Oakazine

In an ever-fast fashion industry where trends, seasons, and desires are on warp-speed, Jonathan Waiter’s photos give us a chance to breath and reflect on fashion’s inner world afresh.  Maybe his photographs are a gauge of the industry’s current state — an unadorned view of that particular brand of skinny, topless sexuality that has been its heart for a while.  Then again, maybe it isn’t sexuality that is on display at all; just goofy, girlish, awkwardness. Jonathan Waiter’s smart humor is what definitively separates him from the pack, with his power hinging on his ability to blur acting and candidness. After looking at Waiter’s photos you’ll wonder if the difference between the two is as real as you think anyway. Interview after the jump. — Text by Stefanie Weber

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Since it’s 2010 founding, Mandy Coon’s eponymous clothing brand has been serving up dramatically constructed pieces that playfully — and seductively — meld the masculine with the feminine. Mandy Coon’s F/W2011 collection was inspired by the classic, austere femininity of Coon’s own mother,bringing about a marked departure from much of her previous work. Coons’ signature sliced-up flowing silk dresses, flirty rompers, and asymmetric cocktail numbers were replaced by stiff, boxy fabrics, high-waisted full leather skirts, and bow-back dresses in markedly conservative cuts. Hemlines were low and necklines were high; with heavy capes with close-fitting hoods or belted fur jackets paired with wide, floor-grazing, leather-tipped skirts. Check out OAKAZINE’s exclusive video coverage of Coon’s F/W 2011 collection. Interview after the jump. — Text by Meg Clark. Video by Elizabeth Perrin. Editor: Peter Berwind Humphrey.

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If Evelyn Waugh and Bret Easton Ellis collaborated on a contemporary social satire shot by Jean Baptiste Mondino for British Vogue you might wind up with something similar to Alexandra McGuinness’ debut feature The Lotus Eaters. Named after the episode in The Odyssey where Odysseus loses three men to the drugged-out stupors induced by eating lotus blossoms (a cautionary tale about the dangers of overindulgence), the Lotus Eaters is a tragicomic meditation on the delusion that oftentimes accompanies having everything. According to the director, “My original idea for Lotus Eaters was to make a film that showed both the highs and the hangovers and the hopes that people cling to even while everything is twirling out of control.”

Shot in gleaming black and white, the film follows sylphlike ex-model/wannabe actress Alice (Antonia Campbell Hughes) as she searches for connection in a spiritually bereft floating world of designer drugs, designer clothes, hip boites, and beautiful people. Both detached observer and blank canvas, Alice’s only real friendship is with her on/off heroin-addled boyfriend Charlie (Johnny Flynn) whose psychic expansiveness — albeit rooted in a destructive drug habit — provides much-needed rest from the incessant backstabbing and vapidity of her circle of friends. Meanwhile, Charlie’s close friend, man of relative stability Felix (Benn Northover), also has his gaze steadily affixed on Alice who’s not quite sure what to do with this attention.

Fly on the wall style we trail Alice through London as she interacts with, but mostly observes, the aimless creatures she calls friends in their natural habitats: getting wasted and naked in vodka baths; crashing their Jaguars; shoplifting from fancy boutiques; running around the South of France; and talking over one another about nothing whatsoever at brunch, Ray Bans shielding bloodshot eyes. One particularly illustrative scene has Alice administering a shot of B12 to serial-cheating party girl Saskia’s behind in a bid to help get pregnant. Why? Because Saskia’s “sooooo bored.”  Although at times it gets depressing, The Lotus Eaters is ultimately a fun, parodic romp through the London known to the trust-fund set. But what ultimately steals the show are the stray details: a shot of Charlie’s dazed, rolling eyes as he strums an acoustic version of “Papa Was a Rodeo”, a wide pan of a horse dashing through an open field, the over-the-top wardrobe featuring pieces from young British designers like Simone Rocha and Shao Yen Chen, the snippits of performances from rising  London bands like O Children, and the fantastic indie soundtrack. Instead of just a film, The Lotus Eaters is a sensory experience that culls from all facets of the arts to create a hyperbolic high-gloss visual statement about the young and doomed. The Lotus Eaters recently premiered at Tribeca, and OAKAZINE had the chance to talk to director Alexandra McGuinness and lead actress Antonia Campbell Hughes a bit about their perspectives on the film. Interview after the jump. — Text by Marlo Kronberg. Photo by Mihaal Danziger.

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Wendy Bevan is a London-based fashion photographer who has done shoots for i-D, Italian Marie Claire, Vogue, Vogue Russia, Harper’s Bazaar, and others.  Bevan has a huge repertoire, but she also has a very specific style. She is fascinated with women’s stories and unlike most fashion photographers the clothes aren’t the main event. Her photos are quiet. They don’t beg for attention, but you give it up to her anyway.  The worlds that she creates are inviting, but she doesn’t tell you where to go next.  That’s the kicker.  She brought you here to this world she made, and she makes you climb out of it alone.  The photos allude to things in our own lives that she doesn’t even know about.  She has made a career for herself playing with this fire, and I was lucky enough to ask her about her intentions in photography and the role of fashion in her stories.  I wanted to know what her world is like in real life.  In the interview below, we get to chat. — Text by Stefanie Weber. Interview after the jump.

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