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Taken from the Fame Issue of Wonderland.

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Danish-born, Central Saint Martin’s alumnus Peter Jensen, is known for his playful, pop-perfect prints and animated colour palettes. His distinctly quirky style has led him to become a super-celebrated contemporary designer and made fans of many, including Wonderland, of course.

His eponymous brand was established in 1999 and first showed at LFW two years later and it’s been a highlight ever since. Each collection is as charismatic as the last and are famously named after, and inspired by a chosen ‘muse’, whether that’s an artist, film star or singer. These icons of visual culture from Meryl Streep to Andy Warhol have been transformed into beautifully made materialistic (get it?) versions of themselves. Jensen’s SS16 is of course no exception.

‘Enid’ is named after Thora Birch’s character in the film Ghost World (2001), in which she and co-star Scarlett Johansson (Rebecca), play two teenage outcasts with one hell of an idiosyncratic dress sense. The film itself was based on Daniel Clowes’ graphic novel of the same name; clear to see in the beautifully bold graphics such as the recurring ice cream cone motif.

Jensen’s collection <<Enid>> is a reflection of a dreamlike, if somewhat artificial, life in suburban America – an anthology of sugarcoated pastels, preppy crisp collars and cartoon-like two-tonal pockets. This white-picket fence wardrobe is presented with a witty undercurrent that makes it oh so irresistible. We caught up with Jensen to find out about his inspirations, film-loves and what it takes do be his muse.

The new collection, Enid, is titled from Ghost World, which was released in 2001, the same year you entered London Fashion week. Was this a particularly inspirational time for you?

Oh wow, yes you are right, I didn’t think about this. I don’t know if it was a more important time than any other year. I think personally that fashion was more fun and free around that time, it is way more controlled now.

The film was inspired by Daniel Clowes’ graphic novel of the same title. Growing up in Denmark, were you a comic book fan? As graphics feature a lot in the new collection.

Yes. My dad got Disney’s Donald Duck magazine every monday though the post, he never ever read a book only Donald Duck and I loved to read them, so much so that I always buy Donald Duck when I go to Denmark.  Oh sorry that might not be a comic book, I love Ralf Konig, great gay humour.

Tell us a little bit about that iconic rabbit.

Right, he ( I call it he) came into the PJ world during SS01 <<Mildred>> collection, the muse for the collection was Bette Davis character from the film called “Of Human Bondage”, which is based on a book by W. Somerset Maugham. The rabbit was first used as an allover print, but later on got his own life and I started to take him apart and put him back together again

Colour is obviously a big element for you, especially in this collection. Where do you think this love of colour came from?

My mum’s family have always been knitters, sewers etc and my dad was a carpenter, which in my book is very artistic.  I grew up in the 70s ,there were a lot of colours in clothing, fabrics, wallpaper etc maybe that is were it comes from. I love colours, I do but I love them when they are used right and not as a statement.

Where do you start with formulating, let’s say the ice cream cone graphic?

It is always very different where the idea comes from. The ice cream came from having a hangover at home watching, I think Midsomer Murders, and the ice cream van kept driving up and down my street with that song playing really loud. It was so stressful but he did a really great ice-cream sticker on the van, so thank you ice cream man!

Clearly American influence is fundamental to these pieces, the white-picket fenced small town world, high school, prom, pop culture – all of it. Have you visited these kind of places in America? 

No, I haven’t but I would love to take a month off and drive from coast to coast in the US, see all the weird and wonderful things that one is not meant to see in the land of the free.

At least 16 or 17 collections have been focused on American artists, actors, films etc (Sissy, Jodie, Diana, Andy…) Why is this, where does this come from?

Oh right god is it that many? Yes, I do. I think, it is because it is so far from my culture and where I grow up, it is glamorous America isn’t it? I lived in Hollywood in 94′ which was fun, I love LA.

Have you ever met Scarlett Johansson or Thora Birch?

No, but I have seen Johansson on the street in Copenhagen. I believe that she comes to Copenhagen often because she has family there. Her granddad was a famous childrens presenter on Danish TV, so I sort of grow up with her. Ha.

What’s your favorite piece of wardrobe from the film?

I don’t really have anything that I love more then others, I do like Johansson’s pastal long sleeve t-shirts.

Mary Zophres was the costume designer for the movie.  Are you a fan of her other work?

I have the greatest respect for her and her work, bloody hell she has done some great stuff, Fargo, True Grit, Bewitched etc etc and her birthday is the day before mine, so a fellow Aries! This is very important.

I would love to do some film work. In fact, I almost got thrown out of my BA because I was doing the costumes for a play at the gay theatre in Christiania (the freetown in Copenhagen) the play was “The Women”, women played by men. It was great and I had so much fun.

WORDS: Claudia Lloyd

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Angel Chen’s got a thing about saying yes. You know those nights where you resolve to say yes to everything? Everyday is that game for Chen. Whilst this might seem slightly dangerous for a designer, it’s been taking Chen’s career in leaps and bounds. Having collaborated with everyone from the China based department store Lanecrawford with Swarovski, through to Sony, Kiehl’s and Airbnb, it looks like the sky’s the limit for the Chinese designer as far as collabs go. As for her next project? With Chen’s adaptive creativity, in her opinion the further from fashion the better.

As you can imagine with so many projects under her belt, Chen’s not into wasting time. Only graduating from Central Saint Martins in 2014, she’s done stints at both Marchesa and Alexander Wang, before moving back to Shanghai to set up her eponymous label. Whilst both placements honed her textile developments, it’s her undying love for John Galliano that has really coloured her collections, quite literally. Metallic pinks popped in her punk inspired spring/summer 2016 collection (alongside bright mustard yellows and cobalt blues) which references the Youthquake movement of the 60s. It’s a collection that pushes mega boundaries and Chen notes that China is in a period of acceptance with both designers and artists making waves with exciting, more readily accepted, creativity. Keen to learn more about the emerging designer and all her crazy collaborations, we caught up with Chen via Skype all the way from Shanghai.

What is your earliest fashion memory?

My grandma wore beautiful clothes and she could sew. When I was still in my primary school, she taught me to sew my first shorts by myself. She was my inspiration. Everyday she cooked me breakfast and lunch, and she could even cut a boiled egg into a rabbit shape. She was so good at making different things, so I learned quite a lot from her.

Why did you decide to go into fashion?

I remember the time Galliano was still working for Dior – it was the spring/summer 2007 collection – I was so in love with all the collections. I googled who he was and where I should go [study] and I discovered Central Saint Martins was for me.

Your collections could compare to Galliano’s. What kind of fashion do you strive to create?

I am more childish and more feminine. I am a girl and a boy is living in my heart, so you can see the girl but the rebelling part. I really love the show effect, but for the ready to wear I prefer something more wearable. When you take of the styling it is much wearable, each piece can be worn.

Other than Galliano, which designers do you admire?

Jean Paul Gaultier and Vivienne Westwood. 

You gained work experience at Alexander Wang and Marchesa in NYC. Can you tell us more about what you learned?

I first went to Marchesa. The [designers] are both British, so they have very British style. Working there was like studying it was like central saint martins. I tried manipulating different textiles, always played with draping, and created patterns and embroidery details I was there for around seven months. I would illustrate for the pattern cutter to make a real garment.

After that I went to Alexander Wang for one season for their autumn/winter 2014. That was the season Wang got the job with Balenciaga so he was super busy and I only saw him a few times. I was doing lots of draping everyday and sewing samples. I also went to their textile department a lot. That season they tried to do brush denim and our whole group tried to brush the denim and make texture. Around half a year passed and I saw one of my designs in Dover Street Market on a black jumpsuit. I was happy to see they used it in production.

Do you notice any Chinese influences that carry into your work?

Not really, but right now I am interested in the traditional [Chinese] craft. Recently I was working with Swarovski and Lanecrawford, one of the biggest department stores in China. I had a sponsorship (we stock there since last season). They have a new project about Chinese tradition or history, so I chose medicine – acupuncture – and when I researched acupuncture I realized they use really organic material like organic brown paper and Chinese herbs to cover the body. I used those kinds of materials and combined them with [Swarovski] crystal and lots of embroidery. The exhibition is still going on. It’s very different from my typical style, it’s not colourful and dramatic, it’s more pure and organic.

Can you tell me about any more collaborations?

After I graduated I collaborated first with Sony. They sponsored my catwalk show so I created different electronic accessories – bags and cases – for their cellphone and camera. They just finished production and it will be sold in their store in a couple months. They are cute; it was inspired by my 2015 collection, they are super colourful and all printed. There are 500 of each.

Who would you like collaborations in the future?

Just collaborated with Airbnb, so maybe a company like Uber. Something that has a strong point but not in fashion.

Do you have a signature or a common thread that carries through everything you create?

Every time I start with one thing I always start with story. It has a person, where they live, their history and the music background.

Does music play a big role then?

I can hear music from visuals. Also when I was in primary school I danced ballet. I was originally supposed to be a dancer instead of designer. I put a lot of performance in my shows. I recently had a show for Dongliang in an art gallery, and most of the models could dance. I turned the presentation into a party.

I also completed a project with two Hong Kong celebrity singers for their Hong Kong concert costumes. It’s based on my spring/summer 2016 collection, but dramatic and more for stage.

Your SS16 collection features lots of metallic pink. Can you tell us the story behind your collection Youthquake?

It was the history of Andy Warhol and Jean Michel Baptiste. They got together and created things, and they could be a bit risky but they are creating things everyday. I think that China right now is similar to that period in America or UK, so I chose the theme Youth Quake. I think now in China everything has become possible because the society is so open and they would love to see new things, and are so energetic and ambitious. In that collection you see punk elements and it’s rebellious.

I noticed your illustrations on your site. How important is illustration in your creative process?

My dad is runs an oil painting/wall painting family business so he knows colour better than anyone else, he’s a technician of colour. So colour is not only my signature, but is in my daily life. I look into colour more than anything else. Everyday I want to draw with colour and play with colour.

Usually designers choose one or the other, but why did you decide to do both menswear and womenswear?

For me there is no boundary between menswear and womenswear, I don’t like that right now you have menswear fashion week and womenswear fashion week. Menswear can be worn by women, and womenswear can be worn by men – maybe I can just create a line menswear for women, and womenswear for men.

What are your aspirations for the future of your brand?

I want to encourage the young generation to be confident with what they are doing, be as creative as they can, and as positive as possible. My brand will continue this way, and I not only want to create ready to wear but try lots of different things.

What do you have planned for your next collection?

For my next collection I am going to create Kendo, it’s an activity in Japan, a fighting event. I am going to make a uniform for this group. That’s inspiration for my next season: fighting.

WORDS: Janine Leah Bartels

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Still from ‘The Ride’, 2015, 3-channel colour digital projection; 18:42 min. Image courtesy of Paige Powell.

If you don’t live in or around Oregon – and let’s face it, you might not – then you’ll probably wish that you did when you hear about the latest exhibit at the Portland Art Museum: just imagine that your favourite New York, late-Factory artists were followed around with a video camera by one of their own, and you’re pretty much there.

Paige Powell, photojournalist, underground It-girl, and lover of Jean Michel Basquiat – you might remember she released some personal pictures last year of Basquiat reclining, smoking nude and generally oozing his very unique brand of cool  – was associate editor of Interview magazine in the eighties and a very early adopter of camcorder technology. She was personally close not just with Basquiat but also icons like Andy Warhol and Keith Haring: people who defined New York’s art scene at that time, as well as literary players like Tama Janowitz (often referenced by the media as part of the “Brat Pack” that included postmodern heroes Bret Easton Ellis and Jay McInerney).

As you can imagine, Powell has an enviable archive of footage and pictures of some of the 20^th century’s most influential cultural figures. Until recently, though, her collection was being stored in boxes, safely tucked away in New York. With the help of archivists, she’s finally unearthing these never-before-seen pieces and the Portland Art Museum is displaying them in an exhibition entitled ‘The Ride’.

It comprises a previously-unseen, three-channel video that features footage of Warhol and Haring, as well as more candid photos of Basquiat and Warhol’s entourage. Keen to emphasise the idea that Powell was, and remains, an artist in her own right, ‘The Ride’ also boasts an interactive instillation that recreates one of Powell’s 1984 exhibitions. It’s a wonderful opportunity to glimpse into probably the most exciting art-clique of recent times and essential viewing for any fan of Basquiat and Warhol – and in these art-on-Tumblr times, who isn’t?

Beluah Land (162 Avenue A) opening. January 15. 1984. Image courtesy of the artist. 

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Visual art and music can, oddly enough, seem like two distinct entities, one for the gallery or instillation, the other for the headphones or club. Autograf, three guys based in Chicago, take a different approach, dissolving the boundaries between the visual and the sonic they are as much artists as they are musicians. With a varied range of backgrounds, including a derivatives trader (whatever that might be exactly…) and an almost-solider, they’re an original and thoughtful group with a clear vision; to put a sense of the aesthetic into the EDM scene.

EDM is that distinctly American name for dance music and its US scene that’s frequently populated by neon-clad jocks waving glow-sticks, essentially. Cue Autograf, who with their intelligent remixes, fresh sounds and visual approach are changing the game – they first caught attention for nailing animal-shaped-blackboard cutouts around Chicago during one of the city’s EDM festivals. Now, with a new track ‘Metaphysical’ out recently, as well as a forthcoming album, don’t be surprised to hear more from these guys as they alter the face of the EDM scene, one glow-stick at a time.

We sit down for a revealing chat with the Autograf guys, who are every bit at as funny, subversive and as interesting as you would expect.

You started out as a visual art project: can you tell us about your background?

Jake Carpenter: I almost went into the military but went to art school instead for painting and sculpture, so that was a pretty big 180. Initially my parents weren’t too thrilled about art school but when I said I was thinking of enlisting in the army, all of the sudden they were very supportive of the art. Ironically, I built this 8 foot robot for my sculpture thesis that an army colonel saw at an art gallery. He immediately offered me a job at the Department of Defense.

Mikul Wing: I did different kinds of street art like wheat paste, stencil and graffiti along with some pop art techniques like screen printing and wood cut outs. Me and my friends would rent out these raw loft spaces and do all kinds of things with it like turn it into an art gallery, screen printing studio, or clothing store. And of course threw lots of art parties.

Louis Kha: I guess I was the derivatives trader turned musician turned artist. When I was a kid, I never thought I’d be any of those things. There’s so much to do in life, why limit yourself? You can be anyone you want to be. That’s the whole mantra behind Leave Your Autograf. We’re all born artists, leaving our mark on the world.

You caught some attention for your Chicago-based, blank-canvas-safari-animal stuff. Could you talk about that a little?

Mikul: We started Autograf because we were getting tired of what electronic music was becoming. The art and fashion scene was pretty closely tied to the music back in the early Indie-dance or Indie-Electro days of Justice, MGMT, Digitalism and Empire of the Sun. Then all of the sudden the neon wearing YOLO “EDM” generation came along and kind of dumbed everything down to just getting “Turnt Up” and mindlessly jumping up and down at festivals. Somehow the art and fashion got lost with electronic music. So we made these blackboard woodcut outs in the shape of safari animals, nailed them around outside North Coast Festival, and left a bucket of chalk next to them. It was to encourage the new EDM generation to make art.

Jake: Oh and of course by the end of the festival one of the giraffe’s heads got ripped off. It was probably some overly “Turnt Up” bro raging to EDM haha

Louis: I hear there’s lot of drugs involved at those things.

Jake: Uh yeah..

When did you decide to move from visual-art to music?

Louis: We were all doing music beforehand so it was kind of inevitable.

Mikul: We started Autograf as a creative outlet to do visual art because we found ourselves getting away from it.

Jake: We all had this background in art but weren’t using it at least I wasn’t using it as much as I thought back, when I was in art school. I was using my metal sculpture welding skills by working at a welding factory. Not exactly the most inspiring creative place, so we said heck let’s start this art project to make some damn art.

Louis: Yeah we modeled the group as our sort of own Andy Warhol factory, just this space where 3 individuals came together creatively to make cool stuff. And one of those things eventually was a song. The music did so well online initially, we just kept going and going with it. And now here we are, a band.

Is Chicago an important place artistically to you given that it’s the birthplace of House.

Mikul: Yeah all the old school House DJs still play around the city. Guys like Paul Johnson, DJ Funk, Derirck Carter, Gene Ferris. They’re all legends and you can still see them play regularly. So those guys plus all the old school house heads that have been following them from back in the day are at these shows, and you know they’re all super snobby about their House music, so it keeps you rooted and also keeps you on your toes.

The “E.D.M” movement has really picked up traction and mainstream success in America in the last few years, but obviously British Rave Culture and the music at its core has been extremely influential since the early 90s – is it something you look to/know a lot about?

Louis: Oh yeah the original raver and their huge JNCO jeans. Ummm yeah.. that was me haha. EDM is the second coming of the raver. It’s kind of weird. I thought trends aren’t supposed to recycle that fast.  When are bell bottoms and disco making a come back? I listened to all that 90s electronic music, and then the Electro Clash stuff of the mid-2000s with Felix da Housecat and Tiga, but what got me really into electronic music was the Indie-dance stuff like Justice.

Mikul: I was really into Aphex Twin and Square Pusher.

Jake: Daft Punk all the way.

Lots of your output is intelligent remixes of familiar songs but who are some of your favourite musicians?

Jake: Danger, Trentemoller, Royksopp, Chemical brothers, Bassment jaxx. And for right now, Majid Jordan.

Louis: New Order, Joy Division. I haven’t listened to this in forever, but I used to have Bob Dylan’s “Desire” album on repeat.

And, following on from the previous question: which visual-artists (contemporary or traditional) do you find inspiring?

Mikul: Faile, Jeff Koons, Damien Hirst, Roy Lichtenstein

Jake: Javier Marin

Louis: Basquiat, Van Gogh

Outside of music and art, what else inspires you to get creative?

Jake: I find a lot of inspiration in mundane laborious tasks like yard work or other manual labor. That’s why I bought Logic in the first place. I was working in a welding factory and hearing all these songs in my head, so I just had to go home and make the songs that were playing in my head.

Louis: Nature and traveling for me. It’s really hard to get inspired sitting at a desk or on a computer. You need to get out there and see the world. Actually touring is really nice because there’s this down time while traveling that forces you to think creatively. Whereas if you were at home your mind would be too preoccupied with doing all the things you have to do.

Mikul: It seems the common theme is you need quiet time to let your mind wander.

Are we going to see an L.P. anytime soon?

Yes finishing it up now!

Lastly, where do you see yourself in give years?

Louis: If the past is any indication, then I probably won’t be doing whatever I’m doing now.

Jake: 5 years I don’t know, but in 50 years you can find me in Sardinia painting!

Mikul: In 5 years, I’ll be leaving my Autograf.

WORDS: Benji Walters

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Taken from the 10th Birthday Issue of Wonderland.

Words: Brooke McCord

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