See more of the inspirations on ACF
Sunday, 19 May 2013
Friday, 17 May 2013
Wednesday, 15 May 2013
Tuesday, 14 May 2013
THE UNERRING PANACHE OF SAVILE ROW TAILOR, SAM LAMBERT
Fans of classicist men’s style have undoubtedly seen Sam Lambert photographed countless times at all the major European fashion shows. Everywhere he goes, he is always precisely fitted, with his ever-present trademark beard, thick-framed glasses and expertly mounted gentleman hats. His overall presentation is consistently flawless, and his demeanor represents a cross between a dapper 1960’s Harlem Jazz player and a well-pressed Beatnik poet. But beneath the pitch-perfect veneer is a skilled artisan. Lambert is a Savile Row tailor of the highest order. He is the present Head of Design at Spencer Hart in London, and the co-founder of the creative style agency, ART COMES FIRST.
If there was ever anyone to chat with about the finer aspects of classic and vintage menswear, one couldn’t do better than the talented Mr. Lambert.
Did your introduction into tailoring come about through you love for vintage clothing, or did you love for vintage garments come first?
Well my tailoring background came from my father being a tailor. But my love for vintage began because my mother used to buy big containers of vintage clothes, and she would wholesale them to people at the flea market back home. As a child, I didn’t really realize how cool it was that I could get the first pick before everyone else.So I have to say they came together at same time, literally. You could say tailoring is from my Dad and vintage is my Mum.
What is it about vintage items that appeal to you the most? Is it the sense of garments maintaining an intrinsic value, or is it more about vintage items/heirlooms becoming better and more distinguished over time?
What appeals to me first is the fabric, so definitely it’s the heirloom factor. Back then, the fabrics had character which made them relevant and inspiring till this day. Pieces from the past were well-crafted with utilitarian detailing, and a lot of thought was put into them. It wasn’t just designing, it’s pure art. From the weaver, the tailor, even to the designer, everyone put sand into the stone.
You had your own tailored clothing brand in Sweden for five years, and you’ve also worked on Savile Row. What were the major differences in tailoring fundamentals and execution between both places?
With my own shop, we had a very sartorial sport approach. Everything was a learning process. We made design features out of mistakes. Savile row was about refreshing my mind in what my Dad used to do when I was child. We at Art Comes First call it “hand me down” knowledge. In the Row, it’s all about the classics, but with what I was doing with my brand before and the knowledge I got from Savile Row, it has made my design skills more mature and humble.I learn from the classics and add a youth, quirk twist without overdoing it.
What are the main building blocks of your wardrobe and what do you add on as finishing flourishes?
My main building blocks are always a well-fitted grey suit, white shirt in every collar shape, and a well-fitted good vintage leather jacket biker or aviator. The most important finishing touches are well-polished footwear and well-pressed garments.
What are the key vintage pieces you own that will forever be a mainstay in your closet?
My biker leather jacket, my collection of club ties, my half-framed glasses, and last but not least my camel Db6 suit from an old Italian brand called Febus.
Tell us about your Art Comes First platform. Why was it started and what services do you provide?
We provide the art of styling, design and craftsmanship. We started ACF because we wanted to fulfill our responsibility of inspiring one another. My skills or “style” exist because there was once a man called The Duke of Windsor, a man called Lumumba, a man called Miles Davies and so on. Without these people inspiring a generation, even an era, myself or other creative people like me would not exist.
Lastly, if you were to describe your style aesthetic and sensibility in one sentence, what would it be?
Sartour, Alchemy & progression.
- Geo Hagan for Themanoftheworld.com/blog
Sunday, 12 May 2013
Sunday, 5 May 2013
Tuesday, 30 April 2013
Andreas Erikksonn - Coincidental Mapping @ Stephen Friedman Gallery
ANDREAS ERIKSSON - COINCIDENTAL MAPPING
27 April 2013 - 25 May 2013
Stephen Friedman Gallery is delighted to announce its first exhibition of work by Andreas Eriksson.
Born in 1975, this is the Swedish artist's first solo exhibition in the UK and follows his lauded presentation for the Nordic Pavilion at the 2011 Venice Biennale. Eriksson's acutely atmospheric paintings, tapestries, sculptures and photographs relate to his daily life and the natural surroundings of his native Scandinavia. This body of work sits somewhere between abstraction and figuration, creating an enigmatic window to the outside world that feels at once familiar and mysterious.
Inspired by the Romantic Nordic tradition, Eriksson's work also alludes to but remains separate from what historian Robert Rosenblum called the ‘Northern Romantic tradition', a line that started with Caspar David Friedrich and extends to Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee and onto Barnett Newman and Mark Rothko. However, unlike these artists, Eriksson does not refer to his relationship to nature as religious yet his work conveys the same calm, atmospheric and harmonic qualities.
Eriksson's output reflects a sense of the isolation of nature, a factor of Eriksson's everyday life as his studio is located deep in Medelplana in the Swedish countryside. Eriksson uses these natural surroundings, as experienced on his daily walks, as the source for the work. He does not merely map this landscape but, experimenting with formalism and material, impresses on the viewer his visual and emotional experience of these everyday encounters.
The exhibition at Stephen Friedman Gallery will include a group of new painting, ranging from the intimate to the epic in scale. Eriksson's paintings continue the exploration of his reactions to the perception and experience of the outside world. The gestural, textured forms, layering and distinct brushwork convey both his feelings and emotions when encountering nature, allowing the work to dwell between these real and imagined places. Complementing these paintings will be a group of new tapestries; densely packed woven landscapes rich in both texture and colour. The works appear both as patchwork landscapes seen from above and magnified details of organic form and texture; an intimate personal encounter with nature and expansive vista at the same time. These intricate tapestries rely on the dominance of vertical and horizontal lines in parallel and the reductive use of colour that is also a feature of his paintings.
The exhibition ‘Coincidental Mapping' provokes both the sensual and the conceptual, expanding a fleeting observation and an overlooked detail, whilst asking us to pause, consider and reflect. The same properties that are important in the artist's experience of nature remain integral to his work.
The exhibition runs from 27 April to 25 May 2013 in our No. 11 Old Burlington Street gallery.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)