Taken from the Autumn Issue of Wonderland.

Mischa Nottcutt “Brexit proves that we’re not as forward thinking a country as we think we are.” Shirt CELINE.

Emma Dabiri “Under capitalism black bodies are merely labour or commodity, how can we ever be free in such a system? I think of Black Panthers like Fred Hampton. ‘We say we’re not going to fight capitalism with black capitalism, but we’re going to fight it with socialism’.” Dress DSQUARED2

Ronan McKenzie “it’s not really diversity, if you only like your black girls light skinned.” Jacket CALVIN KLEIN COLLECTION

Emma Dabiri, Fellow, SOAS: What are all of your experiences with Black Lives Matter and the differences between the UK and the US? Capres, you organised the recent London protest [which was meant to be for 30 people, and closer to 3,000 turned up].

Capres Willow, protester, Black Lives Matter: The reason I organised the protest was because I was online and I came across one of the killings. I was like: “This isn’t the first one, this isn’t the last one. It seems like all people are doing is typing about it online.” Okay, that’s great, show your opinion, but we need some real action. So I just organised a protest, not expecting much from it and then 3,000 people turned up. After that I thought: “Okay, now I’ve got responsibilities.” I’m not an activist and I’ve never been to a protest before, but from that I was like: “Alright, what’s next?” Do you go about it in a political way? Do you approach the government and say: “This needs to change”? Then you look at the fact that it’s an institutional problem within the police. I’m not saying a policeman is racist, but the police as an institution is a racist institution…

E: Do you think that police brutality is one of the main issues affecting black British people? We know it’s not to the same extent that it is in the US…

Mischa Notcutt, a stylist who runs the clubnight PDA: That’s because they have guns! That’s the only reason we’re different from America. Brexit proves that we’re not as forward as a country as people think.

E: I’m not in any way trying to suggest that the UK is better than the US, that’s not what I think. But what do you think some of the differences might be between how racism manifests itself here and there? I actually think British people are a lot more sophisticated in the way racism operates. I think there are issues that are specific to the UK, that are maybe harder to unpick.

Ronan McKenzie, fashion photographer: Exactly, it’s more undercover.

M: It’s a lot more insidious here. People are more scared about being called racist.

E: Precisely. In Brazil they had a policy called “The Whitening”. Unlike in England where there was generally a fear of so-called “race mixing”, in Brazil they had this huge African descent population in the late 1800s/early 1900s. It was this actual policy where they thought if they could just dilute the black population enough, through mixing with the white, they could eventually rid Brazil of the “Negro problem”… Obviously the whole forbidding mixing thing didn’t work here, but we’ve said racism is more insidious here. Have you read those articles that say that the African Caribbean group will be the first group to disappear in the UK? It’s regularly reported and the articles always finish in, I think, a quite gleeful tone. I just feel like: “Oh, is that what you want to happen?” I wonder if the more softly integrative, assimilate approach in the UK is maybe a low-key whitening thing.

R: You can see that in fashion, for example, where people will be talking about diversity but they won’t cast any dark-skinned girls. That’s not really diversity, if really you only like your black girls light-skinned.

Mischa: That’s interesting, because when I was younger, me and my sister would aways be like: “But we’re the future! Everyone’s going to be like us eventually!’ The Jamaican side [of my family] always see us as the white cousins, and the white side always sees us as the black cousins. So we always felt in the middle. We always thought: “The more mixed-race people, the better”, because that would give us more things to identify with being mixed race and dual heritage.

R: I think it depends on where you are, as well. I’m from north east London and if you’re mixed race you’re like, the gods. Everybody wanted to be mixed race, everybody wanted to have lighter skin, curly hair and look mixed race, and all the mixed race boys in my area were so sought after.

Munroe Bergdorf, model: It’s almost fetishised.

R: But it wasn’t a celebratory thing… It was more like: “I don’t want to be dark-skinned. I want to be more beautiful. I want to have lightskinned babies, so they look better and be respected more.” It’s not because you thought it would be great mixing… I remember, when I was younger — maybe even up until a few years ago — when I didn’t want to tan, I’d put factor 50 sunscreen on because I didn’t want darker skin. I never looked at my dad thinking: “I don’t like his colour.” I just didn’t want to be darker skinned myself.

E: I think that’s a difference I’ve experience between white environments and black environments. In addition to the racism that often occurs in white environments, there’s the more liberal, celebratory, “Oh, one day everybody will be brown like you! This is the future!” If you put that in black context, and you see the way colourism operates, and the way there’s all this pressure, and desire to be lighter, and to have more mixed, European features, then that kind of celebratory narrative seems quite perverse! In that context, it gets really gross… What do you see as the role of non-black people?

C: Taking it back to Black Lives Matter, there was this group chat for everyone that wanted to get involved in our projects. I actually left it within a week because of the comments. People were coming out with stuff like: “If you’re not black, you’re a guest here!” Or: “All the white people need to leave, because us black people need to keep the ball rolling!” I just felt we have people who want to give support and free resources, but not just that, they actually care about the matter and you’re just going to turn them away?!

Munroe: It’s so important to have an environment to speak freely. To not have to worry about silencing yourself to the feelings and fragility of people who won’t necessarily understand, and who will get in the way of progression. You have to explain a lot of things that really you don’t need to explain, if everybody is of the same oppression.

C: But I don’t think we should turn people away…

E: It’s a tricky one, the labour required to explain things to people who seem committed to derailing conversations — who are determined to centralise themselves, because for the first time in their lives they are experiencing what it feels like not to be central — can be almost debilitating. At the same time, I think about a hero of mine, Fred Hampton, who said: “We don’t think you fight fire with fire best; we think you fight fire with water best. We’re going to fight racism not with racism, but we’re going to fight with solidarity. We say we’re not going to fight capitalism with black capitalism, but we’re going to fight it with socialism. We’re going to fight [the reactions of racist white institutions] with all of us people getting together and having an international proletarian revolution.

Munroe: I think allies, definitely. But I think when it comes down to understanding what black people need, you can’t then have white people orchestrating that.

E: We have to think about what it is that we actually want. What is the objective of this different type of organisation? Is it to connect and experience solidarity?

Munroe: To eradicate racism and to get onto a path that identifies racism, and for everybody to get on the same page to know what racism is… It doesn’t seem like everyone knows what it is.

C: But is it about your colour, or your culture? You’ll hear people say: “Fucking Polish people,” for example.

Munroe: I think they don’t even know what it’s about, I think it’s just xenophobia.

C: But they still have the same experiences — well, maybe not the same. But they still experience racism.

Munroe: But that’s not racism, that’s just discrimination isn’t it? It’s not any better, but it’s just discrimination.

C: But that’s why I think white people should be allowed in, because they experience discrimination.

Munroe: But discrimination is different to racism… What I’m talking about, systemic and institutionalised racism, that can never be experienced by white people and that’s what Black Lives Matter is fighting against. So why are we including the kind of thing that has the potential to corrupt it?

E: If the end goal is the eradication of racism, can that be achieved without engagement of white people?

Munroe: Oh no, I’m not saying don’t engage! I’m just saying about the organisation from the top, and the movement needs to be black people. I do think the support network needs to be everybody, because you can’t have equality if it’s not everybody.

E: How can we bring about the end of racism; a non-racist society?

C: This isn’t realistic, but there’s this idea in sociology: to make real change, everything needs to be destroyed and start again. Things need to be rebuilt, start from scratch almost. Like nature does: when winter comes, it’s destroyed and in the spring it’s reborn again. Even though it’s a horrible idea, it’s also a really nice idea, it’s refreshing for everyone to have that fresh start. In my opinion, I don’t mean to sound super-negative, but I do feel like that it could potentially be that we all do need to be destroyed.

E: Yeah, that’s what I often think. Even the idea of egalitarianism and equality is not enough, because exploitation, anti-blackness and patriarchy are coded into the DNA of the neoliberal system. I don’t even know if reform is even a step in the right direction. How can you reform something completely corrupt? These are ideas I’m struggling with myself. Nonetheless, let’s take radical revolution out of the equation for a second and let’s just think about some of those other topics that we’ve generated, and how we can go about influencing and creating change…

Mischa: It’s doing your bit! Helping other people who are in the same situation as you… Even saying on Facebook what you think, instead of not saying anything. Just saying: “No, that’s actually not cool!” I do casting, so I take a stance of always putting black people in packages and I make it uncomfortable for people to say that they just want white people. I ask ask them: “What’s your reasoning?” It’s cool if it’s artistically, like if you’re going for a Russian theme. But what is it you’re actually saying? What are you wanting to say? How do you think it is going to be read? I feel like me just asking those questions to someone, that’s my responsibility for the job that I do. That’s my way of being a protester — what can do in my day-to-day?

Munroe Bergdorf “We need to eradicate racism and to get onto a path that identifies racism and for everybody to get on the same page to know what racism is. It doesn’t seem like everyone knows what it is.” Dress GIVENCHY BY RICCARDO TISCI.

Capres Willow “Things need to be rebuilt, start from scratch almost. Like nature does, when winter comes it’s destroyed and in the spring it’s reborn again. Even though it’s a horrible idea, it’s also a really nice idea, it’s refreshing for everyone to have that fresh start.” Jacket and pearls CHANEL

Edited by SOVREIGN

Fashion: Matthew Josephs

Hair: Hiroshi Matsushita

Make Up: Thom Walker using YSL Beauty

Nails: Ama Quashie at CLM Hair & Make Up using M.A.C Cosmetics

Styling assistance: Toni Blaze Ibekwe.

Special Thanks to Matthew Stone.

The post Black Lives Matter appeared first on Wonderland.

The post Matthew Stone’s Healing With Wounds at Somerset House appeared first on Wonderland.

The first time FKA twigs (who at that point, was still just “twigs”) graced the cover of a magazine, she was a basically-unknown dancer with the word “love” written on her forehead in kiss curls. Little did we know, creative duo Matthew Stone and Wonderland’s Matthew Josephs had introduced the world to one of music’s most forward-thinking countercultural talents – an artistic force injecting the pop charts with energy, hope and true creativity. Her ascension from unknown to undefeated was a controlled, calculated one: it wasn’t by chance that twigs broke when she did, she’d planned it from the start.

For Wonderland’s 10th anniversary cover shoot, twigs (Tahliah Barnett) and Stone talk through the thens and nows: why ego can hold you back creatively, and how her newest work, EP “M3LL155X”, is “the most honest thing” she has ever made.

>>FWD to now

MATTHEW: I wanted to ask about how you move between the different things you do – music, videos, thinking about visuals – and whether or not you feel there’s a connective thread.

TWIGS: I think that a lot of my work is just based off feelings, so when I make a piece of music it tells me how I should feel, and then that feeling will create an image. I never really stray away from that image. If I make a piece of music, for example “Papi Pacify”, I always had this idea that it had to be hands down the throat. So it was always that movement, from when I first made the song. Even though the video might not be made for six months or a year, I can’t get that image out of my head.

M: So it’s about recognising an emotional state that you’ve already expressed, in a sense?

T: Yeah, exactly. I’m not an amazing singer and I’m not an amazing producer… I’m not an amazing dancer, but one thing I know is feelings.

M: All of those statements are ridiculous, because you’re amazing at all of those things.

T: Aww, that’s sweet. But the one thing I can say confidently is that I can portray a feeling. If I was feeling a certain way and you told me to express it, I feel like I’d be able to express it with my body, or express it with a shape, or express it with a sound, you know? That’s the language that I understand.

M: I think what I’m interested in, and maybe what I connect to, is just that process of translation. Where it can move from being a sound, into a movement…

T: Let’s say, for example, that if I was in a position where I was feeling sad because somebody wasn’t giving me what I needed emotionally, and there was a lot of stop-and-start within a relationship, to me I would make that stop-and-start with the drum or the synth stopping and starting… the jolting of it. The thing that I find exciting is that even two years on, it’s still so definite that it can be translated to another medium of express[ion]. I never feel like I lose sight of what I originally intended, and things that I have lost sight of just don’t make the record.

M: What do you think your process is for directing people? How much of it is pure personal vision and how much of it is working with people and how you interact with them?

T: If I pick somebody to do a certain thing it’s because that is their truth, you know? I don’t really ask people to do anything that I haven’t seen a glimpse of them do before. Even for example with Michele [Lamy, Rick Owens’ wife and creative collaborator, who appeared in the “M3LL155X” promo video] and “Figure 8” that’s her, you know? I didn’t tell her to do anything, that is just 100% her and yeah on the day you can say, “that looks great! Do that move again and do it bigger!” And that was the thing with the guy [in the “I’m Your Doll” video]. He was like the sweetest guy actually, like so sweet and very gentle and very polite and I’m getting him to have sex with a plastic doll! I just started screaming obscenities at him, the worst things, like things that you’ve seen in porn… then he started repeating those things and screaming them at the doll, and then it just really worked, like all the energy just went so dark in the room… I was just shouting at him and there wasn’t any music and the whole energy just got sucked down really low and it felt so dirty and grimy. That really comes through in the video, everyone says it’s so uncomfortable to watch. I think we’ve all watched something a bit dark and got a kick out of it. It’s in every single human being, that darkness. I didn’t bring out anything in him that isn’t in every human.

M: If you’re making imagery that is dark, how much responsibility do you feel to contextualise it?

T: I feel like my work is honest, so that can just depend on where I am in my life. I think that “M3LL155X” is the most honest thing I’ve ever made because it explains the most… “M3LL155X” was an actual period of my life. I felt low, but I felt really hopeful and that’s what it’s about.

M: Art, in a sense, is usually the triumph over suffering. You can’t make art while you are depressed. It is the thing that pulls you out of something.

T: And that’s exactly what it was. Even doing it healed me. Just making the music healed me and then completing it almost a year later – I feel so light now… It felt like you know when you’ve fallen out with someone that you really love and you’ve got to call them and make it better and you put it off.

M: How do you move on from having finished a project?

T: For me, the way that I work, reminds me of Candy Crush. You have to have all the blocks at the bottom and then that block will disappear and smash down and something else will sit at the top…I work usually three projects ahead, more than that and I start to feel a bit nutty.

M: I watched a Ballroom TB YouTube show and there was Dashaun [Wesley] and a lot of people in the vogue scene and they were talking about their experiences working with you. He was talking about the fact that you’d asked him to chop you first and he saw a lot of significance in that and respect in that. I love that story, because it’s such an inversion of the way people have interacted with and appropriate ballroom culture historically.

T: Basically the truth of the matter is I love voguing, I’m learning. Every two to three months I get a little bit better at it, but I’ve only been doing it for two years and these guys have been doing it for 10 years plus. If I was to go up and dance against them, I’d get chopped and that’s the truth of the matter. But if I’m going to bring them on stage in a place where voguing was created, in their home, why would I act like I wouldn’t get chopped?

M: Can you explain what chopping means?

T: Chopping means that you aren’t good enough, like if you go up and dance because you want to compete in the battle, and you don’t get your tens then you get chopped. I feel that that’s what I would get if I competed in my section… I would get chopped, so I just thought that that’s real. I’m very honest in what I make and that’s the reality. And I’m not scared of that because someone can chop me on stage… I don’t feel like it hurts my ego in any way, because the next day I’m lucky enough to be able to be backstage with someone teaching me how to not get the chop.

M: I wonder whether or not your sensitivity to that comes from knowing what it’s like being the backing dancer [Barnett danced in Kylie and Jessie J videos].

T: Yeah, of course. Being told not to give as much energy because the female singer can’t give as much energy as you, I just think that’s rubbish. I want everyone on stage to be incredible, people are going to be better than me and that’s the truth and maybe it’s down to me to keep up with them… that’s what’s really fun for me. I said this to someone the other day, it’s not for the money, it’s not for the fame, it’s not for the record sales, it’s not for anything else other than the fact that I really want to get better. That’s why I am here doing this, it’s because I want to learn and I want to get better. I can do that through working with exciting people… I can do that by knowing Denzel [Daniels, fellow dancer] can perform my solo better than me and be able to stand behind the camera and watch him, because that’s how you learn. It’s through watching and being able to stay humble. The ego is a very interesting thing. When I first started and I didn’t have much to show for myself, my ego was much bigger. Now, when I am managing to do things and I feel happy with the things I’m creating and getting opportunities, I feel like it’s shrinking, and that’s actually allowing me to learn so much, become more humble and more open. That’s the most exciting thing to me about being given the opportunity to make “M3LL155X”, or even just work with you on the shoot that we did.

M: I see that. Do you feel like there are moments where the ego is useful to your creative process?

T: Not for me, no. I don’t think so.

Photography: Matthew Stone

Fashion: Matthew Josephs

The post FKA twigs appeared first on Wonderland.

Anton Corbijn’s golden boy Dane DeHaan plays James Dean in biopic Life. Discussing his idol and his work to date, the one time Prada face bares all in our cover feature for our 10th birthday issue.

Inside we rewind to 2005 with a Prada retrospective and delve into Gareth Pugh’s hallowed archives. We hand pick the best of the next, selecting the fastest-risers of the year, putting them through their paces, grilling every up-and-comer you should know about in 2015. Finally, we’ve catalogued the names of now, shot only by talents as great, with 10 cover stars spanning music, film and fashion.

Photographer: Matt Lambert

Fashion: Andrew Davis

Grooming: Servullo

A Decade of Wonderland.

Selena Gomez by Petra Collins

FKA twigs by Matthew Stone

Dane DeHaan

Ten years of Prada

Gaspar Noé’s Love

Eliot Sumner

Zoë Kravitz

Emma Roberts

Hailee Steinfeld

Gareth Pugh

Bella Hadid

Lucky Blue

The post New Issue: Dane DeHaan shot by Matt Lambert appeared first on Wonderland.

You’ve already seen a handful of our 10th birthday covers. Take a peek inside as the biggest issue we’ve ever done hits newsstands.

The post Our 10th Birthday Issue Teaser appeared first on Wonderland.

Lucky Blue wears DSQUARED2

Peroxide blonde pin-up Lucky Blue Smith is the next candidate in our cover star reveal. The teenager has taken the fashion world by storm fronting fashion weeks left right and centre and with super-spreads in every iconic fashion title.

Inside we rewind to 2005 with a Prada retrospective and delve into Gareth Pugh’s hallowed archives. We hand pick the best of the next, selecting the fastest-risers of the year, putting them through their paces, grilling every up-and-comer you should know about in 2015. Finally, we’ve catalogued the names of now, shot only by talents as great, with 10 cover stars spanning music, film and fashion.

Photographer: Christian Oita

Fashion: Matthew Josephs

Makeup: Thom Walker

Hair: Kota Suizu

Fashion Assistant: Toni-Blaze and Kathryn McKerrall

Photographer’s Assistant: Dan Douglass

A Decade of Wonderland.

Selena Gomez by Petra Collins

FKA twigs by Matthew Stone

Dane DeHaan

Ten years of Prada

Gaspar Noé’s Love

Eliot Sumner

Zoë Kravitz

Emma Roberts

Hailee Steinfeld

Gareth Pugh

Bella Hadid

Lucky Blue

The post New Issue: Lucky Blue shot by Christian Oita appeared first on Wonderland.

FKA twigs wears GIVENCHY HAUTE COUTURE BY RICCARDO TISCI

You saw our big reveal of Selena Gomez last night, right? Next up on the roster we’ve got FKA twigs, the voguing whirlwind who’s made creativity cool again. Our bumper 10 year edition is over 400 pages of shoots and stories. Interviewed and shot by the inimitable Matthew Stone, twigs talks us through M3LL155X, her weirdest and most wonderful work yet.

Inside we rewind to 2005 with a Prada retrospective and delve into Gareth Pugh’s hallowed archives. We hand pick the best of the next, selecting the fastest-risers of the year, putting them through their paces, grilling every up-and-comer you should know about in 2015. Finally, we’ve catalogued the names of now, shot only by talents as great, with 10 cover stars spanning music, film and fashion.

Photographer: Matthew Stone

Fashion: Matthew Josephs

Makeup: Daniel Sallstrom using M.A.C Cosmetics

Hair: Jawara at Coffin Inc. using Bumble & Bumble

Fashion Assistant: Toni-Blaze

Photographer’s Assistant: Sam Nixon

Set Design: Alun Davies

A Decade of Wonderland.

Selena Gomez by Petra Collins

FKA twigs by Matthew Stone

Dane DeHaan

Ten years of Prada

Gaspar Noé’s Love

Eliot Sumner

Zoë Kravitz

Emma Roberts

Hailee Steinfeld

Gareth Pugh

Bella Hadid

Lucky Blue

The post New Issue: FKA twigs shot by Matthew Stone appeared first on Wonderland.

Bella wears TOPSHOP UNIQUE

All sweetness and light, we shoot LA dream girl Bella Hadid on Mulholland Drive all glammed up in the best of Topshop Unique AW15. Missed Selena Gomez’s flower girl moment and inside sneak peak? You’ll be able to get your mitts on a copy soon, don’t worry. Plus, we’ve still got plenty more covers to reveal.

Inside we rewind to 2005 with a Prada retrospective and delve into Gareth Pugh’s hallowed archives. We hand pick the best of the next, selecting the fastest-risers of the year, putting them through their paces, grilling every up-and-comer you should know about in 2015. Finally, we’ve catalogued the names of now, shot only by talents as great, with 10 cover stars spanning music, film and fashion.

Photographer: Ben Rayner

Fashion: Danielle Emerson

Makeup: Tamah Krinksy

Hair: Caile Noble

A Decade of Wonderland.

Selena Gomez by Petra Collins

FKA twigs by Matthew Stone

Dane DeHaan

Ten years of Prada

Gaspar Noé’s Love

Eliot Sumner

Zoë Kravitz

Emma Roberts

Hailee Steinfeld

Gareth Pugh

Bella Hadid

Lucky Blue

The post New Issue: Bella Hadid by Ben Rayner appeared first on Wonderland.

Selena wears Miu Miu

Selena Gomez is coming to our 10th birthday party and you’re all invited. Our bumper 10 year edition is over 400 pages of shoots and stories, we just wanted to look extra “Good For You” on such an occasion. Petra Collins unravels the very real hardships of being a teen sensation and growing up in the limelight with Ms Gomez in LA.

Inside we rewind to 2005 with a Prada retrospective and delve into Gareth Pugh’s hallowed archives. We hand pick the best of the next, selecting the fastest-risers of the year, putting them through their paces, grilling every up-and-comer you should know about in 2015. Finally, we’ve catalogued the names of now, shot only by talents as great, with 10 cover stars spanning music, film and fashion.

Photographer: Petra Collins

Fashion: Danielle Emerson

Makeup: Jake Bailey at Starworks using M.A.C

Hair: Lona Vigil at The Magnet Agency

Fashion Assistant: Kendall Finzer

Photography Assistant: Kailae Chambers

A Decade of Wonderland.

Selena Gomez by Petra Collins

FKA twigs by Matthew Stone

Dane DeHaan

Ten years of Prada

Gaspar Noé’s Love

Eliot Sumner

Zoë Kravitz

Emma Roberts

Hailee Steinfeld

Gareth Pugh

Bella Hadid

Lucky Blue

The post New Issue: Selena Gomez shot by Petra Collins appeared first on Wonderland.