture plans for the Big Apple that never bore fruit. “Did you know that City Hall could have been replaced by a fantastic neo-Egyptian pile designed by the Scottish architect George Ashdown Audsley in 1893? That New York’s rivers might have been spanned by bridges whose supports were fifty-story residential towers? That the Federal Reserve Bank could have been a glass skyscraper atop four thirteen-story steel columns? That the Hudson could have been decked by a
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Lobster Telephone (1938), by Salvador Dalí in collaboration with Edward James. © Salvador Dalí, Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí, DACS 2017
floating airport?” questions Alexandra Lange in The New Yorker. “The exhibition traverses through 150 years of architectural plans, models and renderings that never materialised,” explains Blouin Artinfo. “It highlights the complex and varied challenges that architects face in getting innovative ideas from concept to development. [It] invites the viewers to explore an alternate history, revealing bold urban visions that would have changed the city beyond recognition, and also serves as a poignant reminder for how ephemeral built visions (and realities) can be.” One of its curators Sam Lubell spoke to Kaitlyn Tiffany at The Verge, and, “Referred to many of the abandoned ideas as ‘ghosts’, saying that things that actually get built can have a ‘domino effect’ on the city around them, influencing other decisions about land-use and aesthetics, but even unbuilt things can have an impact – the thrillingly named ‘ghost effect.’” “John Piper is the most reassuringly English of 20 th-century artists: a gentleman modernist, whose haunting images of blitz-damaged buildings made him a household name in the
post-war era,” begins Mark Hudson in The Telegraph’s review of John Piper at Tate Liverpool. “This exhibition is out to rescue him from this rather fogeyish image, showcasing an altogether edgier and more contradictory figure: a passionate antiquarian and expert on medieval art... who was also an enthusiastic proponent of abstraction, in touch with international greats such as Picasso and Alexander Calder.” Apollo Magazine writes of how the exhibit, “Highlights the artist’s pivotal role in the development of modern art in Britain [and] illuminates his transition... It brings early native art forms including medieval stained glass windows into dialogue with European modernism.” Not allcomers were enamoured, though. Writes The Guardian’s Jones again, “These war pictures are by far the best things he ever did. He finds a vivid analogy between architectural damage and human suffering... There is something in Piper to celebrate... It is annoying that, in its zeal to make him the great British modern artist he never was, this exhibition fails to honour his actual achievements. Occasionally, a cup of weak tea is just what you want.”
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Critique DECEMBER 2017 : ISSUE 79
AIR
Books
“T
he Dawn Watch will win prizes, and if it doesn’t, there is something wrong with the prizes,” so says Patrick French for The Guardian of The Dawn Watch: Joseph Conrad in a Global World, by Maya Jasanoff. “Is this a biography of Joseph Conrad? Not entirely. Although it follows the chronological form of his life, there are elisions and diversions. Is it literary criticism? No, though Jasanoff gives bravura renditions of the novels, laying down a story, quoting lines, revealing their essence and showing the links to Conrad’s own experience. Is it a study of globalisation, a historical commentary on our times? Yes, but this is done so deftly that you barely notice.” Ian Thomson in Evening Standard deflates, “Not content to write mere biography, unfortunately, she intrudes creative writing of her own,” adding, “The novelettish prose is leavened, however, by the author’s first-rate analysis of the ‘global compass’ of his fiction, in all its matchless beauty and grave intent.” Of Conrad, Ngugi wa Thiong’o writes 26
for The New York Times, “The majesty and musicality of his well-structured sentences had so thrilled me as a young writer that I could cure a bout of writer’s block simply by listening to the opening bars of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony or reading the opening pages of Conrad’s Nostromo... Conrad [comes] alive in this masterful study. The Dawn Watch will become a creative companion to all students of his work. It has made me want to re-establish connections with the Conrad whose written sentences once inspired in me the same joy as a musical phrase.” “A claustrophobic, deep-sea terror tale that will leave readers glad to be safely on dry land,” says Kirkus Reviews of Into The Drowning Deep by Mira Grant. What a ship of scientists find, “Is beyond both their wildest dreams and their darkest nightmares. Readers will recognise echoes of Jurassic Park and the like, which isn’t a bad thing, and Grant works in smart observations on climate change and exploitation of sea mammals without
sounding preachy.” Writes Publishers Weekly, “There’s some solid gore and nastiness in this sequel to Grant’s novella Rolling in the Deep, but a mix of overwrought prose and questionable decisions prevent it from being much more than a 1990s horror throwback... but the prose gets bogged down in cliché and long and meandering passages with little payoff. The neat hook and Grant’s fan base will still prop the book up, but there’s too little depth in these depths.” Mother Land is “in lieu of a memoir, from acclaimed, prolific travel writer and novelist Paul Theroux [who] brings us a work of fiction narrated by a (sometimes) acclaimed and (often the result of accounts due) prolific writer who decides not to write a memoir,” believes The Observer’s Alex Clark. “One can read [it] in a state of appalled fascination, the transgression of fullon family hatred licensed, but also safely displaced on to another family. The portraits of Mother’s children... are especially well done, and the novel’s climax, with its hints of an inversion of Evelyn Waugh’s A Handful of Dust, are sharp and subtle.” Publishers Weekly writes, “One of the novel’s big surprises is an audacious ploy that revives an old scandal and mixes reality with fiction. The book includes text from a blistering review of a novel by [fictional protagonist] Jay – which is in fact taken from a real-life review of Paul’s novel My Other Life by his brother Alexander Theroux. The effect is disorienting, if clever.” Reviews none other than the great Stephen King, “All self-educated readers (that would be most of us) have holes in our curriculum vitae, and I’m no different. I’ve read Dickens and Tolstoy but not Austen; most of Faulkner but little of Hemingway (and regretted what I did)... Theroux was one of my holes, a prolific writer I had always meant to get around to. Now that I have, I’m not exactly sorry, but I’m certainly gobsmacked.”
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Art & Design DECEMBER 2017 : ISSUE 79
Boom For Real Be it his street art, moviemaking or on-canvas genius, each slice of creativity from the late, great, self-taught Jean-Michel Basquiat is a thought-provoking parcel of references to unwrap WoRDs: CHRIS UJMA
AIR
W
hat’s in a label? A) Graffitistreet artist or B) ambitious art master? A) Methodical art historian or B) intuitive enigma? A) Eclectic wordsmith or B) commerciallydriven wild boy? Labels applied to the late Jean-Michel Basquiat represent a loaded dichotomy of magic, mystery and misguided notions to debunk, and that’s before even decoding his actual art. (For the record: options B, A, A, from the above). “Basquiat is one of the most significant painters of the 20th century; his name has become synonymous with notions of cool,” says Jane Alison, Head of Visual Arts at the Barbican, in London. “Yet he remains a somewhat misunderstood figure, a result, perhaps, of individual works seldom being given the scholarly attention that they deserve. The myth takes over. Too often his exquisite paintings and drawings are divorced from the context of their making, the downtown New York scene of the late 1970s and 80s, an extraordinary moment that shaped him and that he made entirely his own.” On the latter point, you’ll note that Barbican Art Gallery – the setting for Basquiat: Boom For Real – is not downtown 1980s New York. But this exhibition marries his culturally complex art with the situational context in which it was created, making Basquiat’s visual hymns sing (or, given his musical influences, swoon like 28
Jazz bebop). The multidisciplinary show, comprising 100 works, is the first presentation of his output to a British audience in over two decades. Brooklyn-born Basquiat was a comet that burned out too soon, passing in 1988, aged just 27. But he was not one to squander his allocation of artistic stardust, shaping an epoch that allowed him to be considered “in the same pantheon of artists as Edvard Munch, Warhol and Twombly,” remarks Dieter Buchhart, co-curator of the exhibition, with Eleanor Nairne. Cast your imagination to an autumnal Manhattan, 1980. A 19-year-old Basquiat has been cast in the lead role of an independent feature with a working title of New York Beat, aimed at capturing the ‘post-punk, underground art scene in lower Manhattan’ and based on a screenplay by famed Interview magazine music columnist Glenn O’Brien. There’s a still taken during filming (of what would become Downtown 81), and describes Buchhart of the photo, “A naked wall reads ‘BOOM FOR REAL’, spray-painted in large capital letters. Jean-Michel stands with his left hand casually in his pocket, swinging a paper bag in his other hand, while looking at the camera with a faint smile…. He is barely 20 years old and plays broadly himself: an artist in search of his artistic self.” From Basquiat’s proclamations around the time is, “Boom for real!
Below: Basquiat and Jennifer Stein, Anti Baseball Card Product (1979), courtesy Jennifer Von Holstein opposite page: JeanMichel Basquiat painting (1983), photo copyright Roland Hagenberg
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Maybe I was just waking up. Waking up to my own luck
AIR
Was I dreaming? No. Maybe I was just waking up. Waking up to my own luck. Luck is where you find it.” The first three words would become a sporadically used yet distinguishing calling card. He would become a Jean-of-alltrades (and master of many). Pre film performance, he made his mark on the public conscious by teaming up with classmate Al Diaz in 1978 to spray-paint enigmatic statements across the Lower East Side of Manhattan, with the street poetry signed SAMO©; the pseudonym stood for ‘same old, same old s***’. The industrious pair decorated walls with ego-puncturing, thoughtprovoking prose from a spraycan, mocking the gallery circuit and making remarks to poke fun at art school students; “SAMO as an alternative 2 playing art with the ‘radical chic’ sect on Daddy’s$funds,” being one such jibe. He made the shift from graffiti to that very gallery sect, though, after a parting of ways with Diaz, and by spreading his wings with other media. Mudd Club co-founder Diego Cortez arranged a show called New York/New Wave, which featured over 1,600 works by more than 100 emerging and celebrated artists. Cortez invited Basquiat to participate, and he responded with approximately 26 works, using a wide range of mediums including canvas, paper, wood, scrap metal and foam rubber. “Basquiat constructs an intensity of line which reads like a polygraph report, a brain-to hand ‘shake’,” Cortez would remark. “The figure is electronic-primitive-comic. Like monster ‘ghetto blaster’ cassette players which link summer New Yorkers together, Basquiat’s characters portray amplification.” When armed with a fully stocked arsenal of knowledge, his art can shift from arcane to relatable. “Basquiat turned his intellect into sport using the 30
speed with which he executed work to lure viewers into false presumptions before delivering a blow with the depth of his references,” penned Nairne in an exhibit-accompanying essay delving into his performance nature. “In his earliest paintings, he showcased his capacity to appropriate and integrate the visual vocabulary of 20th-century western painting, while developing a style that was entirely his own.” Analysis of Basquait can so easily focus on dispelling misconceptions. “It is tempting but misleading to suggest that his white male critics did not have the imagination to reach beyond canonical reference points,” Nairne adds. “After all, Basquiat had an extensive collection of artist monographs that he used as source material, and when he and [former girlfriend] Susan Mallouk visited The Museum of Modern Art she was struck that he ‘knew every inch of that museum, every painting, every room’.” Expounds Alison, “He was an artist who consumed culture voraciously and channelled all that he found relevant – socially, politically and art historically – into paintings, drawings, objects as well as music and performance. His own persona became a cipher, as he was driven to re-fashion the world around him, swept up in a creative maelstrom that has become his signature. And yet all of this action tends to obscure an artist of fierce intelligence, poetic sensibility and profound depth.” The curatorial team at Barbican have taken a forensic approach to the Basquiat narrative, examining his source material to help visitors find an entry point into his an abundance of encoded, suggestive expressions. As exhibits go, this is assuredly not a presentation of the ‘same old’. Basquiat: Boom For Real shows at the Barbican Art Gallery until 28 January
Clockwise, from left: Untitled (Pablo Picasso), 1984, private collection; Untitled (1980), Whitney Museum of American Art, ARS, New York, ADAGP, Paris; A Panel of Experts (1982), Courtesy The Montreal
Museum of Fine Arts; Self Portrait (1984), private collection
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OBJECTS OF DESIRE
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OB JECTS OF DESIRE
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C H R I S T M A S C O L L E C T I O N AT H A R R O D S A partnership between the famed fashion house and the home of Knightsbridgebased shopping indulgence has resulted in a stunning line-up of accessories, beauty products and ready-to-wear – curated exclusively for Harrods to coincide with Christmas. The midnight blue-hued
Embellished Star Bag shown here is a part of a sequinned ‘Star and Moon’ constellation, which will glitter in an authentic setting: until 28 December, the store will be dusted with Italian festivity, as an abundance of light diplays and Sicilian carretti captures the festive notion of shared moments. 1
OB JECTS OF DESIRE
hyt
H1 GRIEZMANN French hero Antoine Griezmann is on the transfer wishlist of the world’s biggest football clubs but, when it comes to the horology realm, he’s already inked with HYT. By masterfully manipulating liquids to indicate time, the Swiss hydro mechanical horology specialists rewrote
the codes of watchmaking, and it has taken its H1 as the basis for a Griezmann homage. Prior to becoming brand ambassador he was a customer for years, remarking, “The fluid time display reminds me of an energy gauge, like the one I have to manage every day as a sportsman.” 2
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GIFT GIVING SELECTION The Italian fashion house is urging you to spread the glove this festive season, with an array of fashion accessories perfectly suited to its dedicated gift-giving campaign. Keen observers will spy this array of temptations – including handbags, jewellery, sneakers and even porcelain – in specially
dressed glittering yellow window displays of Gucci’s global boutiques. As for these toasty gloves? They’re ready and waiting for an elegant New Year’s Eve firework display, in a snowkissed square of some major European city – for a 2018 countdown with a touch of artisanal class. 3
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INTENSA EMOZIONE Deemed ‘the furious new face of Apollo’, production of the universe destroying ‘IE’ is limited to ten – making it an exclusive prospect on the starting grid. A V12 6.3l engine (mid-mounted within an all-carbon chassis) is responsible for the ensuing 769hp tornado, and the German marque
states the car can eclipse 334km/h. An indication of intent is 12 levels of traction control, plus its three drive modes of Wet, Sport and Track: there’s no ‘Normal’ setting on this non road-legal behemoth. As for its looks... it wouldn’t look out of place in the next Transformers intallment. 5
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MY CHAIN / THE G ALLERY COLLEC TION Yellow gold forms the basis for a resplendent set of high jewellery from Chanel – and honestly, there are enough treasures unveiled by the maison to fill all eight pages here. A particular eyecatcher is this impressive My Chain piece, with a design motif inspired by the eternally-
iconic 2.55 Chanel handbag. The large version comprises a fluid chain encircling a sculptural gemstone: an octagonal smoky quartz with irregular facets, surrounded by a line of diamonds. The ethos is to ‘blend strength and femininity,’ explains the maison. Mission accomplished. 6
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R M 0 5 5 YA S M A R I N A C I R C u I T The distinctive Pantone 321 that adorns Yas Marina Circuit is unique, selected for its resemblance to Arabian Gulf waters. To honour the UAE home of Grand Prix, Richard Mille (the venue’s official timing partner) has put a dash of the ‘Yas Blue’ hue on a bespoke RM 055. This edition,
individually numbered to 50, is ideal for track days; among its credentials is carbon TPT, which comprises over 600 layers of fibres that make it highly resistant to impact. The grade 5 titanium timepiece is available exclusively in boutiques at The Dubai Mall and The Galleria in Abu Dhabi. 7
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T H E P R I N C E S S B u T T E R F LY Everyone relishes being the keeper of a secret, though this covert creation is perhaps one you’ll want to selfishly guard... A fine example of transformable jewellery, the Princess Butterfly conceals a discrete 17mm mother-of-pearl watch dial. The jeweller has design affinity with
the floaty winged wonder, often drawing on its grace for inspiration, and time is not the only mark of accuracy in this piece – Graff artisans studied the exact curve and contour of a butterfly wing, capturing its silhouette with tapered baguettes and resplendent diamond pavé detailing. 8
Timepieces DECEMBER 2017 : ISSUE 79
National Treasure TARIq MALIk
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ince the formation of the federation on 2 December 1971, there have been several limited edition timepieces issued by brands such as Omega, Longines, Tudor, Chopard, Bulgari, Breitling, Franck Muller and Rolex, at the request of high-ranking UAE officials. Over the years I have come across several made-to-order, standout pieces from the region, and from the UAE in particular. These limited edition watches were manufactured to be presented as gifts to foreign dignitaries on special occasions and diplomatic visits, but also to honour those in the military service of the UAE. With Rolex watches in particular, dials were commissioned to feature logos and effigies, such as the UAE Armed Forces, the UAE Air Forces, the UAE Eagle, the Abu Dhabi Government, and, on a few very exceptional collections, even the respected leaders of the UAE: HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid
Al Maktoum, HH General Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and Mubarak Bin Mohammed Al Nahyan. At Momentum we’ve been able to source several curios – including a Rolex Datejust with the name of Sheikh Zayed Al Nahyan engraved in Arabic on the dial, as well as very special editions of the GMT-Master 1675 ‘UAE Ministry of Defence’. Rolex has always been the brand of choice in the Middle East, prized for its prestige, status, and fame. In the 1970s, the government behind the UAE-commissioned special edition GMT-Master 1675 furnished the custom-made dials with the national coat of arms, in addition to ‘Ministry of Defense’ written in Arabic on the right of the crest. The national emblem of the UAE, also referred to as the ‘qurayash Hawk’, is featured prominently on a black matte dial just above the six o’clock hour-marker. The hawk, or falcon, is particularly significant in Emirati culture as
falconry – the practice of using a hawk or falcon to catch prey in the desert – is an important part of local tradition. On the chest of the bird shown on the 1675 is a red circle depicting a dhow, which was the sailboat of choice throughout the history of this geographical region. Below the talons of the hawk we see ‘United Arab Emirates’ written in Arabic on a red banner. It is said that some of this special edition GMT-Master 1675 were issued to the helicopter pilots serving in the country’s military, while some of the watches were gifted by government officials to people who had served the nation of the UAE in some official capacity. The UAE’s quraysh Hawk dial is exceptionally rare to find in the current market as not only were they produced in restricted quantities during an eight-year production run from 1971–1979, they are also becoming increasingly popular among today’s collectors, especially with those who are fond of military Rolex watches or Arabic dials. These branded pieces were never sold at retail, hence making them all the more coveted. And while it is difficult to estimate the number of collections issued as far as the UAE is concerned, it’s fair to say they are very rare, very difficult to source and highly sought. For Emiratis especially, these watches represent a rich piece of history and also a token of pride.
Dubai’s DIFC is home to Momentum, Tariq’s co-founded vintage watch boutique. momentum-dubai.com 33
Timepieces DECEMBER 2017 : ISSUE 79
Chain of Command Infused with the essence of its master watchmaker namesake, Ferdinand Berthoud crafts contemporary timepieces with 18th-century flourish WoRDs: ChrIS Ujma
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t’s incredibly hard to overstate the complexity of a Ferdinand Berthoud timepiece. It is, however, easy to explain why. Vincent Lapaire, General Manager at the watchmaker, confesses that when undertaking the craftsmanship of a watch, “We make our own lives very complicated to make exquisite timekeepers.” Berthoud (the man) was a watchmaking pioneer and serves as the creative muse for this ‘new old’ brand – “a revamp of an antique name,” as Lapaire defines it. A scientist and a member of both French and British Royal Academies, so important was Ferdinand that – during the turbulent French revolution – the navy protected him, and he retained a workshop in the Louvre and his government pension. As for his work, “He produced 50 marine chronometers, was always making a new watch, and not a single one was a repetition. Berthoud was at the forefront of the modern technology of his time,” urges Lapaire. Until two years ago (with the formation of this Chopard-backed brand) Berthoud was a forgotten man of history, outside of museum circles and private collections. No longer. “Every element of our watches has a historic background. It’s an homage: for example the bolts we use to fix the elements are exactly the bolts used by
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Berthoud on his movements. Design cues derive from the antique. He was audacious; it allows us to be.” The recently unveiled FB 1.3 is the latest ‘audacity’, in platinum with ceramic lugs – a fresh interpretation of the flagship FB 1, which launched two years ago in both white and rose gold. Explains Lapaire, “The watch design is totally inspired by two marine chronometers made by Berthoud. The marine chronometer No. 6 kept in our private collection inspires the shape of the watch insofar as the water resistant container, the octagonal shape, the elements representing the gimbal device, the hublot port holes for water resistance and the fusée and chain movement – which was the only way to produce a marine chronometer in his time. For the first time we added a tourbillon because back then Breguet – a student of Berthoud – held its patent.” The platinum release of the timepiece actually speaks to the prestige of Dubai’s annual Watch Week, hosted in DIFC last month and where our conversation with Lapaire transpired. It was face-to-face exchanges with clients at the 2016 edition of the event that the platinum FB 1.3 came to fruition. He reveals, “The FB 1.3 is a direct result of us presenting the first two models last year in Dubai. We met collectors who said, ‘I don’t wear gold.
The FB 1.3 in Platinum
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Would you maybe make this watch in platinum?’ As soon as we got home we said, ‘We need a platinum FB.’” Given the challenges in working with the material, the brand’s turnaround time on meeting this demand is remarkable. The movement remains the same, but the two protagonist, patience-testing materials are new: platinum and ceramic. The watch is a feat of engineering brilliance, and a flotilla of research and dedication were used to solve a longstanding problem with the metal. “We developed a screwed caseback made of platinum. When you screw platinum on platinum, you cannot re-open it – the action destroys the element. We undertook an extensive process to find a way to harden the platinum by different processes.” Testing themselves yet further, the brand employed platinum in the crown and buckle. “Usually you will see a white gold crown because platinum costs so much to implement and, just as the buckle with its pusher device, it was 36
not easy to craft – especially given that the quality of finishing we demand.” Why go to such impossible lengths? “I wanted it so that any part in contact with the skin would be platinum,” Lepaire responds. “The challenge of making something different is the beauty of it all. Nothing we do is easy, and we make no compromises.” The margins involved are as fraught as walking the gangplank. First, consider the adeptness of the experts behind its creation: artisans at the very peak of their profession. Then, drink-in this statement from Lapaire: “We destroy eight silver nickel dials to produce one good one. Everything is made by hand and the craftsmen place the dial plate, take sandpaper and a deep breath, and then it’s a matter of pressure and speed. You cannot attempt it twice; there is zero margin for error.” Time is then allowed to work its magic via oxidization, to produce a beautiful silvery colour found on antique pocket watches. At 44mm including the crown the timepiece appears imposing, but
this is a visual deception: on the wrist, the octagonal shape and 13mm thinness make it an understated proposition. Production is low, with just 30 made per year; this is an exercise in coherent design and quality, not quantity. Don’t mistake complexity for fragility, though. The watch is built for daily wear (undergoing extensive age tests) and while its famous suspended ‘flying’ fusée and chain may sound delicate, a differential gear is placed atop to enable fluid motion. Upon reaching the 53hour power reserve the crown unclicks to protect against overwinding. There’s also a feeling of security thanks to the brand’s parent. “Our relationship with Chopard is important,” asserts Lapaire. “The collector feels safe because of our backer, where longevity of servicing is guaranteed. It’s protection that few niche brands have, and secures our long-term development.” Time that will allow the adding of new chapters to an alreadyillustrious watchmaking legacy.
The challenge of making something different is the beauty of it all. Nothing we do is easy, and we make no compromises
Left: a master watchman at work in Ferdinand Berthoud’s Swiss hQ This page: The FB 1.3, movement-side
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Jewellery DECEMBER 2017 : ISSUE 79
A Coveted Caché Its exquisite haute joaillerie is a frosting of choice upon the red carpet, yet the family-run house of Avakian remains one of Geneva’s best-kept secrets
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Jewellery should be wearable – not something that the client dons once a year and then keeps locked in a safe
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Opening pages: Avakian cabochon oval emerald necklace; Victoria’s Secret Angel Sara Sampaio on the red carpet in Cannes, wearing pear shaped emerald earrings with diamonds Above: Earrings in yellow citrine and black onyx, also from the Gatsby set
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he seductive strut; the stop; the slight swivel; the hand strategically placed; the head turn; the sparkling smile. From the impressionable startlet to the established box office draw, those scrutinised moments on the red carpet are all about creating a lasting impression, captured in a series of finely honed movements. The most imperceptible details matter – right down to the jewellery draped around the neck and tucked behind curls of hair. So it reasons that Avakian is a go-to haute joaillerie house for those in the spotlight, as within the jewellery suites created by this second-generation family, movement is equally crucial. “My father Edouard, the founder of the jewellery house, was an engineer before being enchanted and immersed in the jewellery business, so a lot of the collection pieces have movement to them, and are quite versatile,” explains Haig Avakian, Managing Director at the Geneva-based jeweller. One particular piece in its esteemed high jewellery collection encapsulates Haig’s point: a necklace with a statement 78ct Colombian emerald, which has small diamond rotational components on the main necklace that spin – demonstrating the Avakian affinity with movement.
In its Riviera collection, for example, the gemstone beads at the bottom of the earring are interchangeable – worn one way by day then specifically modified by clipping on green jade, yellow diamonds and blue sapphire, to prime them for an evening occasion. “It’s a fine example of how we offer choice to the client and by making pieces such as these, we remain loyal to our direction that jewellery should be wearable – not something that the client dons once a year and then keeps locked in a safe for the remainder,” maintains Haig. Avakian treads carefully between elegance and extravagace, with magnificence nestled in elaborate settings. Says Haig, “With our pieces we are quite known for a striking use of colour, and we combine an array of different hues, so they tend to be visually arresting.” Be it themed collections or limited edition pieces, the compositions predominantly focus on geometricallyshaped precious stones – marquises, kite shapes and stones with sharp edges – set in contemporary designs with a touch of antiquity. Though dedicated unveilings are part and parcel of the Avakian event calendar, it is upon the red carpet that many of the pieces make a spectacular debut.
Right: Pear cut emerald necklace; Yellow diamond ring in yellow/white gold set
Such happenstance means highprofile associations: Jane Seymour, Paris Hilton, Dita Von Teese, Kelly Preston, Irina Shayk and Mary J Blige are a few, and those mentioned span a spectrum of traits and style tastes. That’s because fostering such relationships has been Haig’s global focus in recent years, and he explains that each varied alliance is carefully considered. “The ‘ambassadors’ are sought for their blend of personality, lifestyle and longevity. We especially look at the latter trait, because we feel that our pieces that are timeless and passed along from one generation to the next,” he explains. “The ‘muse’ we keep in mind for our high jewellery ‘For Her’ is the successful, active woman who travels, and has to glide between an array of social scenarios. We generally observe which personality will appeal to our chosen demographic, and ensure that she represents what we look for, so as to best inspire.” Overall, though, in spite of its prominent presence in the spotlight (plus a reputation acquired from delivering unique objets d’art for royal recipients), Avakian somehow still maintains a low-key, approachable presence. The personal touch is the exact reason they’re sought
out for bespoke undertakings. “Clients warm to that direct relationship, and the aura of our boutiques – in key locales of Cannes, Moscow, London, Geneva and at the Four Seasons New York – reflects that type of intimate approach,” he says. “Our artisans sit and walk them through the whole design process, so the client is closely involved in the entire experience, which customers of such calibre seek.” Sketches and final design touches are applied in Geneva, then the pieces are breathed into life at the Italian workshop. Depending on the complexity of the piece, a client could have their prized jewellery piece within three months. As compared to the jewellery giants, “We can respond to client requests very quickly,” enthuses Haig. “For example I just had a client request for an important stone he would like us to source for him, and he wants us to present him with some designs for a specific ring. Generally our turnaround for sketches is within 72 hours, and can be swift as two days. It’s an advantage.” The end result is jewellery guaranteed to dazzle in the spotlight, yet crafted to last for a lifetime of ‘all eyes on me’ moments. Welcome to the family. 41
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School of Rocks
Drawing on expert knowledge, L’ÉCOLE Van Cleef & Arpels offers a glimpse inside the discreet world of high jewellery and watchmaking WORDS: Faye Bartle
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ever being able to look at a jewel the same way again is the sentiment most commonly expressed by students attending L’ÉCOLE Van Cleef & Arpels. “It’s a phrase I often hear,” explains its President, Marie Vallanet-Delhom. “We take you on an emotional journey. It’s exactly the effect I want it to have.” Founded in 2012, the school has captured the imagination of creative souls around the world by offering a coveted chance to discover and experience the essence of jewellery and watchmaking. It is an opportunity to learn from those at the height of their profession, who lead a carefully selected lineup of 20 educational taster courses which cover savoir-faire (practical introductions to specialist techniques, such as stone setting and enamelling), the art history of jewellery, and the origins and evolution of gemstones. The classes last up to four hours and have an intimate feel, hosting a maximum of 12 students. To date, more than 16,000 people have participated via the school’s permanent home in Paris’ Place Vendôme and its nomadic campuses in Hong Kong, Tokyo, New York and, most recently, Dubai. The school’s inclusive approach entices people from a variety of different backgrounds – a quality that’s key to the spirit of the school. “The common link among students is curiosity and passion. The only prerequisite is a desire to learn,” says Vallanet-Delhom. “It’s not unusual for students to complete courses at
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different campuses. Some even plan their travel schedules around study.” More then 38 different nationalities, from teenagers to those in their 80s, have been welcomed in Paris alone. There, teaching takes place 11 months of the year, with courses available in French and English. The schedules for its nomadic campuses are tailored to suit each individual destination. For the Dubai campus, which ran from 7 to 25 November 2017, participants were able to try their hand at creating a jewel, from the wax project to setting on a silver mounting, painstakingly seeking symmetry, adjusting shapes and determining stone positions along the way – as guided by The Mains d’Or from Van Cleef & Arpels’ High Jewellery workshop. There was also the option to create a lacquer-work butterfly by using three of the lacquer masters’ ancestral techniques: placing colours, Maki-e and mosaics in mother of pearl. In collaboration with Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie, timepiece aficionados could practise taking apart and reassembling each and every component in a watch movement. Basing the Dubai campus at Hai d3, within Dubai Design District (d3), was a logical choice that echoes VallanetDelhom’s enthusiasm for the integral role of jewellery in contemporary art. L’ÉCOLE Van Cleef & Arpels worked with 15 partners in the region, to bring the Dubai campus and its associated exhibits to life and it’s hoped it will be revived every 18 months.
There are 38 teachers at the school, each of whom have been handpicked for the role. “The teachers – gemologists, setters, jewellery designers and historians, for instance – are active practioners of their métier and are experts in their field,” she says. “They are putting down the tools of these very special trades for the purpose of sharing that knowledge.” Currently, finding a suitable way to scale-up is presenting a challenge. “The school is at a turning point in its evolution as an educational enterprise,” said Vallanet-Delhom. “This fork in the road represents how we will locate ourselves in more than one place.” Until now, Marie has picked up her ‘troupe’ and led them to the different destinations at which the school operate a campus. “The challenge is growing while maintaining the same spirit and high quality,” she says. “I will probably duplicate the team of professors so that the school can operate in Paris and at a nomadic campus at the same time.” Until then, the school is receiving enquiries from all around the world. “My role at L’Ecole is a privilege for me,” says Vallanet-Delhom. “When I first entered the world of jewellery, about 30 years ago, I benefitted from those who were willing to share their expertise. I am passionate about making sure other people can experience that without having to be a member of that inner world. I received and now I want to give back.” Learn more about the courses at me.lecolevancleefarpels.com
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From Peckham in London to galaxies far, far away, the rise of Star Wars’ John Boyega has been truly interstellar Words: Jimi Famurewa
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o see John Boyega react to a mention of Samuel L Jackson’s comments about black British actors – body collapsing into the sofa as if hit by a tranquilliser dart, eyes rolled comically into the back of his head, low animal groan – is to glory in his apparent lack of poker face. To recap: Jackson questioned the ability of UK-born men to take on African American roles, causing the 25-yearold actor to tweet his disdain for what he saw as a “stupid-ass conflict”. “Damn, Sam,” says Boyega, sitting up and smiling. “I love him but he didn’t have to go there. I was actually going to send him a message to check that he’s cool. But look, I get it, I just think there’s no end result in black Brits and African Americans going back and forth at each other... I rate Sam and he’s always showed me love – he’s like a big unc – but, across the planet, the black experience is a layered one and his comments didn’t represent that.” This, as I learn after a lunchtime in his company, is Boyega’s way. Whether he’s reflecting on his recent stint working on Detroit, about the 1967 race riots and directed by Kathryn Bigelow (“If she calls and asks for just my toe to be in a film, I’ll do it, man”), or enthusing about his cat (“He’s honest with his selfishness”), his default mode is a kind of mischievous ebullience. It’s a trait plenty will recognise from the 2015 Star Wars: The Force Awakens press tour, which – whether he was surprising fans at screenings or detailing the time he took Harrison Ford for Nigerian pounded yam on Old Kent Road – essentially morphed into Boyega: Global Charm Offensive. Or perhaps it’s another recent project – a significant homecoming on the West End stage – that’s responsible for his energised, impish mood. With nearly eight years having passed since he last performed on the stage in London (as part of the ensemble in a series of hard-hitting plays at the Tricycle), Boyega returned to play 46
the lead in The Old Vic’s Woyzeck, a Cold War-set adaptation of German playwright Georg Büchner’s unfinished 1837 play about a lowly soldier driven to madness and murder by jealousy. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child mastermind Jack Thorne wrote the script and, if it all seems a galaxy far, far away from taking out TIE fighters and swinging a lightsabre, then that is very much the idea. “When you do movies back to back, plays bring you back to your beginnings. Because there’s no fanciness with plays.” There are abundant reminders of this when we meet in a vacant office within the cramped interior of The Old Vic on a sunny spring day. Boyega bounds into the room to join me, bearing a bag from Pret laden with a sandwich, popcorn and can of sparkling apple and apologies for his jet lag. A fan of a bold red-carpet outfit – he threw Jedi poses in a purple Versace tux at the US premiere of The Force Awakens – today he’s in ripped black motorcycle trousers, a grey longline bomber jacket and charcoal Yeezy Boost trainers. Acclimatising to the small-scale world of theatre after an uninterrupted run of enormo-franchises and starry adult blockbusters has not been without its challenges: “The rehearsal process is something that you forget about when you do movies all the time,” he says. “On movies you don’t really get time to rehearse so that was a shock to me. On the second day, I was thinking to myself: ‘Oi mate, why don’t you know these lines?’ Because on a film you need to be ready to go.” He effortlessly adopts the voice of a Hollywood big shot. “’We’re spending USD250,000 an hour’ and all that kind of stuff. So this feels like a holiday. A really strenuous holiday with some good people.” There’s no sense then, of Woyzeck representing a kind of easy victory lap for London’s returning champion. But it didn’t hurt – after spending months filming various projects in Australia, China and the US – to be
back in the city he still calls home. The son of Nigerian immigrants (Samson, a Pentecostal preacher, and Abigail, who works with disabled children), Boyega grew up on a council estate in nearby Peckham. The younger brother to two older sisters (Grace works as his assistant and Blessing is a train driver for Southeastern), he quickly caught the acting bug while studying at Oliver Goldsmith Primary School. His unconventional rise from there – training at disruptive BAME incubator Identity School of Acting, a star-making role in 2011’s sci-fi comedy Attack The Block, his BAFTA EE Rising Star award in 2016 – is almost folkloric. The same goes for the seven-month audition process he navigated before finally being offered one of the lead roles in J J Abrams’ reawakened intergalactic saga. But before all that I’m keen to get his take on Peckham’s status as the new crucible of gentrified hipsterdom. He now has his own place in southwest London (with that moggie, Oluwalogan) and he admits he’s at Peckham market “near enough every day”, buying cooking ingredients such as sugar cane. Does he worry about the changing face of where he grew up? “I get the need [to develop] for the betterment of our society and our spaces,” he says, diplomatically. “But at the same time, is that at the cost of people that have lived there for years? Who’ve worked there? Who’ve struggled there? What happens to them?” He admits that the rooftop Frank’s Café in Peckham is one of his favourite spots in London but notes that the temporary removal of Underexposed, a local photographic mural of famous black performers on Peckham Hill that he used to pass as a kid on the way to his Old Kent Road church, prompted him to “holler at Southwark [council].” After uproar from other residents the council has been quick to stress that the images – dismantled as part of the construction of a new theatre school – will be displayed in a new location,
On movies you don’t really get time to rehearse... On a film you need to be ready to go
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You have to fight fire with fire sometimes. So transfer that ‘grace and dignity’ to someone else. I’m not your role model
but it’s a reminder of the rival forces at work in the area. “My mind just goes, ‘Where is the balance?’” he says. The notion of ‘balance’ is a continued theme for Boyega and, surprisingly, to stress his point he talks about something he’s never really publicly discussed. The actor and his sisters attended the same school as Damilola Taylor, the 10-year-old Nigerian schoolboy killed near his home on the North Peckham Estate in 2000, and it has been said that the Boyegas were among the last people to see him alive. Boyega has been quick to snuff out press attempts to spin what he sees as a clichéd narrative out of a tragic coincidence (‘Inaccurate. Stereotypical. NOT my story’ he tweeted in response to a 2015 newspaper profile) but feels this general urge for a neat ‘ragsto-riches’ fable is in itself revealing. “Although those events [occurred] and what happened to Damilola Taylor is true, I was merely walking with him before it happened,” he says, picking the frayed fabric at his knees. “Me and my sister [Grace] didn’t know any specifics until the police showed up. But before then, I went to Theatre Peckham to do tap and contemporary dance. I had an experience of quality art within Peckham. There are diverse spirits in that area who have different talents. I know a pilot from Peckham, I know a guy who deals in luxury cars and started his business in Peckham. Just because you’re in the area doesn’t mean you have to carry all the circumstances that come with it.” Boyega paints a vivid portrait of a happy upbringing, even when misbehaviour in a maths lesson drew the wrath of his strict father (“I was like, ‘Wow, is this how life ends? Your dad kills you?’” he laughs). Even so, he admits that he’s seen “many people led to make the wrong choices” and – more than his faith – he feels 48
it was a tight knit, likeminded social group that helped keep him focused. He’s still close to them now. “I’ve got in school fights with these dudes and gone on group dates with girls,” he says, before jokingly adding: “If you were getting the premium dating package back then you were getting taken to Peckham McDonald’s and the cinema across the street. Done. That was all I could afford.” Regular trips back to Lagos in Nigeria are important to Boyega, too. “I just love being back home. And I love being in a country where I’m not the minority. It does something to me. And I wish I could take my boys from America out there, especially at this time, to have that feeling.” I wonder, in the age of extreme etting, if his Nigerian heritage has ever given him any difficulty when travelling to the US. The facial gymnastics are back. “Dude, have I ever,” he laughs. “I used to fly back and forth when I was hustling and auditioning for things in LA. I’d get cheap flights and stay there for two weeks or whatever. And every time I was getting these random checks. Every. Single. Time. I wish I remembered the airline because I called them out on it, too. Anyway, they said it was a problem Stateside, they gave me a letter and it stopped. But before that it was consistent. I understand that [these things] are for our safety but when you fly a lot and it happens three or four times there’s an element of, ‘Okay, I’m still not a terrorist.’” These days, intergalactic ships are more his speed. This month’s release of Star Wars: Episode VIII: The Last Jedi in the core saga has loomed at the end of his year like a Death Star on the horizon. Boyega returns as Stormtrooper turned Resistance fighter Finn. Did following a critical and commercial hit like The Force Awakens change their approach?
“It was definitely different,”he says, tentatively. “And in the shadow of the unfortunate death of Carrie [Fisher], you can’t ignore that something like that creates an energy around the project. It’s her last epic finale and, at the moment, to be part of that just feels weird.” There has been talk of new director Rian Johnson bringing a darkness but Boyega – “a massive Star Wars fan” – is adept at keeping the Disney-owned franchise’s plot elements secret. “No snitching,” he chuckles. “Don’t snitch or Mickey Mouse will roll up in front of your house and take you out.” Whatever the film’s 15 December launch date brings, Boyega’s role as its magnetic star and infectiously nerdy champion seems crucial to any future success. It’s a resounding victory over the section of racist online trolls who, seemingly scandalised by the notion that (gasp!) a black man could be under a Stormtrooper helmet, mounted a risible, failed boycott. Boyega can’t help but express his personal vindication, given the first film’s favourable reception and the general positive response to a post on Instagram in which he stylishly smacked down the boycotters: ‘To whom it may concern… Get used to it :)’. “The reaction was incredible,” he says. “Although, I remember I met someone in the street who went: ‘I felt like you should have stayed silent and held it with more grace.’” I said: “’I am not the actor who’s going to feed you the grace that you want.’ Sorry, the way I was raised, if anyone comes talking nonsense I’m going to shut them down. You have to fight fire with fire sometimes. So transfer that ‘grace and dignity’ to someone else. I’m not your role model.” Outspoken, playful, commanding. He may not want to be a role model but, less than a decade into his screen career, John Boyega is, undeniably, a force to be reckoned with.
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Image: Rihanna, Havana, Cuba (2015) Š Annie Leibovitz
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From the selfies of Kim Kardashian to the selflessness of the Queen, Annie Leibovitz is the foremost chronicler of modern celebrity. As she publishes a new book of her work, the photographer focuses on her life-changing encounters WORDS: Mick Brown
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nnie Leibovitz is a tall, rangy, handsome woman with striking, aquiline features and an unruly shock of grey hair, who at first glance exudes a palpable air of can-do control and authority. Leibovitz can, she admits, “be a terror” – and one imagines that some measure of terror, or at least strength of will and power of persuasion, must be necessary to take the pictures that Leibovitz does. For more than 45 years, through her work with Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair and Vogue, she has been the foremost pictorial chronicler of power, fame and celebrity (a word she loathes, incidentally) in American life. A new collection of her work, Annie Leibovitz: Portraits 2005-2016, has just been published. A copy sits on the desk in her New York studio. (Two floors in an old industrial building in the Meatpacking District; a fleet of young and personable assistants). With 150 images, it is formidable in its breadth, and its weight. (Leibovitz tends to do heavy: her 2006 book, A Photographer’s Life, weighed in at 9lb – so heavy, she says, “I couldn’t carry it anywhere to give it away to people.”) This is Leibovitz in excelsis: movie and music stars, politicians and power brokers; the inevitable nudes – Lady Gaga splayed over a bed, and a rather simian Jeff Koons admiring himself in a mirror; as well as a panoply of less familiar characters and still-lifes from her Pilgrimage series of objects and places with historical resonance. It is a record not only of Leibovitz’s life as a photographer over 11 years, but of American life. And planning the book, she knew exactly where she wanted it to end. During the 2016 presidential campaign, she had photographed Hillary Clinton numerous times – over the years she has come to know her well. And the final image was to be Clinton, triumphant, the first female president of the United States. Leibovitz had even been contemplating what desk in the White House the president-elect would choose to be sitting at for the portrait, hoping it would be one of Eleanor Roosevelt’s. And then she didn’t win. 51
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Image: Kim Kardashian, North West, and Kanye West, Los Angeles (2014) Š Annie Leibovitz
I’m not an edgy photographer. In some ways I wish I was, and think I should be tougher and have a more critical eye
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“It was just devastating,” Leibovitz says. “Just shocking. Where we are now is supposed to be real, but it’s... unbelievable.” She pauses, before saying of President Trump: “Every day, I’ll say, “What did he do today? What downtrodden group of people is he picking on today?’” She sighs. “The man is just insane.” In the wake of Clinton’s defeat, it took her a while “to brush myself off and pick myself up”. She even contemplated abandoning the book altogether. But in the end, after much deliberation, she decided to go ahead. The last photograph now is of the artist Robert Smithson’s gargantuan earthwork Spiral Jetty, with its strong resemblance to a question mark. “It’s saying, who are we? What are we doing?” Leibovitz explains. Her father, Sam, was a lieutenant colonel in the US Air Force; her mother, Marilyn, a modern dance instructor, who once performed with the Martha Graham company. It was while studying painting at the San Francisco Art Institute that Leibovitz took a night class in photography, and in 1970 she started working for Rolling Stone. Her first commissioned work for the magazine was photographing John Lennon. In 1980 she took the last ever portrait of him, just hours before he was shot dead. In the Rolling Stone years she considered herself a documentarian, spending years on the road working with journalists, and photographing bands (most notably The Rolling Stones in 1975). When, in 1983, she moved to Vanity Fair – the ne plus ultra of high-sheen celebrity culture – things changed. The budgets grew bigger, the portraits more stylised. Two images in the new book epitomise this: Angelina Jolie, shrink-wrapped in silver lamé, attached to the front of a microlight plane – like a figurehead on the prow of a ship – and, most extravagantly... “George Clooney?” she jumps in. Yes. An extraordinary image: Clooney tricked out like a 1920s Hollywood director-tyrant, afloat on a platform, surrounded by a host of women clad in nude underwear, brandishing cameras and klieg lights – an image that speaks volumes about Hollywood hubris and excess. But that, she says, was Tom Ford’s idea, when he was guest-editing a special Hollywood issue, based on a photograph of the filmmaker Cecil B DeMille at work. “And Clooney’s a really great guy. He gets a joke.” But it’s the last of those ‘high production values’ pictures, she tells me. “I’m not saying I’m never going to do them, but I don’t look to do them unless they make sense.” And one thinks that for Leibovitz they make sense less and less. In her new book, the Hollywood glitz gives way to more contemplative pictures of artists, painters and musicians; the human-rights campaigner Malala Yousafzai; the author Joan Didion – lined, unvarnished and truthful, shot against leafless
trees as if to signal the tragedy that has enveloped her life; the feminist human-rights lawyer Andréa Medina Rosas; and Samantha Power, the former US ambassador to the UN, cradling her son on her knee as she checks her BlackBerry – a study in the conflicting demands of motherhood and professional power. “This is embarrassing,” Leibovitz says, “but I think of myself as in a tradition of portrait photographers who photographed people of their time. There will always be people I want to photograph; and I like that there’s so much of it – that there’s a sense of history with this material. I think that’s powerful, and it’s beyond me. I’m in a place sometimes when I’m photographing somebody and I can’t believe it, and I feel like it’s my duty. I really do.” She has photographed the Queen twice: firstly in 2007, in full regal attire inside state rooms in Buckingham Palace, to celebrate the monarch’s state visit to the United States. “I was thinking, ‘She’s going to be the Queen.’ I was given catalogues to look through to pick her tiara, her clothing... I was given options. I was given half an hour. And she was incredible. I remember after the shoot thinking, ‘My God, she’s so feisty.’ I just love her.” There was, of course, a famous story to this. “The BBC were doing a documentary on the Queen, and they did a trailer that made her look as if she was storming out of the shoot. The truth is, she was storming into the shoot. And she did not stop working until the end. She has this great, great sense of duty and she was so hurt and angry that it was made to look any other way.” The second time Leibovitz was approached, to shoot the official portraits marking the Queen’s 90th birthday, she says she “couldn’t believe it”. This time, the photographs were taken at Windsor Castle, and were altogether more informal: the Queen with her corgis, with her grandchildren and with Princess Anne. “That’s what she wanted to do – and that’s what I did,” Leibovitz says. “There was no mention of Prince Charles.” She laughs. The portrait with Princess Anne is particularly revealing, Anne’s arm resting protectively around her mother’s shoulder. “I love that photo,” Leibovitz says. “It makes me cry, actually.” ‘Intimidated’ is not quite the word, she says, but there is not a day when she is not nervous and worried about a shoot. “I’m photographing [former vice-president] Joe Biden and I’m nervous about it because I think he has a little bit of the Great White Hope on his shoulders right now, and I admire how he’s conducted his life. It’s wonderful to admire people and be interested in them in that way and have this responsibility of taking an image that suits them.” She has photographed every American president since Richard Nixon, and enjoys a particular 53
AIR Above: Annie Leibovitz (2012) © Annie Leibovitz. All images from Annie Leibovitz: Portraits 2005 - 2016, with an introduction by Alexandra Fuller. Published by Phaidon
rapport with Clinton and Obama. Her new book includes a series of images of the Obama administration, including a striking image of Obama on his last day as president, shot from behind, gazing out of the window of the Oval Office, as if into an uncertain future. “I knew I was going to take the last portrait,’ she remembers, “and we were trying to set up a date with the White House. Finally, they said, ‘Okay, two o’clock, Thursday, 19 January.’ I said, ‘I’m sorry, isn’t that the last day he’s in office?’” “It was amazing. I went in and he said, ‘Annie you have five minutes, and I’m only doing this because I love you.’ We took that picture, and I took some others, of him sitting at his desk – 54
but they’re just a little too sad for me.” And what of his successor? She has photographed Donald Trump many times in the past. “I think,” she says pointedly, “with every one of his wives along the way.” And how has it gone? She shrugs. “You know, he’s always making a deal.” In a photograph shot for American Vogue in 2006, Trump, unusually, settled for a supporting role, seated in a sports car as his wife, Melania, descends the steps leading down from the back of the Trump plane – pregnant and dressed in a gold bikini. “Our first lady,” Leibovitz says, flatly. Some of Leibovitz’s images over the years have been so blatant in their appraisal of the joy their subjects take in their wealth and position that you
can’t help wondering if she intends them as satire. In this case it would probably be safe to assume she did. She hesitates when asked about when, where, or even if, she will photograph Trump as president – a hesitancy that suggests that, for Leibovitz, notwithstanding her sense of duty, this is as much a question of ethics as opportunity. Contemplating the transformative possibilities of Leibovitz’s portraits, Graydon Carter, the outgoing editor of Vanity Fair, once spoke of her uncanny ability “to make boring white men who have desk jobs look epic”. “I’m not an edgy photographer,” she says. “In some ways I wish I was, and think I should be tougher and have a more critical eye. But I like to like people, and as I get older, I like people to look as good as they can. I believe in the soul, and allowing the person to present themselves. What they want to present to the camera is really important to me, and I like to follow through for them, if I can. It’s hard to have your photograph taken. It’s a frightening experience for people because they have to sort of deal with themselves.” For 15 years, probably the most important relationship in Leibovitz’s life was with Susan Sontag, the literary critic and one of America’s foremost public intellectuals, whom Leibovitz met when in 1989 she was sent to photograph her. Leibovitz was 40; Sontag, 56. Leibovitz once said a deeply revealing thing about their relationship: that if she was going to be involved with Sontag, she knew that she was going to have to be “better – be a better photographer, be a better person.” “That was a very conscious choice at the time,” she says now, “that if Susan wanted to be involved with me, I sort of knew what I was getting myself into. I just didn’t have the ways and the means like Susan. I didn’t have the intellect like Susan. I didn’t know how I could keep up or even be with her. I remember going out to dinner with her the first time: I read The New York Times from front to back and I sweated through my clothes, worrying what to talk about. But she couldn’t have been more charming or put me more at ease.” In a sense, Sontag was as much mentor as partner or friend. She broadened Leibovitz’s horizons, introduced her to new worlds. ‘The thing she insisted upon was that people experience things, be in the world, that we travel – and we did. I was still a very surface person, and she insisted on depth, more depth. I did once ask her, give me 10 books to read. And she made a list. But I’m a very slow reader, a terrible reader. She would always get annoyed at me for that.” She laughs. “She once said, ‘If I read that slow I wouldn’t read either.’” Sontag had written the collection of essays On Photography, one of the defining studies on the meaning of the medium. But curiously, perhaps,
it was a subject they rarely discussed. “She never really told me how to take a picture, although she did once say to me, ‘Stop taking pictures of people in bed – just stop it! I don’t want to see another bed!”’ She laughs. “I think what she loved was that I was engaged in popular culture and doing that work. It was entertaining to her. And in its own way it was a big influence on her, but I don’t think in the long run I could be the person she was hoping or imagining I could be. She was just grander and larger than me.” She pauses. “She was just a really great person.” And did she make Leibovitz a better person? She laughs. “I’m not too sure she succeeded. Listen, she was a lot to live up to. I think when I stepped into it I thought I had my own territory and she had her territory; I think it was fine, but it got harder as time went on... And then she died. And that was hard. She didn’t die a nice death.” Sontag died of cancer in 2004. You must miss her terribly, I say. “What I miss about her right now is that this time could have really used a voice like that. I remember things happening and she would say something that seemed completely right, and so obvious and that no one else had really noticed. Her sense of timing and her sense of observation – I miss all that.” In 2009 Leibovitz experienced well-publicised financial trouble, borrowing USD24 million against her three homes and portfolio, and defaulting on the loan. (She always had a notoriously insouciant attitude to bookkeeping.) But bankruptcy, as she observed at the time, “is not death”. She refinanced the loans, selling her West Village house for USD28.5 million and ‘downsizing’ to an USD11.25 million apartment on the Upper West Side. “The best thing I ever did,” she now says. “You just have to move on.” Leibovitz has no partner. She has three daughters, one of 15, and 12-year-old twins, born by surrogate in 2005, five months after Sontag’s death. Being a single mother is “pretty hard”. She pauses. “I think it is a two-man job, and I didn’t quite take in what it meant to have help. I work so much, but the girls are great. Going to school’s a full-time job and they work really hard during the school year. And I have a very wonderful family – I’m one of six kids – so they have their uncles and aunts, and they all help out. They’ll be fine, but I do wish I could be there more.” Could she see herself with a life partner? “I don’t discount it, but I’m so busy. I was always running so fast that I never had a sense that anyone liked me anyway.” She pauses. “That’s a strange, strange thing to say, but do you know what I mean? It would be interesting, but I’m a handful. I can’t imagine anyone putting up with me.” She strikes me, I say, as more insecure than people might imagine. “Sshhh.” She puts her finger to her lips and laughs. “It’s my secret.” 55
All Dolled Up
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A new book honours the fashion accomplishments of beauty icon Claudia Schiffer – creative muse for many a style mind. Here, in her own words, the supermodel recalls the narrative behind her iconic Barbie photoshoot from 1994 WordS: Claudia sChiffer
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his picture was taken by Ellen von Unwerth for Vogue Italia in 1994. The story was called Claudia: The Real Barbie and, as you’d imagine, there were mountains of blonde hair and an array of Barbie-worthy dresses; lots of PVC and chainmail. Every time I felt the hair couldn’t get any bigger, it did, and no one on set would stop touching it as they walked past – making me really feel like the toy. The look was a big part of the shoot but, as always with Ellen, I also had to inhabit the role. I remembered the poses from playing with Barbie when growing up in the 1970s. It’s quite an odd thing to make your limbs look doll-like, but we had fun with the concept and set up some classic Barbie moments – brushing my hair, walking my dog, playing with Ken. It was very tongue-in-cheek. By this point Ellen and I had worked together for several years, so she was someone I trusted and who always managed to make the photos look cool even if they were silly. We had both just started out, me as a model and Ellen as
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a photographer (Ellen herself had been a model before). Then when we were enlisted to work on the Guess campaign together, it became our big break as photographer and model – and from then on, our careers grew side by side. My life was incredibly busy when this picture was taken: Ellen and I had recently worked on a cheerleader shoot for French Glamour as well as for Guess, but I was also working with Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel and the Versace campaigns with Richard Avedon, as well as lots of other editorials. I never wanted to say no to a job I was interested in, even if it meant missing a party, or having a day off – which quickly gave me the reputation for being professional – but I was just acting on instinct, deciding for myself which campaigns to take part in. It’s still the way I am today. The 1990s were a very competitive but fun time, when models became the rock stars of fashion. Previously they had either been a runway model or an advertisement face, now they could be both. I remember when I first heard the term ‘supermodel’ I couldn’t stop 58
laughing, but soon I came to realise that for me it was quite apt. There I was playing at being Superman, hiding behind the make-up and hair, when in real life I was actually Clark Kent, quite shy and introverted. The irony of the Barbie shoot wasn’t lost on me, and of course it had a layer of meaning beyond just looking like a famous doll. The idea of models as mannequins who just looked pretty and said nothing – like real-life Barbies – was shattered in the supermodel era because our personalities became more important than they had ever been for models before. We were suddenly known across the world by our first names (just like Barbie!), but for much more than just looking pretty. Some might have seen the Barbie comparison unfavourably, but I was amused by it and knew what Ellen was saying. The shoot underlined how recognisable we had become at the time – and poked fun at the idea that all we did was pose and dress up. The shoot inspired a lot of other photographers to create similar images in the years since – but I’m proud to have been the original Barbie supermodel.
opening pages: Photograph © ellen von unwerth/ Trunk archive, Vogue Italia, July 1994 Above: The original supermodels: Carla Bruni, Claudia schiffer, Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, helena Christensen at the Versace rTW s/s18 fashion show during Milan fashion Week in Milan. Photo by Victor Virgile/ Gamma-rapho for Getty right: Claudia schiffer, Photograph © ellen von unwerth/ Trunk archive. Claudia Schiffer, with introduction by Claudia schiffer and foreword by ellen von unwerth, is available from rizzoli
Rei Kawakubo has changed the course of late 20th and early-21st century fashion. If she didn’t already exist, we’d have to invent her
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The AIR
perfect
fit
When two creative forces conspire, the resulting collaboration can conjure couture for the ages. In her new book Fashion Together, Lou Stoppard explores the profound personal stories behind some of style’s greatest duos
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WoRds: CHRIS UJMA
This page: Coiled Corset by Shaun Leane for Alexander McQueen. Image courtesy of the V&A
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rom skulduggery and treason to underhand tactics and mental mind games, delicious details lurk in the shadows of a good head-tohead rivalry. On its most fundamental level, nature is operating on a Selfish Gene diet, not – as its author Professor Richard Dawkins would stress – that we are selfish in personality, but of individual persistence. And at the sharp edge of society, we adopt a competitive ‘prosperity of one’ versus others, lauding those who accomplish alone: the first to patent; to conquer; to top the podium. Fortunately, there are nuances of culture shielded from such do-or-die absolutes, with pockets of pleasure where the spotlight can be shared; breathing space in which to produce something truly special, together. Fashion is one such goldmine, laden with duos who capitalised on their camaraderie and charted the choppy waters of ego, communication and creative direction. They deserve to be held in as equally high esteem as those go-it-alone gunslingers, believes Lou Stoppard, editor at SHOWstudio. “I do think fashion media fetishises the single, star creative – the idea of a lone genius,” she says, “and I felt like the human to human collaborations – these formative relationships that fashion is full of – hadn’t really been analysed, and I couldn’t find anything that was a study of those cases.” In her new Rizzoli-published tome Fashion Together, Stoppard was entrusted to peer into previously unexplored corners of fashion cooperation, and she emerged with insightful, sacred anecdotes. “‘Collaboration’ has become a real buzzword – something that is really fashionable within fashion and everyone is talking about the process, be it designer/high-street collaborations to designer/artist collaborations,” explains the authorcum-detective. She conducted a series of faceto-face interviews with an array of gamechanging style consorts. Among them: Vivienne Westwood and Andreas Kronthaler; fashion photographers Mert Alas/Marcus Piggott, plus Inez van Lamsweerde/Vinoodh Matadin; Rick Owens and Michèle Lamy; Katie Hillier and Luella Bartley; J W Anderson and Benjamin Bruno. 62
“We have many eclectic interview series on the [SHOWstudio] website, some of which are very visual, some centred on audience participation, but I’d never really done a big set of interviews which simply comprised conversations. I liked the idea of it being just me and each pair.” Meeting them in unusual places also told her “a lot about the aspects of their collaboration.” Stoppard jetted to New York to interview Inez and Venoodh in their house over breakfast, and “in this very intimate environment I felt like they were candid, taking you into their world”. The book’s diverse ensemble generates myriad stories to study, but what is the common thunderbolt that causes these successful people to bring another person into their creative fold? “In modern day fashion, you can’t do it on your own, as the pace of fashion is getting even more intense, with bigger shows – a lot of the pairs joke about how they’d hate to do it alone,” Stoppard says. “There’s a great line in the Marc Jacobs/Katy Grand talk where he says that anyone who pretends to do it on their own is lying. It’s true. Fashion requires these huge teams of people, and for every collection there’s an army behind it – cutters, embroiders, models, the stylists, the casting director, set designers, PR… I do think people clearly have to work in teams.” Yet rather than explore the cliche designer/stylist dynamic, Stoppard chose to zone in on the “quite unusual” relationships that arose from being in close quarters, and also at the genesis of these style unions. Media narratives would paint two creative forces colliding as causing the earth to quake and angels to sing, but in the real world it is slightly more low-key: try the smoking area of a nightclub or crashing a party (Grand meeting Jacobs), meeting in a Chinese restaurant for Lady Gaga’s birthday (Nick Knight and Daphne Guinness) or spotting the other walking through the college doors from a classroom and thinking she “looked amazing” (Matadin’s take on van Lamsweerde). “I was quite charmed by some of the funny stories about how they met each other,” Stoppard recalls with a smile. “They produced such iconic works that you assume it was this great meeting of
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Previous pages: Vivienne Westwood and Andreas Kronthaler. © Juergen Teller Left: Rick Owens and Michèle Lamy. © Adrien Dirand This page: Kim Jones and Alister Mackie. © Hugo Scott
When you’ve had such a seismic formative effect on someone, you shape their output forever minds, but often they met at a nightclub or at a party, or through a friend, or they saw one another at college and just became friends. It can be that often, when we talk about these partnerships, it is easy to think of them as these epic collaborations but often these pairs started in quite haphazard ways.” “It’s not like people said ‘I’m going to find this great collaborator I’m going to work with closely’. Often they start working together and then, in time, couldn’t imagine not working together. That’s how the best relationships start – like the best relationships in life. You can’t force it, you can’t manufacture it, and it either works or it doesn’t.” There are two exceptions in the book where the author talked to solo artists, being that the other half of the pairing is no longer alive. Jewellery designer Shaun Leane and Irish milliner Philip Treacy shared with her their respective partnerships with Alexander McQueen and Isabella Blow. Yet the physical loss does not automatically equate to a spiritual severance, Stoppard observed. “When you’ve such a seismic formative effect on someone, you shape their output forever. Leane talks about this because he collaborated so long with McQueen, and mentioned that to this day, with every piece he designs, in the back of his head he still
thinks about whether McQueen would like it and what he would think of it. It’s subconscious. He’s imbedded in Shaun’s vision and his understanding of what beauty is – and all of the pairs have an element of that.” So which of the collaborations have resulted in profound catwalk results? It’s that particular pairing of ‘Lee’ and Leane that Stoppard feels had the biggest impact on fashion. “It’s rare for a designer to work with a jeweller – you may get commercial setups, but it is rare for them to work that closely together. But Leane and McQueen catwalk shows were very theatrical, and the coiled corsets and collars they developed have been hugely influential. Those shows have dictated what fashion shows aspire to be.” The synergy between Benjamin Bruno and J W Anderson is another that has been “interesting”, she says, “as together they have set the path for what a modern fashion label should be – focused on creating a curatorial world that brings in references and different elements to create a universe that the shopper can be a part of.” Also, in terms of working together, “Philip (Treacy) and Izzy (Blow) have one of the most adored fashion relationships out there, and it’s a good example of a pairing that just works. There was no financial drive behind
it – it was not a business relationship – and it developed purely through shared love for the work and shared interests. That has set a template for a lot of other creative relationships, I think.” Of the yin yang balance, she discovered that, “Often they bring quite different things to the partnership, and one brings something that the other does not or couldn’t do. That’s not the case for all of them, but a lot bring very specific skills or ideas, and you often see pairs where their skills are different or their personalities contrast, yet fit.” But don’t all good things come to an end? “Some people have asked over the course of the book, ‘what if they stopped working together’ but in most of these relationships, even if they didn’t work together for a while, they never really leave each other,” Stoppard reflects. Engaging with another person creatively can be an unpredictible chemistry experiment but in Stoppard’s book, the collaborations are more of an emotional equation – where 1+1 equals not a figure, but co-creations created to complement the figure. And all to the power of two. Fashion Together: Fashion’s Most Extraordinary Duos on the Art of Collaboration, Trust, and Love is edited by Lou Stoppard and published by Rizzoli New York 65
Motoring
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DECEMBER 2017 : ISSUE 79
A Noble Cause
Handbuilding just a handful of supercars per year, Noble Automotive is a valiant guardian of British automaking. From nuanced design to superior handling, its pure engineering puts the driver back in control 66
WORDS: ChrIS UJMA
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resh off the Dubai Motor Show in November, auto aficionados in the Middle East are still basking in a futuristic glow. As with many a modern-day motoring summit, among the headline enticements was a parade of sleek concepts bearing computational promises aplenty – with less driving responsibility and more driving autonomy at the fore. The self-driving movement has its merits (and doesn’t necessarily stray into the supercar lane), but driving purists can nevertheless be forgiven for feeling indifferent toward the impeding proposition of having less control over on-road outcomes. Such savants – the artisanaladmiring, adrenaline-thirsty performance purists – are those certain to have their head turned by a British cottage industry car-builder based in Leicester, England. In an evolving motoring landscape, gimmick-free Noble Automotive is a blast of fresh air for those who love to drive. Its meticulously handbuilt flagship M600 has much to wax lyrical about – total say over every square inch of material, tactile surface and interior/exterior colour tint, for one. But for a certain driving sect, the tri-appeal of this bespoke fun-fest is the ability for driving without a safety net: manual transmission, no ABS, and traction control clicked ‘off’. If such an approach reads as somewhat antiquated, it’s with purpose. The genesis for forming Noble was a feeling “that there was a gap for a more rewarding analogue driving experience, in a rather ubiquitous and generic digital supercar market,” details managing director Peter Boutwood. “We thought that the actual driving encounter was being negated by excessive and intrusive driver assistance. We wanted to get back to basics: to create a supercar based upon mechanical and chassis engineering, rather than electronics, for those who enjoy a purer and more rewarding driving adventure,” he adds. The M600 is a cult hero among supercar spotters, its rarity making it a UFO of the roads – and of that acronym, ‘Flying’ is (metaphorically) what it does. The M600’s Road setting gives 450bhp, Track bumps it up to 550bhp, and a riproaring Race mode
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Opening pages: The Noble M600 Speedster These pages, clockwise: Noble’s M600 CarbonSport; the bespoke cabin interior (in any colour you prefer); the engine, a Yamaha Judd V8 4439cc twin turbo
commands around 650bhp. Boutwood urges number stargazing in moderation though, because, “It’s apparent that many supercar manufacturers now appear to be chasing the huge horsepower figures, however a race to see who can generate the biggest ‘hp’ does not interest us. Far more important to us is ‘Power to Weight’, and how the weight is distributed.” Noble focused on the M600 being as light as possible “from day one”, without sacrificing comfort or safety. Due to the minimal design, no wings or too much aero, its straight line speed is around 360km/h, and its cornering and handling are two factors deemed ‘incredible’ by gushing reviewers (including one Jeremy Clarkson). “A compact, light engine is fitted low and to the middle of the car. This is coupled with an incredibly light and strong carbon fibre body. There’s no real secret: it weighs around 1,250kg and the engine has a healthy, but not excessive, 650bhp,” the MD details. Carbon fibre is used to keep the weight trim, and Noble’s approach reflects its perfectionism: “The process of tinting the carbon requires that every panel is absolutely ‘weave perfect’, without flaws or marks before preparation for lacquer. Being a ‘fabric’ it moves and distorts during the mould process, therefore many panels – though totally suitable for paint – are not of sufficient visual quality. The key is ensuring each matches exactly”. Eight years in, admiration for Noble in supercar circles is, you might say, ‘weave perfect’ – but that doesn’t make sales a forgone conclusion. The marque is clear on ‘not being in competition to the current supercar establishment’, but there’s natural caution for buyers contemplating a high-performance vehicle purchase outside the known-name clique. “It is a surprisingly long road from initial enquiry to sale, and obviously we do not have the history or the heritage of, say, Ferrari or Porsche,” explains Boutwood.
The company adopts an attentive approach to-suit: “Until we form a relationship with the client there is some scepticism as to our credentials and longevity. However this has become less problematic as we establish a global reputation,” he says. Such humility should only extend to market share, though; insofar as the end product, Noble’s experts have a vehicle that stands toe-to-toe wth the very best (even if such an observation goes against its self-confessed goal). Noble knows how to play to its strengths, and engineering an ‘analogue’ car is “in many ways, more difficult,” shares Boutwood. “Electronics, as used in more ‘digital’ cars, allow engineers to mask and flatter inferior chassis, suspension and handling. With a more analogue car we have to ensure that these areas are effective and efficient without the use of onboard computer technology. Obviously we want the car to be safe, and much of the safety aspect relies on it being user-friendly. Although on paper the M600 may appear intimidating, it is surprisingly easy to drive and incredibly predictable”. Being a bespoke manufacturer with such low production volumes “allows us to develop a real rapport with our clients, and many have become friends,” Boutwood adds. “Every car delivered to its owner in the last seven years is still in their possession” is an impressive statement, yet understandable. So much client emotion is invested into the process that a car+driver symbiosis forms, sealed by the thrill of putting the machine (and their skills) to the test. “Our favourite word, ‘artisan’, is sadly dying out in todays mechanised computer driven world,” he admits. “We’re lucky to be involved in every bit of the manufacturing: there’s no assembly line and no mechanisation, just skilled people building a car from start to finish.” Noble Automotive, then, is a trusty ally for the few; the capable connoisseurs self-driven to drive. 69
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This page: Photo © John Blackwell
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Gastronomy DECEMBER 2017 : ISSUE 79
An Invitation to Dinner Drawing on recipes from 14th century Britain, Dinner by Heston Blumenthal looks to the past in order to feed modern day curiosity, says Ashley Palmer-Watts WORDS : FAYE BARTLE
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Frumenty © Ashley Palmer-Watts
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rom poring over centuries-old cookbooks used by the royal chefs of King Richard II, to working with top food historians and dipping into the archives of The British Library – the concept for Dinner by Heston Blumenthal has been meticulously researched, with dishes that aim to keep traditions alive, albeit with a thoroughly modern twist. With highlights including Frumenty (c.1390) – a curious combination of grilled octopus, spelt, smoked sea broth, pickled dulse (a type of sea vegetable) and lovage (an old English herb) – Roast Marrowbone (c.1720) and savoury ice creams of the late 1800s, it’s not the usual gourmet fare, but then you’d expect nothing less from the unconventional chef who is famous for his fascination with historic British gastronomy. The idea for Dinner came about in the late 90s, and chef Ashley Palmer-Watts, who had been working with Heston at The Fat Duck in Bray since 1999, was called upon to bring the vision to life.
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“Heston met a food historian in Oxford while he was queuing for a food symposium,” explains PalmerWatts. “They got talking and he ended up being one of the two food historians at King Henry VIII’s Hampton Court Palace, who we now have an amazing relationship with. We also work with The British Library, with a food historian and curator there called Polly Russell, as well as a prolific food historian in the Lake District called Ivan Day. “We built our own library of amazing old cookbooks, and people even sent us books they’d had for over 100 years,” he continues. “We harvested all these snippets of information and frameworks for dishes, and married them with incredible produce.” Following the years of research, Dinner by Heston Blumenthal opened at Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park in London’s Knightsbridge in 2011, with Palmer-Watts the driving force as Chef Director. To this day, ideas for menu items start with sketches and illustrations and are developed from
there. While one selection may make it through, others are simply scrapped, or remain years in the making. “It was a very unscientific way of doing it, although now we are a little bit more polished and economical with our time,” says Palmer-Watts. The hard work has paid off, with the restaurant receiving its first Michelin star in 2012 and its second in 2013. Achieving the elusive third star, however, is not a matter that preoccupies the team. “It’s not something that we talk about,” says Palmer-Watts. “Our thought process on these things, especially with Michelin, is that it’s such an honour and a privilege to receive the accolade and you really do earn them every year – even when you are retaining them. You are judged so closely and marked and scored, but it’s never really an actual target of ours. We concentrate on what we do in the kitchen, at the front of house and on the guest experience. “You can get drawn into cooking for the wrong reasons,” he adds. “I see it from
Tafety Tart © John Blackwell
time to time when people are so fixated on achieving a certain status and I think it doesn’t help you find what you need to do, or what you should be doing. You need to cook what you feel you should be cooking. If you start getting it round the wrong way, by trying to achieve something, then that’s where it goes a bit wrong.” So instead of fixating on accolades, Dinner broadened its reach, to the other side of the world, with a second restaurant that opened in Melbourne in 2015. Around 75 percent of the menu is inspired by British history, manifesting in very contemporary versions of the old dishes and tweaked to suit its Australian location. “The dishes are not recreations. They are incorporating ‘Australiana’,” says Palmer-Watts. “And then you have the true Australian historicinspired dishes, such as Lamington.” Another highlight is a dessert based on the popular chocolate bar, Cherry Ripe, which was launched by MacRobertson’s in 1924. Large, flat and crispy on the outside, it is filled with a bright red coconut and cherry mixture which, in Palmer-Watts’ words, is “a bit like
We built our own library of amazing old cookbooks, and harvested snippets of information for dishes a Bounty, but not as coconutty”. Even though it is one of Australia’s most-loved sweets, it is named it after a poem by English poet Robert Herrick (1591-1674), which was later turned into a song by English composer Ben Johnson. “Even the most Australian thing in people’s lives actually came from a piece of poetry in the UK, which I think is really cool,” he says. “That link back is exactly what our restaurant is all about.” Empowering employees and keeping the lines of communication open are two important factors in running restaurants so far apart. Recipes are sent across from London with pictures and illustrations, and the Australian team then sets about “localising” the recipe.
Whether in London or in Melbourne, every dish at Dinner tells a story, with many among the most Instagrammed dishes in the world – but the influlence of social media is something AshleyPalmer Watts has mixed views on: “People don’t really realise how powerful social media is and the exposure people have in terms of being able to see what everyone else is up to,” he says. “Inspiring people is incredible and it’s the biggest form of flattery when someone cites us as inspiration. The worst part is when a person claims it as their own work. It’s an industry where there is no consequence to that, so it tends to be rife. I think it’s disrespectful to pass work off as your own when it isn’t, but it happens quite a lot.” Dinner, however, is refreshingly devoid of creative clashes. “Heston would say he has never worked at Dinner, although he was there when we opened,” says Palmer-Watts. “He’s always said that ‘this is Ashley’s restaurant’. At the same time, we work together. It’s quite a unique mix but it’s not an ego fest – it’s about a restaurant.” 73
23 journeys by jet
Le Grand Bellevue
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Switzerland
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n the surface, a stay at Le Grande Bellevue – placed in a secluded corner of the premier Swiss ski region of Gstaad – is all very serious business. The century-old hotel has a reputation for delivering the height of luxury, and maintains tasteful composure through cultivated touches such as its Michelin-star restaurant, fine afternoon tea, and an acclaimed spa with interconnecting aromatic saunas, salt rooms and ice caves. But December means winter, and the snowy locale of this elite escape means that your family can put a pause on well-polished decorum (set to high alert for endless festive event soirées), and sneak off to make some Snow Angels, build snowmen and frolic in the fine powder. There’s a reason high society make this their destination of choice come the opening of ski season, and it’s the fun and refinement that combine here for the perfect year-end indulgence. Yes, the ski lifts may be within touching distance (an underground garage in the hotel affords effortless access), but the celebratory social aspect of the region means that not everyone chooses to hit the slopes. The property, which stands on a designer boutique-lined street, has its own surprises behind the handsome façade – a swanky in-house nightclub, sushi bar, kids’ club and a cinema, to name but a handful. Expect superb facilities and elite standards of service; clink glasses of bubbles (or sip mugs of artisanal coffee) beside the roaring fireside in its Le Petit Chalet, to toast both the New Year, and the making of yet another wise destination decision. Land into Saanen-Gstaad Airport, which is just four kilometres from the hotel. Then make the short transfer via a private VIP shuttle, arranged by the establishment. bellevue-gstaad.ch 75
What I Know Now
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DECEMBER 2017 : ISSUE 79
Aline Ashkarian country general manager, patchi
“If you believe you can do it, you will find a thousand ways to do it.” Those influential words of inspiration were shared with me by our CEO Oussama Choucair – son of the company founder. To me, it represents his most important piece of advice. Many of his values and beliefs have helped shaped my development – enabling me to climb the ladder of success. On the topic of giving, it’s proven that giving to others and gifting is actually beneficial for our own mental state and wellbeing. It helps reduce stress, 76
improve our emotional energy, and has a positive impact on our physical health. Patchi, then, is a perfect fit for my mindset, as we believe in generosity; it’s one of our most important pillars. We refer to it as ‘tadeef’, which in Arabic means ‘giving’. To me, elegance is an attitude and a mindset, whereas luxury ventures into refinement – and it is perfectionism that drives me to continue improving on the quality of our product. We must, as our clientele has a high
understanding and appreciation for good taste. To use a chocolate analogy, they can easily distinguish real, pure chocolate made from bean to bar; a blend of the finest ingredients. Well life is the same: people can quickly detect your own genuine qualities and easily determine your authenticity. One thing I learned on my journey is that we’re all capable of doing anything if we truly believe we can do it. Put your mind and heart into life, and you’re sure to taste the sweetness of success.
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