Set under the arches of The Bike Shed on Old Street, an evening of fashion films opened with a panel discussion on British style and subcultures with a line-up of i-D friends and family; photographer and documentary filmmaker Ewen Spencer, East London royalty Princess Julia, artist Matthew Stone and designer Henry Holland. Couldn’t make it? Here’s what you missed…
Henry Holland on the meeting of fashion and music…
“It’s a bit about finding your genre of music, and then the dressing up comes with it.”
Princess Julia on just how awesome she really is…
“I’m pleased to say that I’ve been a part of almost every youth culture movement since the 1970s… in fact, I’m sure I’ve been at a rave here before.”
Matthew Stone on the realities of London life…
“I genuinely think that because nobody really gets paid in London, you end up with creative scenes rather than industries.”
Princess Julia on whether there even is an ‘underground’ anymore…
“I think there is. There will always people getting together and jazzing things up in a different way. The thing is, when you’re in a movement you never think that you’ll influence things that much or that your scene will be a thing in the future. But things like Charles Jeffrey and Loverboy… people gravitate towards them… and they gravitate towards me funnily enough!”
Ewen Spencer on key subcultures today…
“What’s defining things right now is the sense of network. I think that while a key subculture is yet to be defined, what’s interesting is young people in West London re-appropriating 90s working class culture and wearing vintage Moschino shirts, getting things from Wavey Garms, and putting on garage and jungle nights.”
Henry Holland on whether editorial is still relevant in 2016…
“Editorial is still important because it’s great to have people interpreting your pieces and creating their own stories and context. It also means you have good content for Instagram! We’re all just constantly needing and creating content, so in a way it’s Instagram that makes everything happen so fast.”
Princess Julia online…
“It’s interesting the way in which we communicate nowadays – a different sort of DIY. I’m on every single platform apart from snapchat but I think it’s rly interesting. It’s almost like that is our subculture. You only really communicate with your immediate people but then you have your followers and it’s just a way of connecting. But then not everything is on the Internet. Some things you can’t find online so in that respect its good to experience things in the real world.”
Ewen Spencer on print media…
“Magazines become more important because the quality is refined a little bit more – a photograph is more iconic and has more power than a 90 second film.”
Princess Julia on making trying everything out…
“I think trends are mostly being regurgitated and it’s really interesting. Also, we’re all allowed to be whatever we want: DJs, filmmakers, artists. There are so many different avenues to express ourselves. I’m enjoying it!”
Matthew Stone on the future of subculture…
“I think that at this point it’s less the idea of subculture being under dominant culture and not understood, and more of brands engaging with subcultures. And as is progresses, these things, whether Grime or whatever, will become mainstream and we’ll have a different idea of it.”
The panel discussion was followed by the first screening of the trio of autumn/winter 16 films and an after party with DJ sets from Jonjo and James Massiah, whilst guests drank Tanqueray Gin & Tonics and Hop House Lager.