Manuscript issue 02

ISSUE 02

AUTUMN 2012

PAGEANT Female designers are menswear's new heroes

RAFAEL BONACHELA An arresting collision of dance and poetry

THE KINGPINS On staying together longer than The Beatles

BROTHERS IN ARMS BENEDICT & XAVIER SAMUEL Photographed by Liz Ham

AUS/NZ $5.00 UK £5.00 EU €7.00 USA $5.00

HELMUT NEWTON Boys dressed as girls dressed as boys

Contents

08

EDITOR’S LETTER /

10

CONTRIBUTORS /

17

INTRODUCING

12

THE QUARTERLY

Rafael Bonachela, Malcolm Carfrae, Amanda Cumming & Kate Reynolds, Tim Gregory & Oliver Watts, Kelvin Ho.

PROFILES MITCHELL OAKLEY SMITH PHOTOGRAPHY BOWEN ARICO | KYLIE COUTTS | JORDAN GRAHAM 24

WIGGIN’ OUT

Short hair for guys? How terribly old fashioned.

PHOTOGRAPHY JORDAN GRAHAM | STYLING JOLYON MASON | HAIR SOPHIE ROBERTS 28

BLUE BEARDS

The season’s preeminent colour is showcased in full bloom.

PHOTOGRAPHY KYLIE COUTTS | STYLING JOLYON MASON 34

MEN AT WORK

Marking the end of a 12-year collaboration, female art collective The Kingpins discuss the subjects that inspire their work.

STORY ELIZABETH ANN MACGREGOR | PHOTOGRAPHY LIZ HAM 40

BROTHERS IN ARMS

Rapidly rising creative forces Benedict and Xavier Samuel provide insight into each other's character.

PHOTOGRAPHY LIZ HAM 46

HERACLES

The greatest of the Greek heroes is invoked in our tribute to masculinity.

P H OTO G R A P H Y PA U L S C A L A | S T Y L I N G J O LY O N M A S O N 62

HELMUT

Collaborators Liz Ham and Jolyon Mason pay homage to one of the fashion world’s most revered photographers.

PHOTOGRAPHY LIZ HAM | STYLING JOLYON MASON

86

87

STOCKISTS

FINAL EXAMINATION

Inspired by f lâneur, menswear theorist Todd Robinson muses on the effect of gaze.

STORY TODD ROBINSON

06

M A N U S C R I P T D A I L Y. C O M FACEBOOK .COM/MANUSCRIPTDAILY TWITTER .COM/MANUSCRIPTDAILY

Editor's Letter

I

've always found the design process an interesting one given inspiration

is never really tangible. The more honest designers explain that a story

or theme doesn’t emerge until later, joining the dots as fragments and tangents start to take shape and create a relationship between each other. This process, I believe, transcends all creative forms, publishing included.

For our second issue, we've focused our attention on the concept

of masculinity, dedicating our stories and shoots to assessing, criticising and attempting to understand what it means to be a man. Much like a fashion designer's, our ideas arrived sporadically, without warning, and what we present argues both for and against traditional notions of masculinity.

On visiting Paris for the fashion collections last year, Manuscript’s

fashion director, Jolyon Mason, and I were drawn to the statues that litter

for her distinctly feminine aesthetic, photograph a man — and thanks are

the city — in parks, museums, on the side of the road. Built as a way of

due here to the professionalism and willingness of model Corey Wallace

immortalising the men integral to the city’s history, these marble figures have

— dressing as a woman dressed as a man to readdress the issue today.

come to represent a sense accomplishment and heroism, notions inextricably

linked with masculinity. It’s here that ideas sparked as we began to look

arts world: brothers Benedict and Xavier Samuel, the former a filmmaker

further into the mythology of Heracles, the greatest of the Greek gods and,

and director, the latter an actor. Like the Samuel brothers, I grew up in

it has been said, the most masculine. Mr Mason and photographer Paul

suburban Australia in the 1980s and 90s, a time when masculinity was

Scala present a beautiful vision of Heracles that highlights what it once

defined by one's affinity with sports. Unlike my classmates, I had no interest

meant to be masculine: strength, power, daring.

in physical activity, and like Bendict and Xavier, found something of myself

in the arts. As they explain in our exclusive profile, their interest in performing

Tribute continues this issue. Mr Mason and photographer Liz Ham

Our issue is covered by two rapidly rising stars of the international

pay homage to the late Helmut Newton — undoubtedly one of the world's

was one they shared with each other around the dinner table while growing

greatest fashion photographers of all time — but they do so by means

up and continues to draw them close.

of subversion. What we think is interesting and sought to interrogate is

Mr Newton's fascination with the boundaries of gender. In a time of

the question of what, exactly, it means to be masculine. That’s up to you

rising female empowerment, and in line with the changing fashions of

to decide. But I do hope that in presenting our thoughts we have encouraged

the '60s, 70s, 80s and 90s, Mr Newtown choreographed his settings to

you to look for answers beyond what is so readily presented.

I can’t say with any certainty that what we present in this issue answers

show women as being powerful, often using men’s clothing, such as suiting, From one man to another—

M I T C H E L L O A K L E Y S M I T H / Editor & Publisher twitter.com/MrOakleySmith

08

PHOTOGRAPHY BOWEN ARICO

to do so. How interesting then to have a female photographer, one known

Contributors

E D I T O R & P U B L I S H E R Mitchell Oakley Smith D E S I G N D I R E C T O R Nicholas Adamovich F A S H I O N D I R E C T O R Jolyon Mason CONTRIBUTORS Elizabeth Ann MacGregor, Bowen Arico, Benedict Brink, Lisa Cooper, Kylie Coutts, Kimberley Forbes, Jordan Graham, Liz Ham, Jenny Kim, Sasha Nilsson, Técha Noble, Amanda Reardon, Sophie Roberts, Todd Robinson, Paul Scala

SPECIAL THANKS 2c Management, The Agency, Australians in New York Fashion Foundation, Chic Models, Company1, Danielle Cusack Scott, Kelly Stone, London MGT Group, MCA Sydney, Network Agency, OneNinetyNine Management, Priscillas Model Management, The Rat’s Nest Collective, Shanahan Management, Viviens Creative

M A N U S C R I P T D A I L Y. C O M FACEBOOK .COM/MANUSCRIPTDAILY TWITTER .COM/MANUSCRIPTDAILY Manuscript is owned and published by Mitchell Oakley Smith (ABN 67 212 902 027), 11-13 Burnell Place, East Sydney NSW 2010, manuscript@mitchelloakleysmith.com. Printed by MPD, Unit E1 46-62 Maddox Street, Alexandria NSW 2015 © 2012 All rights reserved.

KYLIE

COUTTS

LISA

COOPER

ELIZABETH ANN

Emerging photographer Kylie Coutts shares an office with the Manuscript team, so it was only a matter of

MACGREGOR

time before her work graced our pages. According to Ms Coutts, “a man who’s unafraid to express is femininity” is truly a man. It makes sense then that Ms Coutts should photograph Blue Beards [page 26],

As workmen enclosed on the gallery during its

a collision of beards, an adornment associated

$53 million renovation, due to reopen in late

with masculinity, and flowers, another associated

March, Museum of Contemporary Art director

with femininity. The outcome is blooming marvellous.

Elizabeth Ann Macgregor OBE made time to interview the four artists behind The Kingpins [Men at Work, page 34]. The museum director has long supported The Kingpins — indeed, the MCA was the first art institution to purchase work from the group — so it only made sense that she should host the discussion. “I loved the opportunity to catch up with one of Australia’s most interesting collaborative groups and find out what drives them to create together,” says Ann Macgregor of the discussion.

Lisa Cooper is one of Australia’s most talented multi-hyphenate artists, drawing on her study of philosophy and background as a florist to create work that spans painting, sculpture, installation, photography and film. It is an honour then that Doctor Cooper collaborated with Manuscript to create Blue Beards [page 26], a shoot that pokes fun at the gender stereotypes inherent in colour and f lora. Doctor Cooper has a lot to say about the notion of masculinity, but sees the term

LIZ

HAM

rooted more strongly in one’s character than in their gender. To her, being masculine is to be “robust, strong and able, like my girlfriend.”

SOPHIE

ROBERTS

Few photographers ever see their practice sit comfortably

“Masculinity,” says Sophie Roberts, “is

between fashion and fine art. Liz Ham is one of them,

a social construct defined by the way we

fusing traditional documentary with contemporary digital

related to one another.” The acclaimed

photography to imbue her images with rich narrative content.

hairstylist and Vogue, Harper's Bazaar

No stranger to Manuscript — she contributed to our

and Russh contributor is a very welcome

inaugural issue — Ms Ham has helped to define our aesthetic,

addition to the Manuscript team, working

photographing brothers Benedict and Xavier Samuel for

on four shoots in this, our masculinity issue,

our cover; shooting a portrait of all-female art collective

including our portfolio of long hairstyles

The Kingpins [page 34]; and recreating some of Helmut Newton’s

for men, which Ms Roberts conceptualised.

most iconic images in our tribute to the great photographer’s

“For me it is symbolic of a protective

study of gender, sexuality and identity [page 62].

embrace that can guard or shield me.”

10

The Quarterly

MENSWEAR welcomes, VANISHING ELEPHANT tailors, ASOS collaborates, BALLY smokes.

Australia, given the small size of its population and geographic

and high street labels not offering low-key, refined garments at

distance from the world’s major fashion capitals, is a hard country

affordable prices. D.A.C. is far more relaxed than MR CARTER

in which to build a viable apparel business. It’s for this reason that

— its focus is more strongly on simple t-shirts, singlets, knitted sweaters,

the Australian fashion industry was for many years corralled in

boardshorts and trousers — but its focus on quality and lack of

a culture of replicating overseas designers and, in recent years,

splashy trend-driven embellishment is in line with the mood of

many independent businesses have closed. Within the even smaller

men’s fashion business.

men’s market, there's a slim handful of labels Manuscript respects,

If VANISHING ELEPHANT led the way for classic-style,

so it’s always promising to see the launch of labels that combine a new

well-made, affordable menswear, then perhaps its latest foray will

aesthetic vision with high quality production. Though not all having

spark yet another trend in the market. The Sydney-based label

launched this year, we’re excited about the creation of PAGEANT,

has introduced a formal suiting line available exclusively from its

an avant-garde Melbourne-based menswear label designed by

Melbourne store and online at vanishingelephant.com. The slim,

Amanda Cumming and Kate Reynolds [read more in this issue], D.A.C,

two-button styles are made in grey wool check and printed cotton,

the affordable-yet-sharp label by Sydney-based Liam Farrow and

and are accompanied by classic flat wool suits in black, grey and navy,

Mark Howes, and MR CARTER, which launches this month. “We were

with cotton colours to follow in the coming months, along with

pretty skint when we conceived the label, which is really a response to

muted-colour merino wool knits in both henley and crew necks.

our own lifestyle,” explains designer and co-founder Zach Carter who

launched MR CARTER with his younger brother, Sam. Mr Carter

launched a dedicated Australian division at the end of last year,

cut his teeth working in London as a designer for several years,

has released an exclusive capsule collection, Kidda!, by British menswear

including a year spent at VIVIENNE WESTWOOD’s Anglomania line.

designer CHRISTOPHER SHANNON. Reworking archival prints,

The idea behind Mr Carter, explains the designer, is to offer clean,

Mr Shannon presents a sports-inspired collection of jersey basics

gentlemanly styles created with high quality fabrics, such as

with prices beginning at $60 for t-shirts. It’s certainly not ASOS’ first

Japanese cotton, at prices that encourage purchase, which seems a popular

collaboration, but definitely one of the most exciting given the keen

Leading online retailer ASOS, the e-commerce website that

FROM LEFT: A look from MR CARTER's autumn/winter collection; the limited edition Scribe cigar box by BALLY; a look from D.A.C.'s autumn/winter collection; a look from the Christopher Shannon for ASOS collection.

market niche for Australian menswear at the moment, headed by

global following Mr Shannon has amassed since graduating from

2008-established VANISHING ELEPHANT. “There’s definitely

Central Saint Martins with the Dunhill Menswear Award in 2008.

room for what we’re doing,” says Mr Carter, “and we’re really

excited about the response we’ve had and moving forward.” D.A.C.,

produced an exclusively small collection of 100 ‘Scribe’ cigar

now six seasons along, has fast made roads with boutique wholesale

humidor boxes. Hand-crafted from Sri Lankan Macassar ebony,

expansion throughout Australia. Like MR CARTER, the label was

each individually numbered box is fitted with a rather complex

born out of financial restriction, Mr Farrow and Mr Howes out of work in

humidification regulator and digital thermo-hygrometer. And while

2008 as a result of the financial crisis. In their opinion, the youth

each box is designed to store up to 300 cigars, it is also sized to house

fashion industry was not adapting to the modern world, with surfwear

the brand’s made-to-order ‘Scribe’ shoes.

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Speaking of limited editions, Swiss luxury label BALLY has

The Quarterly

P R A DA p r i n t s , E A S T PA K i n v i t e s , G I O R G I O A R M A N I p a i n t s , R I T T E N H O U S E e n l i s t s , M I TC H E L L O G I LV I E o p e n s .

PRADA has released a series of six hand-painted silk scarves

Brisbane isn’t traditionally associated with style. A smaller

as an addition to its spring/summer 2012 menswear collection.

population than Sydney and Melbourne compacted with unrelenting

Though essentially for summer, the scarves — with prints commissioned

heat seems to have prohibited designers from setting up shop

by PRADA to depict the label’s favourite cities, including London,

in the Sunshine State, but there’s an underlying formality to

Paris and, most interestingly, Shanghai — bode well for the Australian

Queenslanders: a people who get dressed up not only for the fun of it,

winter and, given their high quality, will no doubt become sought-after

but also as a way of marking the significance of events. It’s no surprise

in years to come.

then that the opening of the MITCHELL OGILVIE store in

December of last year — the most recent in a slew of high-end

As men, we tend to err toward classic items that have proved

their worth. It stands to reason then that many men’s clothing and

openings including HERMÈS and CHANEL — was a decidedly

accessories labels have deep heritage, including EASTPAK, the 60-year old

well-dressed event. The men’s retail staple had much to celebrate,

FROM LEFT: PRADA's Shanghai printed scarf; a bag from EASTPAK's collaboration with Kris Van Assche; GIORGIO ARMANI menswear, as seen at Milan Fashion Week; RITTENHOUSE's collaboration with Lucas Grogan features horizontal stripes and bold colours; the new MITCHELL OGILVIE in Brisbane sets a new benchmark for menswear retail.

bag label. Originally EASTERN CANVAS PRODUCTS, EASTPAK

least of all 30 years in business, which it marked by relocating to

today produces the same utility duffel bags and army-style backpacks

a bigger, more opulent space a few stores up from its old post on

as it did in the 1970s, many of them in bright colours and featuring

Edward Street. When Mr Ogilvie, the store’s founder, began his then

bold prints. Each season the label commissions world-renowned

small suiting store in the early 1980s, the young man knew little about

creatives to produce capsule collections, with previous editions

running a store or buying clothing. Things couldn’t be more different

including Raf Simons, Rick Owens and Christopher Shannon. This season,

three decades on, the store boasting made-to-measure BRIONI and

DIOR HOMME artistic director Kris Van Assche takes the bags to

PAL ZILERI suiting. What makes MITCHELL OGILVIE special is

new places, his collection of seven designs a lesson in structural lines

how it houses these brands, particularly when very few retailers in

and flexible fabric.

Australia understand the importance of a beautiful space. Designing, for the

At GIORGIO ARMANI, the designer’s dedication to handcrafts is

most part, the new two-level store himself, Mr Ogilvie aimed to

evident in the autumn/winter 2012 men’s collection, where light-coloured

encapsulate the warmth of his family home, doing so with imported

wool pullovers are embellished with hand-painted colours. Given a

French oak parquetry floors, timber finishes and whitewashed walls.

human hand cannot impart the same homogenous result of a digital printer,

The retailer also commissioned the creation of a large artwork by

areas are unevenly covered, with some areas deeper in colour.

world-renowned, Brisbane-based photorealist artist Michael Zavros,

The imperfection, if we can so call it that is, a mark of individuality.

due for installation shortly. A private made-to-measure fitting salon

On a local level, RITTENHOUSE continues its seasonal embrace

on the bottom f loor is a lesson in refined elegance, and dedicates

of an artist’s work with the release of its autumn/winter collection,

privacy to the intimate process of a suit fitting. It’s not all old-world

the result of collaboration with Melbourne-based Lucas Grogan.

charm though, the upper level stocking the ready-to-wear lines

The core of RITTENHOUSE is relaxed basics and wardrobe separates

of PAUL SMITH, ETRO and BRUNELLO CUCINELLI, and

— tees, chinos, sweaters — so the addition of another artistic element

TOM FORD accessories alongside custom MITCHELL OGILVIE

adds a point of difference.

for GASCOIGNE & KING candles.

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Introducing

17

Introducing

RAFAEL BONACHELA Artistic Director & Choreographer

C O L L A B O R AT I O N F U E L S A DA N C E C O M PA N Y ’ S M O S T I N V E S T I G A T I V E A N D D E E P L Y P E R S O N A L W O R K Y E T.

“This is the first time we have drawn on text so significantly in the research and development process,”

says Sydney Dance Company’s artistic director Rafael Bonachela of 2 One Another, the new piece it will present for the first time this March. Having worked intimately with poet Samuel Webster through the final months of 2011 – the latest creative in a string of collaborators Mr Bonachela has introduced to the company since taking its reins in 2009 – 2 One Another is a physical interrogation of human interaction, drawing on Mr Webster’s text as inspiration. Could we support the world together? the poet asks. If I place my hand here and you put yours over there, maybe there’s enough strength between us to make sure it never falls down. “The work required deep contemplation and as such is a very personal work,” reveals Mr Bonachela. “We hope this will resonate with audiences in a real way.”

2 One Another plays at Sydney Theatre, Sydney from 14-31 March, 2012.

MR BONACHELA PHOTOGRAPHED BY JORDAN GRAHAM ON 25 JANUARY 2012 A T S Y D N E Y D A N C E C O M P A N Y ’ S S T U D I O S , S Y D N E Y, A U S T R A L I A .

DIGITAL OPERATION JEREMIAH WOLF

18

Introducing

MALCOLM CARFRAE Publicist & Philanthropist A N A U S T R A L I A N E X PAT AT T H E TO P O F H I S G A M E L E N D S A HAND TO A NEW GENERATION OF TASTEMAKERS.

“I have learned a lot at Calvin Klein,” says its Vice President of Global Communications

Malcolm Carfrae, “and the foundation is my way of giving back to an industry that has been good to me.” Mr Carfrae is, of course, referring to the Australians in New York Fashion Foundation [AINYFF], an organisation he set up with a band of fellow sartorially-inclined expats as a way to lend a helping hand to a new generation of creatives trying to get their foot in the door.

“The priority is to provide first-hand international experience to the winners and runners

up through contacts and mentorship.” Previous winners have found themselves at such design powerhouses as Calvin Klein (inaugural winner Georgia Lazzaro) and Proenza Schouler (second-year winner Laura Wade). Industry placement is supplemented with a cash sponsorship of $25,000.

“The hope,” he adds, “is that these young Australians return home to enrich the local industry.”

The foundation's youth is such that this vision is yet to occur, but the mere running of AINYFF

has a ripple effect throughout the industry, at once inspiring graduates to strive for success on an international level and helping to promote Australian creativity abroad.

Entries for the 2013 AINYFF scholarship open in August. Visit ainyff.org for details.

MR CARFRAE PHOTOGRAPHED BY BOWEN ARICO ON 21 DECEMBER 2011 AT BONDI ICEBERGS, BONDI, AUSTRALIA .

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Introducing

TIM GREGORY & OLIVER WATTS Artists TWO SYDNEY ART THEORISTS P R O V I D E A D I S T I N C T LY D I F F E R E N T O P I N I O N O N C U LT U R E .

“What we provide is a different sort of criticism,” explains Tim Gregory of his collaborative art practice with

Oliver Watts. “It is not a criticism of fervent proselytizing, nor is it ironically distant. We try to uncover a form of truth within a certain place, thing or event.” The doctors’ particular brand of art – in which they provide criticism via video and audio guide about certain cultural happenings – is an attempt to uncover the enmeshing of visual culture, art, politics and history in the everyday. And whether it’s supposed to be or not, it’s wildly amusing. A recent video, Cosmopolitan The Block, follows on from Manhattan Sydney, in which Dr Gregory and Dr Watts perform the simple act of making and drinking a martini with Sydney Harbour as a backdrop, unpacking the complexities of this somewhat highbrow ritual as a way of questioning Sydney’s place in global flows of cultural capital. The second video takes this same concept to Sydney’s newly gentrified Redfern, in a park opposite The Block, once government housing.

See Gregory and Watts: Cocktail Hour at Chalk Horse Gallery, 8 Lacey Street, Surry Hills, from 22 March to 21 April, chalkhorse.com.au

D R G R E G O R Y & D R W A T T S P H O T O G R A P H E D B Y K Y L I E C O U T T S O N 3 0 J A NU A R Y 2 012 I N E A S T S Y D N E Y, A U S T R A L I A

20

Introducing

KELVIN HO Architect

T H E C O U N T R Y ’ S L E A D I N G R E TA I L D E S I G N E R E X PA N D S HIS REACH ON LUXURY COMMERCE

In a few years, Kelvin Ho’s name has become synonymous with retail store design. Thankfully for Ho,

he works in the upper echelons of the fashion system, collaborating with forward-thinking labels like Sass & Bide, Willow and M.J. Bale and, in doing so, creating spaces that blur the line between traditional retail and immersive experience. Mr Ho never set out to work in the retail sect of the design industry, but his ability to translate a business’s aesthetic into a broader environment is unparalleled. It makes then that the architect should find himself working on several hospitality and tourism projects, least of all a luxury resort in the Maldives that both inspires and challenges.

Having proved his talent for pushing boundaries since launching his own business, Akin Creative,

Mr Ho’s first hospitality project came in the form of the Merivale-owned Ms. G’s restaurant in Potts Point, which required the conversion of a long-vacant restaurant space in collaboration with interiors stylist and author Sibella Court. Mr Ho and Ms Court are again collaborating on the creation of a bar in Sydney’s nightlife-desolate CBD. "We're part of a shift — quite early, I think — towards a small-bar scene in the city," says Mr Ho of the project, located in the basement of a heritage-listed building.

Mr Ho was awarded the contract of designing a luxury resort in the Maldives, one of ten

architects that were shortlisted, at the end of last year, “We are redefining the luxury resort experience,” says Mr Ho of the project, imagining the final product as refined and low-key. “The hospitality and tourism sector is full of interesting projects,” says Mr Ho. “The aim is to create spaces where people can have a good time.”

MR HO PHOTOGRAPHED BY BOWEN ARICO ON 02 FEBRUARY 2012 I N E A S T S Y D N E Y, A U S T R A L I A .

21

Introducing

AMANDA CUMMING & KATE REYNOLDS Designers | Pageant N E W T A K E S O N O L D F A V O U R I T E S M A K E T H I S F A S H I O N S T A R T- U P A MOST EXCITING ADDITION TO AUSTRALIAN MENSWEAR.

Every once in a while a fashion label emerges that makes you

almost no money and worked our asses off in London for two years,”

realise exactly why you love fashion. The cleverness and innovation

says Ms Reynolds of the time in which they interned with designers

and artistry all rushing back, dressing becomes a distinctly appealing

of the calibre of Christopher Kane. “All our experience gave us the

proposition. Unfortunately, these moments happen all too rarely,

confidence to do it ourselves,” adds Ms Cumming. “It proved to us

particularly in menswear, a genre of design where newness in large

that if these designers could do it, then we could too.” And so they did,

doses doesn’t make a viable business, and viable businesses don’t

launching Pageant with a spring collection in late 2011. The designers

often call for newness. What a welcome surprise then for Pageant to

repurpose casual sportswear – running suits and windbreakers, for example

enter the market, offering that cleverness and innovation and artistry

– in tongue-in-cheek ways, making modern (and somewhat futuristic)

that fashion, particularly at this moment in time, so needs.

styles that seem inherently linked with 1990s youth culture.

There’s much that makes Pageant interesting. Firstly, it’s a

“There are so few menswear labels in Australia that we felt it

label created by two women, Amanda Cumming and Kate Reynolds,

was a unique opportunity for us to create something that is inherently

for men, perhaps the only like it in Australia to do so exclusively.

Australian but with an international sensibility,” says Ms Reynolds,

Secondly, Pageant, as a form of clothing, forms only one part of what

noting that the act of designing not for themselves makes the project

is a multi-disciplinary practice. This, Ms Cumming and Ms Reynolds

an enjoyable challenge. The designers are interested in the rite of

believe, helps keep things fresh.

passage of progressing from a boy to man, and draw inspiration from

the men in their lives – boyfriends, fathers, brothers and friends.

Having met after graduating high school, the pair entered RMIT

University’s Bachelor of Arts in 2002, both graduating, after a gap

“I guess it is our interpretation of how men would like to feel

year later on, in 2006 with a Bachelor of Design (Fashion Design)

wearing clothes,” adds Ms Cumming. “Of course we can’t experience

with no less than first-class honours. Like many creatives in their

the majority of our collections, which pushes us to really explore cut,

early years, Ms Cumming and Ms Reynolds did it tough. “We lived on

fit and shape.”

MS CUMMING & MS REYNOLDS PHOTOGRAPHED BY JORDAN GRAHAM ON 22 JANUARY 2012 IN MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA.

22

Introducing

23

PHOTOGRAPHY JORDAN GRAHAM | STYLING JOLYON MASON | HAIR SOPHIE ROBERTS

Mr Cater wears SKIN AND THREADS sweater, ZAMBESI suit, vintage fur, CHRISTIAN DIOR glasses, R.M. WILLIAMS belt.

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LAGERFELD sweater, THREE OVER ONE shirt, CK CALVIN KLEIN suit.

25

BASSIKE sweater, JAC + JACK shirt, WHYRED suit, GUCCI pocket square.

26

JAMES CATER/THE AGENCY MODELS | DIGITAL OPERATION JAMES BAILEY

LAGERFELD sweater, M.J. BALE suit, vintage fur, OLIVER PEOPLES glasses.

27

Mr Hall wears LAGERFELD sweater, BURBERRY shirt & pants, CK CALVIN KLEIN shoes.

28

PHOTOGRAPHY KYLIE COUTTS | STYLING JOLYON MASON BEARDS LISA COOPER | HAIR JENNY KIM

29

JAC + JACK sweater, BURBERRY hat.

30

JAC + JACK sweaters, COLAB glasses.

31

BALLY shirt & jacket, THREE OVER ONE tie.

32

NICK HALL/LONDON MANAGEMENT | PHOTOGRAPHY ASSISTANCE PETER PLOZZA

BRENT WILSON shirt, Z ZEGNA jacket, GIORGIO ARMANI pocket square.

33

Female art collective The Kingpins has helped to evolve the contemporary art landscape since beginning over twelve years ago.

With a solo show at Melbourne’s Neon Parc marking the end of the four women’s collaborative practice, Elizabeth Ann Macgregor speaks with the group about nightclub beginnings, changing mediums and staying together longer than The Beatles.

36

a new generation of cultural enthusiasts and, at times, ruffled the feathers of the old guard, much to their delight.

from the high-brow art gallery. And the way in which they did so, via character-driven performance, either live or in video, appealed to and engaged

university lecturer Emma Price and primary school teacher Katie Price – began a collaborative dialogue about gender, identity and sexuality in a space away

By using the heightened energy of a club space to communicate, the group – made up of video artist Angelica Mesiti, graphic designer Técha Noble,

Work aside, the greatest contribution performance art group The Kingpins has made to contemporary culture is making art fun.

P H O T O G R A P H E D B Y L I Z H A M O N 1 8 D E C E M B E R , 2 0 1 1 I N S Y D N E Y, A U S T R A L I A .

EMMA PRICE , ANGELICA MESITI, KATIE PRICE & TÉCHA NOBLE

ELIZABETH ANN MACGREGOR I want to start at

Arq nightclub, which was revolutionary. It was a catalyst

we’d find the most disgusting, misogynistic, sexualised

the very beginning. Did you all go to school together?

from Judith Halberstam and Del LaGrace Volcano’s

music we could, and then re-perform it, and doing that

TÉCHA NOBLE I met Katie when I was 16 and left

The Drag King Book which was published around the

was really problematic. We all grew up on this kind of

an all-girls private school on [Sydney’s] north shore and

same time: a catalogue of drag king scenes happening in

music and sometimes we really loved it, and so there was

transferred to the local public school. It was a moment

New York and L.A., and we were completely seduced by it.

a certain sexuality that came with performing it. We really

that changed my life because I re-engaged with culture

AM We were really involved that scene, going to the

played up the humour and irony in performing the hard core

after meeting Katie and Emma [Price], her older sister,

clubs socially, so when the competition came along we

content, so it became this complex play of embracing the

because they were very clever, creative people that

thought ‘Why the hell not?’.

misogyny and critiquing it at the same time.

completely opened my universe.

EA Did you win the drag king competition?

EA It's interesting to analyse it like that.

EMMA PRICE I was the big sister, on my way to my first TN We totally took it out. We’ve got photos of the first night

EP We knew what we were doing would have a backlash,

year at COFA [College of Fine Arts, Sydney]. There was a

we tried out dressing in drag. It was so exciting because

and it did in certain spaces and with certain audiences

gravitational pull between all of us.

we’d never seen women as men or anything like it before.

that we engaged. We were engaging a largely female audience,

TN Emma was very inf luential in me later going to COFA,

EA Did you think what you were doing was art?

some of whom saw it is highly critical and satirical and

where we started working together. Katie and I had

KP There was a sense of naivety, which I think is why

not just getting up on stage for the hell of it.

done high school art together, so it seemed a very natural

it was so fun at the time. We didn't know what we were

EA Could it ever be art when it was performed in clubs?

progression to start collaborating with Emma. At university

doing but loved every moment.

TN One time when we came off stage after performing

we met Angelica and became friends with her.

EP It was about expression, definitely, but it sat outside

Evil Dick, someone spat on Emma and called her a sexist pig,

EA What were you studying? Painting?

what we were doing at university, so initially it was

which is really interesting as she is a woman. And then at

TN I was doing a major in painting.

adjunct to our art practice. It was also quite a social space

an Artspace conference someone pulled us up and said we

ANGELICA MESITI Técha and I connected through

— energetically charged in a way that university is not. For us

had no cultural legitimacy using African American music.

the projects we were doing, and then she and Emma

it was electrifying. Though even from the onset we were

But these reactions are interesting and, to some degree,

invited me to move into Imperial Slacks [an artist-run

very conceptually minded about how it was dealing with

the whole point of creating the work we did.

gallery and residential space in Surry Hills, Sydney].

really basic concepts of identity, masculinity, gender.

EA And so that’s when it became art?

EP I was studying sculpture and performance installation,

AM I don’t think we thought about it too much in those

TN You could argue where that line is, but I’d say it

and my graduate piece was actually a collaborative

early days. We were up for loads of new experiences and

became about art when we started playing around with

project with Técha, which means we’ve been working

collaboration was a way to help find our artistic identities. those deeper subjects with that kind of thought-process.

together for 14 years now.

There was a lot of performance activity happening in

We also started bringing it back into the gallery via video,

EA And Katie, you didn't attend art school like the others,

nightclubs in Sydney at the time.

which, at least visually, seemed a more traditional art form.

but were obviously very interested in it?

KP Exactly. I think with the other girls being involved in

But it was still a lot about play at that stage. It was a lot of

KATIE PRICE Absolutely. I was doing my degree

the art world at school, we all quickly began to look at it

fun and experimentation.

in education, so I guess I became part of the group because

more deeply - at how we could further it.

EA How does video work as a medium for you?

of my performance background — I danced up until my

EA Some of it was pretty aggressive. You were certainly

EP In the beginning it was about taking on the characters

late teens — which was a place of great familiarity.

taking it on.

of video clips and performing their narratives. Putting drag

EA It’s quite unusual that you were doing performance

TN We did performances back then that we probably

[performance] in a video format, in a way.

at university. Was that medium big at COFA at the time?

wouldn’t do now because the culture of the queer

KP It also allowed us to unpack the ideas in a bigger way.

TN Not, we were just big weirdos. But we came to

performance scene has become much more politically

Performance was always the root of our practice but video

performance art by the queer performance scene that was charged in recent years. We did this one particular show,

allowed us to really tell the stories.

happening in Sydney rather than through school.

Evil Dick, which was what won us the finals at the competition. EA Well your net of subject matter widened, like with

EA So you were conventional artists and then started

Through the progression of our performances we

Welcome to the Jingle [2003], which obviously gave you a

performing outside the institution. Because now, of course,

started looking at the collage methodology and then

lot more to talk about.

performance art is big, but when I arrived [in Sydney

deconstructing the subjects more and more, and I guess it

EP Prior to that was our first video, This is my Remix,

from the UK] in 1999, I wouldn’t have said that.

then brought into discussion other things like found material, which was the four of us dressed us a boy band in a

EP Well now I teach it [performance art at COFA], so talk

popular culture, social stereotypes.

convertible tracking the Saturday night hoon route

about coming full circle.

EA See now you’re thinking like artists. So at some point,

from George Street [Sydney CBD] up to the Bondi hills

TN So Emma and I had been doing a few club shows

obviously unconsciously, your art practice joined with

through [Kings] Cross, lip-synching the song on repeat

and some things at The Performance Space, and Angelica

the performances.

through the stereo. I think when we took our bodies

had been helping us film some of them.

AM And the more we did the shows the more we began to

out of a heavily contextualised space like a club and put

AM Imperial Slacks was very like that: we skill-shared

think about it in terms of how it could be adapted to video

them into considered spaces things shifted. We started

and helped each other to make works.

and brought into our art practice.

critiquing the way in which bodies inhabit spaces and,

TN Friends of ours started this drag king competition at

TN We also used a lot of hip-hop and gangster rap, where

to a degree, privatise them, like guys on the Kings Cross

37

strip on a Saturday night — it becomes their space. The spaces always across a lot of aspects in a production, but because

TN Commerciality has never been our driving force

then represent the people that inhabit them, so it extends

she is such a brilliant painter and illustrator, when we

or a way to stay connected to each other as a practice.

to ideas about tribes and ownership. And then we did

became interested in the idea of commercial branding,

The performance tours overseas have played that role.

Men’s Club [2001], where we created four characters

she could really employ her design skills. And then I’ve always

EA And there’s been quite a lot: Korea, Paris, Miami…

that inhabited a night time landscape: alleyways, carparks,

been on the video production end of things, given what

TN Because performance is so mobile we’ve been able

building sites, toilets. All those sites are inherently masculine,

I do in my solo practice.

to travel with it, and on an international circuit it’s been

even homoerotic, and yet essentially public, so we

EA What I find interesting is that you think it right

a really good currency for us. We don’t have a studio

wanted to know what would happen if we dressed up.

through: how a work is communicated, how it’s presented, practice, as such.

All of a sudden those spaces start performing on

how it’s produced, how it’s disseminated. Not many artists EA Because you all make other work independently.

their own. We proposed narrative by placing our bodies

do that. You’re in the real world as opposed to working from a

in certain places.

studio environment where you wait for a curator to come along. because you’ve got other things going on.

TN It was interesting when we started using video and

You’re engaged with the wider world as artists.

AM We really love working together and maintaining

we expanded to public spaces — it was liberating to have

TN I think we’ve had a lot of challenges over the years

our own individual practices and projects has been

this cheap, mobile device with which to record our work.

trying to define ourselves as artists and negotiating the

crucial to that. And there’s so many projects that have

Landscape became part of the conversation, and we

essence of what we have when we’re live performing,

come out of The Kingpins, like Birthday Suit [the fashion

married landscape and drag, which obviously later led us

which is really powerful.

label created by Ms Noble and Ms Emma Price], which helps

to Starbucks [Welcome to the Jingle].

EA Well the next shift for you as a group was into the

us maintain our own identities as artists. The current

EA And you didn’t get permission [to perform at the

commercial galleries. Obviously the core essence is

project is a really nice feeling because I have been

Starbucks stores], you just went in. I wonder if the work

performance, so the question is what can you then sell.

working independently for the past few years. It was like

would have had a different reaction in different countries.

KP You can't not consider it [commerciality]. We were

re-entering a very familiar space allowing me to work and

TN It did. We took it to Korea for the Gwangju Biennale,

doing live performance — something you can't sell

explore in such a different way, which is invigorating.

and we performed at all of the Starbucks in the region

because it's in that time and moment — but we had to

EP And the amount of work has been elastic — it expands

and the customers thought we were promotional people.

think about how you could make the work a commodity.

and contracts. We allowed it to expand over the past few years,

They were loving it. It was totally different to Sydney

AM It was a really hard shift for us, because our work has

but for a while we were travelling four or five times a year.

I wonder if that’s how you’ve managed to stay together,

where there was an awkward audience-actor relationship; always been influenced by our environment, so when we

EA Do you get on when you travel?

no one wanted to look at us or make eye contact, and we

came to be represented by Kaliman Gallery and had our

EP We have different habits (laughs), but we have that

were thrown out of the stores.

first commercial show, we really did consider that context:

band mentality of what happens on tour, stays on tour.

TN But even more interesting was that we were attempting

we made a lot more sculpture and print work. We were

EA Speaking of travel: Dubai was the inspiration for your

to give a cultural critique, and in Korea that was lost:

a bit ambivalent about finding ourselves in that

new work [Spiritus Mundi]. I went last year and thought

we became purely promotional entertainment. I think it’s

[commercial] space, and so tried to be ironic about the

it was extraordinary, and I can imagine why you are so

interesting for us when it does become somewhat problematic. way we approached it. The name of that first commercial

fascinated by it. There’s something so interesting about

EA You’re seduced by it.

show was Take me to your dealer [2005].

this amazing place rising out of the desert.

EP Exactly, we’re seduced by so much of what we critique.

EA Do you want people to own things?

TN We’ve never been there, so we’re making work with

EA What is the process of making new work?

EP Of course. We love our work. It’s exciting to be placed

complete distance from it. We’ve been talking about this

TN It’s challenging and a very heightened space of intensity.

in institutional collection as much as private collections.

work for years, and it’s a continuation of a whole series

It can be a space of debate and conjecture and emotions.

As Angelica said, we struggled with and debated the

of work that we’ve done with drag and landscape. We always

But we’ve never had a falling out. The Beatles were only

validity of the commercial space, trying not to fall into

thought Dubai would be next. We were interested

together for ten years, and we’ve been hanging out for

making souvenirs or work that is softened or watered-down

specifically in The World development, owned by the

near twelve. That could be testament to the fact that

for a domestic space. We try to maintain that the work

corporation who created The Palm Islands, who attempted

we’re women. I like to think it is, because we’re very good

has rigour, because our work is very loud, it’s grotesque,

to make this simulation of the world as a series of islands

at being considerate.

it’s almost unforgiving. It’s not an easy work, even though

before running out of money. It’s huge land reclamation

EA Do you assign roles in each project?

for us it feels like a very natural product.

— we're obviously critiquing it.The world is demanding

KP We quite comfortably inhabit spaces where our talents lie. KP And obviously that's where things like photographic,

us to have a better relationship with it and not pillage its

It's a collective subconscious that we operate within.

print media and video came into it.

natural resources, and here we are doing this Romanesque

And definitely our passions, interests and skills draw us

EP We’ve recently had a break from a run of commercial

exercise of creating a picture of the world on the world,

to certain aspects of the art-making process.

shows, and that’s been good because we really want to

and dredging up land to do so. It’s an obscene example

AM And it varies every time. The ideas are always

enjoy the process and love the outcome — to make work

of human endeavour. Anyhow, we found these corporate

collaborative, but when it comes to production there’s

for idea's sake, remembering that it’s actually really fun

videos advertising The World and we realised that we

often very defined roles: Emma and Katie are usually very

being an artist. Sometimes you can lose sight of that.

didn’t need to go to Dubai to make a work, but that this

involved in creating character through costume. Técha is

EA That’s what I keep reminding my curators.

corporate video encapsulated the idea.

38

has probably come to an end, but exactly, who is to say

video-making in the era of YouTube.

that our work isn’t still alive and in the commercial world

EA Did you consciously change your strategy?

in a sense. We’ll definitely keep working together, we’re just

AM This is probably the first video we have made that

not sure in what format at this stage.

consciously engages with the post-YouTube era, and I think

EA What’s your favourite moment?

that shows in the work: we sourced the video material

AM I think in 2006 when we were doing a lot of travel

from the internet and chose to hijack it, and we’ve talked

and live performance in Europe was a really special time.

about possibly uploading it to YouTube and making it

At Nantes [L'ile Phenomenale: Estuaire, Nantes,

freely available.

France, 2007] was probably the biggest audiences we’ve

EA What does it do to your role as artists? Is everyone that

performed to, and in a music festival-like environment

uploads a video to YouTube an artist? It’s a big question

with an enormous stage and lighting. That was a really

for all of us: where does the role of the artist begin and

powerful experience, and that two year period where we

end today? There’s always been a view that everyone is

were travelling and working together almost fulltime,

an artist, and its one that I don’t believe. I think artists do

developing ideas on the road and then moving straight

something different.

into other projects, was an exciting and fruitful time.

EP Intention is one thing, outcome is another, so I think

TN My favourite moment was the Deitch Projects

it's important to have a conscious intention about how you

commission [Conversation Piece, in collaboration

approach your subject, that there’s actually investment in a

with The Gossip, 2008]. That was really cool. We felt so

critique or dialogue, or that you see something in the world

well-housed and they treated us so well and knew exactly how

that perhaps others wouldn’t. As an artist you highlight or

to set up for a performance event, whereas so much of what

reflect or shed light on something that no one else would.

we’ve done is a tough negotiation because it’s really suited

EA So there’s an element of critique, whereas YouTube is

to a club as opposed to a gallery. That club environment —

simply reflective.

of being inebriated, the energy, the sexuality of the room

AM A lot of artists we’re interested in we access through

– makes for a really good moment and for the cultural

YouTube, whether via the MoMA channel, or simply looking

transmission we’re looking for.

at videos of installations people have uploaded from their

KP Nantes, like Angelica said, was definitely such a great

phone at the Tate. We experience art through YouTube in a

Woodstock kind of moment, but I so fondly remember

way we never have before. It’s a democratic model: it bypasses

the experience of performing in Paris for Nuit Blanche,

the museum and the curator. It’s not ideal for every type

the all-night art fair [The Great Undead]. We performed

of work, but I think artists can find interesting ways to utilise.

hourly for 12 hours, from 7pm, on stage in revolving

I think the most interesting part is that you’re speaking to

mirror-ball coffins. So as the exhaustion increased we

a totally different audience. YouTube can disseminate work to definitely all went into some interesting, deep places, but a vastly wider audience and offers the opportunity for reply,

it's something I'll always remember. I only we wish we

which you don’t often get in the gallery space.

could have afforded to ship those cof fins to Australia.

EA And you’re going to stop [collaborating as The Kingpins] EP I have so many favourite moments from the tours, but my ultimate favourite moment was Primavera [Museum of

after this show?

EP We’re going to stop as it is, I think.

Contemporary Art, Sydney, 2003]. Making the work for

KP Which is something we all feel very mixed about.

that show was so special because we didn’t know what we

EA Are you going to reunite a hundred times?

were doing. The work that we made for that was so exciting.

KP We're like a family, so it will never be over, in a sense.

That was a turning point for The Kingpins.

TN We’re going to be the John Farnhams of the art world. AM Primavera made us think differently about our art practice because it was our first serious museum show.

You know, it’s hard, but already there are things on offer.

The performance aspect of The Kingpins is really important

We considered the project in a very different way and I think

to me, and I really miss it when I don’t have it. It’s really

it took us to a new level.

fertile creative ground. But the sustainability of us four as a

EA You’re going to really miss it, I can tell.

model moving through the world is very, very challenging

TN Well, look, nothing will stop us from doing shows.

and becoming more and more impossible, so in many ways

We’ll be on stage when we’re grandmothers.

"COMMERCIALITY HAS NEVER BEEN OUR DRIVING FORCE OR A WAY TO STAY CONNECTED TO EACH OTHER AS A PRACTICE."

What’s changed since we made Welcome to the Jingle is

we want to quit while we’re ahead and own our own closure.

We haven’t made it public in the media, because who’s to say?

EP I think our relationship with the commercial world

STYLING JOLYON MASON | MAKE-UP KIMBERLEY FORBES | HAIR SOPHIE ROBERTS PHOTOGRAPHY ASSISTANCE MITCH FONG | DIGITAL OPERATION ELLE GREEN

Ms Emma Price wears SONG FOR THE MUTE shirt, THREE OVER ONE suit, BRANDO shoes; Ms Mesiti wears THREE OVER ONE shirt, JUST CAVALLI suit, BALLY shoes; Ms Katie Price wears THREE OVER ONE shirt and suit, BRANDO shoes; Ms Noble wears THREE OVER ONE shirt and suit, BEN SHERMAN shoes.

39

BROTHERS IN

ARMS PHOTOGRAPHY LIZ HAM

It’s fate that two of Australia’s fastest rising stars – actor and director Benedict Samuel and actor Xavier Samuel – should be brothers. Having grown up in the suburbs of Adelaide, Benedict, 23, and Xavier, 28, share a thirst for growth in their respective careers, and working together on Sanctuary, a short film written and directed by Benedict and starring Xavier, is testament to their collaborative relationship. Here, the Samuel brothers muse on the strengths of each other’s character and the process of working with a sibling.

XAVIER

SAMUEL

B E N E D I C T: There’s four and a half years between Xavier and I, so he’s a bit older than me. We became closer as we grew up, but we have always been close. As kids we would sometimes pick on each other, but that’s nurturing, in a way. In high school I really looked up to Xavier.

I couldn’t think of anyone better to ask for advice because he was always a rational voice. He was always ready to listen. And of course he’s so much fun to be around. Today I probably look up to him even more so.

Just as Xav graduated from university I went to drama school, and then as I moved up to Sydney he shipped off overseas, so I kind of followed him into the industry. While I was at school he was studying acting and he’d come home and we’d talk about it and I would go and see him in plays. At the time I couldn’t of anything else I’d rather do with my life, and I thought it was cool that we could possibly do things together one day, which of course it is.

I thought it was great when Xav was offered the role in Twilight [Eclipse].

So many people wait for an opportunity like that to come along, so that it came about so quickly in his career is excellent. And of course it’s all the better when it’s your brother.

We have a really great relationship and are constantly talking about every role and project we each take on and, for that matter, everything we do.

I might get a late night call with Xav wanting to talk through something, and I think it’s good that we have someone we can call up anytime.

Fame hasn’t changed Xav at all. It’s part of the job, I suppose, and he takes it in his stride. I don’t think I’m anywhere as near as well known as Xav, if at all, but it doesn’t change how we are around each other. It’s such a shame when something like that does change things for the worst, so I’m really thankful how for how he’s dealt with it all.

Xav and I worked together recently on Sanctuary, which is a film I wrote and directed. It was such a cool experience, because being so close you develop a shorthand and you can cut straight through the crap and get right down to what’s important in the work. You don’t need to meander around. I wish I could work like that with everyone, or at least create an environment that’s like that. I think our relationship created a tone on set, which was really relaxed and efficient. It’s the best environment you can work in.

Xav and I talked through the work together, so there were no clashing ideas about direction. Neither of us were pushing our own agendas. I’d love to write something together with Xav, but it’s hard to find the time.

And of course if there’s anyone I’d like to act with it’s Xav. I couldn’t think of anything better. There’s not one particular dream project, I don’t think.

At least we haven’t found it just yet.

Mr Xavier Samuel wears HUGO BOSS sweater and his own denim jeans.

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BENEDICT

SAMUEL

X A V I E R : Our older sister Bridget is a stage manager in Adelaide.

The three of us are really close and it’s kind of bizarre that we all ended up in similar worlds of film and theatre. I don’t think any of us would have predicted that, but it’s fun.

We grew up in the suburbs of Adelaide and there wasn’t much to do other than hang out and get up to mischief, so Benedict and I always got along, even when we were young. We never really clashed.

Obviously once we both became interested in acting there was a lot more to talk about and there was more common ground, but we were close before that as well.

People sometimes say that Benedict followed me into the arts world, but I’m not so sure that it’s my influence. He’s certainly his own man and I think it’s just by chance or luck that we both found something really compelling about acting and film and theatre. It was more or less a common ground for both of us. I don’t think I’ve had a major impact on his decisions in that sense.

We’d been hanging out in our kitchen in Sydney, kicking around ideas, when Benedict started writing the script for Sanctuary with another friend of ours, actor Scott Marcus, and it was a kick-ass project. I knew it would be really great to work on it together and the timing worked out so we were able to do it.

It was terrific working with Benedict – everything we’d talked about – and I’m looking forward to the day that we get to act together.

This instance was actor-director mode, and even that was a really fulfilling experience. He’s really intuitive and intelligent as a director, I was just there to facilitate it, really. We didn’t clash heads or anything.

I think the end result is amazing. I’m really excited by it and can’t wait to see what he comes up with next.

I don't often give Benedict advice about roles and projects to undertake.

He’s very capable of making decisions about what he does. And besides, I’m not sure he’d listen to my advice anyway. We talk a lot, but when it comes to work it’s really more of an open discussion than it is a onesided conversation. He’s often giving me advice, which is funny being the older brother. I’ve got a lot of admiration for how wise he is.

We’re keeping our eyes peeled for another project to work on.

There’s films and plays we’ve talked about, but it’s whatever gets up and running first. I think Benedict has it all figured out, and he’s really good at pushing himself to go further and jumping on opportunities that come his way. I definitely think he’s on the right road.

STYLING JOLYON MASON | GROOMING KIMBERLEY FORBES | HAIR SOPHIE ROBERTS PHOTOGRAPHY ASSISTANCE MITCH FONG | DIGITAL OPERATION ELLE GREEN STYLING ASSISTANCE RYAN PETER | PRODUCTION ASSISTANCE JACKSON WALKER

Mr Benedict Samuel wears WRANGLER shirt and jacket and his own denim jeans.

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P H OTO G R A P H Y PA U L S C A L A | S T Y L I N G J O LY O N M A S O N GROOMING AMANDA REARDON | HAIR SOPHIE ROBERTS

PREVIOUS SPREAD: Mr Waddell wears GALA CURIOS necklace (worn as headpiece).

OPPOSITE PAGE: LISA COOPER sculpture.

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OPPOSITE PAGE: JAC + JACK dress, ROPES sandals.

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OPPOSITE PAGE: ROMANCE WAS BORN cape and skirt.

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ROMANCE WAS BORN skirt.

OPPOSITE PAGE: SONG FOR THE MUTE pants.

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CHRONICLES OF NEVER tee, worn as loin cloth.

OPPOSITE PAGE: SKIN AND THREADS tunic.

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KIRRILY JOHNSTON cardigan.

OPPOSITE PAGE: THURSDAY SUNDAY skirt. FOLLOWING SPREAD: Stylist’s own loin cloth, HENSON necklace.

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BEN WADDELL/LONDON MANAGEMENT | POST PRODUCTION POSTMEN | ILLUSTRATION TÉCHA NOBLE PHOTOGRAPHY ASSISTANCE MITCH FONG & SORAYA ZAMAN | DIGITAL OPERATION SAM HENDEL

PHOTOGRAPHY LIZ HAM | STYLING JOLYON MASON | GROOMING SASHA NILSSON

Mr Wallace wears HUGO BOSS shirt, ERMENEGILDO ZEGNA suit.

PREVIOUS SPREAD: PAGEANT jumpsuit, stylist’s own heels worn throughout.

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SUBFUSCO jacket.

PREVIOUS SPREAD: PAGEANT vest and pants.

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Ms Kerr wears DION LEE coat.

FOLLOWING SPREAD: BREITLING watches.

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JOSH GOOT dress.

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SEVENTH WONDERLAND swimsuit.

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JUST CAVALLI vest, ZAMBESI pants.

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TINA KALIVAS dress.

FOLLOWING SPREAD: DEREK ROSE dressing gown, available at HARROLDS.

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ZAMBESI trench coat, stylist’s own stockings.

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Ms Kerr wears SEVENTH WONDERLAND swimsuit.

Mr Wallace wears GUCCI shirt, tuxedo & bowtie.

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CK CALVIN KLEIN shirt and suit.

FOLLOWING SPREAD: TOM FORD shirt, tuxedo & bowtie, all available at HARROLDS.

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COREY WALLACE/CHIC MODELS | SIMONE KERR/PRISCILLAS MODEL MANAGEMENT HAIR JENNY KIM | PHOTOGRAPHY ASSISTANCE MITCH FONG & ELLE GREEN | DIGITAL OPERATION JEREMIAH WOLF STYLING ASSISTANCE KYLIE HETHERINGTON | POST PRODUCTION KIKI SJOBERG

Stockists

B A L L Y / bally.com B A S S I K E / bassike.com B E N S H E R M A N / bensherman.com J A C + J A C K / jacandjack.com

B O S S B L A C K / bodyscienceskin.com.au

J O S H G O O T / joshgoot.com

B R A N D O / brentwilson.com.au

J U S T C A V A L L I / nmi.com.au

B R E I T L I N G / brunellocucinelli.com

K I R R I L Y J O H N S T O N / kirrilyjohnston.com

B U R B E R R Y / burberry.com

L A G E R F E L D / nmi.com.au

B R E N T W I L S O N / brentwilson.com.au

M J B A L E / mjbale.com

C H R I S T I A N D I O R / dior.com

O L I V E R P E O P L E S / mulberry.com

C H R O N I C L E S O F N E V E R / chroniclesofnever.com

P A G E A N T / wearepageant.com

C K C A L V I N K L E I N / calvinklein.com

R . M . W I L L I A M S / mwilliams.com.au

C O L A B / colab.com.au

R O M A N C E W A S B O R N / romancewasborn.com

D E R E K R O S E / harrolds.com.au

R O P E S S A N D A L S / ropesandals.com.au

D I O N L E E / dionlee.com

S E V E N T H W O N D E R L A N D / seventhwonderland.com

D O C T O R C O O P E R / doctorcooper.com.au

S K I N A N D T H R E A D S / skinandthreads.com

E R M E N E G I L D O Z E G N A / zegna.com

S O N G F O R T H E M U T E / songforthemute.com

G A L A C U R I O S / galacurios.com

S U B F U S C O / subfusco.com

G I O R G I O A R M A N I / armani.com

T H R E E O V E R O N E / threeoverone.com

G U C C I / gucci.com

T I N A K A L I V A S / tinakalivas.com

H E N S O N / thisishenson.com

T O M F O R D / harrolds.com.au W H Y R E D / whyred.se W R A N G L E R / wrangler.com Z Z E G N A / zenga.com Z A M B E S I / zambesi.com.au

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Final Examination

LOOK AT ME,

DON’T LOOK AT ME

To be walking is to be seen. It is to be in public and available to the gaze of others. While walking we are also looking; looking and being looked at.

There are multiple dimensions to this: since the advent of the modern city, fashionable precincts often carry a tension held in the visual. These zones provide an opportunity for men to look, examine and even scrutinise the dress of other men; the tension emerging in the visual exchange.

Figuratively speaking, two men, the flâneur and the dandy, stroll past each other on a city street. Via the ensuing exchange of discriminating glances, I would like to explore how vestiges of these important fashionable figures can be found in any metropolitan city street today.

Born of 19th century Paris, the flâneur was a well-dressed gentleman who walked without haste and was led by the visual lures of a then incipient modern metropolis. Ambling through the newly built passages couverts de Paris (covered shopping arcades), galleria, public parks and squares, the flâneur was distinguished by an excessively leisurely pace and a complete abandonment to the aesthetic visual pleasures of urban life.

The flâneur would be pursuing no particular end nor making his way to any particular destination, but would be completely absorbed in a kind of visual reverie. According to the poet Charles Baudelaire the flâneur could quite paradoxically lose and find himself in the faces of passers-by, their fashionable dress, in building facades, advertisements and the new, seductively-displayed goods found in shop windows.

The flâneur’s walking was not merely an aimless stroll but an opportunity to see and be seen. The walk itself, its pace, its cadence, communicated the idleness and decadence of pointless, albeit adroitly-stylised, activity. Along with the dandy he elevates what might be considered a mundane activity to something of an art form. Dandies would self-consciously orchestrate scenarios where they could be observed and admired,the self-consciousness extending to all aspects of dress, gestures, mannerisms and facial expressions, using their dissecting gaze to approve, condemn or pass over.

Dandy scholar Olga Vainshtein attributes the significance of the dandy for our contemporary modes of male self-fashioning to what they can tell us about the way men look at each other. I would add to this that what actually underlies these visual exchanges is a kind of background knowing or intelligence that enables one to actually participate in fashion. Fashion in this sense is a communicative strategy, of consciously looking and being looked at. A two way street, so to speak.

The exchange of glances that transpires on a city street is an odd communion. A co-mingling of recognition, vanity, mild embarrassment and pleasure. En route, one firstly notices sensibility; an ensemble that is put together intelligently, that is with thought. This could be a figure in the distance, colour in combination or accent, the stride of a trouser, a smart shoe stepping towards you. This noticing is reciprocated, and one is caught in a sort of visual duel.

It has variations: It can begin with an early exchange, then remains a peripheral examination for its duration. Or an early exchange may then be followed with a quick fire parting shot, to scrutinize a detail or review the overall ensemble. This though is generally an approving survey to affirm an earlier positive appraisal. In some instances one can feel compelled to return glances, a mixture of intense curiosity and (scopophilia as one’s own eyes dart sideways, contrary to our will.

The penultimate variation on these visual games involves the direct meeting of each other’s gaze, and the ensuing brinkmanship – either with gazes occupied, firmly yet comfortably fixed, or yielding, eyes swiftly averted, or withdrawn slowly, becoming unoccupied, glazing over somewhere towards the middle distance. This mutual exchange and acknowledgement can be a peculiar if not weird moment, for it preserves both the anonymity so characteristic of our lives in modern cities and the fleeting intimacy of our private world made public. This is, I would argue, one of the most pervasive, and in some respects captivating, ways that we experience fashion.

STORY TODD ROBINSON

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