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Full look by GIVENCHY BY RICCARDO TISCI

“I had massive stage fright while I was at school, to the point where I couldn’t even ask to be in a play,” says Cornwall-born actor Royce Pierreson. “So I watched them and I wished I could be in them, but I thought there was no way.” It came down to mind over matter, Pierreson recalls of one of his first monologues. “It was fight or flight – you basically stood there, committed to it, or you sat down and you went home. I forced myself to stand there and get through it.”

After three years at a performing arts college in Plymouth, he went on to graduate from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in 2011. In only a few years, his career quickly flourished, from appearances in a variety of BBC One dramas to a role as a student in Marvel Studio’s Thor: The Dark World. He was eager to learn everything he could about TV and film, he says. “I love working out camera angles and how things are edited together when they are shot out of sequence. I would live at the cinema if I could, I am absolutely obsessed with it.” Pierreson doesn’t just study the process of film, he experiments with methods. “When I watched myself on screen early on, everything was too big and too much.”

By the time he took on the lead role in Murdered By My Boyfriend, the 2014 BBC drama about domestic abuse, he had reigned in his grande gestures. “The best acting to me is when people look like they’re not doing much or they’re not trying, and that’s what I want to achieve,” says Pierreson, whose idol is Daniel Day-Lewis. “I am a very fidgety person; I am still a very nervous person in myself. I think most actors are. They don’t like being themselves and it’s good to hide behind a character.” Following his role model, in Murdered By My Boyfriend, which is based on a true story, Pierrseon delved deep into preparation to play the character — who is serving a life sentence. In order to “differentiate between Royce the actor and Royce the human who has taken this story to heart,” he says, he forced himself spent a lot of time alone — isolated from other people’s anxieties and emotional baggage.

It it is his self-reflection that perpetuates this artistic growth. Starring as the paediatrician Dr Jamie Cole in the second season of BBC One’s Our Girl, Pierreson “hopes [he has] developed a bit more. If I haven’t, then in my next job I’ll work harder.”

Photographer: Elliott Morgan

Fashion: Kamran Rajput

Grooming: Terri Capon @ Stella Creatives

Words: Janine Leah Bartels

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With the sun out our thoughts inevitably wander to the prospect of the mighty day party. It’s a stroke of luck, then, that the fabulous guys at Kitsuné are coming correct by collaborating with Magic & Medicine to host a showcase summer party over in Shoreditch. All the summertime trimmings will be accounted for – think a BBQ, summer cocktails in every colour under the sun, and even ice creams – and music will come courtesy of a killer line up including Star Slinger, PBR Streetgang, Braxton and a no doubt sizzling debut from Les Gordon; the French DJ has been racking up plays and plenty of hype for his sensational “Atlas” EP, so we’re looking forward to seeing him in person.

To keep us tided over till then, Les has done us the honour of putting together a playlist of the New French Music that he thinks we should be listening to. So, over to Les – and remember, the action moves to Ace Hotel for a night of clubbing after the day party so sunset won’t mean the fun ends.

Douchka – Don’t Leave

A very great friend of mine making some cool future beat music – just released his latest EP.

Lenparrot – Les Yeux En Cavale

He plays keyboard in a great band called Pegase. His style is minimal pop. A guy from Nantes making mix of nostalgic and dream pop.

123 MRK – Untroubled

Arthur of 123MRK is making some cool, complex electronic music. He released some EPs on Future Classic.

Kazy Lambist – On You

Kazy Lambist is a young producer from Montpellier, and a friend of mine making some great pop music

LFELG – Tes Tresses

Some strange pop music with touch of RNB.

Juveniles – Fantasy

Pop rock music from Rennes, my town. They are making some heady songs.

Clarens – Change

Another great RNB band from Rennes, they teamed with Juveniles.

Fuzeta – Canopy

Rock pop band from Vannes, Brittany, they are brothers (except drummer) and they are making music like DIIV or Beach Fossils.

Thylacine – Home

The author of the Transsiberian album. It’s a mixture of ambient and techno music.

Tickets are moving fast, get yours here.

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Taken from the Fame Issue of Wonderland.

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When you stay in as many hotels as we do, you quickly realise that most of them are terrifyingly similar – yes, even the boutique ones. Fortunately, there are still places out there practicing the lost art of elegant eccentricity, and Artists Residence London in Pimlico is one of them. The name is a big giveaway to the place’s art-centric theme (though such a gimmicky word does a disservice to the hotel’s good taste) which is executed very nicely indeed: all 10 rooms in the hotel are lovingly and individuality appointed with ruggedly chic features such as reclaimed wood floors, antler chandeliers, Pop Art prints, and exposed brick walls. Don’t fret though, rustic accents don’t mean there’s any compromise on luxury – the milking stool might be artfully peeling but the bed is as comfy as you could hope.

Then there’s the downstairs Clubroom, a retreat which manages to be both spacious and airy but, with its rugged floors and long table, also homely enough to make you forget you’re deep in the heart of bustling central London. In fact, the only thing to distract you from a good book and a snooze is the unmistakable sound of Ping Pong being played in the Games Room next door – you’re never too old to have a go, even if you’re aim is as bad as mine. Still, if a more grown up pursuit is what you’re after, the Clarendon Cocktail Cellar will have you covered. Boasting an achingly cool atmosphere and some of the friendliest and most knowledgeable bar staff around, the Clarendon offers a cocktail menu inspired by some of history’s greatest artists; I can particularly recommend Munch’s “The Scream” which, far from twisting your face into an expression of horrifying despair, is a refreshingly zingy drink made with lime and Mezcal that’s more likely to bring a smile than a scream.

Although the Smeg mini fridge in your room (a very nice touch) is amply stocked, you’ll still want to have at least one of your meals at the hotel’s excellent eatery, the Cambridge Street Cafe. Run by Radek Nitkowskir, the former Dean Street Townhouse chef, the restaurant serves up easygoing fare that’s finished to perfection. We went for wild boar and quail scotch eggs – a witty and delicious spin on a true classic – followed by soft shell crab served with brioche, kale, and a tangy lime mayo to cut through all that richness: simple perfection, rather like the hotel.

 Mr & Mrs Smith gets you the best rates, guaranteed, as well as a little something extra on arrival at every hotel. To book, call the Smith24 team at 0330 100 3180 or visit mrandmrssmith.com.

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Burberry has long supported and celebrated creative talent: from Burberry Acoustic to the BAFTA Breakthrough BRITS  initiatives (as well as always making sure the next wave of beautiful British talent is on display in their campaigns), the brand likes to get involved in the arts’ world. It makes sense then, that they partnered with the king of Hollywood himself, Mr Harvey Weinstein, to host a pre-BAFTA’s dinner this Saturday.

This is the third time Burberry and Weinstein have collaborated to celebrate the awards ceremony, and, fittingly, a slew of big names came out to join them and sip some Grey Goose (who kept the bar well-stocked during the party). Everyone from Wonderbabe Dakota Johnson, to Idris Elba, Douglas Booth, Cate Blanchett and Kristen Scott Thomas were in attendance  – not forgetting, of course, Burberry’s Chief Creative and Chief Executive Officer Christopher Bailey, and Amber Anderson, the star of the upcoming Burberry fragrance campaign. Oh, and as you would imagine, a fair few were fully decked out in the brand’s designs: lucky them.

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Prada’s Real Fantasies series is always an intriguing proposition. Since Spring Summer ’07, the brand has been collaborating with Dutch design gurus AMO to brings their shows and lookbooks to life in a poetically rendered context. As you would expect from Miuccia Prada and her unashamedly conceptual shows, this essentially means that AMO seek to create audio-visual microcosms that conjure the mood of the clothes and so animate them accordingly – all in a decidedly expressionist, Prada-esque way, of course.

For SS16, the Real Fantasy is a re-imagining of the runway show’s ‘Indefinite Hangar’ setting (also designed by AMO) into a cardboard-cutout abstract space full of geometric objects and furniture. If that sounds a bit disorientating, in reality it makes for a wonderfully quirky piece that’s probably the most interesting campaign video you will see this season. All hail Mrs. P.

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The legendary Manolo Blahnik has had a shop in London for the majority of his not inconsiderable career. That Old Church Street store is nestled away in Chelsea and has, in many ways, been the nucleus of his now iconic company. 44 years, an archive of handmade high heels, and a whole lot of Sex & The City name-drops later, he’s opening another store in Burlington Arcade at the heart of Old World Mayfair. It’s an intimate space full of Blahnik’s trademark eclecticism – think silk lamps and vividly shaded Ottomans – and even boasts a private-shopping room for uninterrupted browsing. Yesterday, the label held a lavish opening party attended by a host of big names including Suzy Menkes, Mary Beard, Yasmin Le Bon and, of course, Wonderland.

Between gawping at Blahnik’s lavish and endlessly coveted designs (not to mention his beautifully cut lavender suit), I got the chance to grab a few minutes with him to talk tailoring, inspiration and why the Burlington Arcade has held an enduring appeal for the maestro. Suffice to say, with his erratic charm, lively sense of humor, and an elegance that recalls those great Salon designers of old like Hubert Givenchy and Cristobal Balenciaga, he was everything I expected and more.

Wonderland: How are you feeling about today?

Manolo Blahnik: Other than some incredible bronchitis, I’m very well! I’ve given you my medical before we start to talk.

So, why Burlington Arcade?

Simply because I have always been in love with that period from the middle to the end of the 19^th Century in London, and this area was really all of that. The way people write about it and the fact it’s in so many books…there’s been so much use. For me, this is London. And for years and years I resisted having another shop because I thought, “oh I don’t like shops very much.” But then two years ago I thought, “here’s a shop in Burlington. This is the time to do it.” Because we don’t have anyone in my family putting money up or anything we had to wait! I wanted it to be really very simple just with some Georgian pieces for decor.

And it’s really the home of classic menswear, which you’re obviously a big fan of?

Exactly! I love tradition! I love wonderful linen, the most beautiful linens in Europe come from the North. I really like heavy tweeds, I was going to come in something like that today and then Suzy Menkes said, ‘violet! I love violet!’ So I came in this suit.

 Of course, where do you get your suits made?

Oh, just round here. The first time I had some money in my pocket I went to Anderson and Sheppard. I love tweeds and I love colour – even though I’m on old boy I still like to have some fun, some excitement.

How do you go about designing men’s shoes?

[picks up boot] I looked to Gallipoli or Victorian times for this particular one. A touch of the dandy but also something a little bit different.

Do you have a favourite design that you’ve made?

I’m a real sucker for an American saddle shoe. Or maybe some Grecian nonsense! I love fantasizing about times gone by. If it’s ever a disaster who cares? I will wear it myself.

I feel like you have a very historical imagination?

Unfortunately yes. I do enjoy the 20^th century, the 19^th century and the 18^th century, but not so much the Middle Ages. I don’t know why. It’s never been my type of thing. But I was raised reading Enid Blyton – so I love a saddle shoe – and I just love historical England.

Manolo Blahnik’s store at Burlington Arcade opens to the public on the 4th February.

Words: Benji Walters

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Born in Mexico and raised in San Diego, the melodious mind behind Twin Cabins (yep just one mind, confusingly he’s on his on his todd), is known to friends and family as Nacho Cano. His music is wonderfully nostalgic, refreshing and completely inimitable – as mellow as it is moving. His debut album ‘I’m Sure’ is the perfect track list for a summer road trip, daydreaming with your head against the window as you pass under trees dappled in sunshine.

Twin Cabins’ new video for single ‘Still’ is as musically marvellous as it is multicoloured. Reminiscent of Michael Craig-Martin’s vibrant artworks and Julian Opie’s distinctive portraiture, who did that album cover for Blur: The Best Of (2000) – weirdly Opie studied under Craig-Martin at Goldsmith’s but that’s beside the point. Various male characters partake in a range of fairly mundane activities, such as pouring coffee or loosening their tie, all filmed in slow motion and set against brightly coloured, undescriptive backgrounds. What at first may appear to be a somewhat random sequence, actually holds a significant subliminal message for Twin Cabins. Cano says he wanted: ‘to change the visual language of who average men are and can be’ and the intense, exotic colouring is a vital part of this mission. The result? What started off as strange and comical ties up as 3 minutes and 10 seconds of unselfconsciously charismatic film. There’s something so captivating about the reality of it, as you catch some of them smiling uncontrollably to themselves, insinuating that they don’t take themselves too seriously.

Hello Mr Twin Cabins! Your music videos always seem to be wonderfully weird, where did you find inspiration for “Still”?

While I was in college, I was a part of this film club in Calarts called the “A115 Film Club”. Every Friday at 11 o’ clock we would watch a different movie. The thing that made the club unique was that before every movie someone from the club was in charge of making an opener. The curators for that semester asked me to make an opening for the double feature Mishima and American Gigolo. I excitedly agreed and got to work on my concept. I noticed that both movies dealt with a very interesting interpretation with the concept of masculinity. At times, Mishima is a colorful and vibrant expression of male vulnerability and aggression. American Gigolo is equally as colorful yet “hyper-sexual” in its visual depictions of the male body. Even though I was mesmerized by both movies, I noticed that the interpretation of the male physical figure hasn’t really changed.

Aside from Happy Together, I can’t really think of very many movies in which average men ever come off as truly erotic. This sort of frustrated me. For a long time, I dealt with not really feeling cool because I didn’t have what I felt made men physically sexy. Before Calarts I attended UCSB briefly, the whole time there I was really intimidated by guys were at a competition with each other to get buff and feel more attractive. I never joined that gang and sort of fell out of place the whole year I was there.

After shuffling ideas around, I decided that I would take on the task of making average men look beautiful by appropriating the medias interpretations of what makes a man attractive. I wanted to tackle it seriously because I really want to change the visual language of who average men are and can be.  I asked friends and members of the film club to be a part of my video. I told them that I was going to shoot them in slow motion and that they would have to imitate Giorgio Armani models. I would assure my friends that they weren’t alone in their endeavor for I would take the task of stripping throughout the whole video. My best friend Matt and I lit them as brightly as we could. My girlfriend Angelina lathered them in baby oil or did their makeup and sent them over to the green screen. In post, I asked my buddy Hae-Joon to make all the backgrounds look like the color of the ties Richard Gere has in American Gigolo. The whole thing took 48hrs total to shoot, edit, and finalize in post. It premiered at the film club and later in the year at the Redcat theater.

What’s the song itself about? How does this interlink with the video?

Haha, I usually have a hard time telling people exactly what my songs are about. It sort of robs them of having their own interpretation. I will say however that this song is a response to all of the events that occurred in my life at the time. The video on the other hand is about something totally separate. I’ve always been a fan of music videos that tell a completely different narrative than what the song does. Electronic music videos tend to do this a lot.

You recently said you’re leaving music like your EP “I’m Sure” behind, what can we expect in the future?

I’m currently halfway done with the next record, it’s already got a title and everything. It’s a continuation of Harmless Fantasies thematically, it’s still very much about sex, identity, and trust. I think you can expect something a bit more electronic and vibrant but still very intimate. Trying to make my interpretation of dance music. Expect sax too.

“Still” is the last track on your most recent album, Harmless Fantasies, how would you describe the record to anyone who hasn’t heard it already?

It’s pleading in its lyrics but releasing in its sounds. It’s like the end of a relationship or the end of a painfully intimate moment. I think we’re all guilty of at one point or another staying somewhere we don’t want to me because of its comfortability.

Lastly what’s next? Any plans as weird and wonderful and the “Still” video coming up?

The next record and live shows. I think this record (Harmless Fantasies) has one more video to be made, but that’s still sort of up in the air since I’m not directing it. The next record will bring more videos and more surprises. In the meantime, probably going to be making remixes of other peoples songs and some hip hop beats. Man, I’d give anything to be sampled on a Knxwledge beat, been following that dude forever. But yeah, definitely more music and visuals in store.

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