01/2013
Editorial / Contributors
Editorial Do you love surprises? Then we recommend a trip to Marrakech! Because this Moroccan city will confound even the most jaded of city hoppers. We definitely had to keep rubbing our eyes at all the sights and sounds – and that’s with 30 J’N’C City Guide productions under our belts! The sheer amount of incongruous contrasts that characterise the North African trading hub at the foot of the Atlas Mountains even had seasoned traveller Adriaan Louw, our photographer from Cape Town, lost for words. Exuberant luxury, the most colourful and opulent interior designs, as well as fashion boutiques, galleries and restaurants that would certainly not seem amiss in any western metropolis are all to be found here. And then, just two taxi-minutes away: street scenes straight out of the 18th century! Donkey carts, street vendors in traditional garb, artisans sitting working in front of their small shops. European-influenced lifestyles with fixed rules (and fixed prices) coexist peacefully with
a seemingly chaotic existence with archaic traditions and haggling for every last dirham. Find out more about how Marrakech pulls off this balancing act with ease and how the contrasting worlds help to inspire local fashion in our City Guide from page 26. J’N’C author Fredericke Winkler also brings a few surprises to light in this issue, albeit in a completely different field – although we should be used to that by now. She has, after all, been analysing the interaction between fashion and other social trends and phenomena for many years. This time the Berliner has turned her attention to the topic of fashion and technology. In her essay ‘Utopia Today, Reality Tomorrow’ she expresses surprise at the lack of innovative spirit in the world of fashion, which feigns a future-orientated outlook. So why are the realms of design and science so unwilling to cooperate and exchange ideas? Speaking of exchanging ideas: we took some time out to do just that with Jason Denham. The
eponymous Amsterdam cult label is celebrating its fifth birthday, and so, in an interview with Annekatrin Looss the smart designer talks about his top five heroes, his ‘Denham House’ concept and sending the first jeans into outer space. Andrea Canè, Creative Director of the Italian company WP Lavori in Corso, might not be planning a trip to the moon, but he has brought the label Woolrich to Europe. What other surprises do we have in the bag? Perhaps the latest denim trends of the big brands for 2013/14? Or the coolest fashion spreads of the season? You want it, we’ve got it! Browse the pages and prepare to be surprised. After all, here in the fashion business we are all part of an industry that thrives on surprises! All the best for the new season. Ilona Marx
Contributors Busy Bees
Gunnar Tufta
John Gripenholm
Bodo Ernle
A plastic flamingo in his neighbour’s garden served as the catalyst for Gunnar’s career. The London-based Norwegian is meanwhile a sought-after fashion and advertising photographer and has worked together with renowned colleagues like Steven Klein and Nadav Kander. Although his profession requires him to travel from one metropolis to the next – he is currently busy in New York – he still sees himself as a real country bumpkin. For him, nothing can beat trudging through the neverending darkness of a Scandinavian winter, wrapped up in half a dozen jumpers. For this issue of J’N’C Gunnar took photos of ‘Thelxinoe’.
John Gripenholm can still remember his first ever camera: it was black with an orange button. But it wouldn’t make the cut these days! After all the Stockholm-native is a sought-after photographer, shooting for labels like Lee and Monki and for glossy magazines like Dazed & Confused and Elle. He is a real perfectionist when it comes to lighting and light reflections. “Sometimes, when I’m talking to someone, I find myself paying closer attention to the light than on what they’re saying,” he admits. It seems that his profession has certainly left its mark on the non-blonde Swede.
Just like German film director Roland Emmerich (“Independence Day” and “The Day After Tomorrow”), stylist Bodo Ernle also comes from the lovely city of Sindelfingen near Stuttgart. Disaster films aren’t really his cup of tea though; his five years spent at Bravo Girl! were just far too harmonious for all that kind of drama. Currently Bodo lives in Berlin-Kreuzberg but is on the move a lot, jetting round the world for magazines like Celebrity, Mr Style and Indie. You can tell by his styling that Bodo likes contrasts – in his personal life too. Glittery jacket or graffiti shirt, frog’s legs or fast food? It doesn’t really matter: he’s quite happy as long as he has a trip to sunny São Paolo in the pipeline.
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Annekatrin Looss Someone who starts off their career as a Love Parade reporter is probably not someone you’d want to mess with anyway. But Annekatrin Looss is also an expert in kung fu and tai chi. But she only whips out her blue judo belt when someone really gets her goat. Which thankfully doesn’t happen that often, because the native Berliner is a real bundle of fun. And the smart jeans expert Jason Denham, whom she interviewed for J’N’C, thought so too. Currently the freelance journalist has plans to move to the countryside. Anyone who has a vacant, pretty house by a lake, for Annekatrin, her family, friends and assorted pets, should give her a call.