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dragmag
dragmag
“THE LONDON
Nobody (a n d every b o dy)
KNOWS” issue one
PORNO
• SUMMER 2011 •
JOHN WATERS VS. PAM HOGG
IN T E RIO R S
DESPERATE LIVI N G
L AMEBOOK
A N I N T E R VI E W
•
HOW TO SHOOT FOR
! r u o m Gla •
“A THRILLING SHOWDOWN OF STYLE!”
dragmag EDITOR AND PUBLISHER - Oskar Oprey
THANKS TO - Duggie Fields, Fergal Stapleton, Ryan
ART DIRECTION AND DESIGN - Henry Westcott
Davies, Paul Grist, Marianne Boesky Gallery, Adult
FASHION DIRECTOR - Kieran Partise
Channel, Simon Lindsay Honey, Viz Magazine, Goncalo
CONTACT US at dragmag.net
Velosa at House of Liza, Matthew Duffy, Elenore Desnos,
FASHION EDITORS - John William and Pam Hogg
the D1 team, Theresa Davies, Ella Coppock, Charles
PHOTOGRAPHERS - Lester Lyons-Hookham,
Isherwood, Adam Burrell, Kaori Mitsuyasu, Leah Mabe,
Anthony Luvera, David Richardson, Paul Knight,
Meme Kosaka, Yoshitaka Miyazaki, Atsushi Hayashi,
Jeff Hahn and Shot by Shooter
Luke Foy and Gillian Horsup
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS - Prachi Khandekar,
SPECIAL THANKS to Scott Morrison and the team
Scott Caruth, Graeme Kennedy, Travis Jeppesen,
at Diesel
Jo Shaw, Anthony Luvera and GMBTU Drummer
dragmag is published with support from Diesel
ILLUSTRATION Elliot Baggott and Martin Eden COVER ART Justin Hall
Additional artwork supplied by ‘Creative world of...’
PRINTED BY Scanplus Print Group
Paul Knight
Travis Jeppesen
Jeff Hahn
Paul Knight is a photographer and artist living in
Travis Jeppesen is the most famous American writer alive.
Jeff Hahn is a Swiss/Chinese photographer/artist
London. He typically works with couples, relationships
His books include Dicklung & Others, Wolf at the Door,
currently living in London. He has been depressed
and sex, both his own and other peoples, literally and
and Poems I Wrote While Watching TV. Travis Jeppesen
recently due to the realisation of the fact that he will
conceptually. He is always happy to discuss his various
is 15-years-old. Since 2006, he has lived in Berlin. In
probably never receive magical powers.
projects, whether you just want to hear more or to inquire
September 2011, he will move to London, where he
jeff-hahn.com
about getting involved. paulknight.com.au
hopes to go on the dole. disorientations.com
Martin Eden
Prachi Khandekar
Justin Hall
Martin has collaborated on tons of different indie comics
Prachi Khandekar is a writer. Although her schedule is
Justin Hall is an award-winning cartoonist living in
projects and also produced the award-nominated
sprinkled with far too many deadlines, she can always
the great city of San Francisco. He makes comics
supersoap The O Men. Recently, he’s been working on
find time for some disturbing doodles. Analyzing YSL’s
about everything from Bolivian blood ceremonies to
Spandex, about an all-gay superteam. The comic was
impish personifications has helped her accept her own
schizophrenic Swiss women to super trannies to horny
nominated for an Eagle Award, and you can find it at
unsettling sketches. Still, to be safe, she will have them all
pirates. allthumbspress.com
spandexcomic.com
destroyed as part of her will.
David Richardson
John William
Jo Shaw
I often go on vigilante adventures to smelly dives at night.
John William is a stylist and the editor of Pigeons &
Jo Shaw epitomizes super cute radical Glasgow; a
Snatching the souls of characters too wasted or too busy
Peacocks magazine. Here are some of his favourite
veritable media figurehead with a multi-faceted theatre-
to know I’m there. Using my camera as another excuse to
things: Elizabeth Duke jewellery, siamese cats, yellow
maker art factory corporate twist. She likes cats,
go even further. Looking for whatever makes people tick
hair, Divine, teen witches, 90’s tumblrs, Versace jeans,
reclaimed spaces, “Asia Style”, hiking, performativity,
along but ultimately tumbling home, a bit smelly, alone.
Liberace, Liza, Dolly, blue eyeshadow, zig zag perms...
feminist theory, radical education and her friends,
A bit like batman on the lash.
anything a bit too camp really. pucemoment.com
cardigans, A.Dworkin and ‘smashing the system’.
anotherdavidrichardson.com
Mainly cats. Send your fan letters/hate mail to Scott Caruth
joannakateshaw@gmail.com
Twenty year old artist from Glasgow who spends most of his time wanking and crying over the communist manifesto.
† dragmag issue one †
MUFFLED DESIRES SEALED WITH A STITCH SHE POISES HER LITHE FIGURE
Meet Lulu; self-assured, charmingly perverse and an
were years of intense agony for him. As a drudge, his
IN FRONT OF THE MIRROR
out-and-out narcissist. Her mornings are devoured by the
opinions, like delicate fabrics, had to be neatly folded
AND SMILES. THE IMAGE OF
hours spent in front of that mirror. She dresses simply to
and stacked away in a dark closet. Soon, the repression
YOUTH IN THIS SILVER BACKED
defer the instant when she will undress again, always
pressed so hard that it had to be released; like a drawn
PLANE IS SO IRIDESCENT, SHE
under the content gaze of her reflection. She’s a rare
out sigh, his constrained subconscious flowed out with
IS MESMERIZED. SHE PATIENTLY
creature, but like many, her rituals reveal her philosophy.
the tri-coloured inks onto paper. The unsettling 10-year-
EXAMINES THE STRANDS
She can shed reality like a robe and slip effortlessly into
old girl came into being. She was charged with every
STRUNG AROUND HER FACE LIKE
a personal reverie. You might think it strange to have
forbidden impulse he could think up. Vanity, sadism,
A CURTAIN OF SILK. A SLIDE OF
such unfaltering love for oneself. Without a doubt, it’s
fetishism and hedonism; her life was laced with the
THE GAZE AND HER SWOOPING
quite bizarre. Maybe Lulu needs help. How does she
colours of all the dresses he painstakingly sewed.
CURVES HAVE ALREADY
carry on with life despite this consuming vanity?
INSPIRED A FAMILIAR GAME.
With each muffled desire sealed with a stitch, Lulu’s
ONCE AGAIN, SHE STUDIES HER
Don’t be alarmed. Lulu only lives her self-indulgent life on
personality sharpened a little more, until she became
BODY SCRUPULOUSLY TO TEST
paper, that too in a restricted colour palette of red, white
the most perverse little girl in the world. Knowing that
WHETHER FAMILIARITY HAS
and black. A whimsical tone infuses the events of her
she’s young and likely to be misunderstood, she’s up front
SUBVERTED ITS RAPTUROUS
life. It ensures that her conceit and love for excess can
about what it is that she likes. She likes making lewd
QUALITY. BUT HABIT NEVER
only coil back onto themselves; that her potent vanity will
gestures, she watches as they instantly transform into
DULLS HER FASCINATION; THE
never trickle into the world of reality. Don’t be alarmed
crinkles on the brows of on looking prudes. Her favorite
GAME IS PREDICTABLE. TODAY
indeed, the audacious personality of Lulu exists only
reading material is full of engaging imagery. She loves
TOO, THE RESULT IS THE SAME
amongst the pages of a comic book.
sharing this reading routine with her pet white rat, who
AS EVERY DAY BEFORE – SHE’S
usually scampers between her thighs before settling
STILL QUITE EXQUISITE. A
Little Lulu, star of the comic La Vilaine Lulu, took her first
VOYEUR OUT OF EARSHOT
breath in the mind of young Yves Saint Laurent while
WOULD CATCH HER MOUTHING
he was working for Dior. It’s widely held that these
down. Together, they read Playboy – every issue.
Lulu endorses full-blown hedonism and like Nabokov’s
THE WORDS “WHAT A DREAM!”
An essay by Prachi Khandekar
008
Lolita sports an insatiable appetite for tasty delicacies.
her fantasies to torture her peers while he simply endured
Although she succumbs to her own primal urges, it is
the mockery of his fellow classmates. Her opinions persist
unacceptable for others to indulge like her. Lulu believes
until they are heard, while he dutifully follows the orders
that there is no beauty without suffering. In her massage
given to an atelier assistant. Her prepubescent raciness
parlour, a brief business venture, she allocates her young
and narcissism could never have flourished in a timid
clients into groups. Bulbous bellied brats to the right and
boy from an esteemed pied-noir household. She was
petit sprigs to the left. She has a special treatment in
definitely not him. She was every impulse he had had
store for each. The twigs are force-fed like docile ducks
along the way, the manifestation of every rebellion that
prepping to turn into fatty delicacies. The bellied brats,
had failed to find culmination. She was not him, yet he
on the other hand, are pulverized by jumbo wrestlers,
was bursting with her.
emerging with soft and thin bodies. Soon enough, the parlour is filled with cries as Lulu grins at her helpless
On one fateful day as the assistants at Dior played dress
clients. The pages of this comic nestle many other
up after work, Saint Laurent saw her clearer than ever
devastating vignettes of infantile sadism.
before. As a joke, a colleague emerged donned in a red tutu, black top and a canotier hat. He was struck, this
On Easter, it results in the death of all her classmates.
was Lulu vivified. Soon, she had slipped onto the pages
Lulu, in giddy anticipation, starts her preparations by
of a notebook so he could get her out of his mind once
stealing eggs from a barn. She ruthlessly kicks mother
and for all. But her brazen spirit left behind footprints he
chickens out of the way and watches the eggs rot away
could never erase. On days when a needle piercing the
for a day. Each egg is then dressed with utmost care
most exquisite fabric reminded him of an inescapable
until it glows with a vile variety of festive love. On Easter
monotony, he thought of her and the way she might poise
morning, she enters town on a cart drawn by dogs with
her lithe figure in front of the mirror and smile.
her beautiful creations stacked precariously behind her. Soon, she is surrounded by outstretched hands and drooling mouths. Ladies from the local charity beam as they watch thier happy children eat their rotten treats. But alas, within minutes these children are writhing in pain. Only Lulu doesn’t seem to grasp the tragedy, she declares ‘It is I who has caused such happiness’ while her peers draw their last breaths. Even amongst their graves, she can’t help but dance with joy.
Saint Laurent layers his character with lavish dollops of dishonorable traits. His wit is then sprinkled on in the form of a covert graphic language. At first glance, the reader is beguiled; the illustrations resemble childish doodles. He takes every precaution to distance himself from Lulu, even stating in the foreword that his intention with the comic should not be confused with that of Flaubert, who proclaimed readily: Madame Bovary, c’est moi! No, Lulu is not him. He is definitely not lulu. She acts out
009
† dragmag issue one †
a collage by the ‘creative world of...’ using original source material by Yves Saint Laurent
010