“West Indians who went to the carnival actually felt empowered by their numbers because outside of those two days we felt like one blackcuurant in a large pink teacake.”
John Maxwell-Worrell, music promoter, Carnival: A Photographic and Testimonial History of the Notting Hill Carnival (more…)
Never not buying books about 1970s New York! Here’s a brilliant one on the New York downtown scene by Blondie’s Chris Stein. Point of View: Me, New York City, and the Punk Scene looks like a time capsule of New York at its run down, romanticized best, encompassing legendary characters (William Boroughs, Iggy Pop, Andy Warhol) amongst city streetscapes and New York nightlife. (more…)
Jeans. So utilitarian. So egalitarian. Yet so bloody difficult to nail! Are expensive jeans worth it? Should you pay more then £100 for a pair? Surely denim is considered a workwear fabric, ergo it should be cheap as chips. Yes, but no.
There’s denim and then there’s denim. Japanese denim is beautiful – dense, dark, rigid but made in Japan so relatively expensive. Stretch denim to me is not really denim. (It’s usually cheap and prone to sagging, and don’t get me started on jeggings.) And modern mass produced denim is nothing compared to vintage denim. (more…)
“As soon as I arrived, I was immediately fascinated. I felt as if I was living in another dimension. I was captivated by the carefree spirit and the freedom that America offered with its mix of cultures and traditions. I was struck by the crowded streets and the decadent window displays and the people who crossed each other without ever stopping. For me, America appeared to have a face that was instantly translatable into images.” (more…)
