Get to the Tate Modern; The World Needs Leigh Bowery’s Unrelenting Fearlessness

 

Charles Atlas, Still from Mrs Peanut Visits New York 1999 © Charles Atlas. Courtesy Courtesy of the artist and Luhring Augustine, New York.

For featured artists and collaborators, the retrospective is a "gift from beyond the grave.”

text by Maisie McDermid

This spring, the Tate Modern will take on the ambitious role of showcasing the rich life of Leigh Bowery— one of the most bold and original artists of the 20th century. While Bowery was many things to many people –artist, performer, club kid, model, TV personality, fashion designer, and musician— his mission of resisting convention always remained the same. 

In Bowery's short but full life, he challenged norms of aesthetics, sexuality, and gender– and wasn’t subtle about it. His lively self-expressions shocked and stuck with those lucky enough to witness his presence. His otherworldly costumes and makeup always pushed the limits of taste and gender. It’s no wonder he named his notorious club night Taboo. In a first of its kind retrospective, Tate Modern will display not only Bowery's outlandish and dazzling costumes but also other works produced by friends and collaborators including paintings by Lucian Freud, photography by Nick Knight, and films by Charles Atlas and John Maybury. 

Charles Atlas, Still from Because We Must 1989 © Charles Atlas. Courtesy Courtesy of the artist and Luhring Augustine, New York.

The exhibition covers Bowery's arrival in London from Australia in 1980 to his ventures into music with his band, MINTY, near the end of his life in the early ‘90s. Emerging alongside notable figures like Scarlett Cannon, Boy George, and Princess Julia, Bowery had a large impact on London's legendary ‘80s nightlife. Opened in 1985, Taboo was the center of an underground club culture notorious for its hedonism and New Romantic decadence. His dress code for these events: "Dress as though your life depends on it, or don't bother."

Capturing all that Bowery accomplished is no easy feat. "Anyone who has the courage to attempt a show about the work of Leigh Bowery– and within an institution like Tate Modern– deserves all the support we can give them," said Michael Clark, dancer, choreographer, and long-time collaborator of Bowery. However, Clark wonders if they may encounter limitations on what they should display. "Will they show the shawl he painstakingly made for my work in the early ‘90s – a pixelated portrait of Adolf Hitler made from the rags Lucian Freud had used to wipe his brushes clean on? I doubt it. But in situations like this, I try to keep an open mind."

Sofia Vranou, a teaching associate at Queen Mary University of London, penned the first full-length critical exploration of Bowery’s practice in her forthcoming book, Leigh Bowery: Performative Costuming and Living Art. Thirty years after Bowery's death, Vranou believes that his work is more relevant than ever.

Nigel Parry - Photoshoot at home (c) Nigel Parry

"Revisiting Bowery's work is not just about appreciating his artistic innovation but recognizing his legacy as a cultural figure who fought against the very forces that are attempting to reassert rigid definitions of "acceptable" bodies, behaviours, and identities… His commitment to challenging societal norms—whether related to gender, beauty, or traditional roles— can be seen as a sort of resistance that continues to resonate in the face of rising conservatism.”

Visitors will have the opportunity to closely examine his detailed costumes, created in collaboration with Nicola Rainbird, who later became his wife, and corsetier, Mr. Pearl. The bold costumes speak for themselves— a collection of exaggerated shapes, neon patterns, and wildly sewn gems, jewels, and buttons. Photographs by Fergus Greer will demonstrate how Bowery revolutionarily brought these designs to life. Including yet another immersive exhibition attribute, a music and video installation, made especially for the exhibition by filmmaker and resident DJ at Taboo Jeffrey Hinton, will sensually bring viewers into the energetic Taboo scene. 

Leigh Bowery! will also showcase Bowery's boundary-pushing performances. "The role of performer almost certainly gave him the greatest freedom of expression, especially in non-institutional spaces like nightclubs,” said Vranou. “For many years, Bowery was celebrated as a fashion designer. Therefore, I hope the Tate exhibition reestablishes his legacy as a performance artist." 

In 1984, Bowery designed costumes for Michael Clark's dance works, marking the beginning of a long-lasting friendship and collaboration. Within the exhibition, excerpts from Charles Atlas's semi-fictional documentary Hail the New Puritan (1985) and the film Because We Must (1989) represent their unique partnership. Clark himself looks forward to the new life the exhibit will bring to Bowery's works. 

Costume Photography Leigh Bowery Tate Photography

"Leigh's work was made to be seen. I consider the audience to be the ultimate collaborators. The next generation reveals more and more as they are exposed to these existing works in new contexts, spatially and with fresh eyes," said Clark. "So, for the late, great, larger-than-life masterpiece which was Leigh Bowery, this is a most welcome and long overdue gift to us, from Leigh, from beyond the grave."

Leigh Bowery! opens Bowery's life to those curious to explore the complex and creative figure who left a distinct and undeniable mark on contemporary art, club culture, and beyond. 

Bowery’s exhibition will be on display at the Tate Modern from February 27 to August 31, 2025. Tickets are available on the Tate Modern website.

 

LA(HORDE) Breaks Boundaries with Age of Content

VCA Ballet National de Marseille - (LA) HORDE, Age of Content, Image Credit Blandine Soulage

text by Lara Monro


In the ever-evolving world of contemporary dance, few voices are as distinct as (LA)HORDE. Founded in 2013 by Marine Brutti, Jonathan Debrouwer, and Arthur Harel, (LA)HORDE is a collective that questions the codes of various artistic disciplines, particularly contemporary dance and performing arts. The trio—who have led the Ballet National de Marseille since September 2019—are the creative force behind some of the most innovative choreographic works, films, video installations, and performances of recent years. Their work always centers around the body in movement, evolving through an interplay of different media to explore radically contemporary themes and social questions.

Their latest work, Age of Content, will take center stage at Sadler’s Wells East on March 14–15, as part of the Dance Reflections Festival by Van Cleef & Arpels. 

(LA)HORDE’s reach extends far beyond traditional dance circles; including music, fashion, and photography. They’ve collaborated with Sam Smith on the viral music videos for Unholy and I’m Not Here to Make Friends, worked with the visionary Spike Jonze (Ghosts), and recently took on the role of artistic directors of choreography for Madonna’s Celebration Tour. Their creative partnerships with Christine and the Queens, designer Glenn Martens, and photographer Harley Weir showcase their talent to merge movement with aesthetic and social commentary.

Their latest work, Age of Content, is a bold interrogation of our digital era. It’s a fusion of Bob Fosse’s theatricality and the hyper-modern rhythms of the TikTok generation. The performance places eighteen dancers in a world where virtual and physical bodies collide—blurring the lines between reality and avatars. In costumes designed by Paris-based stylist Salomé Poloudenny, the performers navigate a choreographic labyrinth of Instagram filters, viral dance trends, and action movie choreography.

Movement becomes a battleground, where dance styles as varied as twerking, hip-centric jazz, vogueing, and postmodern dance reflect the digital temptations of contemporary life. The performers exist in a space where the body is simultaneously liberated and constrained by the screens that surround it—trapped in a metaverse of endless possibilities and exhausting illusions.

 
 

“Since we were very young, we've escaped through networks, video games, literature and films. These are the spaces that give us a window on the world, and we wanted to talk about the acceleration of the global multiverse.” – Jonathan Debrouwer

“In the show, we also want to showcase how dance is one of the last refuges, a zone in which the body is not used for utilitarian purposes.” – Marine Brutti

(LA)HORDE doesn’t just choreograph movement; they choreograph meaning. Their work is deeply intertwined with themes of queerness, gender, and revolution. Techno plays a central role in their artistic language, both as a sonic backdrop and as a symbol of resistance. Their piece Marry Me in Bassiani revisits a massive rave protest in Georgia, where thousands gathered to demand freedom in the wake of a police raid on a queer-friendly club. Through dance, they reimagine these moments of collective action and defiance, reinforcing their commitment to the practice as both an artistic and political force.

Fashion, too, becomes a statement. The team understands that clothing is more than just an aesthetic choice—it’s a political act.

“If you put a pair of trousers, a skirt or a dress on a dancer, if you choose one aesthetic rather than another, you’re saying completely different things.”

This philosophy underpins Age of Content, where every costume choice, every movement, and every beat pulses with subversion. It’s an exploration of survival, confrontation, sexuality, and desire in an age where digital selves often feel more real than the flesh-and-blood versions. Where screens mediate our every experience, it also asks: what happens to the human body when it’s constantly tempted by digital possibilities? Ultimately, the piece is a reflection of the world we live in, an exploration of the tensions between real and virtual, between movement and stillness, between body and avatar. 

VCA Ballet National de Marseille - (LA) HORDE, Age of Content, Image Credit Fabian Hammer

Zoe Gustavia Anna Whalen Wants to Bring You In From the Cold

Models at the Zoe Gustavia Anna Whalen runway show at Performance Space.
Photo credit: Colin Savercool

text by Karly Quadros


In botany, a vespertine flower is one that only opens in the evening. From Angel’s trumpet to flowering tobacco to night-blooming jasmine, these flowers are often white or pale in color and are only fragrant in the late hours, beckoning nighttime creatures like moths and fruit bats. With her fall 2025 ready-to-wear collection, Zoe Gustavia Anna Whalen has taken this lesson from nature — some things only bloom in darkness.

With her latest runway show lit only by candlelight, Whalen’s work is a celebration of the intimate, the domestic, fantastical sensuality, and an avant approach to fashion. She hand drafts and sews her garments from a shiver of wintery fabrics, all vintage and reclaimed, like tea-stained linens, lace, thermals, and quilted wool blankets. This is not to say that all Whalen’s clothing is sleepy and delicate. Models carried spiraled purses, strode in hoop skirts and panniers reminiscent of 16th century court fashion, and donned hammered armor constructed from vintage serving plates. Whalen said she wanted to show armor, not as a pristine suit presented in a museum, but as it would be returning home from war. To me, her armor has an even world-wearier quality, like ancient coins excavated from Roman soil.

Still, there is a distinct sense of coziness to her work. On a day like the February afternoon of Whalen’s New York Fashion Week on-calendar debut, when thin rays of sunlight melt snow into huddles of slush, the clothing did exactly what Whalen intended: it brought us inside from the cold. The show, held in a black box theater at Performance Space in the East Village, was the latest in a run of ritualistic runway shows that break through the breathless pace of Fashion Week and New York living as a whole.

“We were working against the tide, prioritizing things like ritual and intentionality in a city that is super fast, in a time that wants to gobble everything up and consolidate. It’s not the easiest thing in the world. My mom thinks I’m crazy,” said Whalen.

Whalen’s signature gesture is a gentle coil along the body, like a resting bird curling its head beneath its wing. It appears in puffy bombers constructed from quilted spirals and in sculptural padding beneath draped skirts. It’s in corset boning and the arches of wooden sandals, constructed with the help of her partner, a woodworker. The collection evokes elements of Bjork’s iconic swan dress, designed by Macedonian designer Marjan Pejoski, that she wore to the 73rd Academy Awards at a time when the Icelandic singer was delving into her own chilly explorations of domesticity and private loves.

Whalen became fascinated by this spiral motif when she took weekly life drawing classes while she was getting her master’s degree. “Every nipple, belly button, knee, hip, shoulder, I would make a little spiral with my hand,” she explained. Eventually the shape moved beyond the body when she crafted a spiraling labyrinth from soil that her models traversed for her spring 2024 ready-to-wear collection. 

Because she crafts all of her garments herself, Whalen sees her clothing as an extension of an artistic practice. For Whalen, fashion is “a form of sculpture in relation to the body, which is what I think is so special about it and why it can be such an emotional communicator.” Her bona fides reflect her journey towards a more holistic approach to fashion. She studied fashion design at FIT, Parsons, and Central Saint Martins, before cutting her teeth with labels eschewing the borders between fashion and art including Eckhaus Latta.

Some influences run much deeper, however. Take, for instance, Whalen’s reverence for craft. “I learned to sew from an amazing quilter named Laura in Arlington, Massachusetts and from McCall patterns on my home sewing machine, surrounded by all of these other women who just loved to quilt,” said Whalen. “It has this deep history as this thing that was relegated to being women’s work, but I think we can use that knowledge to a place where we have deeper respect for it as a craft.”

Whalen points out that in contemporary times, most clothing is based on patterns from the Industrial Revolution when nearly all aspects of life from clothing to the home were being reinvented in order to make more productive workers. The design of clothing — shape, fabric, restrictiveness — always invites different ways of living. The rise of sportswear in the 1930s signaled a world in which women had more mobility, physically as well as socially and financially. Meanwhile, as Jia Tolentino pointed out in a 2018 essay for the New Yorker, modern athleisure encourages women to be perpetually optimizing themselves and their lifestyles.

What ways of living does Whalen’s clothing invite? With her emphasis on craft, women’s spaces, and romantic shapes like tea dresses and corsets, one might be inclined to call it ‘domestic.’ We’ve seen the rise of a deeply political conversation around gender and the home, as exemplified in the stylistic (and financial) prominence of the trad wife, but Whalen suggests a much more nuanced understanding of the domestic. For one, Whalen’s work is hardly restrictive, and she presents her work on models from a wide range of genders, races, and ages. For another, her practice is more expansive, billowing fabrics to invite play, ritualistic runway shows to invite slowness.

Her upbringing was a bit crunchy granola, complete with a hippie “non-school” that was all about treating youth with the same integrity as adults. “My mom raised me, before it was in the zeitgeist, in this very Earth-centered, pagan spirituality kind of way. She was a member of a women’s circle and we’d celebrate the wheel of the year and May Day and the solstices. We did the Maypole. I’ve been reading tarot for more than half my life.”

Perhaps most important to Whalen is technique and craft. To her, these are the key to longevity in a garment, both in its construction and in someone’s willingness to hold onto it and take good care of it. She taught herself to hand-dip and shape the gnarled candles that lit her most recent runway. She stained her garments with rust and tea. She even built the workbenches in her studio. Her time teaching at the Rhode Island School of Design has further cemented her reverence for sewing and the intimacy of passing down that knowledge through the generations. She says moving forward, she’ll continue to embrace new techniques. 

“That’s why I’m able to continue diving into wax and woodworking and ceramics and metalsmithing. I have no business doing these things. But why not just try? I love being in the space of continuing to question everything.”

Zoe Whalen blows out over one hundred candles to close out the day’s show.
Photo credit: Colin Savercool

The Artistry of Azzedine Alaïa and Thierry Mugler meets in a celebration of their shared vision in Paris

 

Veste en astrakan d’Azzedine Alaïa, 1980. © Julien Vidal

 

text by Eva Megannety

The legacy of two fashion visionaries intertwines in a new exhibition at the Fondation Azzedine Alaïa, where the artistry of Alaïa and Thierry Mugler meets in a celebration of their shared vision. Running from March 3rd to June 29th, 2025, this retrospective honors the friendship and creative affinities between the two designers, offering a rare glimpse into their personal and professional bond.

Azzedine Alaïa found a kindred spirit in Thierry Mugler, whose larger-than-life creations and theatrical approach to fashion were as iconic as the silhouettes he designed. Their relationship began in 1979, when Mugler invited Alaïa to design tuxedos for his autumn-winter 1979-80 collection. The collaboration marked the beginning of a decade-long friendship that would leave an indelible mark on the fashion world.

In this exhibition, over forty works from Mugler’s archive are displayed alongside Alaïa’s own creations, allowing visitors to see how their shared creative spirit manifested in their designs. From Alaïa’s impeccable craftsmanship to Mugler’s bold experimentation with shape and form, the two designers were united by a mutual respect that transcended the runway. Both were masters of the female form, crafting garments that enhanced and empowered, each piece telling a story of elegance, strength, and sensuality.

Alaïa’s reputation as a perfectionist who favored intimate settings and close relationships with his clients contrasted with Mugler’s penchant for dramatic spectacles and larger-than-life fashion shows. Yet, together, they influenced each other in profound ways. Mugler’s theatrical flair found a new sophistication in Alaïa’s structured designs, while Alaïa’s meticulous attention to detail encouraged Mugler to refine his aesthetic and focus on the body’s natural lines. Their shared vision culminated in the 1980s, when both designers elevated glamour to new heights, drawing inspiration from the silhouettes of the 1930s and 1950s.

This exhibition is not only a celebration of two extraordinary designers but also a testament to the enduring power of collaboration. Alaïa’s dedication to preserving and enhancing his own work—through his foundation and vast personal archive—ensures that the dialogue between him and Mugler will continue to inspire future generations of designers and fashion lovers alike.

The Fondation Azzedine Alaïa, located at 18 rue de la Verrerie in Paris, remains a cultural beacon, housing not only Alaïa’s collections but also a space for art, design, and creative expression. The exhibition invites visitors to immerse themselves in the world of two legendary couturiers whose mutual admiration and creative exchange left an indelible mark on the fashion industry.

 
 

Thierry Mugler and Azzedine Alaïa 1980/1990: Two decades of artistic affinities is on view March 3 to June 29, 2025 at Saillard Fondation Azzedine Alaïa, 18 rue de la Verrerie, Paris 4e

Last Chance to See R.L. Greene: A Black Hobbyist Painter Whose Work Now Hangs at Ventura County’s Government Center

 
 

text by Maisie McDermid

LA-based artist and photographer Rossellini Harris did not find a stained chair or finicky electronics at an estate sale last year; he found nearly 100 original oil paintings by an unknown black artist, Robert Lee Greene. After realizing their cultural importance, he moved quickly to acquire the remaining work from Greene’s family. Paintings that had been growing dust now hang proudly in the Ventura County Government Center, celebrating both Greene’s life and Black History Month. 

Robert Lee Greene (RL Greene) was an Oxnard-based artist who, as a hobby, captured the legacies of historical Black figures in a large series of portraits. The exhibition of his work, “Gallery of Heroes,” commemorates Black cultural innovators, authors, civil rights pioneers, and more. His abstract and landscape paintings, too, accompany the personal commemorations, boldening the exhibition’s cultural heritage sentiments. The show features private collection pieces and represents the first public display of his artwork in decades.

 
 

Born in Charlotte, N.C., Greene served in both the Korean War (1953) and Vietnam War (1963) before ending up in Ventura County for over five decades. He earned a B.S. in psychology and behavioral science from La Verne College and an M.S. in sociology and psychology from the University of La Verne. In addition to his paintings, Greene was a published poet, religious educator, and humanitarian, dedicating his life to community service and personal spiritual development. Ventura County seeks to recognize Greene’s many community-oriented contributions. 

The Ventura County Arts Council invited Harris to display Greene’s paintings in their Hall of Administration. The large building accommodates the entirety of the work. “Gallery of Heroes” primarily displays Greene’s many portraits of Black legends— James Baldwin, Maya Angelou, and Matthew Henson, to name a few. Collectively, the art stimulates a power that has also spread on social media. 

 
 

Accompanying their public viewing, Harris has also creatively showcased individual compositions from the collection on his Instagram. As videos zoom into small details of Greene’s paintings– Angelou’s charm necklace or Baldwin’s grin– Harris’ voice and the voices of special guests share insights on the pieces and their subjects. Here, too, Harris shares notes on the exhibition. 

In one video, he tells how Greene’s son arrived at the exhibition with one more of Greene’s paintings tucked under his arm– an extraordinary portrait of Malcolm X. Harris had been aware of its existence, but he thought someone else had bought it at the estate sale. Now, it hangs amongst the other acclaimed portraits. In another video, Harris showcases vibrant posters for the exhibition, available for purchase through his Instagram, with all proceeds going to Black families impacted by the wildfires in the historic Black neighborhood of Altadena.

Amidst the current political climate, the celebration of R.L. Greene’s work feels all the more significant. This show may be the last of its kind in a government building for a while, as Black History Month and DEI initiatives and programs remain under threat. On Instagram, Harris expresses his many hopes that people visit and experience the golden eye of R.L. Greene. “DM me. If I’m available, I’ll give you a private tour!”

R.L’s Greene work will be displayed at the Atrium Gallery of the Ventura County Government Center through February 28, 2025. Monday – Friday, 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. 

Lisa Yuskavage Looks Back

text by Karly Quadros

It’s no secret Lisa Yuskavage has a bit of a fetish. If not a sexual one then certainly an artistic one. She’s best known for her paintings inspired by hippie dippie Penthouse porn featuring buxom white girls licking lollipops and lounging around in nothing but beaded panties and rainbow striped socks. For a long time, these girls occupied imaginary spaces like wild fields and technicolor dreamscapes, fantasy worlds where the body bounces and drips and nipples are always pointed to the heavens. But her latest show, 21 new large and small scale paintings on display now at David Zwirner in Los Angeles, has a new preoccupation: the artist’s studio.

The exhibition was inspired by, in part, an ongoing effort to archive every painting in Yuskavage’s more than forty year career. With the help of a few Zoomer assistants, Yuskavage has meticulously catalogued and cross referenced her paintings on her website, tagged with an exhaustive taxonomy of recurring motifs. Gallerist David Zwirner, moderating the artist’s talk back in the absence of curator Helen Molesworth, spoke about what initially drew him to Yuskavage’s paintings. “The work was always complicated,” he said. “The work always looked back at you.” Now Yuskavage is looking back at the work.

There is a looming reflexivity to the show. Consider Painter Painting (2024), in which the artist portrays herself clothed in a white lab coat at work in a studio bathed in the warm glow of a red light district. She’s dwarfed by her creation, a large-scale grisaille based on a 1995 black-and-white photograph that Yuskavage took of her sculpture titled “The Motherfucker” (today, the photograph lives in the MoMA.) The artist from the painting works from a reference photo taped to the wall while the original “Motherfucker” sculpture is tucked in the corner on a pedestal. In the studio, mediums and ideas echo and reflect off of each other, unbound by time.

Yuskavage is a contrarian at heart, and the real-life paintings referenced in the exhibition are often her most controversial. In the Company of Models (2024) features the artist’s iconic Rorschach Blot (1995), a rendering of a rubbery and gaping sex doll, leaning against a wall in a stack of canvases. Other paintings in the fictional artist studio feature the artist’s ‘Nel’zeh’ motif, little peasant women most prominently featured in the artist’s output in the 2010s, looking on disapprovingly like so many puritanical critics. 

The previous paintings hidden in the new ones are often rendered in the thin lemony-yellow of a cadmium underpainting, the technique that gives Yuskavage’s paintings their distinctive candy-tinged glow. This layering, technically and thematically, animates the show. Expect Yuskavage’s many hallmarks – juicy color palates, rotund bellies, and perky breasts – but these are not her usual subjects. Instead, they’re models, memories, recurring ideas unearthed from the clutter, like a painting tenderly pulled from a stack in the attic.

In 2025, the shock of Yuskavage’s pliant sex kittens isn’t what it was in the mid-90s when she last exhibited in Los Angeles. After all, OnlyFans has gone mainstream and some contemporary fashion editorials make Penthouse seem all but quaint. Instead of a sexual guilelessness as her subject, Yuskavage has returned to a creative innocence: the artist in her studio, the student at her easel, and the model on her pedestal. For Yuskavage, the creative act is like a well-loved sexual fantasy – it’s a well she can return to again and again.

Lisa Yuskavage is on display through April 21 at David Zwirner in Los Angeles.

The Debut Runway Shows That Shook Up New York Fashion Week

text by Karly Quadros

This year New York Fashion Week saw a few high profile returns including Calvin Klein, helmed by Veronica Leoni, after six and half years and Joseph Altazzura, back from paternity leave. But, as more labels have decamped for Paris in recent years, NYFW has become about the rising stars making their debuts on the official CFDA schedule. This year’s class of newcomers runs the gamut from ethereal hand-sewn art-cum-fashion to a campy take on jock fare. The result is a picture of American fashion that’s more diverse than ever.

Gabe Gordon

Gabe Gordon lives for the drama. Specifically, the elaborate backstories he concocts for each successive collection, equal parts queer coming of age story and teen horror romp. Beginning with his off-schedule show at the New Design High School last September, Gordon brings a campy take on preppy jock fashion that makes the homoerotic subtext of early 2000s Abercrombie and Fitch campaigns, well, text.

This time around, Gabe Gordon is scaling up. In addition to his signature hole-riddled, curve-hugging sweaters and dresses, he introduced bodysuits in rugby stripes and flouncy cheerleader skirts. The collection, inspired by a midcentury fantasia about a girl’s dance troupe that kidnap and torment the boy’s wrestling team, had a distinct athleisure tinge to it, pairing sweatsuits with blunt 60s wigs. Arch sexuality suffused the entire event, from latex stockings and exposed bullet bras to pom-poms that looked an awful lot like floggers. New York City painter Sasha Gordon (who walked Gordon’s runway last season) contributed a painting printed on graphic tees depicting herself rocking a corseted mini dress with princess sleeves from the new collection.

LeBlanc Studios

The New York Fashion Week debut of Dominican label LeBlanc Studios has been a long time in the making. Founded 11 years ago by Angelo Beato and Yamil Arbaje, LeBlanc isn’t afraid to pull back the curtain to explore the power structures that belie not just the fashion industry but Big Tech and global wealth. Models strode down a catwalk covered in salt to scripted monologues for the latest collection, boldly titled ‘Other People’s Money.’ It’s hard not to see the collection as a meditation on the ways in which the Global South and especially Latin America has come to shoulder the more unsavory elements of the fashion industry from maquiladoras in Mexico where women toil for just a few dollars a day to deserts piled with textile waste in Chile. 

The clothing, however, was a celebration of Latin American identity, drawing on the aesthetics of Latin American films from the 60s and 70s. Suits with dagger collars and flared trousers were paired with fraying button ups, newsboy caps, and bucket hats in rich shades of chartreuse, ochre, peach, and emerald. Workwear is the obvious reference point, but the tailoring and lush knits recall the luxuriously laid back style of 1970s Greensleeves Records stars. 

Zoe Gustavia Anna Whalen

There is a reverence, a kind of worship, to the handcrafted garments that Zoe Whalen brings to the runway. Last season, her models walked a recursive labyrinth sculpted out of dirt (in another twist of pagan reverence, viewers were encouraged to bring the soil home in their gift bags.) This year at Performance Space in the East Village, the black box was lit only by a small mound of hand-dipped candles and soundtracked with an ambient composition from Silas Edgar, adding to the monastic energy. It was dark. It was moody. To see the clothes, you needed to squint.

This is just the kind of atmosphere of careful attention that Whalen strives to create. The clothing draws from a wide array of historical references from Victorian crinolines and corsetry to hammered medieval armor to 18th-century gowns that are all pleats and bustle. Made entirely of vintage and deadstock fabrics like tea towels and thermals, there were wax-dipped tops and tea-stained trousers, and draped and quilted outerwear that added a much needed winter coziness. Soft sculptural elements still dominate, and the collection is more wearable art than commercial product. Still, some pieces like Whalen’s curlicue wool handbags have the potential to become this season’s obsession.

Vettese

Vettese is one of the youngest labels on the schedule this year, with just two years under designer Kari Vettese’s belt. And while New York Fashion Week may not scream tube dresses and sandals, the designer made her case for barely-there jersey, bringing her Italian-American by way of Southern California charm. There are plenty of skin tight tube tops (including one in the green, white, and red of the Italian flag and in the shape of the country to boot) and knotty horizontal scarves. But the collection also shows off the more structural side of Vettese’s aesthetic including leather jackets cropped at the waist and tailored trousers.

Slinky, sexy, and distinctly 80s in a way that never seems to go out of style in Italy – it’s no wonder that celebrities have been flocking to Vettese’s work in the last few years from Charli XCX (who wore a custom Vettese skirt during her Glasgow show on the brat arena tour) to Florence Pugh and Kylie Jenner. It’s almost enough to convince you that a steamy Mediterranean summer could be right around the corner.

Autre Magazine and Jeffrey Deitch After Party Celebrating Frieze Week In Los Angeles at Sunset @ The West Hollywood EDITION

Friends and collaborators from the global creative worlds gathered at Sunset, the subterranean nightclub beneath The West Hollywood EDITION for Autre Magazine and Jeffrey Deitch’s annual Frieze Week kickoff. DJs Mr Pharmacist and Saturn Risin9 got guests dancing beneath hundreds of glittering disco balls while rising French-American duo Faux Real played a brief but energetic set. photographs by Oliver Kupper

Autre Magazine and Jeffrey Deitch Host A Dinner To Celebrate Frieze Los Angeles 2025 At Ardor @ The West Hollywood Edition

In annual tradition, Autre Magazine and Jeffrey Deitch Gallery kicked off Frieze Week in Los Angeles with an intimate dinner at Ardor in The West Hollywood EDITION, followed by an afterparty at the hotel’s subterranean nightclub, Sunset. Gathering on the Ardor Terrace, the evening brought together a dynamic mix of artists and collaborators, including Nadia Lee Cohen, Ariana Papademetropoulos, and Nina Chanel Abney, fresh off the opening of her solo exhibition at Jeffrey Deitch Gallery. Among the distinguished guests was Academy Award-nominated and Emmy-winning actress and artist Sharon Stone, who is poised to star in the upcoming season of Euphoria. Guests enjoyed luxury sipping mezcal Perro Verde paired with a vegetable-forward menu. photographs by Oliver Kupper

Jeremy Scott and Katherine Bernhardt's exhibition brings Pop, Play and Pure exuberance to Kansas City

 
 

text by Poppy Baring

“It’s F-U-N—that’s it, that’s all it is”

These are the words rapper A$AP Rocky once used to describe fashion designer Jeremy Scott. This sentiment naturally extends to contemporary artist Katherine Bernhardt’s work, but are these artist’s works merely playful or do they carry greater significance? In their new exhibition “A Match Made in Heaven,” Scott’s designs are partnered with their Bernhardt equivalent, producing a maximalist fun-filled world full of exuberant color and pop culture references. Although the pair were both born in Missouri in 1975, they met for the first time in November 2023 when the Executive Director of the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, JoAnne Northrup, noticed their commonalities. This exhibition, taking place in Overland Park, Kansas near where both of these artists grew up, is the first to explore the shared references in Scott and Bernhardt's work. 

Thirty-five of Bernhardt's energetic paintings are punctuated by one hundred of Scott’s looks from his archive, including those made under his namesake brand and those designed during his time at Moschino. The use of consumer and popular culture symbols in these works act as vessels for the artist's shared sense of irreverent humor which leaves audiences questioning whether they are examples of sophisticated satire or just dramatic up-endings of today’s cultural standards. For Bernhardt, the use of iconic symbols like McDonald’s golden arches, the Pink Panther, cigarettes and Doritos simply comes down to their shape and color. They allow her to fill canvases with combinations of these shapes making infinite paintings that all feel like a complete thought made in a stream of riotous consciousness. Starting with spray paint, Bernhardt first outlines her composition before taking her canvas to the floor where she uses watered-down acrylics to freely cover her characters and shapes; creating vibrant patterns. 

Jeremy Scotts has also been known to avoid over-complication. Often letting emotion guide his practice, it is not that his work is anti-intellectual but that ‘rational’ is not part of his creative vocabulary. Whether Scott’s work has loftier inspirations than Coca-Cola, for example, or not, his success in the fashion industry is undeniable. So much so that his work is now weaved into many celebrity moments including Britney Spears's “Toxic” music video and the video for Lady Gaga’s song “Paparazzi;” showing that his love for pop culture is very much mutual.

Both Scott’s and Bernhardt’s works are also inspired and reflective of their environments. In Bernhardt’s case, she grew up in a home filled with color and throughout her career, having completed residencies across the globe, has picked up imagery from her vicinity. The use of coffee and cigarettes in her work, for example, is heavily influenced by the New York delis that surround her where she currently lives and works. In terms of Jeremy Scott’s designs, his fanboy take on pop culture seemed increasingly spot-on as social media exploded. So while they may both be fully immersed in an unapologetically vibrant world, inspired by nostalgic Americana, Scott and Bernhardt’s work can tell us a lot about our current climate while also providing a much-needed escape.

A Match Made in Heaven is open through August 3 at the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art in Overland Park, Kansas. 

Fuck Art Let's Dance: Read Our Interview of the Iconic Colette Lumiere →

Fuck art, let’s dance.

It’s the attitude that Colette Lumiere had become known for, immortalized in a mural that she painted on the wall of iconic ’70s downtown New York nightclub and art scene haunt Danceteria. She’s celebrated for her bold personas and expansive multimedia projects from street art to installations to fashion collaborations, yet her later evolutions have received less attention. A new show at Company Gallery, Everything She Touches Turns to Gold, running until March 1, explores the artist’s career in the ’80s as she ventured off to Berlin under the guise of a new persona, the mysterious Mata Hari and the Stolen Potatoes.

Lumiere always had a surprisingly contemporary attitude toward blurring the boundaries between the public and the private, between art and commerce. She began by painting cryptic sigils on the SoHo pavement at night and has shown art everywhere from the MoMA to Fiorucci shop windows to German nunneries to nightclubs. Her longest running piece was a 24/7 installation in her own apartment, stuffed from floor to ceiling with champagne and blush-ruched fabrics, a polymorphous punk rock Versailles. Lumiere took that louche crinkling of fabric from her Living Environment and translated it into harlequin frocks that she wore like a uniform. Her influence reverberates widely from Vivienne Westwood and Madonna’s ragged, spunky takes on period clothing to the elaborately staged personas of Cindy Sherman and Nadia Lee Cohen.

Growing frustrated with the limitations put on a young female artist, in 1978 Lumiere staged her own death in a performance at the Whitney Museum. She emerged a few days later at PS1 Contemporary Art Center, beginning an ongoing dynasty of artistic personas and eras. Everything She Touches Turns to Gold features the artist’s under-celebrated paintings, mostly from the early ’80s, “metaphysical portraits” exploring herself, her friends, and the subconscious. While her ’70s works recall historical reclining nudes including staged photos and durational performances in which she napped in poses modeled after classical paintings such as Manet’s Olympia. Her Berlin period, instead, foregrounded motion. The figures in her portraits wave. They evade. They drift and dream and run away.

I recently met up with Lumiere at Company Gallery to explore the new collection. Now in her  seventies, Lumiere is as true to herself as ever in a ruffled white blouse beneath a hot pink Victorian riding coat. Tunisian-born and French-raised, her accent is caught somewhere between her native French and a dry German lilt. We spoke about Berlin before the wall came down, resisting categorization, and, of course, potatoes. Read more.

Fierce Cuts: Linder’s Timely Retrospective

Linder, The Sphinx, 2021. Photomontage. 35.5 x 34.5 cm. 14 x 13 5/8 ins. © Linder. Courtesy the artist & Modern Art, London.

text by Poppy Baring

Arriving at a time when women's rights are being increasingly called into question, Danger Came Smiling takes London through Linder Sterling's eminent fifty-year-long career for the very first time. Exhibiting her iconic photomontages as well as her more recent unseen works, the Hayward Gallery underscores the enduring relevance of her feminist art, while showcasing the vibrancy and variety in Linder’s practice.

Often aiming to make viewers interrogate stereotypical gender narratives, Linder uses scissors and scalpels to liberate images that were often produced to perpetuate traditional gender roles. The use of sexualized and commercialized images of the female body, contrasted against clippings of seemingly banal bourgeois household objects manufactures a playful mockery that is characteristic of Linder’s style. By repurposing these found images to tell a radically different, less restrictive narrative, she restores agency on the page and across prints thanks to the ‘violent power of the cut.’ These anarchic collisions powerfully highlight the similarity in pressures felt by women today and those felt when the works were first created; inviting viewers to question the then and now.

Installation view of Linder: Danger Came Smiling. She/She, (1981). Photo: Mark Blower. Courtesy the artist and the Hayward Gallery.

Born in Liverpool in 1954, Sterling was part of the 1970s punk scene and created art and music alongside some of the most famous British voices of that period. In the 1980s, she formed the band Ludus and performed at nightclubs such as Manchester's famous Hacienda. One of the most remembered aspects of this performance was Linder's choice of costume, where her 'meat dress', which came 20 years prior to Lady Gaga’s similar unexpected look, and black dildo commented on the heavily macho culture of the venue at the time. This same spirit can be found in all of Linder's subsequent work and is arguably what has led her to be viewed as a truly unrelenting and rabble- rousing British art hero.

This exhibition includes a photomontage reminiscent of one of her most famous works, the cover art for the single “Orgasm Addict” made for the punk band, the Buzzcocks in 1977. This work shows a woman’s naked body covered in oil with an iron as a head and perfect smiles placed strategically on her breasts. While this, along with Sterling’s other early works, relied on found images from local magazines and newspapers, her post-2006 montages matured in imagery. In the ’70s, she sourced material from men's pornographic magazines and women's homeware catalogues, later expanding to more diverse sources, creating richer juxtapositions.

Throughout the years, Linder’s process has evolved but she has continued to investigate the shifting trends in lifestyles, sex, domesticity, and fashion that propel feminist conversations and inspire necessary rebellion.

Danger Came Smiling opens today and is on view through May 5 at the Hayward Gallery,  London.

 

Linder Untitled, 1976. Tate, purchased 2007. © Linder. Photo: Tate.

 

Step into the Infinite: HUMANHOOD Dance Company Unveils a Visionary Performance @ Sadler’s Wells East

text by Lara Monro
photographs by Tom Visser

This February, dance lovers are invited on a cosmic journey as HUMANHOOD Dance Company presents ∞ {Infinite}, an extraordinary dance theatre meditation. Marking the second production at the newly opened Sadler’s Wells East, this visionary work blends movement, energy, and spiritual practice in a mesmerising display of artistic innovation.

At the heart of ∞ {Infinite} lies a unique fusion of Artistic Directors Julia Robert and Rudi Cole’s signature choreography and shamanic influences. The performance seamlessly integrates spectacular dance and profound internal awareness, designed to illuminate the infinite power that moves through us all. With eight dancers, including Cole himself, the stage transforms into a dreamscape of fluid motion, pulsating tribal rhythms, and transcendent storytelling.

In the unprecedented theatrical experience, audiences are not merely spectators but participants in an immersive meditation. Through channelled words by Julia Robert, the production invites individuals to explore the depths of their consciousness, offering an exploration of infinity within. This innovative approach to dance theater aims to bridge the gap between the physical and metaphysical, transforming the stage into a sacred space where energy and movement become one.

Speaking about this milestone production, Julia Robert and Rudi Cole share their excitement:

“The time has come for us to break out of our shell and share with the world the fusion of our spiritual practice with our artistic voice. ∞ {Infinite} is the culmination of decades of metaphysical experiences around the world and our vision to take audiences to a brand-new theatre experience. This is our first Dance Theatre Meditation, marking an exciting chapter in HUMANHOOD’s expansion.”

For the duo, the theater is more than a performance venue—it is a modern-day temple where audiences can collectively engage with new ideas and challenge their perceptions of the universe. ∞ {Infinite} offers an invitation to step into a realm of possibility, where the limits of the body and mind dissolve into an expansive, boundless adventure.

This philosophy stems from HUMANHOOD’s broader mission: to bring the power of movement to communities worldwide. Julia Robert and Rudi Cole believe that dance is not a privilege for the few, but an essential element of human existence. To them, movement is life, and as long as we breathe, we are dancing. Their work is deeply rooted in the idea that through dance, we access our body’s portal and create a state conducive to liberation.

Beyond performance, HUMANHOOD fosters a global movement of individuals seeking a deeper connection with themselves and their surroundings. By practicing continuous awareness, they cultivate a collective union of empowered and awakened individuals, expanding their presence to transform not just their own lives but the lives of others around them.

Their ongoing research delves into the fusion of ancient mysticism and modern science. Julia and Rudi have travelled the world to connect with spiritual hermits, shamans, and Indigenous tribes from Ecuador, India, Papua New Guinea, Taiwan, and beyond—absorbing sacred wisdom, rituals, and traditional practices. Simultaneously, they have collaborated with renowned scientists, including NASA physicists, to deepen the dialogue between movement, consciousness, and scientific discovery.

Their holistic movement practice, developed through extensive hours of exploration both in the studio and in nature, seeks to push the limits of human potential. By integrating ancient spiritual knowledge with cutting-edge scientific inquiry, HUMANHOOD crafts performances that are not only visually and emotionally profound but also energetically transformative.

∞ {Infinite} opens tonight and will be playing through Saturday @ Sadler’s Wells East

Ellen Carpenter's “Hair Care:” Devotion and Responsibility in the Hands of a Caretaker

Lovingly, in a starch white nightgown, Ellen Carpenter tended to a wooden chair dressed with synthetic hair in her two-hour-long performance at John Street Gallery.

text and photos by Maisie McDermid

Minutes before Ellen Carpenter's 2-hour-long performance of "Hair Care" began, Chair II sat below a spotlight at the end of a white hallway doubling as a staircase. The levels leading down to the curious furniture piece showcased twenty other art pieces contributing to John Street Gallery's latest collection, "Misery's Child" – a black rubber-coated rocking horse, an oil painting of two swans on a lake, and various stoneware pieces. But Chair II, the result of 40 hours of tedious sewing, stood proudly, awaiting Carpenter's adoring hands.

"I know the chairs very intimately," Brooklyn-based multimedia artist Carpenter said, describing the many hours spent at the legs of these chairs sewing. While joining individual locks of synthetic hair onto polyester stretch fabric, she tended to the chair in front of an intimate group of viewers seated amongst the gallery steps on the show's February 6 performance. Dark skies outside contrasted sharply with the white, fluorescent lights illuminating Carpenter's acts of devotion: combing, shampooing, conditioning, blow drying, and braiding the hanging hair. 

Carpenter's cleansing and styling of Chair II contributes to a two-part performance: "Hair Care" and "Ruining My Life In Public." Both explore emotional extremes that occur within Carpenter's body and domestic space. One inhabits devotion and tenderness, while the other exposes rage and violence. The idea for "Hair Care" came to Carpenter while untangling, brushing, and braiding Chair I's hair before routinely putting it into storage. "It's a laborious process that often feels simultaneously thankless and required of me. After a while, I felt like this labor was a piece in and of itself," she said. 

Carpenter had not performed "Hair Care" live before this evening (her first performance of “Hair Care” was virtual.). "I think I practice the performance every time I take a shower," she said, laughing. Carpenter, either kneeling or seated with her legs crossed, catered to individual sections of Chair II's hair at a time, not one strand going unnoticed. The chair took several different forms: straightened after brushing, droopy after sponging, fluffy after blow drying, and twisted after braiding. Carpenter's hands matched a rhythm, not of sound, but of obsession. Carpenter, at times, appeared under a spell, surprising even herself when the chair called for a new demand. 

Carpenter fetched water from outside the tall, cloudy glass door beside her leading into a hidden portion of the gallery. The sounds from behind the door, amongst no other, provoked a confronting familiarity. The door's hinges sounded like ones from one's own home, and the dumping and refilling of water buckets reminded one of their own bathroom sink. "I loved the idea of ‘fetching water’ in service of the chair, especially since I could incorporate the use of opening and closing the gallery door as if it was my own apartment… Leaving the room also helped me incorporate short visual pauses into the piece without impeding my actual progress."

Her departures from the chair were brief but felt much longer. As the chair began to assume characteristics of both power and powerlessness, the absence of Carpenter created a feeling of uneasiness. Viewers wondered what would happen if Carpenter left and never returned, therefore leaving Chair II in a permanent state of incompletion. Carpenter's dependence on Chair II (the need to care for another) and Chair II's dependence on Carpenter (inherently incapable itself) oscillated throughout the performance – their interdependence the central theme. 

Carpenter's work pecked and pulled at living contradictions. "In 'Hair Care,' I inhabit the role of a caretaker in service to something outside myself, but in 'Ruining My Life in Public,' I inhabit the role of antagonizer or perpetrator of violence, and both roles are equally possible, equally true of almost anyone," she added. As much as Carpenter displayed relaxation and intention, she also exuded exhaustion and fatigue. When Carpenter stood to grab a hairbrush or rubber band, she stretched her back and wiped her bangs to the side of her face. Every now and then, a sigh slipped from her focused composure. Beyond devotion, this piece is about the heavy undertones of responsibility. 

For Carpenter, this, too, is a piece about agency. "Something about enacting performance with my body, with my full agency, is really powerful to me." As a multimedia artist, performance art is only one of her several other forms of expression. Notably, it is one she exercises the least. Nonetheless, she owns it, literally. "I can't be separated from the piece; in fact, the piece doesn't exist if I'm not there to perform it. That lack of separation feels like shouting 'I claim this thing!!' to everyone watching."

“Hair Care” is part of a group show titled, “Misery’s Child.” Ellen Carpenter’s live performance took place on February 6th, 2025. Chair II and the twenty other contributions are on display at John Street Gallery through February 12th, 2025.

Zoe Chait's 'What Dream' Is An Exploration Of Grief and Loss @ Micki Meng In Paris

 

Zoe Chait
cheeky, 2019
Archival pigment print
23 x 17 x 1 1/2 inches
Edition 1 of 3 + 2AP

 

Grief is unpredictable. It doesn’t follow a pattern, but it often brings us back to the same memories, searching for answers or comfort. We turn to photos, notes, and objects, trying to find meaning in them. Over time, both our perspective and the materials change.

Zoe Chait’s exhibition, What dream, revisits images first shown at Ramiken, New York, in 2021. These thirteen works document Chait’s relationship with music producer Sophie, capturing moments from 2017 to 2020 as Sophie transitioned from a private individual to the public figure SOPHIE. While the photos are intimate, they also highlight a sense of distance—the gap between personal connection and public persona. Chait’s work reflects an effort to reconcile the Sophie she knew with the one the world saw.

Sophie died in an accidental fall on January 30, 2021, six months before the exhibition opened. Nearly four years later, Chait revisited these images, altering them in response to her grief. She worked with printed positives and negatives, abstracting the images to explore themes of presence and absence. Sophie’s influence—her rituals, worldview, and music’s distinctive texture—continues to shape these works, which remain both unfinished and complete.

In Mexico City, Chait collaborated with a master printer of photogravure, a 19th-century printing process using etched copper plates and a gelatin resist. Chait was drawn to the unetched plates, mid-process, where the gelatin resist formed ghostly images on the copper. What dream features two pairs of such works, each showing a positive and negative version of the same image. The exhibition’s title comes from the first, a still from a video shoot where Sophie appears poised under dramatic lighting. The second image shows Sophie lying nude on a bed, open and serene. These works are material and painterly, presenting images that feel incomplete and vulnerable to time.

Chait also reimagined her video installation, projection reflected (2017–2020). Projected onto aluminum panels with varied grain alignments, the videos capture intimate moments between the artist, Sophie, and the camera. One video shows Sophie adjusting her hair before a shoot, focusing on her public image. Another captures Chait gently moving Sophie’s chin in soft afternoon light. Ambient sounds—breathing, pauses, background noise—create a sense of continuity. The videos loop at different lengths, offering endless opportunities to revisit and reinterpret these moments.

What dream is on view through February 20 by appointment only @ Micki Meng 2 Rue Beaubourg Paris 4e

Capturing the North: Juliet Klottrup’s Lens on Community, Identity & Belonging

text by Lara Monro

Award-winning visual artist Juliet Klottrup is redefining how we view life in the North of England, blending photography and filmmaking to document communities often left out of mainstream narratives. Her work spans rural traditions, environmental concerns, and the resilience of underrepresented groups, capturing intimate stories of identity and belonging against the backdrop of the region’s landscapes. As an Honorary Photography Teaching Fellow at the University of Cumbria, Klottrup also shares her process and encourages students to explore photography as a tool for social engagement.

Klottrup’s practice has evolved into a modern archive of Northern life, marked by projects such as Youth of the Rural North and her Class, Covid & Cumbria series exhibited alongside Grayson Perry at Blackwell, The Arts & Crafts House. Her most recent projects—Travelling Home and Skate Like a Lass—continue to reflect the depth of her socially engaged approach.


 

Travelling Home (© Juliet Klottrup, 2024)

 

Since 2019, Klottrup has been documenting the Traveller and Gypsy communities in the North West of England, focusing on their annual pilgrimage to the Appleby Horse Fair in Cumbria. Inspired by the sight of families passing by her window each summer—bow top wagons, horseback riders, and motor caravans winding along rural roads—Travelling Home became a deeply personal exploration of tradition, heritage, and resilience.

A standout figure in this series is Joe, a Traveller whose life and stories are etched into the landscape he traverses. “It was like time travel,” Klottrup recalls of her first ride with Joe through the quiet, empty roads of the Moors, listening to the rhythmic clatter of hooves and wheels. This connection led to a rich collection of portraits and an evocative short film, shot on Kodak 8mm and 16mm, to capture the timelessness of the Traveller experience. The film has been recognised at international festivals, including the London Film Festival and Santa Barbara International Film Festival.

For Klottrup, documenting these communities is as much about preserving cultural heritage as it is about challenging stereotypes. “The ongoing marginalisation of the Traveller and Gypsy community has strained relationships and hindered inclusion,” she says. Travelling Home aims to counter these misconceptions, focusing on family, ceremony, and the gentle traditions that persist in the face of societal change.

 
 

While Travelling Home explores heritage rooted in centuries-old traditions, Klottrup’s Skate Like a Lass shifts focus to contemporary grassroots communities, highlighting the inclusive, dynamic world of female and LGBTQI+ skateboarding collectives in Northern England.

The project was sparked by a chance encounter with Cumbria Cvven, a girls’ skate group in Barrow-in-Furness. There, Klottrup met Lily, a skater hosting a DIY skate jam on the roof of a disused multi-story car park, where handmade ramps created a makeshift haven for skaters of all ages and abilities. “I was inspired by the creativity and inclusivity,” Klottrup recalls. “These collectives offer more than just skateboarding—they create places of belonging, self-expression, and access.”

 

Skate Like a Lass (© Juliet Klottrup, 2025)

 

Drawing from the work of photographer Wendy Ewald, who empowered young people to tell their own stories through photography, Klottrup handed cameras to the skaters themselves. This collaborative process allowed participants to document their lives, capturing the raw, authentic energy of their communities. The project blends formal portraits with DIY documentation techniques, using Super 8, VHS, and digital formats to honor skateboarding’s rich visual history.

The results are striking: a short film—recently recognized with a Shiny Award—two exhibitions (at SHOP in Preston and Aunty Social in Blackpool), and a DIY zine co-created with the skaters. 

Though Travelling Home and Skate Like a Lass differ in subject matter, they share a common thread: a commitment to amplifying underrepresented voices and preserving the cultural fabric of Northern England. Whether capturing the timeless traditions of Traveller communities or the vibrant, rebellious spirit of grassroots skaters, Klottrup’s work is rooted in empathy, collaboration, and a deep respect for her subjects.

“There’s great value in amplifying these stories that might otherwise be overlooked,” she explains. “Both projects reflect how people create spaces of belonging—whether on rural roads or in urban skateparks.”  

As Klottrup continues to expand her practice, blending archival research with collaborative storytelling, her work serves as a vital record of Northern life—past, present, and future. Through her lens, the landscapes and communities of the North are not just documented; they are celebrated.

Skate Like a Lass will be on view @ SHOP Preston, PR1 3XA
Thursday, February 27, 6:30–8 PM
Friday, February 28, 1–4 PM
Saturday, March 1, 12–3 PM
Sunday, March 2, 12–3 PM

The exhibition will also be on view @ Aunty Social, Blackpool, FY1 3AQ March 20th - 25th, 12-3 PM

Travelling Home (© Juliet Klottrup, 2024)

Prada Spring/Summer 2025 Collection `Ten Protagonists Written By Ottessa Moshfegh Featuring Carey Mulligan

Prada’s Spring Summer 2025 campaign continues with a book of ten short stories by Ottessa Moshfegh. Fashion can tell stories of the lives of women, evoke their most intimate and personal narratives. As part of the Spring/Summer 2025 ‘Acts Like Prada’ campaign, starring Prada Ambassador Carey Mulligan and photographed by Steven Meisel, the acclaimed American author Ottessa Moshfegh, known for her radical depiction of female characters, devises a new series of ten unique texts, each an evocation of these Prada personae. Inspired by Mulligan’s characterisations, each campaign still is expanded, through Moshfegh’s words, into a fully-realised heroine. Ten Protagonists is written by Ottessa Moshfegh and features the Spring/Summer 2025

Prada campaign images of Carey Mulligan, photographed by Steven Meisel with creative direction by Ferdinando Verderi.

Mathilde Denize's Sound of Figures Reverberates Through Perrotin in New York

The melodic sensibility of Mathilde Denize’s visual style is at the center of Sound of Figures at Perrotin in New York. Reused from film sets, her materials are born-again into an environment that is altogether new. Denize’s combination of painting, sculpture, and figure feels almost archaeological—we are transported to a retrospective that is not actually of the past. 

Her use of color and form might match stereotypical notions of femininity, but her finished products are anything but. Denize’s paintings are akin to faces printed with makeup—picture a cheek coated in blush. There’s a corporeality to her two-dimensional work that makes it feel as though it’d be warm to the touch.

The entrancing and other-worldly nature of her work speaks to a certain feminine mystique contemporarily neglected in favor of a testosterone-centric mainstream. Using an impressive amalgamation of material and medium, Denize plays the song of a nuanced female experience without having to produce any noise.

Sound of Figures is on view through February 19 at Perrotin, 130 Orchard Street, New York, NY, 10002

RIMOWA Enters The Visionary World Of Rick Owens

The Rick Owens x Rimowa collaboration is a striking union of functionality and artistic vision, blending Rimowa’s storied craftsmanship with Rick Owens’ distinctive, avant-garde aesthetic. The result is a suitcase that bridges the gap between luxury travel and contemporary design, offering a unique take on both utility and style. The standout feature of the suitcase is its patinated aluminium finish, a design element that evokes a raw, industrial sensibility while maintaining an air of sophistication. This material choice aligns with Owens’ signature aesthetic, which often leans into textured surfaces and a sense of timeless durability. Inside, the suitcase continues to innovate with an entirely leather-lined interior—a first in Rimowa’s 125-year history. From the dividers to the lining, the leather finish introduces an element of old-world refinement, creating an interior that feels as thoughtfully designed as the exterior. The juxtaposition of the suitcase’s rugged outer shell with its luxurious interior reflects the duality that defines both brands: Rimowa’s precision engineering and Owens’ creative edge. Rick Owens, a longtime Rimowa user, approaches design with a focus on essentialism, a philosophy that is evident in this collaboration. Owens has stated that his goal is to reduce life to its core necessities, which is mirrored in the suitcase’s minimalist yet striking design. “No matter how far or long, I only bring one carry-on. I wanted the outside finish to recall a bronze from Giacometti, Brâncuș I, or Richard Serra, and I wanted the interior to feel like the touch of a black leather glove.” Rick Owens added: “I don't need much, but I like my bare necessities to be as supernatural as possible.” The collaboration is highly exclusive, with only 500 pieces being released worldwide. This limited availability emphasizes the project’s collectible nature, appealing to those who value both utility and artful design in their travel accessories. In essence, the Rick Owens x Rimowa suitcase serves as a functional travel companion that doubles as a statement piece. It offers a fresh perspective on luxury, challenging traditional notions of what high-end luggage can represent while remaining true to both brands’ core identities.

Starting January 30th, 2025, the RIMOWA x Rick Owens Original Cabin Bronze (RRP 2900 €) will be made available at select RIMOWA and Rick Owens stores worldwide and online at RIMOWA.com and RickOwens.eu.

Remember The Future: Louis Vuitton Fall-Winter 2025 Men’s Collection

Louis Vuitton’s Fall-Winter 2025 Men’s Collection, unveiled during Paris Fashion Week, represents a calculated exploration of the boundaries between luxury and streetwear. Spearheaded by Pharrell Williams, Louis Vuitton’s Men’s Creative Director, alongside Japanese designer Nigo, the collection is a carefully constructed dialogue between heritage craftsmanship and the cultural vibrancy of contemporary fashion. The collection's most striking feature is its ability to harmonize seemingly disparate elements. Varsity jackets, with their bold, nostalgic presence, are reimagined with intricate detailing that elevates them from casual wear to high fashion. Tailored suits, traditionally seen as symbols of rigidity and formality, are imbued with a modern energy, pairing unexpected textures and relaxed silhouettes. Cherry blossom motifs—subtle yet evocative—thread through the collection, grounding it in a sense of delicate refinement often associated with Japanese artistry. This synthesis of aesthetics reflects the creative sensibilities of Williams and Nigo, both of whom have built their careers on the ability to bridge the cultural and stylistic divides between the East and West. Their partnership feels both intuitive and precise, leveraging Nigo's roots in Japanese streetwear and Pharrell’s broader, global perspective on music, art, and fashion. The show itself was a statement. Staged in a the historic Cour Carrée du Louvre, it mirrored not only the collection’s theme of duality but also the house’s commitment to presenting fashion as a form of cultural spectacle.