In Vice’s “Girl’s Guide To Looking Like You Live in London”, for North London they piss-takingly pitch the essential look as “looking like a wistful trust fund novelist with parents who can’t understand your reluctance to exploit their connections at the Jewish Chronicle… Use modest but noticeable eyeliner so that people can see how great you look every time you roll your eyes at how bouji and stuffy West London is”
But now, Wood Green has its own voice in the form of Green Rooms Hotel. Social entrepreneur Nick Hartwright teamed up with The Hoxton’s Kurt Bredenbeck to open the hotel for artists in May. Already exhibitions adorn the walls, DJs are popping up in the bar on weekends, plays are happening upstairs, a Colombian Street Kitchen has moved in, and this Sunday… there’s going to be a fashion show!
You see creative scenes are always there waiting to boil over, they just need the right incubator. Hotels can often be sombre affairs, but Green Rooms is all about asking questions while having a good time.
Called “The Wanderer”, the hotel’s free fashion show will fittingly explore the idea of “the traveller” – the notion of just turning up in a place and making a scene. Because the first step of any art scene is to show up, as Princess Julia will tell you…
Princess Julia grew up in Wood Green and left in 1976 to join a squat full of larvae pop stars. She rocketed to fame as the video star of Visage’s global 80s hit Fade To Grey and she became a recurring face of the (largely media-propelled) “Blitz Kids” scene.
Princess Julia will be hosting an informal panel discussion before Sunday’s fashion show exploring this lofty idea of a North London scene… Is there one? Was there one? Will there be one? Everyone is invited to leave their warehouse abode and join the conversation, you can book a place for £3 and then enjoy the experimental fashion show after while sipping on Beavertown beer which the hotel boasts on draft.
Julia’s friend David “Bodymap” Holah will be joining her for the panel discussion. Born in Kentish Town and a graduate of nearby Middlesex University, Holah and his partner Stevie created “Bodymap”, one of the most influential British fashion injections ever. Their look and aesthetic has sunk into the culture so deep, you might not recognize its omnipresence. Shoots and editorials in the fashion press today regularly reference Bodymap, often unconsciously – their choreography, their patterns, their panache. So what’s going on in North London now? The conversation continues at Green Rooms Hotel on Sunday…

Panel Talk: North London Fashion is at 3.30pm Sunday 18^th at Green Rooms Hotel. Book a place on Eventbrite here.