ISSUE±14 by Jess Bunyan

HAPPY NEW YEAR HAPPY NEW YEAR HAPPY NEW YEAR

THE NEW YEAR ISSUE

SWEAT ISSUE±14 THE NEW YEAR ISSUE HAPPY NEW YEAR HAPPY NEW YEAR HAPPY NEW YEAR

HAPPY NEW YEAR HAPPY NEW YEAR HAPPY NEW YEAR HAPPY NEW YEAR HAPPY NEW YEAR HAPPY NEW YEAR HAPPY NEW YEAR HAPPY NEW YEAR HAPPY NEW YEAR HAPPY NEW YEAR HAPPY NEW YEAR HAPPY NEW YEAR HAPPY NEW YEAR HAPPY NEW YEAR HAPPY NEW YEAR

cover embroidery by JESS BUNYAN artwork by EMMA ALHQVIST strangers resolutions and the curse of lana del rey artwork and words by JESS BUNYAN artwork and interview with CLOVER CHEN

THE CURSE OF LANA DEL REY

Late last year the music blogging community got a new girl to fantasise about in the form of pouting trailer park chic “Gangster Nancy Sinatra” Lana Del Rey. She was catapulted to the throne of ultimate alt chick and inspired a piece on Hipster Runoff that read like a teenage girls diary entry.

her childhood.

So why should we care? She doesn’t seem too. The new fans she’s found in the mainstream don’t seem to even know about her conflicting origins and her new album is sure to sell tons on buzz and expectations alone. And the blogging community is left either still posting highly However, along with the buzz stylized pictures of her because there was already some nerves she’s super cute or bitterly as the mainstream started to slating her recent performances pick up on her. Instead of being because they didn’t match the the usual, “we want her to stay videos. Her story was obviously alternative and never make any dilluted by her record to label money, she’s ours” shtick there and sold to the underground to was also a little bit of suspicion. create hype. But that they didn’t Turns out she’d already tried see that is their fault entirely. out this pop star thing, releasing an album and an ep on itunes In the end though her music under her real name, Lizzie is really fucking good. So why Grant. Now, that’s not so bad. should we care what she says Except that her new publicists in interviews or where she grew had failed to mention it, as well up or who her dad is? We’re far as the fact that her dad was too concerned with the fact that actually a domain tycoon and she might have had cosmetic the trailer park image she’d surgery rather than that her been branded with was a lyrics are sometimes pretty little far from the reality of the damn un-feminist. But hey, it’s Conneticut boarding school of only pop music right?

CLOVER CHEN I first spotted Clover Chen’s work, rather appropriately on The Fashion Spot. But when I found her blog and saw even more of her work I was truly stunned at what I saw. Fashion illustration is hard to put a new twist on. However, with her painterly figures, big graphic ink splodges and a nack for capturing fabric in a way so divine it appears to have been draped by Mr Balenciaga himself (who just happens to be one of her favourite designers); Clover Chen certainly presents a unique view. Studying at the world renowned London College of Fashion she’s surely on path to big things. So we caught up with her to talk inspiration and here it is along with some of her newest work. And don’t forget, you saw it here first...

SWEAT: Was your first love fashion or illustration? CLOVER CHEN: Illustration, or art in general. I have good days and bad days with fashion, but not with art. S: Obviously your hugely inspired by icons of days gone by, but who do you find yourself returning to the most? CC: Rene Gruau is definitely the one illustration master I respect and look to for motivation consistently. another illustrator from the past I constantly look to motivation is Coby Whitmore. S: Who are some of your favourite designers and why? CC: My favourite designers is Cristobal Balenciaga because of his genius ways of shaping

fabric into simple architectural beauties, which brings out an aura of elegance and grandness in its wearer. another favorite, Madeleine Vionnet, which is sort of a counterpart to balenciaga with her soft, gorgeously draped bias dresses. when i think of slim and slender, I think of Vionnet. S: Tell us a little about your creative process, what really makes you want to get down and start a new illustration? CC: Curiosity makes me create. If Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m creating for myself, I ultimately create simply for a mood or a feel. S: What are you planning to move onto next? CC: I really want to travel. S: London or Toronto? CC: Neither, haha.

For more Clover Chen head over to her website: clover-chen.tumblr.com or her shop: etsy.com/shop/ clovershop