Tag: Interviews

Buying director and founder of MACHINE-A, Stavros Karelis, curates a collection of clothes in his store that is as unique to his eye as it is to the city it situates. originally from Crete, stavros is a firm fixture in London’s fashion scene and his influence on it is supportive and stirring.

The store, based on Brewer street, is dedicated to showcasing his selections from international luxury brands and up-and-coming British designers, as well as a handful of graduates. Fitting, therefore, that stavros is also a judge for nEWGEn, the British Fashion Council’s emerging talent scheme.

In 2014, in collaboration with SHOWstudio, the store began selling online. stavros takes umbrage with the terms “curator” and “mentor”, although they are terms that have become easily applicable to him and seem intrinsic to his role. despite having known and worked together for a number of years, when stavros and I met for a drink near the MACHINE-A store, we stumbled upon subject after subject we’d never touched upon, from the personal to the professional and back again. Continue reading “MACHINE-A’s Stavros Karelis talks to Lara Johnson-Wheeler” →

Charlie Porter cut his teeth as an “arts with an s” reporter, at titles including The Daily Express, The Times and Esquire. In 2000, he became deputy fashion editor for The Guardian and following this, an associate editor for GQ and deputy editor for Fantastic Man. A quiet yet perceptible presence at fashion weeks, Charlie’s readers quickly lent him their ears as he documented the industry as menswear critic for the Financial Times. Until October 2018, that is, when—in a manner that may have seemed abrupt to some—he quit fashion.

Charlie has become known in the fashion industry as one of an elite “club” of critics that provide genuine criticism. He has, in the past, been banned from shows—an accolade awarded to those from whom brands take offence. taking an extensive coffee break during a day’s work writing and researching at the British Library in London, Charlie and I talked in depth about criticism; the ethics involved and the love of feeling something for fashion. Continue reading “Charlie Porter talks to Lara Johnson-Wheeler” →

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” →

“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” →