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POLITE REBEL

After over two decades in the fashion industry, Kris Van Assche felt that it was a good time to reflect on his trajectory as a designer. In his new book, titled straightforwardly Kris Van Assche: 55 Collections, the Belgian creator presents a rich archive of his work across his namesake label and his tenures as a creative director for heritage houses of Dior Homme and Berluti. Throughout his career, Van Assche established a signature menswear aesthetic built around the tension between old-world elegance and modern streetwear sensibility. The publication closely follows his growth as a creative and gives an in-depth look into his mind - from introductions explaining the starting point of his collections and construction details behind some of his defining silhouettes to a selection of era-defining imagery from campaigns and editorials. Ahead of the book's release, we spoke to Van Assche about the emotional aspect of presenting a very honest chronological document of his career, the biggest risk he took as a designer and prioritizing pleasure in his future steps.

1998 Press clipping Graduation show

Your book opens up with an image from your first communion. What passions were occupying your mind at that age?

 I was six at that time. I’m not sure I really had passions back then. I’m an only child and was basically quite solitary. I used to spend hours in my room drawing and ‘making’ stuff. I was already aware I did not fit the ‘traditional male stereotype’ mould, but did not yet know how I would react towards that. I was definitely not a member of my hometown’s football team. It was only around 12 or 13 that I realized working in fashion would be my goal in life.

BERLUTI FW18 CAMPAIGN by JAMIE HAWKESWORTH & styling MAURICIO NARDI

 The publication is filled with amazing documentation of your life. What were the emotions that you were feeling while putting it together?

 I had never really looked back so much on my own archives, as I am a strong believer a designer is only as good as his next collection. So making this book turned out to be quite an emotional roller coaster. On the creative side, quite naturally, there are certain collections I am now less fond of than others, and I initially did not plan to put them all in the book. In the end, I realized my collections are like an ongoing story, where one leads to the other, so the book became a very honest chronological document of my career. My best memories are those of collaborating with people I admire or love. Listing all the artists and photographers in this book would be quite a challenge, and I feel very lucky.

KVA FIRST RUNWAY FW05

 Which part of conceptualizing the book turned out to be the most surprising or eye-opening experience for you?

 I very much enjoyed discovering the quotes from collaborators and artists we interviewed for the book. Each of those 55 collections has a small introduction text of mine, but it is great to read other people’s testimonies on those same collections, photoshoots, and events from their point of view. Dior’s President Sidney Toledano remembers an event very differently than my dad, and Rami Malek or A$AP Rocky had yet another very different experience. To have collaborators on shows like sound designer Frédéric Sanchez explain inspirations or technical challenges, or show producer Etienne Russo (Villa Eugenie), gives an unexpected dimension to those pages. Also, when I met with M/M (Paris) to discuss the graphic design of the book, I had a few vague ideas on what the inside of the book could look like, but not a single clue for the cover. How could I possibly select an image to be the cover of a book holding over 2500? Pick one, while the book covers 3 brands? When they came back with the cover as it looks now, with 3 portraits of mine taken by Paolo Roversi at very different moments in my career, of course, I was very surprised. They felt this best translated that I am what links the book. I slept on it for a few nights, and then accepted. [Laughs]

DIOR FW14 CAMPAIGN WILLY VANDERPERRE & styling OLIVIER RIZZO

“Making this book turned out to be quite an emotional roller coaster.”

 

Reading the introduction, I learned that you used to be a rebellious teenager. Would you say that you still have that streak in you today?

 I like to think I was a “polite rebel”, and I still am.

 

You’ve worked within two houses with a strong sense of heritage - what did you find thrilling about creating within the context of their rich histories?

 When I was appointed creative director at Dior in 2007, I was already in charge of my label I founded in 2004. So already for that reason, it would not have made any sense to turn Dior into Kris Van Assche. I have always aimed for Dior to be “very Dior”, but in a contemporary manner. How can the DNA of a women’s Haute Couture house from 1947 translate into a menswear ready-to-wear label for today? I have always loved that challenge. It is creatively speaking incredibly stimulating, and for that a very different exercise than I was doing at my brand. There are some interesting reflections in the book on how I balanced the influence of sportswear within the house its President wanted to maintain high end. Also, I do not believe people have an idea of the amount of incredible archive pieces the house Dior possesses. It literally is a goldmine for any designer. And in that sense very different from Berluti, where the heritage is – aside from one iconic shoe – mostly about leather craft and know-how. The lack of DNA on ready-to-wear at Berluti offered a lot of freedom but imposed a very different way of working. The handcraft, the degree of quality and luxury are such that they became an inspiration on their own. I very much like the collections I designed for Berluti, as they are technically speaking the most challenging I made, while the silhouette, the “Berluti man” feels close to the one I presented at my Kris Van Assche brand.

KVA SS14 CAMPAIGN ALESSIO BOLZONI & styling MAURICIO NARDI

 

Looking back at your career over the years, what were the biggest risks you took as a designer?

 The biggest risk I took was definitely to launch my own brand, while I had the assistant job many envied me [for]. That’s what got it all started, that’s where this book begins.

 

DIOR FIRST PRESENTATION 2007

In one of your recent interviews, you said that exploring contrasts is key to your practice. What are the tensions that you find yourself drawn to these days?

 Anders Christian Madsen, who wrote the introduction of my book, described my work as being rooted in “old-world beauty”. I like that idea. There is definitely a challenge in making that notion work for today’s reality. In 2005, that was a pinstriped three-piece suit with baggy trousers and white sneakers. Today, it is quite a bit more complicated than that. I play around with that idea a lot in my head.

 

You’ve been taking time off since leaving Berluti. Do you feel the urge to return to fashion full-time? If so, what do you envision as your next chapter?

 I do not have a precise definition of what I want to do next. If not that I want the project to be clear, no hidden agenda. I am awaiting the right proposal to come along, be that a little impatiently. I have worked long enough to smell an unbalanced situation from a distance, and I have refused a few. This book is about 3 very different work situations in fashion: the independent label, the high-end global brand, and the more confidential “luxury pearl”. I took pleasure in working for them all. Pleasure is definitely at the top of my list for what is next.

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55 collections by Kris Van Assche

Interview by Martin Onufrowicz

A FIZZY TAKE ON SPRING ‘24

 Ever since starting his Instagram account back in 2021, @socks_house_meeting has quickly risen to prominence as the guru of dissecting gentrification tropes and a humorous fashion archetypes commentator whose newly-coined terms and incredibly niche references always hit the nail on the head. Whether it’s Kiko ballerina gorlies, Wales Bonner football twinks with scarfs over their heads or vintage Gucci Monica Bellucci-lookalikes, the elusive arbiter elegantiarum has seen them on the streets of the style capitals and examined their every move. As the menswear fashion week came to a close, we asked sock to give us his unique take on some of our favourite collections from Milan and Paris:

Intro by Martin Onufrowicz

IN CONSTRUCTION

After connecting over similarities in their aesthetics and having an inspiring discussion earlier this year in Brussels, photographer Gerardo Vizmanos and fashion designer Cyril Bourez knew that it was time to work in tandem. Looking at the notion of construction - both in terms of the process of making the garments and the creation of self as an individual - the duo collaborated with talented dancer and model Wilchaan Roy Cantu on a series of dynamic images that evokes the thrilling juxtaposition between tension and serenity.

To celebrate the project’s premiere on Behind The Blinds, we spoke to Bourez and Vizmanos about their collaborative process, working with Wilchaan and the beauty in ambivalence.

How did you first meet and what drew you to collaborating together on this project?

 Cyril Bourez: I discovered Gerardo’s work on Instagram and I think I was at some point compulsively liking all his pictures when he wrote to me saying he could see some similarities in our aesthetics and that if at some point we could create the opportunity, he would be open to working together. I was thrilled! In March, we met in Brussels because Gerardo was shooting in Belgium and started to discuss what is important for us in our practice, images and the idea of intimacy, and how would it be possible to create a series of images together. A few days later, Gerardo sent me a concept for the shoot and by a very beautiful coincidence, it was exactly the idea I was working on for my next collection: showing work in process, in construction, an atelier. So it was clear we had to make it happen.

What do you admire about each other's work?

Gerardo Vizmanos: I admire Cyril´s ability to express his personality in his fashion work. I see elements of construction working with lines, colours and fabric, as well as elements of deconstruction questioning some stereotypes that make his work very dynamic and interesting with garments that are very wearable. I see many things I´d feel very comfortable wearing.

 

CB: I admire Gerardo’s work because I find it complete - the ambivalence of it makes it complete. For me, every picture he takes stands for itself. It doesn’t need anything else, no text, no context. I find his sense of composition very strong, his ways to play with the body very smart, and his vision of intimacy very subtle. Also, I believe his work is not romanticising intimacy - that makes his pictures very modern.

What is the concept behind this series of photographs?

GV: The central idea was the notion of “construction”. The concept of the self on individuals and how it’s constructed is very central to my photography work and we used this idea of construction as part of a process as a reference. We talked about forensic documentation of a process as a way to make a personal reading of a garment - sketches, fabrics, sections, body and movement as elements to find the connecting dots between Cyril´s and my work. 

What are the emotions or mood that you wanted to evoke with the images?

GV: My emotions. I always try to find my own emotions when I work on a shoot. In this particular one, there was an element of objectification of the model who was seen as a sketch, but making him a subject as well. While shooting these images, I was thinking about how a line or sketch can bring emotions later when they are transformed into a garment. In the same way, I was focused on the lines of the model to search for emotions.

 

CB: We wanted the pictures to be ambivalent. In a way, there’s the idea of the study: of the body, of the garment making; almost something descriptive, like a drawing. But there’s also the incarnation, Wilchaan as a person and the emotions he triggered in us. The gestures and compositions carry these different filters, and the series plays with this ambivalence of the narrative.

 

Why did you want to work with Wilchaan on this project?

GV: Wilchaan is an amazing dancer and someone with whom many photographers would surely love to work with. I often work with dancers and I´ve been in contact with Wilchaan for a while. Both his skills as a dancer and his extraordinary artistic personality were very interesting to me. His dance and expression combine the intensity and kindness I always want to show in my images. My work often requires forced positions and tension on the models, and that quality of kindness that Wilchaan has and his features are great for creating photos with the balance between calm and tension I want to express my ideas.

…

Interview by Martin Onufrowicz

Photography by Gerardo Vismanos

Fashion research by Cyril Bourez

Featuring Wilchaan Roy Cantu

CLOSE-UP

“SPONTANEOUS, CRAFTED AND STRUCTURAL” - THAT’S HOW THE FRENCH FASHION DESIGNER CHARLES DE VILMORIN DESCRIBES THE NEW COLLECTION HE JUST PRESENTED DURING THE HAUTE COUTURE WEEK AT MAISON BACCARAT IN PARIS. ONCE AGAIN, DE VILMORIN’S HANDMADE PIECES REFLECT THE SIGNATURE WORK CENTRED AROUND THE SHAPES AND COLOURS WHICH EMBODY THE UNIVERSE HE BUILDS WITH HIS FASHION.

EARLIER THIS WEEK, WE HAD THE PLEASURE TO MEET WITH CHARLES AND ASK HIM A FEW QUESTIONS ABOUT THE LATEST COLLECTION. 

Where do the figures that appear on many pieces come from? 
I have always drawn a lot and I wanted to reintegrate this aspect into my work. More specifically, the faces of the figures in the collection are references to the work of the Belgian painter James Ensor that I like a lot.  

 

How did you design these pieces and what do they symbolise? 
I see this collection as a group of aliens coming to repopulate the Earth after the end of this chaotic world. It’s a pretty instinctive collection made in an artisanal way. Many of the pieces are handmade and hand-painted - for me, that's what couture is all about. 

 

How do you see your work evolving?
I don't ask myself this question much, I just do it as sincerely as I can and so much the better if it continues to evolve.

Interview and photography by Hanna Pallot

FOR YOUR EYES ONLY

Alex La Cruz, New York-based photographer and director known for his daring imagery, says that his latest project Shot Just For You is a way to redefine the ever-changing sphere of adult content. On the newly-launched membership streaming website, La Cruz collaborated on a collection of 50 highly stylized and intimate erotic films and photo series with a wide range of creatives - from adult performers such as Igor Kolomiyets or our good friend Sean Ford, to burlesque star Gia Genevieve and fashion models Owen Lindberg and Charlie Himmelstein.

To celebrate the launch of the platform, we had a quick chat with Igor (who appears in 10 hot videos on the page) about the scene he found the most exciting to shoot,  his favourite kinks, and changes he would like to see in today’s porn industry.

Why did you want to work with Shot Just for You? What do you like about this concept?

I wanted to work with Alex because it seemed like a new, innovative and fun way to create adult content.

Which scene did you find the most exciting to shoot?

I really enjoyed the scene where I had glitter poured all over my body - I felt like a superstar in the night sky, and that I was sexy, cute and hot. 

“I really enjoyed the scene where I had glitter poured all over my body - I felt like a superstar in the night sky, and that I was sexy, cute and hot.”

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What type of porn do you like to watch the most and why?

I like learning, so porn that has educational value where I discover something I haven’t known before is always fascinating to watch. 

What are your favourite kinks?

Being a Dominatrix, a Queen, and being treated like her Royal Majesty. 

What changes would you like to see in the porn industry as it currently stands today?

More mainstream media acceptance, the erosion of judgement and an increase in acceptance and approval. Validation and realization that pornstars are not only human beings, but also that their work is not taboo. It is simple, acceptable, elegant and known to all, rather than hidden and treated as something negative. I’d like to see pornstars be observed in the same way as someone enjoying a cup of coffee, delivering french fries, or tending to their garden. I’d like to see especially the modelling industry stop being so judgemental of pornstars and pretending as if they are unworthy of being fashion models just because they engage in the very human act that is at the basis of every porn scene. 

Who’s the hottest pornstar of all time?

Allen from Sean Cody circa 2014. 



You can now join the Shot Just For You platform here.

Interview by Martin Onufrowicz

Inside / Backstage at La Cambre Mode[s] 22

ACCELERATING CHANGE

When last year Glenn Martens became the creative director of the naughty Italian fashion house Diesel, he knew that he wanted to continue the brand’s legacy of boldly standing against the injustices faced by the LGBTQ+ community. Bringing this sentiment of inclusion to the forefront, the designer decided to partner with the Tom of Finland Foundation - an organization devoted to preserving and collecting the works of queer artists, founded by the legendary illustrator and his partner, Durk Dehner - and The Community art centre on an exhibition titled ‘AllTogether’. 

The show, which opens in Paris on the 8th of May (exactly 102 years since the birth of Tom of Finland), features an incredible selection of works by queer artists from the foundation’s permanent collection, presented for the first time outside of Los Angeles - Tank, Al Urban, Emma Kohlmann and Florian Hetz are only a few names from the exhibition’s extensive line-up. To celebrate the launch of ‘AllTogether’, we spoke with Martens about the foundation’s dedication to remembrance and Diesel’s socially-engaged vision.

How did the idea for the ‘AllTogether’ exhibition come about?

Diesel has been talking about sustainability and hot social topics since the 90s, all with a signature ironic tone of voice. When I joined Diesel, I also wanted to be part of the values of the brand: on the product side, we started working towards stronger sustainability, and when it comes to social sustainability, I thought that collaborating with the foundation could have accelerated the topic of sexual acceptance. The Tom of Finland Foundation and The Community have curated all the aspects of the exhibition, and our role has been to give a platform to these important institutions, as they have been an example for the community for such a long time. We are extremely honoured and proud to give our support to Durk and ToF and celebrate this together.


Why is the foundation created in Tom’s name important to you? 

It’s a symbol of community, acceptance and the feeling of togetherness: on top of collecting amazing art, the foundation has worked extremely hard in the past to support queer artists during difficult times - when marginalized young gay people were dying by themselves. Thanks to this work, many artists found a way of talking through art,  and also a safe shelter: even in more recent times, the foundation hosted persecuted artists which could not be themselves in their own countries or in their own society, providing them with a safe place through the art, but also physically with residencies and fighting alongside them for gay rights. 

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“The Tom of Finland Foundation is a symbol of community, acceptance and the feeling of togetherness: on top of collecting amazing art, it has worked extremely hard in the past to support queer artists during difficult times - when marginalized young gay people were dying by themselves.”

 In what ways does the work of the foundation reflect the vision that you have for Diesel?

The foundation is an incredible example of remembrance: it’s actually the work of many generations of activists and artists who have helped creating in a certain part of the society a  place of acceptance to remind people that the emancipation of the LGBTQ+ community has not been an easy job. Diesel can bring this very same message of inclusion, it’s part of its founding values from the very beginning. The first time I ever saw a gay couple making out, for example, was in a Diesel advertising campaign. In the 90s, the brand advocated for causes  like gay rights or anti-racism, back when they were subjects that few were talking about. Today, being at the helm of a global brand like Diesel means being aware of the responsibilities the role brings: it’s not just about making beautiful clothes anymore, but also about being engaged in society, making sure you can accelerate the change you want to see.


‘AllTogether’ by Tom of Finland Foundation and The Community, supported by Diesel, is open from 8.05 to 26.06 in Paris.

Interview by Martin Onufrowicz

DESIRE FOR OPENNESS

In an intro to his latest book ‘With Love from Russia’, queer artist Vlad Zorin says that ‘photography has always been a way for me to express my thoughts about sexuality, but for a long time, I wasn’t able to talk about it—I felt too embarrassed and shy.’ For Zorin, who was born in Chelyabinsk (a city in the west of Russia), the project became a way to overcome this mental barrier, which was born out of growing up in a conservative society where talking about sex is taboo and being open about your identity can often lead to discriminating attitudes. 


The publication, created in collaboration with curator Andrey Lopatin, consists of sixteen candid interviews with young men from around the country, followed by a confession from Zorin. The subjects, both queer and heterosexual, reveal honestly their first sexual discoveries, explorations, relationships and unfulfilled fantasies in discussions where no topics are off-limits. That unashamed level of openness is equally palpable in the accompanying images taken by Zorin, where the interviewees are captured in various states of undress in intimate domestic settings.


In a Behind The Blinds exclusive, Zorin shares with us confessions from two guys he met over the course of working on his publication, Lesha and Nikita:

LESHA  

20 years old, Moscow  

I didn’t go to kindergarten. Instead of school, I played professional hockey. I don’t remember my first kiss and, due to my tight schedule, I had no dating life as a teenager. Even with sports, I didn’t ever have any sexy stories with other guys in the locker room or something like that. In my family, we never discussed sex, except for the one time when my mom told me to “cut the fucking crap, and use condoms”.  

I learned how to kiss by kissing squashes, and mangos taught me how to eat girls out. This is the best, and I just love going down on girls! I don’t think there’s anyone better than me in this city when it comes to eating pussy.  

I’ve kissed guys, like two... wait, three... wait, four times! The most memorable was kissing at an open-air festival, the first big party after the lockdown. Some super hard techno was playing and we were kissing in the middle of a crowd. I really liked it.

  There was one story in my life that I’ll never forget. In Berlin, towards the end of a party in Berghain, I met up with this cool crowd,  and they offered to set up an orgy. There were ten of us—five guys and five girls. We went to a girl’s place, and in the middle of a huge, bright room, everyone presented their negative HIV tests. Everything happened right there.  Cool music, amazing lighting, and our bodies, beautifully intertwined. I  was so tall and skinny and I felt embarrassed because all the other guys were athletic. I kept going over that night in my head later, remembering who had done what to me and where I had stuck things.  

I had no sexual experience with guys after this, except for a  couple of kisses with a friend. I can fall in love with boys, but I can’t be in a relationship with them, at least, not yet. However, I liked the atmosphere of that night in Berlin. I don’t want to live based on whatever the norms of the day are. Now I’m open to everything. Let’s see what happens next.  

I don’t have curtains in my apartment, and there’s another window facing mine. I walk around the house naked and I love it. 

 

• EXPERIENCE  

15-20 partners  

• STYLE  

I’ve developed a strategy I call “hard but soft”, and I’m thinking of  having a personal show on Instagram, teaching how to satisfy  absolutely anyone 

• FAVORITE POSITION  

Sideways 69, or doggy style if I want to cum like a king, but in general,  I love all sorts of positions and their combinations  

• DURATION OF SEX  

From five minutes to an hour. Recently I had some beers with a friend  and we got so tired after 40 minutes of making out that we just  decided to stop and go to bed  

• MASTURBATION  

From three times a day at maximum to every other day. A couple of  times I jerked off right in the school class, but I think I didn’t cum  

• SEX WITH GUYS  

I want to try, but I won’t force things  

• CONDOMS  

I was recently given an unusual condom as a gift from London. It came in a cool package which fits nicely in my pocket. If a girl’s on the  pill and we’re both healthy, I’d rather go without condoms, but  otherwise, it’s too risky  

• LUBE  

Coconut oil is the best option, it doesn’t dry out or affect allergies 

 • SEX TOYS  

I love to improvise with a belt or a rope, or spanking with a slipper, but  real sex toys are boring  

• ORAL SEX  

I haven’t given a blowjob yet, but some guys blew me at the orgy  

• GROUP SEX  

I want to do it again. I recently suggested it at a house party, but  everyone flaked, said they hadn’t shaved, and needed to go home

  • FANTASY  

On the roof of a skyscraper, wearing the latex suit from the first  season of American Horror Story with a Mexican girl I once saw in a streetcar  

• CARTOON FANTASIES  

Kim Possible, and Bender from Futurama  

• CHILDREN  

I dream of being a father, and I want two girls  

NIKITA  

21 years old, St. Petersburg  

My childhood or adolescence memories, and even many recent memories are rather blurry. My sexuality definitely evolved gradually. I  clearly remember that in the first grade I made glass bead rings and gave them to girls, and in the second grade, I kissed a girl at an after school class. It was not until a few years later that I realised I liked guys.  

My parents broke up when I was very young. I grew up with my mother and I was lacking a lot of things. I consider my childhood very difficult and far from happy. I’ve never had a close relationship with my mother, and she still doesn’t know I’m gay.  

I had no love or sex life until recently. Back in school, I watched everyone around me dating each other, but there was nothing like that in my life. In Russia, when you realise you’re gay, you also realise you can’t take the initiative with any guy you like—most likely, you won’t understand each other. There were no gay guys in my environment, and  I didn’t even know how to meet a guy. But I was not particularly interested in it then. But I did have sexual fantasies about guys from my school class, and I started to masturbate to porn when mom started leaving me home alone.  

Even in community college, I only looked at guys I like and had sex with them in my imagination. I knew they had girlfriends. It was only after college that I realised I wanted sex and should try dating guys. I  started meeting guys through an app, but I was so scared that several times I agreed to meet up, arrived at the spot, immediately turned around and went home. I tried my best.  

The first date I didn’t flake on, turned out chaotic. We didn’t even kiss and then I didn’t go on dates for another six months, I was just too stressed. But later on, I kept trying because I still wanted love and sex,  and gradually the fear went away. I simply realised that you can always exit early.  

My first relationship (it seems I’m the only one of us two who considers it a relationship) started on Hornet. We met six months after the first text. Before that, we kept would stop texting for a while and forget about each other’s existence. At first, he really wanted to meet up and was quite pushy about it, and then, when I was ready, he wrote,  “Stop texting me, I met a wonderful guy. It’s too late and we’ll never  meet.” I was upset that I was flaky about it for so long and things didn’t work out. I texted him, “Okay, good luck,” but I thought to myself that a month later he would text me again. And so it happened. Truth be told, after that there was another month before we actually met up.  

We met in February, it was Friday the 13th. I came over, and I wasn’t anxious at all, after all the texting it seemed that we had known each other for a long time. He was 33 and I was 21, and for me, it turned out to be quite a small age gap. He made a delicious dinner, we talked, watched a movie and ate popcorn. Everything was great, I stayed for the night and we had sex.  

He announced it right away that he wasn’t looking for a relationship and only met with guys for one or two dates. But with me,  he wanted to keep going. And I felt that was my man from our very first date. We started seeing each other regularly, but I can’t say what kind of relationship we have and I don’t know what will happen next. Will meet with him next week. I hope so, but it may not work out.  

I’m not quite sure what I want myself... I like this person, but I’ve always known that I have my own friends, and I’m not ready to live with him. I can imagine how our family life would go, and I definitely don’t want that. Maybe I like this rollercoaster, this lack of reliability, this inaccessibility. Maybe I don’t want a relationship at all. It’s complicated.  

Overall, I’m okay with being gay in Russia. I have friends like me,  and with them, I feel very liberated. But I don’t discuss this issue with most people—for me, it’s an intimate topic. I’ve always accepted myself as I am, I’m just very cautious.  

• EXPERIENCE  

20 partners, but these were mostly blowjobs, I’ve only had actual sex  inside my one romance  

• STYLE  

I like it softer  

• FAVORITE POSITION  

Any position is good with a person you love  

• DURATION OF SEX  

    Long, 20 minutes on average, but I can have it several times in a row  

• MASTURBATION  

Between once a week and three times a day  

• SEX WITH GIRLS  

Never wanted to try  

• CONDOMS  

I’ve never bought condoms in my life, I don’t know much about them, and I was very pleased that my boyfriend decided to take care of this.  But I always use them, because once I tried to go without one, when  the guy said that he was clean, but it turned out he wasn’t all that clean (I was fine, but I felt cheated on)  

• LUBE  

Yes  

• SEX TOYS  

My boyfriend had a dildo, we tried to use it, but I like it better without it  

• GROUP SEX  

I’ve never had it and I don’t want to, I’m a one-man guy  

• FANTASY  

To repeat all the best things that have already happened  

• KISSING VEGETABLES  

Never did it, but sometimes I train on my arm or a pillow  

• FIRST KISS  

Some time back in kindergarten  

• FIRST ORGASM  

At the age of 13, I was watching porn on my computer, then I was like,  “Wow, what’s all this white stuff?”  

• KIDS  

I need to figure out my own life before that 

‘With Love from Russia’ is available now at Les Mots à la Bouche in Paris and online.

Words by Martin Onufrowicz

DARK ANGEL

“I took time away to figure out who I was, because I didn’t like all of the projections put on me that were starting to stick, and now I feel like I’ve gone back to the girl I was in the beginning, who I really am.”

Romanian-born, Montreal-raised, Irina Lazareanu - a former Ballerina-turned queen of the runway, was the fashion tornado dominating catwalks for the likes of Chanel, Dior, Marc Jacobs and Versace in the 2000s. She became muse to Karl Lagerfeld, and shot to stardom captured by photographers including Steven Meisel and Miles Aldridge. BFF’s with Kate Moss, she also toured with the Babyshambles (while being romantically linked to frontman Pete Doherty), and wrote an album with Sean Lennon.

Now a Mother to son River, the poet and lyricist who still possesses a certain je-ne-sais-quoi, has penned her first book, ‘Runway Bird’, decoding rock ’n’ roll’s love affair with style, while also revealing some true “I was there” fashion and music moments, with all the magical people she met along the way.

We wanted to get a feel for who Irina really is, beyond the gaze of the tabloids and “It-girl” labels of the past, and immediately when talking over the phone, you can feel the genuine warmth of her personality radiating over the speaker.

© Irina Lazareanu archives

So tell me how the idea for the book came about?

 I left home when I was quite young and had been travelling for such a long time, and was always surrounded by people on tour or doing catwalk shows, so I was ready for time out from it all. I wanted to find the space to think and reflect on those crazy years, and get a real perspective on them - which you have to if you’re writing a book about the experiences in your life.

I moved from Paris with my son in February 2020, back to Canada to a cottage in a little ski resort village about 2hrs or so north of Montreal, and I love it because my parents and family are here. I had this idyllic idea in my head that I was going to have my journals and my typewriter and be like Virginia Woolf in front of a window, listening to Leonard Cohen and chain-smoking cigarettes while writing - but my son was two years-old then, and so I actually ended up listening to the sounds of Baby Shark, with yoghurt in my hair and also watched a ridiculous amount of Paw Patrol. So it wasn’t really my kind of romantic writers dream I had hoped it would be!

© Irina Lazareanu archives

 I imagine it was difficult knowing where to start too?

 Well no sooner had I got back to Canada, and the pandemic happened. So during the first lockdown, my son’s Dad, Drew McConnell, (bass guitarist in Babyshambles and also for Liam Gallagher's band), who’s usually based in London and tours a lot, came to stay and worked on the book with me for the music chapters. Honestly it took the both of us to remember all of the events, not only because it’s so long ago now, but because back then we were mostly piss-drunk, haha! We thought we would get lots of writing done, but instead we ended up watching so much TV and eating a ridiculous amount of cheese and wrote like two paragraphs! I think we felt that with the state of the world at that time, and all the bad news, it felt so frivolous to start writing a book about fashion and holidays with Kate (Moss)!

 

© Robert Fairer

 

 You eventually consulted your old journals to help jog all of your memories and start the process though, right?

 Yes I’ve been keeping journals since I was a kid, and I always take them everywhere. Back in those days people used to write things in them and I would write poetry too, so I was able to reference from them, and we scanned things from one particular night, or an event, and started building collages for the book.

Once I eventually got going with the writing during the Summer of 2020, I was finished by Christmas. This book is so many different things, and I really wanted to do a love letter to all the people who inspire me, and the way in which we met, or fond memories we have together. So much happened in those years, and it was like a whirlwind of events, so I felt inspired and nostalgic, and grateful to look back and reflect on everything. I don’t touch on anything dark or difficult, not because it didn’t happen, but because I chose to look the other way. I chose to focus on the positive moments, the defining moments and people who shaped me - and all of the people in the book, who are still alive, are still part of my life. I wanted the freedom to write about how that time made me feel, and how those people made me laugh, or how I picked up something from them style-wise, or music-wise or life-wise.

 

© Philip Gay

 

 

Was anyone shocked when you said you were doing a book, having had some crazy times back then I’m sure?

 Yes! When I contacted everyone mentioned in the book and told them I was writing it, there was silence, (laughs), and some people were like, what do you mean?? And I had to say, no don’t worry, it’s not that kind of book! It’s quite light-hearted, funny and upbeat, and it became a collaborative experience with all the ideas we all shared.

 

How did you source all the pictures to then fit in with the text?

 I ended up with hundreds of old tear sheets and polaroids and old pictures, but you know, most of the stories are before the age of the iPhone. We weren’t snapping pictures all the time back then, someone might have had a Polaroid or a disposable camera, but it wasn’t like today. I needed to find pictures that illustrated the chapters, that I could visually create the text around. I keep everything, so I spent a good month going through all of my archives, and I turned into a Nancy Drew-like detective! trying to track down people down who were at Babyshambles gigs in 2005, or who were backstage at a show, or a friend of a friend, anyone who might have had pictures. 

It took months, as some of the photographers I worked with have retired, like Pennie Smith, who shot all the iconic pics of The Clash, and I really wanted one of her shots of The Babyshambles lads for the book. I managed to track her down through Mick Jones (The Clash), and she lives in the countryside with no phone and no internet, and so I had to write her a handwritten letter through the post, and she was so gracious and had the original negative in her basement developed into a print for us.

 

© Gavin Doyle

 

That’s interesting about Pennie not being switched on to this digital virtual world we now live in, which is something Olivier Zahm refers to in his foreword that he wrote for your book – as he mentions that it bears witness to those years when ‘being present required presence’. Is that why this is now the right time for you to revisit all of those years?

 You know, I’ve got ADD, I’m hyperactive, my brain goes too fast, and back then I was always going going going, I didn’t really understand what was going on, but the times I do remember, I recall quite vividly in the book. Like when Sean (Lennon) and I wrote Strange Places, or the holiday with Kate (Moss) and Mick (Jones) from the Clash, or when we told stories on the back of tour buses, or wrote poetry and passed it on to one another, and talked about books we loved. There was a human connection and it was formative for me like a sponge, absorbing and learning things and gathering creativity from all these different people. They were real, lived experiences, with no distractions from phones, or Netflix or someone needing to share photos on their social media, we just lived in the moment. Also we were a bit wild back then, so I’m glad quite a lot of things weren’t captured on phones, thank god!

 

Well one thing that has been captured in the book, is the many style trends you were all rocking back then. Was it hard to delve into the past and translate all those fashion or music moments, which are really a live experience, into a book?

 Yes!! I’m not a fashion expert, but I tried to put as much of myself in the style tips, and when I was writing them, looking back at the 2000’s, it was strange how many of the trends have now come back around, but with a modern spin. Like the way I wore ‘Indie’ back then was vintage and 1960s inspired fashion, but now the kids are calling it ‘Indie Sleaze’. I guess really there’s no rule book and fashion is cyclical. It’s quite funny though, because back then, we all mostly referenced the 1960s and 70s, it was all vintage, and we wanted to emulate Patti Smith and Lou Reed. Now the kids are trying to reproduce what we were wearing. 

© Irina Lazareanu archives

Are there any other women who have inspired your own style?

 I loved Diane Keaton’s masculine style in Annie Hall, and I tried to replicate that using my Dad’s ties! Also Katharine Hepburn wearing big manly suits and smoking a cigarette, how cool was she? They were all the type of female role models I looked up to and wanted to be like. Later when I was around all the bands, I just wanted to be one of the guys and dress the same and not be treated differently because I was a girl.

 

So what have you learned about style and attitude along the way?

 Holding on to authenticity. Not becoming what everyone else wants you to be. I use part of a quote from E.E. Cummings in the book, which is really important to me, about being who you are.

This book is a way to tell people you can do anything, it’s not just about modelling, you know I did lots of things, styling, singing, launching a fashion line, and they all brought life lessons, some were successes, some were failures, but they all taught me something about not being afraid to be creative and try new things. So that’s the message within this book really, don’t be put in a box! 

 

What’s your relationship with fashion like today?

 I think I see it in a completely different way. It’s changed so much and for the best. Just the way we treat each other is different, and people are now talking more about mental health and addiction, and inclusivity and diversity. It’s taken such a long time to get here, and representation is so important. I also think it’s great that organisations like The Model Alliance are fighting for models’ rights and telling their stories about the ugly sides of the business, these things were never discussed back in my day.

© Irina Lazareanu archives

 What about those relationships you formed back then, is there a person who was really a mentor to you?

 They all were in some way. I feel Pete (Doherty) encouraged me to find my voice, like with writing or poetry. Sean (Lennon) encouraged me to try new things and get out of my comfort zone and try to sing (and let’s be real, I can’t sing), but to find my voice. 

Kate (Moss) taught me so much about the industry and how to navigate it all, at such a fragile time when everything was going really fast for me, saying things like “Don’t bite the hype”. But the person who really saw me, and helped me gain confidence was Karl (Lagerfeld), because he saw something in me that I didn’t know was there. He really encouraged me and gave me confidence, and him wanting to nurture the creative side of me, and seeing that in me, really helped me.

 

I’m interested to know who or what got you into poetry in the first place, as it’s been so life-defining for you?

 When I was about 8 or 9 years-old, my Dad would always come into my room and read me a story or some poetry. One night he came in and said, ‘Someone else is going to read you a story now’, and he put The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, ‘A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall’ on this old record player we had. I remember looking out of the window and it was December, and the snow was falling, and I felt like the words of that song were like an awakening. That night was the first time I picked up a pen and paper and started to write poetry, which changed my life.

© Gavin Doyle

 Also obviously life-defining, was your experience as a child, being a refugee from Romania. You’re now forging a new career path which will be largely about working with young refugees, which is more pertinent than ever now with current world affairs, can you tell me more?

 I want to help young refugees get a second chance at life like I have, and help them to adapt to a new way of life, and to raise awareness and funds. I see a direct correlation between the environment and the plight of refugees - about how they are being displaced and the effects on climate change, and how that will affect us all in the future, and being a Mum now that’s something very important to me that we deal with sooner rather than later. Environmental issues are high on my agenda too, that’s one of the reasons I also co-created the ‘No More Plastic’ charity to tackle reducing the harmful effects of plastic pollution. It’s so vital to channel my attention in these new directions and I’m a lot happier now than when all that crazy stuff was happening to me in the past. I was surviving the day to day back then, now I’m nearly 40 years-old and I want other things from life, and hopefully by the time I’m in my 60s, I’ll be that funny woman who lives in the woods, with loads of great hats and kimonos and tells all these great stories to everyone over a Sunday roast! 

I’ll be invited right?

 Of course! I’ve really loved our chat today, it’s been so nice to talk about our lives and both of our experiences, I feel like I’ve made a new friend today.

 

Me too. It’s been really lovely, thanks Irina.…

Interview by Kate Lawson

All pictures from Runway Bird A Rock ’n’ Roll Style Guide - Flammarion

AN UPLIFTING MESSAGE FROM PITTI UOMO IN FLORENCE

The beauty of fashion is that it can thrive and inspire us even in the toughest circumstances. Against all odds, and despite last-minute changes and cancellations, the organizers of Pitti Immagine Uomo 101 managed to deliver a high-quality and relevant fair, which underlined the willingness of brands to commit themselves socially, as well as ecologically.

An important stop within menswear fashion, and the first place where one perceives new trends and directions, Florence’s Pitti Immagine Uomo was finally back in its physical format last week, welcoming 4900 buyers, more than 8000 visitors and 548 menswear collections. In a heartfelt press release where he thanked his staff and collaborators, as well as  international press, buyers, exhibitors in attendance and anyone else involved with the event, Raffaello Napoleone, CEO of Pitti Immagine, emphasized gratitude and joy, as well as the willingness to go forward and embrace our future. Starting the fashion year with such a clear, generous and positive message within one of Italy’s most historical cities did feel like a blessing.

In fact, the fair beautifully combined some of Italy’s heritage brands with complete newcomers, focused on finding humane and more respectful ways to design and manufacture. An area dedicated to 10 upcoming sustainable brands, S/Style sustainable style felt particularly relevant and exciting, showing how upcycling, creativity and aesthetics can successfully come together. More than ever, young designers are looking for innovative ways to do their work, while taking society, their peers and the environment into consideration. Could this shift signal the end of hype and persistent buzz, which have ruled menswear over the past 3 years? It was inspiring to hear such brands talk about their core values as much as their products, and how you could see there was coherence from start to finish. Clothing for clothing’s sake is no longer aspirational, but using fashion as a way to deliver a strong message, whether social or political, is definitely in.

Amongst the key figures that emerged from this last edition, psychedelic dandies took center stage, with a focus on stripes and mix-and-match patterns, as well as stronger colors, such as orange -which was everywhere- and bright yellow. Within the busy central pavilion of the Fortezza di Basso, Piacenza Cashmere presented a striking collection within their booth, fusing deluxe materials with dramatics shapes and bold color pairings. This kind of bravado and confidence is exactly what you expect from Italian fashion and the omnipresence of bright shades this season gave a youthful and dynamic edge to several collections. Knitwear has also become a key area within the fair, perhaps due to the pandemic and our willingness to dress warmly and comfortably at home. High-end family companies, such as FTC Cashmere for instance, understood that it’s no longer about exploiting resources to make great product, but also offering something in return. The brand opened a school in China, within the region where their pieces are produced, ensuring that more than 1000 children can attend and get an education. Those kinds of initiatives should multiply in the near future, showing a desire from luxury brands and the industry at-large to contribute to society as a whole.

It was therefore no surprise that Pitti Immagine Uomo chose ‘Reflections’ as its title and central theme. Now is the right moment to rethink the way the industry has operated and pave the way for change. Looking at the dressed-up ‘Pitti Peacocks’ waiting to get their picture taken somehow felt like a strange memory from the past. Perhaps it’s time for fashion to commit itself to societal issues instead of emphasizing vanity and narcissism. This is something young designers are highly aware of, looking for creative and inspiring ways to do fashion.

…

Words by Philippe Pourhashemi

www.pittimmagine.com

IMAGE MAKER

PASSIONATE AND DEDICATED, INGE GROGNARD IS ONE OF BEAUTY’S MOST CREATIVE MINDS AND A CONSTANT SOURCE OF INSPIRATION WITHIN THE FIELDS OF MAKE-UP AND FASHION. HER CLOSE ASSOCIATION WITH INDUSTRY LEGEND MARTIN MARGIELA BROUGHT HER TALENT TO THE FORE IN THE LATE 80S, WHEN HIS COLLECTIONS SHOOK UP THE ESTABLISHMENT BY QUESTIONING TRADITIONAL NOTIONS OF BEAUTY AND TASTE.

SHE HAS BEEN IN DEMAND EVER SINCE AND WORKED WITH INDEPENDENT BRANDS, AS WELL AS MORE CORPORATE ONES, WHILE FINDING NEW DIRECTIONS AND WAYS TO ADAPT TO A DESIGNER’S VISION.

WE SAT DOWN WITH ANTWERP-BASED GROGNARD TO DISCUSS HER RELATIONSHIP WITH MARTIN MARGIELA, WHY SHE LOVES DEMNA GVASALIA, AND WHAT STILL MOTIVATES HER TO DO HER JOB TODAY. 

 

Despite the pandemic, you’ve been in demand and worked constantly. Are there things that you couldn’t do?

 Some clients had to cancel their shows, which means I couldn’t work for them, but overall I’m glad I could continue the work without too much hassle. Of course travel is still limited, but brands have had to find ways. I had great jobs this year with lovely teams, which for me is the most important.

 

I was surprised to see you donated some of your Margiela pieces to MoMu recently. Why now?

 Actually, they were not donated, but on loan for the museum to use in their exhibitions and store properly, too, which means they will take care of the clothes much better than me. All of those pieces were in my basement, and while I do wear the coats and jackets, I knew that others would be great for the museum. 

 

In a way, you are part of fashion history, especially when considering the role of Martin Margiela and his long-lasting influence over designers.

 It’s funny, because we never thought of that. The relationship I had with Martin was an organic one, and after studying make-up and collaborating with several designers, I naturally began to work on his shows. We were friends and that level of closeness was quite special. I’m very proud to have been part of his vision as a designer, because that’s what my job is. When you hear fashion historians discuss Martin’s work today, you realize how significant it is, but we were never aware of this while we were in it. We were too busy exploring, making and creating. People like him, Dries, Ann and Walter put Belgian fashion on the map, which changed everything. 

 

How do you explain that young designers, and a whole new generation of fashion students, are really fascinated by him?

 He brought things to fashion that didn’t exist before, such as upcycling for instance. Martin was obsessed with the notion of time, and how it marks our clothing. It was this idea of vintage, but specifically how signs of wear make a garment more beautiful. 

 

The approach Margiela had towards fashion was an intelligent and almost cerebral one. Who would you say tackles it the same way now?

 I would say Demna at Balenciaga. He’s extremely intelligent and completely understands the world we’re living in. Love it or hate it, his vision stays relevant and gives you food for thought. On the human side, he is also touching and a sensitive person. When you know about his past and what he’s had to overcome, you understand how strong and driven he is. 

 

I thought the Haute Couture collection was incredible. 

 It was such an emotional moment for him, and people were actually crying backstage. The way he fused the heritage of the House with his own aesthetics was just perfect.

 

I’d say that the key difference between Martin and Demna is that Martin was a romantic at heart, whereas Demna’s vision tends to be more dystopian.

 Sure. Demna is not naïve, not at all. His vision is completely about today, and I agree that Martin’s approach was a romantic one.

 

Martin never did ‘sexy’. His clothes could be sensual or erotic, but never obvious. Would you say that this sense of restraint defines Belgian fashion?

 It does, because we’re quite close to Northern Europe. You can think of Belgium as the opposite of Italy: we have to cover ourselves up and don’t spend that much time outdoors. Belgium has darkness, romanticism and surrealism blended together, which makes it unique. That mixture is what makes our creativity different from our neighbors. 

 

Does make-up conceal us or expose us?

 That’s a difficult one. When you work together with a designer, make-up is part of the image you want to bring out, the way you see the woman in those clothes. It’s like adding the finishing touch in the end. Of course we look at faces all the time, so make-up reveals a lot about ourselves.

 

At the same time, the make-up you did with Martin did not limit itself to the face, but appeared on the arms or other body parts. It was a creative statement.

 Definitely. What I love about my job is creating a strong image and working closely with a designer. That’s what keeps me going, making that image as powerful and creative as possible.

 

Interview by Philippe Pourhashemi

All Pictures by Ronald Stoop

Image credits (B)eople Magazine, Jurgi Persoons, Purple Magazine, Beauty Papers, Sputnik Magazine

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CURATING EMOTIONS

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Closed for renovations since April 2018, Antwerp’s ModeMuseum, also known as MoMu, has finally reopened its doors. Thanks to Kaat Debo, who has been the museum’s director and curator for almost two decades, MoMu has cemented the privileged relationship Antwerp has with fashion, culture, history and innovation. 

Debo isn’t your typical curator, and she loves to push the envelope with exhibitions that are often surprising, compelling and original. ‘E/MOTION. Fashion in transition’ opened this weekend and presents fashion as an illustration of our fears, longing and desires.

We sat down with Debo to discuss renovation during a pandemic, the importance of emotion in her work and how she shops designer collections as a museum curator. 

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Renovating a museum within a pandemic outbreak must have been challenging. How did you deal with this?

3 years sounds like a long time, but as the renovation itself was complex, it was in fact quite a short period for such a task. The pandemic affected everything of course, starting with the preparation of the new exhibition. Most fashion houses were focused on saving their businesses and delivering on time, so we were not a priority for them. It was very difficult to get the loans we wanted, and for the books we were working on, some photographers could not access their archives anymore due to the lockdown. The building itself was delayed due to shortage of materials, until quite recently. That was challenging.  

 

Guess calling it a ‘labor of love’ is not an exaggeration then.

At the same time, I don’t want to complain, because I know how tough it has been for other museums that were open and had to change their rules constantly, losing considerable income as well. In that sense, the timing was not bad for a renovation, it was just difficult to do it.

“I don’t think you can separate emotion from fashion.”

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Did COVID-19 influence your exhibition planning in any way?

We had started working on ‘E/MOTION. Fashion in transition’ before the pandemic started, but when it came to the direction of the exhibition itself, I really wanted something that reflected the moment we were in and the challenges designers had been facing. If you look at the past three decades, they show the growth and evolution of globalization, which affected fashion in a really strong way, so the idea was to reflect on the big transformative moments taking place over the past 30 years, from economic recession and political turmoil to global terrorism and different kinds of health crises.  

 

Emotion is an important part of what you create as a museum director and curator. How do you see its relationship to the fashion world?

I don’t think you can separate emotion from fashion. Faced with COVID-19, designers had to find new ways to communicate their storytelling digitally as opposed to physically, and that meant finding alternatives to the traditional show format. This search for new ways was very interesting for me, as well as trying to figure out what the place of real emotion would be within the industry today. We wanted physical presence in the exhibition through performance, which is new within that context. We thought it’d be wonderful to have a human presence after months spent behind computer screens.

 Some brands continued doing shows even after the pandemic started. Did that feel strange to you? Can things be exactly the same as they were before?

Well, I did find it a bit strange as well. Digital allowed many designers to be innovative and find successful ways to communicate with their audiences. This doesn’t mean that everyone was successful doing it, but the possibilities of digital are huge.

 

I’ve wanted to ask you this for a long time: how do you keep up with the changes at major fashion houses, where designers seem to come and go? Does this make your job harder as a curator? 

That is one of the biggest challenges when you collect contemporary fashion as a museum. It’s very difficult to decide in the moment whether something is relevant or has historical importance. A curator should be able to enjoy some kind of critical distance and space for reflection, but fashion doesn’t allow you to do that. You need to decide immediately what pieces to buy and don’t have the luxury of waiting for another 6 months. Most of our purchasing takes place during the show period, which is quite complicated. What we acquire as a museum should not only reflect the times we’re living in, but also present a designer’s signature, as well as express political and societal changes. It is true that creative directors come and go at a rapid pace, which means that, as a museum, we also have the responsibility to document this, even though it’s quite a recent phenomenon within the industry itself.

…

Kaat Debo was interviewed by Philippe Pourhashemi

www.momu.be

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WHEN SÉBASTIEN TELLIER MET MAISON MICHEL

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Celebrating his unique style and take on millinery, Maison Michel teamed up with Sébastien Tellier to release an exclusive -and unexpected- capsule line, which will be available from the 28th of September. We caught up with the talented singer, musician and songwriter through a Skype session in his Paris home to discuss his love of hats, cherished memories of Karl Lagerfeld and why gender is irrelevant when it comes to clothing crushes.  

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I’m surprised to see you without a hat or cap on.

 I usually don’t wear them when I’m staying at home.

 

What is it that attracts you about millinery?

 From a practical point of view, wearing a hat or a cap means you don’t need to worry about styling your hair. I’m 45 now, and it’s a bit of a hassle pretending you’ve got tons of hair when it’s not the case.  

 

What’s your first memory of hats?

 As a teenager, I spent most of my summer holidays in Biarritz and I used to wear cowboy hats and matching garments. I guess one was allowed to be extravagant during those months. I never hesitated adding caps or hats to an outfit, because it really finishes off your look. I like expressing myself -and my moods- through my clothes. 

It does feel like you have a very playful relationship towards fashion. Is it important for you to experiment?

 I do like fashion, because I see a lot of beauty in the ephemeral. It’s like a flower coming to life: a year passes by and it’s no longer there. Music is the same, you can be obsessed with certain sounds for a period of time, before moving on to new forms.  

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Did you already have this interest as a child?

 My mother used to take me to Marché Saint-Pierre in Paris to buy fabrics, and I remember the rustling sounds of materials. I used to hide under the display units. There was this softness and muffled sound, which I really liked. It felt quite reassuring. Obviously, when you perform, your style matters and it requires effort and imagination.

 

Do you see a correlation between sound and clothes?

 Totally. In that way, the clothes and accessories I choose echo my own music at a precise moment. Even though it is part of my work, it also gives me a lot of pleasure to put all these elements together. My albums used to be more conceptual, and I created a specific character with every new story. This was my past though, and what I want now is still to be stylish, but classy and chic. 

Can you tell us more about the collection and describe your connection to Maison Michel?

 I like what Maison Michel stands for, and after a conversation I had with my friend Yasmine Eslami about hats, she actually called Virgine Viard who then turned to Maison Michel with the idea of a capsule line. I met the whole team, visited their atelier and came with inspiration images from my favorite artists, such as Pink Floyd, Elton John and The Beatles.

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 Karl Lagerfeld was the one who noticed your music a few years ago and asked you to perform live at a Chanel show. 

 I first met Karl 15 years ago during a photo shoot he was doing for a magazine. It was his Cola Light period, so there was always a handsome young man ready to provide him with another glass. Of course he fascinated me already, but seeing him work impressed me the most. He was free with his creativity and fulfilled his wildest dreams, but he also thought of others and was incredibly generous. I rarely met someone who took such good care of people around him, he was very sensitive to the way they felt. He had this icy image, but in fact he was a tender man. 

 

You wear Chanel jackets and women’s pieces often. How do you feel about gender and clothes?

 I used to have pieces made to measure, because I couldn’t find what I was looking for. I don’t have my Chanel jackets made for me though, I just pick them in the store in my size and pair them with jeans or slim pants. Gender is irrelevant for me when it comes to clothing, just pick what you love and enjoy wearing it.

 

I saw you at the Festival d’Hyères a few years ago and it seemed you were rather shy and reserved. Do the hats and the beard -and the shades- operate as armor?

 Yes. I am shy and fragile sometimes, so clothes and accessories help me protect myself, while expressing my values and aesthetics. You can be visible -and perhaps recognizable- but still conceal who you are.

…

Interview by Philippe Pourhashemi

… 

michel-paris.com

SPECTRUM – reflections on the abstract body

With SPECTRUM, Belgian photography and video talent Pierre Debusschere has continued his photographic experiments on the abstract body, searching for representation and identity through colours. The exhibition marks a new stage in Debusschere’s artistic process. At once insightful, inclusive and generous, the SPECTRUM provides an intimate encounter with the artist and a simultaneous invitation into today’s world.

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What makes good photography for you?

I don’t think I have the perfect answer to this question, as it is a constant process. In relationship to the work I am making today, I would say: photography with a message, that aims at universal reflection. Before, I probably would have said photography that makes you drift, that provokes a feeling.

What makes your work such a good match with the fashion industry?

I think this connection lies in the fact that I am able to switch my photographic language and creative universes quite easily. I’m always interested in the now, in what it is that makes an image ‘today’. I guess it is important in fashion to be able to translate our world and to always look for the new.

 

You make music videos and films as well. What is it that attracts you in film?

When I was in art school, I started with video works before even getting into photography. I have always been especially interested in the link that film and music have: a moving image combined with music is a great way to convey emotions and allow you to drift. Music has always been my main inspiration. I have always linked it to moving images, to film and music videos. 

Lately, music has even become a language on its own for me. It gives me the chance to translate my feelings about certain things in a more verbal and direct way. I’m thinking I might create something musical in the near future.

 What are your favourite subjects to photograph?

This again is a constant evolution and a matter of reflection to me. I think one of the most important things is to always think and rethink everything, to see all things as in constant movement. Right now, the question of identity is very important to me: the body and its features are at the centre of my research. 

 

Where did the idea for the work you show in the SPECTRUM exhibition come from? I can imagine your work as a fashion photographer made you think further on themes like body and identity.

I started this body of work two years ago, right after my previous exhibition. I believe that the research I am showing here is more universal, even though it started from personal questions. What you can see in the exhibition is a very small part of the research I have been doing, but it makes a good entry into it. The Room, the project space of 254Forest, is a good first location for this work as well: it is my work space and I have access to it all the time, which made it possible to develop the space around my work. I see it as a sort of laboratory where I can further develop my language.

I think indeed that fashion has drawn my attention to the body on itself, allowing me to understand its sculptural lines and shapes through the camera. Yet, SPECTRUM goes further than archetypal fashion norms and bodies. Instead, the work focuses on all bodies and genders, shapes, skin tones and elements that can define it. 

What makes the (abstract) body such an interesting subject for you? 

What I like about the body – and the colours an abstractions I show in the exhibition – is that it can be a vessel for reflection on a personal as well as on a universal level. 

 …

 

SPECTRUM

254FOREST

Chaussée de Forest 254 1060 Saint Gilles Brussels

 

Opening night on Wednesday 2 Septembre.

End of the exhibition on Saturday 26 Septembre.

Open to the public on Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 2p.m to 6p.m and on

private visit.


Interview by Laura Bonne

EROS AND APOLLO

Eros and Apollo: the art of Stuart Sandford

“I wish I’d just gone to the gym a lot rather than spending all that money on art school,” scrawled multidisciplinary artist Stuart Sandford across a male torso. But if he had, who’d have captured the edge of male exploration, in all its glorious, full-frontal intimacy?

 Looking at his work, spread across sculpture, photography and video is like taking in a contemporary version of Antinous, Emperor Hadrien’s famously sculpted object of obsession. Now as then, the fascination is not for the boy himself (Antinous died young and his likeness created afterwards) but for the potential that his youth represented.

 And it’s perhaps that porous moment that feels most of the now in Sandford’s work. Captured in his 2007 Cumfaces photography project in 2007 as much as the sexually charged Ouroboros sculptures is the perfect intimacy of self-discovery and self-definition.


Lily Templeton: Why do you think the male form, disconnected from sexuality, is coming back to the fore today, as it was in antiquity?

Stuart Sandford: It’s a question that goes back to the Victorian era but the media, and much of the arts, has been predominantly controlled by straight white men who have essentially suppressed the male form for fear of being labeled queer or gay and of course female artists historically not having the opportunity to make and show their works that might have included the male nude. That’s slowly changing so the male form and the male nude are being embraced once again.

ADLOCUTIO (SEAN FORD) STATUE, 2020

ADLOCUTIO (SEAN FORD) STATUE, 2020

LT: How has masculinity evolved in the last few years, from an artist’s perspective?

SS: Masculinity is a societal construct and it’s always in flux, it’s something I’m definitely interested in within my work, and is shifting all the time. The biggest evolution is the realization that one doesn’t have to identify as male to be masculine and that frees up artists to increase the range and depth of their work.

POLAROID COLLAGES 2018

POLAROID COLLAGES 2018

28.jpg

POLAROID COLLAGES 2018

 

LT: Who are your icons? 

SS: It’s hard to pin down a single person or movement that I would call an icon. But, because I was initially focused on my photography practice, I was greatly inspired by both Wolfgang Tillmans and Nan Goldin and would call them early icons of mine. As I’ve moved more and more away from that and towards an interdisciplinary practice I’m more inspired by those artists whose medium is the idea itself – Warhol being the chief name in a long list.

 

SEBASTIAN, 2012

SEBASTIAN, 2012

LT: Is self-isolation a prolific time for you? 

SS: Well, I’m not the most prolific artist anyway, as much of my work, especially my sculptural works, can take many months or years to complete, so it hasn’t much changed my practice on a day to day basis. But I can’t wait to get back out there and meet people and travel and see friends once again.

Interview by Lily Templeton

www.stuartsandford.com

A BRIEF (and stylish) HISTORY OF TIME

EGONlab_Portrait.jpg

To understand EGONlab, the brainchild of Florentin Glemarec and Kévin Nompeix – partners in business as in life – you need just remember one image: two octogenarians standing hand in hand in front of the Palais de Tokyo one fashion week morning, creating mass hysteria among the streetstyle set. 

 A brand of our times, this Paris-based emerging label is a savvy, digital-first, waste-reduced and distinctive proposal for those who recognize themselves in these sharply tailored designs always with a twist, whether a color treatment, quilting or shape-altering slashes. 

 Like the visual artists they are, the pair use their collections to comment on the world we live in. In this third collection, they chronicle humanity’s evolution. Climate emergency, the pandemic and the friction caused by social inequity roil roam beneath these slick looks. Yet as we walk through these times of shadows and doubt, Glemarec and Nompeix offer a glimpse of what could like at the end of the tunnel.  


A significant portion of this collection was created in collaboration with Sergio Tacchini. Are collaborations a rite of passage of sorts for emerging brands? 

 These days, we believe it’s necessary for young designers to work in this way. It’s a tangible style exercise that allows an emerging brand to showcase its potential alongside an established brand. Our collaboration with Sergio Tacchini was all the more interesting that it was directly set in continuation of our main collection. To truly fuse our DNAs, we had the opportunity to work with the teams of the brand’s heyday. 

 

L'Appel, New Order, The Myth of Renewal: your names sound like slogans or artistic manifestos. What is EgonLab?

 EGONlab is above all else an emerging brand that draws its inspiration of societal culture and all forms of revolution that impact our society. We therefore think that it’s indispensable for the new generation of designers to question themselves and position themselves in the face of the modern world’s urgent questions — cultural, societal or ecological. 

 In the digital era, we have the will to enlarge the spectrum of our collections by offering a universe that blends fashion, motion design/3D and music to amplify our message. The video for ‘The Myth of Renewal’ has been created in collaboration with the artists of the EGONlabFamily: Kisol (motion designer), Michelle Coppola (motion designer), FX093 (soundtrack) and Blue BK (soundtrack). Built like a three-part fable, it acts as a temporal marker sketching out the past, the present and the future.  

 We don’t have the pretentiousness of positioning ourselves as an artistic movement or as opinion leaders but we want to be actors of this collective awakening we have been seeing in the world these days.   

EGONlab_SS221_RENEWAL_LOOKBOOK (5).jpg

We are above all a brand that does not judge, we dress all cultures, all colors, all genders and without ever misrepresenting the identity of the wearer.

EGONLab.

 You swing between toile de Jouy and razor-sharp tailoring, studded leather and quilted jackets. Is it a reflection of our era of zapping or a call to be free to be yourself? 

 We have an iconoclastic spirit. Taking up codes and traditional craftsmanship, transcribing them into modern silhouettes is the foundation of our work. Each EGONlab collection must be visually unique. It’s a genuine creative challenge, which we love. Nonetheless, we have created over our three seasons a recognizable silhouette with a pronounced shoulder and fitted cuts. 

 But you’ve underscored an important concept of our work: the freedom to be. We are above all a brand that does not judge, we dress all cultures, all colors, all genders and without ever misrepresenting the identity of the wearer. This ideology also informs the design of our collection. We give our customers the possibility to appropriate all our looks, thanks to elements like removable chest plates, deconstructed tank tops...

 

What is the myth of renewal that inspired the fall? 

 For this collection, we were inspired by Koyaanisqatsi, Godfrey Reggio’s 1982 prophetic and contemplative documentary. The film plays with time and space, multiplying angles of vision and of reading, leaving interpretation open to the viewer, like an artistic meta language. Apologia to some, pamphlet to others, it questions our relationship to the world. Versatile, without a subtitle, free of judgment, it’s also the spirit of this genderless collection. “No matter who we are, we can wear what we want,” that’s the message our brand upholds. 

 The video itself is a representation of the myth of renewal, which we imagined, echoing many sociocultural references. We imagined, shot and edited this video in collaboration with visual artist KISOL and Michelle Coppola. We invite Behind the Blinds readers to check the behind-the-scenes videos on our official Youtube channel. 

 The myth of RENEWAL : On Earth, while the darkness ruled the world, a pandemic decimated the human race. At the same time, in the multiverse, the birth of a group of new thinkers took place.  

 A group which bears no prejudice and no judgment, but instead boundless freedom.  

 One day, they decided in perfect harmony and democracy to renounce all their privileges and descended on to Earth to heal Mother Nature, to spread love and kindness, to have acceptance for all and to build a new society where everybody treats each other the same.  

 This utopia became reality and a magnificent miracle occurred and the light came to give back everything that the darkness stole.

This is the moment when they understood that the biggest enemy of the human race was the human race itself.

Interview by Lily Templeton

EGONlab

CELINE COLLABORATIONS: A CHAT WITH ANDRÉ BUTZER

André Butzer, Friedens-Siemens III, 2000, ©AndreButzer.jpg

Hedi Slimane’s collaborative spirit might not always be the aspect fashion journalists choose to emphasize first when describing his work, perhaps because of his tenacity as a designer, and how he sticks to his vision season after season. 

If that seems to irritate some, one has to admit that Slimane definitely has his own taste and a very clear point of view, but he also likes to involve others into his creative process. He has done it with musicians several times in the past, but artists are on his radar, too, and his choices can be surprising.

That is the case with his Spring Summer menswear 2020 collection where various artists collaborated with Celine on exclusive pieces, an interesting marriage of creativity and commerce. German painter André Butzer is one of the lucky few and his work oscillates between joyful chaos and social alienation. We caught up with the cheeky painter who likes to refer to his art as “my stuff”.

 

Were you surprised when Celine contacted you ?

 I was a little bit surprised. All I wear myself as clothes is worn out stuff previously owned by more or less dead relatives.

 

How did the collaboration unfold from the very first contact to the finished products ?

 It was a magical thing. I can’t complain. They made it right.

 

Was it the first time you had worked with a high-end fashion brand ? Which part did you enjoy the most ?

 As I had no idea what a high end fashion brand is, I would say seeing them realize their products was more than enjoyable and rewarding.

 

Were there specific products you were attracted to and wanted to put your stamp on ?

 No, I am very shy and I would have never tried to influence anyone or anything.

 

Your work comes across as bright and theatrical, but there's also a feeling of fear. Could you convey the same ambivalence on your Celine pieces ?

 I have no idea what my art is about. In fact, it seems to be about nothing. So, yes, it worked out !

 

What's your vision of the fashion industry as an outsider ?

 They will take over the whole planet and put people into clothes. Finally.

 

Did you enjoy working with Hedi Slimane and would you do it again ?

 Anytime. I was meant to confirm, say hello and embrace ! I have no idea though whether they would risk one more time having my stuff on their products. Clients have a taste, too !

…

Interview by Philippe Pourhashemi

… 

www.celine.com

 

APERTURE OF LOVE

TWO HEARTS, TWO LENSES, ONE LOVE

 

From first glance to unbridled passion, from last night to first morning together, falling in love is an adventure that many can vividly see in their mind’s eye. But for photographers Luke Abby and Carlos Darder, who became an item the moment they met one hot summer night of 2019 in Mallorca, that initial spark bloomed into a project, which they have now unveiled in the shape of a book.
 In Falling in Love, lo-fi photography and unposed snapshots capture what it means to for love to blossom and for a creative mind to open up to another. Abby’s intimate portraits of sensuality and tenderness mesh with Darder’s frank, uncut captures of daily routines blend together for a thoughtful chronicle of the small gestures and caring glances that cost nothing that amount to grand sentiment and genuine feelings. 

 


What was the first thing you thought when you saw each other?


Luke: From the moment we met we were both instantly attracted to each other and I ended up making the move a few moments later. I thought he was super duper cute!



 

You decided to document your relationship practically from the first instant – why?



Carlos: Documenting everything is part of my daily life. I capture it at any moment: happiness, sadness, craziness, every person I meet that I think I’m really interested in that I wanna have a pic of them forever. With Luke, it started out just documenting our love and how it was progressing. We basically started falling in love the first time we met. I actually moved from my house to his apartment in Majorca the second night he was on the island. It was crazy and beautiful.

 

You are often traveling for work, so you’re perhaps used to being separated for weeks at a time. How do you stay connected?



Carlos: We are constantly communicating. Texts, sending pictures, selfies, what we see. We do a lot of sexting.



 How is your photographic practice interwoven with your relationship at this point? 

Luke: My individual work still remains separate but this book was a collaboration. It was nice to do it together and feed off each other’s thoughts and ideas. Carlos only really shoots on film whereas I jump between that and digital. For this we agreed we would keep it all analog.

 

No words among the images, credits are at the end: Why did you make the choice of letting the images speak exclusively for themselves, and for you? 



Carlos: We did that just so the viewer can take what they like from the images. Also since the format is quite small, l we wanted the photos to breathe a bit more so having the captions at the back made sense.



 

What have been the reactions of those you have shown the book to so far?



Carlos: It’s been pretty good. Our friends are really happy about it, there is a moment after working on it for half a year where you stop really seeing it from a real view of point. You just see work and it kind of loses that little bit of the first impression, the first time we saw the first copy we cried.



Luke: Some were concerned it would effect my other work with commercial clients, but the thought of that was a little sad. Some told me to go for it. I’m glad I did–it feels liberating.



 And then James Bidgood, a photographer who is quite the camp legend, calls your book “tawdry” and that’s the review quote you chose. What about that word resonated with you?



Luke: James has been a friend of mine for the last few years and I asked if he would do a piece of writing as a review on the book. I showed him the very first layout back in January by emailing him a PDF file and I thought his response was just very him and funny. Tawdry is such a great word. It means “showy but cheap and of poor quality.”



 

To borrow the name of the relationships section of the New York Times, how do you define “modern love”?



Luke: Teamwork! To be with someone and create with them is a challenge but very rewarding. For our relationship, art, patience, balance, communication and all of that is definitely magic ingredients. It’s also important for me to feel inspired by my partner.

 

What has confinement brought to your level of intimacy?

Carlos: I think it just helped us to learn more about each other, much better. Sometimes we want to kill each other, though.

falling in love

a book by

Luke Abby and Carlos Darder

…

All images are from “Falling in love” book

Interview by Lily Templeton

 

SLICED INTO EXISTENCE

Shimmering on the flyaway paper of a cut magazine, the delicate sensuality of a pale male silhouette has something of a renaissance painting: the world of collage artist TheSkinnyType.

 In a world where reality is but a Photoshop brush away from fiction Colombian-born, London-based Martin turns his source material of photographs into idyllic scenarios of love and poetic (self) obsession. A lo-fi performance that he achieves with little more than a sharp blade, a stack of magazines and an endless fascination for images.

 But beyond the almost translucent quality of his productions, he carves out another reality: the idea that images are but partial stories that unfurl fully in the mind. From the Dadaists to the cover of Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Henri Matisse to Oscar Wilde, collage has long been an interlope media that artists have wielded to extend narratives well into surreal territory. Chimaeras and impossible situations come to life under the hands of those who see beyond the fixed reality of a flat page.

 For Behind The Blinds, he lifts a corner for a peek into the layers of his world. 

 

Your images are usually quite sensual, but there’s more about the factual nudity of the Antiquity, rather than the provocative, confrontational, sexualized nudity of today’s world.

 Agreed. Sensuality is obviously one of the main drives in my work. For me, sensuality needs some drama, needs to leave something to the imagination. To portray the instant before an action happens but not quite the action itself. That is something that classicism and Renaissance art do quite well. I’ve always been fascinated by classical art, especially the Greek approach to the human body and its concept of idealised beauty, maybe combining that with today’s wider and more transversal approach to gender and masculinity.

 

How did you become The Skinny Type?

I don’t have an artistic formation but I’ve always been fascinated by art, first as an observer then gradually as creator. I’ve also tried different mediums –photography and drawing primarily– but somehow it was through collage that I found consistency on creating constantly, which I really, really enjoy. I work in architecture, designing structures for buildings, so this is more of a hobby for me. I guess the enjoyment of being meticulous and spending time and energy in small details is the connection between the two.

Theskinnytype started with myself. I have always been very skinny, perhaps too much, and it took me a while to feel comfortable with that, to learn not only to accept this thinness but to love and celebrate it. When I started creating collage, it felt just natural to use the name as my artistic pseudonym.

 

What was attractive about the non-digital process of making collages?

I love doing things with my hands, especially if they need to be precise and time consuming. I also love the constraints that the analogue process imposes on you. On digital works the possibilities are endless. You can manipulate and adjust an image as much as you want – that kills the magic for me. On the other hand, with analogue collages, you are constrained by the physicality and rigidness of the raw material. Backgrounds, size, colour, you name it, which for me adds to the excitement when two different images actually come together to generate a new story or composition.

 

You’ve started to superimpose layers of analogue images as well. Why?

The layering started by chance, just by looking through a page of a magazine against my window and discovering how beautiful the combination of images from both sides of the page were. It’s like a different kind of collage, less realistic but with the ultimate constraint: I cannot decide which images I superimpose nor the relationship between the two. It needs to be there already and come together by chance so my role is less about creating than about discovering something that is already there – more like curating, perhaps. I also like the fact that because I have no control over the mixes, I’m more willing to incorporate elements that I wouldn’t choose for a normal collage. These superimposed images look amazing in lightboxes as the work only comes alive when the light is on.

What makes the cut? How does a collage start?

There is a lot of trial and error and the process always bring surprises. Sometimes I think two images would perfectly match and only after cutting and trying do I realise that the sizes are wrong or the composition doesn’t work. During the process, there is a lot of adjustment and diversion from the original idea – that’s the fun part! 

By contrast with more traditional collage, my works aims to create a composition that looks real but at the same time creates a sense of disturbance, as there is always something that is not quite right about the final image. You can see it is artificially put together but can’t instantly understand how. I’ve always enjoyed seeing friends with a collage in their hands trying to find out where the cuts are by sliding their fingers against the page, as they cannot work it out just by looking at the work.  There is a lot of treatment of the cut edges to make them vanish in the composition and there’s no digital retouching whatsoever.

 

How do you select an image for your work?

The selection has always started with a feeling; a desire to cutting an image and forcing someone else into an interaction that is unreal. A fantasy would perhaps be a better description. A constant in my work since the very beginning has been collages that create a sensual interaction between one guy and himself. I call this series “Narcissus dreams”.

 

Is there a story behind each of your images? Or do you create them more to express a feeling?

More than expressing something, I think I create them to materialise a fantasy. The original images have to instigate something in me but the final work has to tell a story. I love how mixing images conveys a completely different story or feeling to the original images taken in isolation.

 

What’s your preferred source material?

A handful of magazines mainly and of course some books from photographers I love. It is very interesting how you connect with other artists’ work and how what I do, I think, adds another layer to already amazing works. I’m constantly searching for images of photographers I like and to discover new ones. Even more relevant, I keep finding a connection with the people who curate those works for magazines; it is no coincidence that most of my works come from a few sources and photographers. Behind The Blinds is obviously a clear case. I discovered the magazine’s second issue and have never missed one since.

Interview by Lily Templeton

TheSkinnyType

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