3. 3
Welcome to the first issue of Casted. We are a
London based digital fashion and style magazine.
We aim to bring you new and innovative style
trends, merging art and fashion, pushing
boundaries and diversifying the publishing
industry. We believe in freedom of expression and
interpretation.
In this first issue we explore ‘Fantasy’ fashion
within London lifestyle. Our main feature was
shot in the stunning grounds of the Horniman
Museum. We chose this venue as it has a real
fantasy feel, with the beautiful botanical gardens,
and unique sundials which we incorporated into
our shoot. We also have an exciting interview
with up and coming fashion designer Jazz Grant.
Using the infamous Jamaican drug lord who
disguised in woman clothes to hide from police.
Her new collection DUDUS plays on femininity in
menswear without compromising the masculinity
of the man who wears it.
As Jazz says “The US government put Jamaica
on lockdown to find him, and everyone was
trying to hide him from the police. When they
did eventually find him he’d been dressed in
disguise in women’s clothing. I’m not sure
exactly whose clothing they are, but I liked the
idea of it being the people of the community who
were so desperate to hide him, disguising (him)
in what they had.”
We style everything from High Fashion to Street
style. We aim to create inventive and unique
fashion looks. Fashion is constantly evolving and
changing and so is Casted!
CASTED
Editor in chief
Olivia Tait
Editor
Zuzanna Osiecimska
producer
Bonnie Wang
Vanessa Ohenlen
Writer
Zuzanna Osiecimska
Photography/Design
Melisa Makong’o
Ellen Shellakker
Research
Hollie Mctaggart
Alice Mazzolini
models
Katy Davidson
Vanessa Ohenlen
Ehigie
Wesley
Lewis
5. 5
There is an air of spectacularity and superiority that only luxury fashion can convey. It’s
not so much about the legacy behind the brand or the number of digits on the price tag,
but about the ability to capture a vision in the form of an artwork that is each design.
Runway shows are opportunities for viewers to visually experience every collection and
to be impressed by the mastery and perceptiveness of the designer. What is certain is
that not all (if any) pieces are meant to be worn- high fashion is meant to be adored. It’s
meant to transport the audience into the unique, fantasy world of the designer. That
fantasy often knows no limits.
In 1981 Vivienne Westwood debuted her first collection “Pirates” inspired
by the legends of pirates and the historic colonisation of America. Baggy, low-cut
trousers, traditional hats and oversized, puffy shirts were almost a mirror-image of the
16th century sailor fashion.
Along with her other primary
collections such as “Buffalo”,
“Time Travel” and “Hypnos”
she has managed to show
incredible versatility, finding
inspiration in motives from
greek goddesses and Peruvian
dancers, to magic signs and
hip hop. “Sometimes you need
to transport your idea to an
empty landscape and then
populate it with fantastic
looking people”- were the
words she used to describe
one of her earliest collections.
It only proves how much she
believed in creating pieces
that are extraordinary and
outstanding.
If there was one
designer that has strayed from
functionality and mundanity
to, instead, focus on a world
of imagination and fairy-tale
fashion, it was undoubtedly
Alexander McQueen.
When becoming chief designer
at Givenchy he immediately
brought with him a unique,
enchanting aesthetic. His first
and one of the most memorable
shows under the French brand
was Haute Couture S/S 1997.
White, gold and diamonds,
accompanied by attributes of
Greek mythical creatures had
created a scene of luxury and
magnificence. Models were
either nymph-like queens,
with delicate yet detailed
jewellery, or goddesses
dressed in elegant armour
with elaborate head pieces.
It is also impossible not to
mention Alexander McQueen’s
Givenchy Haute Couture F/W
1998/1999 show. Set in a
mystical scenery, the clothes
reflected the darker, wilder
side of the designer’s imagination. Thanks to colourful feathers, Robin Hood references,
dresses resembling those from Alice in Wonderland, many flowers and finally a white
horse, the runway looked like a magical movie scene.
Rodarte’s 2015 Spring collection was also a love letter to fantasy in fashion.
A sea-colour palette and glistening, light fabrics often resembling fish scales, were
a clear reference to the fairy-tale world of mermaids and sea kingdoms. The Rodarte
designers have not abandoned their exploration of dreamy aesthetics, however, bringing
to life their new SS17 collection. It’s difficult to determine only one influence for the
designs. The looks range from medieval fashion, through early 20th century brides
to Spanish dancers. What’s certain is that every model looks like a princess and the
fantasy elements interchangeably bring out either their girlish innocence or tomboyish
fierceness.
Incorporating the fantasy theme into fashion collections was definitely not
just a passing trend. Its longevity proves itself in the amount of collections from the
current season which build on a magical, artistic-more-than-wearable idea. During the
September 2017 London Fashion Week alone, a lot of designers have showcased pieces
which were clearly inspired by a world far different than the real one.
In her Ready-to-Wear Spring 2017 collection, Mary Katrantzou has taken
the viewers on a journey of ancient Greek images and hypnotising patterns. The bold
colours and a strong choice of print would dominate in any crowd. The collection
is certainly captivating but a lot of the pieces might not find use in everyday life,
simply because people are rarely brave enough in their style. In terms of creating
the experience of an extravaganza of colour however, Mary Katrantzou has done an
amazing job.
Gareth Pugh has taken an entirely different approach in his Ready-to-
Wear Spring 2017. The mood is darker and tailoring is much more structured. What
dominates is a geometrical theme in the form of gold stripes and pointy shapes.
Some of the models have
black lipstick on, others are
wearing complicated head
decorations, few have their
faces completely covered.
It all looks very futuristic,
almost as if it were clothes
designed for beautiful space
warriors.
Lastly, Simone Rocha has
proven just how diverse the
London fashion scene is in
terms of inspiration. Her
Ready-to-Wear Spring 2017
is a soft play on innocent
yet strong femininity.
Some designs resemble
old-fashioned schoolgirl
outfits, others dresses
at sophisticated balls.
There’s a positive chaos of
asymmetric transparent
fabrics, flowers, frills
and polka dots, which
transports the viewer into
a calm and artistic fantasy.
The frustration
that many people feel
when looking at high
fashion collections is
understandable. What they
see are very expensive
pieces of clothing that
don’t look wearable and
therefore worth their
reputability. So why do
designers choose to go in
a direction of fantasy when
creating their clothing,
knowing that it might not
necessarily resonate with
the people’s needs?
The answer is simple- they
are artists. Fashion is
without a doubt a form of
art and it should not be
restricted by guidelines
or rules. Every collection
is like telling a story. Of
course, some stories are
more relatable than others- they don’t require thinking, they appear more practical,
we understand them instantly. But it’s stories that amaze us that truly leave an
impression. Designers who create from the depths of their imagination and from a
passion for what they are trying to communicate are those who create clothes that
are genuine. It’s easy to make something functional that has been worn before, but it
won’t be quite as enchanting as a magical, extraordinary piece which isn’t practical
whatsoever.
Creativity should never be limited because the fruits that it can bring are timeless
and influential.
COAT.chloéDRESS.topshopSHOES.stevemadden
8. 8
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11. 11
InterviewwithJazz
GrantJAZZ GRANT IS A RECENT MENSWEAR GRADUATE FROM THE LONDON
COLLEGE OF FASHION. HER DEBUT COLLECTION “DUDUS”, INSPIRED BY AN
UNLIKELY STORY OF A JAMAICAN DRUG LORD, EXPLORES THE THEMES OF
MASCULINITY, FEMININITY AND FREEDOM OF CREATIVE EXPRESSION. WE
TALKED TO HER ABOUT HER DESIGNS, THE FASHION INDUSTRY AND THE
DIFFICULT YET IMMENSELY CREATIVE REALITY OF LONDON.
Tell us more about your collection and the inspiration behind it.
I was talking to my dad about the fact that I wanted to find an
interesting concept that was gonna keep me interested for a
year and I knew I wanted it to be based on a person. He started
telling me about this guy called Christopher “Dudus” Coke- he
was an infamous drug dealer in Jamaica in the early 90’s. He
was so successful as a drug dealer that he was globally hunted
(because) he was trafficking drugs to the USA, the UK and all
over the world. In Jamaica, some of the smaller communities
really respected him, because he put a lot of that money back into
the places that he grew up (in), that where really poor. The US
government put Jamaica on lockdown to find him, and everyone
was trying to hide him from the police. When they did eventually
find him he’d been dressed in disguise in women’s clothing. I’m
not sure exactly whose clothing they are, but I liked the idea of it
being the people of the community
who were so desperate to hide him,
disguising (him) in what they had.
I’m thinking maternal women, like
older aunties or grandmas, with
their horrible old curtains. Because
it was women’s clothing I wanted
to play on this really traditional
feminine clothing. I wanted to also
somehow still keep it about his
masculinity and about him being a
very traditionally Jamaican guy. In
Jamaica they’re very homophobic,
so the idea of him dressing as a
woman was sort of ironic. That
clashed between him being a very
ferocious drug dealer but dressed
in this women clothing. That was the sort of image I was playing
around with. It’s kind of based on a true story but I imagined it in
a way that I wanted it to be for my project.
Aren’t you worried that men might be hesitant to wear clothing
with such apparent feminine influences?
A lot of people have asked if it’s about gender, and it wasn’t really.
It was more about disguise and dressing up- being ironic. I put
a show on in this African street festival, and one thing that was
quite funny was that the security guard who was working there
came up to me after seeing some of the clothes and he completely
didn’t get it. He was like: “so you’re making clothes for gay men?”.
Such a narrow-minded way of seeing it. It’s interesting as well
because he’s probably coming from a not very creative point of
view. He just sees it as: “it’s ridiculous that guys would wear
things like that”. But, to be honest, ideally, my idea was that
these guys would wear (the clothes) but they’d still be masculine.
There’s an attitude that I pick up on in Jamaican culture where a
lot of Jamaican men wear whatever the fuck they want, and still
look fucking cool. And suddenly everyone (is) wearing it. The
disguising themselves as women thing got on for other drug
dealers in Jamaica. They all started dressing up like that
and, suddenly, it’s not about what they would have seen as
an embarrassing thing to do. They didn’t really care anymore,
because they set their own precedent. When it comes to
actually wearing (the collection), I guess a lot of it is not really
wearable, but that wasn’t really the point of it anyway. It’s not
fashion, it’s an idea created.
Why focus mainly on menswear, when the majority of young
designers go into the womenswear direction?
I was doing womenswear (at university). I did a year and a
half there. That was because I was making clothes for myself
when I was growing up. It was always
womenswear, I didn’t even consider
doing menswear. As I was on the
course, I was talking to my friend
and I realised that all the clothes I
was designing were actually very
ambiguous- they were more towards
menswear but they were for women.
And then I realised (that) the designers
that I was most interested in were
menswear designers. Then when I
started at London College of Fashion
I was doing menswear and it was all
quite structured, quite sporty. So in
the final year, suddenly I wanted to do
something different. I had come from
this structured menswear point of view
and I just thought that it fit in better with what I wanted to
do. I came away from the womenswear perspective. It’s harder
to do something original for womenswear. The feminine thing
has already been done, so you can’t make the same statement.
Is this the direction and style you will maintain in your
future collections?
Right now I’m working for a menswear brand but we’re
working on a womenswear element. What’s quite nice about
that for me is that- I always said when someone has asked me
that before- I think I’d like to go predominantly into menswear
and then if womenswear happens, then it would be from a
menswear point of view, which is happening at the brand that
I’m at. We’re looking at using what we have for menswear and
then seeing how it would work for womenswear. For me, the
way that I dress, I prefer that kind of aesthetic anyway. I like
the masculine vibe on a woman. And it can be very elegant. I
can see myself doing both, really.
“THEY ALL STARTED DRESSING UP
LIKE THAT AND, SUDDENLY, IT’S NOT
ABOUT WHAT THEY WOULD HAVE
SEEN AS AN EMBARRASING THING
TO DO. THEY DIDN’T REALLY CARE
ANYMORE, BECAUSE THEY SET THEIR
OWN PRECEDENT”
12. 12
Is the London fashion scene ready for that sort of gender fluidity?
In both women’s fashion week and men’s fashion week,
(womenswear and menswear) are starting to merge together. You
have female models walking in men’s shows. That’s what I see
happen quite a lot. A lot of the designers for menswear are already
playing on this womenswear idea. For me personally, I wanted to
take it away from being about gender blurring, because that’s a
very asexual vibe. I liked the idea of feminine ideas, with it still
being menswear. There’s a lot of avenues you can take within that
and that is being explored by the young London.
From your perspective, what are the main influences for young
designers here?
It depends on the designer, really. There are different remits of
designers. Some are really new, really creative- the young type.
A lot of them are focusing on the clubbing scenes or the youth
cultures within London, and they’re playing on that. Then,
the further up you go, the more refined you go. It’s more about
luxury and lifestyle. I’ve seen a lot of
dismantled fashion coming into the
young designers’ influences- taking
fashion, breaking it apart and putting
it back together. In menswear I think
it is a lot about trying to break the
boundaries that have been set for so
long. Now they’re being broken.
Are young designers in London
taken seriously by the fashion
industry?
Some really hit a note in the wider
fashion industry. But then I think
that a lot of them struggled to meet
the demands that this really strict
industry has. At the
same time, London
is so great for young
creative designers, so
I think people really appreciate
that. Actually, those designers
need to be there to influence
the more solidified brands. I think
you can’t really have one without the
other, because it keeps (the industry)
refreshing and exciting. But, in the terms
of longevity, they can be a bit of a fad, a
bit of a “oh yeah, that’s great, we love it!”
but then- “what else have you got?”. And if
you can’t keep doing it to the pace that they
need you to, then brands might start to fizzle
out. I think it depends on the brand, the designer
and the tone. Timing is so important. If you
get the right sort of collection out at the right
time, you might be able to keep going. But
I’ve seen brands that I thought would do
massively well and we don’t know
where they are anymore.
How do you feel about
creating in London?
It’s really hard. It’s so
tough. My final year
at uni was an absolute
headache. London is so
fucking expensive and that’s
really restricting. I knew that
I needed to be really practical
with the way that I source
fabrics because I don’t want
to let my finances get in the
way of creating what I want
to create. But you’ve got to be
realistic. That was an obstacle
but, at the same time, you have
to have these limits because
that’s the real world. Being in
uni there were a
lot of
13. 13
people who didn’t have the same restrictions that I did. They had
more money basically. I was making everything myself which
meant that the quality wasn’t as high as some of the other students’
who were able to get it manufactured professionally. It was kind of
frustrating but there was a lot to be gained from it. Even though it might
not have been as perfect as you wanted it to be, you’ve created it yourself.
I think there’s still quite a creative hub in London. Creative hubs (are
known) as being born out of poor areas, because that’s where the
creative people can go and be creative more freely. The
more expensive it gets, the harder it is for those
people to keep producing- they have to be more
practical.
What advice would you give to an
aspiring fashion designer?
The only thing that got me through
the final year was really the need to
complete and create what my vision
was. If I didn’t have that energy for it,
I would have struggled. You have
got to really, really want to do it
and be able to focus yourself.
I wrote off my social life for
a year because that’s what
it took. So if you’ve got that
drive and it’s the only thing
you want to do, then I think
(you need to) just be prepared
to put everything into (it).
We complained all the time
but we still managed to get
it done. Don’t let hindrances
like that hold you back.
Be resourceful and
find your way around
problems that come
up.
There are two
approaches to
perceiving London
fashion- the
fantasy approach and the reality approach. One of them is influenced by
the luxurious, glamorous side of the city, the other by the urban culture
and street style. Which one of these do you think is more adequate to
what fashion in London is really like? Which one feels more significant
to you?
It’s quite funny because, growing up, being in London for five years
and being surrounded by like-minded people in similar situations,
all you see is the gritty, street culture that is young people culture.
The culture that surrounds you is the places that you can afford
to live (in). I was living in Peckham, Camberwell and that’s where
all the students were. That’s the London that was defined for me.
But when you get to Harrods- that fantasy is a real fantasy. When
I think of New York I have a similar thing- I just see the glitzy
side of it. You’re an outsider, a spectator. You’re coming in
either very new (with) lots of money or as a tourist. You think
of it as the (fantasy) side. But the reality I think depends
on where you want to be. For me, I see the luxury side
as almost the London that I don’t see. Like a different
London, something that’s not attainable for me-
maybe it will be one day- but right now it’s more
of an idea, something you know about but
can’t be involved with. Unless you end up
working at Harrods or something. Now
I’m working for this luxury menswear
designer. We’re talking about meeting
up with people from Harrods (about) who
might stock the clothing. So that’s seeing
that world but from a different point of view.
It’s not because I can go and shop there,
it’s because we’ve managed to create the
products.
In future would you like to be more involved with luxury or
urban fashion?
Right now I’m working for a brand and they’re very luxury. And
that wasn’t something that I knew was gonna happen. But it’s
really fucking interesting, because I’ve worked for designers
before and they were just coming up. They weren’t really
associated with that yet, they were more associated
with just creating the clothing. Actually, it is a bit
luxury, because all the young designers
(are) trying to sell to the luxury
customers, because they’re the
only people who’ve got money.
Which is kind of ironic because
(for) a lot of the young
designers, the club scenes
are (what’s) influencing
their brands. They are
therefore directed at
a young person, but
these young people
aren’t able to buy the
clothing, so there’s a
contradiction there.
I don’t know, I’m
just gonna see what
happens.
Do you have any
specific sources of
inspiration and influence when
creating?
I find (that) men when they’re
in certain situations create
this style really naturally and
I find that really inspiring.
I think that happens a lot
in places that don’t have
a lot of money because
they’re not buying the
style, they’re creating it
from what they’ve got,
which is often very limited. I think that’s really inspiring. Also,
I’ve always been drawn to textures and textiles so I guess that
was another element of inspiration- what you can do with fabric. I
think the reason I was drawn to fashion in the first place was the
idea of creating something 3D from something so flat. It was just
the beauty of that.
As a young designer is there something especially important
that you would like to change in the London fashion scene? How
would you like to influence it?
I guess in the ideal world I’d be able to (create that collection) and
that was all that needed to happen, and I would just keep creating
collections. But obviously it has to be determined by the customer
and shops in order for it to grow. I guess it would be about having
a bit more freedom in the way that people dress. And if everyone
had a lot of money we could just be buying all this beautiful shit.
Designers could keep designing, creating without having to be too
conscious about wearability. Although I do find wearability and
practicality important elements of design, but that’s a different
route. Wearable, luxury, fashion is something that interests me but
you are always sacrificing to a certain extent, because it becomes
less and less about what initially inspired me, which was “what
can I create out of a flat piece of fabric?”. It becomes more about:
“What does that guy wanna wear?” It would be nice to be able to
have a balance that was more in favour of creativity, I suppose.
20. 20
Julia & Fiorella, from Barcelona
How were your expectations of London
different from what you found here?
Fiorella: I imagined something different. I’ve never been
here before.
Julia: I think London is good in terms of opportunities. You
get to meet people that are associated with the subject
that you want to explore. At the same time, I think that
London is pretty cold as a city. People are quite distant,
everyone is in their own groups. They don’t really like to
socialise.
Fiorella: That was the surprise. It’s not easy to approach
and meet people, even though it’s a very multicultural
place.
Do you think people here focus a lot on
luxury fashion or are they more urban and
creative?
Fiorella: Urban.
Julia: I would say that as well. Everybody’s wearing what
they want to wear.
Fiorella: They don’t really care.
Dora, from China
Is it your first time in London?
No, I’ve been here before.
And how were your expectations of London
different from what you found when you moved
here?
The prices are higher than my expectations. Transport did not meet
my expectations- it’s too old.
What about the fashion here?
Actually, I’m quite satisfied with that. In London, everybody can
wear different clothes, different hairstyles. No one will judge them. I
feel quite free to do everything here in terms of my style.
Do you think that people here follow any specific
trends?
In my conception, fashion can be an effect of someone saying
something that we need to follow. But here, everyone is themselves.
There is no correct way.
Q&A
