ADNYM ATELIER

Worn by Stefan Söderberg, co-founder of Adnym Atelier

Acne Alumnus Stefan Söderberg co-founded Adnym Atelier with Frippe Persson in 2016. “Adnym’s progressive, genderless designs meet your everyday needs,” he says. “We will always design for individuals, not gender. We reach out to people who want to wear clothes that strengthen who they are, rather than becoming what they wear.” Jacket, approx £575, jumper, approx £250, and trousers, approx £250, all Adnym Atelier. Glasses, Söderberg’s own

Tiger Of Sweden

Worn by Per Håkans, marketing director of Tiger of Sweden, and his daughter Selma Håkans, artist Tiger of Sweden is “not just any brand”, says marketing director Per Håkans, pictured with his daughter Selma. “We’re celebrating 120 years. With that, I think, comes responsibility.” Per is wearing a jacket from the recent Ben Cobb for Tiger of Sweden collection. “When we started the project, we agreed that we should have fun doing it,” he explains. “We also had fun when this shoot started,” adds Selma, “but you owe me one now – just so you know.”

Selma (le ) wears: jacket, £639, and jeans, £179, both Tiger of Sweden. Per (right) wears jacket, £719, Ben Cobb for Tiger of Sweden. Jumper, £399, shirt, £339, and trousers, £429, all Tiger of Sweden. Boots, vintage Tiger of Sweden. All other clothing, their own

Cmmn Swdn

Worn by Saif Bakir and Emma Bakir Hedlund (with their son, Idris), founders of CMMN SWDN

Husband and wife design duo Saif Bakir and Emma Bakir Hedlund established CMMN SWDN in Malmö in 2012.

“Our considered approach is the coming together of contrasts – a result of our diverse backgrounds and design disciplines,” explains Bakir Hedlund. “Our collections seek to traverse the boundaries between masculine and feminine sensibilities.”

By James Conrad Williams

When I have a subject in mind, I like to imagine the session we’re going to do together. en I get prepared. I think of the best location and start to build the team I will work with on the day. Good chemistry on a shoot is key. And then I like to leave a li le space for that unplanned magic to just happen on the day. at’s the exciting part!

e secret to making people relax in front of the camera is to show them your idea, give them direction and then collaborate with them to make it happen. Make them feel included and light it well, so that they feel really good. Be prepared and organised, but don’t overthink it. Allow some space for the unexpected and keep on shooting at any opportunity you get, so you can build up your confidence and perfect your style. And don’t be too hard on yourself.

Find a creative mentor. At the beginning of my career, I had my mum, Linda McCartney, as my creative soundboard. I could always rely on her for honest and direct advice. She was one of my creative icons, alongside Diane Arbus, Bernice Abbot and Garry Winogrand for photography, and Hal Ashby and Kathryn Bigelow as film directors.

Inspire yourself. Go to a museum to wander and daydream. Paintings, their composition and lighting, can be hugely inspiring. London’s National Gallery, Tate Britain and the National Portrait Gallery are some of my favourites.

Photographer and film director Mary McCartney – whose first documentary If eseWallsCould Sing will be screened at Soho Summit – discusses finding inspiration in the Old Masters and the trick to making her subjects feel relaxed.

Do work you feel passionate about. I’m very proud of If ese Walls Could Sing

It was a challenge to tell that story in 90 minutes. It was important to convey why I feel so passionately about Abbey Road Studios; I needed to infuse it with that emotion. When it premiered at Telluride Film Festival, to see the appreciation of the audience was such a great feeling.

I would describe my style of direction as collaborative. I don’t tend to go on set and start bossing everyone around! It comes down to teamwork. I need to be on the ball and give a clear vision, but I also need to let the team excel at what they do best. I like to create a comfortable space for my subjects. That way, once I start shooting, we can connect.

Photographing Her Majesty e Queen le an indelible mark. It was incredible to be invited to Buckingham Palace. It was very relaxed and I was allowed to observe her character and how engaged she was in the whole process.

Keep Busy. ere are so many things still to capture. I’m currently searching for my next directing project and finishing preparations for my new photographic exhibition Can We Have A Moment? Plus, I’m deep into making a new portrait/cook book called Feeding Creativity, due out later this year.

I’ve never cared much about what people think about me, other than my friends. I think it’s always been embedded in me. I’ve always had strong female role models – especially in my family, but also in music. There’s always been a Madonna, a Whitney Houston, a Grace Jones – a strong musical role model who, publicly at least, was fearless and didn’t give a f**k.

We all know the RuPaul quote: “We’re all born naked and the rest is drag.” My ou its – which are escapism, but also a work uniform – add a layer of armour and a “let’s go” mentality. I don’t need it, but I like it to perform and present in.

DJing is 50% entertainment, 50% education, 100% party. It’s half playing stu that people really want to hear and half playing new stu , too.

I never plan my sets. I’m not there like a robot, just playing songs I’ve already thought about in order. It takes quite a big level of fearlessness to be there, in front of the crowd, going: “I don’t know what I’m about to do, but we’re in this together, and the energy that you give back to me is going to dictate how I’m going to perform to you.”

Very rarely have I gone to a work thing and thought, “I wish I didn’t do that.” I just go with it. I facilitate fun, so I’d be a bit of an arsehole if I was moaning about my job all the time. I constantly r emind myself how lucky I am to be making a living doing the things I love.

I started my artist project three years ago. I’d done bits of production and some writing previously, but it got to the point where I had loads of stu made and it was like: do I keep giving this to other people or do I just bite the bullet and start releasing music on my own?

I always get anxious pre-release. e song that’s lived in your laptop for six months, a year, is about to be given to everyone and you’ve not got any control over it. I never worry if people will hate it, or I wouldn’t put it out. It’s more that I hope people like it as much as me.

I love being queer. It’s my favourite thing about myself. I’ve always naturally been very di erent and I’ve always liked to stand out from the crowd.

Hone your cra before you present it to others. Be willing to get out there and do your thing – don’t do what someone else does, because that person already exists.

I’ve already planned my funeral. It’s going to be the biggest rave. I hope people remember me for being really fun; for creating a place you can escape to.

By David Levesley

By Teo van den Broeke

e British fashion designer and Soho Summit headliner on what he’s learnt from five decades (and counting) in the industry

who I have been with since I was 21. Since the beginning, her standards have impacted the quality, cut and shape [of my designs]. She’s also helped me to keep my feet on the ground. It’s about good quality products and never living above your station or means.

I didn’t model my career on anyone else’s, but Pauline set a high standard. She was living in London, where she’d been studying at the Royal College [of Art]. She worked with London designers, so her references were not provincial but based on international and city culture. One of the first things we did was mount fashion shows, albeit tiny ones, in Paris during fashion week. We were put into the category of “international designer” because there was no London or Milan, there was just Paris. We’ve stayed showing there ever since.

ere are designers whose work I appreciate, of course. At the same time as m e, there was Yves Saint Laurent breaking down barriers in the way he designed clothes for women. ey were so different. Four years after me, Mr Armani started. He was such an exceptional designer. He always had the back c over of L’Uomo Vogue and he built a very strong business.

Alw ays work with people who have strengths you don’t. In the 1980s, I was lucky that my accountant joined the company as my financial guy. Although he knew nothing about fashion, he stayed with me for many years – my strengths were his weaknesses, and vice versa. Pauline’s standards, my enthusiasm and eventual design ability and John’s financial abilities made it work.

I always advise budding designers to find their own point of view. e truth is, nobody needs another designer, so you need to figure out what you’re about if you want to succeed. en it’s figuring out your style of design before starting in a low-level job with a company that suits your mindset. Creativity is important, of course, but you have to be able to understand modern communication, marketing and the way it all works – the actual design process is just part of the ingredients list these days. Right: Paul Smith at his design HQ in London e key to my success is that I started working in a shop, then I had my own. I understand shops and the supply you need to curate them. A flow of ideas is essential. You have to understand about promotion and display. e key to my success is also my wife Pauline, at’s never been my purview. I’m not looking to sell Paul Smith. I’ll have to slow down because of health or age, maybe I’ll look for a buyer then. It’s not on the cards now. Let’s wait and see.

When I first started as a designer, you could only find a brand like Louis Vui on in a small number of countries. Now, big brands are distributed worldwide. en there is the comms: social media is reliant on how much cash you’ve got and how much you can get your brand in front of people. It’s a challenge if you’re an independent brand, like us.

Somehow, we’ve always been a relevant brand. If there was a survey in the 1980s or 1990s, we’d have been at the top, and that’s where we’ve remained. It’s about good quality clothes that have relevance: modern but never over the top.

The initial clothes in the Paul Smith collection were ones I wanted to wear. My character isn’t confrontational. It’s about looking nice but not in a catwalk sense – clothes that an average man would like. My designs just had that extra nudge of a bright lining or contrast cut, so they were very wearable but also made the wearer feel special.

Regarding my success in Japan, people have said to me, “Of course you’ve been lucky.” But Pauline says, “It’s not called luck, it’s called hard work.” I started going to Japan in the 1980s. Many others my age – from Italy, France, America –went at the same time. Most of them didn’t have a business in Japan, or a business at all. Much of the reason it worked out for me was because I was going two to four times a year. Now, I have an o ice there. It’s about working hard and having your feet on the ground.

I’ll stop when I fall over. Either literally falling over or dying. I don’t consider what I do work. Many young people now want to create a business to then sell.

I’ve never thought about my legacy. It’s only ever been about today or tomorrow. Over the past few days, I’ve been writing postcards to sta who have an anniversary coming up. I think I wrote 30 or more cards to people who have been with me for over 20 years. If there is an image of the company, it’s that we are nice, polite, reliable and well organised. It’s very down to earth. [In 2020,] I started Paul Smith’s Foundation. I’m hoping it will provide opportunities for people to seek advice if they’re a bit lost in life. Hopefully.

A new season marks a fresh start for food at Soho House. We’re going back to doing what we do best: focusing on fresh produce to create dishes our members will want to eat time and again. It all comes down to working with trusted suppliers for quality produce and locally sourced ingredients – we’re showcasing six of the best here

Photography by Laura Edwards

Words by Anastasiia Fedorova

Asparagus

All our chefs are commi ed to cooking with seasonal ingredients. Not only is the practice environmentally friendly, it also allows for the freshest flavours to come to the fore. Case in point, asparagus: the woody vegetable is only really worth eating between the months of April and June (the season is finally here, huzzah!) and is grown at a number of our Houses, including the Wall Garden at Babington.