Richard Kern talks to Stamatia Dimitrakopoulos

Photography by Richard Kern, courtesy of the artist

It’s questionable if, during the 80s, when he raised the flag of New York’s underground gore Cinema of Transgression and shot for porn mags, Richard Kern had visualised himself decades later: shooting Instagram-friendly young models and interviewing them about their dreams, aspirations and addictions with the tenderness of a kooky uncle. Kern’s lifelong career is characterised by an unending adaptation to the constantly shifting social patterns of each epoch. What has remained constant is his liberating depiction of young women. He celebrated the girl-next-door concept before it was cool, handing down a legacy for a new generation of artists—like Petra Collins, his muse and protégée—to play with and take a step further through a female lens. Yearning, desire and nostalgia are not only the characteristics of a Richard Kern photograph—they are also the virtues behind his charming personality. After our Skype started, I was feeling safe and relaxed enough (I guess that’s a talent one masters after shooting some hundreds of nude teenagers) to share my own Richard Kern “transcendental” experience. Continue reading “Richard Kern talks to Stamatia Dimitrakopoulos”

Pornolepsia

Fashion photography cut diagonally by Caravaggio.

We can, of course, date the first pornographic representations back to the Venus of Hohle Fels—in other words, 35,000 before the present day. She nevertheless retains signs specific to fertility, despite the obscenity of the sexual parts. Ancient Greece then, in turn, consecrated the concept of erotic scenes, whose sole justification was the pleasure of observing fellow human beings giving themselves pleasure. Pornography has no other aim than to reduce divine urges to the principles of flesh and lowly humanity. Continue reading “Pornolepsia”

Evangelia Kranioti talks to Kim Laidlaw

Evangelia Kranioti, Los fuegos del sábado, Exotica, Erotica, Etc. series, 2010

Greek-born artist Evangelia Kranioti is already the stuff of legend, taking to the high seas to create her multi-award winning documentary film Exotica, Erotica, Etc.: 450 hours of footage condensed into an intimate 73-minute portrait of sailors and prostitutes, ports and seas. Kim Laidlaw spoke to her to learn more about her epic voyages, the call of the ocean and the ephemeral yet eternal notions of love and desire. Continue reading “Evangelia Kranioti talks to Kim Laidlaw”

Dendrophilia

Photography by Laura Hanifin Night Garden © 2014

The word “Phytophilia” has now been adopted by some in the sexology field to refer to those who have a fetishist or paraphilic interest in plants (i.e., individuals who derive sexual pleasure and sexual arousal from flora). It is an extension of dendrophilia, which is literally a love of trees. Both of these may involve actual sexual contact with trees and plants and their veneration as phallic symbols. Continue reading “Dendrophilia”

Time Tourist: Alessandro Michele’s Immortal New Gucci

Photography by Vassilis Karidis

When Alessandro Michele was appointed Creative Director of Gucci in 2015, the fabled Florentine house seemed to have fallen into a sluggish trance. Michele’s immediate antecedents had allowed

Gucci to lapse into the “good-taste” bad habits of drooping houses: they devoted their energies to resuscitating heritage loafers from the archive and putting out collections of perfectly unobjectionable peacoat-friendly ensembles in bourgeois tennis-club pastels. It had been years since Tom Ford’s tenure electrified Gucci with a depraved iteration of deviant Hollywood glamour. Continue reading “Time Tourist: Alessandro Michele’s Immortal New Gucci”

Margaret Howell talks to Matthew Hicks

Photography by Marie Déhé

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”

The quote—inaccurately attributed to both Leonardo da Vinci and Coco Chanel—describes Margaret Howell’s quiet luxuries very nicely. Howell reminds one of an English character in a Henry James novel: a deeply refined sensibility of great influence and means disguised in elegantly modest packaging. Did you know that behind the graciously self-effacing Ms Howell there looms an international fashion empire, built upon exquisite attention to the finer details of British sartorial heritage—one that quietly generates £100 million per year? Probably not. Ms Howell is no showboat. Her collections are season-less meditations on one ever-evolving aesthetic— one that has seduced her customers with its chic pragmatism and hushed sumptuousness. Her MHL line explores an intriguingly handsome re-appropriation of British workwear while her MARGARET HOWELL mainline channels her discreet tastes into high fashion. She was kind enough to sit down for a chat with Dapper Dan. Continue reading “Margaret Howell talks to Matthew Hicks”

June Newton talks to Filep Motwary

Helmut Newton, In our kitchen, rue Aubriot. Paris, 1972 © Helmut Newton Estate Portrait of June Newton

My first attempt to interview June Newton was back in 2010. Unfortunately, she was busy at the time and we were informed that finally she could not do the interview for Dapper Dan—information that came as sad news. She rarely talks to journalists anyway. Six years later, I decide to send a letter requesting an interview again. Today, June Newton, known as a photographer under her pseudonym Alice Springs, spends her time in Monte Carlo while her photography shines in a three-part show along with work by her late husband Helmut and Mart Engelen at the Helmut Newton Foundation in Berlin. Her part in the show is titled The MEP Show and it was initially presented at the Maison Européenne de la Photographie in Paris in 2015, as a smaller retrospective of her photography works accompanied by a book by TASCHEN. Continue reading “June Newton talks to Filep Motwary”