SUBSTANCE over STYLE: loveleigh

[images: left - me and my misshapes book//below - leigh lezark at misshapes in NYC, april 2007 from misshapes.com taken the same night i went there with my girls]

ms one-third-of-the-misshapes has been getting about a bit recently and at risk of sounding like an nme-reading teenage boy whose fave band have been STOLEN by the daily telegraph or similar, i feel like something's missing every time I see leigh in the mags and on their sites.

...becausse she's not some crappy reality star or socialite - she's a girl who started her own club with her (erm, hip and networky) mates that went global and DEFINED the late 00s zeitgeist. that party, MISSHAPES used to happen every saturday in downtown NYC which is why she's only just started to crossover into the sunday supplements. BUT it was NYC, not hull or somewhere, i.e. it was pretty accessible for the lazy freaking media to visit. now they all want a piece of leigh.

MISSHAPES was basically a watered-down version of our very own trash - the legendary london clubnight with an eclectic playlist and a keep'em-out door policy. BUT in reality MISSHAPES was (student indie club) afterschool-sounds with trash-looks and ok!-sized celebs in a dingy, saloon-doored dive bar. so if the reality was a far cry from the underground hipster houseparty holy trinity leigh and her co-djs/hosts greg & geordon tried to build, their efforts should be applauded all the same. mostly because 1. they got MADONNA to launch her hungup single by djing there (with stuart price lending a helping hand) and 2. once sienna miller rolled up in a silly straw hat and pressed some buttons behind the booth too (with leigh's help of course).

yes leigh's a very pretty girl and yes her and the other 2 have worked their ubercontacts book from day one, but if they weren't actually real-life music fans then no one decent would've wanted to work with them. and EVERYONE worth listening to in the 00s spilt cranberry vodka on their vintage nirvana tee there: peaches, letigre, yyys, M.I.A., ladytron...

so everyone should likeleigh becuase she got some cool gals to come to her club? well, she shouldn't be dismissed as just another 'face' to fill the 'what she wore' pages when she's the coolest girl in NYC before alexa FOR A REASON! (not that i care who's 'the coolest girl in NYC').

what she did/is doing with the misshapes was not original or groundbreaking, but they were the only kids in the city doing it at the time, they're total anglophiles with britpop habits (in amongst the smashing pumpkin cds) and every indie teen in every city deserves to grow up with a TRASH, even if it's nowhere near as good.

so loveleigh. for now.

mag assassin: 'if i ran away...i wouldn't have the strength to go very far'

i might be a little late on this one, but it's still worth blogging about... ROLLING STONE october issue which has just landed on our british shores features an incredible 8 pages of interview with her madgesty and even more online. a must read for any madonna fans, this is a serious, all about the music interview featuring a ms ciccone that we fanz very rarely get to read about.

usually we're left begging after those glossy mag features where the journo only gets 8.5 minutes to chat to her which they then have to spin into a 1500word article to accompany a splashy photoshoot that's taken 24 hours to do. how does that make sense?

the RS interview is a proper, q&a format cover feature with lengthy face-to-face responses from the holy mother of pop on the most important thing of all - not jesus, not what she eats, but her music. it's a revolution in madonna journalism but also one that the writer to interviewed her had no choice but to participate in because she wouldn't answer any of his saucy questions ('i'll talk about the divorce if you can relate it to a song'). fans will RELISH, foes will not be able to argue with the stats. love love love for madonna.

TRY_HARD TREND: 'we're plastic but we still have fun' [lady gaga - paparazzi]

this is probably the best story i've heard all week - via people. grown-ups (well, the big pop Tartist gaga) playing with barbies! there has to be a LG doll on the horizon, but in the meantime have a look at this lot - a collection of little miss plastics painstakingly made up to look just like POKER FACE with replica costumes and everything.

'She may have been one of the night's honorees – but Lady Gaga was busy playing with Barbie dolls at her table during the recent Accessories Council Awards in New York. The singer, who received the Stylemaker Award from Marc Jacobs, sipped water through her veil while dressing up the dolls alongside the designer.'

WHO IS LIKE GOD?

FAN DEATH! or far death as me and p call them, have an hilarious new video/track called reunited which is free when you sign up to their mailing list. after MONTHS of listening to trackofyear&lastyear VERONICA'S VEIL i was jogging along [and singing] one summer's evening and suddenly thought 'actually, which veronica are they talking about? veronica from the stations of the cross? omg is this hot canadian electrodisco duo CHRISTIAN?' or if not christian, then just 2 girls who've read the gospels and are incidentally Spreading The Word through the lyrics of their nu-disco-revival-sounds. the only other 'out' jesus-friend i know of who's even distantly related to them in terms of the music scene is GREEN VELVET, a born-again christian who also happens to be a chicago house dj whose most famous record is a thumping little sing-a-long number about taking drugs and dancing called 'LA LA LAND'.

and, you are wondering, is FD's new song as overtly scripture-based as VEIL? well there's no mary magdalene here sadly, but i did uncover the following lyrical evidence from 'reunited':

• 'Walking towards all that I don't know' [the afterlife]
• 'I had to face the world and go from blind to sighted.' [the miracles performed during jesus' ministry]
• 'I wish my wrongs were righted/Forced to be reunited' [forgiveness of sins/being with jesus forever]

meanwhile... lyrical evidence from 'veronica's veil':

• 'most of it'
• 'i was bound to lift my veil to wipe the sweat from your eyes... burned into that sheet was the image of you. And I just can't believe now the things that I've done And that you can absolve me and everyone'
• ...and finally: 'I think I can believe now' [faith]

it makes a surprising change to hear some dance music with lyrics that aren't about romantic lurve or intoxicated lurve, but spiritual love. not even madonna's ever got this close to god through synthesisers. FAN DEATH! amen.
[pictured: my alma mater's logo]

'oh for goodness sake' moment of the day:

A certain weekly glossy mag that begins with G and ends in A sent a reporter down to Gap to try on the new Stella McCartney collection for children to see what she could fit into. Words fail me.
Actually, they don't.

What kind of deluded smuggery is this?! "Oh look I am so slender and childlike I can fit into this teeny weeny princess coat and look like a lickle giwlie!" For crying out loud grow up! It was just a couple of years ago that the papers (and possibly said mag) were hang-wringing with faux-concern over the fact that Victoria Beckham wears a small child's jeans, now they seem to be saying that fitting into kids' sizes is actually quite neat.

I am susceptible to the power of twee - I love cutesy bows and polka dots and pinafores as much as the next belle-and-sebastian-loving indie gal, but I do draw the line at elbowing small children out of the way to get my desperate claws on this week's 'must-have' designer/high street collab when it wasn't even intended for me in the first place!

In the roaring '20s the bright young things of the day would dress up as babies and arrive at parties in prams, sucking cocktails from baby bottles. They were telling the establishment and their parents that they rejected all that was expected of them, retreating into childish, infantile behaviour as a way of blocking out the horror of the great war that had just ended.

It seems that nothing's changed - we still want to act like kids and reject responsibility and dressing up in children's clothes is an expression of that - but it's just a bit wrong isn't it? Most women are shaped like women - hips, breasts, rounded stomachs - and would definitely not fit into clothing designed for children. If you can, that's fine, but you might look a bit odd and also it seems a tad distasteful to revel in it.

There's is something about this breathless 'must-have' culture that's sprung up that I find slightly depressing. It doesn't leave any room to think about what you actually want to wear, whether it suits you, if it looks really stupid - all things that should be considered before making a purchase.

Running sheep-like into a store in your lunchbreak clutching a tear from a mag and mindlessly grabbing stuff and whacking it on your credit card is not stylish. Taking time to choose something that actually expresses your personal identity, flatters your body and will last more than a week is far more satisfying, and we're all about pleasure at Pamflet. Pleasure that includes loving cake as much as clothes - impossible if you're planning on squeezing yourself into that cashmere hoodie (age 10-12). Sigh...

NB I love Grayson, just couldn't find a better pic to illustrate adult-in-kids-clothing!

diaries at the ready: 2009 bust christmas craftacular

'there goes my hero, watch her as she goes'

we are delighted to be on the bill at bust's second londoncraftacular organised by the very lovely occasional pamfleter and former bust 'tern victoria woodcock. we will be playing songs, selling pamflets, eating cakes and supporting the crafty ladies at bethnal green york hall where the extravaganza takes place on saturday 12 december.

before victoria and friends brought the craftacular to our shores from its new york genesis, i used to look at the retrospective event reports and photos in bust of the US leg and think 'o to be an NYC gal!' but now i can channel my envy into a constructive contribution to the fun - hurrah! bust is the cutest, most-attitude-est, coolest magazine of them all so i can't wait to see how our town translates the bust brand of feminist-indie-DIY.

phoebe had lots of fun when she djed solo at the inaugural ldn CRAFTACULAR before xmas last year (while i was 'sunning' myself in frosty berlin) and i'm sure we'll have twice the fun this time around!

prospective crafters can apply here by 6 november [get your skates on].

MAG ASSASSIN: worn fashion journal #8

my one vice: magazines. if i hadn't been addicted to them since twinkle first caught my eye, i would probably be in property now, right? no, wrong. magazines don't cost THAT much! and some are just priceless - pop's £5 a pop, bitch is $15 an issue on subscription and WORN, my new fave cost $9 from the US of A. and is worth every cent. currently on its 8th issue [pictured], worn is a serious but enthusiastic, quasi-academic, intelligent and beautifully conceived biannual zine-style journal out of canada. as i always seem to be saying, i don't like shoes, but that didn't stop me from enjoying their footwear special - there's a useful illustrated glossary of footwear[useful for reference purposes when vogue or whoever's telling you what the hot new shoe-shape for S/S is - whats a chopine? a kork-ease?], lengthy book reviews of a choice of fashion-shoe-tomes, essays on bunuel&vivier, pleather, pedicures and trainer-tarts & high-heel-inspired haikus. you don't get those in harper's.

worn's mix of history, essay, fiction, profiles and reportage in a stylishly photographed, thoughtfully illustrated and designed package makes it entirely unique in print-fashion-commentary. [NB. the few adverts inside for local businesses, charities and art galleries do not intrude on the magazine experience, they just fit right in.]

the lady editors clearly have a right-on agenda and in the 'about' section of the website, they make their aims clear: to appreciate and celebrate clothes outside the constrictions of the fashion seasons and industry and represent diversity in their images and content.

and they do this with considerable success and without losing the retro indie-girl genesis of the mag, [they even wear the name of their magazine with a little shrug of self-deprecation and irony]. fashion realities, not fantasties documented by girls who you'd like to be friends with then.

♥this post is dedicated to giselle ricardson who will be getting my already-read copy of worn. she likes shoes a lot♥

NEW[ish] at the women's library

earlier this month i was honoured to be invited to the launch of the women's library's autumn/winter exhibition: MS UNDERSTOOD - WOMEN'S LIBERATION IN 1970s BRITAIN. picking through the best second wave paraphernalia (leaflets, diaries, magazines, oral recordings, posters) from the library's vaults - and beyond - the curators have, as ever, put together an exhibition that informs the un/ as well as the initiated and makes MS UNDERSTOOD's world relevant for the new generation.

second wavers are understandably... shall we say... hard to please! and there were plenty of them out for the free wine and nostalgia at the WL for the opening, but i'm sure that this carefully pitched show does them justice.

mine and my date's [sara-lee, as seen in pamflet1] favourite exhibits were the cabinets of real-life feminists' clothing from the early 70s, comprising of patched up a-line dresses whose threads must have absorbed such righteous rage over the years of meetings and manifesto-writing. so it makes sense that I'll be buying a ticket for the library's The Liberation Look day in december when promienent fashion historians will be discussing the fraught issues surrounding women and the clothes on their backs. never knowingly underdressed...

NATASHA (kh)CAN

just got back from seeing bat for lashes at the roundhouse. i think i love her (prescilla), as one brave gentlemen cried out from somewhere in the crowd (i was sat in a grown-up fashion in the rafters) at the beginning of the encore.

she wore shimmering spandex - black silky gym leggings and a long-sleeved leotard under a golden gypsy-wizard shawl. with her barefoot dancing, lycra, long dark hair and talent for telling mysterious, fantastical tales, she's like kate bush's younger sister (hopefully that doesn't mean she'll be retiring after this LP/tour, though).

if the presence of natasha B4L on stage was wonderful and enchanting, then the divine charlotte hatherley, ex-ash, former pamflet party live guest and harrowvian and guitar/piano/player in her band was perfect - my teen idol! in b4L!

on the way out the door i passed a gang of early-20s girls dressed in silver-gold lycra, fringed hairdos framed with ribbons and alicebands, their cheekbones highlighted with bold lines of shiny facepaint. all is full of love i thought (like bjork, another lashes-like-lady). those girls love bat for lashes, i love bat for lashes...and so does her labelmate lily allen. goodnight - the moon, the moon.

MAG ASSASSIN: more money than sense

yesterday was VOGUE DAY: the november issue landed on my doormat nice and early, its cover claiming all sorts of money-saving tips were inside just waiting to be ABSORBED into lifestyles all over great britain. it's THEir 'more dash than cash', budget babes spesh, featuring the gorgeous georgia jagger gazing gaudily, glittering in ASOS's finest party frock(seriously) and made-up in Maybelline on the front. i love how trashy and young she looks - like however filthy rich you are you can still look bloody CHEAP! [another disclaimer: i do love the look - it's just the tone throughout the issue so patronising and hypocritical].

it's funny how in le monde vogue saving money means spending money, isn't it? that somehow doesn't make sense... and neither does the idea of kate moss as a 'more dash than cash' heroine - her favourite shop is the ludicrous boutique rellik, selling overpriced second hand-me-downs and keeping the front door locked to their neighbours in the towerblocks that surround its ladbroke grove loco...

i mean, sister-of-voguette and regular MISS V-spy samantha cameron whose husband's party we should vote for because she gets photographed in a winning high street-designer combo outfit is probably a high street honey too! all that dressing on a primark shoestring, eh??

you shouldn't spend less money because you can't afford to pay off your credit cards let alone fund a new season wardrobe and all your friends are worried about their jobs and i want to go on holiday etc. NO!! do what vogue SAYS - looking like you're poor is sooo cool and fashionable right now (cf. grunge).

i won't be cancelling my vogue subscription just yet, but i do think that they should stick to fashion fantasy (teatowel dresses DARLING!), not 'reality'. i don't want sloanes telling me that everything will be fine, cos, you know 'you'd look good even if you were dressed in a dress made out of corner shop plastic bags like they used to make on blue peter in the 80s. blue and white stripes really suit you.'