RAD Issue 2 A/W
A letter from the Editor ... It has been a pretty insane time of year, thank you A levels! But I would like to thank all the amazing contributors who have taken on a lot of the work (my articles look rubbish compared) to make issue three happen. A lot has happened since the last issue—the Royal wedding has taken over my life. I had a girl crush on Catherine before, but that dress (I guessed it all completely right– antique lace Grace Kelly style, McQueen– I was pretty chuffed with myself) cemented her as a fashion icon and I can‘t wait to spend the rest of my journalism career referencing it! I have also officially finished school (cry) but what I have learnt from my last day is that I really suit a hoodie, damn those 18 years trying to be the height of fashion! And finally I recommend that you rush out and by Arctic Monkeys new album. Any band that uses ‗carry on‘ humour really are a band after my own heart. So go out and ‗Suck it and see‘! Georgia X RADmagazine@hotmail.co.uk Oh and right are some of my recent obsessions
What's actually in this issue of RAD? The Editors discusses this issues loose theme Niall Obrien shoots our ‗Home grown‘ shoot A postcard from Rebecca Evans A beautiful shoot from Lauren Withrow Our editor loves a conspiracy Josh Wroath on a new date for your diary Georgia Burgoyne finally plucks up the courage to dye her hair Stella Berkofsky shows us the new ‗Modern woman‘ There‘s a new feature as some of our readers show us ‗what they‘re wearing‘ Olivia Kate Jaffe is a ‗Rebel without a cause‘ We interview Turned out Blogger Maya Villiger Vincent Tsang on photos ‗I wish they made this for girls!‘ Kate Edler discusses the music festival Coachella in „The Bad, The Good, and The Ugly‘ And like a breath of fresh air to finish of the issue there are Leanne Lim Walker‘s beautiful and powerful photos
Photos by Laura Peta Ellis
The chosen theme for this issue of RAD is bad-asses, androgyny and the dark side. All things which have made big impacts on the catwalks this season. Come on who does not love a strong willed woman in a tuxedo or a leather skirt!
Stormtrooper look - where jackets were styled in layers of matte tweed and fluid trousers were tucked into para boots. Designers were also taken by the idea of a sheath dress, like Celine's, with long sleeves and Androgyny was the calling card with leather inserts. Alexander Wang, he delivered his usual Even the godfather luxe hipster sportswear but also showed of fashion Karl ruffled tuxedo shirts –which were forLargerfeld said mal from the front but gave way to a „Menswear eventufluttering of silk. Everything had a ally becomes basic twist even tuxedo trousers had a clothing for girls‟ slouchy riff, this was real deconstructed formal wear. Phillip Lim was similarly „Fetish‟ also popped tuned with scarf wrap jackets, shirt-tail its cheeky head up. silk dresses, and boyish trousers in Marc Jacobs delivgreys, ochres and emeralds inspired by ered a collection biker girl chic. Even femme fatale‟s Dol- where fetish was ce & Gabbana married the boy and the combined with old girl trend, the decorative with the pared world Parisian coudown, in a clever collection of "rude ture, it was a lesson girl" outsize tailoring with trilby hats. in how the seemingly demure can beThere's new enthusiasm for black trou- come eroticised with tactile textures. ser suits, as in Chanel's androgynous The story continued with Givenchy‟s
amazing show – I can safely say I was ob- panelled dresses. sessed and if I had the funds I would buy the pin-up embellished jumper - velvet So this season add a bit of attitude to bombers, and iris print silks with patent your wardrobe, where that leather jacket circle skirts that had see-through tulle with attitude and maybe swap that flowpanels created a riveting peep show, as did ery dress –a summer staple- with some Louis Vuitton's collars, cuffs and caps and tuxedo trousers. Go on man up! Sarah Burton's elegant multi zippered polar white tweed skirt suits with flippy hems for McQueen. Hemlines, note, are definitely longer - although that mid-calf length is going to take some getting used to. More fetishistic edge came through in the domination of furry gilets and in an obsession with straps and bandaging that gave dramatic tension to Marios Schwab's contoured dresses and lean, mean coats, drama to Giles' seemingly Andrej Pejič who’s been pushing fashions boundaries puritanical black gowns and a knife sharp edge to Antonio Berardi's lace
For more go to www.niallobrien.co.uk
London Calling Rebecca Evans talks girl crushes pose that‟s pretty androgynous (or am I confusing androgyny with being a tomand the allure of squatting... I have been living in an ex-council house in South East London with three other girls for approaching six months now, and despite all of our area‟s oddities (and undesirably huge crime statistics) it‟s become my favourite place in the entire world. As a decidedly scruffy-boylike dresser I was a little apprehensive upon moving to London as I was under the impression that everyone would dress smarter than me and more „city like‟ – if that‟s an actual thing (similarly to a friend who was told before moving here that everyone in London was tall, and found this extremely nerve-racking due to his average height), this, I am glad to say, is entirely false in South London.
boy ?). Here, under the real androgyny label, the girls wear their hair long (annoying for me and my short locks) so as to add a bit of careless femininity to their otherwise boyish, tiny frames. You will often see them wearing bomber jackets, t-shirts, jeans/trousers and trainers, or slightly cropped t-shirts to show off their waiflike stomachs. They also tend to be fresh-faced with very little make-up to speak of (which suits me having never learnt how to properly put make-up on…) but is only really appropriate if you‟re pretty enough to pull it off (somewhere I fall short), they speak with a South London twang, all seem to work for fashion magazines and have extraordinarily enviable lives.
When out I have seen the same girls Androgyny is rife. Which is perfect for adorn Miu Miu heels and Prada bags me as I embrace this wholeheartedly. I (again, annoying for me – what student am currently writing this in our garden can afford that?!) thus mixing things up with dungarees and converses and I sup- slightly, teaming everything with trou-
sers or shorts. Nothing is overdone, everything is in moderation and no one tries, or at least no one look as though they try. To me, the girls of South London are effortlessly cool. And I have become slightly obsessed with them. Squatting also seems to be the thing here, and I certainly see the appeal – no rent, a nice big house, no landlord etc. (I hesitate slightly when I think about the lack of showering facilities and general hygiene, but we get mice in our beds so who am I to judge?) My housemate, Charlotte, has even suggested that we turn our beloved home into a squat, but I feel as though the fact we pay rent and bills contradicts this idea slightly. A couple of weeks ago Charlotte and I went to a squat party in Brixton and being innocent country girls up until now it was a pretty bizarre experience. We found ourselves in a large Victorian terrace in a quiet street covered in graffiti and drawings. The house was packed. Upstairs in every room there were one or more dirty mattresses and people we recognised, but didn‟t know, sprawled on the floor in some drug
fuelled haze, the basement was turned into some sort of „rave room‟ (ha ) in which it was entirely dark apart from a red light, (making it easier for those slightly more inhibited to engage in sexual exploits without the harsh light of normality), and speakers on a raised platform pumping out music that I don‟t generally like but suited the context. At first the fact we only knew one person at the party, (and he was in no shape to converse with or share any kind of social interaction with other than incoherent speech and weird stroking), was a massive hindrance in terms of enjoyment (a low being when we made a pact that we would take anything anyone offered us, not cool) but soon we picked up and actually attempted to socialise. This worked surprisingly well and we came away having been taught how to dance, which was nice. How very „Skins‟… Presumably you have made the assumption from this article that I have quite a cool life, just to clarify – I do not, I just like to observe other peoples‟ cool lives. It‟s more fun that way. Photo by Turnedout.tv
“I kept saying „excuse me, excuse me, excuse me‟ because I had to get to the catwalk, but she just kept posing. So I pushed her ... It was only a couple of stairs.” Lara Stone (Vogue UK Dec 09‘)
Art conspiracy!—historians have revealed that the painting of the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci, one of the most famous female portraits in history, may have been posed by a man. For centuries it was assumed that she was a noblewoman or the wife of a merchant, but now it is thought it may have been a study of Gian Caprotti - known as Salai - da Vinci's long-time male lover.
Josh Wroath on the new date to add to your mu- Heading to Rough Trade East record store yesterday (16th April) there was a real sense of what Recsic calendar
ord Store Day means to music fans. The queue to In an age where music can be downloaded with com- get in stretched around the corner and took an hour and more for some fans to get into the store. Once plete ease, legally or illegally straight to your hard drive, mp3 player or phone, it‟s easy to understand inside (I got in about around 12) most of the goodies had already been taken, but some specials remained. why the release of physical products is in decline. Last year album sales fell a further 8% showing just A queue remained for the rest of the afternoon, with how poor the situation is for physical sales. It would fans desperately trying to get in. Everyone was in high spirits with people buzzing in and out with seem most people, given the option, would rather some getting their desired treasures. just have music quick and cheap (or free) and on demand than have a clunky, physical product.
This however isn‟t how every music fan feels. Just having music on screen and not being able to see the product itself has left some music lovers feeling dejected. Chris Brown was one such man who came up with the idea of Record Store Day, a day where all fans of physical releases of music could come together to celebrate the art of music. Since the first carnation of Record Store Day in 2008 it has become a day marked on every music fans calendar (now set to the third Saturday of every April).
Intended to help fans connect to the physical format, Record Store Day has grown year on year. 2008 saw special limited edition vinyl from R.E.M., Vampire Weekend, Death Cab For Cutie and Metallica in America. After meeting Billy Bragg in an airport co-founder of the day Michael Kurtz helped bring the idea to the UK and it soon spread around the world. This year saw special releases by Radiohead, The Flaming Lips, Pink Floyd, Television and The Kills to name but a few.
With such a great turn out and atmosphere, a feel for what Record Store Day means to music fans was evident. It‟s more then just getting your very own special limited edition vinyl; it‟s about getting people of all ages connected to physical music again. With a mixture of ages in the store Record Store Day certainly seemed to accomplish this feat and as long as we have days like these then physical releases will still have a place in music history.
The one where the editor dyes her hair … „I know many a women that would pay for your hair colour‟ really mother,
really?! My name‟s Georgia Burgoyne and I suffer from unsightly natural hair colour, yes I know it‟s extremely shallow (get used to it I want to be a fashion journalist!) but I‟m sick of looking at photos on social network sites of my plain Jane hair. You see I have what is commonly known as „mousey‟ hair - and you know a colour‟s not glamorous when it‟s named after a rodent! Saying this it has taken me at least 18 years to pluck up the courage and reach for the bottle. I forced my grandmother to drive me down to the drug store where I looked on in disbelief at all the choices and colours available, I knew I defiantly wanted to go darker, not blonde like the rest of the women in my family, and I have strong but stupid morals „I‟m not using anything advertised by Cheryl Cole‟. I settled on „mahogany chestnut‟ a lot more alluring than hue of mouse and the woman on the packet looked like she was having a lot of fun. I really wanted to go Florence Welch ginger but as novice to the world of dye I was told, quite hastily, that „it is too big of a jump‟. I guess the „deep dark brown with red wine undertones‟ would have to do. Half and hour really does pass slowly when you are sat in a bathroom not allowed to touch anything just incase the sink dyes an unattractive shade of maroon and your grandma shouts at you for ruining her favourite towel. As someone who can‟t sit still, it really was an arduous task, but the fumes made me feel light headed so that improved the situation. The best part is the reveal, the shocked faces and the laughs from brothers. Suck on it, my red/purply hair is pretty rad and looks amazing paired with a white shirt and leather shorts, I look older (I got asked for ID when buying a 15 the week before!) and feel a million time more confident, but for the rest of my life I will be haunted by roots and damaged hair. The challenge now what shade will I go for in six weeks time?
Photos by Stella Berkofsky http://stellaberkofsky.com/
TODAY I’M WEARING Naomi ... http://pearldream.tumblr.com/
Sum up your style in a sentence- Pretty relaxed and simple. Any fashion tips?- I think the most important thing is you should feel confident Who is your ultimate style icon?in you wear, if it makes you feel good Françoise Hardy and Bruce Springyou can pull anything off. steen. I think I am most inspired by French elegance and American preppy- What is your favourite Film/Book/ ness. Music?- Badlands, Jane Eyre and Bruce Springsteen! What is the favourite piece in your wardrobe?- My mum's vintage Ossie Clark maxi dress that she has handed on to me.
Emma ... http://dresswithflare.tumblr.com/
Sum up your style in a sentenceI think 'girly with an edge' most the time but it's always changing. Who is your ultimate style icon?Chloe Sevigny, she gets it right every time and her outfits are always fun. What is the favourite piece in your wardrobe?For Christmas I got a pale pink chiffon maxi skirt, I love it so much as it's something I can always throw on if I need a quick outfit.
Any fashion tips?Always try on clothes before you buy them to check they fit/look right, and never buy clothes with the idea that you will grow or shrink into them in the future. What is your favourite Film/Book/Music? Pretty in Pink, To Kill A Mockingbird and at the moment I'm into Lykke Li, but it changes.
Rebel Without a Cause ...
For more go to www.oliviakatejaffe.com
Blogger Maya Villiger‘s site Turned Out has won her an admirable following—not just with readers but with international style bibles such as Harper's Bazaar. A New Zealand native, now based in New York, she started her blog in 2008, posting daily updates of street style snaps of her friends, personal wardrobe and trend mood boards. Here our editor asks her a couple of quick questions. Tell us an interesting fact about yourself Ha, what do you say to that question?! What do you like about blogging? It's a nice way for me meet people and to share my ideas, it gives me a reason to keep making things and taking pictures - it helps me develop my work. Why streetstyle photography? Because I love looking at people, and I love trying to capture what I see but most of all I love taking photographs. Who is your favourite person to photograph? Oh there are many, I love taking pictures of my sister - but she hates it! What cameras do you use? Leica M6 and Nikon FM2 What is your uniform for this season and do you have any fashion tips?
Reading German Vogue living as a kid in Switzerland. Also when I was very young I always pulled my skirts and shorts down low on my hips, I knew then that it looked better on me - I hate wearing things around my waist. If you could raid somebody's wardrobe whose would it be? Probably Sofia Coppola - because I know I would get some really good, really useful, really expensive, really beautiful stuff that I would really wear. If you could wear one designer for the rest of your life, day in/day out, just one, who would it be, and why? Probably Balenciaga, because they make my favourite jeans and really good sweaters and my fav boots so I could live in that - plus kinda amazing stuff to wear at night. What was your biggest fashion disaster? Oh there have been many, but I would say in high school - wanting to wear expensive stuff. I should have just stuck to check shirts and baggy jeans; I hate young kids trying to look fancy now. Any place/city/country you want to visit ? So many, Cuba is one - we are going later this month - can't wait!
Favourite: Short cotton shorts by Margiela and Prada, short Music - old dorky rock n roll - Bruce Springsteen pleated skirt by Balenciaga, raglan sleeve tees and stuff and new balance. My tip is; be comfortable! City - New York right now What are you wearing right now? APC jeans and tee shirt - it's what I wear every- Shop - I‘m a bit of a sucker for department stores like Barneys day working at home. Piece in your wardrobe - LV Sofia bag What or who inspires you? My husband, beautiful photographs, people I meet on the street, my family and visiting places far far away like India.
Film - so many, I really do love Lost in Translation like everyone else - and Love Story gets me every time
What is your first fashion memory?
Blog – probably self service blog
“I wish they made
―The amount of times I‘ve actually heard a girl say ―I WISH THEY MADE THIS FOR GIRLS‖ when looking at boys‘ clothes goes beyond memory.‖ say‘s Vincent Tsang and from that quote, he began a little Photo Series project. ―Done right, the series should have that inexplicable umph most guys feel when waking up and seeing a girl in his t-shirt and boxers‖. Dressed in Vincent‘s clothes, the beautiful girls really make a masculine wardrobe look sexy.
Name? Vincent Tsang
Musical Artist: A Tribe Called Quest
Star Sign? Sagittarius Favourite? Book: Ishmael by Daniel Quinn Film: The Lion King
Where are you from? Montreal Who would you like to play you in a film about your life? Bobby Li
this for girls!”
What cameras do you use? A Canon 7D How long have you been shooting? 6 Years
Sum up your style in a sentence? Modern sentence 2-3 times that day, and it just clicked in my head that it would make great day ninja, who listens to Neil Young. photographs.
How do you know the women you feature in your photographs? I wish I can say I dated all of them, but I know them from What's inspiring you right now? I don't think anything really sticks out as an inspi- very distinct settings; I've met some through friends, the others from school or work. ration to me... but I do think that the alarming amount of "new" photographers is The women are all dressed in your clothes pushing me to work harder and get better. – what is it about women in men‟s clothes that is so sexy? I call it the "inexplicable Where did you get the idea for „I wish Umph". they made this for girls‟? I was shopping with my girl and she must have said that
Is there an item of clothing that you wish „they made for boys‟? Shoes with hidden wedges... I‘m a short dude! Your photos are quite clean and minimalist, are you like that in real life? Yes. (how‘s that for a minimal answer, ha) Recommend a photographer for our readers - Neil Bedford (http:// www.neilbedford.com/)
COACHELLA 2011: The Bad, The Good, and The Ugly ―You can see what I‘m doing, but you don‘t know what I‘m thinking.‖ - Some dude‘s t-shirt at Jack‘s Mannequin The Bad
music to which this does not sound like an advenThere are two ways to attend Coachella. I‟ve decid- ture but rather like hell (or those safe-decisionmakers who long to be a bit rebellious and who are ed to call them The California Way and The LA at this very moment convincing themselves it does Way. If you‟ve ever been to LA, you understand sound like an adventure whilst their stomach knot that this makes social if not geographic sense. For those who haven‟t, here‟s the difference between the calls them liars) – don‟t save for a year just to camp at Coachella. Save for two and get a hotel at SXSW. two. No matter what your affection for denim shorts may try to tell you, this is not the droid you‟re lookThis is something fashion journalists will never tell ing for. you about Coachella, but I will tell you for free. Everyone wearing clean and well-thought outfits on And that‟s the problem. There are but two ways to attan skin looking fresh-faced and relaxed – in other tend this festival. And the majority of music fans fit into words, any attendees you ever see in these maganeither category. It can leave one feeling frustrated and zines and websites - rented a thousands of dollars terribly left out, particularly when your negative condo, bought a hundreds of dollars VIP wristband, thought processes are accelerated by dehydration. I and saw a show. A show. One show. From a box. doubt Coachella was always this way, but like any This is The LA Way. And anyone who is under thirgood person with ambitious intentions, too many ty who subscribes to this method is either famous or years in LA has turned it into a monster. with inheritance. One would be loathe to attend this festival on an average person‟s salary with any hope of cleanliness, cool, or ease-of-mind. You‟ll be dirty. Let me put it this way. I‟m writing what you just And burned. And trapped in the desert with a read in my little Moleskin standing at the main bunch of techno-loving, drug-aided, neon enthusistage rail during Death From Above 1979 while in asts with no means of escape save for one shuttle front of me, a large crowd surfer – feeling more than that only takes you to Ralph‟s Grocers and will re- just the power of the music – tussles with a group of fuse to do even that past noon. For this is The Cali- security guards who taze him for resisting removal fornia Way, and it‟s full of neo-hippies and fake from the crowd. Later that night this same space of rave kids financially fortunate enough to obtain a grass on which our enthusiastic fan now writhes will $300 wrist band, reluctant to admit so, and full to be occupied by David Hasselhoff dancing drunkenly the brim with the ability to accurately portray mor- to Duran Duran. al abandon as if performing in their very own episode of Skins Goes to the Desert. To those lovers of Mental picture complete.
The Good All of this complaining has no doubt made me sound like a thoroughly old lady. To the contrary, nearly 87% of my time is spent actively trying not to age (FYI, the other 13% is for trying not to eat when I‟m full or accidentally insulting someone I‟m flirting with). This is why, when I sat down to write this, I wanted to put the bad stuff first. Because you should know, after all of that, I‟m so happy I went and I had a wonderful time. How is this possible? As I walked with my friend Michiko to the festival grounds on the last day nostalgia began to sink in, and I had a rare, thoughtful moment sans heat delusions and PortaPotty rage. My frustration with the event, I decided, could be traced back mainly to my frustration with the uncooperative elements which I felt was preventing me from letting loose and having a better time. But what I hadn‟t been giving myself credit for was the fact that, despite being unable to push myself to what I deemed the appropriate level of engagement and enthusiasm, I still continued to push myself at all. This, for me, is the sign that someone is getting old – when they stop looking for new things and resign themselves to the comfort of routine. While I can‟t force myself to be joyous over a showerless three day romp in the heat, I can keep trying to get as close to joy as I can. And that will always keep me young. So here are my moments of joyous, epic, and youthful Coachella abandon. Finding a creative take on personal hygiene. It‟s easy to look fantastic if you‟re Alexa Chung. You have many genetic advantages over most of the human race on
top of which, at Coachella, you also have running water and a mirror. Denied access to both baths and coltish legs, the means by which us of The California Way redefine festival fashion is utterly inspiring. On Saturday I‟m proud to report I achieved one of the best buns I‟ve ever had by sticking my head in a bowl of water and tying it with an old elastic. Jealous? I saw girls with beautiful red lips, bubble gum pink hair, filthy floral garlands and shorts that looked like they‟d genuinely been cut off just that morning at their tents. It‟s a mandatory effortlessness one cannot possibly achieve when they have the means and the time to try. It‟s like a band that loses all their sex as soon as they‟re given proper studio equipment. They airbrush out the flaws. It felt better to embrace them. Rain dancing (without the rain).
One might not generally come to Southern California to find a traditional, naturalistic vision of the Earth, but let me tell you, I‟ve never felt more in touch with Mother Nature than when prancing around in the grass to Jenny Lewis surrounded by gorgeous mountains. There‟s no place like Coachella for feeling the connection between music and the elements, if only because you‟re forced to live in some of the harshest there are to offer during your stay. From Bright Eyes to Animal Collective, Coachella lineups are constructed to dance in the sun, and if you can find a way to do it without turning into some Urban Outfitters take on Native American culture, it will be a pretty good time. Bands that are too big for anything less. The last place I want to be when “Juicebox” comes on is in a room full of discerning music snobs nodding along with muted appre-
ciation. The first place I want to be is in a crowd so big and so enthralled with Julian Casablancas‟s rasping voice that even if you don‟t want to jump up and down wailing complaints of frigid behavior to the unnamed subject of the song, you have to. Because whether you like it or not this band is going to make this crowd take you with them. I want to take fewer pictures because I‟m afraid my camera‟s going to break. I crave the release that can only come when it‟s finally 9 o‟clock, cool outside, and your favorite band is playing your favorite song.
without another Arcade Fire show to look forward to, but it also prompted us all to make the most of it. Shortly before the song, twenty or so volunteers were pulled from the crowd to help with a “special project for Arcade Fire” – my friend and I declined to participate as we were afraid we‟d miss some songs (and by “afraid we‟d miss some songs” I do mean “afraid we‟d miss one second of one song and that would be horrible” – we‟re fans). Shortly after, we watched as one after another after another these volunteers – aided by Marcus Mumford and his bandmate from Mumford & Sons, who had played earlier that night and had since joined the crowd to watch these enrapturing performers – rolled out huge balloons that flickered and glowed in every This is my most memorable moment of the entire color. As “Wake Up” neared its climax, the volunfestival. Arcade Fire closed their first set prior to teers, Marcus and friend, and a handful of cranes the encore with Wake Up, which, if you‟re familiar surrounding the stage released the balloons into the with the band‟s usual show, convinced me pretty audience. readily that this was in fact the last thing we would hear them play. This was an incredibly depressing thought given the fact we had nothing to go home If you ever want to knock a good few years off to but a nasty tent and a long number of years your life, get your adrenaline rushing with a great
song, get light headed as you sing along to every note, get winded bouncing on the balls of your feet, and play a game of keep away with thousands of your closest friends. One thing Arcade
Fire does best - besides play their instruments with authentic vigor and lead the kind of crowd participation that can shake the very desert floor - it‟s transport their listeners back to a time when things were a lot more simple. Before you worried about looking good, eating right, staying hydrated, keeping schedules or charging cell phones. Before you cared what you were doing, what you were thinking or what other people thought of either of those things, let alone wore those concerns on a t-shirt. No dividing line between The LA and The California Ways. Just me, Michiko, Marcus Mumford and 50,000 other people singing and dancing and tossing balloons up into the sky.
The Ugly Know this. No matter what the exuberant sales clerk at Sephora tells you, no sunscreen will keep sensitive skin from breaking out without a wash. And no matter what I myself tell you at Fire Island in two month‟s time – Italians burn. By Kate Edler For more go to - mymissus.tumblr.com
For more go to http://www.leannelimwalker.co.uk/
―I just don't want to die without a few scars.‖ Chuck Palahniuk