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See this: A Hard Man is Good to Find!



A Hard Man Is Good To Find - The Photographers Gallery - Keith Vaughan Highgate Men's Pond Album 1933

Another new London exhibition worth your attention. A Hard Man is Good to Find! at The Photographers’ Gallery is a brilliant little history lesson of queer photography of the male physique, surveying the years when making or distributing imagery of male nudity was illegal in the UK.

Centred on key areas of London – Highgate, Chelsea, Brixton, Pimlico, Portobello, Euston, Soho – it explores some of the ways that photographers would go about scouting modelling subjects. For example, a concentration of fit young males around the army barracks of Pimlico would result in images of partially uniformed men, including some fabulous styling.

Montague Glover - The Photographers Gallery

I didn’t realise that due to these obscenity laws, men’s only legal way to view other scantily clad male bodies was via images of fitness and sport. Which may be the reason for the beefed-up physical ideal that prevails today. The images shown here are of varied physiques including traditional muscle men (via a fascinating origin story of the posing pouch) and less buff scruffy punks.

My favourite exhibit is a display of blown-up pages from a crudely assembled collage album put together by the artist Keith Vaughan. Photographs of sunbathing young dudes at Highgate Men’s Pond in 1933 alongside graphic typography feel like they could have come from the pages of Italian Vogue (accompanied by a modesty sticker or two).

A Hard Man Is Good To Find exhibition - Keith Vaughan
A Hard Man Is Good To Find exhibition - Keith Vaughan

One criticism, which has been touched on in a few reviews, is the questionable ethics of predatory behaviour and exploitation by photographers who sometimes concealed the real reason they were scouting (i.e., for gay consumption), in one case claiming they were casting for a Vogue shoot. But overall, the curation of little-known stories, great photography and no small amount of fashion styling inspo make this a cultural must-see.

A Hard Man is Good to Find! is at The Photographers’ Gallery until 11th June 2023. See more here.

WORDS: Disneyrollergirl / Navaz Batliwalla
IMAGES: Keith Vaughan Highgate Men’s Pond Album 1933/Disneyrollergirl; Montague Glover/ Disneyrollergirl; Keith Vaughan Highgate Men’s Pond Album 1933/Disneyrollergirl x 2
NOTE: Most images are digitally enhanced. Some posts use affiliate links and PR samples. Please read my privacy and cookies policy here

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CLICK HERE to buy my book, The New Garconne: How to be a Modern Gentlewoman
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The culture of fashion: AKILA x Keith Haring eyewear



AKILA x Keith Haring eyewear Paradise red

What’s the deal with all the Keith Haring collabs? The FT has the answer to all my questions here (pay wall), looking at the legacy of Keith Haring as an activist and accessible artist who coined the phrase “art is for everybody”. The company responsible for the never-ending list of collabs (Uniqlo, Primark, Junya Watanabe and Coach among them) is Artestar. The licensing agency also represents photographers, designers and creatives, and its success highlights the merchification of culture in the modern age.

But this latest Haring collab isn’t just a print slapped onto a tee. The AKILA x Keith Haring collaboration is a range of optical eyewear that lets you cosplay as the bespectacled artist himself. The arms have ‘hands’ that mimic Haring’s own playful drawings and the lenses have a discreet logo too. Available in two frame shapes, a pop-py colour palette and fairly affordable at £140, they’re suitably on brand.

It’s all further evidence of our desire to embody our favourite artists and a continuation of the trend for turning famous artists into cute avatars.

AKILA x Keith Haring eyewear
Keith Haring signature eyewear

The AKILA x Keith Haring collection will be live at AKILA on Monday 20th March.

WORDS: Disneyrollergirl / Navaz Batliwalla
IMAGES: AKILA x Keith Haring
NOTE: Most images are digitally enhanced. Some posts use affiliate links* and PR samples. Please read my privacy and cookies policy here

CLICK HERE to get Disneyrollergirl blog posts straight to your inbox once a week
CLICK HERE to buy my book, The New Garconne: How to be a Modern Gentlewoman
CLICK HERE to buy my beauty book, Face Values: The New Beauty Rituals and Skincare

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See this: Baldwin Lee, A Southern Portrait, 1983-89



Baldwin Lee DeFuniak Springs Florida 1984

“I would approach my potential subjects, explain in as detailed a manner as possible what I had seen, and ask for permission to take a photograph. Of course, small talk — where was I from, who would see the photograph, why I selected them — would sometimes ensue. Often permission was granted with no discussion at all. Looking is a two-way street. Not only is the photographer looking, but the potential subject is looking too. What the subject sees carries great weight. For some reason, people would see me positively. I am not sure if it was my race, gender, physicality, dress, demeanor, or anything else. If in a day I asked twenty people for permission to make photographs, nineteen would say yes.”
Baldwin Lee

Baldwin Lee, A Southern Portrait, 1983-89 is already getting rave reviews and it has only been open for a few days. His first show outside the United States, the images are a seven-year study of life in the American South taken by a first generation Chinese American. A former student of Walker Evans and Minor White, he taught at Yale and the Massachusetts College of Art, and inaugurated the photography programme at the University of Tennessee. On his first road trip to discover he wasn’t sure what, Lee found himself in the local sheriff’s offices asking which areas he should avoid. On receiving their advice, he would then go directly to those areas to see what he would find. With his bulky large format camera and tripod and Asian appearance, he was as intriguing to the locals as they were to him. Gaining their trust and curiosity, he would get permission to photograph them in their communities and everyday life.

The photos were taken in the 80s but some look like they could be from 20 years earlier, save for a few clues. Look closely (as you will, each frame contains a picture – or several – within a picture) and you’ll notice 80s style cues – sunglasses, cassettes – as well as more obvious cues like cars and bikes. The detail is incredible; there’s no point trying to view these on a phone screen. Also remarkable, after a few notable flurries of interest, Lee retired from photography considering his best work done. (There’s a great discussion about this here.)

It was only last year that his work was rediscovered and shown in New York, followed by a monograph and renewed media interest. The work in this latest show at David Hill Gallery features many previously unseen images. Read more here and visit David Hill Gallery at 345 Ladbroke Grove, W10 (until 22nd July).
Baldwin Lee, Charleston South Carolina 1984
Baldwin Lee A Southern Portrait 1983-89 at David Hill Gallery
Baldwin Lee, A Southern Portrait, 1983-89 at David Hill Gallery
Baldwin Lee, A Southern Portrait, 1983-89 at David Hill Gallery
Baldwin Lee, A Southern Portrait, 1983-89 at David Hill Gallery
Baldwin Lee, Rosedale, Mississippi, 1984

WORDS: Disneyrollergirl / Navaz Batliwalla
IMAGES: Baldwin Lee / David Hill Gallery
NOTE: Most images are digitally enhanced. Some posts use affiliate links and PR samples. Please read my privacy and cookies policy here

CLICK HERE to get Disneyrollergirl blog posts straight to your inbox once a week
CLICK HERE to buy my book, The New Garconne: How to be a Modern Gentlewoman
CLICK HERE to buy my beauty book, Face Values: The New Beauty Rituals and Skincare

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Dior AW23: steel skirts, haute gorpcore and garconne beauty



DIOR FINALE AUTUMN-WINTER 2023 ©ADRIEN DIRAND

I’m very much enjoying all the variations on classics at the AW23 shows. Sacai, Saint Laurent, Bottega and Prada are doing it for me – and Dior, of course.

Almost entirely in black, the Dior AW23 show was a ‘reincarnation’ of 50s French Girl Style, with Édith Piaf, Juliette Gréco and Catherine Dior (Mr Dior’s sister) the season’s muses. More ‘The New Garconne’ than The New Look, if you will. My top five takeaways…

STEEL SKIRTS. It feels like there’s a major shift away from sweatpants and massive trousers to skirts of all descriptions. At Dior, full pleat and calf length hobblesome skirts (made from fabric with stainless steel thread woven into the weft for a gently lived-in look) avoided 50s pastiche territory thanks to their non-twee styling and indie-girl makeup.
Dior AW23

Dior AW23


COCKTAIL PUFFERS. Houndstooth check puffers were light, loose and effortless, while an evening puffer in moiré silk was the gorpcore-glam hybrid piece of dreams – perfect for rainy London society soirées. With a couple of excellent trenches in the mix, watch out Burberry, Dior might steal your thunder…

Dior AW23 puffer
Dior AW23
Dior AW23 trench


SOCKS WITH EVERYTHING. The reason those 50s-esque silhouettes look modern? The casual styling, in particular the black superfine wrinkled socks, teamed with contrasting pale Mary Jane and ankle strap comma heels.
Christian Dior fall 2023 socks


ARCHIVE FLORALS. A floral tribute ran through the show, a reference to muse Catherine Dior who grew and sold flowers during the war as a symbol of hope. The set design was phenomenal, the creation of artist Joana Vasconcelos, whose bulbous sculptures were covered in floral patterned fabric and beads from past Dior collections. Meanwhile, the blurry abstract floral prints on wrap dresses and skirts were revived from the archive. I especially love the skirt and short leather bomber combo.
Dior AW23
Dior AW23


GARCONNE BEAUTY. Of course, I loved the gamine crops – this entire look on Greta Hofer is short hair goals. The pixie cut and major dark eye is a winning combination; Peter Philips makes it look so simple. It’s an intense eyeliner-smoky-eye hybrid but ‘worn down’, concentrated on the inner and outer corners of the eye and using the central pitch black shade from the 5 Color Couture Palette Black Bow palette* on top of the Dior Show 24h Stylo* in matte black. Brows were slightly enhanced and elongated using Dior On Set Brow* and lips were left neutrally coloured. (Should you want more hair adornment, straw tiaras are a thing.)

P.S: for more throwback French Girl Style, enjoy this 80s gem from Clive James, featuring Beatrice Dalle, Ines de la Fressange and Françoise Sagan …
Dior AW23 Greta Hofer
Dior AW23 beauty Helina
Dior AW23 straw tiara
Dior AW23 Maya

WORDS: Disneyrollergirl / Navaz Batliwalla
IMAGES: Dior AW23; Adrien Dirand
NOTE: Most images are digitally enhanced. Some posts use affiliate links* and PR samples. Please read my privacy and cookies policy here

CLICK HERE to get Disneyrollergirl blog posts straight to your inbox once a week
CLICK HERE to buy my book, The New Garconne: How to be a Modern Gentlewoman
CLICK HERE to buy my beauty book, Face Values: The New Beauty Rituals and Skincare

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