Lost Paradise

Dancers in folkloric costumes, moving unpredictably to pounding chords, characterized the 1913 Rite of Spring premiere at Paris' Champs Elysées Theater

>> For the first time in well over two decades, I’ve spent Christmas and New Year’s away from London.I’ve traded in turkey, cold walks and Crimbo TV (I say that, having binged on Downton and Call the Midwife using Hola) for sun, sea and food loaded up with Thai chillis.  I’ve just finished up a wonderful… Continue reading Lost Paradise

Shine On

>> London Fashion designers have had a tumultuous year of celebrations and shutterings.  In between Meadham Kirchhoff declaring they could no longer sustain their business last year and Jonathan Saunders as the latest (and perhaps most surprising) casualty, the likes of Christopher Kane, Erdem, Nicholas Kirkwood and Roksanda Ilincic have all notched up ten year… Continue reading Shine On

Wind Running

Nike has created many recognisable footwear icons in its time but can the same be said for its apparel?  The Windrunner is perhaps one of the few exceptions that really is the foundation of Nike’s clothing identity, when it was first developed in the late seventies by its then newly formed in-house apparel design team.  It… Continue reading Wind Running

Coaching Class

Back in June, when I went to New York for Coach’s summer party on the High Line, I also got to check out the archives.  As it turned out, it was my first archive visit of any American brand actually.  The American thing is worth hammering in.  “Coach is really America’s house of leather,” said… Continue reading Coaching Class