PROMENADE Issue 7
A U T U M N / W I N T E R
Editor’s Letter Hello and welcome to the Autumn/Winter ’15 issue of Promenade magazine! In this season’s editorial, we are dealing with the chill by taking you through our favourite knitwear – which is both sustainable and local to Brighton. We are also taking the modelling industry to task this edition, with pieces examining the rise in interest in ‘alternative models’ and how fashion is reflecting the modern change in attitudes towards tattoos. Our Menswear section holds our second shoot as well as an exploration on the frustrations of homogeneity in the men’s fashion of today, and in Beauty we’re giving you our best advice for helping you to stay fresh-faced through Brighton’s harsh coastal weather this season. We also have our Lifestyle and Travel sections to check out for some interesting reads, as we’re dedicated to getting you through your study breaks smoothly in the run up to deadlines! Everything in Promenade is written by Sussex students for Sussex students, with a commitment to local and ethical fashion – and we always welcome new faces if you’d like to be involved in the next issue. See you on the other side! Alice Nettleship x
A/W 15
CONTENTS FASHION 4 SUSTAINABLE KNITWEAR SHOOT
12 THE ‘ALTERNATIVE MODEL’ TREND 13 THE 2010s: JUST ONE BIG THROWBACK THURSDAY? 14 HOW TO STYLE: MONOCHROME
MENSWEAR 15 MENSWEAR SHOOT
22 THE TATTOO TABOO 24 HOMOGENEITY AND MEN’S FASHION IN CONTEXT: WHERE’S THE COLOUR?
SHOOT P4
BEAUTY 25 WINTER QUICK FIX
27 DEALING WITH DRY LIPS
LIFESTYLE TRAVEL
28 THE MYTH OF THE FASHION DEGREE 29 RECIPE: CREAMY SPINACH & MUSHROOM PASTA
30 SPECTACULARIZATION AND AUTHENTIC IDENTITY IN DUBAI 32 MUNICH IN FOUR DAYS
12 FASHION
FASHION 13
The 2010s: Just one big
???
ThrowbackThursday ThrowbackThursday
This autumn it was impossible to find a piece of clothing in high street stores that was not cast under the ‘1977’ Instagram filter. Flared trousers, big collars, paisley shirts, suede pinafores and skirts in an array of yellow, brown and purple hues, worn whilst sipping a pumpkin spice latte at Starbucks, and you could be the poster-girl for all things autumnal. As much as I love the 70’s style, I was left frustrated considering how often we tend to just rehash and recycle old, iconic styles. I am all for a throwback Thursday, but when did looking back stop us from moving forward? A prime example of this is the 90’s inspired takeover where sportswear is the most prominent mode of style across Sussex and Brighton University campuses. The frenzy for Will Smith-esque “wavey garms” has spilled over into the numerous and often pricey vintage shops such as Beyond Retro in the North Laine area and the desire for the ‘old’ is bumping up prices in charity shops too. In some respects, upcycling and recycling pre-owned clothes is never a bad thing -it’s a sustainable approach to fashion- but it’s when a vintage style becomes so homogenous and commercialised it loses its quirk, difference and original impact, that this rehashing of iconic
# Walter
# Vaniljapulla
styles could potentially become a problem. Social media increasingly plays a vital role in the revival of iconic eras of style, as we constantly retweet, share and like pictures of figures that embody our apparent nostalgia for the past- 50’s Audrey Hepburn or 90’s Winona Ryder being key icons. It is not just confined to fashion - retro and kitsch styles dominate trends within the home as well; Cath Kidston and her £75 million vintage-inspired brand demonstrates how the past is a real money-maker in the present. Why are we so intent on history repeating itself? We hark back to what is perceived to be a better time in fashion, make-up, perhaps even general lifestyle, which suggests a certain sense of dissatisfaction with today. Again pressure from social media, and the increasing normativity of online shopping in our busy and internet based lives, only perpetuates a craving to be ‘different’ that ultimately homogenises vintage style. I asked a Sussex University student what she thought of the recycling of style, and the bigger question of what the ‘2010s’ might be known for trend-wise: “I think the 90’s comeback really shows how fashion is like a pendulum that swings back and forth between periods- I guess 90’s is
now ‘vintage’ because it’s been more than 20 years since it was in full force. Its revival also probably has a lot to do with nostalgia for youth or childhood, I suppose for our generation the 90’s would have been a source of nostalgia. The 2010s will probably be known for its amalgamation of styles; it doesn’t seem to have one solid, definitive look but is more the 00’s does 90’s does 70’s.” Other people, in response to ‘What will the 2010s will be known for style wise?’, gave varying answers, some a more frightening prospect than others: man-buns, parkas and Ugg boots were the most common. So, are the 2010s destined to be known for their failure to produce a new and definitive sense of style, or are we creating a new epoch of style in itself by amalgamating so many periods together? The fashion cycle is a tricky one to explain. It could be that we won’t ever produce anything new but will continue creating an image of homogeneity, characterised as ‘difference’. Currently, #ThrowbackThursday does not only mean coming across a picture of your twelve year old self (choker, blue eyeshadow and all) and dying of embarrassment, but also wondering where you stored those now would-be vintage accessories….
Roisin McCormack
# Pat Castaldo
14 FASHION
MENSWEAR 15
fall staples: clean looks for windy days
Models: George Pearce and Ricardo Blanco Photography: Natalia Perez-Phillips Clothes: Thread Menswear and Loot, as well as model’s own Styling and Co-ordination: James Cole and Alex Wyatt with Ricardo Blanco Editing: Bryony Johnson
tuktuk clothing are offering Promenade readers 30% off with promo code ‘PROM30’
22 MENSWEAR
The Tattoo Taboo Ricardo Reveron Blanco From having the perfect Apollo belvedere physique to bearded and tattooed male models, the male model image has severely changed over the recent years. The artistic choices that people who work in the fashion industry take are completely dependent on the looks they envision and the model’s overall image is key for such portrayals. In this article, I will particularly address the drastic change in attitudes that tattoos have faced within the fashion industry and how it has moved from being a ‘taboo’ to something that seems to be getting more accepted within the industry. The history of ‘the tattoo’ in the fashion industry is particularly fascinating concerning male models. Conservative clients will not use a model with tattoos to
sell their wholesome products, as they would not want to send the wrong message. For instance, companies such as Asos will reject female models with tattoos but accept models from the opposite gender that have them. This brings into question what is expected for a male model, that having an urban or rebellious look can be iconized so easily for men as opposed to female models. However, a model with the right look and right tattoo can be iconized regardless of gender and recently this seems to have become a trend with male models in the fashion industry. To name a few, Mateus Verdelho, Levi Stocke and Billy Huxley present us with the key features that are in season for males; a beard, tattoos and a toned physique or at
Boris Thaser
least that is what social media seems to respond to. Personally, I think this hype is due to two main reason. Firstly, male fashion has developed and secondly designers want to showcase diverse characters within their brand, possibly to relate to more customers. There has been a ceaseless debate over tattoos being a no-go within the modelling industry and even with this uprising of a tattoo trend; tattoos are still a delicate topic in this industry.Ultimately, clients who do not want tattoos in their shots/commercials waste a lot of time and money if they want them covered or edited. However, there are some exceptional cases where models can still bypass the issue of having tattoos. Take Rick Genest for example, it was in Thierry Mugler’s 2011 Autumn/Winter men collection where Zombie Boy made his grand debut as the male model completely covered in tattoos. In this case, Rick’s skeletal tattoos worked symbiotically with Mugler’s dark sided collection where models without tattoos had black covered faces and were even covered by phantasmagorical black and white fabrics. This obsession for tattoos does not end there, as this year Dsquared featured fake tattoo sleeves in their men’s collection. Ultimately, tattoos are everlasting pieces of art engraved on your body and to be able to undermine that by creating a transient, fake tattoo sleeve that can be mass-produced is genius. That is what fashion and ultimately art is all about,
MENSWEAR 23 That is what fashion and ultimately art is all about, deconstructing ideas in an unusual or innovative way to present us with new ways of seeing the world around us. However, it has been four years since Zombie Boy’s appearance. Have the views on tattooed male models changed at all, or does it take exceptional individuals with a clear style such as Rick’s to enter such a competitive industry? I think it’s reasonable to accept that fashion transcends any encased views of what can and cannot be shown as it ultimately all depends on the overall style/image the designer wants to showcase. So what is the current trending style with the male model image? A tough call, as recently many designers have challenged and subverted the iconic portrayal of male models, particularly with the uprisal of the Marco Marco collection where he featured non conventional male models of various body shapes and heights. Although fashion is an art, the tattoo dilemma highlights that ultimately, this is a multibil-
lion-pound industry where models are the idealistic creations of brands and having a tattoo could contaminate certain brands’ aesthetic. However, as mentioned earlier it all depends on the actual model and whether their overall look fits within the brand’s style. In Tim Gunn’s resonant words if you can “Make it work!” you might have the chance to bypass these fashion rules and get a shot in showcasing your personal aesthetic. There is, however, an upside to this unbending fixation on the muted in men’s fashion. It does perhaps mean that men’s style is much more of just that, ‘style’, not ‘fashion’ that so damagingly encourages fashion conglomerates to forget sustainability and forge ahead with their ruinous commitment to women’s consumerism. Indeed, there is something about the concept of the timeless gent that falls just short enough of transcending the monotony of easily consumable male fashion product in 2015 to make me reconsider my conclusion. Just. Alas, time will only tell if men
in general will ever catch up to women – not only in terms of fashion retail turnover, but also in the diversifying of their wardrobes. If the profit explosion in the men’s sector will ever, finally translate into colour. There is, however, an upside to this unbending fixation on the muted in men’s fashion. It does perhaps mean that men’s style is much more of just that, ‘style’, not ‘fashion’ that so damagingly encourages fashion conglomerates to forget sustainability and forge ahead with their ruinous commitment to women’s consumerism. Indeed, there is something about the concept of the timeless gent that falls just short enough of transcending the monotony of easily consumable male fashion product in 2015 to make me reconsider my conclusion. Just. Alas, time will only tell if men in general will ever catch up to women – not only in terms of fashion retail turnover, but also in the diversifying of their wardrobes. If the profit explosion in the men’s sector will ever, finally translate into colour.
Benjamin Balázs
24 MENSWEAR
Homogeneity and Men’s Fashion in Context: Where’s the Colour? As evidenced in the SS15 issue of Promenade, when I visited Selfridges for a think piece on gender fluidity and its then groundbreaking pop-up ‘Agender’, there does not, and indeed did not, seem to be that much variety for men in the ever-popular highstreet stores that boast affordability (well, more affordable than that famed block of marble on Oxford Street, anyway). As arms get bigger, beards fuller, hair neater, and styles arguably freer, it seems appropriate to ask whether mainstream menswear is indeed shaking off the shackles of a robustly masculine sensibility. Well, is it? On perusal of some chain mens and womenswear collections, a companion remarked of moving from the women’s to the men’s section in Topshop: “Where’s the colour?” It seems that mainstream men’s fashion (when taken apart from the upper echelons of sartorially-inclined urbanites who regularly grace online street-style galleries) is still very much mired in an achingly dull masculinity. Fragrances scream masculinity out until their deep voices crack under the pressure of a childhood lived under the duress of ‘don’t cry like a little girl’. And still they scream. Rack after rack strains under the weight of yet another woolen tan coat, the next under some appropriately conservative skinny-cut jeans, previously a queer staple, now filtered unconsciously into themasculine pseudo-style that permeates a never-dying, slightly more relaxed so-called ‘lad culture’ that still dictates conformity. It would be easy, I suppose, but still a mistake to assume that increased fashion-con sciousness
in young men overall therefore translates to delving into the more feminine elements of style, away from rigidity and the uniform. Masculinity is somehow softened, yet divisive. The boost in the menswear sector in recent years is often attributed to a softening of traditional masculinity. I’m not inclined to agree. Rack upon rack is filled with varying muted colours and fabrics - season in, season out. Dark suits have seemingly exclusive rights to men’s formalwear. Deviation from the sartorial hetero-norm is either met with silent derision or from other, kinder (perhaps more liberal, perhaps more art-literate) commentators is met with such wild validation that it hardly seems genuine. Male deviation is so wildly unusual in most places outside of the insulated cultural elite, that it’s met with astonished, widened eyes. Male homosociality (and contemporary masculinity itself) has grown to embody the outdated (and mildly offensive) concept of The Metrosexual, the mildly fashion-conscious man (‘metrosexual’ obviously making explicit the rejection of homosexuality from this hetero-centric discourse of masculinity). However, men’s fashion remains a formation of dictated norms that tries desperately to avoid the tinge of queerness, just as the broad sweep of the feminine seems to chase at its well-polished leather heels. Winter streets are littered with the well-groomed, but windswept, black jacket-wearing, jean-
adorned, facially-appendaged, semi-professional urbanites that were one laughable (so I suppose there has been some progress). As I write, my train leaves East Croydon, Brighton-bound, the opposing platform swarming with the tiresome fashionable gent and the ever more eccentrically clad woman. Minimalism is only a statement if it’s not the only viable option, which for the mass of grotesquely, dully dressed boys inhabiting city centres the West over, it does seem to be. Am I wrong? Is there another, socially and financially acceptable form of dress that falls within the sometimes confusing dictates of the wildly, unabashedly ‘fashionable’ that stomp in front of amateur cameras on the streets around the newly founded LC:Ms and Men’s NYFWs, to name but a few. An option that excludes £300 sweaters, anyway. It would be easy to encourage men to be braver with their fashion choices, to break down the constraints of a masculinity that is so obviously woven into the fabric of their garments. But the fact remains, that this bleak commentary on the state of contemporary high-production-quantity men’s fashion is likely to remain unaltered for years to come. Most men, it seems, have no desire to dress adventurously. Individuality in men’s fashion will continue largely to belong to those rich enough to be able to achieve it comfortably, and some queer men, who have almost no reason not to try to conform.
J. A. Cole
BEAUTY 25
WINTER QUICK FIX
When moving from Paris to Brighton, I had heard the usual about England and its delightful rainy weather but I had somewhat dismissed how further north of the hemisphere it really was compared to Paris. Well after three years of living under the winter weather of Brighton, I still have not found an umbrella that can resist the wind. However, I can say that I feel much more equipped when it comes to skin saviour products that are needed during those cold months. I am not pretending that I have the answer for everything but hopefully some of these suggestions might help you. The plus is that most of the products cited are budget friendly and can be picked up at Boots or Superdrug. Marine RemouÊ Preventing dry hands For people with sensitive skin like me, this hand cream by Aveeno is a real treat. The Aveeno range is actually designed for people with skin condition such as eczema. I firstly bought by mistake the daily moisturizing lotion that works just the same so it might be cheaper to buy it since you get more product for the price. I cannot praise this cream enough as the results are amazing after just one use and I have not had dry hands since. The only downside is the absence of fragrance but it means that the ingredients are more natural and therefore less irritating for the skin. Treating and concealing a blemish Don’t we all want the cure for getting rid of spots? Trust me, I have bought countless creams and caked on the makeup at time. Stress due to assignments and exams is the worst enemy of good skin and there is not much that we can do about it because we are in those stressful years worrying about grades and the future. Well, I still try to apply two steps: treat at night and conceal during the day. While reading an article of beauty expert Sali Hughes, I came across Super Spot Remover by Origins, which is a gel that you apply, preferably with a cotton bud, directly onto spots. It does not cure severe acne but it works really well. I can even further say that it is as good and even better that some of the prescribed creams I know. The bottle is quite small so you might think that you get ripped off for the price but a little goes a long way. Then the concealing part comes with this handy Lasting Perfection Concealer by Collection. I have been using it under my eyes and on blemishes (by putting it first on my hand and taking a clean brush to apply it on spots). The great part is that it is not too rich so it does create more spots.
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Moisturizing your body Who has time to moisturize their body every night? In addition, it can feel sticky, which put me off body creams until I got gifted Korres Santorini vine Body milk. The smell of this product is heavenly (sweet but still fresh - think of fields of white grapes in beautiful Santorini) and the texture is really light and does not feel sticky at all, which is my number one criterion. It has become such a joy to pamper myself with this body cream. The big bonus is that 92.4% of the ingredients are natural. Cheating good hair It took me a long time to get on board with dry shampoos because I had this idea of hair that looked white at the roots and had the texture of cardboard. I have tried the famous Oribe Dry Texturizing Spray, which gives a weird texture to my hair and does not leave me with a clean and fresh finish. I am so pleased to have discovered the COLAB Dry Shampoo by Ruth Crilly of A Models Recommends which is ridiculously cheap compared to the previous one. My hair feels light like I just have washed it. Plus, it does not leave any residue and smells so good. They have different fragrances (I have the New York one which smells fruity) and two finishes: sheer+invisible (my pick) and extreme volume. Controlling oily skin For some people the shift of temperature can mean dryness and for others it can accentuate the production of oil in the skin. I am a big fan of La Roche-Posay as a brand and recently found their product Serozinc. It looks like a water spray that you use in the summer and feels like one when sprayed on the skin. However, it surprisingly reduces shine while feeling very confortable on the skin. It can be used after your day cream as a sort of primer before putting on your foundation or BB cream. Images: Michael Gwyther-Jones, Boots, Superdrug, Feelunique
BEAUTY 27
28 LIFESTYLE
THE MYTH OF THE FASHION DEGREE
Edoardo Costa
Your degree might not have fashion in the title but why would you let that stop you from cultivating a career you actually want? The fashion industry is notoriously fastpaced and difficult to break into, but this only places an emphasis on standing out. Even for making tea on a work experience placement, the competition is tough. The most important thing is often getting experience which, if you’re not afraid to look down some less conventional routes and make some industry contacts, there will always be a way – try being a runner at fashion week or starting a beauty blog. After that if you have marketing skills from your business degree, can crunch numbers for fashion buying thanks to studying economics or know how to use your Media BA to organise a shoot, it can only take you one step closer to landing that interview. It is often reported by those who do specialise with their degree subject, no matter the sector, find it is the core skills of attending university in the first place that come in useful after graduating, whilst most of what they are taught does not. An anonymous fashion lecturer told ID Magazine: ‘I have hundreds of students on my BA course and it’s just not realistic that most
of them will get jobs when they leave, even if they work hard and get firsts. Most will have to intern for up to two years after graduating to stand a chance. If they heard the way some of their lecturers talk about their prospects behind their backs, they’d feel lied to. Universities are offering these courses to make money, but there is no other product which you could charge £27,000 for with no guarantee of the thing you’re basically selling - employability.’ Obviously graduating from Central Saint Martins is hardly a negative, yet with the current state of university fees not all of us can afford to gamble £27000 on whether fashion will be our future of choice in three or four years. One choice made as a teenager, however, should not heavily restrict us for the rest of our lives. If you do feel you need to hone your fashion skills academically before you make the leap into the world of work then MAs exist for a reason. Make the most of your degree and get some experience under you belt while you still have lengthy holidays, don’t waste your time worrying if another course would have given you a magic fast-pass into an industry which can always use some fresh ideas from across the board.
Alice Nettleship
LIFESTYLE 29
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SPECTACULARIZATION AND AUTHENTIC IDENTITY IN DUBAI
Alex Sarris
Images: Mathias Apitz (top), Alex Sarris (rest)
Dubai represents a new city on the global stage. A city which Mark Davis described as ‘creating appetites rather than solves problems’ in his article Fear and money in Dubai. The city boasts the largest mall, stable, airport, aquarium, man-made port, and other mega projects such as the islands which can all be understood to contribute to the brand of Dubai and associated international fame. Yet this is also a city which utilizes a migrant labour regime to sustain its economic growth resulting in a city in which 83% of the population is foreign-born and 99 per cent of the private-sector workforce are immediately deport-able non-citizens. In my time in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, my experiences of the trip included noting the marginalisation of migrants and the implication of perspective as understood from the Burj Khalifa - yet
a comparison of the Mall of the Emirates and the Bastakiya became a focus. The mall is undoubtedly visited more than the Bastakiya by both tourists and residents. The mall can be seen to have a greater impact on how perceptions of Dubai are recreated. The Al Bastakiya region presents itself as a heritage sight – a place to educate both nationals and foreigners about Dubai and its history. The building and pathways have been regenerated, changing how the place is used. Clean and sanitised, they are unlikely to reflect conditions when first constructed in the 1890s. The region uses tourism and its associated trade to preserve a stage in Dubai’s historical development in-between nomadic life and what can be seen today. This is a means to give Dubai a sense of authenticity - a depth rather than a series of modern spectacles. The wind towers are the defining architectural feature of the landscape. There is a deliberate association of the towers and the nation through the use of flags. On another day we observed the construction of new buildings which incorporated wind towers into their design, reflecting emirate concern of losing identity. This fear can be contextualised as this style of spectacularization is often alienating.
TRAVEL 31 Bastakiya caters to a specific consumer market, which seeks to offer a specific type of goods and experience, aligning themselves with the notion of the place as being authentically emirate. No western chain shops are found here – traditional emirate coffee replaces Starbucks. Culture is consumed in the form of art work which depicts local symbols such as the plants and flowers which inhabit the region. Authentic spices, camel bone boxes and Arabic dress are interspersed with souvenirs depicting stereotyped images.
This photo shows an orientalist representation of the exotic, attempting to provide an experience in line with tourist expectation. Furthermore, the advert referring to camel burgers is only written in English, rather than both English and Arabic, clearly indicating its target group, western (English speaking) tourists. Arabic speakers are less likely to have the same expectations of consumption. The camel burger sign is situated next to a plastic camel, another oriental symbol.
One of the buildings was even designated ‘Orient guest house’ with the Arabic lettering on the sign marginalized. As the orient is a nebulous, imaginary term, the sign aims to utilise the tourists’ preconceived notions of the orient. The use of the ‘Orient guest house’ and the Bastakiya generally can reinforce and recreate the notion of the orient and contribute to the idea of orient as an intelligible phenomenon. There is great sensual contrast between the Bastakiya district and The Mall of Emirates. The openness of the Bastakiya emphasises the heat of the sun, contrasting the mall, which is enclosed and air-conditioned. The mall can even be travelled to, via the metro, without having to leave an air-conditioned space, the sun doesn’t factor into consideration. Emirati culture also gives emphasis to smells; the mall, being an encapsulated space, sees powerful smells dissipated between each shop, which at times can be overpowering. The two spaces seek to represent very different conceptions of Dubai. The Mall of Emirates represents the spectacular and wealth whereas the Bastakiya presents Dubai’s authentic heritage. The indoor ski slope, complete with penguins, is an example of ‘spectacle’ - skiing and penguins being a rather
stand-out sight in the desert. The main focus of the mall is consumerism. Many of the shops were filled with brands familiar to the West - our own experiences in the UK are replicated, with some spectacular exception such as the previously mentioned ski slopes. Many of the shops are designer brands, contributing to emirate notions of wealth and extravagance. Starbuck contrasts the Bastakiya attempt to provide an authentic emirate coffee. The homogeneity of this chain allows those have previously been to one instantly feel a sense of belonging. I can understand this personally, when in Bastakiya I was hesitant to enter the coffee shops due to uncertainty of how to regulate myself in a place in terms of interactions and behaviours - whereas knowledge of the system in Starbucks instantly put me at ease. The food courts are also
interesting as the variety of different styles of food reflects the attempt to cater for all the different groups of people who attend the malls, contrary to the Bastakiya’s tactic of providing an authentic emirate cuisine. The trip has exposed me to a city which could not have been experienced in the same way through study. Despite many issues, Dubai can be seen undoubtedly as a success for some, with rapid urbanisation and economic development in the postcolonial period. I believe that some of the issues that Dubai faces can be linked with Dubai’s incorporation into global capitalism. Loss of heritage and a sense of alienation within the emirate people’s own country, (like in many countries – in Western Europe etc) means an urge to blame immigrants rather than consumer capitalism, and its associated authoritarian politically marginalizing system.
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TRAVEL 33
EDITORIAL TEAM
COMMITTEE
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF & DESIGN
PRESIDENT & DESIGN
ALICE NETTLESHIP
HARRIET MASSING
FASHION EDITOR
VICE PRESIDENT
HERMIONE BERENDT
EMMA NORTH
MENSWEAR EDITOR
FASHION COORDINATOR
JAMES COLE
ALEX WYATT
BEAUTY EDITOR
EVENTS COORDINATOR
MARINE REMOUE
MOLLY RAYMER
LIFESTYLE EDITOR
SOCIAL MEDIA EXECUTIVE
SAVANNA FORBES
JESS STONE
DESIGN
BLOG EDITOR
RICARDO BLANCO
SARAH EVELYN GEORGE
PHOTO EDITORS PAVAN WILDER PANAGIOTA FLOROU