books

On Acme BOY and the T-shirt economy



Acme BOY The Birth of Punk and Anti-Fashion 1975-1985 by Phil Strongman Cover

Just finished reading an early copy of Phil Strongman’s Acme BOY: The Birth of Punk & Anti-Fashion 1975-1985*. It’s a riveting read with Strongman’s straight-shooting yet humorous tone giving us plenty of insider intel on the fashion and retail landscape of London’s legendary punk power players – Acme, Boy, SEX et al.

I enjoyed this little lesson on T-shirt economics. A tee is an easy thing to make and sell, is cheap as chips, yet it lends itself to all manner of self-expression. As he says here, if you’ve got the right attitude, a T-shirt can be your entire outfit. Very punk. (more…)

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The culture of fashion: Go to the Nightclub with silk shirts on



Ibiza 89 book by Dave Swindells

As Ibiza season kicks in, I’m reposting my article for Faith Fanzine that was originally published in print last summer. It seems the heady, hedonistic days of 80s rave and club culture are never far from a fashion designer’s moodboard. As photographer and former Time Out clubs editor Dave Swindells celebrates his fourth print run of photobook, IBIZA 89 (above), we mused on what the scene symbolised and why it’s an eternal source of style inspo (more…)

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The existential poetry of the overstuffed bag



Miu Miu SS24 main

Will we ever not be eternally fascinated by the ‘what’s in my bag’ trope? This SS24 – surprise! – capacious bags are trending, and not only are they big, they’re stuffed to the brim. Aligning with the outpouring of Jane Birkin love (and hot takes on her bulging Birkin), Miu Miu’s SS24 show was lauded for its chaotic bag energy – each exit showed a model toting a classic bowling bag, top handle or tote overflowing with spare shoes, keys and clothes. As you do. (more…)

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The soft openness of a scrapbook



Sofia Coppola Archive book

Continuing on a books tip, here’s an excellent recommendation if you’re in a creative fug or a chronic procrastinator.

Do Interesting: Notice. Collect. Share* (below) is a highly bookmarkable little companion that suggests unexpected approaches to unlocking creativity. It’s all about seemingly micro actions; paying attention, collecting and sharing.

Author Russell Davies interviewed me for it following a brief email exchange about his fab cool cafes blog. We discovered we had a similar dot-joining approach to creative thinking and he particularly liked the descriptions of my overstuffed scrapbooks.

Do Interesting is genius because you can passively consume it and let the advice seep into your subconscious, or you can actively follow the “Do” takeaways at the end of each page. Or a bit of both. (I just discovered some more scrapbooking intel from Russell here.)

Do Interesting Russell Davies book - Scrapbooks (more…)

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