Copenhagen Fashion Week is back for AW23

Jan 27, 2023 | News, Fashion

Fashion’s cool, sustainable younger sister is back for the Autumn / Winter season – Copenhagen Fashion Week. Challenging the holy trinity of Paris, Milan and London, CPHFW is fast-becoming an essential mainstay, at least not for their unbridled commitment to sustainable and ethical values. What is usually murmured and recognized for the appearance of ‘care’ in traditional and established industry – CPHFW takes sustainability so seriously that if designers do not meet certain standards: they simply will not be allowed to show. This kind of industry incentive and encouragement is a brilliant, holistic approach by the system itself, led by Copenhagen Fashion Week’s CEO Cecilie Thorsmark.  

So what’s ahead? From Tuesday, 31st January to Thursday, 2nd February; CPHFW will host 28 brands – please find the schedule list here. We can expect to see the city of Copenhagen come alive (from our screens) as the event platforms a myriad of events, street-parties and of course – street style that will light up Pinterest and cool-girl IG feeds from the moment they’re uploaded. This season is the first pilot of CPHFW strict 18 minimum standards for every label or designer applying to showcase; some of these include label’s that do not destroy unsold clothing after collections, who use at least 50% of materials used are recycled, up-cycled, deadstock or certified organic and regenerative textiles (that are traceable), zero waste set design and show production and prioritising inclusivity and diversity particularly within managerial and leadership roles, within the applicant brand’s business structure. Please read the rest of the Minimum Standards, here.

In short? When viewing Copenhagen Fashion Week from next week Tuesday, you are guaranteed to be watching only an array of sustainable designers and labels; they will have had to meet all of the standards, and will be unequivocally vetted and structured internally, externally and at fashion week itself to comply with all these aspects. This is not about contrived pledges (heard them all before) or targets: these standards have to be pre-existing and an integrated way in which the brands function from season to season. This is how we action systemic change; by doing it. 

For Chapter 08 of our monthly fashion column, Interlude, I made a case for the parallels between our emerging fashion market in South Africa, and Denmark; “The home of the ‘Ganni Girl’ and coined term ‘Copencore’ – arising out of the minimalist palette of their sister country, Sweden – Danish fashion has risen out of such shadows to become synonymous with vivid colours and textures – playfulness, joy and a deliberate emphasis on apparel and everyday wear. Slightly different from “ready-to-wear”, I use the term everyday wear to describe the sincerity of Danish fashion – that it seems to actually reflect, directly and effortlessly, the sartorial choices of our generation; many of us working as creatives, many of us thrifting and interpreting trends with less rigidity and rules than before. Danish fashion seems to show the lived lifestyles of fashion-conscious people around the world; and as such, Copenhagen Fashion Week is as much a coveted affair as it is an event that feels accessible and relatable. The wild part of this – particularly the fervour for which CPHFW is becoming an essential fixture in the industry – is that it is still considered a very young, emerging fashion market. Sound familiar?” Copenhagen Fashion Week gives me hope, and I hope it can for you too. 

All images courtesy of : Copenhagen Fashion Week’s Digital Showroom

Written by: Holly Beaton

Published: 27 January 2023

For more news, visit the Connect Everything Collective homepage www.ceconline.co.za

Chapter 12 | Menswear & Masculine Fashion in Africa

Jan 26, 2023 | Fashion, Interlude

Paris & Milan Menswear FW23 has been and gone – somehow, it always feels like it’s fashion week. In recent decades, menswear has been the complementary force for womenswear; masculine dressing relegated to an accompanying act – while womenswear is always shifting, updating and available in a myriad of styles, silhouettes, textures and hues. That is changing, though; hard and fast, and according to european analytics giant, Euromonitor, “menswear is expanding at a faster rate than womenswear in some key markets. Social media trends such as streetwear and sportswear are changing how both luxury and fast-fashion brands approach menswear, as social media lifts taboos, changes mentalities and allows for men to explore individuality outside of the constructs of traditional masculinity.” We are witnessing a challenge to the normative expression of gender across the board; and the often stifling way in which relegating certain forms of clothing to ‘men’ or ‘women’ can impose limitations on design. Many of the shows in Paris and Milan cast both men and women for their ‘menswear’ shows; gender and its relationship to fashion is revealing of the nuanced, social shifts taking shape in collective culture.

I hesitate to make statements about ‘Africa’ – relegating a vastly complex and rich continent to any kind of homogenous framework. What the title of this month’s Interlude intends to do, is situate the eight brands on the continent that are carrying forth the expression and expansion of masculine dressing. From a historical perspective – the crisp, white shirts and loafers introduced to men from South Africa to Nigeria, generally by colonisers, have gone on to become a source of reclaimed, sartorial pride. Tanatswa Amisi, Interlude’s first collaborator from Chapter 11, said this of Wanda Lepotho’s collab with Dakotas, “I remember Wanda posting an image a month or so before announcing this collab, and it was an image of a man in apartheid South Africa, dressed in this crisp, smart-casual way as a lot of Black men dressed in townships. This collaboration was paying homage to a very specific sartorial coding within South African culture and history. I struggle to find the words to describe it – but it’s the way my grandfather dresses, the way our father’s dressed back in the day. The loafer is the central symbol to this, and it’s significant – I know my dad and grandfather polished and cleaned their loafers with great pride. Wanda and Dakotas coming together to really honour this, was so meaningful. I think it should have gotten a lot more attention than it did.”  In this way, dressing is often inherently political; and designers today are inclined to collate a vast array of references that stretch across memory, ancestry and contemporary culture. I am of the school of thinking that puts Africa and indigenous cultures as the original reference and seat of creative power; across the diaspora and the globe, defined by craftsmanship and community roles (tailoring), from the market stalls on the street to the runways of Virgil’s LV; and then some. Here in South Africa, we are home to the innate sensibility of Coloured, Malay & Muslim dressing, too; something designers like Imran Mohamed of ASA SADAN continues to archive, and Mario Oogle and Eden Myrrh now at the helm of TWOBOP. The power of story-telling and the importance of preserving and updating sartorial lineages make Africa, and this country of South Africa, vital to a future of fashion in the world. 

I will never cease saying what I know and what many of the incredible creators I interview regularly say; Africa’s time is now, and the brands detailed in the next part of Chapter 12 are but a taste of the magnifying fashion realm being built on the continent today.

 

RICHMANSKYF /// South Africa

I continue to be totally intrigued by RICHMANSKYF – the brain-child brand of designers Sabelo Shabalala and Sithelo Mlhongo, both alumni of Durban University of Technology. Along with CPUT, I believe DUT produces some of the strongest Fashion & Textiles experts in the country; think REFUSE Clothing and Phuti Styles. Shabalala and Mhlongo’s brand errs effortlessly between streetwear and the makings of luxury; with RICHMANSKYF a translation of cultural codes and contemporary sensibility of menswear in South Africa, today. Blending both Zulu and Xhosa references, the brand feels destined to be housed on racks alongside A-COLD-WALL* on a global level, and at Duck Duck Goose, locally.

Images 1 + 2 : @tatendachidora
Images 3 + 4 : @imraanchristian

Kente Gentlemen /// Côte d’Ivoire

Ethical care and consideration maketh the man – this is the life-force behind Abidjan based brand, Kente Gentlemen. Founded by Aristide Loua, the label defines itself as ‘Sartorial Poetry’ (perfection) and all pieces are handmade, with a vision for ethical consumption. Colour is exceptionally injected across Loua’s collections; masculinity expressed as a liberated yet sharp energy to yield playfully and without inhibition. Aristide’s note says it best, “The essence of the brand is to mould a sustainable balance of colour, poetry, and culture as we remain consistent in the continuing research, discovery, (re)design, and use of handwoven textiles. Among the myriad of wax print designs and fabrics, which have effectively been marketed and sold across the African continent for decades now, it’s easy for anyone to get lost into what is perceived to be African fashion. There’s surely a lot of misconceptions out there about what is meant by “African Fashion”. What even qualifies a style, a trend, a fashion, to legitimately be called African? “African Fashion” is for all of us to discover; it is too expansive to narrowly be defined, and it doesn’t need to be. Fashion in Africa encompasses a multitude of traditions, cultures, textures, forms, techniques and philosophies, all together, and so is far removed from the confines of a single story. Its plurality, interwoven by a seamless mystery makes it all truly poetic, colourful, and enchanting.”

 

Image 1 : @angnm_
Image 2 : @anagandara 
Image 3 : @jorispaterson 
Image 4 : @marcposso

Forge Studios /// South Africa

I was pointed to Chad-lee van Wyk’s work by friend and fellow writer Luci Dordley, and to say I was moved would be an understatement. South African fashion (no, world fashion!) is sleeping on Forge Studios – a love-letter to fashion, queerness and up-cycling straight from the heart of Ocean View, in the deep south of the Cape Peninsula. In his latest collection, van Wyk’s ‘Kwa Amani’ menswear takes masculine dressing and turns it entirely on its head. With tailoring, knitwear and dresses – the model, David, is an illuminated vision of the highest order – and Forge’s IG alone is a stunning portrait of references, curated so that the essence of the brand is difficult to articulate. I think, rather, Forge’s essence is meant to be felt. I won’t say too much more – until I get to speak to Chad-lee directly about his work and story. Wow.

Images : @chadleevanwyk

Tokyo James /// Britain & Nigeria

Iniye Tokyo James’ brand, Tokyo James, is a masterful orchestration of glamour and sex, depth and meaning. While designers often tend to pursue either poignancy or playfulness; James does both, everytime. Steff Yotka’s coverage for Tokyo James SS22 reads, “James’s warmth and heart translate to his garments. This season he started thinking about the Osu caste system used by the Igbo people of eastern Nigeria. Osu—or outcasts—are shunned by society and looked down on; James saw them as representative of outcasts around the world. A collection that wafts through ideas of lightness and porousness was his solution; something gentler and kinder. He made use of beautiful white and pink/red lace for collar shirts, blazers, and trousers and created similarly perforated white jackets from cord. Underneath, there are James’s first boxer shorts with a bold logo tag; there is also a cheeky graphic tee that reads “Tokyo Fucking James.” It’s delivered as a saucy message of self-preservation.”

As an LVMH finalist for 2022; Tokyo James is a label on the rise – yet, with a cult-like following already, the kind of successful trajectory of Nigerian cultural command (Burna Boy, Skepta) in the world has only just begun.

Images : courtesy of @tokyojames via Vogue.com

Wanda Lephoto /// South Africa

To me, Wanda Lephoto forms part of a quartet of luxury designers that has led South Africa into a new era – the other three are Lukhanyo Mdingi, Thebe Magugu and Rich Mnisi. Showing in Milan last year, and with a recent showroom in Paris (literally, last week) – Lephoto’s label is a case study on dapper African sensibility, cultural dialogue, and just so effortlessly cool : with each garment from the label expressed as achingly thoughtful and stirring. Wanda is a master at story-telling and campaigns that edify South Africa’s sartorial, visual language. Past collection, ‘Black Renaissance’, may have been a single title; but this description is precisely where Lephoto’s lands – in the heart of an era that is taking the world by storm.

 

Images 1 - 3 : @kentandreasan 
Image 4 : @paulshiakallis

 

Orange Culture /// Nigeria

Adebayo Oke-Lawal’s label Orange Culture is somewhat of a veteran, if we are to think of the pace at which fashion moves. Since 2011, the label has done everything from the LVMH prize (2015 finalist) to London and Lagos Fashion Week, to being stocked globally from Hollywood to Kenya (and in between) – as said, “The label is more than a clothing line, Adebayo insists. It is a “movement” that covers universal silhouettes with an African touch to a creative class of men, translating into a heady mixture of Nigerian inspired print fabrics, colour and contemporary urban street wear. The garments answer to just about anyone who’s interested in telling a story with the way they present themselves. All pieces are manufactured in Lagos, from ethically-sourced fabrics from local Nigerian fabric makers. Orange Culture takes their staff through rigorous training processes and offers them the opportunity to attend skill acquisition initiatives.”

Image 1 + 2 : @percigothasauce 
Image 3 + 4 : courtesy of @orangecultureng

 

UNI FORM /// South Africa

Luke Radloff’s UNI FORM is the definition of clean and precise. Muted tones are the mainstay of the label’s DNA; with silhouettes sharply tailored, or billowing, to form a literal uniform of luxury essentials for every occasion. Self-stated as ‘Emotional Tailoring’, UNI FORM is prose written out of Johannesburg; with Radloff a Margiela-esque figure in terms of discretion. In a fashion landscape in which we believe everything has to be wild and outrageous all the time: UNI FORM’s trousers and symmetrical shirts outrage in their serene perfection. Radloff himself is part of a vanguard of fashion creatives aiming to establish Johannesburg as a fashion capital;  Essential, critical, mastery.

Images : @retang_sebeka

Kenneth Ize /// Nigeria

Kenneth Ize’s eponymous label debuted in Paris in 2020 – and then the pandemic hit. Not one to concede to challenge, the lockdown period offered Ize time to create a capsule collection for Maison Karl Lagerfeld, closely with France’s (much cooler) Anna Wintour, Carine Roitfeld. Since Kenneth has built a factory in Ilorin, Nigeria – where most of his fabrics are woven. News struck at the end of last year that Ize has parted with his investor; rumours abound as to the reason, but I imagine it has to do with the usual story – financiers stifling the creative vision and autonomy of designers with big dreams, and an even bigger purpose to do it differently than the harsh ways in which fashion labels have been taught to ‘succeed’. We wait patiently for Kenneth Ize’s full return – recently, his show in Lagos ‘Forward Ever, Backward Never’ marked the designer’s new chapter. Free, and future-heading.

Image 1 + 2 : @joshuawoods 
Image 3 : @wurlidaps
Image 4 : @iamdanielobasi

 

Written by: Holly Bell Beaton
Published: 27 January 2023

For more news, visit the Connect Everything Collective homepage www.ceconline.co.za

Lucy Kruger & The Lost Boys release second single ‘Burning Building’ off their forthcoming album

Jan 25, 2023 | New Release, Music

“Burning Building” is the second single from Lucy Kruger & The Lost Boys’ upcoming album. The song is a chaotic and cathartic doomsday monologue, switching its tone, sound, and subject matter multiple times within its short existence. The opening groove, which feels like a dark cheerleading anthem, is soon subsumed by a doom-like rumble over which Lucy spits a stream of consciousness. 

There is a schizophrenic quality to the song, as if it’s been captured within the wrong groove and has to rush to find itself, or to escape, hopefully spilling some moments of truth along the way. The first line in the second verse ‘I’m catwalking out of a Burning Building’ brings up the feeling of masquerading in a situation that would be better suited to running. 

With Burning Building, Lucy & The Lost Boys have created a spiky post-punk anthem for the time that is both more playful and more intense than their previous work – a foreteller of what’s to come on the new album, which will be out through Unique Records in April 2023.

The lyric video is a collaboration between the Cape Town film, animation and illustration collective, Cult Wife, and Berlin based artists, Julia Schimautz / DTAN. The lyrics were animated by Cult Wife and set against a visual loop which  Julia and DTAN created by riso printing and re- assembling individual frames from a video Franics Broek filmed.

Lucy Kruger & The Lost Boys are an art pop ambient noise band based in Berlin. The group, fronted by South African born artist, Lucy Kruger, create music that is full of atmosphere and intensity. The band has been touring the albums throughout Germany and Europe over the last year, performing at the likes of Rheeperbahn, Fusion, Maifeld Derby, Wave-Gotik Treffen, South of Silence, Immergut, Left of The Dial, and Synästhesie.

After releasing the third and final album in the ‘Tapes Trilogy’ in April 2022 and touring the albums extensively through the summer, the band are shifting attention to their upcoming album which will be released on 7 April 2023. The range of material and storytelling captured in the trilogy, and the addition of new material from the upcoming album have given the group a chance to explore a live set that drifts between introverted and ecstatic.

They have announced the upcoming album launch, which will take place at Lido in Berlin on the 5th of May along with a Spring 2023 European Tour.

///
Listen to ‘Burning Building’ HERE
Watch the lyrics video HERE

 

Lyric animation: Cult Wife @cult_wife_

Video: DTAN Studio (Francis Broek/Julia Schimautz) @dtan.studio

 

Lucy Kruger & The Lost Boys social Media Links: Instagram | Youtube | Website | Facebook | Linktree 

Released by Unique Records

For more info contact [email protected]

Are We Inferior? How Artificial Intelligence is eerily closing in on our creativity

Jan 24, 2023 | Lifestyle

The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning has been nothing short of a revolution. From self-driving cars to virtual personal assistants, the capabilities of AI models have been expanding rapidly in recent years. But perhaps one of the most visible impacts of AI has been in the realm of social media, where viral videos and images showcasing the capabilities of AI models have become a regular occurrence. Need a new cover letter? Well, there’s an AI model for that. Need a section of code written but just don’t have the time? Well, there’s a model for that. Need some 3D design elements? There’s a model for that. And it’s not just administrative work being generated and regenerated on some inconceivable scale. There’s a whole world of AI-generated art and music, even eerily convincing deepfake videos. It’s safe to say that the things that AI models can do have become increasingly impressive, if not somewhat concerning. Social media platforms, particularly TikTok and Instagram, have played a crucial role in making these AI-generated creations more accessible to a wider audience. It takes a quick glance at some of the view counts to see just how popular this kind of content is and that it’s likely to grow in popularity. It’s a trend that has captured the public’s imagination which has, in turn, sparked a practically inescapable conversation around AI, ethics and what it truly means to create. 

What if I told you that the introduction you just read was predominantly AI-generated? Well, that’s correct; and all it took was the simplest of prompts and the click of a button. With practice, and a greater understanding of how to use prompts properly, this means that I may be able to get the model to write a paragraph in a style that so closely resembles my own – that the result would be practically indiscernible from the rest of my portfolio. Admittedly the introduction to this piece is a bit bland and soulless; still, you have to admit that it kind of reads like the intro to one of those criminally formulaic clickbaity articles that get shat out on a regular basis by some news conglomerate desperately trying to stay relevant. In fact, the content excreted by the cold claws of viral AI text model ChatGPT at least doesn’t contain regular spelling errors, so I guess there’s that?

Photos: Elmo Mistiaen /// AI Generated

Here’s the thing: the sheer speed at which these AI models are improving, and the scope of tasks they are now able to complete is frankly as astounding as it is frightening. It doesn’t feel like all that long ago that talking to a chatbot felt so unbelievably obvious and immensely infuriating, which makes the serviceable intro of this article all the more mind-boggling.  

AI and its application to the arts but the impact it has on our society’s very structures and conventions, is a fiercely debated topic. Some herald AI models as the great next technological frontier, the most logical manner in which humanity can advance forward. In contrast, others predict that this is the beginning of the end or that it may already be too late. Here on this ethically grey spectrum, particularly when it comes to the arts, I fall somewhere in the middle. 

I can see how it could benefit creatives, particularly as they navigate an industry that is often underfunded and gatekept. As my AI overlord programmed in Silicon Valley assures me, “Another benefit of AI in the arts is that it can make the creative process more efficient and cost-effective. For example, AI-powered tools can help artists and designers to quickly generate new designs, layouts or even entire films without the need for expensive equipment or human labour. This can be especially useful for independent artists and small production companies that lack the resources of larger studios. Furthermore, AI can be a great help in automating some of the repetitive and time-consuming tasks of the creative process, such as colour correction, animation, and sound design.”

Photos: Elmo Mistiaen /// AI Generated

Ok,  I know that I just quoted a chatbot, but there is a lot of truth to what is being said there but, and it’s a massive but, the reception towards AI and its place in the arts has widely been met with criticism and for good reason. Simply put, the manner in which these AI bots are fed information is well unethical at best. As you may have recently seen, many artists publicly came out with statements about their work being fed to AI models in order to train them without their knowledge or consent.  You may think that some of these smaller, independent artists are overreacting, but when you take into consideration that Stable Diffusion, an open-source text-to-image model made use of 5.8 billion images, yes, billion images, you may want to go and see if any of your photos or artworks got nabbed. The problem was so bad that artist collective Spawning created a tool called Have I Been Trained to see if your work has been used and to make opting out far easier. 

Now, there is no way that I can settle this debate within the confines of a single article. This would need some Slavoj Žižek level of internal and external investigation and philosophising, and we may still disagree at the end of it. However, it is inherently linked to the ever-evolving, burgeoning, profoundly philosophical question of what it means to be human and what it means to be machine. We may look at artworks like Can’t Help Myself as an example of where this line is already becoming increasingly blurred. We are humans with increasingly complex relationships with our machine extensions. Let me phrase it like this. Do I fear AI? No (maybe stupidly so). Do I think we need to prepare in some way, shape, or form? Most certainly. Here I don’t mean some Skynet, Schwarzenegger Terminator type of reality – but rather to look at some of the problems we have already encountered. It’s evident that the legalities surrounding these programs and what they are and aren’t allowed to be fed should be a priority. Also, as many of you may have also seen, it seems far too easy to bypass the supposed safety features and get ChatGBT to give you some really unethical information that we shouldn’t necessarily be privy to. 

Photo1: Koooooos & Midjourney /// Prince Harry as a mouse during a party at Buckingham Palace 
Photo2: Koooooos & Midjourney /// Trying to copy another famous artist using Midjourney to see how this all works. Penguins in Northface puffer jackets.

In conclusion, models like these pose a major, and I mean major, threat to legitimacy. As the amount of content being generated by AI continues to grow and the quality of this content becomes more and more indistinguishable, what stops students from simply AI-generating essays? Journalists and novelists not using their given talents and generating a potential best seller in a matter of minutes. Will we find the next Basquiat, or will the most famous artworks of the future simply be attributed to some Silicon Valley tech corp and their undeniably impressive AI model?

Let me leave you with this as food for thought; I ran the intro of this article through a detection model that is supposed to recognise AI-generated content. The model was convinced a human had carefully considered every word, bringing that paragraph into being. I also ran the intro to an article I wrote last year through the same test, and it deemed it to be AI-generated. It seems I’m more of a machine than man.

Photos: Koooooos & Midjourney /// Andy Warhol dancing with factory workers. Desaturated and soft focus.

Published: 25 January 2023

Written by: Casey Delport

For more news, visit the Connect Everything Collective homepage www.ceconline.co.za

Schiaparelli Kicked Off Couture Week – dividing and mesmerising viewers alike

Jan 24, 2023 | News, Fashion

Daniel Roseberry has re-catapulted the house of Schiaparelli to new couture heights in the last few years. The historic brand, founded by Elsa Schiaparelli in 1927, was only recently resurrected; once a rival of Coco Chanel, Elsa would never live to see the brand as it is today; herself having closed its doors in 1954. Schiaparelli is steeped in Parisian fashion lore – not least by its designation as a ‘haute couture’ house, which is a titled only provided by law, specifically The French Couture Federation; no brand may use this epitaph or title in describing their work, and its tenets include immaculate craftsmanship, specific use of techniques, and individual design and tailoring to clientele.  

Schiaparelli joins just 15 others houses in being defined as haute couture, and allowed to participate in the sacral runway couture shows; Chanel, Christian Dior, Givenchy, Jean Paul Gaultier, Maison Margiela, Giambattista Valli, Franck Sorbier, Adeline Andre, Alexandre Vauthier, Alexis Mabille, Maurizio Galante, Stephane Rolland and Yiqing Yin.

Since his appointment as creative director, Daniel Roseberry has exceeded expectation as to what a couturier may look like in the 21st century; and for someone who once considered joining the ministry as a priest, it has been said that he acts as a vessel for higher, divine ideals of dressing – or as I term it, ‘sartorial consciousness’. As so succinctly described by the house’s website, “During his tenure, Roseberry has become known for resurrecting some of the Maison’s most beloved and influential codes and iconography, while paying homage to its founder, Elsa Schiaparelli’s love of Surrealism; at the same time, he has subverted many of those same codes, contributing a new aesthetic vocabulary with his frequent use of gold jewellery and hardware, repurposed denim, and moulded leather and metal breastplates and body parts. Like Schiaparelli herself, who was known for her technical innovations, Roseberry is particularly interested in experimenting with new or unlikely fabrics, and exploding the idea of what couture can–or should–be.”

Yesterday, 23 January 2023, Schiaparelli shocked & delighted viewers from Paris with an allegorical exhibition of eerily-realistic wolves, lions and leopards draped around models & celebrities (Kylie in her Leo element) – crystals and tailoring depicting the ingenious craftsmanship sense of craftsmanship possessed by the house. Sending waves of adulation from fashion-devotees and attendees (it was certainly a sight to behold, even from my screen) – contrasted with comments on Instagram expressing sentiments of disgust or confusion regarding animal cruelty. Some took the comment sections of Schiaparelli’s post saying “this is glorifying poaching and animal cruelty” or “trophy hunting is not fashionable”  – and another saying, “there is a fine line between couture and costume” – or “what is the message behind this supposed to be?”. Other comments suggested that the collection showcased the possibility of replicating fur so exceptionally today, that animals should never have to be harmed again. The looks in question – bulging animal heads – made up a small portion of an otherwise demure, elegant showcase.

Couture is going to be polarising, particularly in this day and age; the very essence of this practice is rooted in decadence, detail and a price-tag that most of the world will never truly be able to access. In a wild performance of ‘nature’ as our greatest architect – Roseberry’s Schiaparelli continues to embody the role of couture as a stage for the most ludicrous and surreal dreams in fashion. However, in a world where dreams are pitted against violence, war, cost-of-living crisis – is there even space anymore for luxury fashion’s most bold fantasies? 

Images: Fillipo Fior for Gorunway.com

Written by: Holly Beaton

Published: 24 January 2023

For more news, visit the Connect Everything Collective homepage www.ceconline.co.za

Ashley Benn’s Creative Lineage: Embedded in Culture & Product

Jan 23, 2023 | Interviews, Creatives

Ashley Benn comes from a very specific lineage of Cape Town creativity; a figure who sometimes discreetly, and mostly inimitably, has been part of creating what the concept of a ‘creative career’ can be in South Africa in the last decade. From Shelflife to AndPeople, and now as the founder & creative director of Room Studio (noted as an ‘interdisciplinary creative consultancy at the intersection of ideas, product and people’) – Ashley originally studied a science degree; affirming of something I hear time and again from creatives at the top of their game : the most successful stories comes from people whose point of view originates from life rather than a relational degree in creativity. You can’t really be taught what needs to be done to fulfil your career vision inside a classroom or lecture hall; but you have to be ready to learn – from anyone and everything. Creative careers are driven by intelligence, curiosity and intuition.

“My creative career dates back to university. I had started a fashion label called ‘Upper Echelon’ which was mainly focused on creating technical outerwear, and that was my first creative outlet through fashion, which was something I had always wanted. The brand was quite successful – we showed at STR.CRD which was a festival that used to happen in Joburg and we stocked a few stores like Smith & Abrahams. When I started at Shelflife, that was more around product – and I was witnessing this new industry emerge, which is really around footwear and product. I was part of the team that started the Johannesburg store for Shelflife, overseeing the online store, and helping with some buying and product. That led me to the world of adidas – which is has been quite coincidental, as it turns out.“ Shelflife remains South Africa’s most premier purveyor of sneakers; the first to do it, in securing some of the most top-tier accounts with global brands like Nike and adidas. This time that Ashley speaks of, around 2016, is when the seeds of people before like Bradley Abrahams or brands like 2Bop began to germinate into what we see now; an upward trajectory of South African visual story-telling and cultural determination. Now, with Room Studios, Ashley leads the in-house & independent agency for adidas South Africa– more on that later, but it’s critical to note in understanding the story, “we were interacting with people from adidas, and getting to know people in marketing and product – because we were launching their top tier product, and we had Yeezy’s before adidas South Africa had Yeezy’s – and apparel, and through that I connected with Mike and Duncan at AndPeople. When a position opened up in brand strategy, I moved to AndPeople and adidas became my baby, with my experience in footwear and working with the brand already. That was my first venture into the creative agency world. I didn’t really know what a creative agency was or did, which was quite funny. I really winged it at the beginning and followed my instincts.”

With a background in product – perhaps the most critical school you can come from in marketing – I ask Ashley how being product-focused at the start of his career informed his creative advertising skill, “I think it was really everything. I really do believe that marketing and advertising is about selling perception; you’re selling the idea or feeling of a product, and I was really a student of the process and information behind all the products and brands I was exposed to. I am a geek for product – everything from a shoe, to a kettle – anything that works well. Key to that was being at Shelflife, who foundationally built and introduced the culture of ‘hype’ to South Africa, almost single handedly. That taught me how to follow the process of taking something to market through educating people. It shaped my way of thinking, and my understanding of what people want. I always say to the team – marketing is not rocket science, we don’t save lives, we have this amazing opportunity to come into work everyday and have fun, and to do what we love. I’ve never looked at it from a theoretical lens or studied marketing; being immersed in the culture and everything that surrounds it, that’s where you can derive the knowledge to create something and make it work.”

Regarding his time at Shelflife, Ashley acknowledges the experience as a very specific era in which so much today is owed, “I don’t ever take for granted that I was there when this thing started. We had seen sneakers raffles, or blogs, overseas – and Shelflife were really pushing all of those things when it wasn’t mainstream culture. Sneaker culture is like pop culture, now – you can have anything at your doorstep within a week or two, it’s democratised now. We were witnessing this crest of the wave as it was happening, and we went from just seeing camp-outs and raffles online – and the first lightbulb for us was probably in 2015, when the first adidas Yeezy was released. I’ll never forget it – it was happening on Saturday, and we came into work on Wednesday, and people were chilling outside the store. We were like, what are you doing here? And they were like ‘we heard that the Yeezys are coming out, we are here for it.” That was literally like three days before. We took it as a joke at first, but each day leading up to the drop – the camp out line grew. It was crazy. That was definitely a turning moment – that was the start of hype here.”

When AndPeople closed, so too did the prolific agency’s long standing work with adidas. As Ashley puts it, “Room Studio was born from this functional need to fill a gap – and through a series of consulting work that I had been doing, the conversation started to develop into what might it look like if I could take on more, what would that require? I think adidas is a very different business to a lot of other brands, things are always changing – they need quite an agile and close-knit team. We started to conceptualise with the adidas team this idea of in-housing a creative function for their business, which is something that has been happening in Europe for a long time. I’m a very singular person, so if I can work on one brand, or one or two things at a time – and do it really well – then I’m more inclined to that. This is what Room Studios is, we have really been piloting this proof-of-concept for the last two years of creating an in-house creative function for adidas’, and across their varying units.” In cultivating a cohesive and locally contextualised expression of adidas in South Africa; Ashley and his team are wayshowers in the future how global brands can maximise their presence in a region with total authenticity. With stunning campaigns dosed with humour and sentiments wholly South African, Room Studio are behind works like The Office (featuring CEC’s gal Dee Koala) – with Ashley saying, “adidas recognises that our South African market is very nuanced with a mix of influences from europe, to a collective commitment to our own culture and its expression. We get to localise a lot of our content, which is a really good opportunity because of where South Africa and Africa is emerging on the world scene, so timing has been really perfect.” People like Ashley are setting the stage and tone for what lies ahead for South Africa’s continued autonomy, and the celebration of our local perspective as a powerful force for creativity, marketing and story-telling; this is the path ahead. We watch in anticipation.

Written by: Holly Beaton

Published: 24 January 2023

For more news, visit the Connect Everything Collective homepage www.ceconline.co.za

The sound of Zimbabwean Afrofuturism with Bantu Spaceship’s latest single

Jan 20, 2023 | Music

B a n t u S p a c e s h i p consists of Fulani Okandlovu (Vocalist/Songwriter/Artist) from Bulawayo and Joshua Chiundiza (DJ/Producer/Artist) from Harare. The duo presents a hybrid sound, merging electro, hip hop and rap, with mbaqanga, imbube, sungura, jit, chimurenga and other Bantu music styles. Specifically borrowing elements from their Ndebele and Shona Heritage, the duo blends two of Zimbabwe’s most dominant cultures into one foretelling and uncharted soundscape.

January 20th 2023 marked the launch date for ‘Bantu Electro Sungura’, the second single taken from their self-titled debut album.

Bantu Spaceship will have listeners embark on a journey. A journey that feels like you are being taken through a portal into another time: Afrofuturism. The rhythms give you a sense of the past, while you also sense the future with all the synth sounds. This track will have you playing it on repeat while you are travelling from town to village and vice versa. 

‘Bantu– Electro Sungura’ will awaken you to the future of Zimbabwean music. Ulenni’s harmonies, inspired by LMG Choir, bring a nostalgia that might touch certain emotions as the recollection rushes back, synthesised and charged with electro vibes. The dancing shoes are in full swing as the dusty village late afternoon sun meets the club night dance floor.

This is where the mark of Joshua Chiundiza, the main composer behind Bantu Spaceship, really shows up, unmasked, as he unveils what is possibly the future of authentic Zimbabwean music. The magic touch comes from contributing guitarist Sam Mabukwa – lead guitarist of Ngosimbi Crew, a band best known for their late 90s hit ‘Pamuchato WaTobias’. Mabukwa’s Sungura skills serenade the urban swag into a breathtaking sound that surely reaches other planetary lifeforms! Vocalist Ulenni Okandlovu makes a sincere plea to a lover to spare him the pain of a heartbreak. His delivery and vocal tone are reminiscent of the legendary Solomon Skuza, likely to cause a deja vu effect on those who have experienced the music of that era.

Chiundiza’s production sounds like something that was picked out of the archives of the mid-eighties Jit and Chimurenga music and then carefully blended with elements of Disco and Electronic sounds. His mix makes for a beautiful excursion through a landscape of memories lived and futures imagined. Ulenni Okandlovu, serves as the voice, the Captain of the ship, guiding us by way of Ndebele chants, laid back melodies and poetic verses. His calm nature enhances the experience as it sits comfortably on the music, creating the illusion that making music like this is an easy feat… It isn’t – uniqueness never is.

This album surely safeguards Zimbabwe’s original contemporary sounds and disrupts the conclusion that it may be swallowed in the ever changing world of music. Nyami Nyami Records have found another gem! Welcome to New Jit Wave- an adaptation of Jit music. Welcome to Bantu Spaceship. Prepare to be launched into a new paradigm. Thank goodness it’s only the beginning. 

Stream ‘Bantu Electro Sungura’ HERE

Record label: Nyami Nyami Records

Watch out for the album release: March 10th 2023 on vinyl and digital formats.

Nabihah Iqbal’s Sonic Homes between London to Cape Town

Jan 19, 2023 | Interviews, Music

Nabihah Iqbal is a citizen of the world – she has many homes, across many corners of the planet. Cape Town is one such place that Nabihah has returned to again and again; and as a multi-hyphenated musician, DJ and producer – it was in Cape Town during her MPhil degree that she played her first bigger gigs. Born and raised in London – a city that that remains her anchor no matter where she reaches out into the world – Nabihah’s return to the Mother City in the last two months has been in tandem with finishing her highly anticipated new album – as Nabihah says, “the most challenging thing I’ve ever created.” From her nearly decade long work at iconic NTS Radio, to piloting innumerable spaces for music and community to flourish such as Glory to Sound and New Music Energy – Nabihah is a sonically inclined in every facet of her being; music is her medicine, and it is through music that Nabihah interrogates, participates and understands the world.
“London is still my favourite place in the world – it’s one of those rare examples of a city where it’s multicultural, but it works and it’s integrated; everything is mixed up, and that in itself has lent to the formation of so many unique music cultures. I grew up in the middle of London, so I’ve definitely been spoiled in terms of musical opportunities that have been around me; even in terms of gigs and clubs, and watching live music from a really young age.” Home to the most pioneering online radio station originating out of Hackney – Nabihah’s long-standing residency at NTS Radio forms part of a movement unto itself. With their iconic booth, NTS founder Femi Adeyemi initiated a cultural wave most succinctly described by the station’s tagline, “for an international community of music lovers” – NTS is musicians’s favourite music platform, and has provided endless study and celebration of all variations of music from all over the world, through many ages and eras; old and new. For Nabihah, who studied an honours BA in History and Ethnomusicology at London’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) – NTS is the most perfect space. On this, she says ‘’I’ll be celebrating my 10th anniversary on the station this year, which is mad! So much music. It’s an amazing radio station, and I think they were one of the first to do it; there are a lot of online radio stations now, which is really great as they all have their own niche, but I think NTS set the course for this kind of format in many ways. It’s been an incredible pleasure to explore music through the platform; a lot of my shows have been influenced by studies, so it’s a lot about playing interesting and unusual music from all around the world, and then talking about it, too. I think now, we see a lot more DJs taking interest in different musical cultures, and there’s a lot of record labels presenting music from around the globe to a more western audience, so things have definitely come a long way since I started at NTS. The whole point of music is to share it.” NTS may no longer have its sticker-emblazoned hut studio – a pilgrimage site in inner London and mantle of contemporary musical exploration – to which Nabihah reminisces, “Our hut studio got knocked down during COVID, so a lot of people ended up presenting live from their homes, or from their other studios. I’ve gotten used to doing it at home, it saves me a lot of travel across London. It’s such a great way to share music, especially as I like so many different types of music – I’ve never felt like I had to limit myself and what I want to share, whether it’s my own music or other artists. There is a total freedom too, because with radio, you’re not trying to make people dance – you can play whatever you’d like, you’re not trying to make people move necessarily like you are during a live DJ set.” This experimental mode of NTS is such that it feels like a co-creative, co-inquisitive journey between presenter and listener; and it’s this that makes the space, and a DJ like Nabihah, sacred forces for music’s keeping in the 21st century.

When Nabihah’s husband, designer Nicholas Daley, debuted at London Fashion Week for SS18; Nabihah performed her undergraduate performance instrument, the sitar alongside Karanjee Gaba; they performed the Raga Yaman, which you can listen to  here. A strikingly complex instrument; Nabihah says of the sitar, “I had always wanted to play the sitar, and when I got to university – I finally got the chance to learn. I thought it would be a relatively easy transition, because I already played the guitar, but actually it’s so different and much, much harder. It requires a lot of physical and stamina and focus. Growing up playing other instruments, you can get away with playing things in quite a relaxed manner – with the sitar, before you start playing – you have to have your body in a very specific position. Mentally, it brings you into a whole different space. Learning about that whole tradition of music that exists across Pakistan and North India is just such a different approach to how I was used to learning music. It is an oral tradition, there is no notation, so you have to learn things by heart and just from listening and feeling; I think it’s actually much more of a profound way of interacting with music. I’ve actually for the first time ever included sitar in my own music with this new album, and that feels good.” Nabihah notes that including sitar in her new album forms part of an ongoing experience of her own identity; “Even using my real name now (Nabihah was formerly known as Throwing Shade), and to incorporate instruments from my own Pakistani heritage, yeah – its that thing of constantly experiencing your identity, who you are, the elements that you find that want to put into your art, so I feel really happy about it.”

Nabihah has been in Cape Town for two months and for those who don’t know her personally in the city, it may seem interesting that she’d be here for this long – sometimes in the mundanity and pressure of everyday life, we forget what a special place this city is. Of Nabihah’s deep connection to South Africa, she says “The first time I came here was 2008 on a family holiday and that year at uni I had done the South African history course, and that was the first time I’d been somewhere right after studying it. My professor was from Cape Town originally and he was a really good teacher, and got me really interested in the topic. When I got here, I was just so excited to be somewhere that I had been reading and writing about. After my undergrad, I went to do my masters at Cambridge – a research MPhil – and that was all about South African history. I was looking at the political role of the Black press between 1950 and 1977, and part of my research was coming out to Cape Town and Joburg. I was looking at the newspaper archives here in Cape Town and I was interviewing journalists and Black Consciousness activists here and in Joburg and Soweto. I was starting to make friends here already. After that, I did the law conversion course and the bar, and after being called to the bar, I came back to South Africa to work with a group of women activists at the Women’s Legal Centre, and I spent six months here.” The contrast of a young, intellectual life in Cape Town’s academic, activist and music scenes formed characterisation qualities in Nabihah’s life path; this is perhaps why she has returned here to see friends and spend some time in the sun, “I have such good friends here, and people are so friendly in Cape Town – I’ve made new friends and connected with old friends, and nature here alongside the food and climate; it’s a perfect combination, really. It’s always a pleasure to be back.”

In a sort of obvious, slightly cliché way, I ask Nabihah what music is to her – what has made her dedicate her artistic vision to this art form, albeit in so many ways? On this, Nabihah responds, “Well, music has always just been my favourite thing since I was a baby. I was obsessed with Michael Jackson, and I think music really is the most spiritual art form; it’s way bigger than anyone can ever understand, because when you’re at a festival and thousands of people are there to watch one band, there is some strange, surreal power behind that. Music makes me feel things that I don’t get from anything else and I don’t want that is, or how to explain it, and as a musician I am always thinking about why I make music, what’s the point of it? Everyone is on that quest, there’s something really special that we can’t articulate, but we try.” While I am not musically inclined, music exists to me in an entirely different dimension than anything else; I can be struck by a piece of art, but the intangible feeling that a song can evoke, stirring solely in my own subjective memory and experience is quite inexplicable and that this happens every minute, of every day – all across the planet – yes, Nabihah is right, I think. Music is the most spiritual art-form and force. 

Nabihah is currently celebrating finishing a four-year long album; a body of work that has required her to dig deeper than ever before, “This one has been a lot harder – the biggest, hardest thing I’ve ever had to work on. Finishing it just felt very emotional because there were so many moments where I thought I would never finish it all. One of the main obstacles was getting my studio burgled in 2020 – I didn’t have my work backed-up, so I lost two years of work and then I basically had to start from scratch again. Then I broke my hand, and then my ankle; there were so many things after the other. Normally I feel like I’m quite a resilient person, I can just get on with things, and it’s hard to be creative when you don’t feel good in your head or body. I eventually had to leave London and go to the countryside; I felt like I would focus better, living in the heart of London, the distractions are endless and so much going on. I went to Scotland, and then to Suffolk and I was totally alone. I logged out of my socials. This album is a lot more introspective, and everything in it is more specific and personal.”

Lastly, I had to know – what are Nabihah’s favourite gems in Cape Town? ‘’My number one favourite place is the Seapoint swimming pool, and that’s why I’m staying here so I can walk there everyday. As a Londoner, you don’t understand how good it feels to be living in a place where you can go to the amazing, beautiful 50 metre, outdoor swimming pool, right at the ocean, every morning. You guys are so lucky. I go swimming every morning. My favourite food discovery is probably Kleinsky’s; when I first stayed in Cape Town, my morning ritual was swimming at Seapoint, and then New York Bagel after – that’s not here anymore, and now it’s Kleinsky’s. Mali South on Long St is such a good spot, I always get things made when I’m here, and Meiga who runs the store is amazing. Then Arthur’s Mini Super which is great, and Barley Beach – which is so busy these days, when I lived here 10 years ago, there were never very many people there. Then definitely One Park! I’ve been friends with Matt (Hichens) and Aaron (Peters) for a long time – they’re kind of kingpins of the music scene here – and then to just see their trajectory, and this amazing space, is a real pleasure to see. Us three listened to the first pressing of my album together in their the other day – that was very emotional, and I never thought that the first time I would be listening to the album, in the four years of making it, would be in Cape Town with two of my oldest friends from here, in their listening bar. It was such a good moment.”

Written by: Holly Beaton

Published: 20 January 2023

For more news, visit the Connect Everything Collective homepage www.ceconline.co.za

We Are Begging 2023 to Kill Microtrends

Jan 18, 2023 | Fashion

Reality can be really, really absurd. On one hand, we have never been more urgently aware nor required to act in lieu of the devastation that is climate change; with 2022 seeing thousands of scientists participating in civil disobedience, and who have warned that the effects of our warming planet – and our (often involuntary) participation is accelerating this heating – has arrived – and that systems of governance and industry have known for decades that we would meet this point. This sits in stark contrast to the hyper-consumerist stronghold 2022 had on us all; we have never been buying and discarding more products and cosplaying in subcultures and trends than we have in the last year. While self-expression is one thing – and we have an abundance of ways to do it in our world today – journalists from Vice and GoodOnYou have been reporting on the connection between microtrends and the sinister rise and success of fast-fashion giants like SHEIN. As Maggie Zhou investigates and reports for GoodOnYou, “Micro trends are the fuel to ultra fast fashion’s engine. While they often spur organically on platforms like TikTok, brands with alarming labour and environmental track records capitalise off these micro trends to push consumption and waste to new levels.” GoodOnYou provides exceptional reporting and  the most comprehensive directory and rating system available for fashion brands and their impact on the planet, people and animals. 

So what are microtrends? These are snapshot moments that burst out of varying corners of the internet – and become obsolete just as quickly, generally by social media users; think temporarily reigning products like the Miu Miu skirt or micro-cultural predictions like ‘Indie Sleaze’, or ‘gnomecore’ – each of these variations of a microtrends exhibit an aspect of emerging collective behaviours or aspiration; this being an absolute key driver for brands like SHEIN to act fast, creating and distributing their clothing in obscenely unethical ways. In a way, it almost feels like a satirical dance we are all doing; like a responsive performance to the way technology and capitalism have intersected to embed themselves in our hearts, minds and mostly critically, our wallets; and yet, there are real-life consequences for the seemingly harmless or nonsensical proliferation of microtrends. In Izzy Copestake’s brilliant piece for Vice, titled ‘Please Stop Falling for Microtrends’, she speaks to sustainable fashion educator Tom Crisp, who says, “The trends prey on our insecurities about the way we look and feel,” he says, “encouraging us to consume more in order to stay on trend. These clothes are often designed to be worn once or twice before being thrown away,” says Crisp. “So this consumption adds to fashion’s huge waste clothing problem, especially for the Global South, where most of this waste ends up, destroying local environments and local fashion and textile industries. These clothes are overproduced and generally made from fossil fuel-derived plastics, further adding to the environmental and climate emergency through oil extraction, chemical pollution and causing microplastics to leach into soils and seas degrading the ecosystem.” 

When quirky, collective micro-movements or identities such as fairycore / cottagecore / Gorpcore and normcore (etc, etc) are unable to be independent of hyper-consumption; we have a problem. Perhaps only the rise of thrifting seems to err on the side of caution around consumption – with Gen-Zs leading the charge, and thrifting being one of the biggest ways in which we consume. In a conversation among CEC’s team, the starting sentiment to the year was stylistic exhaustion – with our designer, Briony Blevin, saying, “I don’t even know what to wear anymore.”; this appears to be the precise notion of the 21st century. With the 2000s marked by y2K pop style, and the 2010s by ‘indie sleaze’ – alongside trend cycles shortening, will style remain neatly packaged into decades as with the hippies of the 1960s or grunge and hip-hop in the 1990s? While these are markers of the youth, over-culture – not everyone was wearing plaid in the 90s – how do we throw caution to the wind of our own sense of style, and bow out of the demanding, trickle-down seasons of the runway that find their way onto shelves in our local stores? As always, my rule is buy less – thrift as often as possible – and invest in pieces that I can see myself wearing in years to come; pieces that might only need accessories to draw into a different ‘iteration’ of style. As for the rest? I hope we can find a way through the materialism defining who we feel ourselves to be…and still look cute while doing it.

///
Images:
Bratz doll: Sonia Singh.
Miu Miu miniskirt: Estrop/Getty Images.
Jethro Nepomuceno: Dazed
Panos Pictures Public Eye: Shein
Snood: Calvin Klein

 

Written by: Holly Beaton

Collage by: Briony Blevin

Published: 19 January 2023

For more news, visit the Connect Everything Collective homepage www.ceconline.co.za

MARTIN MAGNER™ On Doing It Himself

Jan 17, 2023 | Interviews, Creatives

Martin Magner™ was raised by pop culture; a child of the nineties and the noughties, who (obvs) counts Gaga as his Patron Saint. Yet, in Martin’s worldwide domination as a ‘Pop Sensation’ (and, a creative director in NYC at Virtue Worldwide, an agency powered by Vice) – the referential nostalgia is kept at a bare minimum. Yes, the idea of the pop sensation was somewhat perfected at the turn of the millennium; Britney leading that charge, with seismic fame, fortune and untenable pressure. Yet Martin’s approach is perhaps more futuristic. The y2K spirit is there, sure – but Martin is a new kind of pop sensation. Parallel, and intersecting with his pop career is his work as a global leader in advertising; multi-faceted, mult-dimensional, front-facing and behind the scenes. Martin is not a pop star because he was scouted in a mall here in the Cape Town or in LA – and he’s not a pop star to cut cheques for old, white men in suits; Martin is a pop star because he claimed this personification for himself, “I woke up one day and realised no one was going to make me a pop star, so I decided to do it myself.”  and whether its performance, or wholly the vision, that’s a secret he’ll never tell. XoXo.

(That question is also irrelevant. This is 2023, where free-reign and even freer expression is the only pursuit.)

Martin’s origin story begins at Red & Yellow – Creative School of Business, after high school in Paarl, being in the Mother city stoked the fire of Martin’s expression, “I got to Red & Yellow and I was like, this is going to be my High School Musical moment, where I can be Troy Bolton. I realised I could be creative and be insane; I could be myself in a way I had not been able to, before. It was an iconic time, I met all my friends, and I was able to go out and experiment with who I can and can’t be. The photos from that time are beautifully chaotic – that’s where Paul Ward and I met, and he would find me on the dancefloor,and photograph me. I got a taste of winning awards at Red & Yellow, I worked very hard, and once that happened – I was like, okay, do I want more of these?” That time in the early 2010s is a specific moment to be remembered; it was the apex of blogging and the rise of Instagram, and photographers (now a film director) like Paul were shooting youth culture in its edification in clubs like Assembly and bars like Fiction. It was the kind of moment when creative kids on the scene realised that they could be something; creative careers took off in a way that was never possible before. During this time, with that magical, uncanny 20 year old super power to party hard and work even harder; Martin reached a plethora of career milestones that most people dream of in their entire career, before he was 21, “I won a D&AD at 19 and was in London, and then the Loeries, and then I was sent to New York for the Clio Awards for design. Things happened very fast, and I felt like a bit of an Adele at college with all my statues. That forced me to approach Ogilvy – which at the ripe age of 21, was a bit cocky – and I didn’t have to show my portfolio that I had worked so hard, and found myself as a junior art director with my friend Anna Nurse, she was my writer, and we were a creative team. We spent days photoboothing, pretending to work; making a reality TV show of it, because we weren’t getting the work we wanted. We were junior creatives in a massive ad agency – no one was taking us seriously, at all. After three months, I was like – I’m done, I’m resigning.” This kind of youthful hubris was Martin’s making; and it fostered a kind of self-belief that has proven indispensable to carving a path that was precisely in line with the kind of work he wanted to make. A big wake-up for Martin was understanding that work was not just going to come to him – he says, “I was in the best position I could have been at my age and instead I went to work as a Chinese-food delivery boy. My reasoning back then was that I worked for Monks because I felt like I needed to be thanked for what I did at Ogilvy. Hysterical. I spent evenings doing deliveries, and days working on my craft and building my brand – making connections and freelancing – and then six months in, I moved to London. Suddenly, the struggle began. I had to use my portfolio, I had to use my CV; doors were getting closed in my face. I walked into Wieden Kennedy‘s office and said, ‘Hi, I’m Martin, I’m from South Africa and I really want to work here.’ and the receptionist was like, ‘Um, this is not how you do this.’ I eventually got a job through a recruiter, and I was sitting in London pretty much with the exact same job as I had in Cape Town. All I could do was immerse myself in the city, and take myself to bars and clubs totally alone. It’s the best way to learn; even now, I prefer to hire people who haven’t been trained by the industry, but rather whose life experience and craft is drawn from other places – DJs, artists, poets – who can channel lived experience is the key, because ultimately we are in the business of connecting with people. I’m not trying to sell you something you don’t need.”

Martin’s dance with Ogilvy wasn’t over – and eventually went onto build the social department with Dan Nash, approaching it with a new mindset. It was a phone call from Mike Leslie at AndPeople that changed everything; “someone had told him about me, and he made a position for me at AndPeople. That was the best move I made; it was an iconic agency. It’s some of the best work I’ve done, and some of the best fun I’ve had with the best people. We were a small agency, and our clients trusted us; they felt like friends. All the work we did for adidas was people first – human centric. NTWRK AREA3 was a project we created for the youth of South Africa to take a global brand and make it their own. When people ask me what my style was, I didn’t really have one; I handed a lot over to the youth, allowing them to guide me.” When AndPeople closed – the decision was to close their doors when the pandemic hit, and end on a high note and a really good, final package. With an interim stint at Ogilvy yet again – Martin says, “one thing about me? I always go back. Love, life – I always go back.” After being put into a meeting with Vice, Martin’s next chapter was sealed; Vice Media & its agency, Virtue, are where Martin is currently, “I think we were in the web3 world before many people. The Coke NFT project was my first highlight, and the NFT sold for half a million dollars, with all proceeds going to charity. It pushed me into a space I knew nothing about. They gave me Space Coke – which became Starlight, they changed the colour, taste and I got to put a popstar on the can that you could watch with augmented reality. I was styling Ava Max from my Gardens apartment, telling her she has to wear the Mugler bodysuit – I was in my total element. I found a niche within the Coke business that connected them with Gen-Z. It’s taking the world’s most democratic brand – Coca-Cola is the second most recognizable world after ‘hello’ and I’ve found so much of my own life is blending with my work, which is amazing. They’ve really bought into having a pop-star creative director, and I bring that work.”

When Martin emerged as a self-professed Pop Sensation – the audaciousness was enviable; Martin reflects on the most ‘serious’ manifestation of his personal rebrand, “I realised very quickly that who I am outside of work is actually going to influence who I am at work. I made a decision to be extraordinary in my personal life, because it helps clients know my level of assertiveness. I really channelled YOLO. I woke up and was like, no one is going to tell me I’m a popstar – I’m not getting discovered like Charlize was found in a bank – I needed to do that myself. I created a song, shot the video – annoyed a few people, but any attention is better than none. The ones who doubted me have turned around and have become Magnets, and it’s so different from the creative career I’ve had – I get to be many things, and express all the parts of myself, and none of it has to be hidden or kept apart from each other. I’m finding so much unity and authenticity between my personal life, my career and who I am finally allowing myself to be. At 29 I got on the phone with my parents, and told them I like boys – for the first time in my life, in 2021. That was the moment where everything shifted; I don’t want to hide, I want to live it fully.” This tenderness is what sets Martin apart from egotism; being a Pop Sensation is a love-letter to himself, to the young boy who survived Paarl Boys High; and in unison with his people-centred creative work; it makes for a true star behind and in front of the camera, both literally and figuratively.

Lastly, but certainly not least, is a piece of work that defines the altruistic potential of technology in the right hands; in a dystopian world, approaching the singularity, Martin’s co-creation of Backup Ukraine is a project that has defied the possibilities of how citizens can respond to war when it arrives on their doorstep; Martin explains, “It’s one of the most rewarding projects I’ve ever worked on. It started as a conversation between my creative partner Iain and I, we were saying how can we help, as two guys in advertising? Iain told me that Notre Dame can be rebuilt because a gaming company 3D scanned the building for a game, and so when it burnt down; the gaming company had the 3D files to recreate it. That’s when the light bulb went on, and Backup Ukraine was born. What if we backed up Ukraine on the Cloud, by equipping their citizens with a 3D scanning app on their phone?  The project has collected 50 awards in the last four months, but it was never about that. Now we have thousands of citizens scanning their city; and not only monuments. We have people scanning park benches where they had their first kiss, their apartments where their memories are made – kids are scanning their toys. It’s all safe, all those memories.”

Martin is made of many creative threads – and is mastering the way in which he yields the M To be serious and deep – to be joyful and iconic – to be living in New York City, with three singles coming out and an advertising career made of stardust; Martin Magner™ is the real deal, and South Africa’s very own icon. With a new, darker shadow-era of Martin’s pop career ahead; we wait with baited breath to witness a Pop Sensation’s joy ride through reality.

Written by: Holly Beaton

Published: 18 January 2023

For more news, visit the Connect Everything Collective homepage www.ceconline.co.za