Exclusive: Watch Jesca Hoop perform new track Outside of Eden

Acclaimed American singer-songwriter Jesca Hoop releases her new album, Stonechild, on 5 July – and she’s giving Oh Comely readers a sneak preview with an exclusive live recording of her mesmerising track Outside of Eden.

Featuring Kate Stables from This is the Kit as well as Jesca’s nephew Justis on vocals, the track is the folkiest offering on her forthcoming release – featuring her trademark finger-plucked guitar. 

The song represents one of Jesca’s biggest concerns: the effect of technology on young people and their increasing reliance on electronic devices. On the track, she sings: “Come shut in boys for the girlfriend experience, enter the code and I’ll taste real”.

Watch it here.

Stonechild is Californian-born Jesca’s fifth release and also features the talents of Rozi Plain and Lucius. The album title was inspired by a trip to a Philadelphia’s Mütter Museum, where the Stonechild is a sad display of an unborn foetus carried by a woman for over 30 years. “They become a hard ball of bones, a rock,” Jesca explains. “Phonetically, it's a beautiful sounding word – hard and soft – but also, I am taken by the idea of carrying something for a long time, perhaps in secret and then giving it up. I hope I have made an album of substance.”

Despite living in Manchester for more than a decade, Jesca normally records her music back in the States. This time, however, the recording took place in Bristol alongside renowned producer John Parish – best known for his work with PJ Harvey, Aldous Harding and This is the Kit . “It was time to step out of my comfort zone, my safe place,” she says. 

“Parish was a gentle collaborator – until he killed one of my darlings! I’ve never been so brutally edited, and I wasn’t shy about expressing my discomfort at the sight of my work on the cutting room floor… In some way, I think I actually enjoyed that treatment – being stripped back to the bare basics, albeit painfully.”

Jesca will be playing at a host of festivals in the UK and Europe over the summer, while she’s set to tour the UK in October. You can also read a full interview with her in our late summer issue.

Stonechild is released on Memphis Industries on 5 July. Her UK tour dates are:

01 Oct – Leeds, Brudenell Social Club

02 Oct – Bristol, Fiddlers

03 Oct – Manchester, HOME

04 Oct – London, Barbican

05 Oct – Cambridge, Storey's Field Centre

07 Oct – Gateshead, Sage

08 Oct – Liverpool, Leaf

09 Oct – Dublin, Soundhouse

11 Oct – Glasgow, Oran Mor

12 Oct – Edinburgh, Pleasance Theatre

13 Oct – Birmingham, Hare & Hounds

31 Oct – Oxford, The Bullingdon

Lee Krasner: Living Colour

Victoria Rodrigues O’Donnell visits Lee Krasner: Living Colour at the Barbican in London.

Lee Krasner, Springs NY, 1972
Photograph by Irving Penn
The Irving Penn Foundation

The Barbican is currently showing the first European retrospective of Lee Krasner’s work in over half a century. From early self-portraits, to wartime window displays, charcoal life drawings and vast abstract paintings, the exhibition features almost 100 works spanning her lifetime, many of which are being shown in the UK for the first time. Forget the myth-making and violent splashes long-associated with Abstract Expressionism, here is an artist whose Modernist roots led to a career tenaciously experimenting with colour, shape and form.

Lee Krasner was born in 1908 to Russian parents who had emigrated to Brooklyn, New York. Like many other Eastern European immigrants at the turn of the century, Krasner’s family fled anti-Semitic violence and travelled to the United States in the hope of a better life. Although she could not pinpoint the origins of her desire to become an artist, Krasner was determined to forge an independent living from her art and had decided on doing so from a young age. In an interview, she recalled: ‘I made no economic demands on my parents so in turn they let me be… I was not pressured by them, I was free to study art.’

Lee Krasner Self-Portrait, c. 1928 The Jewish Museum, New York.
© The Pollock-Krasner Foundation. Courtesy the Jewish Museum, New York.

Krasner had places at a number of prestigious institutions, including Washington Irving High, the only school in New York at the time to teach art courses for girls, and the National Academy of Design. The development of both her self-portraits and life drawings from this period are one of the most important aspects of the exhibition. Not least because tutors often found her output mediocre or would refuse to believe she could paint something like Self-Portrait (c. 1928) at all. Perhaps the most significant influence on her was studying under Hans Hofmann during the late 1930s. Hofmann was a German artist who had known Picasso, Matisse and Georges Braque while working in Paris. As a result, Krasner was taught a Cubist framework that she both respected and resented, particularly his propensity for making suggestions or corrections directly onto a student’s work.  

The exhibition begins with Krasner’s series of ‘Little Images’, abstract works painted following her move to an area of East Hampton called Springs in 1945. These paintings aren’t quite the spontaneous, sweeping brush strokes associated with Abstract Expressionism. The application of paint feels minute, calculated and precise. The emerging patterns are reminiscent of those that Eduardo Paolozzi and Nigel Henderson would go on to make together ten years later. However, the most fascinating work in this section is Mosaic Table (1947). Consisting of mostly blues, oranges and greens, Krasner constructed the table top using coins, keys, broken glass and costume jewellery. The table sits proudly in the centre of the space – a stark difference to its origins as an old wagon wheel salvaged by Krasner during a bleak winter.

This tendency to collage or rework pre-existing creations runs throughout Krasner’s career and regarding this, she is known to have said: ‘I am not to be trusted around my old work for any length of time.’ When low and frustrated, Krasner had the habit of tearing up works – both old and unfinished – and repurposing them after a few weeks away from her studio. These new pieces, comprising of materials like torn newspaper, shreds of burlap and patches of paint, were shown to critical acclaim in 1955. Krasner would go on to do a similar series of pieces in the 1970s, this time using an old portfolio of life drawings from her time at the Hofmann school. Brightly coloured, large-scale works like Blue Level (1955) and Desert Moon (1955) have evolved into carefully composed shapes that slice across the canvas in a reinterpretation of her Cubist training.

Lee Krasner Blue Level, 1955
Private Collection.
© The Pollock-Krasner Foundation.
Photograph by Diego Flores

The rest of the show feels impassioned and urgent, as if an electric current runs through the canvases. Whether it’s the enormity of her ‘Night Journeys’, painted during a bout of insomnia following the death of her husband, or the eruption of colour and gesture in her ‘Primary Series’, Krasner engulfs the viewer. Paintings like Icarus (1964) and Siren (1966) are particularly dazzling once you’ve just been looking at the restrained palette in Polar Stampede (1960).

While visitors walk around the exhibition quietly contemplating the works on display, it’s only in the final section that you begin to hear a chorus of giggles erupt among the audience. They are all sat or stood around watching an archival film montage of interviews with Krasner. At a memorial held for her, the playwright Edward Albee said that Krasner ‘looked you straight in the eye, and you dared not flinch’. Upon seeing how sharp-tongued and direct Krasner is in these film clips, one leaves knowing exactly what Albee meant.

A number of critics have praised this long overdue recognition of Krasner’s place in the art historical canon, and yet in doing so, they have continued to discuss her work in relation to other, particularly male, Abstract Expressionists. Yet, I think the exhibition captures the sheer range and depth of her career in a way that couldn’t make her stand out more from her contemporaries, male or female. Looking back on her career, Krasner summed herself up perfectly: ‘I was a woman, Jewish, a widow, a damn good painter, thank you, and a little too independent…’

Lee Krasner: Living Colour is at the Barbican until 1 September 2019.

A chat with Doon Mackichan

Photo: lize mccarron

words: Holly Williams

A comedian and actor, Doon Mackichan has worked as a stand-up and in influential TV comedies such as The Day Today, Brass Eye and Smack the Pony. More recently, she’s appeared in Toast of London, Two Doors Down and Pure, and has given acclaimed performances on stage in Twelfth Night and Jumpy. She also sings vocals in the jazz quartet Sea Crow (hence the outfit…). Her latest role is in David Mamet’s new play Bitter Wheat, alongside John Malkovich.

What can you tell me about the play?

It’s about a Hollywood mogul – people will recognise Weinstein, but it’s also any controlling, predatory man at the top of his game. It looks at how he operates – and how he falls. I’ve got the difficult task of playing his wing-woman, his PA. I have to find out who I am, to have allowed certain things to slip through the net.

Although I was lucky enough to talk to a woman who had been [Weinstein’s] PA for a few years – and a lot of the women didn’t get involved in the hook-ups. They knew he was a sleazeball, but they say they didn’t really know the extent of his predatory nature.

Do you buy that? Or do you think they were deluding themselves?

I do buy it. They knew he was lecherous, but they never thought it was rape. I have to believe those women, in my heart. They were all very bullied people; not many people stayed a very long time.

Do you think that, with #MeToo, we’re seeing practices changing in what young actresses are expected to do in auditions or on set?

I remember when it broke, feeling a massive relief. There were so many unprotected actresses, I was almost thinking about going into drama schools and saying to girls: look, you do not need to do these nude scenes, you do not need to be standing on a table with your breasts out while 40 crew are walking around.

I think women are going to be able to say ‘I’m not very comfortable’ or ‘I don’t want to do that’ now. It just feels that a door has been opened, to not be seen as the difficult one if you say something. It’s the beginning of a sea change – I hope.

Is it something you’ve had direct experience of yourself?

I’ve always said no to nudity unless it was going to be a radical lesbian feminist film! If I’m working for a kickass woman, I’ll definitely get my tits out – but not for a horrible old sleazeball. I’ve been in quite a few auditions where I’ve said ‘well is this really necessary?’ and then there’s been a rolling of the eyes. I’ve said I wouldn’t be nude and then I get on set and I’m asked to drop a towel… I was pressured, made to feel like a prude.

And I’ve tended to keep away from storylines that involve violence against women unless it’s dealt with in an incredibly careful or different way. We don’t have to keep seeing it – we’ve seen enough! It’s so exhausting, so debilitating, so bad for your self-esteem. If men saw the amount of rape we see, they’d be like ‘oh fuck this, I’m not watching Game of Thrones, I’ve had enough’.

Going back to Bitter Wheat – some people have raised their eyebrows at a #MeToo story being told by a male writer…

I think it’s really important for women to tell their story – they should be commissioned. But Mamet is Mamet and he’s written it very quickly and he’s got a play on. It’s definitely the man’s story – but it looks at why he got away with it, how he operates: buying the critics, treating the writers like shit, bullying all his staff, hitting on young actresses… It’s about control and power.

Yes, it would be great if a woman had written it. But she hasn’t. So until a woman has written a play about it, we need to celebrate that it’s a really important story that needs to be told, now. I hope it gets all the conversations going, and makes people at the top go: ‘Christ, I can’t get away with that.’

What’s the tone of the play – is it a comedy?

I’m glad I’m going to be in the room, they probably hadn’t bargained for me! Because it is all down to tone, isn’t it? There’s humour in it – but it’s humour about a man who is flailing, and losing his grip. And that can be funny. But I know there was some controversy about it being referred to as a farce. There’s nothing farcical about rape. It’s not the subject of farce. That’s not anything I would be involved in, and if I feel uncomfortable with the way the story is being told I will make myself very clear. And if I’m very uncomfortable, I won’t do it.

You auditioned with David Mamet. What is he like?

I really liked him a lot. I thought he was a real powerhouse, he had great humour. I liked his no-nonsense direction – and I thought I would be able to say what I wanted. So fingers crossed it does go down the right road.

Do you think that laughter is a good way of taking on some of the more horrific things in our society?

Well, I’ve done ‘the most offensive television programme ever made’, the [2001] Brass Eye paedophile special! After that I was blanked, I couldn’t go to [collect my children from] school for a while. But when we’re dealing with taboos, it’s all down to the tone. We agreed, Chris Morris and me, that the way paedophilia was sexualised by Fiona Bruce on Crimewatch was just unacceptable: this sexy way of talking about it with a husky voice and a raised eyebrow and lip-gloss. It was really important to skewer it.

And laughter is also a good way of going ‘god almighty, that’s awful’. But it’s a fine line, to not make it just light or ridiculous – or to be at the expense of the female.

Do you feel like the nineties was a particularly important time for comedy?

We just had our 25-year reunion for The Day Today. It made us feel very old – but what a gang. We just a happened to be put in a room and told to start improvising. We did On the Hour for the radio and then that turned into The Day Today and then that turned into Alan Partridge – it was just this ball rolling. It was more open to letting people experiment, and giving people money, then.

Do you think the fact that comedy was seen as a man’s world affected how Smack the Pony was perceived?

We’d all been feeds for male shows for years. It was great to make the straight women the funny women – to turn it on its head, everything we hated about male sketch shows. We just made our own set of rules.

Really French and Saunders were the only other female comics at the time and it was bit like ‘oh well, we won’t get anyone else.’ Same when I was on the [stand-up] circuit – they’d say ‘sorry, we’ve already got Jenny Éclair’. Sadly, it’s still pretty much the same, after 30 years.

Why do you think that is?

I don’t know, it’s terrible. Every woman I know pleads and begs me to bring Smack the Pony back, because there’s not been enough like it, to take its place. It’s still the most ridiculous battle. There are women on the circuit, they’re just not on telly.

Do you get stage fright doing a play – or has stand-up cured you of that?

Stand-up has cauterised every nerve in my body. When you’ve done that in the Tramshed in Woolwich in front of 250 squaddies, nothing will scare you.

Bitter Wheat is at the Garrick Theatre, 7 June till 14 September

Young, tattooed and black

Here in the Oh Comely office, we have been devouring Candice Carty-Williams’ debut novel, Queenie, darkly comic, we were with Queenie every step of the way. Here author Candice tells us about her first tattoo…

Photo by Lily Richards

At 22, I suddenly decided that my life would be better if I got a tattoo. I knew absolutely nothing about them, so popped into the dodgy parlour round the corner from the my house that still exists and, to this day, has never had another customer but me. I walked in, was hit by the smell of weed, neither of the men who ran it looked at me and, after asking if I could have the outline of a heart on my stomach, one of them printed out one of those literal old school Microsoft Word heart templates and buzzed that onto my stomach. Now that I think about it, that parlour was potentially a front for drug dealing but I’m no snitch so refuse to comment further or give away the location.

I had to hide this tattoo from my nan, head matriarch, because I’m the first person in my family to get any tattoos. When she eventually saw it, she kissed her teeth and said, “if you were going to ruin your skin you should have gone bigger than that.” Challenge accepted. Not put off by my terrible first experience but ever-so-slightly wiser, my second tattoo was properly researched, thought about – I had a consultation and everything – and went to a legit parlour on Frith Street.

Two day later I stayed at my nan’s, hiding tattoo number two because I wanted to present it when it was fully healed, but the jig was up. I found this out when I was trying to eat my toast. “Can?” She called from upstairs. “Yes?” I answered, expecting to be asked to do one of a hundred chores she had lined up for me. “What’s this in the bed?” she shouted down. “What?” I asked as I walked up the stairs. “Show me,” she said, not looking at me, but instead looking at the black and red tattoo scabs that had peeled off in the night. “It’s nice, isn’t it?” I asked, holding out an arm. And that’s how we both almost fell down the stairs and broke our necks, as she chased me round the house – an exciting and legendary day in the Williams household.

To celebrate a break-up and my freedom, having heard about an amazing tattoo artist in Shoreditch, I went for a consultation with a picture of a castle that was maybe the size of your average post-it note and, two weeks later, left with one covering my entire thigh. The tattoo artist mentioned that most castles have names, and wondered what I’d call mine – we had a lot of time to talk, as this one took four hours. “What’s your middle name?” I asked her. “Elizabeth,” she said. “And my surname is Taylor.” Thus, all are welcome to visit Elizabeth Taylor Castle on my right thigh.

When I went to LA a few years ago, there was a tattoo parlour near the place I was staying that looked exactly like an LA tattoo parlour should look, so I basically ran inside, lifted up my shirt to show my first tattoo and said, “I think it’s time to cover this up” and, never one to go small (at my nan’s loose suggestion), had a four-hour session with a tattoo artist who also happened to be the lead singer of a rock band. It was the most American experience of my life to date. He would keep saying “tell me when it’s, like, feeling gnarly?” and said “right on” and high-fived me when he asked whose name I’d like in the new sailor banner he’d just inked on my stomach and I said “Candice”.

My current favourite tattoo is my latest one, SOUTH on my left arm. Again, probably too big. So much research went into this one; I asked a friend who knows loads about fonts what the best one to use for this tattoo would be, and he said, instantly, “Uh, how about the one designed specifically for south London street signs?” It doesn’t really get better than that, does it? Especially as I get to explain that fact to every single person who asks what it means, or to every family member who trolls me by hilariously saying “Is that in case you forget where you’re from?” as though they haven’t all heard each other say it before.

I’m planning my next tattoos as I write this. I have no idea what they’ll be yet but I can guarantee they’ll be big, they’ll be meticulously planned, and they’ll either get me chased around a house or targeted for bants in the family group chat.

Queenie is published by Trapeze and is out now.

Stocksy – curated with love

Stocksy is so much more than an image library. Its website is home to a curated selection of royalty-free photographs, illustrations and videos that have changed our expectations about what stock images can do. They’re also a co-operative believing in creative integrity, fair profit sharing, and co-ownership – every voice is heard.

We'll be meeting some Stocksy artists over the coming months to find out more. Next up is Jessica Woodhouse, who’s based in Portland, Oregon. (You can also meet Liliya Rodnikova here)

What are your favourite colours to work with? I love using warm colours and earth tones because I feature nature in my illustrations. I feel like it gives my work an organic and relaxed feeling. That being said, I’ll use bold colours and pastels when the mood strikes.

What inspires you? So many things bring me inspiration! I have a lot of strong, supportive women in my life who I represent in my work. I love vintage style and try to incorporate vintage fashion and objects into my drawings. Riding my bike around Portland, which connects me to my surroundings in a completely different way, has been a source of endless creativity. Leaving town for a few days of solitude in nature has always been something that gives me clarity and new ideas.

What is the creative scene like in Portland? I moved to Portland about four years ago and it’s been the perfect place for me to focus on growing my business. I’ve found the creative community here to be very supportive of each other, especially women supporting other women. I don’t know where I would be if it wasn’t for the network of creative friends that helped me get established as an artist.

The laws surrounding cannabis use are very different in Portland to over here in the UK and we’ve noticed you like to feature it in your work… I think the stigma surrounding marijuana is quickly fading away and I want to represent it in my work because I believe it’s important to normalise its use. I live on a street with more cannabis dispensaries than coffee shops. It’s everywhere, it’s commonplace, and that’s great for everyone in the community.

How do you get past the fear of a blank page? Sitting down at a blank page can be so overwhelming! It’s easy for me to brainstorm and develop a sketch when I have to work within certain parameters. When I am starting from scratch I like to pick a narrow topic like riding a bike, traveling, cooking dinner with friends, etc. I’ll sketch out four to five scenes and, inevitably, I’ll see potential in one of them. From that point, I’ll dive into the deeper process of creating a final piece. When I limit the possibilities it’s much easier to focus.

What creative project would you like to work on next? I would love to continue developing my animation skills and eventually work on creating a series of videos with sound effects and music.

And your dream commission? I would love to create more illustrations to accompany stories for newspapers and magazines, especially more animated gifs that can be used within online publications. Most people, including myself, are getting their news and magazines digitally these days and I can imagine there will be loads of opportunities to create animations specifically for an online audience.

What materials do you use in your illustration? My illustrations are created digitally. I use an iPad, Procreate, and Photoshop to create all of my work. It’s so easy to draw anywhere, wherever I'm travelling. If I'm at home and I have only 20 minutes, I can get on the computer and jump into my work right away. That said, I love painting with gouache when I have the time and the space because nothing beats working with physical materials.

Stocksy: stock photography + cinematography, made with love

The Western Wind by Samantha Harvey

In a brief pause on her whistle-stop book-signing tour, our book club editor Terri-Jane Dow caught up with author Samantha Harvey over a cup of tea in a bookshop basement to talk about Samantha’s new novel The Western Wind, covering story structures to how faith and secrets vie for power in the tiny 15th-century parish of Oakham.

Samantha Harvey, photo by Matt Lincoln

The Western Wind, a novel told backwards, looks at faith and power in a tiny 15th-century parish. Oakham’s wealthiest resident, Thomas Newman, is seen floating in the river on Shrove Tuesday, four days after his disappearance. A Lent visit from the Dean means that Oakham’s priest, John Reve, needs to find the murderer, when there perhaps isn’t one, and needs the Dean to leave before he finds anything more disturbing going on. Samantha Harvey’s latest novel is not a who-dunnit, but a why-dunnit and, by moving the focus from what could have been a straight detective novel, the result is something far more absorbing.

Terri-Jane: What drew you to write about this 15th-century village?
Samantha: What came before anything else was an abstract idea about wanting to write about confession. I went for a walk, and the concept, and the character of John Reve, the parish’s priest, came to me, and the idea of the story going backwards. Then I had to find a time and a place for it. I wanted it to be a time where confession was the social norm, and I ended up, really against my better judgement, in the late 15th century. I wanted the village to be somewhere that was on a potential trade and pilgrim route, but couldn’t exploit that because it didn’t have a bridge. So I looked at a map and invented Oakham. I could tell you exactly where on a map it is, but it’s not there.

T: The structure of the novel was so compelling. Why did you tell the story backwards?
S: I hadn’t meant to write a reverse narrative. I felt like it was a bit gimmicky, but it had come to me so solidly that when I tried to do it the other way, it wouldn’t work. I thought that I could take the readers expectations and subvert them, and make them less interested in the what and more in the why. As a reader, I’m not that interested in the gasps or the big reveal, but the workings of the human heart and mind are endlessly complex and endlessly renewing themselves.

T: There’s a sense Oakham is within reach of progress, but just can’t get to it. Reve supports the idea of a bridge, but he still wants to stay at the centre of the village, and he can’t have both.
S: Reve wants Oakham to modernise and thrive and flourish, but not if that threatens his position of power in any way. I wanted him to be a character who behaved as most of us would behave. Medieval priests would have this enormous power and trust from their parishioners, but also have immunities. You can’t go to Hell, you probably aren’t going to even go to Purgatory. Why would you ever want to lose that status? It’s your ultimate insurance against a sorry afterlife.

T: The book describes a ritual where Reve has to stand at one end of a boat and one of his parishioners at the other end, so that he can be weighed against a ‘regular man’. Even though it’s theatre to the extent that the other man has stones in his pockets, there’s a flicker of doubt in him that he’ll pass the test.
S: It must have been a peculiar thing. He will have known, as all priests of course know, that they are just like other men; they’re flesh and blood; they’re not halfway to the angels. At the same time they must really have believed that they were the mouthpiece for God. What a strange paradoxical position to always be in. The idea of the whole thing being a theatre that you have to play along with, but you also have to believe in it as if it weren’t theatre.

T: There’s a running theme through the book of the power that the church has in the village; before Thomas Newman’s death, he’s been away travelling and come back with some strange ideas, like that maybe he doesn’t need a priest.)
S: I wanted to look at that question of grief and loss, but also to look at divine power and how that was rationalised. That entirely Catholic society of the 15th century was very complete. If you would abide by it, the church gave you everything. It was your religion, it was the safety of your soul, or your body, of your afterlife. It was your insurance and your education. If your priest was trustworthy and cared for his parish, it was quite a complete system. But if you wanted to ask questions, or bypass your priest, it didn’t work so well.

T: The visiting Dean brings a much stricter version of that faith with him. He starts out as an unlikeable figure, but by the end, you realise that he just knows about some things that shouldn’t be going on.
S: I never saw the Dean as a nasty character, but I wanted him to come across like that in the beginning. His and Reve’s character arcs form a cross, and the Dean goes up in your estimations as Reve loses some grace. That’s the way we all are: complicated and flawed. Telling the story backwards meant I could tell the story from where they ended up, and then reveal things about them. I wanted to play with the effect that time has on a character. It was also quite fun, for the first time in my writing life, to write a villainous character. All of this is from Reve’s point of view, so of course his interest is in depicting the Dean as an adversary. And then we see that the Dean has more depth to him.

T:  Reve justifies his actions as protecting Oakham, when really he’s just saving himself.
S: There’s the dual side of his character as man versus priest, but he’s also a self-centered individual and a person who has genuine compassion for his parish. Without a strong priest, a parish would be quite vulnerable. He’s caught between those two sides; for himself over a parish which is being corroded by a threat to his status. It’s not just his job; if he’s no longer needed as a priest, then does that mean he’s no longer safeguarded? Everything is at stake for him.

The Western Wind (Vintage) is out now

Thinking outside the box with Bloom & Wild

Are you an ‘Outside the Box’ thinker? Bloom & Wild are inviting Oh Comely readers to unlock their creativity by designing a letterbox this March. 

Bloom & Wild’s mission is to make sending and receiving flowers a joy again, so that you can be there from anywhere for those you love. We’re on board with that idea. And they are calling all creatives who want to join their high-profile packaging portfolio to submit their designs for the brand’s well-loved letterbox. The winner will receive a commission of £2,500 and have their box seen by thousands of Bloom & Wild’s customers.

Over the years, Bloom & Wild have collaborated with brands and designers to create beautiful boxes for their bestselling letterbox flowers. Brands include Liberty London, Boden, Mother of Pearl and Peggy & Kate. Like us, creativity is at the heart of what they do, and they’re excited to begin the search for a new, up-and-coming designer to create the next pattern for the letterbox.

The Design Brief:

The theme for their range is ‘Summer Brights’. Featuring vibrant cerise and coral tones, the flowers across this range are joyful, energetic and bold.

Keep reading to find out more…

Right, read carefully, this is the important bit, to enter and submit:

Send a mood board to www.bloomandwild.com/outside-the-box that demonstrates your box-design concept. You can include a rationale to understand where your ‘Summer Brights’ idea came from, plus examples of previous work you have done to show your style.

The winning designer will be asked to make their idea fit across the outside and inside of the box, plus the finer details. For example, the sticker and ribbon around the flowers’ cellophane and a matching gift card for customers to add at checkout.

To submit your work, click here, where you can upload a digital mood board, a scan of your sketchbook or whatever works for you.

THE PRIZE: We’ll announce the judges’ (there are four judges, including our very own editor Alice Snape) favourite entries on Monday 8 April 2019. The winner of this competition will be commissioned £2,500 by Bloom & Wild to turn their idea into a box pattern for the July/August ‘Summer Brights’ collection.

This also includes an original piece of design for the box outer and inner, plus suggestions for a sticker design and ribbon pattern/colour and a gift card cover design or designs (at A6 spec) that ties into your theme and can be selected by customers at checkout so the packaging sits as a set.

**The deadline is midnight on Sunday 31 March 2019 to submit your entry.

Good luck! Enter, here.

What We're Loving for spring

It’s International Women’s Day! And we’re in office today working on our next issue, celebrating all the wonderful women who feature on our pages. To tide you over to the next issue, here are some of the bits we’re loving right now… we hope you love them too.

Compiled by Alice Snape, Frances Ambler, Bre Graham and Terri-Jane Dow

Lynn Enright’s Vagina: A Re-Education
With a timely publication date (the day before International Women’s Day), Lynn Enright’s Vagina: A Re-Education, is the most necessary book we’ve read this year. “It tackles the lack of education around women’s bodies and how they work with zero squeamishness and offers facts that I, a 31-year-old vagina owner, had absolutely no idea about,” says our bookclub editor Terri-Jane. It’s frank and fascinating, and provides much-needed information.

Some of our favourite artists and illustrators have created work for International Women's Day available on Everpress. We’re feeling all the emotions for Sarah Maxwell’s Heartbreaker and Rachel Louise Hodgson’s Mine tees. Each is available for three weeks only, so don’t hang around.

K Swiss have teamed up with Amber Vittoria to create ‘The Space is for You’ shoe. Known for challenging conventions about the “ideal” female figure through her art, this collab represents empowering women being comfortable in their own skin.
K Swiss will be donating 30% of all sales made today on kswiss.co.uk to You Make it, a charity empowering young unemployed women with the confidence, skills, knowledge and experiences needed to further their careers.

Sheets with a social cause… Treat yourself to something soft to sleep in. Rise and Fall make soft, simple sheets that raise money for the homeless charity Centre Point. Plastic-free packaging, low impact dyes and chemicals will all help you have a better night's sleep. Prices from £99, riseandfall.co

For emergency use soft shoulder, serigraph, 1966. Image courtesy of the Corita Art Center Immaculate Heart Community Los Angeles

We’re taking some cues on to how to make a real impact from the work of Corita Kent, currently on display at London’s House of Illustration. Kent harnessed the power of Pop Art to get her message across, in dialogue with issues ranging from the Vietnam War to feminism and the civil rights movement. Oh, and did we mention that she was also a nun? It’s on until 12 May.

Siri Hustvedt novels are always inventive, exhilarating reads – where you don’t know quite where you’ll end up. Memories of the Future, out on 19 March, shows a 20-something ‘SH’ making her way in New York. Worth the cover price just for the introduction to the fabulous (and real) Baroness Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven alone, a Dada artist who is very likely responsible – but uncredited for – one of the 20th century’s most famous artworks.

Photo: Kristy Noble / Styling: Gemma Therese Pearce

In our latest issue, we shine a light on the beauty products that are not only good for us, but also good for the world we live in. It’s made us really stop and think about what’s in our bathroom cupboards. We love this green clay face mask, from By Sarah London which contains matcha tea. We’re also pleased to discover the vegan hair dyes by Maria Nila for when we fancy a change. See what other brands we love in our early spring issue.

The first ever menstrual cup was created by actress Leona W. Chalmers in 1937. And now there are lots of amazing cups to choose from, including Intimina who have created this eye-opening timeline.

Why not celebrate Women’s Day by buying a copy of Oh Comely mag for a wonderful woman in your life?

Creating community with illustrator Erin Aniker

London-based artist Erin Aniker was raised by an activist mother, is part of a female and non-binary led creative collective and was influenced by feminist theory at university. It is perhaps unsurprising then, that her bold and colourful illustrations often depict the faces, hands, relationships, nose rings and nail varnish of women. Ahead of International Women’s Day (Friday 8 March), she speaks to us about her feminist upbringing and her obsession with cobalt blue.

 Words: Hannah Clugston

Erin Aniker

You have discussed going on protests with your mother when you were young, how do you continue her legacy of protest? I still go to protest marches. I am also part of a collective called We are Here UK, which is a group of women and non-binary black and Asian minority ethnic artists across all disciplines. We started it after the EU referendum because there was a spike in anti-immigration rhetoric and I think a few of us felt quite angry about it. I suggested we do an event or an exhibition where we explore what it means for us to be British and from another background as well. For me, I can be British and Turkish – they are not mutually exclusive identities. I like to think of We are Here UK as a form of activism. Also, in my illustration, if I get asked to do an editorial commission on a group of people, I will make sure that group is inclusive and include as many different types of people as possible. I will not go to the default setting of drawing lots of white middle class men.

Would you call your work feminist? I would. I am proud to call myself a feminist. I don’t make work with the sole intention of it being feminist. I think because I am so passionate about it and I am a feminist, I guess it just comes through in my work. When I create a piece of work, at the end I check it and ask am I conveying the right message?

'Act!' by Erin Aniker

When did you realise you were a feminist? I think from quite a young age. I feel quite privileged to have had the upbringing that I did because my mum didn’t raise me and my twin brother separately based on our gender. That isn’t necessarily radical or feminist, but I noticed that a lot of my friends didn’t have the same experience. If my brother was out playing in the garden, she’d make sure I went out and climbed trees and did whatever I wanted to as well. And, if we were cooking, she’d make my brother do it too. So, I didn’t see things as gender-based tasks or roles, I saw them as things that everyone did.

So, you were raised a feminist? Yeah, and I would say my brother was raised a feminist as well because gender wasn’t something that affected our childhood from a parenting point of view. They didn’t treat us differently, they didn’t dress us in certain things and they didn’t give us specific toys. I am sure they did certain things that were gendered, but I think compared to a lot of my friends my upbringing was quite feminist.

illustration for AIGA Eye on Design

Were women always a central interest for you in your work then? Definitely. I have automatically been drawn towards drawing women. My mum has always been a key figure in my life and a lot of my friends happen to be women. But, I think that my primary interest is people. I am quite interested in how things like culture affect us – I think being British and Turkish has impacted my work. My dad is a language teacher and speaks five different languages, and I grew up in east London so I am very interested in people and culture because it was something I was raised in. Hands feature quite a lot in my work – sometimes there are just hands and no faces, which removes gender but also reflects how I am really interested in people, community and how we can support each other, which I think is quite important at the moment.

In terms of the aesthetics of your work, what inspires you? I am inspired by Turkish textiles and ceramics. There is a strong use of cobalt blue in a lot of them, and there was one point where I was working in blue – like every single shade of blue – and then I started dressing in blue! I found it a really calming colour. I have come up with this colour palette that is bold and vibrant because I am trying to put things out there that are quite joyful, colourful and positive. London can be quite grey, so sometimes I even find myself dressing in bright colours.

How do you think we should celebrate International Women’s Day? I am a little bit cynical about International Women’s Day or anything that is just one day to celebrate just one thing, but I do think women need to be celebrated. I guess, the best thing to do would be to use the day to support women artists and to support the women in your life. Champion the women that you love and respect, and advocate for women’s and human rights. And, if you are in a position of power, think about the amount of women and non-binary women of colour you have in your employment – are you paying them properly? Is there a wage gap between your employees?

Riposte X Amnesty International UK | Protection Exhibition

Finally, choose one of your illustrations and tell me why it is important to you. I was commissioned to create an illustration about organ donation and religion and it is lots of hands from different backgrounds praying – or with hands clasped together – around a heart. On a similar theme, the illustration I created for Amnesty International to commemorate the anniversary of the Human Rights Act is lots of different hands all holding onto each other in a circle. The focus is on humanity and what we have in common as opposed to our differences. Both works are bright, powerful and positive. I think those two images definitely sum up what I want my work to stand for and the kind of work I want to create in the future too.

‘Palms’

Erin Aniker will be at The Other Art Fair hosting a Protest & Power illustration workshop on Sunday 17 March, 11am-6pm. Erin has created a range of poster templates based on feminist icons or you can draw your personal feminist hero from scratch. Visit www.erinaniker.com

How did you meet your mates? Tell us all in our survey

In our latest issue, we loved sharing stories of how we met our mates – and so we’re keen to know more about how you met yours... Share it all – from the moment your eyes met to the gossip and fall outs – in our friendship survey…

Illustrations by Ella Masters

“I’ve always desired that kind of friendship that endured time. Those bridesmaids at weddings whose sobbing speeches involved lines such as “I’ve known her since she was two!”. I wanted that Sex and the City kind of friendship. People who were going to be there for you at the drop of a WhatsApp message. And my friends didn’t just ask if everything was alright – they made it so.” In issue 47, Tahmina Begum writes about the friends that she made at school.

Share everything about your friends (well, as much as you dare, without starting a bust up) in our survey here. And we promise not to stitch you up to your mates.

Pssst, as extra incentive, one lucky reader will win a bundle of books (which you can also share with your pals)

An artistic vision from Seasalt

We’re delighted that the design team at Seasalt have created a new collection inspired by the brand’s Cornish costal home and pioneering sisters, painter and interior designer Vanessa Bell and author Virginia Woolf, who had a very special relationship with the area.

The sisters spent the summers of their childhood years in St Ives, which left a profound and lasting impression on them. They flourished in the creative and physical freedom of Cornwall, which included walks in West Penwith, and swimming and rock-pooling at Porthminster Beach – which Virginia recalled as being, “the best beginning to life conceivable”.

Seasalt have reinterpreted the works of Virginia Woolf and Vanessa Bell to create a collection steered by artistic visionaries and literary landscapes. Highlights include a wave print inspired by the crashing seas at Godrevy Lighthouse, where Virginia used to gaze out of the window – an influence for novel To The Lighthouse. Expressive florals and abstract patterns reference the wild gardens and colourful interiors of Charleston, Vanessa’s Bloomsbury group home.

It’s an artisan collection that includes beautifully soft knits, considered separates and relaxed silhouettes to provide the perfect accompaniment to memorable summer days.

And you could win £100 to spend at Seasalt. To be in with a chance of winning, answer this question:

 Where is Seasalt based? Give your answer here.

 Competition closes Friday 8 March 2019.

(HINT: you’ll find the answer somewhere on the Seasalt website and also in this blog post)

Terms & Conditions: The competition closes 8 March 2019. A winner will be chosen at random from all correct entries after this time and notified shortly after. Full terms and conditions are here, and you can enter here.

Stocksy – curated with love

Stocksy is so much more than an image library. Its website is home to a curated selection of royalty-free photographs, illustrations and videos that have changed our expectations about what stock images can do. They’re also a co-operative believing in creative integrity, fair profit sharing, and co-ownership – every voice is heard.

We'll be meeting some of their artists over the coming months to find out more. First up, Liliya Rodnikova, a photographer who also loves body art and glitter…

*This is a sponsored post*

Photo: Liliya Rodnikova

Where do you live?  "I live in a small city called Penza in Russia. There are lots of young, talented and creative people here, so it’s easy to collaborate and make my ideas a reality."

What inspires you?  "I like the quote: ‘Inspiration exists but it has to find you at work’. I’ve tried to figure out my personal list of inspiring things a thousand times, but I’ve never finished it. Anything or anyone may become my source of inspiration, but the most important is not to miss this unique and powerful feeling and start working before the magic is gone."

Why do you love photography?  "Photography is dream work! I’m the only person who decides how much and when I should work, and how much time I can spend on my passions like drawing or painting – or I can even unite them all! Another important thing for me is the fact that photography should document reality as it is, but it never does. There is always a difference between what your eyes see and what is in the photo. And this difference is the artistry for me. Something totally unpredictable and amazing. I’ll never get tired of it."

Photo: Liliya Rodnikova

Stocksy: stock photography + cinematography, made with love

Silly Girl Club

Ayoola Solarin meets Nikki Millar, founder of nostalgic brand Silly Girl Club, which turns old bedding into the most fabulous clothes…

Nikki Millar, founder of Silly Girl Club

You’re most likely to find Nikki Millar in her home studio, face to face with some of the most well-known celebrities of our time. With her flat stacked wall to wall with hundreds of Disney bed sheets, Nikki hardly has any time for real-life people as she spends her days with Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Buzz Lightyear and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Her sharp sewing skills and childhood penchant for all things ’90s has manifested into career passion project, Silly Girl Club – a brand dedicated to upcycling nostalgic fabric to produce eco-friendly, affordable fashion. Nikki, the one-woman team behind the Leicester-based project, has been collecting long-forgotten fabrics of animated heroes since she was 14. Silly Girl Club has now grown into a fully-fledged business, producing dresses, bumbags, playsuits, patches and more, while maintaining an ethos to encourage recycling and ethical sourcing.

How would you describe Silly Girl Club? Carefree, fun and nostalgic. And I think the recycling also has a big part. Well, I like to think so because it’s the part I’m most passionate about!

How did it begin? I used to go to car boots all the time when I was younger. I love cartoons and whenever I saw fun bed sheets, I’d collect them. I had piles of them around my house. I started sewing in 2004 and making my own clothing because there was nothing I liked in the town that I lived in. And the bedding was just so bright and amazing.

When did you start making stuff for other people? I hadn’t made or sewn anything for years after I left university because I absolutely hated studying fashion. But then my make-up bag broke and I made a replacement and put it on Instagram. People loved it! I put something on Depop and it sold within minutes – I couldn’t believe it. I made a few more bits and they sold again, and that’s when I figured there’s a demand for this. I kept making things alongside my full-time job as a hobby to get myself back into sewing again.

I managed a bar for eight years but as Silly Girl Club developed a stronger online presence, I would end up working a 9am-6pm shift at the bar and then sew before work and afterwards – it was exhausting. I thought something’s got to give and I didn’t want it to be Silly Girl Club.

What’s the deal with nostalgia, anyway? Nostalgia takes you back to a carefree time when you didn’t really have any worries, when you felt more free. It’s got that lovely feeling about it. This a major reason why I started Silly Girl Club – nostalgia makes people happy and I just feed off people’s excitement. Cartoons are fun! I love the colours and how anything can happen in a cartoon. It makes life less boring, doesn’t it?

How do you source your fabrics? I’ve accumulated so much over time. I’ve been collecting fabrics for years so I used to have suitcases and boxes full. But now I’ve been getting through it really quickly. There’s a guy in America that goes thrift shopping for me, he is my absolute hero. Other than that, my favourite hobby is charity shopping and nowadays, followers send me stuff too. They’ll say “Oh, I had this in my cupboard and I don’t use it anymore, do you want it?” – it’s the nicest thing in the world.

How does recycling and sustainability factor in? For me, I don’t really buy anything new from shops unless I really have to. I’ve always bought secondhand and it’s been a conscious decision for me because I don’t like waste. Recycling and knowing where something’s come from is a massive deal to me, I don’t think I could make clothing that I knew wasn’t recycled.

There’s a quote from a BBC report that hit me hard – it said if clothing consumption continues as it is, by 2050, fast fashion  will account for a quarter of our total impact on climate change. And ethically speaking, I always look at my clothing and the stitch lines and think, a human has made these. They’ve probably worked the same amount of time as me, maybe more, and they are most likely not getting a fair wage. I don’t think people often think about it. People are very enthusiastic about recycling but they don’t think of fast fashion in the same context.

What does Silly Girl Club represent? I want it to be fun, but also conscious and inclusive. I try as much as possible to make things that are easily worn and affordable. When I first started SGC, a few people emailed me to say how much they appreciated no fastenings on the clothes. It’s important for everyone to feel included. Even monetarily, for people who are less able to afford things, I’ve started prices from as little as £2.50 so that anyone can be part of Silly Girl Club.

What does running a small business mean to you? Honestly, it’s the best thing I’ve ever done. Every day I wake up super happy and I jump up into my sewing room straight away because it’s crazy, I’m doing what I love. It’s given me some confidence I never thought I had, which is amazing.

Follow Silly Girl Club on Insta @sillygirlclub

Win £100 to spend at Joanie

Oh Comely has teamed up with nostalgically inspired clothing brand, Joanie to offer one lucky reader the chance to win a £100 spend on their website.

Known for sweet styling, unique slogan knits and pretty details, the brand has quickly gained a cult following of style bloggers and celebrities who love Joanie’s individual look and affordable pieces.

Launched in 2016 and inspired by all things nostalgic, Joanie cuts through the noise of uninspiring fashion to create vintage-style clothing with a twist, giving a nod to the retro look (think peter pan collars, classic stripes and feminine silhouettes) – all in sizes 8–22.

Joanie’s bestsellers don’t stay online for long, so we’re giving you the chance to snap up their signature styles with a £100 voucher to spend on the website. 

To be in with a chance of winning, simply answer the question below.

In what year was Joanie Clothing launched? 2007, 2014 or 2016. Give your answer here.

Follow Joanie on Instagram

Joanie T&Cs: Winner’s voucher will be issued as a code for use on Joanie’s website: www.joanieclothing.com. This code will be one-use only and must be used in its entirety in one single transaction. Non-transferable, no cash alternative. Entrants opting in for brand communications will receive periodic marketing emails – these can be unsubscribed from at any time. Winner must claim prize within 72 hours or another winner will be drawn.

Iceberg T&Cs: The competition closes 20 January 2019. A winner will be chosen at random from all correct entries after this time and notified shortly after. Full terms and conditions are at icebergpress.co.uk/comprules.

Last chance to see Renzo Piano: The Art of Making Buildings at the Royal Academy of Arts

Renzo Piano: The Art of Making Buildings installation view, 2018. Photo: David Parry.

Last chance: see the Royal Academy of Arts’ uplifting architecture exhibition, Renzo Piano: The Art of Making Buildings, in the New Year.

This January, escape into the world of Renzo Piano, the inspirational architect behind The Shard in London, the Pompidou Centre in Paris, and the 1.7-kilometre-long Kansai Airport in Japan. During his 40-year career, Piano has made a huge contribution to the modern city centre, not least on his own hometown of Genoa, where his regeneration work truly transformed the industrial harbour into a public space.

This stirring exhibition is like walking into one of Piano’s architectural logbooks. Daylit, bright and airy, the gallery houses 16 tables filled with original sketches, technical drawings, detailed models and in situ photos of some of his most important projects. Highlights include the first sketch of The Shard (which Piano drew on the back of an envelope in a restaurant), as well as 1:1 mock-ups of engineering elements, which his 150-strong team produce to test their scale and surface.

Renzo Piano: The Art of Making Buildings installation view, 2018. Photo: David Parry.

Each of these reveal the vision and invention behind Piano’s pioneering constructions, and the truly global scale of his work. Designed and curated in close collaboration with Piano himself, join us for the first exhibition in London to put the spotlight on Piano in 30 years.

At the centre of the exhibition is a darkened room screening an intimate documentary with Piano, as well as the most imaginative object in the show: a metropolitan ‘Island’, created by Piano and his team, which brings together over 100 of his buildings at a 1:1000 scale into one landscape.

Renzo Piano: The Art of Making Buildings installation view, 2018. Photo: David Parry.

Renzo Piano: The Art of Making Buildings is open until 20 January 2019. 

Book now

Exhibition organised by the Royal Academy of Arts, London, in collaboration with Renzo Piano Building Workshop and the Fondazione Renzo Piano.

Oh Comely readers can enjoy 20% off tickets using the code ARCHI18.

*This is a sponsored post*

What we're loving this Christmas

Need some last-minute inspiration for presents or what to do on your festive break? Here’s a round-up of what we’re loving this Christmas…

Clara Bow in Dangerous Curves 1929. Photo by George Hommel. Source: BFI National Archive

We’re laughing out loud with the pioneering women of clowning in the BFI’s Playing The Fool exhibition, which draws on photographs and publicity materials from the BFI’s Special Collections. You can view it on the mezzanine gallery.

The exhibition is on until 6 January. Find out more here.

We’ve been burning this Christmas Koppraia candle every day in the office to get into the festive mood. All Koppraia candles are made with a signature coconut, rapeseed and soy wax blend, which produces a cleaner burn than paraffin alternatives. Plus, they’re cruelty-free, vegan and sustainably produced.

Were you as obsessed as us? We devoured every single story in the Sweet Valley High and Babysitters Club collections when we were teenagers? And so our fave book of the moment is Gabrielle Moss’s Paperback Crush which is taking us on a trip down memory lane… It’s a totally radical reflection on teen fiction of the ‘80s and ‘90s.

We want everything from Wanderlust Life Jewellery. The collection is inspired by travels past and present, and features gold rings, necklaces, studs, hoops and bracelets. The shapes are all simple and gorgeous.

We reckon this peanut butter jar bauble will look really sweet on your tree.

Get one from wagreen.co.uk

Liam Gilliver wrote a first person story about Coming Out, Twice in issue 43. He’s now written his debut novel, We’re Worried About Him. It’s a book about falling in love and self-discovery, inspired by Liam’s travels to Italy, his experiences with men and the personal barriers he has overcome. A heart-wrenching read.

Re-Fashion is our new go-to for charity shopping. They believe the future of fashion is circular, inspiring us to recycle the clothes we no longer wear and buy pre-loved clothes.

You can order a donation bag from their website, and browse donations too.

photo: Justine Desmond

Wandering Womb is a thought provoking display at Royal College of Nursing’s Library and Heritage Centre in London until 22 March, exploring the history of women’s health – and how how women have long been seen as at the mercy of their own biology –and the roles nurses have played in challenging such generalisations. The title comes from a belief in the ancient medical world that a “wandering womb” could cause suffocation and death. Find out more in the display, and its series of associated events.

We found out about A Printed Wardrobe thanks to our friends at the excellent daily newsletter Domestic Sluttery. Sets of kits with everything you need to put together one of their designs – backed up by online tutorials to guide you through each make. Just one question: which skirt should we make first?

Courage Calls to Courage Everywhere makes for an inspiring stocking filler. Jeanette Winterson’s call to action about how much women and men alike need to do for true gender equality. You also get a copy of Emmeline Pankhurst’s landmark Suffragette speech ‘Freedom or Death’ as a reminder how far we’ve managed to come since 1913.

Finally, we’d like to think that Oh Comely is exactly the kind of thing you’d like to find under the tree come Christmas day. You can order a hand gift-wrapped subscription here, or treat a friend (or yourself) to an issue here.

Protection exhibition for Amnesty International UK

We’re can’t wait to go and see Protection, which is a new exhibition curated by our friends Riposte in partnership with Amnesty International UK. On display at Coal Drops Yard in London from 10 December.

by Jasmin Sehra

To mark the 70th anniversary of the declaration of human rights, Riposte, in partnership with Amnesty International UK, has curated a group exhibition featuring women and non-binary artists. It will run from 10-16 December at Coal Drops Yard.

There’s a line-up of 30 inspirational artists (some who have graced the pages of Oh Comely over the years), including Guerilla Girls, Esther Mahlangu, Erin Aniker, Hattie Stewart, Juno Calypso, Lotte Andersen, Lynnie Zulu, Maisie Cousins, Mona Chalabi, Nathalie du Pasquier, Phoebe Collings-James, Steph Wilson and many more. All contributing artists have been invited to create work in response to the theme of “Protection”. All profits from art sales will be donated to Amnesty International UK.

Drafted in 1948 following the atrocities of the second world war, the declaration provides a universal set of minimum standards for how people should be treated worldwide. It is rooted in a desire for dignity, equality and fairness for all. It has been translated into over 300 languages and it laid the foundation for the human rights protections that we have in the UK today.

by Steph Wilson

As part of the Amnesty Collective, Riposte wanted to bring together a global collection of artists to reflect on important human rights issues that affect us all. On the global spread of the artists involved in the show, editor of Riposte and curator of the exhibition Danielle Pender said, “We made sure that the artists involved were a global mix to reflect the myriad of ways that we’re affected by the issues around human rights. We invited established artists and designers such as Guerilla Girls, Nathalie du Pasquier and Esther Mahlangu alongside younger artists to explore the generational reaction to the issues covered in the declaration.”

The exhibition opens on Monday 10 December, RSVP here.

by Hattie Stewart

Long live kitsch, long live Ana Ljubinkovic

Tahmina Begum travels to Belgrade to meet Ana Ljubinkovic…

Ana Ljubinkovic is something special. That’s how she was described by Nenad Radujević, founder of Belgrade Fashion Week earlier this October as we headed to Ljubinkovic’s show. It’s also what I thought when her first model walked out.

Ljubinkovic has made a name for herself outside of the Serbian walls she grew up in, in all honesty, she was the only fashion designer I had heard of before heading to Belgrade. Her shows in London tend to be packed as everyone wants to see a Ljubinkovic creation. They are never ‘clean cut’ or ‘streamlined’ and, at first, they don’t seem practical for everyday, even though you could most definitely wear all her pieces outside of the catwalk. Seeing the effects of the 1999 Chinese embassy bombing in Belgrade and experiencing the solely heteronormative culture, walking around beautiful, binary and broken Belgrade, I was curious to understand how Ana Ibrinchovich came up with such queer designs: sleeves mimicking puffy wings, gay dicky bows and fine art portraiture slammed in the middle of medieval lace-trimmed gowns.

“Art is important for me,” she says while describing the birth of her collection, “that’s the part of the collection that holds a part of me”. This comes as no surprise, Ljubinkovic studied painting at the University of Belgrade and fell into fashion design accidentally while dreaming up fashion sketches, never really thinking they’d ever come to life.

What is a surprise is how keen the fashion designer is to keep kitsch culture alive. Fifteen years ago this wouldn’t be a problem as the pre-Instagram world had designers like Meadham Kirchhoff who cared about the whimsical. But Ljubinkovic who still lives and designs from Belgrade (and when asked why when she could live anywhere with her international recognition, she reflexes with “why not?”) cares about bringing the art via clothing to Serbia, then to the rest of the world.

“I really love kitschy details. To play with kitsch as an element, you have to have the aesthetic knowledge to do it the right way. From the pearl drops to the diamantes. Great designers have to feel the rhythm, proportion, balance, form, to know the colour theory, to know the fabrics, the technology”. And Ljubinkovic is right in that for those who don’t understand kitsch style and culture, for those who just see it as ‘bad taste’ fail to see the irony in not taking yourself too seriously in fashion – an epidemic that seems to have spread even more so as fashion has become about the numbers thanks to social media.

Ljubinkovic favourite kitsch designers are Manish Arora, Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, Pam Hogg, Mary Katrantzou, Vivetta and “of course, Gucci” – they are “the real superstars” as, in her book, it’s all about the attitude. “You have to be brave and humble at the same time”. The kitsch style would suck if in the process of having fun – but also making fun of yourself – you had an entitled personality to go with it. It’s only then that the oversized earrings and obnoxiously feminine pieces can make you look dated.

There’s a sense of heritage that comes to play with Ljubinkovic’s pieces. She loves to learn about art, architecture, technology and read the biographies of Nikola Tesla or Marina Abramović  – hence the history lesson across her puffy dresses – she makes it clear that she doesn’t have time for anyone else’s fashion. She’s interested in people’s stories and in response, what they put on their back and in their minds. Her sense of tunnel vision when it comes to only her fashion enables her fashion shows to have a strong narrative but also for there to be a consistent house style. You know an Ana Ljubinkovic dress when you see one.

So when I ask her what does the future look like for her and kitsch culture, she responds matter of factly with the way trends work. “Now is the time to be brave, to experiment and to be eclectic. But even in a house like Gucci, trends get boring. There will be the nude basic craze [as in the normcore trend] all over again”. But that doesn’t seem to be the case with kitsch style, maybe it’s Ljubinkovic’s lime green peplums, her doggy illustrations or the sweetheart dresses, or maybe it’s because it’s so out of place that people always search for it. In a way, being kitsch seems to be trendless.

Or what it really could be is how aspirational is the confidence it generally takes to wear an Ana Ljubinkovic trouser suit for example. To that, the fashion designer says, “real avant-garde is to really be yourself and be unapologetic about it”.

The designer is currently working on her next collection

Come join our craft workshop weekender

@katiejonesknit

Get yourself in the festive spirit, and perhaps also ahead on the pressie front, with our craft workshop weekender held in London on Saturday 1 and Sunday 2 December. 

We’re delighted to have teamed up with Birdsong and Beyond Retro to offer a weekend filled with sessions run by some of London’s most brilliant designers, illustrators and makers. 

@rosynicholas

Pop along to Beyond Retro’s Dalston Store, and you can join social enterprise Juta to make your own reclaimed leather or vegan shoes, have fun block stamping your own sustainable top with Gabi & Maya and learn more about natural dyeing with SALT Textiles. Get your fingers celebration ready by crafting party rings with accessory and prop maker Rosy Nicholas, while crochet queen Katie Jones will be sharing her pom pom tree decorations (pick up a copy of our forthcoming midwinter issue – out 13 December – for more Christmas treats from Katie).

@katiejonesknit

Grab your friends or come along to make some new ones. Prices start at £10 and you can buy your tickets here. Look forward to seeing you there!

Muslim Sisterhood

Tahmina Begum introduces Muslim Sisterhood, a photography project capturing Muslim girls and women in the UK

Zeinab, Sara & Lamisa, founders of Muslim Sisterhood

As I scroll through Muslim Sisterhood’s Instagram account, the first question that comes to mind is “what have we all be doing all this time?”. By “we all”, I mean mainstream media outlets and magazines that can choose to have a variety of women and non-binary faces across their pages. Yet it’s been the work of Zeinab Saleh, Sara Gulamali and Lamisa Khan that’s allowed us to see a range of Muslim women the minute we log into Instagram.

The DIY photography series, which chronicles the breadth of Muslim girls and women in the UK, began when Lamisa Khan was working at Amaliah, a platform for millennial Muslim women, and wished to see “normal Muslim girls who aren’t bloggers, fashionistas or British Bake-Off winners” represented as well. Inspired by the way Saleh incorporated her faith with her art and Gulamali’s campaign with Variant Space where the women were “unapologetically Muslim” (and decked out in Adidas of course), Khan approached Saleh and Gulamali and only a few months later and a few Muslim Sisterhood photography exhibitions down, they are already alumnus of V&A’s Friday Lates.

Muslim Sisterhood at V&A Friday Late

Starting off as an Instagram account, Muslim Sisterhood’s following went from zero to over a thousand followers in just two weeks. Khan recollects that “we really didn’t expect it to be such a big deal but because Instagram is such an accessible and widely used platform, it’s a free place to exhibit and share work, it means that we can reach Muslim women on an international scale.”

For those who are bored by the conversation of diversity, you are either most likely already seen as the norm or you’re exhausted from constantly asking for it. Co-creator of Muslim Sisterhood Sara Gulamali explained the importance of platforms like Muslim Sisterhood is so not only are Muslim girls celebrated for once (and their representation is also shaped by Muslim women who come from a place of understanding) but that images like these are relatable.

Billions of Muslim continue to be generalised in the West and the consequence of this is the toxic stereotypes. From being terrorists to being uneducated, poor, a refugee or simply old-fashioned, Muslim women are typecast as having no agency. They are shown in only a handful of ways, resulting in those growing up Muslim questioning if they are 'Muslim enough’. “Therefore by showing the multiplicity of Muslim women,” Gulamali adds, “this helps rid any misconception of what a ‘normal’ Muslim girl looks like because that image simply does not exist.”

But Muslim Sisterhood is not just portraits of pretty Muslim women, it’s also tackling issues within the Muslim communities. One of them being anti-blackness, which prevails through many Muslim communities, both international and national. With only 10% of Muslims in the UK coming from a black background, co-founder Zeinab Saleh explained tackling these problems was crucial as the series was “made for us by us and why it’s important for us to raise these important issues that impact our Ummah (community)”.

Model: Amaal Ali / Photography: Zeinab Saleh / Stylist: Lucy Savage / Make-up: Maha and Hala / image belongs to Muslim Sisterhood

“We celebrate women from all different backgrounds and also recognise colourism as a problem within our community. We don’t want to reproduce the same toxic Western beauty ideals so we constantly check ourselves and make sure we bring awareness to the conversation” explains Saleh. An example of this was when the founders went on the Islamic channel, a TV network that is broadcasted internationally, and brought up the topic of anti-blackness to an older generation of Muslims who often hold these views. In other words, to speak outside the echo chamber.

When asking the three curators what they have learned about Muslim women and people in general, Lamisa Khan simply said: “I think our community can often be quite divided because of racial and cultural sectarian differences. It’s just been so refreshing to meet women who understand where you're coming from.” The feeling is clearly mutual, as Muslim Sisterhood’s engaging supporters have meant the trio have been able to not only been able to capture the throng of different Muslim women but also to show at We Are Here UK at the London School of Economics to mark 100 years of partial suffrage and celebrate what it means to be a British BAME woman in 2018.

In the latest V&A’s Friday Late, Muslim Sisterhood collaborated with The Savage Sister Vintage in order to exhibit exclusive photographs from the project, and did I mention, their photography has been used to illustrate Mariam Khan’s awaited book It's Not About the Burqa: Muslim Women on Faith, Feminism, Sexuality and Race, set to be released in 2019? Muslim Sisterhood are putting in the work for what we all benefit from and want to see: more diversity within diversity around Muslim women, please.

Model: Yasmin Moeladi / Photography: Zeinab Saleh / Stylist: Lucy Savage / Make-up: Maha and Hala / all images belong to Muslim Sisterhood