POP 1109 Weekend 18-19 January 2013

Today's POP is Max Pearmain with his Paris-Milan Photo Diary Aka The Carb Counter and Seat Hogger.

Planes Trains and Automobiles

Paris
 

Two days in and we're wide awake. There's something in the air, and it begins with D and ends with E. (David Bowie stoopid)… Walter Van Beirendonck went all Ziggy Stardust on us whilst Raf Simons closed his (brilliant) mishmash of a show with Bowie's Modern Love and 70's wide collared shirts with tank tops. Elsewhere Louis Vuitton look the gauntlet and shot-out of the blocks yet again with a pumping collection (and soundtrack) that featured a brash/bold/brilliant fabric print collab with the Chapman brothers. A Garden in Hell…oh yes indeed we know that feeling. Dries throws out the best trousers eva…As eva, studded, cropped, zipped, perfect. Rick Owens felt strong and direct; good long frizzy hair and Issey Miyake as ever spoke its own language and made perfect sense. SIlver/gold/techno modernism at a smooth and refined Japanese pace. Enter the dragon.

Milan
 

Following my partner in crime Max C's roundup from yesterday, here's mine…

Suiting made sport. Techno fabrics meet classic shapes under a bridge called a clutch bag.

Prada – we are not worth. Liked this show. A lot. Miuccia educates us. again. and that set…me – oh – my.

Emporio Armani – want/need/would very much like all of those track pants with the killer EA logo on them please. And while you're at it, pass us all the velvet in the Giorgio Armani show. Ta.

Gucci – I knew silk scarves were chic, but not that chic; a whole new lesson in slick and tight.

Bottega Veneta – I'm scruffy. I know that. You know that. Bottega needn't know that, because if I'm gonna hang with them I need the first four looks, all black, proper and spot on. Then some of the plum thrown in for balance, and you'll all see maybe I can wear a suit.
 

Jil Sander – a whole lot of wholesome fun. Super super simple. Super super direct. Super super fabrics. The way luxury really should be.

Here's a mish-mash of our menswear blurry-ness for your enjoyment. Peace out.

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POP 1108 Friday 17 January 2013

Today's POP is Max C. Menswear boring? No way… "My head is blurry, but this stuff shines bright," reports our brother from another mother(ship).
 

Emporio Armani was a brilliant all-round show. Rick Owens was exemplary youthful swagger. Bottega Veneta showed refined suits and jackets that set new standards. And Issey Miyake just seems to live on his own planet (a good thing!).

Here's a Top Five With A Hangover. It might change when I sober up:
 

1. Raf Swims Against The Tide

The last couple of collections at Raf Simons have centred on killer tailoring. Now everyone is suit-centric while Raf showed knitted printed tank tops with wide collar shirts and mohair roll-necks. Think The Fall (punk Manchester with a touch of Albert Camus). An exciting moment.

2. Beaten up Prada leathers

The colourful leather coats at Prada looked beat-up and a bit Withnail messy, but in fact were the result of painstaking process. Put in the most effort but look like you just don't care…

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POP 1107 Thursday 16 January 2013

Today’s POP is Hannah, singing Britney’s new track Scream & Shout over and over…

Jewellery designer and artist Alexandra Parkinson’s bold metal work recently caught our eye at the Execution Room on Vyner Street, East London's art hub.

“DegreeArt saw my work at New Designers 2012 and soon after I got a phone call asking me to take part in their new exhibition."

Having graduated from a Three Dimensional Design course at Manchester School of Art earlier this year, Parkinson has quickly piqued interest for her textural and purposeful jewellery. “I use a fold forming technique that I have developed into my own style. I love the idea of starting with a flat sheet of metal and manipulating it into an interesting three dimensional form.” Speaking about her love for jewellery that has turned into tangible art, Parkinson elaborates, “ I love statement jewellery. I love to design and make jewellery that will be seen and spark interest. How some people wear a certain style of clothing as a statement, I want the jewellery to be the statement and the main focus.”

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POP 1106 Wednesday 15 January 2013

Today's POP is Valentino Menswear A/W '13 LIVE from Paris!

POP 1105 Tuesday 15 January 2013

Today's POP is George in New York. Our newest POP girl with a specialty in music you don't want to mess with.

American Idols.

The New York Scene is Dead. Long live the superstar.

Words Georgina Langford. Assistant Editor, District MTV

There's an undeniable difference in attitude between Americans and Brits when it comes to music. At home we're used to watching unknown, scuffy, imperfect new bands manoeuvre the back room gig circuit and actively strive to be the person who saw 'that band' play a tiny festival stage back in the day, relinquishing our fan status as soon as they have sold more than 10,000 albums. In the USA, however, it appears they care not for the up-and-coming, preferring instead to worship at the altar of the superstar. One look at Rolling Stone magazine's perennial Bruce Springsteen features says it all.

Spending the recent holidays in New York was enlightening. I scoured 'local' (as if anything in a country that vast could ever be truly localised) punk blogs and live music listings, desperately hoping to see a show. Back home in rainy Brighton, being at free gigs three times a week is the norm. But there was nothing to be seen in the US capital during the Christmas-NYE limbo period, unless you wanted to lay down $179 to see Jay-Z and Coldplay. Even with the exchange rate, that ticket price is enough to induce a stress migraine.

New York earned its place in the timeline of music history. But standing on Joey Ramone Place, outside the former site of CBGBs, now de-grimed and polished into a John Varvatos clothing store was a depressing face-palm moment. There I realised that New York is now a place where bands who have previously gained a certain level of fame come to play. It's the launch pad for the mainstream-ready, as opposed to the frenetic cauldron of new music that it was once rightly known as. The scene is dead. Instead, American citizens are unabashed in their celebration of international success. Just after noon on New Years Eve, the streets around Times Square filled with an army of policemen, some armed to the teeth with paradoxical anti-terrorist weaponry. Millions of people – predominantly teenage and female – flooded the area, wearing tacky NYE accessories and hyped with excitement over the fact that Taylor Swift would be performing there before the midnight ball drop. I became trapped in the crazy as patrol cars and barriers shut down the streets, readying New York for the event and creating the atmosphere of a real-life action movie, with bonus extra teen fever. It was truly something to witness.

What's significant about this happening is that Taylor, as brilliant and beautiful a pop star as she undeniably is, was scheduled to perform just two songs. Ten minutes of chart hit time, for which people were prepared to wait eight hours in below-freezing conditions. Naturally, an audience would have been heading to Times Square for the party itself, but I'd bet my last dollar that seventy- five percent of that crowd were Taylor fans and their folks. Some of whom had definitely travelled in from out of state just to witness their idol in action. It's hard to imagine that happening, to such an overwhelmingly massive extent, in central London. For a little while I got swept away in the indulgence of pop hysteria; it's an addictively euphoric, fun feeling, like eating too many sweets. Surreal.

God Bless America: the land of the brave and the super-mega-multi-million-selling-international pop star.

POP 1104 Monday 14 January 2013

Today's POP is Fiona writing from Istanbul, listening to Starland Vocal Band and admiring the gorgeous display of Turkish Delight…

Venetian Marble A/W '12

Photography Camilla Armbrust
Fashion Fiona Scarry

Coat, shirts, trousers and shoes by Celine, sun and moon ring in onx and agate by Lara Bohinc.

Green velvet suit by Gucci, shoes, Stylist’s own.

Coat and shirts by Celine.

Green velvet mini dress by Balmain, white patent leather shoes by Celine.

Dark blue wool dress, belt, and shoes by Fendi, tights by Fogal, pin cushion ring by YSL.

Earrings, coat, skirt and gloves by Givenchy.

Leather trousers by YSL, leather gloves by Givenchy, white patent leather pumps by Celine, leather belt by Lara Bohinc.

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POP 1103 Weekend 12-13 January 2013

Today's POP is Misty, loving Britney back at #1 and the cult Japanese label Factory 900…

Misty picked up some shades this weekend.

Factory 900 came from Japan to visit London's best kept secret General Eyewear (formerly Arckiv). The Tokyo-based brand collects, reuses and reinterprets acetate, soon to do so in collaboration with the Camden Market arch.

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POP 1102 Friday 11 January 2013

Today's POP is Hamish & Harry, exhausted by London Collections and now taking in a celebratory listen to It's Over by the Cure while editing the last of our JW Anderson pictures…

POP-ing out to see JW Anderson this week put us in a bit of a fluster. We had a major a gender-bend on our hands; the old dears behind us were left confused. Hard looks, strong curves, and stiff frills. Boob tubes became man tubes and mini skirts were busting with hairy man thighs. 

Not to forget that this is Autumn/Winter, J-Dubs gave us wool flasher macs in candy floss pink fluff and knee-high boots that just made us want to submit…to the show.

-H&H

Photography Hamish Wirgman & Harry Lloyd

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POP 1101 Thursday 10 January 2013

Today's POP is Hamish & Harry filing the last of London Collections (apart from J-Dubs of course)…

Photography Hamish Wirgman & Harry Lloyd

Retrospective felting, layers aside, summed up Shaun Samson's show.

Qasimi gives us statues. Was that an octopus on that models

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