GO-SEE DAY / 

EGLE JEZEPCIKAITE / ELITE

SHARP & DAPPER / 

BRANDING AND PRODUCT SHOTS FOR SHARP & DAPPER'S 'SHIRT COMPANION'

ART DIRECTION  / ANEEL KALSI

STEFAN HEINRICHS / COAST WEBER AHAUS AW11 

"ECONOMICS ARE THE METHOD; THE OBJECT IS TO CHANGE THE HEART AND SOUL."

- MARGARET THATCHER

I DIDN'T GROW UP IN THATCHERIAN BRITAIN SO I DON'T HAVE QUITE AS GOOD AN UNDERSTANDING OF HER REPUTATION AND HER AS A CHARACTER WITHIN POPULAR BRITISH CONSCIOUSNESS AS PERHAPS I WOULD LIKE, BUT THIS WOMAN UNDERSTOOD HEGEMONY.  IN A MORE FOCUSED SPIRIT OF REVOLUTION I RETURN AGAIN TO MY AMASSMENT OF WRITINGS ON THE SUBJECT:

"THE 'FREEDOM' PRODUCED BY INSTRUMENTS OF THE RULING CLASS...MOLDS THE 'FREE' SUBJECT TO THE NEEDS OF AN ECONOMIC BASE, "THE CONTINUOUS DEVELOPMENT OF THE ECONOMIC APPARATUS OF PRODUCTION"."

- DOMINIC MASTROIANNI, 'HEGEMONY IN ANTONIO GRAMSCI', 2002

INCURRING A CHANGE AT THE LEVEL OF THE SUPERSTRUCTURE IS ONLY SUPERFICIAL DAMAGE.  LIKE A WEED, IT ONLY RISKS REGROWTH.  A TRUE REVOLUTION WILL COME FROM DEEPER WITHIN.

MORE ON THIS LATER.

EDITORIAL / 

FENN, FOR ESSENTIAL HOMME.

   

WHEN WE WERE YOUNG

WE NEVER NEEDED ANYONE.

PREVIEW / 

GO-SEE DAY / 

JAMIE WISE / FM.

"DAMBISA MOYO:  IT'S NOT SO CLEAR ANY MORE THAT THE BROADER INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY VALUES THE INSTITUTIONS THAT THE UNITED STATES CAN OFFER IN THE WAY THAT THEY DID PERHAPS A FEW DECADES AGO.  IT'S NOT OBVIOUS THAT INSTITUTIONS LIKE THE WORLD BANK AND THE I.M.F. HAVE THE GRAVITAS THAT THEY HAD, AND IT'S NOT OBVIOUS TO ME THAT COUNTRIES AROUND THE WORLD ARE STILL ASPIRING TO BE MORE LIKE AMERICA IN THE WAY THAT THEY DID WHEN I WAS GROWING UP IN ZAMBIA.

I THINK THE WEST MISSED A TRICK, BECAUSE IT ADOPTED - CERTAINLY IN AFRICA AND MANY OF THE POOR EMERGING ECONOMIES - AN ATTITUDE OF "DO WHAT WE SAY AND NOT WHAT WE DO."  THE WHOLE IDEA OF INCENTIVES, WHICH HAS BEEN THE BACKBONE OF SUCCESS IN WESTERN ECONOMIES, IS NOT SOMETHING THAT THE WEST TRANSPLANTED INTO PLACES LIKE AFRICA.  THE APPROACH TO ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA HAS BEEN FOCUSED ON AID; IT'S BEEN FOCUSED ON WHAT SOMEONE CALLED "LERNED HELPLESSNESS."

THAT'S LEFT QUITE A BITTER TASTE.  ECONOMICALLY, MANY COUNTRIES - NOT JUST IN AFRICA, BUT BRAZIL, CHILE - NOW TURN TO CHINA.  CHINA GIVES THEM A REAL OPPORTUNITY TO SELL AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS THAT HAVE BEEN LOCKED UP OUT OF THE WEST THROUGH SUBSIDY PROGRAMS.  IT'S AN OPPORTUNITY FOR AFRICA TO TRADE, WHICH IS A KEY PIECE OF THE PUZZLE FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT.  A CONTINENT OF ONE BILLION HAS BEEN LESS THAN 2 PERCENT OF GLOBAL TRADE.

THE WESTERN PRESS WILL SAY, "OH MY GOD, CHINA'S RAIDING AFRICA, IT'S COLONIZATION.  AFRICANS ARE BEING ABUSED."  BUT IT'S MUCH MORE NUANCED THAN THAT.  PEOPLE DON'T BELIEVE THAT AMERICA IS INTERESTED IN AFRICA'S WELFARE BEYOND PERHAPS A FEW CHARITY CONCERTS AND SENDING A FEW BITS OF AID MONEY.  PEOPLE DON'T REALLY BELIEVE THAT AMERICA IS INTERESTED IN JOB CREATION IN AFRICA AND CREATING LONG-TERM SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC GROWTH."

- EXCERPT FROM 'THE SEESAW OF POWER' FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES 23/06/11, AN INTERVIEW BY SERGE SCHMEMANN OFTHE ACADEMICS JOSEPH S. NYE JR., DAMBISA MOYO AND KISHORE MAHBUBANI.

/

AN EXCELLENT ARTICLE - NOT VERY LONG AT ALL BUT YOU ARE TAKEN ON SUCH A VIVID JOURNEY QUESTIONING THE FUTURE OF WORLD POWER THROUGH THE MEDITATIONS BETWEEN NYE, MOYO AND MAHBUBANI.  AT THIS POINT IT IS MORE OR LESS FACT THAT THE SHIFT OF HARD POWER EASTWARDS IS UNSTOPPABLE, DESPITE THE SLOW RECOVERY OF WESTERN ECONOMIES AND THE DIFFUSION OF SOFT POWER (INFORMATION) INTERNATIONALLY.  


THE DISTINCT SHIFTS IN CONSUMER CULTURE HERE IN EUROPE HAVE BEEN GARNERING A LOT OF INTEREST - IN PARTICULAR FOR ME THE SUCCESS OF THE BURBERRY BRAND SINCE THE COMPANY'S STREAMLINING OF ITS OPERATIONS POST-RECESSION, AND OF COURSE CAPITALISING ON ITS 'BRITISHNESS' (DESPITE HAVING OUTSOURCED ITS PRODUCTION TO CHINA WHICH ALSO HAPPENS TO BE THE FOCUS OF THE BRAND'S CURRENT SALES PUSH AND THE SOURCE OF ITS LARGEST PROFITS).  THIS INCREDIBLY FERTILE MARKET ALSO MEANT THE LONG-AWAITED PRADA IPO ON THE HONG KONG STOCK EXCHANGE WAS, AS EXPECTED,  A SUCCESS - BOLSTERING INVESTOR CONFIDENCE IN THE GLOBAL LUXURY GOODS SECTOR AS CERTAIN EUROPEAN ECONOMIES STRUGGLE AND AMERICAN NATIONAL DEBT LOOMS (SOURCE: SAVIGNY PARTNERS / REUTERS).


 THE NEXT TWENTY YEARS IS INDEED GOING TO BE VERY EXCITING.

TONIGHT I HAD THE IMMENSE FORTUNE OF ATTENDING A PERFORMANCE OF 'CRYPT' - A SITE-SPECIFIC PERFORMANCE AT THE CHRIST CHURCH CRYPT IN SPITALFIELDS INVOLVING SOUND ARTISTS NICK PARKIN AND Z'EV AND DANCERS MARIE-GABRIELLE ROTIE AND HOLLIE MILLER.  HOLLIE IS A FRIEND OF MINE FROM SCHOOL WHO INVITED ME TO WATCH HER DANCE, AND TO BE HONEST I HAD NO IDEA WHAT TO EXPECT.

THE PERFORMANCE ITSELF WAS ENTIRELY IMPROVISED BUT HEAVILY INFLUENCED BY THE POST-WAR FORM OF JAPANESE DANCE KNOWN AS 'BUTOH' (OF WHICH ROTIE HERSELF IS A KEY INTERNATIONAL PRACTITIONER AND TEACHER), AND SO THE MOVEMENTS EXECUTED BY ROTIE AND HOLLIE WERE VERY ERRATIC AND FOR A WORD GROTESQUE, AND ACTUALLY MADE ME FEEL EXTREMELY TENSE AND UNCOMFORTABLE.  THE ACCOMPANYING SOUND WAS EQUALLY AS UNSETTLING, ATTACKING THE FULL RANGE OF HEARING, BUT THERE WAS SOMETHING EXTREMELY DELICIOUS ABOUT THE WHOLE THING.

I USE THAT WORD BECAUSE IT WAS A FEELING OF MULTI-SENSORY SATISFACTION.

THE SPIRIT OF BUTOH IS ONE THAT EMERGED FROM FRUSTRATION AND CRITIQUE WITH/OF THE CONTEMPORARY DANCE SCENE IN JAPAN (TO PARAPHRASE WIKIPEDIA), A SPIRIT OF REVOLUTION.  AS I WATCHED THE IRRATIONAL BUT HYPER-CONTROLLED MOVEMENTS OF THE DANCERS I WAS CONSTANTLY AWARE OF THIS UNSETTLED BUT DELICIOUS FEELING OF BEING PUSHED FROM MY COMFORT ZONE AND BEING ASKED TO QUESTION WHAT I THOUGHT OF AS 'DANCE'.  THE AESTHETICS OF ORGANISED MOVEMENT.

HOLLIE HAD TALKED TO ME ABOUT HER EXPERIENCE IN HER PROFESSION OF BEING CONSIDERED PURELY AS A 'BODY' (TO A GREATER DEGREE THAN WOULD A MODEL, WHO IS ADDITIONALLY A 'FACE'),  AND THE PROBLEMS OF THE DISCONNECTION FROM HER SELF THIS UNDOUBTEDLY ASKS.  I POSED THIS PROBLEM TO ANOTHER FRIEND OF MINE, ANDREA (WHO SHALL BE MENTIONED ON HERE AGAIN SOON), AN ARTIST AND FELLOW DREAM INTERPRETER/JUNGIAN ENTHUSIAST, WHO SIMPLY WROTE DOWN JUNG'S FAMOUS WORDS:

"THE BODY IS THE MERE VISIBILITY OF THE SOUL; THE SOUL IS THE PSYCHOLOGICAL EXPERIENCE OF THE BODY."

IT IS INCREASINGLY IMPORTANT FOR ONE I THINK TO PUSH BOTH TO THE LIMITS OF THEIR CAPABILITIES IF ANY GROWTH OR TRUE UNDERSTANDING OF ONESELF ON ANY LEVEL IS TO BE ACHIEVED.  A FEW WEEKS AGO I SWAM UNTIL MY LEGS SEIZED UP.  THE FOLLOWING WEEK I SWAM SO HARD INTO THE WALL THAT I ALMOST BROKE A FINGER (I BRUISED A JOINT).  THIS WEEK AT CIRCUIT TRAINING I LED THE CLASS IN 50 CONSECUTIVE BURPEES THAT MY WALK STILL SUFFERS FROM.  BUT THIS WEEK I WAS ALSO DEALT WITH AN EMOTIONAL BLOW WHICH UNDER ANY OTHER CIRCUMSTANCES WOULD HAVE LEVELED ME, BUT INSTEAD SPARKED A FIRE WITHIN MY MIND, AND REMINDED ME OF WHAT EXACTLY NEEDS TO BE FOUGHT FOR (AND AGAINST) IN THIS INDUSTRY.

THE BUTOH TONIGHT HAS REAWAKENED A SENSE OF FRUSTRATION, OF REVOLUTION AND SUBVERSION.  THAT OLD SYSTEMS OF BEING, THINKING AND MANAGEMENT MUST BE CHALLENGED, AND CHANGED.  THEY WILL DIE WITH THEIR MASTERS.

"ALL THAT IS NECESSARY FOR THE TRIUMPH OF EVIL IS FOR GOOD MEN TO DO NOTHING."

- EDMUND BURKE, c.1770

   

GO-SEE DAY / 

FREDDY TAYLOR / NEVS 

JACK VANDERHART / NEVS 

DREAMS / 

TESTING DAY / 

ANJA.

GEORGE.

AXEL.

/

 THREE FRESH FACES RECENTLY SCOUTED BY THE LEGENDARY CESAR PERIN.

MY GORGEOUS KID SISTER ELLA (AND HER FRIEND ALICE) AT HER PROM LAST FRIDAY.

I'M ABSOLUTELY SWELLING WITH PRIDE!!

MANY THANKS TO RAPHAEL AND SUNANDA  FOR ALL OF THEIR HELP, AND OF COURSE TO OUR ANONYMOUS FRIEND AT JIL SANDER.

PLACES I WENT TO THIS WEEKEND / 

ELLA / WARMINSTER.

NAOMI / FARNHAM.