Irish poet and academic, Bernard O’Donoghue spoke about literary journalism at the launch of the latest issue

The Oxford Review of Books (ORB) was founded last year at Oxford University and is a celebration of culture featuring an impressively high calibre of essays, interviews, short fiction and poetry. An issue of the magazine is published every Oxford term under the leadership of a new student team. One of the editors of the latest issue, Hugo Murphy tells LUX about the publishing process, the challenges faced and well-earned celebrations.

It has been a pleasure and a privilege to work on the Oxford Review of Books this term. It has also been a lot of fun. As a publication that models itself on journals like the TLS and LRB, the ORB aims to provide a unique space at the University of Oxford for long-form journalism, publishing student-written book reviews, cultural and political essays, interviews, personal diaries, poetry, and short fiction. As such, there are an alarming number of plates to keep spinning at any given time – an undertaking happily shared between four general editors, and a wider editorial team of 12.

The Hilary Term editors of the ORB: Billie, Oliver, Clarissa and Hugo

The ORB goes to print once a term (three times a year), and the long and meticulous editorial process starts early. The editors for this issue – four English undergraduates across the University: Oliver, Billie, Clarissa, and myself – hit the ground running in early December, calling for original and thought-provoking pitches, casting our net as widely as possible. We commissioned a wide range of 20-or-so pieces, covering topics that ranged from filmmaking in Iran to computer-generated literature, Gordon Brown to Mary Beard.

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The next few months saw these articles undergo a rigorous editorial process, some of them evolving through upwards of ten separate drafts. Between all this writing ad re-writing, we hosted a successful poetry and short fiction evening, and even managed to find time for a mid-term pit-stop, with twenty-plus team members and contributors coming together for an evening at the pub.

A rapt audience, including former editors Katie and John, at the March launch of the ORB in Waterstones

Once all content was ready, we (the four editors) laid-in the magazine alongside a graphic designer. This, as expected, was a week-long, gruelling slog, punctuated in equal parts by tutorial essays, salty snacks, and despair; but the pressures, frustrations, and general misery of the process were all enjoyed in fantastic company. And everyone’s toil was rewarded with the elation of reading hard copies of the magazine for the first time, as well as celebrating the term’s work at our launch.

Author Victoria Hislop presents the prize for the Fiction Competition

While only set up in the summer, the first three issues of the ORB have enjoyed a large following across the University – something that we were reminded of at this issue’s launch, which was hosted in the top-floor café of Waterstones Oxford in early March. Guests numbering close to 200 enjoyed wine and nibbles as they leafed through copies of the new issue and listened to brief talks given by bestselling author Victoria Hislop and award-winning poet Bernard O’Donoghue.

Read more: Art auctioneer Simon de Pury on artistic philanthropy

It proved a fantastic send-off for this term’s team, and another important landmark in the growing strength of the publication. I have been incredibly fortunate to meet and work with many inspiring people in and around the ORB, and I’ll miss the regular meetings enormously. The new team – spearheaded by one of this issue’s editors, Billie – is set to move onto only bigger and better things. Rumour has it the June issue is already in the pipeline.

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Kate Upton at the 2017 amfAR Gala Cannes

Charity art auctions are taking off around the world, and for the best and worst of reasons, says Simon de Pury, himself the world’s leading philanthropic auctioneer

Simon de Pury

In times past, the main philanthropic efforts in the art world used to be confined to the US, for a couple of reasons. Firstly, there is fiscal encouragement for individuals to make charitable donations in the US, which is not the case in Europe. And more importantly it is an integral part of the entrepreneurial educational philosophy in the US, that if you are successful, you give back.

Any successful person in any area in the US is expected to have one or two causes to which they contribute some of the fortune they have made. But over the past 10 years, things have changed. More and more wealth has been created around the world, and the art market has consequently become more global. This means I have witnessed efforts in philanthropy around the world increasing dramatically.

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It is very gratifying to see, and in many cases to be involved with, cultural institutions that organise regular fundraising events. We also see increasing numbers of organisations of friends of museums, whose main task is to raise funds for philanthropic and charitable causes. In some cases, these are to benefit the institutions themselves; and in others, funds are raised for important causes that are not adequately funded through governments.

Perhaps the ultimate art philanthropist is Maja Hoffmann, who has devoted so much energy to the new LUMA Foundation in Arles; designed by Frank Gehry, it is going to become a cultural art centre of major importance. She also funded the Fondation Vincent van Gogh Arles; and she is a donor to MoMA and the New Museum in New York, and the Kunsthalle in Zurich. She supports these institutions not just in financial terms, but also by putting together sophisticated programs. She is a shining example.

The amfAR 2017 Gala in Cannes

Then there is the growing area of non-cultural philanthropy, one in which the art world is becoming increasingly involved. It’s not a recent development (although it has been growing exponentially recently) . The art world was the first to mobilise in the early days of the AIDS epidemic, when Thomas Ammann, an art-dealer friend of Elizabeth Taylor and Audrey Hepburn, set up amfAR, which has raised great amounts of money over the years.

What is striking about the art world is that some artists have themselves made significant donations. Damien Hirst donated a beautiful golden mammoth which Len Blavatnik bought for $16m at the amfAR auction in Cannes in 2014. It’s now at the Faena hotel on Miami Beach and something of an Instagram magnet. It also happens to be one of best works in the Damien Hirst oeuvre. Hirst is the most generous artist I know; he has donated many millions of dollars’ worth of art to various charities over the years. Tracey Emin is also immensely generous, as is Chuck Close, who never holds back in supporting causes close to his heart. There are many others, too; artists these days are solicited on a daily basis to donate works to various causes.

Leonardo DiCaprio and Madonna at the 4th Annual Saint-Tropez Gala organised by the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation in 2017

There is one lingering anomaly, at a time when we should all be highly concerned about the future of the planet: the fact that only three per cent of global charitable donations go to environmental causes. Leonardo DiCaprio is leading the way in devoting time and energy to raising awareness of the poor state of the oceans and other environmental issues, and I have had the honour of being auctioneer at the four large charity auctions he has organised in St-Tropez over the past four years.

Read more: One-of-a-kind designs by talented artisans at Baku Corner

David Beckham arriving at the 2017 amfAR Gala

What is significant about these auctions is that they include works by artists such as Jeff Koons, Urs Fischer and George Condo, many of whom donate very substantial works. In 2016, of the 20-odd works on sale during the live auction, 15 were donated and 12 of them set new auction records. This shows that people are not simply buying art at these auctions as a charitable act – they are buying top works, which makes it sustainable and gives it extra purpose. Leonardo manages, through his status, not only to obtain top donations, but also to bring in potential purchasers from all over the world. In that tent in St-Tropez on the gala evening, there is a greater concentration of money than at the big auctions in New York.

What is increasingly extraordinary about these events is how global the audience is now. High net-worth individuals are coming from all over the world, with more and more attending from Russia, the former eastern bloc, the Middle East, China, Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Latin America and all over Africa. It has really become a global effort.

All of this also raises awareness, and once awareness spreads it becomes easier to raise funds. Offices that look after HNIs all now have specialists in philanthropy to advise their clients how they can help. People are getting drawn in for different reasons. Some people pay for the artworks because they just want the artwork. But increasingly individuals want to take responsibility because governments are not. One of the reasons philanthropy was initially more widespread in the US is that most institutions there depend on private donations, there being no public funding. In Europe, public budgets used to be much bigger, but with cuts, individuals have had to step in.

You can also see this with the instant mobilisation that takes place when something happens, for example the recent refugee crisis. Some artists are galvanized into action by such crises – Ai Weiwei has made a movie and marched on the streets of London together with Anish Kapoor. It’s the future.

Simon de Pury is an art auctioneer and collector and the founder of de Pury de Pury. Read more of his columns for LUX here.

Les Rives d’Argentière, a hamlet of five-star chalets in the village of Argentière, Chamonix

For centuries, Chamonix has been the prime alpine resort for those seeking adventure luxury travel with a heady mix of challenging skiing, glaciers, designer boutiques and five-star hotels. Digital Editor Millie Walton travels to the lesser known village of Argentière, a twenty minute drive from the main town and home to the valley’s most luxurious collection of chalets, to discover where adventure and luxury meet

That feeling you get when you wake up early on the first day of skiing is, for me at least, the nearest I ever get to the giddy excitement I felt as a child on Christmas morning. It’s a restless, wide-eyed kind of anticipation and on the way to Flégère, one of Chamonix’s most scenic and slightly easier ski areas (although no skiing in Chamonix is exactly easy), the excitement is almost palpable. We’re silent as the driver opens the door and hands us our skis, poles and passes. We’ve been warned that the visibility is bad, which is hard to believe in the valley where it’s sunny and relatively clear, but the warning makes us even more edgy and impatient to begin.

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At the top of the cable car, we’re met with gale force winds that pull us from side to side in a drunken swagger, making the experience of waking in ski boots feel even stranger and more space like. Most of the pistes are closed, the wind howling in our ears, stinging our faces, biting into bare skin. My ski partner looks at me and points warily at a red avalanche sign with one pole, a gesture that’s perfectly timed with the boom of the canon and the thundering rumble of snow. And yet, there’s something especially exhilarating about skiing in extreme conditions, when there’s a sense that you’re on the fringes of real, raw adventure. We push off down the run, carving through thick powder, gathering speed and arrive at the lift, panting, laughing. It’s worth everything for that (and a timely break for vin chaud).

World famous off-piste skiing: Vallée Blanche, Chamonix

Sadly, the mountain is closed after a couple of hours – the weather’s too extreme – and whilst it’s not quite long enough, it’s something, and we return to Les Rives d’Argentière with our cheeks still flushed, snow dripping from our hair. The pretty hamlet of luxury chalets sits snugly in the little village of Argentière, facing south towards Mont Blanc. We’re in the biggest of the four, Chalet Terre which has a capacity of 14, but is by far the cosiest with rustic, tribal inspired furnishings, a log fire, a sleek open plan kitchen (re-stocked daily with drinks and snacks), five en-suite bedrooms, a games room in the basement and a hot tub, sunken into the snow on the terrace.

Read more: Geoffrey Kent on the rise of adventure luxury travel

The chalets also share an underground walkway with a sauna, hammam, fitness suite, massage rooms and cinema, and it means that if you happen to be renting the whole hamlet, you don’t have to trudge through the snow to pay the rest of the group a visit. That afternoon we’re booked in for treatments with Chamonix’s star masseuse Ruth Martin, who uses her fascination with the inter-relationship between psychology and physiology to create a truly bespoke experience that’s as relaxing as it is deeply therapeutic.

The Montenvers Railway winds up the mountain alongside the Mer de Glace to a viewing point at 1913 m

Most people who choose Chamonix over resorts such as St. Moritz or Zermatt, choose it for the extreme sports (the first Winter Olympics were hosted by Chamonix in 1924); the notorious off-piste skiing route Vallée Blanche, the Mer de Glace, Aiguille du Midi (a 3,777m terrace with panoramic views of the surrounding alps), and ‘A Step into the Void’, a glass cage that hangs over 1000m precipice. It’s a ski resort that’s primarily about the sport and not the après, and because of that it tends to attract a slightly more adventurous clientele, who are by no means less deep pocketed – wander through Chamonix town and almost all of the shops are designer or artisan and there’s a multitude of smart restaurants.

The warm, blonde wood interiors of one of Les Rives d’Argentière’s chalets

One evening, we’re treated to a wine tasting menu in the chalet with an excellent and varied wine selection by Le Verre Gourmand, who are renowned suppliers of the top chalets in the alps. The food is not quite as refined as one would expect, and disappointingly doesn’t take advantage of the Alpine ingredients and traditional recipes, which are done so well and with so much elegance in the bistro style restaurants in town, but the service is warm and thoughtful.

Secluded in its own little world of luxury, Les Rives d’Argentière has all the advantages of a five-star resort, with the added allure of privacy and bespoke service that makes a day of adventures slightly less daunting.

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Poet, co-founder of poetry night BoxedIn and host of Jawdance, Yomi Sode

Eclectic, competitive and radical, Slam Poetry is a fringe form of spoken word poetry and protest, blurring the lines between hip hop and the performance arts. It is an increasingly popular art form for those wishing to express political protest and radical emotion, due to its dramatic intensity in action as well as in language. It is also unique for its organic propensity to resist commercialisation and remain authentic on stage.

Poetry slams provide a platform for every kind of person to express their feelings on issues as far-reaching and globally significant as the refugee crisis, Black Lives Matter, identity politics and oppression of sexuality. As the world moves towards ever-increasing commerciality of art and self-expression – an example being the twisted use of feminism as a fashion statement – it seems that Slam Poets may be the only people with the ability to resist these falsehoods and cut straight through to the truth of our times.

Rhiannon Williams speaks to Yomi Sode, the talented Nigerian-born London-based poet, co-founder of landmark poetry night BoxedIn and host of Jawdance, on what makes Slam Poetry special.

LUX: Did you always want to be a poet?
Yomi Sode: No, poetry kind of crept in. I used to MC before, I used to DJ, I still have my vinyls – I am a proud collector of what I could class as ‘vintage grime’. I kind of ventured in all aspects and areas of music first.

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LUX: How did you discover Slam Poetry?
Yomi Sode: I first discovered Slam Poetry through a legend of a poet called Joelle Taylor. I saw this event that was happening, I think it was a SLAMbassadors event, and I thought this was cool to get involved in, and that’s how I met Joelle. I’m now faced with what is Slam poetry and I saw how these groups came up, how these individuals came up to do solos and it just blew my mind. But even after the event it wasn’t enough to pull me in to be interested in spoken word poetry. I loved it, but it wasn’t what I was used to with MC-ing, it was a very different form of expression.

But then I was in New York and I wanted to share some poems. The Nuyo [Nuyorican Poets’ Café] is a staple spot in terms of spoken word and the evening I got there I signed up but I didn’t realise it was a Slam – I accidentally signed up for my first Slam. Not only a Slam, but a Slam in America. And I actually got through to the final but the next stage of it was on the Friday and I wasn’t in New York for it!

LUX: How would you describe Slam Poetry to someone who hasn’t encountered it before?
Yomi Sode: It’s so difficult because Slam Poetry in different parts of the world is expressed in many different forms. So, should you look at the way the States take it on it has a very intense feeling to it; it’s very passionate, it’s driven with purpose. Folks don’t just go onto that stage and read a poem, they bare absolutely everything. It’s very personal, it can get very political, they take it very seriously there. In England what I’ve noticed is that it can be lighter, it can be a bit comedic, and of course there are many elements of seriousness, but the core of how it is in the states is very different.

You can make something very special out of 3 minutes’ worth of work and that’s an experience – as a a poet and an audience member – that you remember for a very long time.

Yomi Sode in performance

LUX: What’s the difference between a poetry Slam and a spoken word night?
Yomi Sode: I just came off the back of judging UniSlam in Leicester and there was this one piece that actually made me uncomfortable. And that’s what the power is of a Slam compared to your typical poetry night. At Jawdance for example, each person comes up to an open mic and you’ll see them again next month probably. With a poetry slam, even though the ethos isn’t about the winning and more about the experience, the process, you are still there to win and through that drive comes this energy. You get triple the amount of passion for the message coming through.

Read more Poetry Muse: The augmented poetry of Eran Hadas

LUX: You said you were judging UniSlam. What kinds of things are you looking for in these Slam poets’ performances?
Yomi Sode: It was very hard when I was judging. I was looking for any quirky lines, I was also marking up anything that sounded a bit cliché. One poet I remember went on there and he started with ‘my love’ and I was like oh god, because straightaway when you start with a line like that, I already know where you’re going.

LUX: What do you think is the unique appeal of a poetry that is performed and not just read? How does it feel to stand up on stage, vulnerable and utterly visible, sharing your art with an audience?
Yomi Sode: Performance is very important. To stand on stage and just read a poem and trust that you will feel what I’m feeling. I could have the most powerful poem on stage but if I read it in a monotone voice, it won’t sink into you as much as I want. Or I could absolutely read it in that monotone voice because that’s the kind of energy I want to give. You just need to know how your poem will present on stage.

LUX: Slam poetry is often both political and personal. What are some of the common themes that recur in the Slam Poetry scene?
Yomi Sode: What I find often in Poetry Slam is that the same themes will crop up along the lines of heartbreak, sexuality, rape, racial injustices, all those things there, are all packaged into a similar poem – but the way the poem approaches it is what is interesting to me. You have to believe in what you’re saying.

LUX: You’re involved in lots of poetry events going on in London – what do you think is the significance of nights like these for poets and poetry-lovers, as well as the community as a whole?
Yomi Sode: BoxedIn and Jawdance are not the only poetry nights that happen in London; there are a lot of mini poetry nights across London that people are not necessarily aware of. Those nights happen either weekly, monthly or bi-monthly or whatever it is, and they’re not in the limelight. I guess one of my aims with BoxedIn is that I’m going to encourage poets from these nights – other poets on the poetry scene – because my concern is that we’re always dipping in the same pool, picking out the same poets. And there are poets in and out of London doing some amazing things.

LUX: How would you describe the poetry circuits in large multicultural cities such as London? What needs changing, in your opinion?
Yomi Sode: It’s saturated in London. I feel like I’ve exhausted in London. And even then, there are still so many poets in London that we don’t know about. UniSlam is the national poetry event: there were folks from Glasgow, folks from Manchester, Leeds, Bristol, and I’m like this is what I’m talking about. It was just amazing to break out of London and find out what else is going on.

Read next: Geoffrey Kent on the rise of luxury adventure travel

LUX: How do you avoid creative burnout?
Yomi Sode: I allocate my time well. I say no to things often. I spend less time on social media now and I’m so used to coming off social media so regularly that I honestly have no reason to be on there anymore. I wanted to tackle the need to be on there every day – it was a pleasure to go offline for a while, then come back on to announce a new project. All that learning has been interesting for me – making space and time for my work.

LUX: These days there is a certain commercialism to creativity. In what ways would you say Slam poetry is able to resist commercialism, giving people who may not otherwise have a ‘true’ creative space a voice for self-empowerment?
Yomi Sode: Poets maintain a bridge between commerciality and their own individuality – whether we’re talking about Kate Tempest or Inua Ellams and his Barber Shop Chronicles which, last I checked was in Australia. It’s amazing stuff. A lot of my peers and the folks that I’ve grown up with on the scene are being used in adverts, and the purists, the poetry purists, see these adverts and go: that’s not poetry. And while it’s a massive clash of ideals, I can’t speak for another person’s choice. I can’t tell someone that they should be a purist when they might have a family to feed. People make their decisions for what they want to do. Poetry going commercial? It will happen. It’s up to the writer as to how they want to balance that. It’s their own journey going forwards.

Poet, musician and playwright Kate Tempest

LUX: Is there a poem that you feel you need to write, but have yet to?
Yomi Sode: There are poems that I’m waiting to write. I’m trying to eradicate the thoughts of writers’ block. I’m working towards a collection of poems.

LUX: What does poetry mean to you?
Yomi Sode: It’s an experience that’s life changing. Because you could be in the position where your life is in a certain way and that one person comes on stage and does something that speaks to how you’re feeling. That’s what poetry does, it gives that kind of permission to almost speak someone’s thoughts, and I think that that’s a beautiful thing.

William Eggleston, Memphis, 1965–68. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Promised Gift of Jade Lau. Courtesy David Zwirner, New York/London/Hong Kong

American photographer William Eggleston‘s work was originally met with disdain by some critics for its ordinariness, the mundane subject matter, the absence of conventional beauty, but what they failed to recognise – ironically, since recognition is arguably the driving force behind the artist’s work – is Eggleston’s sensitivity and skill at revealing the untold, the passed-by.

William Eggleston, En route to New Orleans, ca. 1971–74. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Promised Gift of Jade Lau. Courtesy David Zwirner, New York/London/Hong Kong.

A guy sitting on a bench eating a burger, a hand dipping a straw into a glass, the eerie glow of a strip light over a bed; his photographs are stories – caught right in the middle, like an overhead fragment of a sentence – they’re full of curiosity and emotion, vibrancy and light. These are images that belong to a particular moment and texture – and their beauty (because they really are beautiful) comes from their appreciation of the everyday.

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Most of the time, too much of the time, we walk, heads down, hands in our pockets not noticing the world that surrounds us, the fascinating peculiarities of the most commonplace objects, gestures, expressions. Eggleston magnifies the unnoticed and to look at his photographs is a reminder to appreciate the richness and diversity of our existence.

William Eggleston, Memphis, 1965. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Promised Gift of Jade Lau. Courtesy David Zwirner, New York/London/Hong Kong

The exhibition at The Met is comprised of the artist’s most notable portfolio, Los Alamos featuring photographs taken between 1965 and 1974, including Eggleston’s very first colour photograph of a young clerk pushing a train of shopping carts at a supermarket in Memphis, Tennessee (see above). It’s rare for every image at an exhibition to hold you, but these almost certainly will.

Millie Walton

‘William Eggleston: Los Alamos’, runs until 28 May 2018 at The Met, Fifth Avenue, New York

The captivating expanse of the Moroccan desert

In his latest column for LUX, Geoffrey Kent, founder of leading luxury travel company Abercrombie & Kent, discusses the growing interest in luxury adventure travel, recalling his own thirst for exploration and the importance of a personalised experience.

Geoffrey Kent on his motorcycle adventures

A rise in luxury adventure travel can be explained in many different ways – whether it be a desire to escape the norm, a wish to discover uncharted territories or a need to rediscover a sense of self. Whatever the reason, adventure means something different to everyone and there are some amazing opportunities out there to be experienced.

My early years in Kenya were spent exploring the Aberdares barefoot, much to my mother’s chagrin. When I was 16, I rode a Daimler Puch 250cc motorcycle from Nairobi to Cape Town and I joined the British Army in 1959 (only after I’d climbed Kilimanjaro, of course). My desire for adventure has always been the driving force in my life.

During my solo bike ride from Nairobi to Cape Town, I stayed in a five-star hotel for the first time. I then realised that any adventure is made more palatable if by night, fresh sheets, a spring mattress, security and luxury are offered.

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In recent years, more and more travel companies have taken this idea on board and their offerings will inspire anyone who looks for both luxury and adventure in their travels. There has been a sea change in what luxury adventure means. It is becoming a far more personal and involved decision. But how can we make this more different, exclusive and unique?

I recently took a group of adventurous clients into the heart of the Arctic Circle to experience the mesmerising phenomenon of the Aurora Borealis. From a wilderness lodge, each night we watched the skies for the Northern Lights. By day, we met local Sami nomads with their reindeer herds and their mystical Shamans.

A wild reindeer grazing in Norway

For those looking to experience a complete unknown in lesser-visited places, I recommend a trip to the Indian state of Nagaland on the Myanmar border. Here, eagle-hunters and Mongol herders will introduce you to their traditional way of life, creating an understanding of their culture and customs which goes beyond any text-book description.

Read more by Geoffrey Kent: The hottest luxury travel destinations for 2018

Although it is clear that adventure travel is not reliant on adrenalin anymore, for some people adding these elements in can create a whole new level of experience. Taking control of your own desert 4×4, having received expert guidance from a former logistics officer of the Paris-Dakar Rally, could reveal Morocco to you from a completely different perspective.

All options for luxury adventure travel are open to us now. We have the expertise and knowledge to build amazing adventures in exactly the way people want to live them. A backpack and a map may promise adventure for a student but for a time-poor customer, combining the unknown or the unexpected with knowledge and seamless logistics makes the experience accessible.

One of the world’s most mesmerising natural phenomena: The Northern Lights

Adventure travel is a step into the unknown. Add luxury and you are making it a transformative experience with personalised service. But it is also so much more – experiences you never dreamed of, sights you never expected to see, like the beauty of a silent sunrise in Iceland or the inexplicable phenomenon of the Northern Lights.

Life is richer and deeper with these experiences. Holidays should always enrich our lives – however we personally choose to make that happen.

Hussein Chalayan is fashion’s avant-garde experimentalist and supreme craftsman

Hussein Chalayan is high fashion’s savant and one of the most influential designers of the past two decades. He speaks to LUX about originality, art, and how celebrities are cheapening the industry

LUX: You have been involved in the world of fine art for a long time, with museum shows and the like. How connected are the worlds of art and fashion?
Hussein Chalayan: I don’t actually necessarily think that the art and the fashion world are that connected for a lot of people. In my work they were always connected, because of the nature of the ideas. But in the wider world, I feel like there are a lot of art collectors who love fashion. And then there are a lot of art publications in which fashion companies advertise, so I think it’s an economic co-dependency. But I do think that they are two separate disciplines. In my case and a few others they can merge, but often I feel that artists and designers do think differently.

LUX: In what way?
Hussein Chalayan: Fashion is a much more industrial process. The fashion world is much more about producing as much as possible, unless you do couture. I think the mindset is a bit different as well, but the biggest difference is that the kind of discourse you hear in the art world, for me, does not really exist in as serious a way as in the fashion world. There is discourse in the fashion world but it’s not as structured as the architectural world, the design world, or the art world. There are academics in fashion that really know their business. But unfortunately it’s not taken as seriously as the other disciplines, but it deserves to be.

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LUX: When you started in the fashion world, it was much less mainstream – there were no celebrities and bloggers sitting in the front rows, for example. Has the fashion world changed for better or worse?
Hussein Chalayan: I think both. The arrival of the digital era, in my view, is the biggest change. Because when we were first starting, I was in the same generation as Alexander McQueen, we were shooting at the same time in London and there was no such thing as digital media. And when digital media came, it meant we were not pigeonholed as avant-garde designers, or whatever, so easily. Because, before then, editors would be able to categorise you and use images to present you in the way they wanted. And what would then happen is that, because they would do that to attract people to their publication, all your other things that you spent hours on, like your beautiful tailoring, wouldn’t necessarily be included because you were really in the hands of the editor. Whereas now, in the digital media, everyone can see everything you do. So, that’s democratised things in a good way. On the other hand, of course, it means that the high street can copy you before you’re able to even produce your own collection, which is actually a problem. This has happened to every designer, you’re just seen as an ingredient. It cheapens what designers do. I guess the anticipation has been wiped out because of the digital era, which I think is a pity.

LUX: You’re now in London after 16 years in Paris.
Hussein Chalayan: Yes. In the past, people would skip London and go straight to Milan, and that was why we went to Paris. But now London has quite a few important houses. Yes, more people go to Paris and Milan and New York, but still, London is better than it was. And it’s just less hassle, because I don’t have to take the whole team to Paris.

Design from the Chalayan A/W collection 1998

LUX: What broad themes are inspiring you at the moment?
Hussein Chalayan: I would say that broadly I’m interested in anthropology, I’m interested in behaviour, in how different cultures perceive things. What creative people do is that they explore or propose new ways of looking at something. That’s also therapeutic, because you, the artist or the creative, are trying to solve issues or at least address issues.

LUX: What is the most interesting thing you are doing right now?
Hussein Chalayan: The most exciting thing right now for me is probably our shop, because it’s our first. We’ve had it for almost two years, and it’s opened up a whole new horizon of possibilities, because the shop is a response mechanism as well as a hub where we hold events. It’s where we get to know our clients in a bit more detail, a bit more depth.

LUX: Is this bringing people to your world who you wouldn’t naturally come across?
Hussein Chalayan: I would come across some of them, but I could never have imagined the level at which we’re now engaged with them.

LUX: Who is a typical person who wears Chalayan?
Hussein Chalayan: A lot of people from the art world. And a lot of people from the architecture world, as well. But all walks of life, really.

LUX: Is there a balance that you have to hold between creativity and saleability?
Hussein Chalayan: Definitely. I’ve learned a lot more in the past ten years about that, tried to work very closely with our sales team, whoever we’re working with at the time, and merchandising.

Design from Chalayan’s A/W collection 2017

LUX: Wearable tech is something that you’ve been involved with for a long time. Is it the future, or is it overplayed?
Hussein Chalayan: I have a slight problem with the whole issue. I have tried to use it more poetically. And the minute that it becomes like something where it measures your heartbeat, or it does just one thing only, I find it gets banal. There’s a lot of gimmickry around it as well, and I’m just not convinced by it.

LUX: Do you ever wish you’d been more commercial?
Hussein Chalayan: The thing is, I don’t really know what commercial means anymore. I mean, if you can wear something, it’s commercial. But I think that 95 per cent of everything we did was always wearable from the beginning but because people saw your experimental work, they perceived you as doing only that, but actually, I wasn’t. And I think that this applies to a lot of designers, that you can make show pieces that are the pinnacle of your idea for that season, but 99 per cent of what you did was actually the clothes one can really wear. But then, newspapers only photograph those show pieces, season after another, and you are then projected as this avant-garde designer that doesn’t do anything else. As I mentioned, in the pre-digital era, it was completely like that. And then in the post-digital era, it’s almost like we had to restart, because people were finally seeing that we can make clothes that you can really wear. So I’d say that a big part of our collection is commercial, but I don’t like that word; I’d say it is wearable more than commercial. I think the word ‘commercial’ cheapens it.

Read more: 6 questions with Italian womenswear designer Alessandra Rich

LUX: Are there too many designers and labels around these days?
Hussein Chalayan: I think there are, but I also think it’s arrogant for another designer to say that. But it’s true. There are too many designers, and there’s too much product. I think that you could have a (design) house but you could decide to base it on a category, you can decide that you’re good at knitwear, or you’re good at prints, and that’s your house. There are too many designers that are doing everything. If you were to become a designer now, I would strongly advise you to be a specialist in some area.

LUX: Is London important to you?
Hussein Chalayan: We’re lucky living in a place like London because I feel like it’s really a state, I call it the state of London. It’s not really a city, it’s a country. People in London are a lot more accepting of foreigners. If you go outside London, it’s white, meaning culturally white, it’s, you know… Brexit.

Design from Chalayan’s A/W collection 2017

LUX: What is your view on the fashion industry in general, right now?
Hussein Chalayan: The biggest issue we have is that fashion has just got so nepotistic and is so much about the big conglomerates. It’s becoming a sort of bullshit industry really, in that it’s no longer about the creativity… it’s almost about who you are associated with, if you belong to a particular group, or if you are a pop star. It’s awful that our industry has allowed this to happen. It’s allowed this to happen because they’re living with too much anxiety. It’s killing independent designers and actually killing creativity, as well. So, I feel like we’re in quite a terrible state really, right now, and every single fashion person you speak to would agree with this, more or less. But then, collectively, they don’t do anything about it. So, I find it peculiar.

LUX: What do you think of celebrities who launch their own collections?
Hussein Chalayan: There’s room for celebrity fashion, but I would like it to be seen as a separate category and I don’t think that should be mixed up with the years of work that we’ve been doing and then put in the same space. Department stores put you next to a rapper’s collection, and I just think it’s too bizarre. That ‘anything goes’ mentality in fashion cheapens our industry. A celebrity could have impeccable taste, and they could be really good curators, and they can employ really good designers and could really get something going with the energy and attitude that is associated with them. But I just think that that’s a new feel, that’s another category. Such labels with massive Instagram followings actually haven’t got anything to do with design, it’s more to do with the personality of the person designing it.

LUX: Who do you admire most among designers?
Hussein Chalayan: I think that, and I’m not saying this necessarily because of the design content, but I love the way that Azzedine Alaïa has pursued his career, because his work is not really about the flavour of the month, it’s very specific. I admire designers who do their own thing in their own way

chalayan.com

Alessandra Rich ready-to-wear SS18 collection

Alessandra Rich

Alessandra Rich is the quintessential contemporary designer. Born in Italy, based in London and Milan, and showing in Paris, her designs bring joy and flair to womenswear. She is also noted for the meticulousness of her sourcing and her construction quality. LUX Editor-at-Large Gauhar Kapparova speaks to the designer.

1. Describe us the woman you design for. Who is the Alessandra Rich woman?

She is an independent woman, self-confident, clever and ironic. She loves to have fun with fashion and to be the woman that everyone looks at.

2. What are the challenges of a small independent fashion designer today?

My challenge is to be contemporary, I avoid being nostalgic or too “classic”, I want my brand to be unexpected. It’s difficult to compete against what everybody thinks fashion is, the size of the brand doesn’t matter.

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3. Has the increased desire for ready-to-wear collections changed your designs?

All my collections are ready-to-wear, I want women to have fun wearing my pieces, during the day and at night.

Alessandra Rich ready-to-wear SS18 collection

4. Your designs are chic, clever and quirky. How do you give it that timeless elegance?

My design comes from a personal research and from my interest in the contemporary. I consider fashion a language, so I just put together the right words.

Read more like this: 6 questions with LA’s hottest accessory designer Tyler Ellis

5. Do you design through your emotions or follow a formula?

It’s a mixture of emotions and rules, because every idea has to fit into a shape. It’s why in my last collection you can find formal jackets worn with hot pants or floral pleated dresses and sheer laces. It’s always a matter of balance.

6. What’s ahead for your brand? Do you have plans or are you living in the moment?

I have a vision that my business will grow, with a larger team and a larger view. I’m interested in creating a kind of factory, a place to be.

alessandrarich.com