fashion
Gravity Fatigue, Hussein Chalayan, Sadler's WellsFriday, 30 October 2015If you thought the era of the impresario died with Diaghilev, think again. Alistair Spalding, chief executive of Sadler's Wells, has commercial and artistic vision in spades, and masterfully combines them in his operation at the Wells. Witness last... Read more... |
McQueen, St James TheatreThursday, 21 May 2015"You make clothes that make the darkness in me matter": If such an accolade strikes you as profound, make a beeline for McQueen, the James Phillips play about the tortured, all-too-brief life of the maverick talent Alexander McQueen that constitutes... Read more... |
Dior and IWednesday, 25 March 2015If anyone thinks high fashion is an airy-fairy world populated by flibbertigibbets preoccupied with frills and furbelows, Frédéric Tcheng’s feature-length documentary Dior and I, a behind-the-scenes account of the race to prepare the 2012 Christian... Read more... |
Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty, Victoria & Albert MuseumWednesday, 18 March 2015Alexander McQueen designed some dresses to die for. Dominating a wood-panelled room dedicated to Romantic Nationalism, in acknowledgement of his Scottish origins, is a crimson cape worn over a simple white dress. The high collar, puffed sleeves and... Read more... |
We Made It: Fashion Designer Anna SkodboMonday, 02 March 2015Anna Skodbo's route to designing her ethical, environmental and "crosstown" fashion brand Phannatiq has hardly been ordinary. From teaching martial arts, to living on rice and ketchup, to stints playing cello in a Norwegian black metal band, Skodbo... Read more... |
Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has To TravelTuesday, 18 September 2012It is said of many people, but for Diana Vreeland it was true: she remains fashion’s once and future queen. An enduring legend of a notoriously vicious and ephemeral world, the Paris-loving Anglo-American had a magical life as a heralded columnist... Read more... |
Bill Cunningham New YorkFriday, 16 March 2012If you’re the kind of person who appreciates auto-recommendations based on previous purchases, then perhaps I could do worse than begin this review by saying:” If you liked The September Issue, you’ll simply love Bill Cunningham New York.” There are... Read more... |
Girl ModelWednesday, 08 February 2012American documentary directors David Redmon and Ashley Sabin have made a reputation with stories that study, as they describe it, “variations of truth and falseness”. Their latest, Girl Model, is just that, in spades. It tells the story of 13-year-... Read more... |
We'll Take Manhattan, BBC FourFriday, 27 January 2012The Beatles’s arrival on US TV screens in February 1964 is usually recognised as the beginning of the British Invasion of America. But this drama, focusing on chippy, upstart photographer David Bailey, his relationship with his chosen model Jean... Read more... |
DVD: L’amour fouTuesday, 15 November 2011“I tell myself that I have created the modern woman's wardrobe,” declares Yves Saint Laurent during the press conference that opens L’amour fou. Hubris, but the trouser suits, safari jackets and Mondrian dresses he created did – in other... Read more... |
Go clubbing and running to support planting urban treesSunday, 11 September 2011As artificial spaces, clubs struggle to embrace the organic environment. The music and arts collective Noise of Art are bridging the gap by working with the charity Trees for Cities, with DJs donating their time to raise funds for planting trees in... Read more... |
Power of Making, Victoria and Albert MuseumFriday, 09 September 2011Hands on! Power of Making has it all: one of the most surprising and exciting collections of contemporary stuff on view for many a while. Some is functional, from coffins to bicycles, wine caskets, guns, bespoke shoes. Some would not be out of... Read more... |