Lavish World Magazine - Big Kid Issue

RECL

LAME

EDITORS NOTE WRITTEN BY THE STYLIST

There is truly no better time than childhood. I remember being in the back of my parents car, looking out of the front window with my head on my grandma’s lap and my feet resting on my grandfather’s lap. Gazing out of the window, looking up to the sky, I looked at the clouds for hours. Although my body was still in that car, my imagination was walking over those clouds, flying through the sky and going places I had never seen before. To this moment, that is how I define my childhood: Careless.

Although the years have seperated us from childhood further than we would like to admit, I personally can say that there is still a little of that careless, energetic little rascal inside of me. Therefore, when my fellow crewmembers told me we were making this issue, I wanted it to be the best it could be.

So we went to work, pulling every string we could to make this our masterpiece.

We emailed all our heroes, made our way into parties and sneaked in photocamera’s to certain concerts just to get the best articles we could think of.

It wasn’t easy though.

First thing that comes to mind is the Nabil interview.

Although we did get in contact with the brilliant photographer and actually got a green light for the interview, he never had the chance to send us back the answers, 4

all due to his busy schedule.

Another dissapointment has to be the release of the Air Yeezy II. As a crew, we proudly packed our bags, filled our duffles with energy drinks, sunglasses, advils and our iPod’s fully charged. When we got to the store two days before the release date, we found 40 people already in line hoping to buy one of the 20 Air Yeezy’s that were available in the Netherlands.

It wasn’t all bad though. On the contrary; we have seen Kanye and Jay on stage, I met one of the biggest names in the Dutch fashion world, The DJ finally found all of the tracks produced by the Neptunes, the Nerd made a great friend with the making of “The Anime Top Five” and we finally reached a milestone of a total of 100.000 views. And as we enter another autumn, further away from that cloud on which I once walked upon in my mind, I only got closer to that inner child in me. The proof is this amazing

magazine, which we couldn’t be more proud of. And hopefully you’ll like it as much as we did making it, because in the end this is for you. As our loyal reader, we hope that after you finished reading this issue you too feel closer to the kid in you.

ADVERTISEMENT

16

all OddBtion Anima

20

Parabucks

1tin0Esso

Mar

40 Anime

34lay

36 hy

P Press

Discograp

42

Yasuhiro Irie

8ct 2 Colle 30

Portfolio

50

CREATE

46 twear

Stree

48

Air Yeezy

6

IN THIS ISSUE

79

Wa h The Thtc rone

84

The FavoBar ’s rite

44

Classic Cut

The

85 Bo

wtie

62

Coffee k Table Boo

88

The Gre Monkeay se

64

Grinding Beans

5h6Living

Lavis

66 Ho

The Rstoinag st

70etaway

The G

7

80 6

THE RESIDENTS

10 MARTIN ESSO 16 ODDBALL ANIMATION 20 PARABUCKS 9

10

MARTIN ESSO Diner with Anna Wintour, magazine launch with Anja Rubik: living in the most fashionable city of the world has its benefits for the Co-Founder of Montaigne Street.

Starting of with nothing else but passion to actually becoming a part of the fashion world, Martin told us some anecdotes about selling your clothing at Colette, the whole 7 screen experience in Cannes during the “Cruel Summer” viewing and the one thing the world would really benefit of

“STARTED TO POP OFF AFTER THAT DAY WE ATTENDED THE JEREMY SCOTT SHOW AND HIS AFTERPARTY. WE WERE THE ONLY YOUNG PEOPLE THERE AND STILL HAVING SUCH A GOOD TIME” The first time The Lavish World got to know Martin was with Montaigne Street, a blog he started with two of his friends Moriba ‘Mo’ Maurice and Shyne Ousmane. Together with his friends he would sit front row at fashion shows of brands like Kenzo and Givenchy.

Occaisionally him and his group would also go to parties, where they’d meet the likes of Karl Lagerfeld, Pharrell Williams, Anna Wintour and other well known and respected celebrities with ties in fashion.

Welcome Martin, to start this interview off, we would like to know how you actually got to the point that you’re at now?

Everything started with passion. I still remember that in my early years I was already very passionate about everything around fashion, art, design and

everything close to those aspects of life. Growing up, I just wanted to feed my interests in those subjects. Living in a city like Paris, where most of the greatest cultural things happen, was a great opportunity for me to reach that goal.

From that point I basically started going to where the things I was passioned about were happening: fashion shows, exhibitions, afterparties. And since I was one of the few young people with a different background attempting to be present at those events I feel like people there understood that this was a real thing, that it was the same interest as their own. So they also started to get more interest in me, since I brought a new vibe to their world, something they rarely seen before. That’s how, within years, I reached this point. To be in all this very interesting place and meet all these creative people, and i hope more 11

As we mentioned before you created Montaigne Street with two of your friends. All of your styles had similarities, but most of the time you all had your own different vibe hanging around you guys that inspired a lot of people.

How did you guys come together and how did you come up with the idea of creating that blog?

The story started by meeting at school, sharing common interests in some things and starting to hang out together.

Thats how we built the friendship. After some time we got to the point where we started attending crazy events and I remember the idea of the blog started to pop off after the day we attended the Jeremy Scott show and after party back in the days he was showing in Paris. We were the only young kids there and having so much good time. We started to feel like our way of living was different and that it could be interesting to share our experiences with

other. That’s how the idea for Montaigne Street started, and we were very surprise by the success. I’m still amazed to have people from all around the world telling us that they follow the blog.

With time I really noticed the impact and how we inspired a lot of people. We started this movement of young urbans with interest in high fashion, attending fashion shows and showing interest in art.

Honestly, I never thought that we would inspire people.

On your collection at Colette. How did you come up with the idea and get Colette to sell it?

With “Florilege” I went for the idea to express a sophisticated chic aesthetic by using minimal and tasteful graphics.I felt like the best place to launch it was Colette and luckily for me the people over there immediately understood my vision and gave

me the opportunity to make it happen. It really was a great experience for me to have my t-shirts in this famous retail store, right next to brands like Comme des Garcons, BBC/Ice Cream, Original Fake and have people like Don C and Ibn Jasper telling me they liked the designs.

What future ambitions do you have, both in business as well as your personal dreams?

My dreams are to work in every line of field I’m interested in. This come with a lot of knowledge, so right now I’m learning. I have the opportunity to meet people that are the best in what they do, so every piece of advice I can get from those people is welcome and I hope my time will come.

Montaigne Street is a movement, a creative box. You can expect a lot of things coming for that. Me myself, I’m actually working on a new collection for “Florilege”, which you’ll be hearing from very soon.

What inspires you? Of course you have the usual suspects such as Kanye and Pharrel, but who else is on your radar?

I like history. A lot of inspiration and motivation comes from learning the stories of great men. People which, by their way of thinking and bravery secured a rightful place in history. People such as Martin Luther King, Gandhi and Alexander the Great. Those people inspire me daily.

12

If you could’ve gone back in time and change anything, what would that be?

There are so many things I would like to change, but if I can name a few I would like to go back and live during the 70’s and 80’s. I really love that period of time. Maybe go back to my birth to see what I’d look like. And change the mind of people who decided to make worldwide wars.

What do you think about the current state of fashion and music? What are the most interesting aspects currently for you in those fields?

For me, fashion and music always go together, they inspire each other. Right now I really like the fact that fashion is taking inspiration from the hip hop world. That’s how we got the fashion world interested in rappers like Azealia Banks and Asap Rocky. It’s very exciting to see. We have a new generation of artists who are doing their best to make great music and meanwhile bring something new to fashion as well.

You’ve been to the Cannes “Cruel Summer” screening.

What can you share about that, must have been great?

The Cannes Film Festival itself was a crazy experience for anyone who even attended it, but the whole team behind the Cruel Summer screening made this one of the most interesting projects of the whole film festival. The pyramid tent set up near the beach was 13

14

so realistic, like something that had always been there.

Ow and the party afterwards was great, with everyone from the G.O.O.D Music family performing and having a good time.

What can you tell us about the movie itself? What is the plot of the story and what can you tell us about the music?

The thing that still haunts me, that I can remember vividly, is the beautiful imagery in the movie. This might be a bit of a spoiler, but the movie is about a car thief played by Kid Cudi in an Arabic setting.

He gets arrested, but soon after gets a visit from the king of that country. With his visit, he gives the car thief the

opportunity to start a new life if he can make his daughter, who happens to be blind, see again.

The movie was very inspiring, with the most beautiful Arabic background throughout the whole movie and songs of the album playing loudly throughout the whole movie.

Anything you would like to share yourself? Something that you really feel like the world should know?

Be more open, that’s what i would like to say. And thanks The Lavish World for this interview, keep doing a great job.

What can you tell us about the 7-Screen Experience?

The 7-Screen Experience, it’s something very interesting that the movie industry should seriously look into, because you see the movie with the real perspectives of a human eyes. As if the action was really happen in front of you, you can see what happen up, down, left and right at the same time.

15

ODDBALL ANIMATION BUILDING THE RUINS

An overgrown city, silent and seemingly deserted for decades. A loud roar echoes through the tunnel as a motorcycle races out, chased by two projectiles in pursuit. Every fiber, plant and ray of light that we see on the screen seems lively and close to reality, all thanks to the experienced hands of Wes Ball and his team.

It’s been 10 years since the creator of OddBall Animation graduated from the Florida State University Film School, where he studied ‘Film Production’. From then on, he worked on numerous projects with his team, from logo designs to, for instance, sequence element used on the DVD release of Beowulf. Wes and his team even worked with music video director Chris Milk (U2, Gnarles Barkley) and did special features on Disney DVD releases. However, with the release of RUIN, a short animated feature, Wes Ball reached a milestone with his company.

“It’s my first really big action scene. It’s 80 shots in 8 minutes, that’s about 10 shots per minute or 6 seconds per shot,” says the frontman of OddBall Animation about his last project. Competing in todays climate is becoming a harder task, but when asked whether it feels that much more difficult, he seems humble enough to relevate his acchievements: “80 shots in 8 minutes is longer than the norm these days and the pacing never suffered. I’m proud of that. Doing action while holding onto a sense of time and space was pretty tough.”

16

The true beauty behind his projects is the insight he provides with releasing the process on his website. From artwork created by John Park to 3D rendering steps and test imagery, every step in the creation of their projects are uploaded on a regular basis.

Although Wes continuously works on several projects, he still took some time to sit down with TheSpy to answer some of the questions we had about his work and his life.

What have you’ve learned from studying at the Florida State University Film School?

I was exposed to 16mm filmmaking and all the related production techniques. That included working on G&E, gaffing, DP’ing, sound recording, writing, editing and directing.

This is basically where I learned what goes into making movies.

But equally important, I met a lot of great people. The school is very small, so you change into a family sharing all the ups and downs of making and showing short films.

You help each other, and inspire each other. The friends I made in

17

Artwork by John Park

Working for a decade in this field, you’ve started from the ground. Could you guide us through the growth of the last decade?

I started working for myself right out of college. Honestly, I got lucky with someone seeing one of my animated shorts and asking if I could do some VFX. Things just expanded from there.

Work varied from doing paint and roto work for TV shows; removing crew members, blurring faces, removing non-cleared signage.

Then I started doing motion graphics work, like the DVD menus for Disney and company logos. At some point I also started doing music videos with people like Chris Milk and Steve Rushton.

Every year the CG (Computer Generated) animation in projects got more complex.

Which moments in those ten years were most memorable?

It’s all been great experience. I don’t consider myself the best at it, 18

but I value my knowledge on the field. The experience of actually creating and seeing your work appreciated is very fulfilling. It all feeds decisions for other creative projects I find myself getting into.

Your last project RUIN was very impressive, to say the least.

Where does the idea for this project come from?

Thanks! There are a lot of reasons this short exists. I wanted to make something of my own, I wanted to make a cool action scene, I had a way to make some income off the time investment and I just wanted to push myself artistically. But most importantly, I wanted to introduce a character and world of a much bigger project I’ve been thinking about for years. It’s a feature film level story, set in a rich world, full of great characters, emotional stories, and big sci-fi ideas geeks like myself daydream about. It’s just a really fun adventure. While this first short itself is mainly a brief introduction, I’ve slipped in a lot

of things that are setups to this larger adventure I’m dreaming up. And, with any luck, in one form or another, I’ll be telling the full story of RUIN sometime in the near future.

But I do want to mention that I wasn’t alone in this project.

Sound and Music were at least half the experience of the short.

Zach and his guys at SnapSound did an amazing job, Kevin blew me away with his hollywood sound. And then on my side of the visuals, my friend John Park designed the character, and Mark Molnar helped me explore drone designs. Then a modeler named Mark Davies modeled the character and drone, and a young intern named Adam Floeck got thrown into the deep end and animated the character for a few shots. Couldn’t have done it without these folks and all the other friends that were a part of the process. So please everyone, take the minute and watch those credits to acknowledge the generosity of these great people.

You’re going to see more of these people in my projects.

Where does RUIN stand next to the other projects in your portfolio?

It’s the most ambitious thing I’ve ever attempted. It’s the culmination of a lot of work over the previous 10 years as a freelance artist. For me, there are a lot of firsts here. It’s my first CG human. I wasn’t 100% successful, but sure learned a ton making the attempt. This was my first attempt at full daylight CG using billions and billions of polys per shot. That was the first challenge I had to face before

attempting this short. I did a few early experiments before there even was a short, and made a few breakthroughs that gave me the confidence to attempt something like this.

Also, this was my first full Stereoscopic 3D project. I made everything in true 3D space. I had to come up with a completely different workflow to make it possible, so that was fun.

I’m very happy how it all came together.

What does 1.25 million views mean to you, as an artist but also as a human being?

At the time of writing this we’ve already reached 2 million views.

It’s fantastic. And we’ve reached those numbers purely with word of mouth in the span of one month. It’s more than I dreamed of working away on this over the past few months. As a storyteller, it gives me hope. the larger story I have in mind may be on the right track and that’s gives a nice gust of wind behind my sails.

I’ve even heard that Chinatown here in Los Angeles has started pirating the movie on DVDs. I won’t comment on the political aspect, but I have to admit I feel I’ve passed some kind of right of passage. Pretty cool stuff.

How do you see OddBall Animations evolving?

It’s a good question. I don’t know what will happen.

What are things you still really want to do?

My ultimate goal is to get back to that film-school family environment I remember during my FSU days. I want a

team, a family, of talented folks all gathered to create something special. I’m going to try my best to get there one day. I want to make movies. I want to Direct. That’s what I’ve been working towards since I was a kid making VHS movies in the backyard with my little sister. Everything I do is an attempt to scratch that itch. I have a lot of projects I’d like to get off the ground. I also like to work with other people who have great ideas.

I just like telling stories visually.

Anything that gets me to that point, I’m happy.

Go to TheLavishWorld.com for the video of RUIN and other projects by OddBall Animations.

Also visit OddBallanimation.com for more information on other past and current projects.

19

20

ince s s r a e ur y o f n e n his e o t u It’s b p ale B n a i und t s o r a t Chri n d we n nd a a t i s u n s i t a a l b g vil n i u the s r g e n p i t n a r w to eleb C . s l ht, e g r i d n n K u k o sc e Dar h T f y o return tion compan produc ased b g n o ys ng K o o T H t d o n H a use o h n es o i c t r c o f u d d pro joine e v a h ure Limited e a short feat of t ine l w e to crea n g the n i t o m es for pro r u g fi action ight Rises” rk Kn a D e h “T

21

The moment the video starts playing, Derek Kwok and Henri Wong bring us to a dark ally in the suburbs of Gotham. On the floor lies a card, out of place. As a hand picks it up, we see the joker illustration on the card followed by the face of Officer Jim Gordon analysing his findings. Although we know that the movie was shot in stop motion, it feels more natural. The characters move almost life-like, as do they look that way due to the high level of details.

You can see every wrinkle in their forehead, however, it’s the cinematographic eye of the directors that really bring the high detailed action figures to life.

As the movie continious, it appears that some of the action figures get broken during the movie.

Recreating events from the new and last movie in the trilogy, we see Bane breaking Batman’s back, in which the action figure breaks in two. Not soon after seeing the antagonist dying at the end of the movie, we see an explosion followed by the vision of Bane with a hole through his stomach.

22

“We actually destroyed four Batmans in the process,” Henri laughs when we asked him whether it was a difficult task to make a short stop motion video with such a high level of cinematography. “We already knew that filming in stop motion would claim a few casualties.Fortunately, we had one of the best action figure manufacturers right here in Hong Kong. Once we explained our idea, they immediately went on board and lended us whatever we needed. It was really cool to get a hold on the new line of action figures of The Dark Knight Rises.

You see, we’re really a fan of stop motion, but most videos you see on youtube using figurines always look like a video of puppets fighting. Surely the quality of some of the videos is great, but we wanted to be different by shooting them as real actors.”

After watching Dark Knightfall a second time, and a third, as it’s that good, we try to imagine all the work that went into this. Making stop motion already takes a lot of time and care, but creating

more than one fighting scene, doing this on a cinematographic level and also working with bigger toys doesn’t make it easier. However, the real beauty in this video is the child-like approach.

“We don’t think there is really a ‘story’ in “Batman: Dark Knightfall”. We approached this just like how we played with our toys when we were kids: you make up a simple good guys vs bad guys plot, than you crash one toy with all the other toys. All the boys play in this way, it’s just an upgraded version of how I used to play with my action figures when I was five years old. This is actually our first stop-motion video. I can’t say the quality of the animation is very good. You’ll notice that the movement of the action figures isn’t as fluid as we’d like, but that is because we were learning while shooting. I’m happy to see that we’ve improved a lot in the later fighting scene.

Many people were surprised with the result, but those have to keep in mind that this might be our

first stop motion project, but that this is not our first attempt at making animation. We made lot of 2D and CG animations for several live-feature movie.”

Looking through their portfolio, they did indeed. Not only did they create visualisations for Nike, work on movies like “IP Man” and “IP Man 2” and even directed music videos.

“We’re really proud of everything we did in our showcase. Because we were lucky, we had the opportunity to try out different things in our projects, from 2D stylish animation in “Run, Papa, Run” to the retro style opening in “Gallants” and setting up the mood of a realistic Hong Kong scene in “IP Man 2”. We believe that trying out something you never done before is a key to explore new elements.”

23

24

‘It’s just an upgraded version of how I used to play with my action figures when I was five years old’

25

ADVERTISEMENT

THE FINER THINGS

28 FRAMED 34 THE SPIN 40 BIG SCREEN 45 FRESH GUIDE 27

FRAMED

COLLECT Graffiti artist Banksy has had seven rather controversial years after the release of his first compilation “Wall and Piece”. He created nine images on the West Bank Wall in Israel, sold several paintings to the likes of Christina Aguilera and Kate Moss, including his lesbian Queen Elizabeth painting, paid tribute to Quinten Tarentino’s “Pulp Fiction” with the now well known spray art of John Travolta and Samual L Jackson with bananas replacing the guns in their hands, his work appeared in movies, he got into fights with graffiti artist King Robbo and even made a movie himself titled “Exit Through The Giftshop”.

In “You Are An Acceptable Level of Threat” Banksy gathers all his great works from the last two decades and scathered them through 228 great pages of art.

For all of our Japanese readers we’re happy to announce that Nigo is curating an exhibition from now to the 17th of September in Cafe Salvador in Tokyo. The Cafe, which is built in collaboration with Conde Naste (publisher of Vogue, GQ), has opened its doors for a few weeks exclusively for the creator and founder of A Bathing Ape, also known as Bape.

For the exhibition Nigo collaborated with camera designers The Impossible Project on a polaroid camera.

For the exhibition, the camera’s were handed out to five Japanese artists with the purpose of creating the best photography they could with the new camera.

Boasting the capability of the camera, the result can be seen at the event, where 108 units of the camera will also be sold for $880 (69’800 Yen).

The polaroid camera itself is something really special. Secured in a leather case with the same pattern as found on the camera, the camera is delivered with a special film, including great small details, such as Bape head stickers on the packaging, Bape camo on each film. Next to the 250 films, the package also contains a special cleaning cloth especially made to keep the lens clean.

28

Ron English collaborated with figure creator Made

by Monsters and the creators of The Simpsons for yet another doll in the Grin series. Removing the mouth section of the face and going as deep as the skull, English created a dark character from something rather innocent. Previously working on iconic characters such as Charlie Brown, Barney and even the Teletubbies makes Bart just another famous child icon to receive the Grin transformation.

The figures are limited and only available online through the Garageband website. Going for a price of $120, you wouldn’t think someone would buy more than one, but funny enough the website still feels the need to mention that there’s a purchase quantity limit of 1 figure per person.

After the likes of Murakami, Tim Burton and Jeff Koons created a floating balloon for the 86th annual Macy Thanksgiving Parade, it’s now KAWS’ turn to amaze millions of New Yorkers with his floating Companion.

The balloon is inspired on the 16ft tall sculpture “Companion”, which sits with his gloved hands covering his face in a pose that recalls Rodin’s “The Thinker.” Many New Yorkers will recognize the work which was installed at the entrance of the Standard Hotel last summer. To be transformed into a 40 feet long and 30 feet tall balloon, the flying art can be seen on the 22nd of November live in New York City or on television, where you’ll have to tune in to NBC on Thursday from 9am till 12pm.

29

FRAMED

PORTFOLIO

30

TAKASHI MURAKAMI From the cute to the borderline disturbing, Takashi Murakami has eye for it all. Dubbed as the Japanese Andy Warhol, the artist has a keen eye for combining several disciplines of the art world with those of others.

When speaking about the comparison to Warhol, he says he’s honored because of the tallend, but “he’s very sad to be compared to Warhol and the factory, because he doesn’t use drugs. The Japanese have no drug culture. Maybe it’s because our attitude towards labor is totally different.”

Commercializing his art from merchandising to working and collaborating with iconic brands like Louis Vuitton, the man has created one of the most popular collaborations the brand has seen in a while. How do they know: the black market. To date, the “Multicolore” has been the most faked design for Louis Vuitton, which is particulary interesting since it was only for sale for a few weeks.

His Monogramouflage Keepall for Louis Vuitton was also rather successful, although not many on the black market would copycat the design. The intriguing dufflebag has been seen carried around by celebrities like Rihanna, John Mayer and rap superstar Kanye West, for who Murakami designed the cover and artwork of his critically acclaimed “Graduation”. They also produced a music video together for the intro to the album “Good Morning”.

It was in 2010 that Murakami gotten the chance to exhibit his work in Chateau de Versailles, the political central and home to Louis the 16th and Marie Antoinette from 1682 to the French Revolution, filling 15 rooms and the park with his sculptures, paintings, a decorative carpet, and lamps. It was the contrast between the sophisticated art style that the Renaissance was well known for with the colorful, playful

anime style that made this exhibition the most memorable to date for most people.

The exhibition caused for some controversy when a descendent from Louis XIV sought a court order to stop the Japanese artist from exhibiting his work at the Palace of Versailles. Prince Sixte-Henri de Bourbon-Parme believed that Murakami’s brightly coloured work dishonours the memory of his ancestors, explaining that “‘they’re not against the modernity of art but against a way of thinking that denatures and does French culture no good.” Although a court order was issued, the court still gave Murakami the chance to exhibit his art for the reason that art should have it’s freedom. This was however not the first time the prince expressed his concern over the current use as a museum. The first time was when Jeff Koons exhibited his work in Versailles.

In February 2012, Murakami opened an exhibition in Doha, Qatar. Titled MurakamiEgo, the exhibition showcased around 60 old works alongside new ones designed especially for the exhibition. Among the new ones, a 100-metre long wall painting depicting the suffering of the Japanese people after the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

31

32

33

THE SPIN

PRESS PLAY

RITA ORA ORA As one of the first signees of Roc Nation in 2009, het debut album has been long overdue. Will she deliver and meet up to expectations?

A$AP MOB Lord$ Never Worry One of the most talked about posse cuts release their very first full mixtape, right before A$AP Rocky releases his debut. Their response to the pressure: Lords never worry.

34

It seems that after J Cole, Jay-Z found another amazing artist ready to break through. Forget every connotation you currently have with Rita Ora: this is not your avarage songstress. The album starts like a car, with the first track like the roar of an engine, full of agression and adrenaline. Inspired by the British form of RnB, which is more dance and dubstep influenced and harder to swallow than the softer, calmer American RnB that we know from artists like Mary J. Blige and Beyonce, this record has a lot of albums that would do extremely well in the club or on the highway.

Especially hit-songs like “Hot Right Now”, “How We Do” and “R.I.P.”, the latter featuring fellow Britain Tinie Tempah, drag this album to another level, but lesser known songs like “Roc The Life”, “Radioactive”, “Uneasy” and “Fall in Love” have a unique sound that make this one of the best RnB albums released this year. If you’re bored of all the sweet, sappy, dreamy RnB ballads and want to feel the energy, while still enjoying a beautiful voice such as Rita’s, than take your time to listen to ORA. It’ll definitly be like a breath of fresh air.

Whether it’s the triumphant “Full Metal Jacket”, which has the whole crew on it, to the hypnotic “Purple Kisses”, which has Rocky all by himself, this mixtape never fails to amaze.

The first thing we noticed after the first listen is that, despite the variation in producers, this mixtape is one big ride in the A$AP Mob’s purple sonic cloud. And this is a miracle, since we were afraid that because of the amount of different producers the mixtape would lack in consistency.

Thankfully, this never happened. Another great thing about this mixtape is that Rocky doens’t get all the shine. While the frontman is rather present, there are enough tracks on which you only hear the likes of A$AP Ferg, A$AP Twelvyy, Da$h, A$AP Ant and A$AP Nast.

The only thing that did bother us was the fact that features like Danny Brown and Flatbush ZOMBiES somehow felt out of place.

Being under Eminem’s wing definitly does them well. More developed and sharp as ever, Joe Budden, Joell Ortiz, Crooked I and Royce Da 5’9” have finally found their dynamic. From aspiring in “Our House”, which features the dream collaboration Skylar Grey and Eminem, to inspiring in “My Life”, which features Cee-Lo, to braggadocious in the Swizz Beatz produced “Throw It Away”, these guys can take every role whenever necessary.

We do notice that their songs without features aren’t as interesting as their features, on which they sound more conceptual, focused and lyrically raise the bar. The album reaches different heights when labelmate and boss Eminem appears in the song, sounding a lot like the man we heard once on Relapse. Especially on the sinister song “Asylum” we get a taste of the Slim Shady we prefer, freaky and disturbing, but without a doubt witty and sharp. For our favorites, we have to go with that song, the uplifting “My Life”, “Coffin”, “Throw It Away” and “The Other Side”.

In the first track they make it clear they could use a 13th hour on the clock. It’s also the reason behind the album, which central team spins around the lack of control. Whether this is time, which you can hear in “Tempus Fugit”, to the lack of self-control in “Peter Parker”, you can clearly feel the fear in these songs. It makes them hungry, lyrically focused and fast, which happens to be a good thing for us. It’s in songs such as “Klick Clack Bang” and “Colloseum” that they focus on those who hate on the duo. Here you feel how sharp being missunderstood and underappreciated makes them musically. Especially on the latter, where both go in on each other at the end of the song, feels poignant, sharp and aimed to kill.

The last song, which features Tech N9ne and Krizz Kaliko, is the perfect ender to this hectic, chaotic album. Feeling like a race against the clock, both the instrumental and the flow will make you feel the anxiety.

SLAUGHTERHOUSE Our House As their first album under Shady Records, will they finally get the success they deserve or remain labeled underground?

CES CRU 13 Tech N9ne’s newest addition to his Strange Music squad are about to turn your world upside down. Be sure to listen to this mixtape without skipping, of you’ll miss out.

35

THE SPIN

DISCOGRAPHY The Neptunes is a critically acclaimed produc-

tion group/duo formed by Chad Hugo and Pharrell Williams. In their two decades of work they’ve been nominated for 17 times, taking home 3 Grammy’s and 2 Billboard Awards. Through the years they’ve produced numerous hits for artists like Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg, Britney Spears, Diddy, Justin Timberlake, Usher, Lil Wayne and made several hits under the moniker N*E*R*D, a rock group they formed together with long time friend Shay Haley.

36

Star Trak Vol. 1 1991 - 2000

Star Trak Vol. 2 2001 - 2002

Star Trak Vol. 3 2003 - 2005

Working with Timbaland in Surrounded By Idiots to their first superhit with N.O.R.E and signing Kelis, this volume holds every song that they did in their first decade.

In this volume The Neptunes helped launch some of the most successful careers. Producing hits for the likes of Justin Timberlake and Snoop Dogg, they were the guys to go too.

Taking more time to pursue their own personal ambitions, they made their best N.E.R.D album to date and Pharrell went global as a solo artist on his hit single “Frontin”.

Notable songs: Superthug Caught Out There Southern Hospitality Shake Ya Ass I Just Wanna Love You

Notable songs: I’m A Slave 4 U Lapdance D.I.D.D.Y Like I Love You Beautiful

Notable songs: Milkshake Frontin Hollaback Girl She Wants To Move Drop It Like It’s Hot

Star Trak Vol. 4 2006 - 2007

Star Trak Vol. 5 2008 - 2010

Star Trak Vol. 6 2011 - 2012

With the release of Pharrell’s “In My Mind” and the whole hype around super rap group CRS, this volume feels like it’s more focussed on Pharrell than the Neptunes as a duo.

Pharrell goes into the whole Baltimore House movement, scores his first movie and the making of the last NERD album, this is the volume where Chad is really absent.

As Skateboard P launches his new label “I Am Other”, making pop, rock, dubstep, house and even jazz, this volume has to be the most diverse of the last two decades.

Notable songs: Mr. Me Too I Gotcha Number One US Placers Blue Magic

Notable songs: Give It To Me Everyone Nose Did It Again Hypnotize U Despicable Me

Notable songs: Gotta Have It Sexify Glass Girl Live Your Life Sweet Life

37

BIG SCREEN

ANIME

40

Although the popularity of Anime has been experiencing its ups and downs through the decades of its 95 years of excistence, there’s no doubt that everyone has seen one in their life. Childhood memories will recall someone called Goku firing off a Kamehameha, or Pikachu using shock on Bulbasaur. The two popular series “Dragonball Z” and “Pokemon” have both greatly enhanced the popularity of the genre in entertainment and made it inevitable for someone to miss. It wasn’t always like that though.

The year is 1917, 95 years in the past. After adopting Western political, judicial and military institutions, Japan had opened up to the world and saw what the rest of the world had to offer. Exposed to the culture of film and entertainment in the rest of the world that was absent in those days for the Japanese, it was Junichi Kou’uchi that created a two minute short about a samurai trying to test a new sword on his target, only to suffer defeat.

It was during the 30ies that The Walt Disney Company was founded and the Japanese were intriguid by Walt and his friend Mickey. It was “Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs” that influenced animator Osamu Tezuka to “adapt and simplify many Disney animation-techniques to reduce costs and limit the number of frames in productions.”

He intended this as a temporary measure to allow him to produce material on a tight schedule with inexperienced animation-staff. It gave him the tools to create his most popular creation “Astro Boy”, which split Anime up in several genres, his being Mecha-Anime. It wasn’t however untill 1980 that the form of animation became a mainstream accepted alternative to live action.

While it was “Astro Boy” that was the first big success in Europe and America, it wasn’t untill 1998 that the highly popular show “Pokemon” boasted popularity among kids and teenagers.

After the inmense popularity of the games and the anime show, there were even movies that played in cinema’s and complete shops dedicated to the popular show. The whole world was obsessed with the hype surrounding these little creatures created by Satoshi Tajiri. It wasn’t long after that

“DragonBall Z” was introduced to Europe in 2000, which caused another hype around the at that time hyper successful animation genre. While “DragonBall” and “DragonBall Z” were already a big hit in Japan in 1989, it became one of the five critically acclaimed shows that took over the world.

After the release of shows like “Digimon”, “YuGi-Oh” and “Beyblades” it were Cartoon Network (Europe) and AdultSwim (USA) that launched a wave of more mature Anime’s that also captured a more mature audience. The first and best example is probably Cowboy Bebop, which became a cult classic and was considered by many as a masterpiece due to its lively characters and amazing soundtrack. Another remarkable show came out a year later when the show “Gundam Mobile Suits” was released. This was the second Mecha-Anime that reached a cult status and high popularity in Western Society.

It was in 2003 that our personal favorite show “Fullmetal Alchemist” was released on Adultswim and Cartoon Network. The show was highly popular due to its amazing action scenes and that it also touches on the human condition. Some described it as “more than a mere anime,” and “a powerful weekly drama.”

Although the popularity of Anime has dropped since “Pokemon”, the genre has never seized to amaze kids to this day. There are still shows coming out every year, varying from drama to comedy, to even horror and sexual features, the later called Hentai. This is an animated form of porno with sometimes absurd scenes from tentacles to religious themes. Popular shows like Dragonball Z and Pokemon have also been adapted to hentai clips and mangas (comic books).

On the following page we have an interview with Yasuhiro Irie, one of the most popular animators in anime, who worked on shows like “Cowboy Bebop”, “Gundam”, “Fullmetal Alchemist”, “Digimon” and also produced several shows. Also turn the page to find a link to our personal Anime Top Five booklet, which we compiled specially for you.

41

BIG SCREEN

Yasuhiro Irie

As he started out at Sunrise, one of Japan’s largest and most famous animation studios, he has seen how Anime shows get made. This year Yasuhiro Irie celebrates his two first decades working in the world of Anime, and we asked him some questions about those years.

As kids, we used to sit in front of the television every morning before going to school, so caught up on the adventures of Spike that we always forgot to eat our breakfast. The fascination still runs through the blood, which everyone notices whenever Cowboy Bebop comes on the television. The beautiful animations, the amazing music. And then there’s Fullmetal Alchemist. It was all so beautifully drawn, the characters were like real people through the emotions. Part of the machine behind those nostalgic moments of our childhood is Yasuhiro Irie, animator, character designer and director of a few of the best shows in Anime. And although we’re big kids now, that small kid inside could not be any happier with the interview we’ve done with him.

42

You were born in Hikari, Yamaguchi Prefecture and stayed there until you graduated. After that you went straight to work. How did Hikari influence you in your work?

There is this perfect view of the sea in the mountain village of Hikari. When I was working on “Alien 9”, I made a photo of it and used it while working on episode 3. There are also a lot of memories from my time in school that influenced my work.

It was the movie Nausicaa that inspired you to become an animator. What in that movie inspired you?

I remember the first time seeing Nausicaa I was fascinated by the elegance and beauty of it. I hadn’t

seen a lot of anime before since the TV channels in Hikari don’t show a lot of anime. Most of the information I got from magazines.

After you graduated, you started working at Sunrise. How was it working there and how did you actually get the job?

A friend of mine introduced me to an animator at Sunrise before I worked there. At the time, I was working at another smaller company, but I couldn’t pass that opportunity so when they offered me the job I said yes and untill now I’ve had a great time.

You’ve worked on successful shows as a director. How did you feel when you went from animator to director?

“KURAU” and “Alien 9” were very important for me, as they were the starting point for me. At the time, when I was working on them, it felt like a starting point.

I didn’t see the years before that as unpleasant, every step to that point was logic and neccesary. But I’ve always wanted to be a director, but I had to learn to animate and work on storyboards before I could do that.

What is the difference from being an animator and a director, in the process and what a day of working on a project looks like?

You see, a director sees the whole picture, an animator sees all the detail details that do not reach the eyes of the directors.

Animators create details that do

not reach the eyes of the director.

The director points out the whole picture, as an animator tends to be forgetful. It’s a cooperative effort.

How did you feel when they asked you to work on Brotherhood?

I wasn’t sceptic at all, since I understood the network’s intentions immediately. It felt like this was going to be a new attempt, sticking closer to the manga. Plus everyone really wanted to see the fight between Roy Mustang and Lust.

What anime would you still like to work on?

That has to be “Witch” by Daisuke Igarashi. It’s a manga with a higher grade of perfection, which would make it harder to animate. Still, I’d like to give it a try, For my own work, I have some ideas. We’re taking time to finish it, which will take some time, but it will be presented in the form of a book, my first book.

THE LAVISH WORLD PRESENTS

THE ANIME TOP FIVE

What was your favorite episode and why?

The one with the tanks. It added a lot of power to the animation, I loved working on it.

You were one of the key animators on Bebop. What was it like working for that show?

It was a very fun job, which I only have fond memories of.

I remember drawing the scene in which Ein, the dog, and Ed chased cars and trains on a mini bike in session 17.

You said that you preferred working on stories where the main characters had to overcome their own demons to save the world. Are there any demons you had to overcome?

My own insecurity. I set a lower likelihood of myself and hesitate a lot. It’s something I have to work on.

Go to TheLavishWorld.com for exclusive content such as our Anime Top Five booklet, in which we listed the best five shows of the last two decades.

Next to information on what the show is about, why to see it and which episodes we think are the best, we’ve also added a link which will grant you access to those five shows, which we exclusively set up for you.

43

BIG SCREEN

CLASSIC CUT

When icons such as Jim Henson, George Lucas, David Bowie and Jennifer Connelly join forces to create a movie, it’s bound to be somewhat legendary. With Henson’s imagination, the action driven dreamlike vision of George Lucas and the amazing voice and dark, mysterious character of David Bowie performing a memorable performance as Jareth the Goblin King, mixed with the innocent but beautiful looks of Connelly playing the young and helpless Sarah, this movie is one of the greatest fairytails of them all, a real masterpiece of puppetry and special effects, an absolutely gorgeous children’s fantasy movie.

44

After Sarah comes home, forgotten that she had to babysit her little brother Toby, she has a fight with her stepmother. As she goes upstairs to her room, finding out that Toby also has her teddybear, she half-jokingly makes a wish out of her frustration that the goblins take her little brother away. It’s however when the goblins actually appear with Jareth the goblin king that she gets scared and regrets her wish.

The goblin king tells her that she has exactly thirtheen hours to get through his labyrinth, which ends in his castle. If she does not make it in time, her little baby brother will turn into a goblin. It is within this quest that he will know whether she really wants to get her little brother back.

The brilliant performance of David Bowie as Jareth the Goblin King is a performance worth watching. As he creates obstacle after obstacle to stop her from getting to his castle, he sends the obstinate dwarf Hoggle to act as a friend, slowly gaining her trust.

While it’s getting harder to get through the labyrinth, she finds comfort in Hoggle, who also finds sympathy for her.

The story is a true fairytail as well as a perfect symbolism for the transition from a girl to a woman and the problems teenagers go through as they have to share their attention with their baby brother and go through a world of confusion and emotional struggle. It’s this depth that makes this movie a classic.

THE STYLIST PRESENTS

FRESHGUIDE

37 45

THE FRESH GUIDE’S

STREETWEAR The classic red and white varsity jacket that Pharrell used to rock back in N.E.R.D’s “Maybe” video is back and it looks hotter than ever. If you want this item, be sure to stand in front of the store the moment the new 2013 Spring Summer collection comes out.

Red/White Varsity by Billionaire Boys Club, $TBA

CREATE is back with a new collection.

Known for their bold, straight forward designs, great quality and fair prices, this is the new brand to check out.

Money Over Bitches T-Shirt by CREATE, $25

46

With a floral print on corduroy, the stretch hex logo finished in dark brown leather and the fact that it’s handcrafted make this the perfect cap for this fall.

Cherry Floral Fiver by Sly Guild, $69

When we saw this in the stores we immediately fell in love with it. The “Inception” inspired print showing the skyline of Las Vegas will look great under a colorful jacket or a cardigan and very affordable. Now available.

Flammable T-Shirt by Zara, $16.90

From the wonderful mind of Jeremy Scott comes yet another creation. As you might expect, this one also comes with wings. However, the beauty in this design is that both the wings and the exterior of the sneaker are transparent. This is yet another design for those daredevils, but this time be sure to buy some nice socks. Or think of something else creative enough to show through these see through wonders.

Cherry Floral Fiver by Sly Guild, $69

Bathing Ape has released another accessoire for their 2012 Fall/Winter collection, which happens to be this cool necklace, made out of beads.

You can also use this like the mobile cleaners and hang it on your keychain or carabine , just like your other Baby Milo’s.

Milo Beads Necklace by A Bathing Ape, $88

47

THE FRESH GUIDE’S

AIR YEEZY II In 2009, Kanye West became the first non-athlete to design a signiture sneaker line for Nike. With it’s first run, he amazed fans with the unique hybrid design inspired by a selection of the most popular shoes in the world.

The fans sprinted in and out of the stores faster than you could say “here’s your change”, leaving some empty handed. Now, three years later, Yeezy released the follow up to the first Air Yeezy. The production quantity was lowered, making these sneakers even more limited, the bar was raised and the amount of days that people would wait in front of the stores grew to a new level of extreme. Two months later, we’re still obsessed. So what is it that makes this shoe that unique, you ask?

The Stylist explains.

One might say that the reason behind the success of this sneaker line is hype, but that is far to easy an explanation. Without doubt, it’s undeniable that a collaboration with a rapper that has been changing the landscape and wardrobe of hiphop since 2004 does create certain attention and raises the popularity of the shoe. Sure, we would even go as far that hype can be created by lowering the amount of possible owners.

An item that someone else in your neighbourhood could easily get their hands on, no matter how beautiful and perfect, still loses value because of it’s quantity. Especially when a small country such as the Netherlands only has one store selling the 48

sneakers, which means that in one country only 40 people would be seen walking with these shoes, 20 white colorways and 20 black colorways. Normaly, whenever a product would be this limited, the price would be just as high. However, the retail price for the Air Yeezy II is $245.

Another aspect behind the success of Nike’s latest collectable is the design. With it’s sleek appearance, the Tinker Hatfield-

designed midsole and outsole and glow in the dark sole, one might judge the shoe on it’s looks but can’t deny that this design is one of a kind in every way. Nike explains that “there is an absolute function at the core of the Air Yeezy II. Unnecessary padding was eliminated, and the foot-hugging tongue and plush collar are both comfortable and breathable. Fit was essential to the design with the goal to make the shoe slimmer than the original by tailoring it to Kanye West’s foot. The collar was also lowered to allow for greater movement.”

The laces now have obelisk shaped toggles, and the anaconda texture is echoed on the eyelets and leather lace toggle that carries the Roman numeral ‘II’. Another interesting detail, and this might be something you wouldn’t notice, is that you can remove the metal toggles from the laces through.

The amount of details and symbolism behind the sneaker, for those who care about such sort of things, are probably the most intriguing about this manmade mystery. As the design was inspired by Ancient Egypt, he bird symbol seen on the tongue of the shoe represents kingship. Ancient Egyptian monarchs were known as the Falcon Kings throughout history going back as far as to stories of kings such as Asar (Osiris), Aset (Isis) and their son, Heru (Horus). Unstrapping of the strip at the beginning of the

tongue of the shoe reveals leather pressed Mdu Ntr’s, a form of hieroglyphs, showing a bird, two feathers, a knot followed by again two feathers and a bird. The bird symbol has an “ah” sound. Also, note the symbolism of the bird. Birds fly in the air. The Ancient Egyptians were enthusiasts on double meanings and symbolism. The two feather symbols have an “ee” or “yee” sound.Again, notice the symbols of feathers following in the context of birds. The final Mdu Ntr is the knot, a symbol

which is pronounced as “zee”. As both a fonetic alphabet and a language written backwards, the hieroglyphs spell out “Ah-Ee-Zee-Ee-Ah” or “Air-Yee-Zee-Yee-Air”. The repetition within the spelling would insinuate a referal to the “2” in the name. Other interesting design references to the Egyptian hieroglyphs are the ridges on the back of the sneaker. Showing comparison to the water hieroglyph, which in Mdu Ntr stands for the “N” phonogram, the ridge is a referencce to the first letter of collaborating brand Nike.

And it doesn’t end there. Even in materials this shoe is a breath of fresh air. The hand etched leather on the sides look like a faux-snakeskin and add to the already present organic shapes that make the shoe so subtle and dynamic. Another new feature is the rugged ballistic nylon and soft nubuck, two materials which make the sneaker look even more futuristic, but still subtle. It’s all of these reasons that make this sneaker thus the more special and worth of the price, amount of hype and a decent explanation to the pace of selling out, and because of these reasons that we can’t wait to see the end to this story.

Kanye is already working on the Air Yeezy III’s, which will be the last in line for the current contract between Nike and Kanye West

49

THE FRESH GUIDE’S

CREATE As the lovechild of an intense threesome between the world of skateboarding, fashion and hiphop, CREATE has a careless, witty but bold look that gets you laughing or jumping.When we finally saw their first collection, we were really impressed with Create, but now time has passed by quickly and we’re getting close to the end of the year, the brand has released their second collection. While their first sported a lot of imagery with a devil may care attitude, this one is more subtle and less outspoken. As the brand is still in their first year, founder and designer Aysha is still experimenting with the look of her collection. One thing will never change though: “Fuck swag, it’s all about style!”

50

And that’s a sharp comment, especially since everyone has their own stopword in that area.

Whether it’s everyone copying ‘Swerve’ from Big Sean or the overuse of the word ‘Swag’, she has a typical no-bullshit vision on it. And that’s not the only thing that makes her different from any other designer. “You know what’s funny. One would have thought that I majored in fashion and design and this was my forever long life passion. Not! I am a 24 year old, graduate student completing my last year of graduate school for Clinical Counseling.

Weird, right?”

From photoshoots to looking into skateboards and organizing competitions for up and coming tallent within the skateboard world, she has rather ambitious future planned ahead of herself and she’s not planning to stop any time soon. And with prices like $25,- for a shirt and good quality cotton, unique designs and a lot of random humor, the founder has the right to feel pretty confident.

As we’ve followed Aysha for the last two months, we’ve gotten the chance of interviewing her and to get a look into her new collection before anyone else got the chance to.

was a no brainer, because I did not have a concept.

I just wanted my models to enjoy themselves, do whatever they felt was natural and to have fun. I mean, I knew the look and vibe that I was going for, but it was never meant to be too intricate.

What took the most time was researching, branding and learning a lot along the way such as editing and designing. Hell, it took a lot of hard work, dedication and patience, since I do my own designs, own photos, own promotions, plus run the webstore. It’s still a process, but it IS paying off. I think that the day that I launched the web store was when everything sunk in. What a ride.

Tell us how you handle your business, from thinking of the concept to actually doing a photoshoot in April, to launching the website on June 24th.

Starting at the process of coming up with concepts for the photo shoots and promo videos

Earlier you mentioned that you’ve got plans of organizing a skate competition. What do you think and hope this will do for your brand?

Yes! I am super stoked about it. Hopefully it would spread the word more about CREATE and help us to reach our target audience.

Your collection varies from shirts to bracelets and chains. What’s going to be the next step?

Ah! I have so much that I want to do and so many ideas, it’s crazy. The next step is going to be skateboards. I am so at awe with the whole entire skateboard culture. Just the vibe, feeling and style inspire a lot of things that I have designed. It’s going to be dope. Crazy thing is that I do not even know how to skateboard, but after designing my own skateboard, I’m so going to learn. Ha!

51

52

What were the biggest disappointments with creating a brand, both financially and mentally?

I can’t really say that there has been any let downs. I am a very optimistic person so I always see the positive in everything. I never thought this day would come where I could say: “Hey, I actually have my own brand and people like the shit I put out.” The only disappointment that I have faced so far is people. Reason being that at times people would only support you and help build the brand when there is hype. That is something that I can’t stand. Hype dies out. I want them to have the same amount of excitement and put in the same amount of hard work, whether there is only 5 people or 500.

You’re offering great products for fair prices.

How do you manage the distribution and financial part?

Well the distribution is manageable because I am just starting off and orders are coming in slowly but surely. I keep only a limited number of products and once it’s gone it’s gone. I don’t want to keep selling the same t-shirt design or jewelry piece. That gets boring after a while, not only to me, but to my consumers as well. The financial part isn’t bad, but at times can become difficult because the brand is self-funded and I put every penny into it, but hey, it is paying off and the business is looking great so far, but there is still a lot of work ahead.

What is your favorite piece so far? Anything you can let us know about the next collection?

My favorite piece would have to be the Love Crime T-shirt. I am a huge Frank Ocean fan, love him. Plus the concept and design of the shirt is just dope. I think that is everyone’s favorite piece from the summer collection because it’s gotten a lot of responses via Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr and Twitter. The next collection, I have so many ideas, sketches and other designs that I haven’t yet to put out. I guess it’s like whatever comes to mind, but I do know one thing though, it is going to be gnar!

How are you inspired by Odd Future and what else inspires you?

I love Odd Future. Crazy thing is at first I did not care for them, especially when Tyler’s video ‘Yonkers’ came out. He scared me, and I couldn’t

even watch the video, I would turn every time it would come on, but then I started listening to some other stuff and fell in love with them. I love the group’s free spirit and determination. They do not put themselves into a box and no matter how many times they were bashed for their creativity they kept moving forward. Odd Future just inspires my work ethics and reminds me daily that if I want something bad enough no matter what, I have to go after it no matter how hard others may try to get me to confine to the norm. Other than that life motivates me. I have only one life to live and I want to do everything possible.

To end this all: Tell us about “Radical” and how it changed your life.

Radical! That is my favorite song. I swear I play that song every morning. That song inspires me to do whatever I want to do in life and to not allow others to stand in my way or tell me any differently.

That song has encouraged me in moments where I allowed the negative energy of others throw me off. I have had people say to me “Hey no one down here is going to buy your stuff because it’s a totally different audience in South Carolina” or “You are scaring people away” because they may have found a shirt that says, “F**k White America” offensive. But oh well, my dreams are bigger than South Carolina and if you find it offensive, I don’t care, this brand was obviously not made for you. I refuse to let anyone dictate my greatness or stand in the way of what I plan on achieving. I’m a f***king unicorn!

What do you want to achieve in your life, both with Create and next to that?

I just want to achieve pure happiness and be successful. I want Create to be successful because I put in so much hard work and my entire being into this brand. I want to people to like it, buy it and most of all enjoy the products that I put out as well as what Create stands for all together. Besides that I want to be successful in general. I want to finish up graduate school and pursue my Doctorates degree. I have a lot on my plate, but I am up for the challenge.

53

WWW.WHAT-THE-FOX.COM

THE ESTATE

56 LAVISH LIVING 62 COFFEE TABLE BOOK 64 GRINDING BEANS 66 HOSTING THE ROAST 70 THE GETAWAY

55

56

LAVISH LIVING

KIDS WITH MONEY SUPERSTARS WITH THE DREAMS OF A CHILD

57

Now that the happy couple are searching for a new house to call their home, Kanye is selling his place in Los Angeles. Seems like the perfect time to get one last look at the interior.

If this is not a lavish way of living, we don’t know what is.

His bathtub looks out over an aquarium and in the ceiling above his diner table you can see a painting by Ernie Barnes with an angel looking a lot like himself.

The house is filled with tables displaying books and the hallway shows a careful positioned tower of Louis Vuitton suitcases. Needless to say, Kanye had a vision when he designed this $3,995 million crib.

The real beauty in this house is the vast collection of art. From the white skulled Murakami in his reading room to the the bedroom where he has an enormous

58

Buzz Lightyear statue and a few cushions by KAWS, it’s all proof that Kanye never chose to grow up, nor that he plans to. However, most interesting are his one of a kind, specially commisioned Jetsons paintings in his music room, where he also has his B&O system, and his Campbell cans painted by Andy Warholl, both of which can be seen in the animated video of his “808 & Heartbreak” single “Heartless”.

When it comes to the man of controversy, he says he rarely plays rap music in his crib, that it’s always neat and clean and that he redecorates it every year.

59

Being the mastermind behind clothing line A Bathing Ape and a massive collector on action figures probably makes Tomoaki Nagao, better known as Nigo, the biggest kid in the world.

But that’s not all that validates this man as the originator of this lifestyle. His living room, which is about 13 feet high, has over a hundred Interview magazines with him on the cover, all in frame and neatly placed across one wall with the other filled with Warholl’s Campbell paintings. He has a special room for his enormous collection of action figures, which contains a fair amount of Planet of the Apes figures, Star Wars figures and collectables of the Beatles.

In his music room he has five paintings of KAWS, showing The Simpsons, which he says is one of

60

his favorite shows. Although many would call him a nerd, there aren’t a lot of nerds with couches in one of his many rooms that are covered with the print of the brand that made him a millionaire.

And the list does not end here.

In his bedroom, he has multiple cushions by Murakami, a sheet by Louis Vuitton and paintings of the collaboration by both. Walking upstairs from his living room will bring you to just another room filled with Louis Vuitton cases, as well as a large window displaying his cars, and you guessed right, also drenched in the Bape pattern.

If you think saying that Smurfette used to be your girlfriend and watching an episode of Spongebob every day will never make you one of the worlds most eligable bachelor, then think again.

Although Pharrell Williams’ estate in Miami might not be screamingly colorful like Nigo’s, nor be as lavish and luxurious as Kanye’s, his one is probably the most subtle outcome of what happens when you get older and become wealthy, but never grow up. His collection of art contains a lot of KAWS and Murakami, which he got in connection with thanks to his mentor-in-art Emmanuel Perrotin, who helped him create his “Tank Chair”.

But it’s not only his estate that channels the kid inside him. From the video he directed with Hype

Williams for Twista’s “Give It Up” to his behaviour in public, it’s clear that inside Pharrell is one of the biggest spoiled kids in the world (don’t worry though, he makes up for it with his kind, humble, appreciative character). The best examples might be his custom car collection, his lifesize Bathing Ape, KAWS and Bearbrick dols and the enormous skating rank that he placed in his home. So what more could he want, you ask?

“I’d like Zaha Hadid to do a house for me that is partially submerged in the ocean, that’s really a big dream of mine.”

61

C OFFEE TABLE BOOK

n lar childre u p o p f o his characters ” as well as inter b a o p b d e e g n rn o p tu S t artis “The show “ Since graffiti Smur fs” and on onnelly, e h D T “ n a n o ri B r work can see and sculpto KAWS, has been , which you s” n so p s a im S n igo has project better know page as N a s n u o io rk v o re w p the ed to ouse. commission m for his h anksgiving e Th th ’s t y h c g a the u M o b r vie w with t this te for this years h g in u o n b a e r v e Aft e, we’ k ends with t o c o e b rf e e Day Parad P th . n lf o z ing man himse ok at Ama ost interest r for m amazing bo o e , th le b ly ta ducts probab offee ch for for our c are the pro u o h c ic r h u w o , Think part y on this tions. is ra now to la , o b it a h ll g o u c with ip thro and e last rk he did visitors to fl o th f w o e y e th v r e t abou sive su s e and th in in z ta a n g comprehen a o c M k o son Complex s. The bo an” ichael Jack rg M o two decade M n w o in n ta k “ Ca p well Magazine, , 3 w 9 ie 9 v r 1 his earlier te in In and did back article in n” figures ard o io n lb graffiti he a il p b m o g n C “ K a n ye to his n existi Jersey, spraying o tions with ra w e o b N a ll o s” in c nts his Hear tbreak his & d s n advertiseme 8 a 0 , 8 “ rk o ginal West on dwide w ons for Ori recent to his worl ti c e re ll o o m c d is s n h and wn a e d, as well a h n ra .T b s” better kno n n io w n o a mes e “Comp Fake, his r with Com e acr ylics of th d in three parts, th e g to rk ide his wo book is div et work, . re st is h des Garcon ith ll a e z starting w ari they summ a zo n .

0,98 at Am after which 3 allation $ st r in fo le d b n a a Avail dio of his stu on the rk o w is h s a work, such

62

63

G RINDING BEANS Reviewing one coffee for this issue might come across as cheap or easy, but don’t worry, this is probably one of the most special Grinding Beans we’ll ever have in our magazines. On our recent trip to Indonesia, we traveled all the way to the small island of Bali. Arriving at the airport, we immediately took a cab to a small regency called Gianyar. Although Indonesia isn’t known for it’s coffee, the island does have one very rare coffee that is well known throughout the coffee world: Kopi Luwak.

The reason why the coffeebeans are so rare is because of the special fermentation process the beans go through and the amount of beans that are produced every year, which is rather low compared to your every day coffeebean. The name Kopi Luwak comes from ‘Kopi’, which is the Indonesian word for coffee, and ‘Luwak’, a civit like Asian Palm Cat that has a fondness for the berries from which the coffeebeans are produced. After the Luwak eats the ripe coffee cherries, it goes to his stomach, where it undergoes a chemical treatment and an unique fermentation process. During this process the animal’s stomach acids and enzymes digest the peal of the bean and break down the beans proteins. Coffee owes much to its flavor to these proteins, which causes for the circumstances of the process to enhance the taste of the coffee.

After a day the bean finishes its journey through the civits digestion system and exits intact together with the rest of its excrements. That is, in more common English, that the cat poops out the beans.

Because it’s still intact, the beans are harvested and cleaned, after which they’re roasted and grounded, as is the same as any other coffee bean.

The origin of Kopi Luwak is closely connected with the history of coffee production in Indonesia.

For those who didn’t know, us Dutch’ established coffee plantations in our colonies in Java and Sumatra, which than was known as the Dutch Easte Indies. As a part of their devious ways, the Dutch East India Company prohibited the slaves, who were most of the time natives, to pick the coffee for their own use. Finding out the Luwak’s special digestive process, the natives collected the 64

coffee beans and made their own coffee from it.

As the Dutch plantation owners never tasted this special coffee, nor knew how to make it, the slaves had their advantage.

Since there aren’t many of these Asian Palm Cats and because it isn’t easy to find the excrements of the Luwak, the production stays at an estimate of 200 kg per year. For Americans: that’s 750 ounces per year. Naturally, since the coffee is this rare, the price of the beans is rather expensive. Per pound you can expect to pay from $100 to $600, depending on the location and the production of that year. To convert this to European standards, you’ll be paying €80 to €480 for 500 grams.

What the package says: A rich and heavy flavored coffee, with hints of caramel and chocolate.

What we say?

With a coffee as special as this, it’s more of an experience that you go through. Opening the package releases an aromatic, strong scent of musky coffee beans. Now don’t be scared off, but there is a light smell of manure, which is natural if you think about where it’s been.

Surely, it didn’t scare us off, since we put it in the machine anyways. Whilst making it, we noticed that the liquid coming out of the machine was a little thicker than our normal coffee. This is a good thing, since this means the coffee is indeed richer.

Our first sip was special. The most delightful, sweet, rich flavor slided over our tongues, with indeed a slight hint of chocolate and an unmistakable aftertaste of caramel.

65

H OSTING THE ROAST

1

Drunken Bears Probably the best piece of candy to eat before going out. They get harder to grab the drunker you get, so watch out with that vodka.

1

66

2

Oreo Brown Imagine one big brownie filled with chocolate, Oreos and caramel. Sure, it will add some pounds, but it couldn’t get any sweeter than this.

3

The Flowerpot The most creative desert we’ve ever seen. As you dig your way to the bottom, you pass layers of crushed Oreos, chocolate ice-cream, raspberry icecream and cake.

4

Sweet Mother of Sushi It’s got three amazing layers of sweet in one, from the soft sweetness of the marshmellow to the soury sweetness of the sour mats.

2

4

3 67

I

68

NGREDIENTS

Ingredients 300 gr Gummybears 35 cl Vodka Cling Paper

Ingredients 1 cup (2 sticks) Unsalted Butter 1½ cup packed light Brown Sugar 1 large Egg and ½ Egg Yoke 1 tblspoon Vanilla Extract 2 cups all-purpose Flour 1 teaspoon Baking Powder 2 cups semi-sweet Chocolate Chips 24 Double Stuff Oreos 1 cup of liquid Caramel

How to Make It This is probably one of the easiest things to make and will do great at parties. They’ll get softer and bigger thanks to the vodka, but you do have to have patience. Get a bowl, something bigger than the content of two bags of gummibears (300 gr), and fill it with 35 cl of Vodka. We prefer a flavored Vodka, like Absolut Vodka’s lemon flavour or Ciroc’s real berry flavor.

After you filled up the bowl, simply add the gummybears and put cling wrap over it. Be sure that all the gummibears are submerged in the Vodka, because you won’t touch them for 24 hours. Now put them in the fridge and wait a day and you’ll have the best drinking snack.

How to Make It Preheat your oven to 350F (180C) and use nonsticking spray on your baking dish. To prepare the cookie dough, you put the butter, sugar, vanille extract, egg and yoke, flour, baking powder and a little of salt in the blender until it becomes a smooth, creamy substance.

Now use non-sticking spray on your hands and spread half of the dough on the bottom of the baking dish. After that spread the Oreos over the dough, sprinkle it with chocolate chips and caramel and top that sugar factory with the rest of the cookie dough. Sprinkle the rest on top of that and put it in the oven for 20 to 25 minutes, until golden brown. Let it cool before you cut it.

Ingredients Slice of Cake Lemon Ice-Cream Chocolate Ice-Cream 8 Double Stuff Oreos Strawberry Sauce A Plastic Flower

How to Make It Surprise your friends with this creative desert. The one qualification you do need is a flowerpot that isn’t Terracotta. It will peel and get in your food.

Try something with a coating, something that’ll stick, and put a slice of cake on the bottom, filling a quarter of the flowerput. After you spread the cake, cover it with strawberry sauce, which will eventually drench in the cake.

After this, add a layer of lemon ice-cream topped by a layer of chocolate. Of course you can basically pick any type of ice-cream, but the sweet, sour taste of lemon and the heavy, poignant taste of chocolate.

The best thing about this desert is what happens now: crush the Oreo’s until the mixture looks like potting soil. Top the desert with this mixture and put in the

Ingredients A bag of Marshmallows Sour Mats Grapefruit Bag of Winegums Chocolate Sauce

How to Make It Now this isn’t rather easy to make, at least not as easy as you think, but it doesn’t require a lot of things and looks amazing. You first cut small pieces of the grapefruit, which will represent the salmon or tuna on the sushi.

Get the marshmallows and flatten the winegums, put them on the marshmallows and wrap the sour mats around them. Make sure you wrap them around thightly so that they won’t let loose.

Now that they’re done, you can get even more creative by getting those little wasabi dishes and fill them with chocolate sauce and put some chopsticks next to this desert.

69

70

THE GETAWAY

HUS1

A DESIGN BY TORSTEN OTTESJÖ Somewhere far away, hidden behind the hills and trees in a valley on the western side of Sweden lies a small cottage, shaped as if nature itself created it.

The beautiful and serene architectural construction, made by Torsten Ottesjö, is probably the smallest getaway you’ll ever find, but therefor the quietest and most inspiring to hide in from the outside world. Built for two, it’s even possible to shack up with a loved one, away from the loud and hectic world outside, away from restriction and rules.

And although Hus-1 looks rather small, it has almost everything one might need. The 25 sqm house on the hills of the valley is efficient in space, therefore causing no distractions for those who seek rest inside the wooden structure. A perfect example is the bedroom hidden under the kitchen, which one wouldn’t notice the first seconds while being inside. Understanding the need of space, Torsten used the example of a car. “It is more common to hear a person express love for a car than for a house. I believe it has to do with scale. It is easier to feel the connection with a car since its volume resembles our own. On that basis I think it should be possible to build a house that is actually quite small but which feels large and spacious. I wanted to adapt the size of the house to suit the movements of the body and make it completely comfortable to move around in.”

Next to the kitchen and sleeping quarters, the cottage also provides for a dinner table and even the formality of a hallway. The only thing it misses is a bathroom.

Don’t worry though, it’s not a case of sauvegarder à base, as there is an

outhouse behind the building, and a full fledged (and heated) bathroom very nearby.

The connection between his work and nature is as close as it could get. From the organic shape and complex forms to the high variaty in detail from the outside, he acchieved his goal to make the house adapt to Nature’s infinite variety of form.

The material of the house is mainly wood, chosen because of it’s flexibility (he needed to work with doubled-curved surfaces) and out of consideration for sustainability as well as for the way the material ages.

“Wood is beautiful in that is has a memory. Changes in the environment are illustrated by the life and ageing of the wood. You can see the users historic impact on the material as it slowly wears away,” explains Torsten, showing both a vision and insight that most architects lack. “I wanted this life to be seen. Surface treatments have been chosen with care. On the whole, surface layers have been kept untreated and have been whitepigmented with linseed oil or heat treated and oiled.”

Close to this small cottage also lies a hens house called Hönshus-1, which is the second in this series of biomorphic strucures built by Torsten. When asking whether there was a certain idea behind giving chickens more space than usual while being as efficient as he could with designing a house for humans, he tells us that “I wouldn’t say that Hönshus-1 deviates from the other works. The total area inside isn’t more than 2-3 sqm, meant to house at maximum 15 hens.

In this way my feelings regarding space remain the same. All space should be meaningful and have a value from every angle you view it at. I always work with the entirety of space.”

How did you create the Hus designs. Did you build them yourself or hire people to turn your designs into reality?

I’ve subcontracted small bits of the buildings (for example the kitchen counter top in Hus1 was commissioned to a metal worker), as well as hiring an electrician and such. Otherwise I’ve chose to communicate my 71

was just for fun. It was a room which appealed to all the senses: smell, touch, sight, sound and even taste. The room was full of references which might usually conflict with each other, but still entailing a complete and rather complex experience.

ideas through practice and done all the stages of work myself. This has allowed me to truly work through a conceptualization process and understand in all stages how to work with spaces.

Why is the aspect of space that important to you?

Because I believe that we perceive the entirety of a space, whether we are aware of it or not.

The spaces are small so that we are able to relate to the spaces. The human body isn’t that big, so in relation we need a space we can ‘fit’ in, that we can feel, that can become a part of how we live.

You’ve gained quite some popularity with your latest HUS designs. What are the future projects your working on and what do you still want to do?

I want to work on unique customized projects for specific people. I’d also like to start working as a consult in order to inspire other architectural offices to build more experimentally and ‘humanely’. I’m currently building a house for David which 72

is meant to suit his length (6’11) and the way he moves in a space, which is very different from an average person. The idea is to build the majority of the space in the house vertically rather than horizontally.

You’ve collaborated with Amelie Persson on an beautiful work of art. How did that collaboration start, how did you and Amelie get in touch and what was your and her part in this?

Amelie and I are old friends.

She made the boxes, and I designed the room and the light and the atmosphere. The concept was that we had opened a art gallery which had a door directly on to the street. We wanted the viewer to have contact with the art without the typical gallery experience, without meeting other people. We believed that it was important for people to experience a work of art without being able to understand it, or to enter a gallery without confronting the hierarchy usually found in a museum. It

We always wondered this.

Since you are an architect, artist and designer, what would you yourself actually like to live in? What is your dream house and what does the house you currently live in look like?

The house i live in now fairly conventional since I designed it years ago. In the future though I want to build in a complex house designed for my own body. In comparison Hus-1 will conventional - a stepping stone or point of reference to the type of building I really want to move toward.

Was this the work that you thought you would be doing as a kid? What we’re wondering is how did you actually start to work as an architect and artist?

And what are your dreams for the future, your ambitions?

I don’t remember what I wanted to be. But I started very early at 10 to build models of different architecture and environments.

I want architecture in the future to be designed to encompass our patterns of movement, and the way which we actually live. This is what want for the future. I want to loosen architecture from its constrictions.

73

TO ALL FOXES READING THIS AWESOME MAG WE OFFER 20% OFF ON POLO SHIRTS VISIT WHAT-THE-FOX.COM AND ENTER THE FOLLOWING CODE THELAVISHWORLD

THE AFTERPARTY

79 WATCH THE THRONE 84 THE BAR’S FAVORITE 85 THE BOWTIE 88 THE GREASE MONKEY

77

the AIR yeezy II'S already sold -out, Kany e is days away from releasin g His Poss e Cut "CRUEL SUMM ER" AND THE THRO NE HAS ALREADY STARTED ON THEIR SECO ND ALBU M. SO let's LOOK BACK, one more time, ON ONE HELL OF A NIGH T FOR THOS E WHO DIDN'T NEED SUNG LASS ES AND ADVI L THE MORN ING AFTER...

78

79

80

We have to say, it wasn’t easy getting into this event. Not that we didnt have tickets, on the contrary, but there happened to be a strict policy forbidding us to enter the stadium with a photocamera. It isn’t that we’re rebels; we barely noticed the sign while standing in line and we didn’t have the time to get back to

his grave to break the silence.

The majestic yet eerie sample which West and Carter used on their album as an unguided yet enthralling interlude stirred up the crowed as everyone held their breath, followed by a floor trembeling opera bringing out Kanye West and Jay-Z to the stage. From the beginning to

the car, so we decided that either way we would get that camera in there with us. Sneaking through security, we were held back a few times which refrained us from standing front row.

After waiting for what seemed like six seasons of Lost, hiding the camera whenever a security guard ran by to save people who passed out, we finally hear the Orchestra Njervudarov sample roaring through the stadium as if Alfred Hitchcock himself stood up from

the end you can sense that the whole performance is carefully orchestrated. As Kanye closes H.A.M, Jay-Z dissapears in the darkness behind the smoke to appear on the other side of the stadium as two gigantic cubes the size of a small house rise to the ceiling. While getting higher and higher, we hear the Flux Pavilion sample through the stadium as projections on the cubes reveal the title of the song and visualisations of a shark swimming through the

ocean, ready to burst out of the cube and into the crowd. Similar to the song performed by this unstoppable duo, we ask ourselves whether there actually is someone that could still kick them from their opulent, bountiful throne.

If any artist would ever come undecided on being the best performer and tour orchestrator, it should be West. With his previous critically acclaimed Glow In The Dark Tour also catching a few looks, there is no doubt that the chi-town producer that once stood in the crowd, watching a performance of a man that he now sees standing on the opposite side of the stadium on the same height as him, is one of the brightest and most creative mind in the history of hiphop.

As The Throne perform a few other songs from their collaborating album, Kanye soon leaves the stage passing all the shine to his big brother.

Performing two songs from his earlier work, you notice that whenever one of the two leaves the stage half of the energy goes with them. Going back and forth from Kanye to Jay-Z, songs like “Where I’m From”, “U Don’t Know”, “Can’t Tell Me Nothing” and “Jesus Walks” come by. The two reunite at the moment Rihanna’s voice sounds through the speakers, singing the chorus of “Run This Town”. However, it’s the song after that causing the crowd to go ape-shit. After “Monster”, “Power” and “Murder to Excellence” the whole stage is lit and the two go into an emotional moment with the Nina Simone sampled “New Day”. It is at this

moment that this song sounds thus the more sincere as Jay-Z just had his baby with wife Beyonce Knowles. For the first time in disarray, we see a young man sitting on the stage, far from the braggadocious and raw-edged hedonist that the media wants us to believe he is. It’s ironic that after calling himself a mu’fu**ing monster, we now see West tumbling between an awkward numb gaze and a transparent emotional and broken man lost in the dramatic turn of events of the last 5 years.

The problem with these moments is that although we love to see Kanye and Jay’s emotional side, it does form a deadening contrast in energy compared to songs such as “Monster” and “Power”. It’s the difference in literal height and looking up to an artist standing on an enormous stage in front of thousands of people that iconizes and creates an almost god-like status, especially when those two are Kanye West and Jay-Z. Ending a pause in one exhausting two hour ride of energy, Jay-Z reminisces about the time that he just knew Kanye.

Not even close to the prolific and respected artist West now is, he thinks back on how the producer wanted to turn into a rapper. The anecdote has been the subject of many songs, especially in that of West’s first album song “Last Call”, so many know this story by now. Therefore everyone also expected the following two songs “Izzo (H.O.V.A.)” and “Hard Knock Life”, slowly going back to the energy they started out with.

It is in the moment that everyone hears the Alicia Keys sung New York City anthem that the whole crowd screams with the chorus.

It’s very impressive how in two hours the two artists manage to guide you through all the emotions a human being could feel. After Jay-Z leaves the stage, the haunting piano of “Runaway”

one of the most breathtaking performances of “Stronger” we’ve ever seen. This song is probably the best transition for Jay-Z to walk in and perform songs like “On To The Next One” and “Dirt Of Your Shoulder”, songs full of energy, feeling cold but boastful. It’s these songs that get us another 15 minutes

echoes through the stadium as the cube in the back rises, shining red and bright over the thousands of people with Kanye standing on top of it. (see previous page) Kanye has had his share of heartbreaks and losses, which he always expressed in emotional anthems and melancholic singa-longs. Both “Heartless” and “Stronger” evoke a tear in every man who ever felt the agony of a broken heart. It’s in those moments that West performs

further with jogging or refrain us from leaving the club because we’re feeling tired of a long day work. From Timbaland to Swizz, we eventually switch to Pharrell’s produced “I Just Wanna Love You”, which at this moment feels like a natural cocaine flowing through the body, making us feel like we could take over the world. After that song, the last switch up occurs, leading to the most energetic and invigorating series of songs of West’s solo 81

moment the first light went on, we get treated to video, showing us the cruelty of human kind, accompanied by the soundtrack of Louis Armstrong’s “What A Wonderful World”, which then is followed by a rebel holding a molotov coctail. It’s that image that starts of the memorable video of “No Church in The Wild”, followed by the hypnotizing, sweeping voice of Frank Ocean.

The combination of the video and these two standing on stage explains both the song and the video. It wouldn’t have made sense to have Kanye and Jay appear in it. Instead, the video accompanies them as they do the last song before the lights go out again, however not for the last time.

runs. It’s with the chords of “Good Life” and the trumpet in “Touch The Sky” that we always feel happy and rejuvenated. Especially since the latter is performed differently from the album version, full with an arranged instrumental.

Now you’d expect the biggest lightshow whenever Kanye would play “All of the Lights”. Although it definitly was a great performance of one of his best songs, the lighting and choreography of that part of the show seemed sloppy.

82

It’s in these moments that you know that the two are saving their energy for an exhausting series of the Hit-Boy produced massive superhit “N***as in Paris”. And as expected, after the two performing the two biggest hits to their name (respectively “Gold Digger” and “99 Problems”) the two stop the performance and leave the stage, after which it becomes pitch dark. It’s at these times that our heart starts pounding and every second turns to minutes. At the

It’s this amazing happening that happened every night at the tour, something that happened multiple times, once even twelve times. To understand the force called “N***as in Paris” you have to stand in that crowd, done it three times and see people make a circle. It’s at that time that you notice how much power and energy these two phenomenal artists have. And after that circle turns into a moshpit and everyone clashes into each other like waves in the ocean, you feel part of an enormous mass. As the sweat keeps coming, drenching your clothing to the point that people take of their shirt because it feels uncomfortable and you hear Jay-Z say AGAIN for the sixth and final time, only at that moment you can grasp the power of that song and most of all, the power of The Throne.

83

THE BAR’S FAVORITE

After the sweet, floral presence of Gin we head to a different season, very different from the summer. While in the summer flowers grow and bloom, the weather is sunny and hot, and we desire something sweet and light, we now enter the season of rain, falling leaves and a colder temperature. Sure, there’s no snow and half of the time we’re still lucky enough to enjoy the sun, but fact is we’re getting closer to the winter.

Don’t stress though, we have

84

the perfect drink for you. We’ll even explain why it fits this season. You see, oranges are a seasonal fruit, originaly green before eatable. Just like those colorful green leaves on the trees transform into an orangy and red color, so do the oranges. This all happens in the fall. Since Cointreau is still sweet and refreshning enough for the heat, but strong enough (40%) to get you through the colder weather, this Autumn we’ll serve you triple-sec.

Qointreau Teese

Champs-Elysées

B52

1 ½ oz. Cointreau ¾ oz. Apple Juice ½ oz. Monin Violet Syrup ½ oz. fresh Lemon Juice

1 oz Cointreau ½ oz Lemon Juice Champagne

½ oz Cointreau ½ oz Cream Liqueur ½ oz Coffee Liqueur

THE BOWTIE

Being a country that birthed some of the most promising talents in fashion, published its very own Dutch Vogue and has an art background of which most countries are jealouse, how much does the average Dutchman know about his country’s history in fashion? As Martijn Nekoui found out it’s actually shockingly little. That’s why he felt that, for his graduation at the Amsterdam Fashion Institute, it was his task to do something about the ignorance of this generation. Gathering a group of new, up-and-coming artists and combining them together with the icons of Dutch fashion he created MOAM. When we arrived at Fontana Fortuna, a gallery located in the heart of Amsterdam’s canal area, Martijn Nekoui was all over the place. From entertaining his guests, which included people like Frans Molenaar and Ad Visser, to making sure there was still enough vodka and water, he made sure that everything went according to his planning. It was in the months before this event

that he had carefully orchestrated everything from scratch.

The concept, in which twelve contemporary artists would give their interpertation on the works of twelve fashion icons, the location in the middle of Amsterdam and the sponsors.

He would walk his dog the same route as Viktor & Rolf and ‘accidentally’ bump into them, go back and forth between meeting

few of the biggest names in Dutch fashion and getting the green light from his school.

Without a doubt, the man worked hard. When we emailed him late in the night, requesting an interview with him a few days before the opening of the exhibition, we expected him to already be asleep. However, he responded within minutes. It’s this dedication, this enthusiasm and underlying mission that got everyone on board when he mentioned his plans.

After his speech, in which he thanked everyone from his mentor to his friends, he took the time to go outside with us and answer a few questions on the exhibition, future plans and his personal life. You can read the interview on the following page.

85

Congratulations on graduating and passing this project Cum Laude. How do you feel about that?

Thank you very much. Well, I just heard about it, but at this moment I’m really proud, especially when I look back at those four years of AMFI. No one expected this, not my friends nor my teachers nor certain people at the head of AMFI expected this.

You’ve been quoted to say that there’s a dangerous lack of knowledge about the history of fashion in the Netherlands. How do you think, with the coming of a Dutch Vogue and this project, this will change?

Well, I think that the mentality of the average Dutchman just does what’s necessary. Just be you and that’s enough, which makes them a little mainstream. These people are sometimes a little conservative, so when they come in contact with people like Constance Wibaut or Frans Molenaar, of which they’ve never seen work before, it opens their minds.

It’s admirable how someone who just set foot inside the world of fashion has already accomplished something this big. Next to enthusiasm and a good concept, what did you need to set up this exhibition?

Enthusiasm and a good concept, nothing more. I’ve always wanted to combine fashion and art, even in my first year of AMFI. The problem is that AMFI is a school with boundaries. You have to stay within the borders and rules that AMFI sets for you, so I’m really happy that they gave me the green light on this project. And from then on it only got better, especially when the bigger names accepted to help me with this project. When you have people like Viktor & Rolf and Frans Molenaar helping you, it’s easier to get sponsors.

Will there be a sequel to this project?

Without a doubt, but with other people 86

and a different location. Unfortunately, I can’t share any names nor other information, since nothing is set in stone to this point. What I can say is that the name that was missing at this point will be in that project.

You’ve written a thesis on the cultural sociology of vintage clothing. Next to that you mentioned you like Scandinavian clothing and their music. How has that inspired and formed you?

I’m rather chaotic at times and my mind never rests, so I think that the peacefulness and calmness of Scandinavia helps me in remaining calm. It’s the food, the music, the clothes, everything there is beautiful, it works, it’s calm and clean. It attracts me, maybe because it’s that in contrast with myself.

Now that you’ve graduated, what are your plans for the future? Have you already been approached by other companies?

Matter of fact, I’ve already got four projects with various companies which I’m currently working on. However, I’m just going to enjoy my upcoming vacation first and after that focus on MOAM2.

87

THE GREASE MONKEY Conquest comes with the car that will fill the gap that Hummer left when they went bankrupt in 2010. The Conquest Evade is the ultimate combination between blunt, geometric design and inside luxury. With a 360-degree air ride suspension, a roof-mounted, joystick-controlled searchlights, 2+2 limousine-style seating, laptop trays, packed with a diesel engine that can go up to 300 horsepower, a third sunroof and an unarmored skin made from an aluminum-mild steel blend, handles machined out of solid aluminum this car is definitly worth the price of $580,000.

It seems that these days we keep getting closer to all those science fiction movies and their high tech technology. The lighting, internally and externally, is a definite nod to Tron, and is all LED powered. Being able to do 50 mph with its 2.3kW engine (The absence of a fuel tank and a combustion engine are one of the positive aspects to an electric bike), it seems like a cleaner future is not even that far ahead. Although still conceptual, it’s nice to see how far we can go with the current state of technology.

Who would’ve ever expected Hyundai to have this sense of humor? While it’s unlikely to appear at dealerships anytime soon, the Hyundai Zombie Survival Machine is certainly ready for any undead action that comes its way.

From the spikes on the wheels, the armored window covering, the roof hatch and not to forget the CB Radio System (you don’t really expect your cell phone to work during the end times) this car will definitly get you out of danger whenever judgement day comes. No information on the price though.

88

THE LAVISH WORLD

90 GROWTH 91 NEXT TWO MONTHS 89

TLW GROWTH

Although the month of June was a bitter dissapointment, we made up for it in July’s growth.

As you can see, there’s a straight line through our growth, which makes us all the more curious about what lies in the future.

August was without a doubt our best month, especially with reaching a total of 100.000 views in 8 months. Not only was this the most important milestone to cross so far, it gives us the relief that we’re not doing this for nothing and that daily more and more people are following our rise.

Another milestone in this month was us passing our first 29.000 (as you can see, we were

90

APRIL 50 POSTS 9.655 VIEWS MAY 53 POSTS 16.005 VIEWS JUNE 65 POSTS 7.815 VIEWS JULY 62 POSTS 23.332 VIEWS AUGUST 61 POSTS 29774 VIEWS

so close to bragging about reaching our first 30.000) in a month’s time. For us, this is a big step since we had months where we wouldn’t even reach 10.000 and still write a post for every day next to our regular day job. You might think that this is easier, when you’re with more people, but we’re not with as many people as you might think and it’s hard to be this great on the side.

Again, as we say in every issue, we’d like to thanks everyone who helped us get to this place, since we would be nothing without our viewers.

TLW NEXT TWO MONTHS As “Skyfall” hits theaters on the 31st of October, we will dedicate our next issue to the truest of gentleman. For such a special occasion, where the launch of our third magazine and the viewing of the 23rd James Bond release happen to fall on the same date, better to expect something special from the crew of The Lavish World.

Everybody praised Kendrick for “Section.80”, but can he handle the high standards that people have set out for him with the release of his debut album “good kid, m.A.A.d city”? You’ll find out in The Spin of the next issue, where the DJ will also discuss the sequal to Lupe’s first album “Food & Liquor II” and the debut album of A$AP Rocky.

Since him and Mr. Bond have so much in common, we asked the Bowtie kindly if he could give us advice on how to be a gentleman.

He’ll cover everything, from how to behave in a restaurant to handling a woman. Believe us, you’ll be surprised how much you didn’t know about being a man.

The cold is coming, so the Stylist is going to make sure you’re ready for it.

He did a photoshoot, picked out the best suits to wear to work, found a great set of watches and if that’s not enough he’s on the lookout for the perfect scarf. He enjoyed making it, so surely you’ll enjoy reading it in the next issue of The Lavish World.

Of course, since the next issue will be focussing on gentlemen, we will also have our very own Whisky special. This means that instead of Grinding Beans, we’ll be tasting hard liquor just for you and picking out the best so you’ll know what to put in the basement for those cold months.

Yes, we know we never actually hosted a roast for the magazine, but this time Hoasting The Roast will actually show you how to host a roast for Thanksgivings and Christmas. The Chef will even make a desert if there’s any room left after.

If that’s not enough, he’ll be showing you simple tips to make cooking easier.

91