Winter 2010
“I hated Sussex...” -Howard Marks
A N O T E FROM THE E D I TO R S Communications Officer Sol Schonfield communications@ussu.sussex.ac.uk Editors-in-chief Ariel Cohen Mary-Rachel McCabe pulse@ussu.sussex.ac.uk Designers Gabriele Barysaite Graham Monaghan Tollevin Williams Olivia Wilson Photographers Eleanor Campen Leah Jaques Features Editors Natasha Lee Harry Yeates pulse-features@ussu.sussex.ac.uk Arts and Culture Editors Lilly Daniell Ben Lloyd pulse-artsculture@ussu.sussex.ac.uk Fashion Editors Alice Butler Lucy Morris pulse-fashionlifestyle@ussu.sussex.ac.uk Politics Patrick Dowson Asha Naznin pulse-politics@ussu.sussex.ac.uk Publicity Officers Joshua Boyd Billy Picard pulse-publicity@ussu.sussex.ac.uk Student Media Office Falmer House University of Sussex Brighton BN1 9QF Telephone 01273 678875
Welcome to the first edition of The Pulse for this academic year. A few weeks ago amongst the plethora of emails that we receive in our inbox – including a press release about ‘Cuddlemat’, the amazing colour change bathmat! – we were informed about the imminent arrival in Brighton of Señor Nice himself, Howard Marks. It was an opportunity we couldn’t miss so we tracked down some free press passes to an Audience with Mr Nice and bagged ourselves an interview along the way. Jackets off, wine purchased, we sat and awaited Mr Marks’ entrance on stage. But he wasn’t alone; on he came armed with a hefty measure of rum, a pint of lager, a chalice of wine and a mischievous grin across his face. Marks treated us to hours of belly hugging musings that ranged from life in prison to letters to the government about the smoking ban (he doesn’t approve). Needless to say, we left Komedia that night with fresh enthusiasm about this term’s The Pulse. Coming up this issue we ask, what’s the point of art without frames? We look into the Save the Arts campaign, a movement battling the proposed cuts to arts funding. We showcase Hope & Harlequin’s array of Charleston chic vintage attire in our editorial fashion shoot and our man on the scene, Harry Yeates does a marathon society hop for your benefit. Finally, jumping into the deep end of politics at Sussex, a fresher traces his journey from Oceana to Millbank. Enjoy! Ariel and Mary-Rachel. Editors in Chief.
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‘Twilight Sleep’ 18
VOLUME 17 ISSUE #1 COVER FEATURE Howard Marks speaks to The Pulse
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ARTS AND CULTURE Save the Arts White Night Returneth the Scottish play The Dice Man Frameless, what’s the point?
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FASHION The Girl who Cried Woolf Dior Illustrated EDITORIAL - Twilight Sleep Haute Humanitarianism
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FEATURE Society Watch
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POLITICS A Fresh Look at Campus Politics I Want YOU for Sussex Democracy
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The Pulse is a free termly publication written by students for students. Views expressed in The Pulse are not allways the views of the Students’ Union, The Pulse or the University Of Sussex. Every effort has been made to contact the holders of any copywrite material in this issue and to ensure the acuracy of this terms articles. Please contact the communications officer if you are aware of any ommissions or errors.
With thanks to: Peter Webb and Radical Images for providing us with our back page image. www.radicalimages.org.uk Brighton Ballroom for allowing us to use their premises for our editorial fashion shoot Jake Green for the images of Howard Marks www.jakegreen.co.uk
A M a r k sIST REVOLUTION Words: MARY-RACHEL MCCABE
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Images: JAKE GREEN
Jake Green www.jakegreen.co.uk
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amous for his audacious cannabis and did Howard even have a say in it? “When trafficking and liberal opinions, Howard I first met Rhys in 1996 with the Super Furry Marks has become somewhat of an icon Animals he announced his intention to play me in the world of literature and spoken word. should my book ever be published and should Born in 1945 in Kenfig Hill, a small Welsh there ever be a film made of it and should he coal-mining village, Howard attended Oxford ever become an actor.” Considering he had it University where he earned a degree in nuclear mapped out for fourteen years, how was Rhys’s physics and post graduate qualifications in portrayal of Howard in the end? “Some reviews philosophy. Following that, he moved on to the have claimed he was born to play me, I think greener pastures of the University of Sussex to he did well, he makes me look taller and better further his studies in the Philosophy of Science looking,” quipped the real deal. and the dealing of dope. Leading the life that he has – from Oxford During the mid 1980s, Howard Marks had graduate to worldwide hashish smuggler to forty-three aliases, eighty-nine phone lines, federal prisoner to national treasure – I thought and twenty that Howard would five companies be keen to have t r a d i n g as much influence I think it’s very important throughout the as possible on the that the education system world. Described film. Apparently by the Daily not though – it receives the funding it needs Mail as 'the most turns out he’s just so that everyone can fulfil sophisticated as laid back as his drugs baron of autobiographical their potential regardless of all time', he has narrative suggests, their economic background worked with the “I went to the set a British Secret few times and even Service and has had a cameo that been connected with the Mafia, the IRA, MI6 eventually and regrettably ended up on the and the CIA. cutting room floor but in terms of having any Back in the spotlight of late due to the release influence on Bernard’s interpretation of my of Bernard Rose’s film, Mr Nice, an adaptation book, there wasn’t much.” of Howard’s autobiography of the same title, Enough of the film then, time to dig into the I was recently bestowed with the opportunity past. “I hated Sussex University” pronounces to have an exclusive chat for The Pulse with Marks in the early stages of his autobiography. the man himself after his Brighton Komedia When asked why, he candidly replied, “Well, appearance. let’s just say that studying the philosophy of I thought it appropriate to begin with a few science wasn’t the most interesting thing I courtesy questions about the film; surely it must was involved in at the time.” Makes sense, have been weird watching his life – including considering he lists his primary interests in the seven years spent in America’s toughest those years as “marijuana, LSD, rock music, and federal penitentiary - play out in front of him after-eight philosophy”. But surely he must on the big screen? “It was all strangely familiar have liked something about Brighton? “It’s a the first time I saw it,” he declared, “I’ve seen it great city and the sea is a very powerful draw, several times now and it gets better every time so yes, I do like a lot about Brighton.” Good I see it. Naturally it’s an odd sensation but it is save, Mister Nice. definitely an enjoyable one.” Whilst still hovering around the subject of In the film, Howard is played by BAFTA education I thought it would be rude not to winning Rhys Ifans; was the choice purely ask the working-class-chap-come-Oxfordbased on his fellow Welsh roots, I wondered, graduate what his thoughts are on the massive
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feature cuts to education that our beloved government are planning. “I could never have had the education I have been very privileged to have if it hadn’t been for a scholarship to Balliol, so I think it’s very important that the education system receives the funding it needs so that everyone can fulfil their potential regardless of their economic background.” Staying with politics, in 1997, Marks ran as a parliamentary candidate on the single issue of the legalisation of cannabis and, interestingly, his daughter Amber – a barrister – continues to support her father in his tireless campaign. On the topic, Howard remarked, “I don’t believe that its prohibition is necessary, so I will always advocate the legalisation of marijuana but I don’t think the moral majority see it in quite the same way and it doesn’t look likely that they will in the near future. There are far more people smoking than when I was at university, so things are changing, it’s just quite a slow process.” Little by little the awe that I had felt for Howard Marks since I read Mr Nice for the first time some years ago was increasing. Having written three autobiographical books (Mr Nice, Dope Stories, Señor Nice) and dabbled in journalism over the years, it seemed it would have been a shame not to squeeze a little bit of advice out of him for any budding young journalists or writers residing among the Sussex student body. “It’s very easy to procrastinate when you’re a writer,” he wisely articulates, “so the best advice I can give is to just get on with it and write things down.” Finally, what does the future hold for Howard Marks? “I’m writing a crime thriller trilogy, I’ve just about finished the second book, so I’ll be concentrating on writing the third and will be taking a new version of the Audience with Mr Nice show on tour next year. Other than that, I intend to continue having a very pleasant time.” So there you have it. Whether you view him as a criminal mastermind, a serial stoner or a literary genius, one thing is incontrovertible he knows how to put a smile on your face. Jake Green www.jakegreen.co.uk
Mr Nice (the film) will be released on dvd nationwide on 31 January 2011. Mr Nice (the book) is available to buy now in all good bookstores
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CLAUDIA COCKRELL & JOSIE CARDER
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omewhere in a bustling street in Lon- tive that has been sent to the gallows. Redon, there hangs a notice; crudely fashioned cently, the Culture Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, out of a silver wire and a stained piece of confirmed plans to abolish the council, in white card, it casually shows the opening addition to the Museums, Libraries and Artimes of the art gallery behind it. “ART GAL- chives Council. The UKFC’s chairman, Tim LERY CLOSED: SUNDAY, MONDAY, TUES- Bevan, expressed outrage at the move, sayDAY, WEDNESDAY, THURSDAY. ADMIS- ing that “Abolishing the most successful film SION, £17.50’. Art. It’s funny how one small, support organisation the UK has ever had is inconspicuous word can be the cause of such a bad decision… People will rightly look back a controversial debate. Throw in another lit- on today’s announcement and say it was a tle blighter called ‘cuts’ and it would appear big mistake, driven by short-term thinking you have one of the most heated arguments and political expediency.” The film industry “deserves better”. of today on your hands... More debated than the Mona The government claims that Lisa’s smile (well almost), cuts to arts funding is necesCut us, the recent turmoil over cuts sary for the economy, as Hunt to the arts has become a hot don’t kill us. says “In the light of the curtopic for discussion with talk rent financial situation… it is of 25-30% cuts in government the right time to look again funding, on top of the 3.5% cuts made to ac- at the role, size and scope of these organisacommodate the Olympics. The Arts Council tions.” But artists aren’t uncooperative about has warned that cuts like these would mean the cuts; one slogan that the campaigners are that out of approximately 850 organisations chanting poignantly asks, “Cut us, Don’t Kill on its portfolio, 200 would shortly disappear Us”. Serota adds that “Of course savings can with others taking heavy cutbacks leading be made. On a 10% cut… we can maintain the to a reduction in their services. Sir Nicholas character of what we do, albeit in a slightly Serota, director of the Tate, said; “As soon as reduced form”. The main concern is that a cut [cuts] go over a certain level they start to cut of more than 10% would cripple the cultural identity that Britain has built over the past into the heart of what we do.” This can’t be good news for the tourist econ- 50 years. omy; directors of top arts facilities including But could the cuts ever be beneficial for the the National Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare nation’s artistic identity? In times of strugCompany, the Serpentine Gallery, Sadlers gle, you either sink, or you swim; certain cut Wells theatre and the South Bank Centre have backs may generate an underground sub-culwarned that 25% cuts would cause irrepara- ture of artists, allowing only the determined ble damage to one of Britain’s leading indus- and genuinely talented artists to have their tries - which currently generates at least £2 work recognised and only the best art to be for every £1 invested. Vicky Heywood, chief shown. However, the fact that art is so subexecutive of the RSC warned that “What is jective means that the recurring question of going to happen will lead a long legacy; it what makes for ‘good’ art once again raises its ugly, papier-mâché figure-head. will not be a short-term problem.” The UK Film Council is another arts initia- So, regardless of artistic taste, government
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cuts are not good news for the humble consumer. Who to call then but the campaigners? The Save the Arts campaign encourages the public to sign a petition to be sent to Jeremy Hunt, appealing to the government not to diminish arts funding and risk destroying the long-term achievement of Britain’s vibrant arts culture, as well as the social and economic benefits it brings to all. Over a
hundred well-known, leading artists including David Hockney, Damien Hirst, David Shrigley, Anthony Caro, Anish Kapoor, Richard Hamilton, Bridget Riley, Antony Gormley and Tracey Emin have joined the campaign. So is this the end for the arts? Has this industry been given its lasts rites, to not go with a bang, but with a whimper? Time will tell, but for now, I direct your attentions to Exhibit A; ‘Uncertainty’.
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White N ISABELLE FATHIMANI & NATASHA COWAN
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s it a bird, is it a plane? No, it’s a man in drag singing opera from a shop window. In 2008 Brighton joined the 120 cities worldwide hosting performances, installations, exhibitions and talks, taking place yearly from dusk until dawn when the clocks go back. Last month Brighton locals and artists alike needed little persuasion to participate in the international phenomenon known as White Night or Nuit Blanche, meaning ‘all-nighter’. This nocturnal festival has flourished from its humble beginnings in St Petersburg, where from May until June the nights only fall as dark as a twilight blue. This natural
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wonder is referred to as White Night. Since 1993 these nights have been filled with artistic performances. The event most like our own however, is that of France. Starting in Paris in 2002 the night has comprised of an immersion into the arts of the capital, encouraging a wealth of artist-local interaction. An estimated 30,000 people attended this year's event on the 30th of October. For the third year running Brighton’s cultural institutions opened their doors for free, for a night of over 60 different participantcentred events across town; from interactive
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Night performances at the Basement to talks on endangered species at the Sea Life centre. Brighton’s night shared the theme of 'Illumination' with the Nuit Blanche of Amiens in France. The numerous light installations and projections, drunks in fancy dress, families with kids past their bedtime, live music and a few zombies celebrating the rise of the dead, enhanced that uninhibited feeling which can come so naturally to Brighton, delivering the joie de vivre of a festival atmosphere, minus the tents and portaloos! It may have been a night fuelled in part by booze, but it was one especially centred
Eleanor Campen
around exploring the city inside and out. David Smith, Brighton's councillor for Culture stated that the night has “a civilising effect on the city centre�, describing it as an alternative to a boozy night out. A civilised night out? Perhaps, although the crabs at the Sea Life centre may beg to differ after a White Nighter decided it was cruel to keep sea creatures incarcerated. Having allegedly set one loose, staff were forced to evacuate as zombies chanted 'we want fish!' outside. This night of eccentricity has certainly been embraced by this little cultural hub we call home.
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s the world’s first (!) frame free photography festival closes, (The Brighton Photo Biennial 2010, curated by Martin Parr; ‘doing for photography what Downton did for Sunday nights’) we ask:
Frameless Exhibitionism JOSHUA COOK
Why! What does the frame mean now?
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Since the middle ages, the public notion of art has grown and shifted. In the western world art has become universally accessible. For young, ‘attractive’ couples in Fulham it has become quite the faux pas not to have a quirky modern painting hanging in the living room. Very much framed. Borders, I draw borders around everything I write. Do you like your windows framed? IS THE POPE CATHOLIC? Rothko framed his work with borders of colour, Rothko is a God. Martin Parr is a great man and thus may do what he pleases, but it does not make it the best way of doing things. If you frame art (in whichever way you see framing as framing) it will make it better. 2 dimensional, 3 dimensional, the sculpture is framed by its plinth, performance in its arena of action, the film lives in the screen (like a mouse living in its house), and so on. This is all likely indisputable. Architecturally, picture frames change space, precisely because they are architectural. They are spatial intricacies that you can add and remove and adapt. Imagine designing a house with walls that extend outwards and withdraw inwards in various places. Pokes of space that come in and out of your rooms, your doorways, your hallways; arbitrary nooks and projections. This would surely make the space more interesting? You are a maverick after all!
Of course this is a silly example, but such boundless architectural space is unjustifiably expensive and stupid for all but the least average Joe. Thus the need for bounds. It is the picture frame not the picture that creates spatial texture; and together they make space harmonious. Framing sculpture works in the same way if only you care to look. The frame means so much now, because there is so much art. The frame is the area of stillness between the real world and that created by the artist. The stillness is just the right place to decide what’s rubbish and what’s not. It enhances everything within it, and somehow remains invisible from the art itself. Whether it was from a lack of funding or just a mistaken aesthetic muddle-up, the frame free aspect of the Biennial was, rather, frameful. A sculptural depth and physicality was lost from the photographs and they became as flat as the paper they were printed on. But there were some very redeeming photos. And finally, if you live in a dangerous place, the Bronx for example, a frame (like that of the Mona Lisa) might also incorporate several inches of bulletproof glass to keep your pride and joy safe!
arts & culture A new performance of one of Shakespeare’s more famous tragedies, Macbeth, in Brighton, raises once again the much explored question of how best to recreate Shakespeare’s plays in modern theatre. Yet whether a director chooses to adhere entirely to the original performance style that Shakespeare intended, cross-dressing and all, or adapts a play with modern twists and the use of new technology, each production remains, somehow, Shakespeare’s own. Even today his universal themes
mances, Macbeth is almost always interpreted differently from the original script, as in this play (and similarly in Hamlet), Shakespeare focuses on one character and the dark recesses of his mind. Both are often performed using physicality to envelope the audience in the same sense of turmoil and intensity that the character is faced with. This style enables the audience to gain a sense of the powerful violence of Macbeth’s nature and the passion and horror of Lady Macbeth’s character.
The Scottish Play Returneth MANDALENA MUNKONGE
and unique characters are recognisable through virtually any genre of theatre, and it is this that allows each new generation the freedom to innovate in their productions of his work. The upcoming direction of Macbeth at the Brighton Dome promises to be a fine example of this, as theatre group Teatr Piesn Kozła are known for their powerful interpretations that represent the musicality and muscularity of Shakespeare’s plays. Physical theatre is being used increasingly in Shakespearean productions, as his plays, filled with violence, passion and more often than not, an element of darkness and foreboding, provide the perfect backdrop for a performance filled with dramatic movement and choral song. However, this is not to say that all modern interpretations surpass the traditional method of performance. Productions that have followed the original script and directions, such as Gregory Doran’s 2010 version of Twelfth Night, have succeeded in representing the story and the characters in the way Shakespeare’s Elizabethan audience might have viewed them, displaying attributes that are sometimes lost in modern, interpretive productions. However, even Doran added music and song to his production, as he understood the importance of music in the theme of carnival and festivities in the Elizabethan era. Moving away from light and comic perfor-
Photo by Krzysztof Bieliński
Through the perpetual use of Shakespeare to introduce bright young minds across the world to literature, interest in his plays has yet to falter. Directors are constantly looking to appeal to different age groups, many of which are seeking something different, unique, not simply a reproduction from their English textbook. Let’s hope that Teatr Piesn Kozła will provide such a unique performance, continuing the rich history of innovation in Shakespearean productions whilst showcasing the effectiveness of physicality in Shakespearean theatre. Macbeth will be at The Brighton Dome from Thursday 25 – Saturday 27 November.
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A die knocks first at thought... why
The Dice Man
the subject matter of the novel; rape, murder and the general subversion of ‘the moral order of the universe’, tapped in to a climate of moral uncertainty, yet initially resulted in the novel being banned in several countries. However, it achieved cult classic status in Britain, garnering praise from the likes of Anthony Burgess, and has been championed by subsequent generations. Rhinehart’s ability
still has us thinking SOPHIE CAMPAIGNE ‘He picked up the two dice and began shaking them in the bowl of his hands. The dice fell: a one and a two – three. He was to leave his wife and children forever.’ With the immediate resolution of thought and decision, the die is God; Luke Rhinehart its disciple. And so it is, that Rhinehart audaciously tears the reader from a world framed by ‘habits, consistency and boredom’ and propels them into the parlous realm of chance. The Dice Man, published in 1971, has since entrenched itself in today’s myriad avenues of popular culture. Yet what is it that has made the novel so compelling and so relevant to yet another generation of readers?
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Luke Rhinehart, protagonist of The Dice Man, was conceived ten years after author George Cockcroft first began ‘dicing’; surrendering decision-making to the roll of a die. Cockcroft was born in the United States in 1932. Having obtained a PhD in psychology, he went on to teach at numerous universities across America. It was in one of his lectures that he asked his students whether freedom was not essentially to ‘get away from habit and causality and make all your decisions by casting dice’ (The Observer, August 2000). The notion was so contentious that Cockcroft knew instantly it was an idea to be written about in what would become his semi-autobiographical novel, The Dice Man. Released in the U.S. at a time of racial and societal strife, when American citizens were facing up to the horrors of the Vietnam War,
to switch between personas forecast a trend born out in chatrooms around the globe with the advent of the internet. That the novel has remained in step with societal trends since is apparent in the innumerable references it has received in literature, popular music and beyond. Today as we face a time of continued political and moral uncertainty, the novel again reveals its relevance. The boundless freedoms Cockroft illuminates, at a time when individual identity is agitated by the insidious pervasion of mass media; the undermining of societal templates and the edification of personal identity that hooks the reader and stirs those fleeting fantasies of being someone else. More than thirty years on from its first publication The Dice Man is still met with the strangely captivating union of delight and revulsion. Offering fresh perspective and bucking oppressive norms, perhaps the enduring appeal of the novel remains simply in The Dice Man’s own seductive maxim: ‘Anybody can be anybody’.
fashion
The Girl Who Cried Woolf alice butler
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t would be fair to say that the Monday traced back to a Cluedo type crime scene, not night University Challenge line up paled in a library but in a bookshop. The culprit? A in comparison with the Marc Jacobs front fading star of the town high street, clad in the
row, sartorially speaking. But just because finest hemp and destined for the stratospheric Paxman is no broadcasting dandy and Corpus heights of ‘Grumpy Old Women’. The weapon? Christi have a ceaseless penchant for the A pink mobile phone. Obviously quick to judge corduroy blazer, does not mean the fashionable any Burberry Wearing Blonde, audacious glitterati and the literati cannot rub Balmain enough to cross the neo-gothic threshold, the powerhouse shoulders. As when Vivienne strait-laced shopkeeper’s biting reply to my Westwood has emblazoned her fabrics with fleeting fone action, ‘This is a bookshop not a her riotous textual manifestos, both shoppers dress shop!’, did little to appease my academic and readers can unite on the same page. As aspirations. Has she not seen how smoking an English student whose style history reads hot Atonement’s Cecelia looks in that library like a roll call of novelistic oddballs, I have a scene? Aside from the fact that the secondburning desire to prove that clothes and books hand joint in question features an enchanting are the new black. Paper back or Hard back, collection of costume texts, the common bohemian bookishness is back!
misconception that fashion is just a glossy
The reason I have taken it upon myself to commodity deserves an overhaul. As Gertrude shake up the cultural establishment, can be Stein, a fashion leader in Parisian androgyny (Agyness who?) wrote: ‘fashion is the real thing in abstraction’. Therefore, like her stream of consciousness law of identity that a ‘rose is a rose is a rose’, fashion is the avantgarde. Waving the banner of modernity, or rather draping it rather artfully in cascading silk folds, clothes – like literature - have the ability to transform and transgress existing notions of culture. We can look to Virginia Woolf, as both Bloomsbury bohemian and Vogue-published trendsetter, for sartorial inspiration; as in Orlando when the cross-dressing narrator proclaims: ‘Vain trifles as they seem, clothes have, they say, more important offices than to merely keep us warm. They change the view of our world and the world’s view of us’. The art of twenty first century adornment
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Jean Paul Gaultier, Autumn/ Winter 2010-11, Vogue.co.uk
requires much more pondering than mere protection from the elements: Paris Hilton’s
fashion commitment to commando is a fine example appear to be an aesthetically abundant of this. The exteriority of your appearance, of Treasure Island. Rather, if you want a novel how you may adopt a lavish masquerade, is an way to look de rigueur, pick one up, or off intricately stitched hallmark of identity and the shelf. In a move of artistic exchange, the the historical moment. Woolf gives her own current crop of designers have championed Churchillian speech in the emphatic essay their fictive fashion faves on the catwalk. From ‘Three Guineas’: ‘The connection between Erdem’s modern day Miss Havishams, pale dress and war is not far to seek; your finest and interesting in their delicately frayed white clothes are those you wear as soldiers’. But lace, to Jean Paul Gaultier’s Forster inspired, Woolf’s style advice resonates more with ’Passage to India’ take on Bloomsbury, the the Parisian boulevards than fighting modish current fashion mood is pure poetry. rivals on the beaches. Backing a Couture So it would seem, in an ironic twist of fate, Coup d’etat, I concur with Woolf’s peaceful between the bindings of our enduring books, sartorial protest. True suffrage sense said we can find the styles that bind us. Remember she! In To The Lighthouse, Mrs Ramsay, the you’ve got to read at least a chapter; for the belle époque beauty, uses the dressing room nemesis of this piece is clearly guilty of that theatre as a space for aesthetic contemplation life- long faux pas – of judging a book by its and a ‘ceremony of choosing jewels’ - the right cover. jewels for her ‘black dress’. In her capsule holiday wardrobe Little Black Dress, Mrs Ramsay can be seen as the forebear to Breakfast at Tiffany’s Holly Golightly, the ultimate literary princess du jour, and icon in sixties sex appeal. Sombrely elegant in dark glasses, ‘a slim cool back dress, black sandals, a pearl choker’; Truman Capote’s melancholic social climber is a fashion deity in Lit Land. Lacking in pennies but adorned in pearls, her refined appearance is an inspiration to every cash-strapped, tight pocketed student on both sides of the pond. Style waits for no one. In The Road to Wigan Pier, Orwell (ever the big brother auteur) believes that no one’s purse strings are a barrier to living out a 1940s film noir fantasy: standing on a suburban street corner you too can look like ‘Clark Gable or Greta Garbo’. The communion between the pages of Vogue, and the pages of our classic novels, would
ERDEM, SPRING/SUMMER 2011. Vogue.co.uk
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illustrated lucy morris
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ené Gruau’s women were provocative yet elegant, modern yet timeless. It is these complex yet fascinating dichotomies which secured Gruau’s work as instantly enduring. Celebrating one of the most fruitful relationships in fashion, Somerset House invites us to view the product of René Gruau and the House of Dior’s friendship. ‘Dior Illustrated’ looks closely at Gruau’s beauty and fashion illustrations and their everlasting, unforgettable, era-defining splendour. Christian Dior and of René Gruau first met in 1936 while both working on the fashion desk of Le Figaro. Sharing an audacious design aesthetic, their partnership flourished with the launch of Dior’s first perfume, Miss Dior, in December 1947. This was just one season after Dior’s groundbreaking New Look collection, when Dior requested a series of ‘Miss Dior’ inspired illustrations. Renowned for capturing the post-war woman using bold lines, a fluidity of style, daring use of negative space and flat planes Gruau’s images
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vogue.co.uk
define the post-war approach to graphic design. ‘Gruau invented for Dior a completely new advertising style, which was sophisticated, daring and humorous’ said the curator, Vincent Leret. ‘He was the first one to break free of the product and rely on symbolic interpretations and enduring motifs – rather than simply drawing the bottles themselves’. The illustrations are symbols of what the Dior Woman is like in attitude, appearance and demeanour. Gruau sold a lifestyle rather than just a fragrance with his designs. The exhibition runs until 9th January 2011.
Twilight Sleep fashion
Taking style cues from Edith Wharton’s 1927 novel, opt for sheer fabrics and billowing shapes for a contemporary take on jazz age glamour ...it speaks easy....
Photography: Leah Jacques & Ella Campen/ Stylists: Lucy Morris & Alice Butler
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We thank Hope and Harlequin for donating the clothing, Lilly Lewis for the head dress and Brighton Ballrooms for the venue.
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aute umanitarianism
emma laboyrie
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s the majority o f the British population feel the biting effects of an economy in recession, shopping should be the last thing on our minds. While for some this is certainly the case as they skip the seasonal winter-wardrobe updates, others may indulge in crazy shopping sprees as a form of sartorial escapism. I would (perhaps rather foolishly) opt for the latter option. One can’t deny the short-lived therapeutic value of shopping. However, there might be a more plausible solution:
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It also supports me in for once feeling a genuine sense of humanitarianism as opposed to guilt after spending money.
the charity s h o p . Brighton in all its
humanitarian creed counts a total of 83 charity shops! And those who have but a few pennies to their name, or the sanctimonious souls who won't go out shopping unless it makes the world a better place, can find a haven in these humble establishments. Armed with a 20 pound note, I follow the painstakingly mapped charity shop trail which spans all the way from St James Street in Brighton to George Street in Hove. To
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set the bar a little higher, I have opted to hunt for smart (think: dinner or job interview) attire. Due to the cyclical nature of fashion I have no doubt that Oxfam or the British Heart Foundation will contain some hidden jewels amidst the scruffy, dusty granny clothes. And indeed first time lucky! In Sussex Beacon on St James Street I immediately single out a linen Marks & Spencer's suit. The skirt hasn't got much going for it, but the jacket has a beautiful cut, and with its subtle, nude tone, it’s a much sought after item this winter. For a mere £8.50, I score a blazer, which would have cost at least £60 pounds at market value, and if that’s not good enough, my purchase helps support men and women living with aids in Britain. It also supports me in for once feeling a genuine sense of humanitarianism as opposed to guilt after spending money. Finally, cheap chic thrills without crossing the Primark threshold! Optimistically I set forth to Hove’s George
Street. Rule number one for the virgin charity shopper: go to towns with a high concentration of wealth for generally more stylish, designer finds. Hove is thus my best bet in the quest of finding my envisaged ensemble. After a thorough inspection, and an awkward trying on session in the shop (in the company of three old ladies, and with a distinct curtain absence, I have to fight over limited mirror space in a show of immodesty) I once again make my way to the counter feeling quite the Good Samaritan. Spending a mere fiver on a camel coloured, high waisted pencil skirt, currently omnipresent in most high street stores; and the same note again on a nude blouse with bow detail, which will look great teamed the jacket. LJ with Proven that money goes a long way in charity shops, I have managed to stay within my budget, with even £1.50 to spare for a well-deserved coffee. Let’s just hope it’s fair trade.
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SOCIETY W atch Harry Yeates
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hen Margaret Thatcher claimed: kickboxing, I’d do it all again… ‘There is no such thing as It was Tuesday and I went to meet the society’ not only was she Anarchists. I was tempted to burst into their offending sociologists meeting, overturn a everywhere but few tables and shout: proving she had ‘Fight the Power’, but never been to the not entirely confident University of Sussex, my old-school brand where she would have of anarchy would be found a multitude of welcome, I refrained. wonderful societies I knew little about co-existing in perfect the group, what harmony. they stood for and In an attempt to prove what they hoped to just how much there achieve, and after is on campus beyond an hour I’m not sure academic study, I how much that had spent a couple of changed as there was glorious days as a a presumed level of serial society hopper anarchic knowledge a venture which in the I simply didn’t have. space of forty-eight The group was hours saw me try most highly intellectual for anyone considering things from peaceful and discussed the an evening of Buddhist meditation relationship between to bringing down Anarchist tradition ukulele, juggling, the human race as and Socialism and a zombie. I found a while I remain more and eliminating the new level of respect inclined to agree human race I would for Anarchists, wrote with centre-left prose with the pros at politics it was with seriously recommend the creative writing a new found respect clearing your mind of society, enjoyed that I left anarchy a brief stint as an behind. all other distractions unsuccessful ukulele With my head full beforehand... player and juggled, of revolutionary struggled and was generally befuddled at thoughts I marched over to the Creative the circus society. And if next week I wasn’t Writing society. Our first task was to planning on life drawing, cheerleading and continue one
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of two sentences; either: ‘A disturbance in this society was nothing new’ or ‘The uneasy silence was shattered by an explosion’. I chose the latter and wrote some nonsense about crystallising moments and permanent idling, it was all very pretentious and generic but the group more than compensated for my lack of creative flair. I found one contribution particularly moving as someone read a poem they had worked on which dealt with the heavy subject of Electroconvulsive therapy. Wednesday, and my day of intense social hobnobbing began with the tranquil calm of Buddhist meditation - there’s nothing like a bit of oooing and aaaring to help see in the day at half past two in the afternoon. My Dad is himself an Iyengar Yoga instructor and so I’m used to seeing people mould themselves into all kinds of interesting shapes in an attempt to find an elusive calm. But for anyone considering an evening of ukulele, juggling, and eliminating the human race I would seriously recommend clearing your mind of all other distractions beforehand, taking a deep breath and meditating Buddhist style. Feeling horizontally laidback, I meandered over to the ukulele society. Having (and I don’t use this world lightly) mastered the chorus of Bob Dylan’s ‘Hey Mr. Tambourine Man’ on the guitar, it was with an arrogant swagger that I rolled up to join the group. Sure I had never played the ukulele before and was using my flatmate’s children’s instrument, but I was in a non-judgmental zone and was, after all, very familiar with the works of George Formby. But ‘Cleaning Windows’ wasn’t going to help me now as we were taught, The Monkeys’: ‘I’m A Believer’; one thing I wasn’t by the end of a painstaking hour which taught me that the ukulele was meant for someone else but not for me. From the sublime to the even more sublime,
I hitched up my clown pants and followed the sound of fun and games. If I fail my degree, which is entirely plausible, then I would seriously contemplate running off and
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phoenixwritersclub.com
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feature
the over-time. I should probably stress that Sussex’s Circus Society does not at present offer these activities, but one can dream. For the time being my highlight was successfully juggling three balls. My lowlight; showing a remarkable ineptitude for the hoola-hoop while practising with an attractive lady and there is nothing less appealing then an un-coordinated hoola hooper let me tell you. And for my encore, armed only with a pair of socks (which is a legitimate weapon) I headed down to library square and joined a mass of eager zombie slayers, for what was to prove one of the strangest, most awe inspiring nights of my life. Before learning what side I was batting for, the zombies or the humans, house rules dictated I had a de.academic.ru nickname. I felt it needed to be understated but with an air of confidence and after much deliberation I decided on Poppa Smurf. I was told that, because I studied English at A-level, I was a zombie and so was left to give chase as mere mortals fled in every direction. After he had become ‘one of us’ I spoke to the founder of the Humans vs Zombies society who told me of the occupational hazards that go with the job. He had just recovered from throwing up after running into a wall and had in the past dislocated his thumb. Not to be outdone however, I watched on as one of the two remaining humans was left needing medical attention after running into a tree. It summed up the evening perfectly: wonderfully surreal. So there you have it, if you want to meet new and interesting people, learn new skills or just go to great lengths to avoid doing maintenance.ioffer.com anything which could be mistaken for work joining the circus. Every aspect of my circus towards a degree, then I can fully recommend ‘skills’ would need a lot of work but when submerging yourself in Sussex’s societies. work is breathing fire, lion taming and being more information on Sussex’s societies visit: www.ussu.info/ shot out of a cannon, I think I would put in For societies
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G etting active on
Silas Brown
T
he first whiff of political bisk hit me on my first dive into the Union. Walking past the jamboree of colourful stalls at the Freshers’ fair I stumbled across a more sober table, which turned out to be a hive for campaigning Socialists. This stood out far more than any beer-swilling, frisbee throwing, hemp-wearing society ever could and so I walked over, slightly apprehensive.
to this choon’, but even so, this was a hard conversation to have, especially with someone who truly cared about the answer. I turned a deep purple, and searched for any answer he might have wanted, then stumbled and stammered until the words “Equality…is so… good” came out of my mouth. Any credibility I’d pretended to have had disintegrated along with his pained expression, and, tail between
Tom Wills
I knew that Sussex was famously Left wing, and this was one of the main reasons I came, but I still had a couple of questions that I couldn’t quite work out. As I locked eyes with the man heading the stall he immediately bombarded me with questions about huge ideas of freedom, equality and poverty with a genuine pained expression upon his stubble stained face. It was refreshing to have a conversation that didn’t start with the words “Are you goin’ Oceana tonight?’, or ‘listen
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my quivering legs, I reignited the well trod ‘Oceana: pros and cons’ debate. Often Library Square re-bears itself into Speaker’s Corner, in which the alphabet of political opinion is broadcast to the alphabet of listeners. One event I saw was being held by the Socialist Workers’ Party. One can tell instantly that their speakers are more prepared and enthusiastic than most and, and although I don’t agree with some of their opinions, their passion is astonishing. An
politics
on campus older speaker leapt to the stage and started reeling off a list of individuals that he ‘hated’ or were ‘scum of the earth’. It was like rollcall’s evil, mangled twin. The only way I believed that Socialists could gain followings
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seem to be the only truly active idealists. They are the ones who see no need in fluffing their Society table in bright colours, they are the ones who campaign on Library Square and march through Westminster. But I’m
I turned a deep purple, and searched for any answer he might have wanted, then stumbled and stammered until the words “Equality…is so… good” came out of my mouth.
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was through education and enlightenment, and this was almost the opposite - simplifying and infantilising their causes. However, my opinions changed somewhat drastically after the national demonstration against the proposed education cuts. Having flyered for the event I had accrued a number of half-hearted and semi-listless ‘comrades’ like myself to rally with. On the train it was clear that not many of us knew much about it, apart from that they were raising the fees and that Cameron and Clegg were DEFINITELY wrong. As we dispersed into the throng of like-minded cluelessness we were similar to sheep being herded. The shepherds however - those leading the chants - were so energetic that in the space of half an hour we had gone from wanting to take pictures of Parliament, to wanting its members to be taken to the stocks. Something about being in a crowd, and shouting together is really powerful. It’s something you can’t find in the lecture halls, or in ‘Oceana’ for that matter. It’s active politics. The truth is that however brash or intimidating the Socialist contingent is they
wondering whether I got caught up in the active element and the romance of linking arms for a common cause, rather than the ideals.
Tom Harle
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make your voice heard F patrick dowson or those starting university, it’s easy to get caught up in the student bubble. You could spend your first year at Sussex without leaving the campus. And it’s easy to spend the rest of your degree in this bubble, at least to some extent. So it’s important to remember that student democracy plays a big part in the Sussex micro-society. Everything from the union’s environmental policy to what can be sold on campus is decided by students. It’s the bread and butter of university life. So how engaged are we? On Tuesday the 16th of November, the Annual General Meeting (AGM) was postponed as too few people came. A very unscientific focus group (some of my flatmates) suggested that while they wanted
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We must not forget that this is our university. It is nothing without us
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to get engaged in student politics, and saw the AGM as something they were interested in, they still didn’t make the meeting. To say it’s apathy misses the point and is a disservice to many students. Five hundred students from Sussex were on the cuts demonstration in London and 800 attended last years Emergency General Meeting (EGM) with 200 having to be turned away at the door for lack of space. The number needed for an AGM to take place is around 550 (10% of the student
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body). So it’s not like we don’t have enough students who are willing to put their time aside for political issues. Maybe this is a poor comparison. Perhaps a national protest on an issue that appeals to people on multiple levels is a more inviting proposition than an afternoon sitting on the
politics floor of Mandela Hall listening to the thrust and counter-thrust of a debate about the union budget. But in the AGM, your vote and contribution makes a direct difference to the running of the Union, while the protest – important though it was – was a message to a government who can listen or not as they choose. Furthermore, the legitimacy of a message to those in power – be it the government or the managerial staff at the university – is diminished when we come to these events in diminished numbers. We must not forget that this is our university. It is nothing without us. And we must exercise our power in the areas where we have it, by going to AGMs and other public meetings, by making student elections exciting, hardfought and well turned out, and by making our voices heard when we are not listened to. The union has power. It is on our side. And
the more we engage with it, the more it works for us. So what can you do? Well, for starters you could attend the AGM. It is rescheduled for Tuesday 23rd November, so if you’re reading this on the 24th then you’ve missed it for this year. You can also stand for an elected office; Reps are elected every October and Union Councillors soon after. There are full time, year long sabbatical positions which any student can stand for, which are chosen in the Spring Term – though if you’re not in your final year, you have to suspend your degree. There are also part-time sabbatical positions that do not require you to put a hold on your degree. This is your forum. Make yourself heard and vote. If any of this is of interest to you, visit www.sussexstudent.com/ democracy
Andrew Spratley
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