Taken from the Autumn 2020 issue. Order your copy now.

Originating in Sweden in 1973, Vagabond has become known for experimental design and great-looking shoes. With a commitment to sustainable quality and attention to detail, the brand has evolved and expanded over the years without losing sight of its values or craft.

Inspired by anything from film and architecture to the interesting people in their orbit, Vagabond infuses each collection with care, style and skill, and their AW20 range is no different. With chunky shapes, square toes and tall fitted shafts, each shoe has a distinctive silhouette that feels both futuristic and familiar. Created with a versatile palette of black, browns and grey highlights, there’s a min- imalism to each design, elevated with padded details and nods to motocross. Grounded in an everyday, here-and-now mentality, it’s a collection that makes a bold statement, whilst still being wearable whatever the occasion.

Available at selective concept and multi-brand stores throughout Europe, or atvagabond.com

Griff set the bar high for lockdown productivity when she released the music video for one of her latest singles, cathartic pop track “Forgive Myself”, in June. “It was mad,” she laughs, explaining that she shot the video herself, at home, on her phone camera. “It basically consisted of me on a Zoom call with my creative director and director of photography for a whole day, and them telling me to bounce the light off the wall and to put the tripod somewhere.” But the 19-year-old is no stranger to bringing her own vision to life — from music video concepts to songwriting, production and even her iconic bubble ponytail, she maintains creative control over all aspects of her identity as an artist.

It’s an identity that’s one of a kind — unapologetically unique, unapologetically Griff. Born to Chinese and Jamaican parents, she tells me her culturally diverse home life shaped her creative mindset, while growing up in a predominantly white town taught her to embrace what made her stand out. “Where I grew up in questioning a few of her personal and professional relationships. 111 “I was in a place where I was looking at all these relationships and realising that I probably trusted people too much,” she says. It was these complex feelings that inspired “Forgive Myself”, a self-bolstering reminder to stop blaming herself for these toxic relationships.

Baring her inner thoughts and emotions, Griff proudly lays all her cards on the table in her lyrics and hopes her raw approach to making music will connect with her audience. It’s this sense of openness that characterised her debut project, “The Mirror Talk EP”, in 2019, and especially its title track “Mirror Talk” — a hauntingly familiar reflection of heightened, universal teenage woes. “I was determined to talk about something you don’t usually hear in song. For me, that was an expression of being a hormonal teenage girl, [when] it feels like it’s the end of the world,” she explains. “When you’re an artist people are coming to your music