Issue 68 - Tahirah Sharif

PAGE 68

TAKES US ON A TOUR AROUND 'A TOWN CALLED MALICE' PAGE 47

MATT

PAGE 72

CORBY

ORLANDO AT THE GARRICK THEATRE

9 THE EDITOR'S NOTE // 10-19 THE PRIMER

18-19 AN ESSENTIAL INTRODUCTION: WASTED WINE CLUB

20-21 CHATS WITH YOUR BARBER // 24-26 GRADUATE HOTELS CAMBRIDGE

27-29 NOTES FROM THE NEIGHBOURHOOD: BLOOM & BREW

30-35 SAINT LAURENT SS23 // 36-37 DAVID M. ROBINSON X TUDOR

38-39 CAMERON MCNEE // 40 THREADS OF REVOLT

41-43 FRED PERRY X RAF SIMONS // 44-45 MEN, IN LIPSTICK & MASCARA

47-57 MADAME MALICE: TAHIRAH SHARIF // 60-64 ENYS MEN

65 MADE IN THE UK: YOUR FAVOURITE SCARY MOVIE

66-67 WOMEN TALKING // 68-70 ORLANDO AT THE GARRICK THEATRE

71 WHEN ALL ARTISTS ARE AVANT-GARDE // 72-75 MATT CORBY

76-79 PAYNTER JACKET CO. // 80-81 WEIRD GIRL RENAISSANCE

82-83 ESSENTIAL PANTRY // 85-93 UNUSUAL EATS

94-95 LA MARZOCCO // 96-97 ONE MORE DRINK

THE ESSENTIAL JOURNAL STAFF

editor-in-chief

BETH BENNETT b.bennett@essentialstudio.co.uk

design consultant

CHRISTOPHER GERRARD christopher.gerrard@essentialstudio.co.uk

creative director THOMAS SUMNER t.sumner@essentialstudio.co.uk

social media assistant JAMES DOUGLAS j.douglas@essentialstudio.co.uk

lead designer EVIE FRIAR evie.friar@essentialstudio.co.uk

director RICHARD SINGLETON r.singleton@essentialstudio.co.uk

ESSENTIALJOURNAL.CO.UK // @ESSENTIALJOURNAL published by ESSENTIAL STUDIO // ESSENTIALSTUDIO.CO.UK

CONTENTS

illustrator EMILY MENZIES e.menzies@essentialstudio.co.uk

director THOMAS SINGLETON tom@essentialstudio.co.uk

WRITERS

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THE EDITOR'S NOTE

Change is a mysterious thing. That’s a bit faux pretentious to say but, truly, how can change in one moment feel like the most wondrous thing to happen, and then in the next, feel like the most terrifying thing? I suppose it’s subjective, dependent on the individual, the context, the time of day and whether we’ve got enough sunlight yet. But I think what we can all agree on is that change, no matter its form, comes with a particular sort of strangeness.

You understand, don’t you, that friction in your bones when change has happened? How nothing seems to quite fit? How the birds seem to fly the same way, yet completely wrong at the same time? So as we eek, gently and then all at once, into this new year, I reckon it’s time to face this strangeness head on. Embrace it for all it has to offer.

Like flashing lights on the catwalk, strangeness walks down to our heckles:

Give me rebellion.

Give me fear.

Give me bravery.

Give me malice.

Give me innovation.

Give me comfort in the uncomfortable.

Give me, EJ68.

BETH BENNETT EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

NOTE

“OUR REAL DISCOVERIES COME FROM CHAOS, FROM GOING TO THE PLACE THAT LOOKS WRONG AND STUPID AND FOOLISH.”

Chuck Palahniuk

pictured TAHIRAH SHARIF

photographed by BETH BENNETT location

BRIXTON VILLAGE MARKET

hair and makeup RONKE ABONDE-ADIGUN

wearing LEVI STRAUSS SS23

interview

BETH BENNETT THE COVER IMAGE

pictured

TAHIRAH SHARIF

BETH BENNETT

TREVOR SHIN. ARTIST AND ILLUSTRATOR. Los Angeles, California. United States. www.trevorshin.art @trevorshin

WHAT WE'RE WEARING LEVI’S COIT LETTERMAN

The collegiate look is evergreen and we here at EJ already have a curated collection of varsity jackets piled up on our coat rack. However, the classic cut is given a refresh by the trusted hands of Levi’s design, overt embroidery is missing and allows for a refined, wholly minimal take on this much-loved style. The perfect accompaniment as we, with tentative steps, begin our wander into Spring.

WHAT WE'RE LISTENING TO RIANNE DOWNEY - COME WHAT MAY EP

Evoking a soundscape not dissimilar to Paolo Nutini, Fleetwood Mac, and Amy Macdonald, Rianne Downey’s latest EP tolls the bells of an artist on the precipice. This collection of tunes is a soulful, honest single that feels like those once in a lifetime sort of discoveries: an array of songs that persist with charming charisma that a replay (or ten) of each becomes inevitable.

WHAT WE'RE DECORATING WITH BOTAN NO HANA LIGHT SHADE

Inspired by the traditional bonbori lighting style of Japan, Time & Style’s Botan no Hana is a distinct character piece that radiates a nostalgic Japanese atmosphere, softening any room with a precision cultivated from generational development. Each piece is uniquely assembled by a master joiner in Nagoya with the paper elements handcrafted by artisans in the Mino region. Easily a perfect addition to anyone’s home.

WHAT WE'RE READING COLOUR CLASH

Colour is one of the essential elements of many branding designs. It can help give an identity personality and warmth, express emotion, communicate messages in an unconscious and subtle way and it can keep or navigate the viewer’s interest, drawing the eye and making elements stand out.

This book explores colour palettes in graphic design that surprise, engage, challenge and grab our attention – the combinations that maybe shouldn’t work but just do. These are palettes that break the established rules and laws we have been taught about colour theory and remind us that colour can be fun as well as meaningful.

Colour Clash is available to buy at counter-print.co.uk

WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FORWARD TO FIRST TWO PAGES OF FRANKENSTEIN THE NATIONAL

Aaron Dessner has had a busy few years. However, last month, Long Pond Studios – where The National founder and songwriter has been squirreling away, churning out hit after hit with his collaborators – finally gave us the news we’d all been waiting for: a new album from The National. From the first single alone, Tropic Morning News, this latest record promises to be an exciting diversion from their previous outings and we can only speculate what exactly First Two Pages of Frankenstein have in store for us.

WHERE WE'RE GOING NEXT GLASGOW FILM FESTIVAL ‘23

Kicking off the UK’s film festival circuit this year, Glasgow Film Festival is set to descend on the cobbled streets of Scotland’s vibrant city for its eighteenth year 1–12th of March. GFF is renowned for its bountiful playground of innovation, curating the underdogs, and broadening the scope of, not only Scottish film, but World film too. Since its conception, the festival has always endeavored to keep audience enjoyment as paramount and the selection of films this year only serves to prove that. With an Opening Gala of the highly anticipated premiere of Adura Onashile’s Girl and an outro of the electric Nida Manzoor’s Polite Society, frankly we feel like we’ve got no choice but to grab our tickets, jump the Transpenine, and pour the goddamn Bucky.

See the full programme list online at glasgowfilm.org

WORDS BETH BENNETT

The winemaking industry is one that is heavy on resource consumption. Although recent efforts have been made to improve sustainability in the process, the art of crafting wine – no matter how sustainable your endeavours may be – is one that requires a substantial amount of environmental resources. And, to further encroach on the drudgery, as Wasted Wine Club founder Angelo van Dyk informs me, “Some winemakers end up with a surplus of product that simply isn’t cost effective to bottle and market. Sometimes this can be blended away or sold off for bulk, but in the worst instances, it simply gets poured down the drain.” Shocking, right?

A wine connoisseur himself, Angelo grew up in Durban, South Africa where food and drink culture was woven into the everyday life of his small town; an opendoor policy, a shared sense of community, all tangled together by the ritual of meal time. He went on to study Winemaking at Stellenbosch University, before moving to London to enrich himself in the wine culture of The Big Smoke. Shortly after, he got a job working for a supplier in the capital and set up his own wine company — Yo El Rey Wines.

It was on a harvest trip back to his old haunt of Stellenbosch, that Angelo sat with a fellow winemaker who was lamenting on four unused barrels of Cabernet Franc that hadn’t been touched for years. It was too expensive to bottle, and he had no plan for it.

“The wine wasn’t bad, or off, it was simply excess,” Angelo explains.

So, back in London, he began to ponder this puzzle between work and his own manufacturing. If only there were someone, some presence, that could take that wasted wine and repurpose it – curate a new wine, perhaps in collaboration with a celebrated winemaker, and ensure that none of it ever went to waste.

And thus was the pitch for Wasted Wine Club. A very large venture for a very small team, Angelo tapped into his contacts in the winemaking world and began to offer the idea out, to see if anyone was interested in another step towards this sustainable process.

When I chat to Angelo over the phone, the flickering of busy London traffic

behind him, Wasted Wine Club is still in its infancy. However, there is no denying the enthusiasm and the dedication that he has for the scope of this business. Their first two wines, Chenin Blanc & Semillon and Cinsaut, a curated collaboration with winemaker Alex McFarlane, are both flying from their online store and, frankly, it’s no surprise: the blend is an outstanding quality bred from a deep knowledge, understanding, and respect for the artistry of winemaking.

Even as the company expands, with keen interest from vineyards across the world, this ethos will never shift or falter.

“Wasted Wine Club is about honouring the craftsmanship of the wine in the first instance. It’s then elevated and packaged so that it can be experienced by more people. Every wine we curate will always be a high quality wine where passion and experience are evident.”

For more information or to purchase the Alex McFarlance blends, visit: wastedwine.club @wastedwineclub

AN ESSENTIAL WASTED

INTRODUCTION WINE CLUB

IMAGERY COURTESY OF WASTED WINE CLUB

CHATS WITH YOUR BARBER

WORDS LOUIS BENEVENTI

@louisbeneventi

“I’ve always wanted to try a skin fade, but I worry I don’t have the shape of head for it.”

“I’m too big for this hairstyle.”

“I don’t want to look too much like a ‘Preppy…’”

These are phrases I hear on the daily, and I’m often stood there thinking, “mate, just go for it.” But then I often have to remember, I seem to be in the minority of people my age who just don’t give a shit what people think.

I often sit and listen to conversations with my friends and think, who cares what some people think? Now, I know that’s easy for me to say. But self-esteem in modern society seems to be something in short-supply. Hell, there’s the odd time I spiral, but as a bloke, it’s difficult to talk about these things with people.

I sat in a beautiful bar the other night. The decor was smoky, and there was a modern wood finish. The booths, a rich and dark leather, with large panoramic windows overlooking Canary Wharf, and Central London glittering in the distance. It’s a far cry from my usual haunts around Camden Town, but was beautifully situated a hop, skip and a jump away on the Jubilee Line. I was meeting my friend for a drink, and we were having a catch-up. She’s an excellent photographer who is aiming for huge heights, and she’ll get there. NYC is calling her name. The niceties were exchanged, and we discussed a lot of things. She was a sommelier at one point, so I was educated on what makes certain wines so good and others not so much. I couldn’t help but make a little dig and ask where Echo Falls ranks. Never ask someone who knows their wines that. Some advice I’ll be giving my children –alongside always saying yes when someone offers you a drink at the bar. I’ll have to write a piece where we go into that in more detail.

Anyway, I digress. The evening went on as you’d expect it to. More wine, more conversation, and of course, me being that incredibly annoying friend. Before long, we got onto the topic of Love Island. Now, I’m an eternally single man who lives alone (It’s February, ladies and my socials are my name *cough*). I have never had to, nor

do I want to watch it. I can see all I want from it on Maya Jama’s Instagram. But we got talking about insecurities. Now, of course, I will not divulge what my friend spoke about. It’s not my place to do so. But she did ask me about mine.

Men’s insecurities go under the radar. It’s great to see so many guys out there starting to get help and to build a strong support network, but I still find so many fellas out there really struggling with talking. Hell, even though I said I don’t care what people think anymore, I know I still have my insecurities. I write about them, process them, and find a way to contend with them, mainly by hoping that people are reading it and realising that they aren’t alone. My coping mechanism just happens to be that I'm hilarious. Sorry, guys.

But there are so many out there who don’t have their processes, and I can always tell if it’s eating them up. Being a barber, it comes up in conversation, and I’m incredibly grateful to the fellas who do feel comfortable to open up to me. It’s a very personal service and craft for me, and often hearing guys speak about the hair styles we mentioned above are what triggers me. I often go with “Why not?” Especially if they could 100% rock the trim, the same as I’d advise against it if it doesn’t fit and someone asks for me to do a mullet (No seriously, they’re the bane of my life. They’re a Balenciaga-esque social experiment).

But what I’ve discovered over the past couple of years is that, if it does go wrong, it usually makes a great story, and to care less what people think. I’m not going to preach like a millionaire mindset Instagram page. The only thing that me and them have in common is that we’re flat broke and writing things in our pants. But you do you king. People want to laugh at you and see you fail, but you’ll be alright.

I mean look at me. My A-Level results sound like an STD and somehow, I’m writing this article for a pretty damn good place. You’ll get there, kings. Short, round, lanky or skinny, you’ll get there. Just don’t get a mullet. They’re stupid.

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WORDS BETH BENNETT

IMAGERY COURTESY OF BACCHUS AGENCY

Nestled along the banks of the River Cam, resides the latest in Graduate’s college inspired luxury hotels. Wrapped in the cooling Pantone colour of Cambridge Blue, the hotel boasts an impressive, experiential homage to an institution of British heritage.

With architecture and decor inspired by the world-famous academic institutions in its home bases, Graduate Hotels has established a name for itself across the United States for taking the risk of exclusively residing in college towns. Each Graduate hotel immerses itself in the culture of a different college, from Berkeley, California to Charlottesville, Virginia, every hotel is an impressive feat of high-end, sleek, individuality.

Now, Graduate has embarked across the Atlantic and settled into historic towns in the UK, specifically, Cambridge.

Nestled against the scenic banks of the River Cam, Graduate Cambridge is bracketed by several of the University of Cambridge colleges, as well as being within a walking distance of the city’s best restaurants, bars, and shops. The 148-room hotel boasts designs that incorporate the iconic history of the city, as well as taking inspiration with colour palettes, patterns, and textures found in the pastoral English countryside.

Throughout, the rooms are splashes of that infamous Cambridge Blue, bedside built-ins reimagined as punting boats, whimsical lamps in the shape of a penny coin, and also, those striking dark wood and leather textures to add the weight of heritage within.

Though these may seem gauche in their inclusion, it’s important to note that whilst this may be an immersive stay, part of what makes Graduate such a superb hotelier is the ability to keep every execution feeling high-end, avoiding a descent into tacky or distasteful. Each area of the Graduate Cambridge is carefully curated to ensure a sophisticated and elegant experience whilst honouring the roots of one England’s most prolific institutions. graduatehotels.com

NOTES FROM THE NEIGHBOURHOOD:

BLOOM & BREW

WORDS CHARLOTTE BRENNAN

As part of a new ongoing series in collaboration with Neighbourhood Coffee, we’re sitting down with the businesses using the beans. For this issue, we sat down with Charlotte from Bloom & Brew, a concept coffee store that sells carefully curated goods & homeware as well as specialty coffee and cakes. They’re bringing a new way of brewing to the traditional market town of Ormskirk in Lancashire. Here’s what she told us about being a force for change.

During the lockdown in 2020, I suddenly found myself with a lot of time to think about what I really wanted to do. Previously, I was an account manager for a brewery, driving up and down the country and looking after products in restaurants, pubs, hotels. But I was really driven towards doing my own thing. I’d always wanted to run a business and so in that free time I decided to take the leap and try my hand at opening up a shop.

I had no background in coffee or running my own business so I had to depend a lot on my passion for introducing positive change. My partner and I, who is now my business partner too, wanted to combine our love of coffee with our love for supporting independent businesses and making a difference. That’s how Bloom & Brew came about.

We wanted to make a show that is a force for change. Without being overbearing, we want to guide and educate our customers into a more low-waste sustainable way of consuming. We are as low-waste as we can be – like using recyclable milk pergals for our alternative milk and dairy milk (locally sourced) which eliminates the need for plastic cartons and tetra packs, this reduces our waste drastically. We also turn our spent coffee into coffee logs or use as fertiliser and all our take out coffee packaging is made from plant fibres and reward customers which many of our customers do. Beyond that, we ensure that we choose our suppliers very carefully, making sure to look at their ethics and credentials — that goes for everything in our store: from the coffee, to the coffee cups, the coffee machines, and the beans that are used.

My partner and I used to live in Ancoats in Manchester, which has a vibrant range of independent stores, coffee communities, and that ever-changing city dynamic. When we moved to Ormskirk, we realised that this beautiful town doesn’t really have anything like that. We wanted to bring that sense of coffee community to Ormskirk, a little hub that celebrates independent makers and locally roasted beans. We didn’t want to be conventional, we’ve never been conventional as people, so we didn’t want the shop to blend in with the chains that the town already had. We wanted to be vibrant, different, and do it all in a planet positive way.

Ormskirk may have a lot of students but it is a slightly older demographic, so for us it’s all about that education. We don’t want them to feel as though this metropolitan lifestyle is begrudgingly infringing on their

"

We wanted to make a shop that is a force for change. Without being overbearing, we want to guide and educate our customers into a more low-waste, sustainable way of consuming.

Without being overbearing, we want to guide and educate our customers into a more low-waste, sustainable way of consuming.

own, no, we wanted to become a part of their day-to-day. The shop serves coffee and sells from independent businesses, yes, but we also have a refill station for liquids such as cleaning liquids and shampoos to herbs and spices, rices, pastas and snacks which actually really benefits them as well as reducing plastic waste.

The customers are really receptive, we can really see a growth in our community as well. People will come in one day to try a coffee and suddenly they’re here the next day and bringing their friends with them. Word of mouth has been really important to us which we’re extremely grateful for because it’s that organic marketing.

It’s not just been a change for the community either. Like I said, I had no experience with coffee before opening up Bloom & Brew. I was very much thrown in at the deep end but I wouldn’t change anything about it now. Being a barista, learning about the beans, and connecting with a growing community through coffee is where I feel the most settled, the most content.

Bloom & Brew is found on Church Street in Ormskirk.

@bloomandbrewuk

WORDS

BETH BENNETT

WITH SAINT LAURENT'S SPRING CAMPAIGN

Pictured: David Cronenberg

Art Direction: Anthony Vaccarello

When YSL debuted it’s SS23 offering last July, there was no denying the brooding nature of those sharpened shoulders and deep-necked jackets – who’s purpose seemed entirely to cast an accentuated shadow and enshroud the wearer in a haze of mystery. It was no surprise, then, when YSL released their latest campaign and, in a stoic, somewhat cryptic fashion, stood a sample of the world’s most provocative modern film directors.

Jim Jarmusch, Abel Ferrara, David Cronenberg, and Pedro Almodóvar are unabashed in their mysticism and, as Art Director Anthony

Vaccarello is wholly aware of, need no flamboyance to stand sharp. Each director is accomplished in his own right, regarded as masters of genres, innovators of world cinema movements, maestros of the modern lens. No set pieces or overt photographic style are necessary for provocation because these men alone carry the emphatic weight of intrigue in themselves.

That’s the beauty of this campaign. In a world so entranced by gluttonous consumption, YSL have stood apart, allowing the grandiose status of the subjects to be effective enough. And it really is, don’t you think?

Pictured: Abel Ferrara

Pictured: Jim Jarmusch

Pictured: Pedro Almodóvar

DAVID M. ROBINSON X TUDOR

TUDOR'S NEW MANCHESTER BOUTIQUE

David M. Robinson (DMR) is pleased to announce its partnership with TUDOR watches, opening TUDOR’s first mono-brand boutique in Manchester.

The DMR TUDOR boutique opened its doors within the well-established St Ann’s Square area of Manchester on Saturday 18th February. Identified as the real heart of the city, St Ann’s Square is one of the most exclusive retail quarters in Manchester, where for years city residents have gathered to celebrate significant occasions. This opening marks the first TUDOR boutique to open in partnership with an independent retailer in the UK, and celebrates the next chapter of the relationship between TUDOR and DMR, which began in 2014 when DMR became an authorised stockist of the brand.

John Robinson, Managing Director at DMR commented, “We are so proud to see this latest opening in the DMR portfolio, alongside our good friends at TUDOR. We are the first independent retailer in the UK to enjoy this privilege and Manchester is the perfect choice for this fantastic boutique as a dynamic city that reflects the bold values of the TUDOR brand. Our helpful experts are excited to welcome in the city’s shoppers to this amazing addition to St Ann’s Square”

A TUDOR spokesperson stated, “Collaborating with our long standing independent retailer, David M. Robinson, to open the first monobrand TUDOR boutique in Manchester heightens TUDOR’s presence in this lively and dynamic metropolitan city. Offering interactive in-store features, customers are encouraged to immerse themselves in the product – which is reflective of the brand’s ethos.”

PHOTOGRAPHY THOMAS SUMNER

The DMR TUDOR boutique occupies 56m² of space across one floor, making it the UK’s second largest TUDOR boutique. The brand’s identity is reflected throughout with red, black, and grey colour accents combined with a mixture of high-quality finishes. These materials are used in a clean, streamlined and uncompromising manner. Satin-finish or brushed black, transparent red, and structured white to create a vibrant and distinctive interior.

The TUDOR boutique will offer an exceptional range of men’s and women’s timepieces, including a range of classic, sport, diving, and heritage inspired watches, as well as the exclusive Black Bay Fifty-Eight Bronze Boutique Edition which is available only at TUDOR mono-brand boutiques.

This boutique also features an interactive module; highlighting the steps taken to produce the bronze case of the exclusive Boutique Edition Black Bay Fifty-Eight Bronze watch, as well as the opportunity to take a wrist shot with this model. Additionally, there will be a wall feature with a historical timeline documenting the 60 years of TUDOR diving watches, accompanied by a life size model of a combat diver.

In addition to uniting TUDOR’s signature #BornToDare mentality with expert watchmaking, the new TUDOR boutique also boasts DMR’s client-focused approach to luxury retail, greeting shoppers with the warm, friendly, Northern welcome, which visitors to their showrooms have enjoyed since 1969.

The DMR TUDOR boutique is now open to clients at 2 St. Anns House, St. Anns Place, Manchester, M2 7LP.

Working between New York and London, Cameron McNee is always found with a camera around his neck. From working with high-end brands for editorial content, to his personal community projects, he’s rebellious in his approach to photography and tireless in his ingenuity.

We invited him to share his philosophy with us and, we think you’ll agree, it’s one we should all consider following.

MAN WITH A FILM CAMERA MAN WITH A

Over the last fifteen years, my photographic style has changed several times. When I was at university, I spent more time in nightclubs than studying, so my style was informed by photographing drag queens and dancers from clubbing in the LGBTQ+ community. This is probably why I first fell in love with photography; I got Distinctions from going clubbing.

After I graduated, I worked as a photography assistant. I worked with big name photographers and started to think that my work should look like theirs so I could be successful. So, I copied their style. I learnt a lot from experimenting this way, but I soon realised that these copied styles really weren’t me.

From there, I began photographing communities that I was interested in. I used available light and focused on capturing the uniqueness of my subject. I’m fascinated by what brings people together. I believe we are our best and most beautiful around those that share our passion. It was my curiosity in this that allowed my individual photographic style to emerge and become something I am now proud of.

I’ve been fortunate enough to get editorial work. This is where I add a fashion eye. I

like the images that have a similar theme to my personal work, but with the addition of stylists and glam squad to make the talent polished. There’s less opportunity for innovation in that space, but I’ve found ways to push boundaries anyway. Outside of that though, for my personal projects, it’s still all about people and communities.

Having a camera around your neck is an all-access pass to the world. It is a great way to meet people, and be invited into worlds that are different to your own. When asking people if I could photograph them, I have almost always had good experiences…

I was once chased down the street in Baltimore—I was photographing what ended up being a trap house, where drugs are sold. Four massive guys came out and started screaming for me to give them my camera.

With my personal work about community, I don’t go with an expectation of what it should look like. I want the people to tell their own story, I let them lead, and I follow. Each project begins with just me and my stills camera – I make portraits of people and get to know them. I go back regularly, and let the relationship develop. Once people trust me, they share their stories

and I can build from there, turn it into a short documentary or photo series.

Like my work with Drag Syndrome – a collective of Drag Kings and Queens with Down syndrome. There was so much joy, dancing, and drama on set. I loved collaborating with them, and I’ve actually recently won an award for the images.

Images are able to quickly evoke emotion, much faster than a book or a film. In an instant, an image can make one viewer feel pride and another hate.

It is rebellious to be Other. It is rebellious to be your true self. If you are in any way different to the status quo: be that queer, trans or non-binary, a person of colour, an immigrant, differently abled or neurodiverse, just marginalised in some way, simply standing proudly as yourself is rebellious. If you take a photograph of this and share it with the world, where people will project their opinion and judgement upon you, you are rebellious.

When I post images of same sex couples kissing, there is abuse written. When I photograph a trans person in a park with an amazing outfit on, we hear abuse. It is a risk to be different, it is brave, it is rebellious, and we all need to do more of it. @cameronmcnee

IMAGES ARE ABLE TO QUICKLY EVOKE EMOTION, MUCH FASTER THAN A BOOK OR A FILM. IN AN INSTANT AN IMAGE CAN MAKE ONE VIEWER FEEL PRIDE AND ANOTHER HATE.

WORDS ROSIE BARKER

Throughout history, during revolutions, social justice movements, and civil unrest, fashion has been a key device in the act of protest. The colours, fabrics, and items we choose to wear - or not to wear - give us the ability to tell our story before we even begin to speak. At a glance, an outfit can proudly symbolise our beliefs in relation to social class, gender identity, religion, politics, allyship and more. What we choose to wear can be an act of compliance, or an act of rebellion.

During the French Revolution, wearing red, white and blue identified you as a revolutionary ally. Over 100 years later, Russia manifested the rejection of the monarchy in a literal rejection of the grandiose fashion and fabrics of the bourgeoisie. Opulence was out, and rough cotton and aprons, in the style of the working class, became the style of the rebellion. Even the simple denim jean – now a staple in most people’s closets – has its roots in anti-conformity. Once reserved for blue-collar men, jeans became popular when culture shifted to align more sympathetically with the working class, and in favour of androgynous fashion. Feminism and fashion have worked hand in hand throughout the movement. To the suffragettes, purple signified loyalty and dignity, white stood for purity, and green gave hope for the future of women’s rights. To wear these colours during that time showed that you believed women should have the right to vote. Later, the humble miniskirt became the symbol of women’s liberation, and now, fashion and feminism have become so entwined that there exists a theory that the length of hemlines correlates with the peaks and troughs of the economy – it’s called the hemline index.

In the late 60s to early 80s in the United States, a black leather jacket with black pants, dark sunglasses and a black beret, personified the Black Panther movement. The iconic uniform displayed strength and power, while rejecting Eurocentric beauty standards and spreading the message that black is beautiful. In the same era, black leather paired with studs, baby pins and a mohawk, refuted conservatism, and aligned the wearer with punk counter-culture. The LGBTQ+ movement demanded the freedom to express identity through fashion by dressing in drag and gender non-conforming styles. Direct revolts against homophobic laws of the time, during uprisings such as the Stonewall Riots, paved the way for today’s global pride parades.

These historic acts of rebellion through fashion have not only impacted the direction of the fashion industry, but have also shaped the role of fashion as a symbolic participant in the demand for social change. Today, we see the hijab at the centre of women’s rights protests in Iran, not simply as an item of clothing, but as a symbol of a woman’s right to choose. As we continue to express our identity through our clothing, how and when we wear what we choose to wear, will no doubt continue to play an important role in future social revolutions. During times of change, the world inevitably looks to what we wear, because, when it comes to social justice, fashion isn’t just an accessory, it’s a central character.

PUNK’S NOT DEAD

WORDS

After 15 years, Raf Simons and Fred Perry are retiring their collaboration as the designer moves out of the frame. However, from the release of the first installment in their final collection, one thing is certain: they’re going out with a bang.

FRED PERRY X RAF SIMONS

Fred Perry x Raf Simons has, over the past fifteen years, existed as a sort of contradiction. I mean this in the sense that, from a primal level, the collections have always been rooted in the raw, undiluted edge of classic punk, whilst at the same, for many people, becoming a comfortingly familiar presence in the fashion world. There’s contentment in the abrasive silhouettes and fabrics that Simons plucks from his fascination with uniforms. There’s peacefulness in the loud, bespoke graphics and abstract badges, patches. Sometimes, yes, there have been a few missteps, a few gawky garments that are best kept in the archives. However, it is undeniable that we have had the fortune of being privy to one of the most attuned collaborations in British fashion history, and, as it draws to a close in this final collection, we can see these years of work laid bare in a pristine homage to that Peter-Pan Punk spirit of both brands.

fredperry.com

A POLO SHIRT IS A POLO SHIRT, BUT THE FRED PERRY POLO SHIRT ALWAYS BRINGS A VIBE OF YOUTH SUBCULTURE. – RAF SIMONS

" A POLO SHIRT IS A POLO SHIRT, BUT THE FRED PERRY POLO SHIRT ALWAYS BRINGS A VIBE OF YOUTH

Kid Kapichi wears the Fred Perry X Raf Simons at Chalk, Brighton as part of their UK tour.

MEN, IN LIPSTICK AND MASCARA

WORDS ROHIN JOTAL

@br0hin

Rohin is a DJ based in Staines. Often found travelling the world and meeting new cultures, when Rohin finally gets a minute to himself, he'll be engaged in Japanese media or watching Bollywood films with his Grandma. Oh, and he's wickedly good at limbo.

Fashion has always been an outlet for pushing boundaries, and embracing the fluidities of human nature within culture. If we look around the globe, what may be unusual to our localised ideas of fashion, is entirely usual to another locality. And this isn’t even defined by where you are, really. Take London, for example, you’ll meet some people who’ll swear by skinny jeans, compared to others that wouldn’t be seen dead in them. Is this a generational thing? Dictated by the year you were born, or how clued into the latest TikTok trend you are?

I don’t know. The point is that fashion is subjective and, yeah, when you take it out of its normalised context, it may appear a little strange to others, but style has never been about others, not really. It’s about expressing who you are.

But that doesn’t mean it’s easy.

Let’s look back, quite a fair bit back to be honest, at the Ancient Egyptians. Now, don’t go turning the page yet, I promise there’s a point to this. In Ancient Egypt, back in 4000 BC, men used to wear make-up. It wasn’t revolutionary, it wasn’t anything all that strange. It was a symbol of power, wealth, and status. And this persisted, would you believe it, even up to the 18th Century in this country too. Male English (as well as other Western European) aristocrats and the landed gentry class used to powder their faces with lead-based makeup, just as the women would, to highlight their place above the rest.

This wasn’t the case everywhere, mind, I wouldn’t conflate such a fact. In Ancient Rome, men were shunned from wearing make-up as it was considered too ‘feminine’, too soft.

If we return to Modern Britain, drifting from the Aristocracy to the Millennia, we can see clearly how things changed. The Ancient Roman consideration of men’s make-up may be more of a familiar stance to what we witnessed growing up. There’s many reasons for this, the creation of the true middle class and less of a pageantry for those of high status; a natural evolution of style and expression; and, most probably, the Victorian illegality of homosexual men that spurred a century of ‘queer fear’ that squandered men from anything feminine.

It’s quite upsetting, really, to think about how far we’ve come (though not perfectly, and not fully) in the advent of LGBT liberation in our country and, yet, there is still resistance to men’s make-up from a huge chunk of the population. Makeup is still conflated with overt femininity, and, because the LGBT identity is still considered to most a strangeness, so too is men wearing make-up. The two do not have to be considered mutually exclusive, in fact, they shouldn’t be. A man who wears make-up may be gay, but he also may not be. It isn’t a statement of his strength, his masculinity, it’s simply an accessory. It becomes a statement then, when Jonathan Ross paints his nails, or Noel Fielding wears eyeliner. A statement of support, a statement of forthcoming change, a statement to embrace the strange and make it un-strange. Make it normal.

Like it used to be.

TAHIRAH SHARIF

TALKS BRIXTON, BAFTAS, AND MAKING THE UNIMAGINABLE IMAGINABLE.

WORDS & PHOTOGRAPHY

BETH BENNETT

MADAME MALICE

BB So, BAFTA-nominated actress, was that always the dream?

TS It was actually between acting and being an air hostess for me. But there were two reasons I ended up acting instead. The first: I wasn’t going to be tall enough, plus I realised that, taking aside the glamour, air hostessing is basically like being a waitress in the sky and I don’t think I quite had the patience for that [laughs].

Acting…I always knew it was something I innately wanted to pursue. I really enjoyed doing school plays and took them very seriously. I absolutely loved watching films, all types of films when I was growing up. I remember being about seven years old and being like ‘I want to do that’ but…It felt as though it was one of those childhood dreams, so after college I tried to focus on doing something more practical, realistic. Although my family were encouraging and supportive, nobody really knew how to get in professionally, how to get an agent, etc. But I realised that it was just what I wanted

to do and nothing else would ever satisfy me professionally.

BB Was there a particular film you watched back then that really inspired you?

TS My mum had so many films that she'd record off the TV, so we had everything, and I mean everything. She only had one rule which was you can watch absolutely anything whatsoever — someone could be getting their head chopped off, getting violently beaten up — but as soon as a sex scene came on, it was getting turned off.

Because of this, I ended up watching an incredibly broad and varied selection of films. It was one of my favourite things to do on a Sunday; pick a film, get my mum or sister to make some popcorn and just get lost in a completely different world for a while. I think it was fantasy that really let me see that, watching this as a child, the art of acting is utilising your imagination and working with things that

weren’t necessarily there. And I remember thinking ‘oh that’s a job, that would be really cool to do.’

But ultimately, it was the broad experience that I think really intrigued me: you can be anyone or anything, there’s a fluidity to it.

BB That ties in nicely to my next question because, what really intrigues me about the work that you’ve done, is that it’s extremely multi-generic. Going from The Haunting of Bly Manor to The Tower and now your new show, it’s so varied. Is this something that you look for when approaching roles?

TS I think it all just comes down to the project, the script, the character and the team of people attached to that project. I know of a lot of people who’d maybe want to stay away from certain genres for fear they won’t be taken seriously. I don’t have that apprehension. For me, if a project has the right character, with the right kind of writing, it doesn’t matter what genre it is.

THIS PROJECT HAS BEEN, TO DATE, THE MOST REWARDING AND FULFILLING PROJECT I THINK I’VE EVER WORKED ON.

I always think back to my little childhood self and—I had this saying: ‘Making the unimaginable imaginable’. As long as I get to do that, I’ll be on board.

BB And you got that with ‘A Town Called Malice’?

TS For sure.

BB How did it feel to get to back to the eighties?

TS This one actually ended up being quite personal to me because it was set in South London which is where my mum was living at around the same time the show is set. So it was amazing to be able to approach my mum and aunty, and look at these photo albums of Brixton, or South London, and experience a more physical connection to that era than I have before. Molly, our stunning costume designer, actually used some of those photos of my mum that were taken at around the same time ‘Malice’ is set. And a lot of the head scarves that my character wears in the show are my mum’s actual head scarves which is a really nice touch.

BB With that, did you feel a pressure to represent the past properly and understand in a different way than it may have been presented before?

TS In the eighties, my mum had just moved to Brixton. She was here for the Riots and the major incidents surrounding it. Other members of my family were too. Though ‘Malice’ may not be the kind of show that delves into those issues, I felt that there did still have to be some element of awareness of the culture and politics of that time. My character, Cindy, she’s a black woman in South London at this period, things are obviously going to be difficult for her outside of the plot of the show.

I had these conversations with our creator, Nick Love, about establishing that awareness whilst not hitting people over the head with it. Nick was very receptive and we’ve spoken for hours about finding that balance in a way that speaks true to the ‘Malice’ style and the ‘Malice’ way. We’ve been able to include a few lines in keeping with the character, which acknowledge that extra level of hardship that black women faced in areas of

South London at that time.

Cindy is quite defensive anyway when we meet her, which has stemmed from her past as you’ll find out. But, beneath that, there is that extra layer of hardness that she’s learned from the treatment she’s received by circumstance of her context.

BB So how was it working from sort of going from London to then going to bright sunny Costa del Sol?

TS Oh it was incredible! We filmed the London block in, like, January and then we were over there in February. It may not have been boiling but it was so refreshing to be out of the cold. There’s something about being on a set somewhere that’s warmer, and brighter, that just feels so wonderful. As a cast and crew we all got on extremely well so to be able to socialise in that environment was definitely awesome.

I’d have some moments though, when I’d be really enjoying myself personally, when I’d end up reflecting on my character. Cindy is in Costa Del Sol for such a different reason, there’s so much

EVERY PART OF CINDY IS LAYERED WITH THESE CONTRADICTIONS THAT, AT FIRST, FUCKING TERRIFIED ME. THEN SOMEWHERE ALONG THE WAY I REALISED THAT WE HAD SO MUCH IN COMMON.

uncertainty and fear surrounding her and Gene’s escape from London that for her it’s not a holiday, it’s quite horrific.

BB It’s good to hear that you all got along. As much as a good script can make a good show, it’s really the chemistry between the people on screen that sells it. You’ve mentioned in the past, in particular working with Oliver Jackson Cohen on ‘The Haunting of Bly Manor’ that your preparation involved a lot of delving into that relationship together. Was that something you brought over to ‘A Town Called Malice’ with Jack Rowan?

TS This was quite a bit different, actually. It’s a bit of a funny story. We met at the chemistry read and got to talking. We’re both from South London, not too far away — we even went to the same secondary school (at different times). Jack is such a nice person, a genuine person, and so easy to talk to. So, from the amount of stuff we had in common, we’d already built up this rapport before either of us had secured the part.

Jamie Donoghue, who directed the first block of episodes, was really nervous about the chemistry between Cindy and Gene because, well, if you don’t buy into their relationship, you can’t buy into the whole show. But Jack and I had instantly connected, and our acting styles are similar, so it was very natural between me and him and Jamie saw that. I think it was probably how instantly comfortable we were with each other that landed this job for us.

I watch stuff all the time and you can really tell when people just don’t have chemistry. You can see the greatest actors opposite each other but if they don’t have that rapport, everything just falls so terribly flat. It’s really off-putting. That’s something that I’m really aware of it when it comes to portraying relationships on screen. It’s the hardest thing, you don’t have a lot of time to do it, but it’s the crux of everything. I knew Jack and I would be fine however, and the rest of the cast too, we just got on really, really well. We trusted each other completely and it’s evident in what I’ve

seen of the cuts of the show so far from a viewers perspective. I’m very happy with that.

BB To end on, I suppose, I’m always curious whenever I speak to actors, but has this particular experience changed the way that you view your work?

TS That’s quite a difficult question actually. But…I’ve said this to the creator of the show Nick — who’s pulled together these wonderful characters, this entire world — but this project has been, to date, the most rewarding and fulfilling project I think that I’ve ever worked on.

I don’t know if that’s because of, y’know, where I am in my life, my mentality right now and so on and so forth. This character, she just…I didn’t really have to do much digging for her. That might sound weird but, really, I feel like Cindy is so close to two different sides of me. Yeah, she’s a young black woman from South London who’s searching for belonging and dealing with a lot of shit. On a surface level, that’s

probably relatable to a lot of people, but her vulnerabilities and her weaknesses truly feel like they’re pulled from my own experiences. But then she’s so tough. She’s a badass. She can handle herself. She doesn’t take shit. Every part of Cindy is layered with these contradictions that, yeah, at first, fucking terrified me then… somewhere along the way I realised that we had so much in common.

Obviously, there’s a load of things that she does that I’ve never done, but the bones of her are very much within me. It was just so freeing to be able to…—I don’t really know how to explain it without sounding silly — but I was able to completely inhabit a character without worrying about crafting a whole new person. I did that for ‘Bly Manor’. Rebecca was very much constructed off the page, there were some things I could relate to, but she was completely different. I sat differently. I spoke differently. I walked differently.

Sometimes that’s important and you have to do that for roles, which is really the graft of being an actor, but it was nice to feel more grounded and confident this time around.

It meant I could play a lot more, which was wonderful, and I could have a bit more fun, push myself further. I was so thankful for this entire experience and to have the opportunity to play this character because I, truly, adore Cindy. I can’t wait for everyone else to meet her.

BB All because you’ve made the unimaginable imaginable?

TS Yes!

@tahirah_sharif

A Town Called Malice premieres on Sky and Now TV on March 16th.

ENYS MEN

єnєs meın: eh-nn-is m-ay-n. cornish. meaning: ‘stone island’

Mary Woodvine haunts the Cornish Coast in this enigmatic and enthralling new film from BAFTA Winning Filmmaker Mark Jenkin.

Mark Jenkin submerged the world in his rugged, rough debut Bait back in 2019, securing him the BAFTA for Outstanding Debut from a Writer, Director, or Producer. Bait is a bold feature, one that introduced Jenkin as a sort of experimentalist with a raw expressionistic approach to aesthetic and drama. Shot on 16mm film and developed by hand, with a soundtrack mastered by himself, Bait is a strange, yet intimate, portrait of modern Cornish village life, filmed as though it could have been plucked straight from history.

It was this blend of historical process, complete and masterful creative control, and the modern - yet timeless - story of it all, that saw Bait rise from the depths and become one of the most celebrated, innovative British films of the 21st Century. So, no pressure on the follow up then?

We were fortunate enough to be invited to experience Jenkins’ sophomore outing at a special preview event at FACT Liverpool as part of the film’s roadshow tour, in which the filmmaker himself sat down afterwards to chat about it.

“When I made Bait, I wasn’t all that nervous,” Jenkin says, clutching the microphone in front of audience members of the sold-out showing. “I made the film for an audience of

one, myself. After the success of it though, with this one, I had an audience waiting to see what would come next. That added a certain level of pressure that wasn’t there before.”

Enys Men premiered internationally at Cannes as part of the much-lauded Quinzaine (or Director’s Fortnight) section, a part of the festival that serves to platform new releases from first-time or early-stage directors, as well as established auteurs. In similar company, the other offerings from the United Kingdom that were programmed into the Quinzaine consisted of Holmer and Davis’ God’s Creatures (coproduced with Ireland) and Alex Garland’s Men. It is a tangled thread of Celtic folk horror that connects the three, but Enys Men stands tall as a monument of a new breed of folk tale - in particular, one that feels incredibly, uniquely, Cornish. The fact of which is extremely important and personal to Jenkin.

“Much like the central character, the film is lost in time. I see Enys Men as a lost Cornish Folk Horror,” Jenkin comments.

When Jenkin was growing up, not far from his Gran’s house in West Penwith, he and his family would go and visit the Merry Maidens. A collection of menhirs, or standing stones, that have remained

WORDS BETH BENNETT

IMAGERY BY STEVE TANNER / BFI

seated in a jagged circle since the Bronze Age. Legend has it, Jenkin explains, these nineteen stones were the petrified remains of girls who had been punished for dancing on a Sunday. They had frolicked to the tune of two pipers, who had also been set in stone for their participation in such a heathen ritual.

A young Jenkin would then travel home, he’d cast his gaze back at the tall, imposing figures of the pipers. Always distorted, whenever he would turn back, they were never where he expected him to be. They’d be too far, too close, and, most worryingly, not there at all.

“These images, formed at an impressionable age, stayed with me, and some nights, even now, I find myself lying awake, wondering about those stones. What might they be up to, under the cover of darkness, out there on their own, on the moor, with no-one watching. What if the stones were living? What if the landscape was not only alive, but sentient?”

And that’s the hook of Enys Men

Enys Men is a wholly immersive experience that strips back the Merrie English preconception of a folk-tale and instead brandishes an artfully anti-romantic representation of the Cornish Coast, by

pulling from the dark legends and near history that have petrified in these stones. The transcendental narrative slips you by as the terror, the dread, and the simmering unsettlement takes hold of your senses and places you right beside the protagonist.

Mary Woodvine is The Volunteer, a wildlife observer, in 1973, who charts the changes in a particular kind of rare flower on the rocky coast of the island. However, outside of her house, at the top of the steep hill, is a single menhir that stands proud and eternal.

Her day-to-day routine has become something of a ritual, one that aligns the premise of the film with the ecosophical thesis underneath it. Each day, after visiting the flowers, The Volunteer drops a stone into the shaft of an abandoned tinmine, returning earth to earth as the sea rages and the wind batters fierce around her. She is connected to nature, beyond research and academia; her bright red coat, standing out against the landscape, is as much a part of the setting as the flowers she so studies. And, like the interweaving rhizomatic roots of the plants themselves, soon her sense of time and space slips away and The Volunteer’s physical form becomes indistinguishable from the ancient menhir itself.

This is not, however, a painless process; in fact, it is much the opposite as we become privy to the destabilisation of The Volunteer’s sense of self, feeling it, quite literally, through Jenkins’ masterful filmmaker prowess.

“I tend to think about the picture, sound, and score all at the same time, throughout writing, shooting and post-production. I don’t record any location sound. Even the dialogue is lost to the wind, to be recreated or re-written later in the studio. The aural atmospheres, foley, and music are created as one, with the rough picture cut reworked to fit the beats, rhythms and repetitions of the sonic landscape.”

Enys Men is shot on 16mm film using Jenkins’ curated process The grain and grit of the Kodak film stock illuminates the colours of the Cornish coast, whilst the soundscape goes beyond all sense of time and space, suspending the film perfectly within the year it is set. The end result is a piece that feels like a message in a bottle, a nightmarish tale washed ashore.

Enys Men will be available to watch on the BFI Player and released on Blu-ray/DVD on 1 May.

enysmen.co.uk

MADE IN THE UK: YOUR FAVOURITE SCARY MOVIE

WORDS FREYA YELDHAM

Communities indebted to tradition, cycles, and rituals. Islanders finding solace in the ephemeral consequences of their actions; it’s only seasonal, after all. Sole protagonists are strangers, either arriving new or ostracised from the radical behaviours growing in the now cultish commune they once called home. It sounds familiar really, doesn’t it?

Folk Horror, or at least the British tradition of it, was founded in the late 60s and early 70s after the reprieve from post-war malaise — the bountiful swinging sixties — introduced a radical sense of cultural shift in the United Kingdom. From the beginnings of women’s lib, to the shift towards secularism, the end of the sixties saw in one of the most transformative eras for the British who had diligently followed the same way of life, the same way of being, for so many decades – with only minor changes. And thus, folk horror was born.

1968 saw the arrival of The Witchfinder General, the first in the ‘Unholy Trinity’ of films. Though now it may feel stilted in its execution, the film is carried by an enthralling performance from Vincent Price in the titular role. On a basic level, it tells the familiar story of the witch hunts that plagued the land way back when but, more deeply, does it bring forth those themes of a community under corruption; the shadowed witches are dangerous, they’re threatening, because they’re different, they follow new beliefs and have new rituals.

However, that’s not to say that each of those ‘Unholy Trinity’ films is attempting to metaphorically align with the fear of *gasp* new lifestyles in Britain. No, in fact, if we look to Blood On Satan’s Claw, a gruelling, painful watch through the modern lens, what we begin to see is a style of horror that evokes a critical look at the blood on Britain’s soil. The demonic presence lies within the earth,

it is resurrected from the ground, and defiles the etiquette of the modern community as it wills the citizens to enact rapturous deeds.

As a film, the overt and unnecessary graphic depictions of sexual violence are stomach turning to watch in an age that has evolved from ‘shock value’ as a form of storytelling; yet, it does bring that much needed light onto the barbaric history of Britain by demonstrating corruption in the very land itself.

Somewhere in the middle of these two perspectives falls, arguably, the most prolific of the genre. Robin Hardy’s 1974 cult classic, The Wicker Man. Staunch in the rituals of his devout Christianity, Ed Woodward’s Sergeant Howie is besieged with contempt for the way of life of the pagan-worshipping island folk. Yet, as a whole, the film finds balance between its criticism of each culture. Though the islanders are ultimately barbaric, they are also rooted in a deep respect for the natural environment. Howie’s refusal to understand this naturalistic approach to life is vilified by the film just as much as it vilifies the extremism of the island’s sacrifice. In all, The Wicker Man manages to effortlessly condemn the traditional and the new, whilst also making strange the normal, and normalising the strange.

In our contemporary time, then, it’s no wonder that this branch of horror is blooming once more. Folk horror is complex, boundary pushing cinema that is exploring the way in which we interact, within our cultures and beyond. It’s self-critical, self-aware, of each culture it comes from. And now, more than ever, that is what we need.

Women Talking is a very rare thing. It is a quiet, subdued film that articulates a deeply tragic subject matter, yet it moves with character and a glowing warmth that, as the hope within these women begins to blossom, so too does the very film itself.

Unlike anything that has come before it, Sarah Polley’s adaptation of Miriam Toews’ bestseller, Women Talking gives a voice to the formerly silenced women of a suppressive religious colony. Mennonite in everything but name, these women have been drugged, raped, and silenced for their whole lives, living in squander and obedience as something below even secondclass citizens. It is after a particularly harrowing spate of attacks – these precede the film – the women of the colony must decide if they will forgive the men responsible, stay at the colony and fight for their safety and agency, or leave. What follows, Sarah Polley both intrigues and infuriates us at the commencement of the film, is an act of female imagination.

Joined in a council to determine the women’s fate are three families brought to life by an impassioned and gleefully enraged cast: Claire Foy, Jessie Buckley, Rooney Mara, Judith Ivey, Sheila McCarthy, Michelle McLeod, Liv McNeil, Kate Hallett; accompanied by the meeting minute-taker Ben Winshaw. Foy and Buckley are notable powerhouses, their characters warring on different sides of the debate but unified in their intrinsic drive, each sequence in which they’re interacting feels like a gift. As an ensemble, the cast bounce between each other with a familial chemistry, the bone deep connection feels decades old, not simply weeks. This is what makes Women Talking so captivating.

A striking balance of tone and intention, it’s the hand of Sarah Polley and her adept conduction of this beguiling cast that affords the film a unique position in the solid drama canon: a true understanding and respect of joy found within tragedy. Women Talking, whether it be context or an arguably flawed approach to marketing, is not a film that you expect to laugh in, to smile, to feel joy – but it is. There is a beauty in every chuckle, every bark of laughter, and it rounds out these women beyond their trauma, they feel real. Their trauma is what brings us to them, yet it is their very humanity that keeps us there.

Polley had been adamant in her production that, though the subject matter itself may be atrociously violent, this is not a violent picture. We do not see the assaults, we do not see the women in anguish of the act. We see the aftermath, the scars, the blood. Though this film may be about trauma, it respects the movement of survivors to work through it, as a community, and heal in the hope of a future beyond it. What we see, or at least the beginnings of, is women healing

Whether it be the true reality, or an act of female imagination, at least in this world, these women are afforded the chance of hope.

And that is the sanctum of the film.

WOMEN TALKING WOMEN

Nominated for two Academy Awards including Best Picture. Women Talking is currently in cinemas nationwide.

An electric ensemble empowers Sarah Polley’s effortless execution.

WHAT FOLLOWS IS AN ACT OF FEMALE IMAGINATION.

WORDS BETH BENNETT IMAGERY COURTESY OF ORION RELEASING

ORLANDO

The Garrick Theatre is one that, I’m sure many will remark, found its footing on the West End with productions of melodrama. Eventually, it evened out, somewhat, further down the line, into one known for comedy, light-heartedness, and, more recently, showcasing works that push the boundaries for the hoity-toity theatre elite. It’s no surprise then, that Neil Bartlett and Michael Grandidge’s rehashing of Virginia Woolf’s Orlando was to find its home here.

Orlando, for Woolf, is an outlier. For the most part, it seems to fit within the general construction of her narratives –a flagrant and modernist representation of the self, and all of the questions that come with defining exactly that. However, where her other seminal works like Mrs Dalloway or To The Lighthouse concern themselves with a similar excavation, they are very much rooted in the real, in a true representation of the world so that the complex metaphor of feeling can sit comfortably and be palatable for those early 20th century audiences. Orlando doesn’t.

Any literature connoisseur, or Woolf scholar will be sure to know the context. The novel is inspired by the intrepid and turbulent family history of Virginia Woolf’s close friend and lover, Vita SackvilleWest, and the electric, defiant nature of her personality. It’s within these pages that Woolf herself navigates her own identity against Sackville-West’s, trying to understand, as a child of the Victorian era, what it means to love another woman, to be comfortable in oneself, to comprehend existing as something, as someone, who cannot exist.

And it’s through a deep understanding and respect of this context that Barlett and Grandidge’s production is able to thrive. Not only does it do justice to the pages of the text, no, it breathes such a life into the very enigma of Virginia Woolf too.

Interwoven into the very space of the stage is a cacophony of Woolfs. Wrapped in delicate knitwear and crowned with her familiar hairstyle, the company of actors is varied between genders, races, and ages, each portraying the author with a succinct synchronicity that handles the internal debates of a writer's quandary.

As their protagonist adventures through, we’re invited to gaze inside the inner dialogues of Woolf, as these different –though all together, same – versions of her, guide Orlando on the quest of life. We’re privy to the moments of doubt, of indignation, of vindication, that Woolf experiences – as Orlando, in all of their confounding existence, begins to take on a life of their own. As Orlando battles for their own sense of understanding, we feel as though we’re witnessing some swordfight of syntax, as the Virginias attempt to make reason behind the unreasonable. Who does Orlando love? When and where is Orlando? Who is Orlando?

Emma Corrin is a triumph. It’s almost predictable to declare; one of the most exciting actors of now, who settled into the zeitgeist through their portrayal of Lady Diana Spencer in Netflix’s much lauded The Crown. There’s a charisma to Corrin that one struggles to see most anywhere else. They possess a playfulness that

Emma Corrin stars as the eponymous hero of Virginia Woolf’s most personal and evocative tale, retold for the contemporary audience under the lights of London’s Garrick Theatre.

remains grounded in a heavy understanding of drama – a perfect casting then, one could regard, for the role that requires a believable teenage boy, a weighted heartbroken man, and a confounded woman.

From their very first arrival on-stage, they’re captivating to watch, moving with the comfort and control of a maestro at their very best. And as the story turns, as Orlando breaks and moulds and twists and changes with the conduction of the Virginias, Corrin is relentless in their effortless adaptability.

Virginia Woolf’s works are now so entwined with our culture, with our British literary canon, that, often, adaptations can feel like a worn t-shirt, one that has lost its own structure, faded. Comfortable, but altogether too familiar. That isn’t a problem here. Orlando finds new solace in much read words, resurrects what should be tired, and, most of all, still feels fresh and relevant so many decades after Woolf first put that excitable teenage boy to paper.

@emmalouisecorrin @orlandowestend

WHEN ALL ARTISTS ARE AVANT-GARDE

WORDS CAMERON MCGRATH

“What Russia should do with Ukraine”, is an article by Kremlin news site RIA Novosti that speaks of total “liquidation”. Erasure, not just of land and people, but culture. For Russia, Ukrainian identity is a fiction, bringing language, music, and art into the battlefield. Everything that ties Ukrainians to Ukraine has come under fire.

Pen America keeps a list of the cultural dead, some killed in battle, others executed for non-collaboration. The conductor Yurii Kerpatenko is one. Shot in his Kherson home for refusing to conduct a concert organized by the occupiers. In this war, all artists are avant-garde, because any act defying Russia, and any creation which is Ukrainian, is an act of resistance.

Walk the streets of Donetsk in 2014, the covert beginning of the Russo-Ukrainian war, and you’d find ghostly figures stalking the streets. Skull-headed soldiers wearing the Novorossiya flag, the Kremlin’s replacement nation for Ukraine, are painted on walls along with Russian officers holding guns to their own heads, “Just do it” tagged underneath. Serhiy Zakharov was the artist responsible, his work haunting militia patrols, attempting to keep the alien from becoming settled. He was abducted and tortured for his designs.

The tactic of haunting the invader through street art persists into Putin’s “Special Military Operation”. During the occupation

of Kherson, activist-artists of the Yellow-Ribbon movement tagged Russian passport offices and propaganda billboards with Ukrainian flags and the letter “Ї” (yee), which is distinct to the Ukrainian Cyrillic alphabet. Instead of the soldiers themselves, Kherson’s guerrilla artists subsumed tools of conversion; billboards declaring “One Russia”, and offices replacing Ukrainian passports for Russian.

Elsewhere, the ruins of war become a canvas. In occupied Nova Kakhovka, graffiti artist Maxim Kilderov tags intricate, interlinked patterns on the burnt husk of a Russian armoured vehicle. Ukrainian and English words woven into the design, “Occupied”, “Kakhovka”, “Ukraine”. He emblazons similar designs on spent RPG-18 rocket tubes and anti-air IGLA systems. The destroyed and cast-off Russian weapons absorbed by the very language they came to burn.

This strange resistance art does something unique. When we think of avant-garde, we think of “disrupting the status quo”. But, in Ukraine, activist-artists are disrupting disruption. Slowing the formation of a new status quo, keeping an old one alive; Ukraine. It’s language, music, and art. A cultural identity one thousand years in the making, and distinctly – not Russian.

MATT CORBY MATT CORBY

Five years since the release of his last album, Matt Corby is back with Everything’s Fine, an honest and reflective response to modern life, underpinned with a hint of hopeful optimism. We caught up with the Australian singer-songwriter, fresh off the back of a run of European shows, to hear about the production process, the trials of being a record-from-home dad and to find out what lies ahead in 2023…

WORDS & INTERVIEW EVIE

FRIAR

PHOTOGRAPHY

BILLY ZAMMIT

EF London played a significant part in the early days of your career with it being where you met the team from the record label Communion. Does it feel like a homecoming to come back and play here?

MC It does, yeah. I got to know those guys just as the label was starting; it was actually a music night originally. I was like 19 and I recorded an EP with Kev Jones, Ian and Chris who's playing drums for me at the moment. That was where the relationship started.

So yeah, this run of European shows has been great. It’s been a while since it’s been so nice and tight. Family vibes. It’s been really special actually.

EF You have your own record label now, Rainbow Valley Records. How have you found the process of setting up a label and have the Communion team given you any tips?

MC To be honest, we were hoping to work in conjunction with them. I think it got a bit too sticky with us using Warner as our parent company in Australia and New Zealand, and then not internationally. It's been a bit tricky to work out, so sadly that hasn't come to fruition. But as a team they're always so open and helpful. I've got a really great team of people in Oz too. It’s a funny game. There are no certainties in the music industry. But it’s really enjoyable as much as it is stressful.

EF Starting the label seemed to come from a place of wanting to nurture new talent. Did you have a mentor during the early days of your career and do you find yourself stepping into that role now?

MC It's funny, I used to think I didn’t, but when I actually thought about it, I was like, “No I did, I just didn't listen to them,” (laughs). In hindsight, I've had a few great ones. Kev Jones who runs Communion; he’s been a big mentor of mine, actually. He's taken out a lot of time throughout

the years to help me with things. Dominic Salole, whose artist name is Mocky, he’s been a massive mentor too, especially musically. He taught me so much stuff in regards to production and how to be a great instrumentalist. He’s a fucking genius. I'm glad to pass that information on and pay it forward. I'm coming up to 15 years in the music industry which makes me feel really old. I’m here when people need me and I'm super passionate about the music because I have a big hand in it and a lot of it's recorded at my house. I’ve really loved it actually, and I continue to love it.

EF So, how does it feel to be releasing a new album after five years?

MC I think I'm actually really excited. I used to get really horrified before things would come out. I'd be like, “Oh, what have I done? This isn't good enough.” But I think I've learned a lot in the last few years, especially doing a lot of the production stuff and writing. I really trust the process and I’ve been feeling really empowered to keep it simple. It's been a great change of pace for me. I'm really proud of the record. I think, given the circumstances that I was in at the time, we did as good as we possibly could. There were three other people that were rotating in and out of the studio; Alex Hendrickson, Nat Dunn and Chris Collins. All great writers and all great producers in their own right. It felt like such a great collaborative effort.

EF When you say 'the circumstances', are you referring to the 2022 Eastern Australian floods and having to uproot yourself and move to the studio?

MC Yeah, that was pretty challenging. The day we were supposed to start recording the album was the day the flood hit. Our house was destroyed, as were 4000 other people's houses. It probably was a really good motivator for me, to be honest, because I was kind of cruising. I was happy doing the production stuff. I was ready to make a record, which was funny. And then

life was like, “How about an extra fucking bomb for you!” It definitely complicated the recording process. My four year old was screaming down the door every half an hour which, if you're a parent you would know, is insanely stressful at the best of times.

EF It seems like you’ve got a lot on your shoulders with the the record label and also having a family now. Does that sense of responsibility affect the creative process or how you write songs?

MC No, I think it's the opposite. [Having children] breaks your heart every day so it’s like I’ve been opened up to this whole new world of feeling things and observations of people. I think it's really motivating too; having kids kicks you into gear. I think before I spent most of my time just fucking faffing about. When you have a kid you’re like, “It’s got to come now and I’ve got to work hard.” Nothing comes easy and I want to be able to support my family with what I do. To do that with music is no little feat so it can be stressful at times but I wouldn’t change it for the world.

EF You new album, Everything’s Fine, is due out in March. The title of the album almost feels a little ironic or sarcastic. Is this the intention or is it a more sincere declaration that things really are ok?

MC It’s kind of half and half. It's definitely so ironic because like, look around you, everything's so not [fine]. But on whatever philosophical level you want to look at it, I guess it is as well. Like we're still here in this experience; we have the choice of making it fine or not fine or better or worse or whatever. I think the older you get, you realise that that's the qualifying factor. It’s all about how you perceive things and how you react to that perception. It’s very easy to be overwhelmed in this day and age with most parts of life. It is more up to the individual to process that and not let it destroy them.

EF The album artwork is really cool. How much are you involved in those areas of the work, directing what everything should look like etc.?

MC With this one, probably more so than ever. We had this brilliant graphic designer and illustrator, Niqui Toldi. She had to deal with a lot of annoying stuff from me and Jez, who’s the creative director for the label. The full spread of the vinyl is really cool. I imagined something very, very close to what she's created. For her to get that close with weird expectations of another person, you know, she's a proper genius. I was just like, “More irony!” (laughs) She did so well conceiving all the small details of what's truly going on, as if you’re reading between the lines of all these little interactions between these cartoons.

EF It's so nice with vinyl to have that tactile experience and have something detailed to look at while you listen. Are you a big collector of vinyl yourself?

MC Yeah, I've had to stop actually because I have a problem. There are so many records I don’t know, and I’ll find myself going, “Oh that looks cool,” and it’s £30 and I’ll be like, “I’ll get 10 of them!” My partner is like, “How much was all this!?”

Actually, the stylus has gone on both my vinyl players at home and my son has scratched up a bunch of [my records]. My partner keeps moving them around the house and she put them down when my son was about two and a half and I came home one day and they were all over the floor. He was putting his weight on them and pushing himself around. It was devastating. Some brilliant ones too. I tried to play them and I just cried, they were all completely ruined.

EF Do you have a most prized record that’s still intact?

MC Yeah, I have an OG pressing of George Harrison's All Things Shall Pass. I also have a really rare Miles Davis live record. It’s

so sick. I have a lot of vinyl, but those two are the ones no one’s allowed to touch. I played the Miles Davis one once and put it straight back and just sealed it all up again (laughs).

EF (laughs) I imagine they're on a very high shelf now.

MC Oh yeah, they’re so high up it’s crazy.

EF You're heading to the States and Canada soon. Do you find that you can expect a different audience reaction to what you’d get in Oz or Europe?

MC It's different everywhere, yeah. It's really funny observing it. Oz is weird, there’s a lot of baggage for me there. Everyone’s seen everything I’ve been through from Idol onwards. Whereas in other places, you only catch people's attention if you’ve done something of quality that they resonate with. I played in Stockholm the other day and, while speaking to people after the show, I really felt the deep connection that some people have with what I do. Last time I went to America, I felt really similar.

EF What's beyond the US and North American tour? Anything exciting coming up in 2023?

MC I'll be back over here in September. I’m going to do some big shows. I think I’m going to play the Hammersmith Apollo. That will be sick. We'll be here for maybe a month and then I might make another record. I’ve started writing and I’m really happy with some of the music, so I want to strike while the iron is hot. I think I’ve really figured out my process now.

Everything's Fine is out on 24th March.

@mattcorby mattcorbymusic.com

Becky Okell and Huw Thomas have never done things the easy way. It was on their first date that the idea for Paynter was conceptualised – a new way of clothing creation that would eliminate gross waste and work against fast fashion. So, as their relationship blossomed, so did their business venture. Now, three and a half years later, Paynter’s exclusive jacket drops are changing the game. For an issue focuising on avant-garde approaches, it only seemed right to grab a brew and find out more from Becky and Huw.

BB Can you explain a little bit about the idea behind Paynter Jacket Co? Why were jackets, in particular, something that you wanted to focus on?

PJ We make jackets, four times a year, in limited edition batches that are made to order.

It all began as a bit of an experiment. We wanted to see if we could take our business model in the complete opposite direction and make it work. We wanted a business that eliminated the gross volumes of waste by which the fashion industry has come to be defined. We’re the opposite of an impulse buy. Of the 100 billion or so items of clothing that are churned out globally each year, a fifth might never see the light of day.

In contrast, we sell one style of jacket, once a quarter, to a few hundred people at a time, knowing the exact size and colour each customer wants before we start making. Doing things this way means it becomes as much about people as it is about jackets.

BB It’s not just yourselves, is it? You work with a number of people across the world to produce these products; can you talk a little bit about those individuals?

PJ There are so many more people involved, from our factories and fabric mills, to pattern cutters, illustrators, photographers, models and illustrators, to freelancers who help us on our website, to pack and send jackets, and to manage the back-end of the business too.

Being an independent business, we’ve always wanted to keep the runnings of the business as light and nimble as possible so that we can focus on selling the best quality we can for prices as fair as possible. It’s always a balance between remaining

agile while working hard to afford the best talent we can.

BB Would you say that the sense of community in the production of the jackets is an important part of it?

PJ If there are two things we get really geeky about, it’s the product and the people - aka our customers, and the whole customer experience. Even though we sell online, we do meet a lot of the people we make for, whether it’s through lengthy discussions about sizing and details, oneto-one Zoom calls, at a coffee shop for a try-on, or at one of our ‘Paynter at the Pub’ meetups in London or Brooklyn.

BB At the heart of it, I wonder if you agree, a broad sense of community is integral to sustainability as it’s about understanding how your actions are affecting others in the world?

PJ Yes, I’d definitely agree. Clothing means so much more when it represents stories, people, memories. I think our customers

can tell that by the time their jacket arrives with them, it’s already been on quite a journey, and so there’s a respect for clothing and a need to take care of it that is unusual in our industry. Often our customers tell us about major life events that have happened while they’ve been wearing our jackets, and how they plan to pass them on to future generations, or friends and family. I think the community side of things is integral to sustainability and prompting us all to buy less – and care more for what we already have.

BB Can you talk about the process of crafting these items, from designing them, sourcing fabric, making them, distributing them?

PJ To design a jacket that we’re happy with can take up to 12-18 months. It takes so long, because we like to wear-test every iteration of our jackets (different fabrics, construction, details etc.) to make sure they fit well, perform well and wear-in as we’d like them to. Taking a lot of time to get the design right is always very important,

so that our jackets last. We’re in no rush to put out a product that isn’t ready.

The fabrics we use come from prestigious mills from Japan, Italy, France, and Portugal. Each mill has their own specialty making a particular fabric, and that’s what we work with them to make. We then work with small family run factories in Northern Portugal who specialise in each of the styles that we make. Making a batch of jackets then takes around 6-10 weeks, and once finished, every jacket is numbered by hand and sent out to customers across the world.

BB One of the unique things is how you release the jackets, can you expand on that?

PJ Our batch system is built in direct response to those problems, and has worked in largely the same way since Paynter first launched in 2019. Rather than guess demand and overproduce, we order only the exact metres of fabric we’ll need to make each batch, and only start making in the factory after selling out, so when we start production, each one already has a customer’s name against it.

While making, we take our customers behind the scenes via weekly updates from the factory, showing videos of their jackets being made. Instead of encouraging people to buy a new collection or collaboration every week, we make four batches of jackets a year, plus the occasional design experiment too. A batch of jackets for us, is one style at a time.

By the time our jackets arrive with their new owners, they tend to have a deep connection to that piece of clothing. And ultimately that’s what we’re all about, bringing meaning back to clothing.

BB How does it make you feel to see people engaging with and buying your products?

PJ Our customers wear and wear our jackets, rather than saving them for best, and we often hear how they’ve quickly become wardrobe staples which is everything we hope for. We love to hear about the personal stories of what our jackets get up to once they’re out in the world. It’s a real privilege to still be

in communication with customers from every batch. There have been jackets worn to propose and get married in, during important interviews, and on stage for TED talks. One jacket is even responsible for a couple meeting and now living together, as the couple met via exchanging a jacket and meeting through our waitlist!

Aside from hearing about those stories via email or in our DMs on Instagram, the best thing is seeing them out and about in real-life, and saying hello and thanking customers if we can pluck up the courage to have a chat! @paynterjacket

"

By the time our jackets arrive with their new owners, they tend to have a deep connection to that piece of clothing. And ultimately that’s what we’re all about, bringing meaning back to clothing.

WEIRD GIRL RENAISSANCE

WORDS EMMY HALLAHAN

@emmyhallahan

It seems as if the tables have finally turned in recent years. In fact, it might have never been a better time in history to be a weird girl. Of course, back in the day — and I mean the days of puritans, or maybe even, if we’re being honest like…2012? — being weird was a societal no go. Not unless you wanted to be tried as a witch, or ostracised by your peers.

Anyone really good at holding their breath?

It’s interesting, how as we’ve got more online as a society (that sentence makes me want to vomit, by the way, please forgive me) the weird is reflected less outwardly than it used to be. That being said - there’s a difference between weird cool and just plain weird. Weird cool is when someone has their own out-there sense of style, is a bit off-putting, but in a way that makes them more interesting. Regular weird is just unsettling - to others.

Think about it. Was there someone in school who seemed to have a glowing light above their head saying ‘weird’? Congratulations, you’ve found the odd girl. (Was it you? Be honest.)

Even a few years ago, it was something a lot of us — myself included — were running away from. Trying to write ourselves manuals on how to be the most normal person in the entire world. But now? It seems to be embraced.

Plenty of people have taken to talking about their weird years with almost a sense of pride, sharing the things they did as a teenager. Being shunned back then makes for a medal now. Maybe it’s a commentary on how, as life has shifted further online, and we’ve all begun to

assimilate into more and more of a shared experience, we want our weirdness back. It’s natural to want to be different, to be special, to have a chance to stand out - and it shows a lot in the way we’re consuming media.

There was a wave a few years ago of very plain characters. After all, it’s easy to see yourself in someone who is likeable, who is inoffensive, who is - for the most part - good. Obviously, these forms of media still exist, and probably always will. It’s incredibly easy to pander to the majority, to play it safe. However, there’s been a soaring amount of media based entirely around women who are strange, unlikeable, even unforgivable at times. And, yet, we love them. There are girls who point to characters like Carrie White (you know, pig’s blood girl?) and say ‘she’s just like me fr’, and they mean it. They want to be unlikeable and strange. Consider Irina, of Eliza Clark’s Boy Parts. She’s by all means a terrible person, but she has moments of real relatability that make her feel so much more human than any of those ‘nice’ characters could even dream of (not that they’d dream, let’s be real).

This angers some, those chronicallyonline-puritanical-oh-my-god-pleasetouch-grass kind of people. They don’t want flaws, because you can’t like things that are flawed because that means you’re bad and you’re going to hell and you don’t deserve any bit of goodness in your life. No nuance. Yeah, they’re really like that - take one look in a comment section.

But for the most part, for the rest of us, weird girls are having a renaissance. After all, we’ve always been more interesting than anyone else. I’m definitely not biased.

RAFAEL PANTRY CAGALI

TONNATO

BY RAFAEL CAGALI

This recipe makes 2-3 starter size portions worth (the size served at Elis)

INGREDIENTS

VITELLO TONNATO SAUCE

For Paste:

80g tinned tuna

9g capers

75g anchovies

10g caper brine

For Sauce:

120g paste

60g egg yolk

400g tuna oil/neutral oil

PORK

A high quality 500g chunk of pork belly is the smallest you’ll want to use the cooking method for, any leftover pork can be utilised however you like.

GARNISH

Handful of crispy fried capers (fry capers in a bit of oil until crispy)

Handful of mustard cress

Good quality EVOO

METHOD

PORK

First, remove the skin and bones from the pork belly.

Note: you can always ask your butcher to do this for you. Place the belly into a 10% brine (i.e. 20 gram salt, 200 ml water) for 24 hours. This helps flavour the meat and keeps it nice and pink. Note: this is not absolutely essential if you’re short on time, a nice overnight salting works well.

Once out of the brine, wash under cold water for 5 minutes and dry well. Roll the pork belly and tie with butchers string. Vacuum pack the meat and steam at 80 degrees for 4 hours. Once cooked, cool down in ice water.

Note: instead of steaming, you can either poach/simmer until tender or cook on very low in the oven.

Once cold, slice the porchetta as thin as you can with a sharp knife.

SAUCE

To make the paste, blitz all the ingredients in a blender/vitamix until smooth then pass through a sieve/chinois to make it extra smooth. For the sauce, blitz the paste and egg yolk together on a medium speed, slowly add the tuna oil/neutral oil until it is emulsified and thick. Adjust the seasoning with salt and chardonnay vinegar.

TO SERVE

Put a generous amount of tonnata sauce in the bottom of a bowl. For each bowl/serving, place 6 slices on top of the sauce adding some additional sauce on top.

Finish with some crispy fried capers and olive oil and some peppery mustard cress.

@rafacagali

"Elis is inspired by my mother and childhood. I have wanted to explore some of the more relaxed elements of Brazilian and Italian food culture for some time; drawing on everything from my favourite street food to family meal celebration dishes that my grandma used to make."

PORCHETTA TONNATA AT ELIS

15% OFF ALL COFFEE WITH THE CODE: EJ15

UNUSUAL EATS

WORDS

We’re always on the search for something new, aren’t we? After a while, even our most favourite restaurants can seem a little stale, a little repetitive, a little…well, just the same as anywhere else. So, to help you combat this, we here at EJ have searched high and low to compile a list of restaurants turning the world of fine-dining on its head. From fantastically ghastly looking plate serves to invitingly obscure locations, these places are sure to refresh your restaurant experience.

Impression no. 9: 1984 by Alchemist, Copenhagen Read more on page 96.

BETH BENNETT & CAL SMITH

SOCIAL @ikoyi_london

WEB ikoyilondon.com

ADDRESS 180 Strand, London.

Ikoyi occupies a unique space in London’s fine dining ecosystem; pairing culinary evolution, personal character, and a combination of styles rarely found in the capital. Ikoyi, the eponymous Nigerian hometown neighbourhood of co-owner Iré Hassan-Odukale, has shaped best friend Chef Jeremy Chan’s vision for the cuisine at the highest level. Chan’s drive for knowledge, variation, and aesthetics exposes diners to his love for seasonal British produce and ingredients typically found in West Africa. Chicken efo riro, smoked jollof rice and mushroom suya have all received Chan’s two-time Michelin star touch. The tasting menu is served Monday to Friday, starting at £300.

Head Chef Jeremy Chan

A kebab, at least here in the cobbled streets of England, denotes a greasy spoon at the end of a night out; a full-stop of carbs to curb the wild evening you’ve just experienced. But what if I told you, that hidden somewhere in the haute cuisine of Covent Garden, resided a restaurant offering a highend twist on this classic night out grub? The crew behind Maison Bab have been working quite a while on renovating the ‘kebab’, with Maison Bab itself propagating a ‘posh kebab experience’; however, tucked underneath their flagship restaurant, the team have crafted an even greater premium experience: Kebab Queen. In this speak-easy style corner, you’re served a unique and tantalising kebab tasting menu, with elements of prim and propriety one would expect of a suitably dignified restaurant but with a distinct retention of fun. If you’re after a refreshing take on a classic, look no further than here.

SOCIAL @eatkebabqueen

WEB eatlebab.com/kebab-queen

ADDRESS 4 Mercer Walk, Covent Garden, London.

KEBAB QUEEN KEBAB QUEEN

Head Chef Manu Canales

Behind heavy bronze doors, deep in the heart of Copenhagen, sits Alchemist. Blending art, drama, and gastronomy in evocative dishes and an immersive visual experience, the restaurant is the brainchild of Chef Rasmus Munk. An exciting and radical chef, it’s no surprise that this theatrical, holistic endeavour of his is a popular delight. Boasting an incredible set of dishes, there is constant evolution happening at Munk’s hand, remarkable flavours paired with the cinema of ambience. The only prerequisite, Munk says, is curiosity and the presence of an open mind.

Rasmus Munk

SOCIAL @restaurantalchemist

WEB alchemist.dk

ADDRESS Refshalevej 173C, DK-1432, Copenhagen.

Head Chef

How about a restaurant five and a half meters below the ocean's surface, eh? /under, off the coast of Norway, promises a sanctum in the unknown. Allowing diners to submerge themselves in the very marine ecosystem of the Scandinavian seas, /under is an entirely new take on the term ‘immersion’. But, it has been crafted with its environment in mind, /under combines high-end gastronomy with marine research and conservation; the architecture of the building itself is constructed so the concrete shell works as an artificial reef, a safe haven for the marine life around. The food itself is, almost obviously, heavenly, pulled from the land itself, but /under is more than that, it’s an entire getaway experience.

SOCIAL @underlindesnes

WEB under.no

ADDRESS Bålyveien 48, 4521 Lindesnes, Norway.

Head Chef Nicolai Ellitsgaard

SMALL, YET MIGHTY: THE LINEA MICRA

La Marzocco’s Linea Micra is the newest in the portfolio of homeware products. With the familiar roaring power from the La Marzocco Lion but suitably more compact, this machine is sure to be the perfect piece for any home. To get a better scope of La Marzocco’s latest, we caught up with Veronica Kuzelova from the La Marzocco UK Home team for the specs before hitching a ride down south to chat to one of the first Micra customers, Arun Dhanapala.

“Coffee is a puzzle,” Veronika explains over a Zoom call with a home brewed flat white in her hands. “People are always interested in learning a craft. For some this is woodwork, embroidery, cooking, but for others it’s coffee. There is so much to discover. La Marzocco has, for almost 100 years, been an integral component into furthering that education. With the Micra, we are reinforcing our ability to facilitate coffee enthusiasts being able to hone that craft within the home environment. As the coffee community expands and adapts, so should we.”

The Linea Micra premiered at Manchester Coffee Festival last year. The event saw vendors, customers, baristas, chefs, people from all walks of life come and participate in a vibrant day and night of coffee culture. At this event, La Marzocco carefully walked curious new onlookers through the functions of the Micra to rapturous enthusiasm.

Like La Marzocco’s other machines, the Micra features a cutting edge dual boiler, allowing the milk steamer and espresso pour to heat up to the right temperatures for their respective roles at the same time. This makes it more efficient than other at-home coffee machines. Especially, Veronika reminds me, because of La Marzocco Home’s trusty app which allows you to automate your machine’s alertness and get it all heated up for when you’re rolling out of bed in the morning. Even without the app, the machine takes only 5 minutes to be ready to brew.

What’s more is that the Linea Micra’s portafilter has been redeveloped from the existing machines. With careful innovation, the single convertible polymer insert means that you can have the option of a one spout, two spout, or bottomless pour without excess utensils to clutter up the kitchen.

“The premise of the Linea Micra was for people to be able to bring the cafe home. To do this, we set out to create a machine that had the functionality of the commercial machines but was better suited to the home environment than we’ve offered previously. The Linea Micra produces over thirty coffees a day, which is perfect for the home, so you’re still getting that same level of La Marzocco quality, but with a smaller footprint so it’s able to fit more comfortably and discreetly in most kitchens.”

We see this in action when we visit Arun, a marine engineer from the South Coast, who, finds the Linea Micra the perfect tool for honing his craft.

“I love coffee as I’m sure many people do. I don’t know if it’s because of the nature of my work or who I am, but I’m always willing to go further to understand the process of how something is made; so, with coffee, I just have this need to learn more about how to get a good espresso.”

Arun tells us this besides his own Linea Micra. It’s a matte black piece of kit that sits inoffensively on the kitchen counter. One of

La Marzocco’s house colour options, the black blends seamlessly with his and his wife’s decor in a concise, complementary way. The alternative offerings of red, yellow, stainless steel, silver, blue, or white make the machine able to match anyone’s kitchen.

He’d always had an interest in espresso culture and, over lockdown, Arun began to experiment more with different methods to achieve a good brew. Starting with a pod machine, he then moved onto French presses, aero presses, and moka pots too. Yet, as his knowledge expanded and he uncovered more about the growers and roasters, it became clear it was time to invest into a manual espresso machine.

With a flat white in hand, just like the experts, Arun tells us about how he searched for something that would emulate the barista experience, giving him the control and precision of the commercial machines in his favourite artisanal coffee shops, and, after finding out about the Micra, he knew it was exactly what he needed.

“You’re going to go into a coffee shop and you’re going to see La Marzocco machines being used so, for me, the name La Marzocco was synonymous with high quality espresso. Being able to have something in my house that had that tangible link to the type of machines that proper baristas are using made the Linea Micra the perfect choice for me.”

Shop the Linea Micra at uk.lamarzoccohome.com

ONE MORE DRINK

WORDS CAL SMITH

@calsmiff

Based in London, Cal is a connoisseur of the finer things in life; in particular, good grub and good drinks. With an optimistic, but realistic outlook, Cal's here to close us out with an insightful coda. Until next time...

...AND AN ACCOMPANYING TWO CENTS

I find the end-of-night conversation can often go one of two ways, either it peels into repeated stories and tales between friends or friends of friends, each with their own tinge of exaggeration and added nuance just in case you haven’t heard this one before…or the conversation can twist and turn, descending into the downright bizarre and obscure, that will leave you thinking, how did we get here? In this case, please bear with me, as I think this foray into my mind may well be the latter but stay with it.

There is a definite beauty to a sweeping statement, love it or loathe it, everyone has a use for them. They are a tried and tested weapon of choice for late-night exchanges. Armed with uneducated and fallible knowledge, an inebriated raconteur can hold court unequivocally beguiling others of a similar state. Be it for comic effects or sensationalist headlines, it can be hard to not laugh at the generalisation or grin at a particular view of the world - strangely these do tend to occur more when drinking, at least with my friends. Be it a self-flattering story or declaration of wit, most are the same thing, lies. However, these are nice lies; lies no one wants to disprove or challenge past a certain time in the evening. It is an agreement which nobody has signed nor spoken of, but everyone knows. It’s not worth it.

Although, maybe it is worth it. I don’t mean to disagree with the man at the bar claiming he’s played bass for Led

Zeppelin, but with the other lies that we seem to live with day to day. Small (and big) lies we seldom feel like objecting to. I am talking about the corner shop having a £5 minimum spend – when I can see the numbers being input into the card machine, all I wanted was chewing gum. When a particular product is “out of stock” without someone bothering to check the latest delivery, please check. If I can’t split my payment between cash and card, I know you can do it. These are lies we live with every day, but we don’t question them.

This feels like an almost innate and ingrained British idiom, to not want to question or complain, for fear of causing offence. Not to say I won’t say if my coffee is cold, I will, but we all know the people who will complain, or cause issue, and we all know the people who won’t. The British sensibility, I feel, falls into the latter of the two.

Regardless, I think we live with a constant stream of lies, and what really irks me are the utterly baseless and completely illogical lies. I don’t mean you have to have read Kant’s reasoning on logic to make a judgement, I mean plain as you like, in your face illogical decisions which seem to be made around us day after day, endlessly. I’m talking about Mr Sunak claiming not to know Mr Zahawi was being investigated by HMRC before appointing him Chairman of the Conservative Party, even though it had been reported three months previous; Or the Saudi Arabian tourism

board being allowed by FIFA to sponsor the Women's World Cup, without informing hosts Australia and New Zealand, because they were the best candidate? Or even hand luggage on a plane somehow being too heavy for the cabin but somehow fine for the hold when maintaining the same weight. These are big, irreverent, imposing, fuck you, look the other way, jobs for the boys lies. These are lies made by people who prey on the nature of others not knowing any better or having the power to make changes, I’m looking at you, Ryanair.

Somehow, someway, we have managed to worm our way to a point where the indefensible is defensible. Responses such as Mr Sunak’s, in claiming to not know anything, open us up to blurring the lines between opinion and fact. It is impossible to prove if he did know or didn’t, whether it is fact or fiction, but sitting on the fence or removing yourself from the situation either means lying about knowing or being incompetent. Make your own choice.

I want to go back to nice lies. Lies we tell ourselves and others to make ourselves feel better. Such classics as, “I will go to the gym this morning”, “I will take the bins out before going to bed”, and “Of course I could break Roger Bannister’s four-minute mile, he did that years ago”. All valid, makeus-feel-better lies. It turns out, lying to me about a £5 minimum card spend pales in comparison to what I feel I’m being lied to about. So here's to that. Anyway, lovely weather…

WHAT YOU SHOULD BE DRINKING

Negroni…an aperitivo no more. Don’t be deceived into going to your local, £25 a pop, braces-wearing, tattoo-ladened mixologist for it, who does that anymore? This should be procured from the indomitable Black Lines, and enjoyed wherever you see fit. The East London-based bottle cocktail specialists have been pairing quality knowledge, spirits, and illustration since 2019 and that isn’t going away

CONTRIBUTORS

TREVOR SHIN // LEVI STRAUSS // RUN ON RECORDS

COUNTER-PRINT // GLASGOW FILM FESTIVAL

WASTED WINE CLUB // BLOOM & BREW

NEIGHBOURHOOD COFFEE // GRADUATE HOTELS

SAINT LAURENT // DAVID M. ROBINSON

TUDOR WATCHES // FRED PERRY // TAHIRAH SHARIF

SKY TV // STATUS PR // RONKE ABONDE-ADIGUN

BRITISH FILM INSTITUTE (BFI) // ORION STUDIOS RELEASING

NIMAX THEATRES // MATT CORBY // ALL STRIPES PR

PAYNTER JACKET CO. // RAFAEL CAGALI // IKOYI

KEBAB QUEEN // ALCHEMIST // /UNDER // LA MARZOCCO

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