Halcyon Issue 7

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KIERAN GIBBS BILL RYDER-JONES BOXEO CLASICO MIKE GARRY

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BERGHAUS

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SPRING COURT

GLOVERALL

PETER STORM

CHAMPION

LEVI’S

WOOLRICH

PENDLETON

WRANGLER

RALPH LAUREN

LACOSTE

ADIDAS

60.BOXEO CLASICO

12.POETS’ CORNER: MIKE GARRY

8.CAMP & FURNACE

contents

27.KIERAN GIBBS

42.BILL RYDER-JONES

48.WHEN THE MAN COMES AROUND: THE RETURN OF THE ADIDAS STAN SMITH

52.THE GAME THAT CHANGED THE WORLD

56.GLENN KITSON LIKES COATS

36.BUDAPEST

18.A SENSE OF ADVENTURE

77.PALLADIUM X TOGS & CLOGS

Issue 7

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CAMP & FURNACE

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iverpool’s Baltic Triangle is a wonderful place. Like New York’s Bushwick and Manchester’s Northern Quarter before it, it has

taken an area previously populated almost exclusively by groups of scary men with moustaches and dark Gore-Tex, driving ‘90s Ford Escorts with faded GB stickers on the boot and smoking unfathomably tiny cigarettes, given it a lick of paint and moved loads of New Balanced-up graphic designers in. There’s more to it than that of course, much more. Take Camp & Furnace for example…

Rising from the ashes of the city’s A Foundation, a multi-functional exhibition

space in which the hugely successful Liverpool Biennial was born, Camp & Furnace is a restaurant, bar, venue, gallery and loads and loads more.

Providing Liverpool’s creativest creatives, as well as normal people with proper jobs, with an ambitious, excellent menu in ludicrously laid-back surroundings, Camp & Furnace is fast gaining recognition as one of the country’s most exciting places to eat, drink, go to a gig, or even watch football. Yes. Despite all the street food, WiFi and reclaimed warehouse brick keeping you warm, you can still watch the match there.

Stitch that, Shoreditch.

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THE GREAT INDOORS

WWW.CAMPANDFURNACE.COM

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oseph Roux had it right when he said that ‘poetry is truth in its Sunday clothes’. At least good poetry is. Mike Garry, Mancunian

wordsmith and permanent support act of John Cooper Clarke, has been outputting verities since he could sharpen a pencil…

Despite several books, successful tours and a host of collaborations, for years Garry has resisted putting his words to music. In February however, the master of verse will be releasing his first single, the much-lauded ode to the late, great Tony Wilson: St. Anthony.

Garry’s work, much like the man himself, is direct and accessible; a product of his modest upbringing in Manchester. How does a guy who went to school in Moss Side, become one of England’s leading contemporary poets?

“I’ve always had a love of language, of words. I think it’s the Irish in me. My house growing up was always full of literature and art. Mum and dad bringing home pissed mates from the pub for a sing-song, everyone having their turn. My turn was always telling a story.

There were six of us in our house and it was a battle for personality. I always had a gob on me. My mum was a teacher and encouraged me to read and write. I work with ten thousand kids a year now and I try to get across to them how much of a tool words are, to be able to communicate with other people.”

A librarian for fifteen years before committing to rhapsody full-time, Garry doesn’t just speak about his enthusiasm for words, he lives and breathes it. Growing up on a council estate, however, such passions must have presented a quandary or two. Has he always been so vocal about his love of poetry and writing?

“Of course not… I wouldn’t tell anyone. It was a secret. It’s how I’d imagine being gay would be, at that age. I came out as a poet.

I was lucky though, as punk was coming through when I was about eleven. I hid behind that a lot. Punk made me cool overnight. Scruffy kid, couldn’t dance, liked to spit. I started a punk band at the age of twelve and put my poems to it,

POETS' CORNER

POETS’ CORNERMIKE GARRY ON WORDS

WORDS. JONATHAN FREDERICK TURTONIMAGES. AMY WALSH

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All that poetry is, really, is thinkingabout something dead hard.

Trying to bring that thought out

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but in working class areas it’s sometimes difficult to admit enjoying words and language.”

From a young age it seemed the clandestine bard had been trying to make sense of things- his surroundings and existence- as all writers worth their salt do. Forming poems is clearly a cathartic process for him.

“Doing poetry and writing things down gets me closer to the answers. With my poems I’m basically saying ‘this is what I think. What do you think?’

All that poetry is, really, is thinking about something dead hard. Trying to bring that thought out. We have that many thoughts floating around our minds, sometimes just the-writing-down of them, the dramatisation of them, cleans us. Makes us sane.

I feel like I’m going deeper inside my own arse here, but Guy Garvey came up to me the other week. He’d been to a gig and gave me a great quote. He said ‘Mike, what you do is, you take other people’s thoughts and you say them’. That’s part of the electricity of what poets do, and I need to do it. If I didn’t I’d be an ill man.”

As well as literature and performance, the down-to-earth JCC’s contemporary has another prevalent passion. Manchester. A regular muse of his work, that Dirty Old Town receives frequent and robust eulogy, as well as the occasional criticism. Why does he love his home city so much?

“Manchester is the greatest city in the world for many reasons. We were there, campaigning against slavery before William Wilberforce even dreamt about it.

Marx and Engels came here to study poverty. They hung around here. Dickens came here. There have been so many firsts. The Industrial Revolution…the first computer.

Really though, the ‘God Is A Manc’ stuff, it’s not even about Manchester. It’s about a love of your own. It’s about a sense

of place. It’s not about Manchester or Liverpool, New York or Washington. They’re metaphors for where we’re all from. It’s about taking pride in yourself.”

Championing your own patch is admirable, but much easier done when you’re from a city at the end of the M62, and not Lincoln or Milton Keynes. Manchester is a world leader, a cultural beacon of Britain. Tinder to that flame in recent years was Tony Wilson.

The poem chosen by Mike Garry for release, St. Anthony, aims to capture the legacy of the now deceased creator and founder of Factory Records. It does so with aplomb.

“Tony was my youth worker. I never spoke to him in my life, that’s why you’ve got all that ‘talk to me’ in the piece, but he built a massive youth club in town for me to play in (The Haçienda). Somewhere I could go with kids a little bit different, as I was. It was perfect.

Tony Wilson spoke to me without ever speaking to me. He told me that I could do whatever I wanted to do. I mean, the man could be a knobhead, as well. Don’t forget for one minute that he wasn’t at times. He could be a dick, like we all can be. That’s another reason why I love him, though. He was weak too, he was human.”

Wilson’s personality still looms large in the city. He was a visionary, a man who’s will and endeavor re-directed Manchester’s

forward thinking mantra, for a modern era. An individual entirely worthy of such posthumous testimony.

Original in-house Factory Records designer Peter Saville has designed the sleeve for the EP, whilst Joe Dudell has provided the string orchestra. The track itself will be released by Skinny Dog Records, a newly-formed label by Guy Garvey and Craig Potter of Elbow and Pete Jobson and John Bramwell of I Am Kloot.

Not dissimilar to Tony Wilson, Mike Garry exists as an inspiration to young people; to those who feel that art, creativity, and poetry in particular, are perhaps something beyond their remit.

“I get a lot of fellas coming up to me saying ‘you made me fucking cry’, and I say ‘good, you need to…did it feel good?’ And they say ‘yeah, it felt fuckin ace’. And it’s dead easy! All you have to do is open your mouth, or write something down. I walk out the door in the morning with a pen.

What I talk about isn’t light stuff. It’s heavy. I try to get into people’s hearts, get them to unravel, to use it (poetry) as a mirror to look at themselves and the outside world. Men especially.

I feel like men are almost genetically programmed to hold things in. We hold things in and we get so uptight and anal. Death, manhood, responsibility, there’s a lot to be talked about.

We need to talk about race. We need to talk about feminism, parenting, this Miley Cyrus girl, whatever. Because I do what I do, I can throw these issues out there. It’s about getting a conversation started.”

Mike Garry’s belief in what he does is absolute. There’s almost something crusade-like about his undertaking. Truth may be subjective and open to interpretation, Mike Garry’s version, however, is one that seems to resonate with most.

St Anthony will released by Skinny Dog Records, February 20th 2014.

HALCYON

I feel like men are almost genetically programmed to hold things in. We hold things in and

we get so uptight and anal. Death, manhood, responsibility, there’s a

lot to be talked about.

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KIERAN GIBBSAT HOME WITH ARSENAL’S LAMBETH LAD

WORDS. DANIEL SANDISON IMAGES. SAMUEL BRADLEY

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t’s Christmas. Arsenal are top of The Premier League. They’re comfortablythrough the group stages of The Champions League and away from

the headline-grabbing German import, and intimidatingly handsome Frenchgoalscorer, is a young man key to The Gunners’ most successful start foralmost a decade.

When the curtain had fallen on Wimbledon FC’s ‘Crazy Gang’ era for thefinal time, and seemingly just seconds before the administrators rolled through the gates of Selhurst Park, Arsenal came knocking on the stricken South-West London club’s door. Along with the promising Abu Ogogo and James Dunne, they threw out a lifeline to a teenage midfielder from Lambeth. Kieran Gibbs was now an Arsenal player.

“It was difficult times for Wimbledon, which was a shame because we had agreat little set-up at the academy. We had a good team, I was sad to leave, to be honest. Coming to Arsenal though, was massive. One of the biggest clubs in the world. Another level. Being from family who have always been big supporters of the club made it an even bigger step for me at that age. It was huge.”

Three successful years in Arsenal’s youth set-up followed and in 2007,Gibbs’ hard work would be rewarded with his first professional contract atThe Emirates. League cup appearances against both Sheffield United andBlackburn Rovers in 2007 were pre-cursors for a brief loan move to NorwichCity. On his return in 2008, Gibbs would make his Champions League debutagainst FC Porto and take his Premier League bow by replacing Gaël Clichyin the North London derby, two months

later. Things don’t happen by halvesat Arsenal, what was it like being thrown in at the deepest of deep ends?

“A lot of the time, I didn’t have time to think about it. You find out you’re playing the day before and you’ve just got to go out there and do it. The first time the manager told me that I was chosen at left-back, when I’d never played there before, there was pressure but it wasn’t like I could think about it too much, because you’ve got to concentrate on what you’re doing.

At the time it was still quite a young squad, so I was surrounded by players who had recently been through the same thing. On the big stages, like The Champions League, I got a lot of support from them and the manager. He never put too much pressure on me. He never really puts too much pressure on anyone when they’re starting out. He helped a lot along the way in that respect.”

It has been Arsene Wenger who has nurtured Gibbs; through youth teams andas under-study to Gaël Clichy. For almost a decade the Frenchman has moulded a young raw talent into an internationally renowned footballing talent, as he has so many of Arsenal’s promising-youngsters-turned-first-team-regulars. Following Clichy’s departure to Manchester City in 2011, Wenger would entrust Gibbs as hisfirst choice left-back, a role he had been completely unfamiliar with just a few short years before. The two previous seasons had seen him sidelined for months at a time with a succession of injuries. Did he see this as an opportunity to step up a level again? To make up for lost time?

“I broke my foot when I was nineteen and that was probably the hardest period. I

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was initially told I’d only be out for three months and it ended up being more like nine due to secondary surgery. I started learning a language. It took my mind off being injured, kept me positive. As soon as I started playing though, I didn’t bother any more. I wasn’t interested. If I wanted to be smart I think I’d have to be injured for a long time.

I’m probably still adapting to this level, in many ways. I’ve gone the whole year without anything serious, but obviously there are a lot of demands to keep yourself fit, especially when you’re basically playing every three days. I’ve managed to cope this year though and I’m very happy with the way things are going.”

Fortune with injuries has been matched by an excellent run of form for bothGibbs and Arsenal, with The Gunners not only getting results, but playing the attractive, flowing football that the North London faithful were once so accustomed to. For a player who tells us that his heroes were the likes of ‘Bergkamp and Ian Wright’ it must be amazing to be part of such a revival?

“The big, big thing was not losing anyone. Obviously, the last few years we lost some key players, which wasn’t ideal. When you keep a group together though and don’t lose anyone over the summer it can only be good for the team. With the way we finished last season, getting fourth and playing some good football, that carried over and we’ve come into this year with a confidence about us.”

Part of an exciting, young set of players, playing stylish, successful football, the 24 year olds future looks bright, if not a little busy. As we chat in his suburban North London home, just hours after his side’s one-all draw with Everton, plans are being drawn up for travelling with the squad to Naples the next day, and then an early kick-off at The Etihad just four days later. Would he change anything?

“Nah. I just chill, with my brother (Jaydon). We’re quite boring (Laughs),especially this time of year. We’ll play a bit of Playstation, watch box-sets, maybe go shopping if we can be bothered. He has to pick my clothes, I’m hopeless with style. We’re travelling all the time though, so usually when I’m home, I’m home. That’s it.”

From the moment Paolo Maldini, all strong jaw-line and tousled hair, strode onto the lush green pitches (sometimes astro-turf, granted) of USA ’94, Halcyon has been in love with the Nike Tiempo football boot. This year, with the help of some other excellent (and equally handsome) footballers Nike has updated the Tiempo and brought its famous silhouette to a lifestyle shoe – Tiempo94.

Available now from Nike.com

HALCYON

BUDAPESTHUNGOVER DISPATCHES FROM EUROPE’S CHEAPEST CAPITAL

WORDS. SAM TURNER

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oasting the oldest subway system in mainland Europe, the second largest synagogue in the world and a history rich in both turmoil and

cultural upheaval, Budapest has joined Paris, Prague and Berlin as a must-see city for young Europeans. Oh. The wine is comically cheap as well…

We’re walking down Kazinczy Utca in Budapest and a young Hungarian accountant is singing the theme tune to ‘90s children’s cartoon Duck Tales. Moments earlier he had confided in his cousin that he was nervous, as he hadn’t spoken English for some time. Our newly formed friendship group is getting on like a house on fire.

The Magyar young have embraced the west, some may think too readily, as the Hungarian capital has more than it’s fair share of McDonalds and Burger Kings. We’d soon discover, however, that the city seems to have more than it’s fair share of everything. History, architecture, culture, nightlife, thermal baths. You name it; Budapest can offer you more of it, for cheaper.

The City became famous in the noughties for its ruin pubs. These old factories and tenement buildings, transformed into quirky clubs filled with trash art and found objects, are now predictably looked down upon by the city’s trendier locals. It isn’t all ‘90s cartoons and arty warehouse renovations, Budapest’s tumultuous story is told through a wealth of extravagant buildings. There are Roman amphitheatre ruins in the old district of Aquincum, the castle on the Buda side (West) of the Danube River, originally erected to protect the population from the Mongol invasion in the 13th century, and elsewhere there are Turkish baths inherited from

the Ottoman occupation. There is also a wealth of Habsburg’s neoclassic facades and art noveau buildings from the Secession Era. A veritable feast of Central European history told through awe-inspiring architecture.

To experience both sides of the Danube we utilised the city’s ‘hop-on, hop-off’ sightseeing bus services and took a trip which included a boat ride on the famous river, a pint of local beer and a bowl of goulash. Hungarian food may not be to everyone’s taste but the choice of restaurant within the city goes beyond their famous dish. Without doubt, the central theme to the majority of courses is meat, usually spiced with Paprika, but there are also some left field options available. Nestled between a beef or pork soup you will often find the curious cold fruit soup. The creamy berry dish would likely end up at the dessert end of a menu anywhere else in the world, but the Hungarians like to throw a curve ball every now and again.

It seemed we had explored a lot of what the city had to offer by the end of our first day, whilst exorcising the post-Soviet moodiness we witnessed from the window of our airport transfer. We’d soon realise that we had only scratched the capital’s magnificent surface.

Following cold fruit soup, another perplexing experience you may fancy subjecting yourself to is a visit to one of the city’s traditional spas. Supplied with naturally heated water from thermal springs, the two most famous baths are the imposing Gellert Hotel found on the Buda side of the Liberty Bridge and the prestigious Szechenyi, east of the city of Pest, near the spectacular Heroes Square. We took a dip in the more

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humble Kiraly Baths. The unassuming venue is found towards the north end of the Buda side of the river, and is part of the grand tradition of confusing tourists upon entry, leaving us to be greeted by an intimidating menu of unfathomable choices, including massage, weekly passes and only-Hungarians-know what else. Once in, however, the experience is far more relaxing. The sulphuric smell soon fades and pools warmed to a variety of blissful temperatures, steam rooms and saunas, are enough to quell a monumental hangover.

When it comes to the state of their country, our guides are positive about their generation, but less so about the current government led by ‘mini-dictator’ Viktar Orban. Back in England Russell Brand is telling Jeremy Paxman that we need a revolution. Hungary is apparently reaping the benefits of such an act, but many are sceptical. Although it would be foolish to compare our two nations, it appears the youth’s faith in politics is wearing thin in both lands. The solution won’t arise in the Atelier bar tonight, with politics not the preferred topic for my accountant friend. “Can you name every member of the McDuck children?”

As the conversation goes back to Duck Tales I struggle, but he forgives me after I help him reel off all the Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles.

Our last night is rounded off by a visit to the favourite restaurant of my friend, who has recently moved to Budapest. Pesti Diszno is nestled in the Nagymezo district next to a Moulin Rouge themed bar, but also a spit away from the majestic Hungarian State Opera House, as well as a host of excellent restaurants which spill out invitingly onto the boulevard.

The Mangalitza pork, from a pig directly descended from the wild boar is a highlight. This Hungarian speciality, along with their fantastic wine, is little known here in the UK. This is in-keeping with Budapest’s light being hidden firmly under the bushel. It only takes an inexpensive Ryanair flight and limited spends to uncover that light. Bring your 90s cartoon trivia and a pair of trunks.

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ith a contender for Album of 2013 under his belt and fresh off the back of touring with the brylcreem-slick operation that

is Arctic Monkeys, we sat down with Bill Ryder-Jones to discuss music, the mental health problems that almost derailed his career and why it’s such a pain in the arse being an Evertonian…

Mental health has been a hot topic in mainstream media of late. As someone who has suffered, whilst in the public eye, do you think the way people view the subject is changing? BRJ: With mental health, I don’t think it’s the taboo that many people think it is any more. Everyone knows someone who has experienced it. I think the main thing is understanding people and understanding that it’s part and parcel of human life.

Was there ever a period in your life where you have taken mental health with a pinch of salt and thought that you, or others suffering, should just ‘get on with it’? BRJ: Not really. My mother has always had mental health problems, so I kind of grew up knowing about it. It was more of a taboo as a kid, as it was a big, evil, black cloud that surrounded us. You only get to know it as mental health problems as you get older and you start to categorise yourself.

For me it’s just something that’s part of the deal and in many ways I feel that it has been good for me in my career. You need a certain level of understanding of human beings to make music and put it out there, in that way. It’s never been something that I have ever thought ‘pull yourself together and get on with it’.

BILL RYDER-JONESNEVER FELT MORE LIKE SINGING THE BLUES

WORDS. ROBERT GAVINIMAGES. MATT THOMAS

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I think that might work for some people but I don’t think it’s too helpful for me. What kind of symptoms and problems did you suffer with, and at what point in your life were they affecting you the most? BRJ: Like most people who suffer it’s a case of the symptoms starting earlier than you thought. With me, I suffered quite a traumatic life event when I was a child of 7. From then on I was always quite quiet and got very anxious about things and people assumed it was because of that (the trauma). Then things got on top, and it got to the point where it became a life problem. The first things were self-loathing, general insecurity, anxiety. Then, panic attacks. They are really the tip of the iceberg.

When you have a panic attack, or a series of panic attacks, you start to realise that it’s been coming and that people should have seen it, or perhaps you should have seen it. It started with the panic attacks. I was taking drugs at the time, so I stopped all that.

The real big problems were firstly agoraphobia and monophobia, and then something I don’t really talk about a lot is the dissociative identity disorder. The agoraphobia was pretty full on from the age of 21 to now, really. This year is the year that I’ve really been able to step out and do things that, even a year ago, were just not an option. Monophobia is not being able to do things on your own and always needing someone there.

The anxiety was bad enough, but in 2009 I really went really odd, y’know. I’ve had anaemia before and it was just like ‘something doesn’t fit’. You can’t really figure out what it is. Off the back of that and the nature of how I am, I started to worry about things and at the start of 2009 I spent about three weeks solid believing I was in a computer game.

It’s horrible to think about now, but over the space of three years I had three pretty intense periods of derealisation/de-personalistion disorder. Those things are based upon schizophrenia but you never

really, fully lose touch. I was completely convinced that the world wasn’t real and I was in some simulation, but something in me knew that deep, deep down, if I let go I would lose control. So, when the anxiety prolongs, you suffer all the things off the back of that… depression, getting into alcohol abuse, self-harming. That was something I was involved in for a long, long time.

I worked my arse off for years in therapy and spent a lot of money trying to talk to people and get over things. It helped a little bit, but it was only really successful when I got my medication right, medication that I’m still on to this day and plan to be, for as long as it works.

I think those two things came together, I put a lot of work in and withstood bad times then somebody said ‘chemically you probably do need this.’ What happens when you start getting the medication right is you can start to look at the things you’ve learnt, they then become tangible and are useful tools rather than being hopeful words and conversations of desperation. You say that you’ve suffered from the age of 21, a time when you were in a very successful band and a lot of people would say you had it all going for you. What was ‘the straw that broke the camel’s back’?

BRJ: When we (The Coral, a band for whom Bill was founding member and lead guitarist for twelve years) were making Invisible Invasion I began to have panic attacks, which I put down to having asthma as a kid and assumed were innocuous. I was smoking too much weed and not really dealing with things, just living in that false world of the band.

We were on a good trajectory before that and things started to get a bit rocky, I had a panic attack during that album and I thought it was asthma, so I was shooting Nick’s (Power, The Coral) inhaler. He stayed up with me the first night, which means a lot to me. I said ‘I’m having an asthma attack’ so he gave me his inhaler which is just pure adrenalin and was just feeding the anxiety attack which lasted about fucking sixteen hours. That really set my stall out for how I was going to deal with anxiety, after that I developed secondary anxiety, which is the fear of anxiety.

Because of the state I was in, I was given time to leave the band and did so for about 10 months, the first time around. I went and stayed with the person who stuck by me, my first girlfriend Liz and I followed her to Italy and Scotland. Then it was decided that it was appropriate for me to re-join the band.

Basically, I was given time to get my head together and then someone else decided that period was over and I went back. They were great to me, letting me go and everyone tried for it to be OK. I tried very and hard and James (Skelly) was very good to me. He used to come and walk me from my house to our rehearsal room 200 yards away. They all stopped smoking weed around me. But realistically, I should never have gone back, I wasn’t ready to go back, but it’s just how it is. You say you confided in people, your ex-girlfriend, Nick and your friend Ant? BRJ: Yeah, boys are tricky. We don’t really work in the same way. Obviously I grew up with Anthony and he’s been my best friend for as long as I can remember. He has seen the whole lot and he has

Things got on top, and it got to the point where it became a life problem. The first things

were self-loathing, general insecurity, anxiety. Then, panic

attacks. They are really the tip of the iceberg

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stuck with it, but boys struggle with that. If I had that side to me where I could open up and talk to people I would probably never have got in that position, it’s a very important thing. Sadly, people aren’t always aware that something is wrong, especially if clouded with drugs, like I was. It’s very hard to understand that something is wrong, you feel like you’re sick because you’re stoned or going paranoid and it’s just weird. But if you’re smart enough to see something is missing then you’ll probably be alright. If you could pass on any advice to someone in a similar situation, what would it be? BRJ: Depends how much you want it. Sad as it is, and I speak honestly here, my anxiety for a good few years became a real comfort. It stopped me from doing things that I was never really comfortable doing. Never liked playing on stage, never liked meeting people, having conversations with people, never liked leaving the house, even. When I could I would always rather stay in and read, play computer, watch telly, listen to music. What happens is, because there is no way out, you just embrace it and it becomes part of you. The important thing is to suss out what is wrong as soon as possible and talk to someone. Therapy. Being 100% honest with someone. Someone you can trust.

Obviously if it’s anxiety don’t drink coffee, don’t drink, don’t take drugs, deal with it, believe it and deal with it everyday. Wake up everyday and live it. Also, don’t be scared to take medication. I was always scared. As I said, my Mum was on Prozac for years and she always referred to them as her ‘mad pills’, which was a joke but that stuck as a stigma to taking medication, that it steals something from you. In all honesty they do, there is no magic pill. The amount of medication I take everyday stops me from getting ill and overthinking things. It genuinely works for that, but it does change something. When you get to the point where you have to take 150mgs of Setraline, it does numb you. It’s a trade off. It’s something I deal with, I’m not happy about it. Every day, I take it, and it

kind of upsets me. But I think back to the worst times with the depersonalisation/derealisiaton episodes, having to write diaries and re-reading and thinking that was bleak as fuck, so that trade-off for me works.

In terms of what you asked, find out who in your life is helpful and understands and lean on them as much as you feel is fair. Don’t put too much on anyone,

particularly a girl you love. I’ve been with three great girls in my life. My first girlfriend, who I was engaged to, my illness pretty much killed that. At the start of the year I split up with Emma, a girl who helped me when I was sobbing and cleaned me up. They were just episodes, but they all deserved more than to be looking after someone. You said that you didn’t really enjoy playing on stage but this year your situation must’ve improved, as you’ve played with Arctic Monkeys at some massive gigs? BRJ: It’s hard to stop and think of yourself in that mode. For a few years I haven’t been hit with a bad bout of depression. I’m clean, I’m still not taking drugs, I drink and smoke but I felt that something this year has changed. Before I went away with the ‘Monkeys I’d only just got the train to London on my own for the first time in like eight or nine years,

and it does feel weird. It’s hard to get too excited about it. Both my parents well up a bit when they ask me what I’ve done, and I say ‘I don’t wanna go on about it, but I got the Eurostar on my own to Brussels’ and both of them are like ‘fucking hell!’. Emma is too, even though we’ve split, she’s still made-up when I accomplish anything.

What’s next then? New album? BRJ: Well yeah, but before that I’m doing pre-production on an album with a woman called Saint Saviour. I’m going to do a couple of tracks with James Ford, probably in Liverpool, maybe in London or maybe even Paris, if I can swing it. Just make another record really, keep doing it. Probably do a few more shows with the ‘Monkeys again next year, which should help my Twitter followers.

It has been a massive year, but do you still feel any pressure to get rid of the ‘former Coral guitarist’ prefix?

BRJ: No qualms being related to The Coral or anything, I’m still proud of that. I think there is a group of people out there who actually prefer what I do, and there is a group of people who would rather I not make any noise at all.

But, no, more than The Coral thing it’s like the ‘Monkeys thing. I love the ‘Monkeys, I think AM is one of the best British albums any band has made for years and years and it’s an absolute honour to be on that album and to be associated with it. You want the right side of their fans though, y’know? I don’t want ‘he knows them so let’s follow him on Twitter’. It obviously happens, but I just want people who can actually listen to the music. I’m not that arsed though, it’ll never stop me doing anything if they asked me. I’d jump at it because I love being around ‘em… and they pay really well (laughs).

It’s all still a bit mad, to be honest with you. When I was ill there were times when I thought ‘I want to go to the shops’, but it was never, ever going to happen and now I’m doing all these things, I’m getting the train to London tomorrow and haven’t even thought about it.

I’m going to do a couple of tracks with James Ford,

probably in Liverpool, maybe in London or maybe even Paris,

if I can swing it. Just make another record really,

keep doing it

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It’s so weird to put yourself back. Like a split personality almost, like that guy would have been gnawing at his fingers, shitting himself worrying about it. Something has just happened, maybe it’s just luck, but if I had to pinpoint it, I would say it was the hard work and getting the medication right. That’s the thing. That, and being around good people. I don’t really hang round with Kopites anymore, all the Coral were Liverpool fans and now all my mates are Everton fans, so that lowers the anxiety levels a bit.

So you are saying there is a direct correlation between supporting Everton and suffering depression? BRJ: (laughs) Fucking hell, yeah. I’m sure we’ve seen enough derbies to relate to that. Bill Ryder-Jones’ A Bad Wind Blows In My Heart is available on Domino Records

If you’re struggling with mental health visit www.theCALMzone.net or contact CALM on their confidential national helpline - 0800 58 58 58 - open between 5pm andmidnight every night.

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ADIDAS STAN SMITH

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WHEN THE MAN COMES AROUNDTHE RETURN OF THE STAN SMITH

WORDS: DANIEL SANDISONIMAGES: ADIDAS

orn by everybody from David Bowie and John Lennon, to your Dad’s mate with the nice coats and dubious past, adidas’ Stan

Smith tennis shoe has been an absolute essential since it was worn by the man

himself on-court throughout the 1960s and ‘70s. Production of the trainer was halted at the end of 2011, but in 2014 Stan is back. In a premium leather, with a modernised silhouette and maintaining the classic white and green colourway,

the limited edition release will be an introduction to wider releases throughout the year. Whether you’re a trainer collector, former Beatle, Thin White Duke or a post-post-modern reluctant casual, this is a release not to be missed.

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arca - Real, Celtic - Rangers, Roma - Lazio, United - Liverpool, River Plate - Boca. All football games which ignite the hearts and minds

of supporters across the globe, for a variety of religious, political, historical and geographical reasons.

In the list of highly charged fixtures, one that often gets forgotten is Dinamo Zagreb versus Red Star Belgrade.

In April of 1990, Croatia’s first representative elections –for over fifty years -saw the Croatian Democratic Union claim fifty-five out of the eighty seats available, securing victory for parties favouring Croatian independence. The following year saw the start of the Croatian War of Independence.

The conflict concerned forces loyal to the Government of Croatia and the Serbian controlled Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA). The Croatian public had voted in favour of independence from Yugoslavia, whilst the Serbian population wanted

the region to remain under its control. Ultimately, the Croats achieved their goal; gaining freedom from Yugoslavia without compromising their borders, despite the JNA’s last ditch attempts at occupying them. The war lasted four years, claimed 20,000 lives and left 500,000 people displaced as refugees, many within their own country of birth. The war cost Croatia an estimated $37 billion. The war started at a football match…

Red Star and Dinamo had traditionally been the powerhouses of Yugoslav football. As the 1989-90 season drew to a close, Red Star made the trip to their rivals, winning the championship for the seventeenth time in dramatic style, leaving Dinamo in the runners up spot. But as the teams clashed on May 13th, there was more than medals at stake. Far more than just a league title.

Tensions had been running high in the region due to intensifying ethnic relations. The Delije (the Ultra group of Red Star) travelled to Zagreb as part of a 3,000

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THE GAME THAT CHANGED THE WORLD

DINAMO ZAGREB vs RED STAR BELGRADE

WORDS. JAMIE WHITEHEAD

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strong unit led by Željko Ražnatović; a feared Serbian criminal who would later be served an indictment for crimes of genocide against Muslims and serious breaches of the Geneva Convention (he was to be assassinated prior to his trial). Ražnatović, known more commonly as Arkan, used the Delije (Heroes) as a vehicle to form a parliamentary cell known as the Serb Volunteer Group. When war broke out, many of the Delije would take to the front line, fighting for Serbia.

The run up to the game witnessed clashes between the travelling Delije and Dinamo’s Bad Blue Boys. Violence between the two was not uncommon, but the added political backdrop had made this particular game less about Dinamo versus Red Star, more Croatia fighting Serbia. The communist state fighting to keep hold of its territories. The rebels vying for independence.

The Stadion Maksimir, Dinamo’s home patch, was the venue for the game; a stadium boasting a rich, extensive history. As well as staging the ’76 European Championship Final, it was here that Yugoslavia played their last home game and Croatia lined up for the first time as a national side. Now it was to become the venue for one of the most infamous football games in history.

An estimated 20,000 packed out the Maksimir. With the travelling Delije housed in the away section, tensions rose with the emergence of nationalistic chanting and the visitors forcing their way towards the Bad Blue Boys of Dinamo. The home support, agitated at what they saw as an invasion of their territory, attempted to make their way onto the pitch.

Advertising hoardings had been removed by travelling Red Star support, chairs were thrown into the home sections and the Delije, that managed to make it as far as their rivals, attacked them with knives. A cold war which was dividing a country had found itself a battleground inside a football stadium in Zagreb.

As the BBB attempted, once again, to make their way onto the field, the

police held them back in the stands by using batons and tear gas. In what was seen as a symbolic image of state rule, Milosoveć’s officers were keeping the want-aways at bay.

Amazingly, the game kicked off. The two sides now effectively acting as armies for their respective regions. However, the situation was to worsen, with the sheer number of Bad Blue Boys overwhelming police control.

As violence erupted on the pitch, Dinamo midfielder Zvonimir Boban noticed a police officer attacking one of his supporters with a baton and without a second thought, rushed to his defence.

The Zagreb captain kicking Refik Ahmetović became a symbol for the whole areas mindset; a Croatian fight-back against the Serbian regime.

The Bad Blue Boys ran to Boban and defended him on the field against a mounting police presence. The Delije, the group who had started the game with chants of ‘Croatia is Serbian’, had dispersed. Around sixty people were injured inside the ground; the chaos in the Maksimir became a chilling vision of what would happen the following year, which in turn would change the political landscape forever.

Although Dinamo Zagreb versus Red Star Belgrade did not officially start The Croatian War of Independence, it is looked upon amongst Croats as the catalyst for change in the region. Boban’s actions saw him hailed as a national hero in Croatia. The Midfielder would receive a six month ban for his involvement, earning him a reputation as a Croatian Nationalist amongst Serbs.

“Here I was, a public face prepared to risk his life, career, and everything that fame could have brought, all because of one ideal, one cause. The Croatian cause”, Boban would say after the incident.

In Croatia, the game is celebrated as the start of independence; the day the uprising began. The Yugoslav First League lasted only one more season, as Croat and Slovenian clubs withdrew from the competition and the country fell apart into war.

Boban would go on to enjoy a glittering career at AC Milan, scoring 30 goals in 251 appearances, winning four Scudettos as well as a Champions League medal. He also went on to captain a Croatia side that finished third at France ‘98.

Not that any of this mattered. Boban had already cemented himself in Croatian folklore; a leader who had stood up to be counted.

With Dinamo now in the Croatian HNR and Red Star plying their trade in the Serbian Super Liga, the rivalry has moved to an international level. Recent World Cup qualifiers demanded a heavy police presence and a ban on travelling support, as Croatia ran out 2-0 winners at home, following a 1-1 draw in Belgrade.

For all of the hype surrounding the likes of an El Clásico, it shouldn’t be forgotten that one of the world’s oldest sporting rivalries no longer occurs, due to the incidents that followed May 13th, 1990. It was a game that not only changed football, but an entire country.

It is looked upon amongst Croats as the catalyst for

change in the region. Boban’s actions saw him hailed as a national hero in Croatia. He

would receive a six month ban for his involvement

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GLENN KITSON LIKES COATS

lenn Kitson likes coats. Really, really likes coats. Shoes as well. We caught up with Bolton’s third best export (argue amongst yourselves)

to talk about his really good magazine The Rig Out, styling for Timberland and Mr. Porter and going to Hawaii with Mogwai…

“Every summer now, I go to Pitti Uomo in trunks. I’ve got these flowery Ralph Lauren trunks and I just wear the same thing. Fuck it. Y’know what I mean? All the Italians there have got blue blazers and Mancini haircuts, they look the bollocks, but I don’t know how they’re not sweating. It’s the middle of summer.

Daiki Suzuki (Engineered Garments), who I’ve got loads of respect for, gets mobbed over there. Everyone is all over him. They don’t realise he’s just this normal guy, he likes getting pissed, he likes having a laugh, he’s not this very serious dude. He’s chilled out, he’s a surfer. All these menswear fellas are very serious, and like ‘Um, this season’s fabrics with Daiki’, but he’s not like that. The first year I wore these shorts, he came up to me and was like ‘Glenn! YESSS!’ – I was buzzing. So that’s it. I wear them every year.”

A relatively late starter due to, in his words, “having a bit of a past”, Glenn began his career through the suspiciously Northern artform of knowing loads and loads about old trainers and coats. “I was always into clothes and things were, frankly, going a bit shite, so I moved to Bournemouth and got involved in a vintage shop. Loads of vintage places at the time would buy in bulk from The States, and they didn’t know what they were going to get, they’d just buy half a ton of stuff and then sort through it. Early on, this fella I was working for, made a conscious decision to not do that. He’d go out and get really good stuff from British and European sources.

He was in a good position, as he was basically the only good vintage store on the South Coast, aside from maybe in Brighton. What you’ve got down there is millions of old people, who keep dying all the time, with houses full of good shit that would end up in his shop.

I’d originally got involved to source Danish mid-century furniture, but more and more he began asking me about sportswear that was coming in. He didn’t have a clue about stuff like that, so he’d

GLENN KITSONLIKES COATS

WORDS. DANIEL SANDISONIMAGES. NOAH KALINA & THE RIG OUT

WWW.THERIGOUT.COM

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refer to me. ‘Glenn what’s this?’ and I’d go ‘It came out in 1984, it’s a PU soled adidas’. Then he could go on and sell it. That’s how I got into all this really. By being a geek about trainers.”

Glenn tells us this whilst perched on a sofa in the incongruently luxurious surrounds of Ridley Scott Associates in Soho, as Michael Fassbender’s suit from Prometheus stands in the corner and Harrison Ford’s massive, handsome face stares at us from a poster on the wall. Things have moved on somewhat from second-hand Forest Hills. How did that happen?

“Fortunately I had friends who were going down a similar path, and they said ‘look, you’ve got to get educated’. My mate Gary (Aspden, adidas) suggested a course for me to do and kind of mentored me, really. He introduced me to people and helped me through my degree.

It was a fashion degree, so for the first year and a half I was making dresses. Literally, making dresses. Pattern cutting and that. I was the only straight lad on the course. There were four gay lads and then the rest were all middle class, southern girls, so I’d be sat at the sewing machine in the morning going ‘Anyone watch the Villa game, last night?’ trying to overcompensate, because it all felt a bit weird.

After a year-and-a-half though I started to focus on the communications side of things, the art direction, the more graphic and marketing elements of brands and fashion. What that did for me though, that year and a half of making dresses, which I was really shit at by the way, it gave me the knowledge to be able to talk to designers. If one of them mentions a certain pocket or stitch, I know what they’re on about and don’t look like so much of a dickhead.”

Some years later, just back from shooting a video with Mogwai in Hawaii, with the director of Blade Runner’s name on his

stationery, successful campaigns for Timberland, Rapha and adidas, as well as a Mr. Porter styling credit under his belt, it seems that it may have been worth all that learning to sew. How does The Rig Out feed into all of this?

“The Rig Out started because we felt there was a group of consumers, who were spending a lot of money, with absolutely nobody communicating with them. These were people who wouldn’t buy I.D or Dazed and Confused and weren’t interested by GQ’s fifty grand watches for Tories. They were plasterers and builders, so they had loads of money. Every weekend they’d buy a new jacket, but brands weren’t targeting them. They weren’t into fashion, they were just into good jackets, good footwear, good product really. Nobody was talking to them, so we thought we would.

As a result of what we’ve done, which is all about images and design, we’ve developed into more of an agency. We get commercial jobs where we’ll produce traditional advertising, we’ll do the below-the-line advertising of online content creation as well. We may have veered off it a bit, we’re pulling it back all the time.

With Mr. Porter or anyone, it’s got to be the same. That’s not to say it can’t be conceptual, or have its own artistic merit. I like art. I take the piss out of it because it’s funny, and if you take yourself too seriously, as far as I’m concerned, you’re there to have the piss taken out of you. You can be into stuff though. Our art director, Andy Bird, who is a proper, proper genius by the way, he’s as Geordie as you’re gonna get, he loves art. Everything from renaissance to contemporary art, he’s into it. If you try and get him to talk about it though he becomes this really conflicted Geordie, all ‘Shut up.’

The Rig Out was just a chance to present shit that we’re into though. That still stands.”

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BOXEOCLASICO

WORDS. JONATHAN FREDERICK TURTONIMAGES. CHRISTAAN FELBER

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oxing has always been, and always will be, an interesting sociological subject. Throw New York City into the mix, a

back street gym and a Canon SLR, and you’ve got yourself a mean photography project.

Fresh from shooting the cover of November’s The New York Times Magazine and a tour with The Vaccines, Christaan Felber’s latest project aims to capture the true nature of boxing. Boxeo Clasico has been shortlisted for Photo Book of The Year by American Photo Magazine, and succeeds in encapsulating the grit and character that runs through the sport…

Why did the now defunct Zaragoza Gym, Brooklyn, present an interesting subject matter?

In a lot of ways, it was a matter of circumstance. I was living in Bushwick at the time, taking the J train every morning to work. Each day I would pass by these windows that were plastered with old fight posters, so one day I decided to check the place out and it turned out to be visually stunning and exactly what I thought an old boxing gym should look like. It was dark and dingy with absolutely

no frills, yet there were these brightly coloured walls that were amazing, and I immediately connected with the trainer there, Javi Wilson, who gave me total access to the place. It was just one of those things that worked out. Has the sport always been a subject that interests you socially and aesthetically?

Boxing has always been a part of my life, but up until that point I never really thought about it as anything other than a sport. Photography has a way of making you an active observer. I think by diving into this project it made me reassess the sport and my relationship to it.

There’s a certain romanticism inherent in boxing that all fans are drawn to, but I never thought of it as visually romantic or stunning until I started looking at it through the viewfinder.

You obviously got close to the boxers over the course of the project. Did you find a new respect for the discipline?

Definitely. I think I’ve always found the training part of boxing to be ‘cool’. You always see those montages in movies of these guys transforming themselves, but when you’re there in the midst of it,

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you realise that it’s so much more. I was actually surprised at how meditative it seemed.

I’m not sure if others would necessarily label the experience as spiritual, but I think it is. It’s that intangible element of boxing, and of life, that is so fascinating to me. I think spirit and heart are also interchangeable. Like when you watch those fights between Mickey Ward and

Arturo Gatti, those guys fought with a heart and spirit that I think is undeniable. Then you see someone like Mike Tyson in his later years, trying to fight, you can tell his spirit is broken somehow, and it’s all on display. It’s pretty dramatic.

Boxers tend to be seriously engaged with the sport. Amateurs - training daily in some cases- inner city, working class kids discussing their diets with each other. Did your experience also reaffirm some of your existing beliefs about the fight game, regarding its role in often deprived communities?

Sure. I think in many cases boxing is what a lot of these fighters and trainers live for. In some cases it’s all they have, which provides a certain necessary hunger to fight. It’s an insanely difficult sport and you really have to want it, to get it. It has a way of weeding out the people who aren’t 110% into it.

‘The fight is won or lost far away from the witnesses,

behind the lines, in the gym, and out there on the road. Long

before I dance under those lights.’

Muhammad Ali

NYC is a city synonymous with boxing. How did it feel photographing a subject in, arguably, its spiritual home?

Perfect. I couldn’t think of a better setting for a gym. Everything about it. The visuals, the sounds, the smell, the feel. It seemed to be, at least in my mind, the perfect place for a boxing gym. The gym’s location was literally right next to the elevated JMZ subway line, and you could hear the subway coming and going every couple of minutes. If you looked out of the windows you could see New Yorkers waiting on the platform. It made you aware of the environment you were in, but at the same time it felt like you were in a separate world, looking out.

You were around when the club closed its doors. How difficult a process was that to be a part of?

It was sad. I had become close with Javi, the trainer, so it was difficult to see him go. While he was packing up all of the equipment, he draped his Zaragoza Boxing Gym hoodie over my shoulders like a robe and told me I was like a son to him.

What was the most revealing thing about the whole experience?

It made me appreciate the mental and spiritual fortitude it takes to become a fighter. The preparation, the long repetitive days, weeks, months and years that are put into the sport, just to be able to compete. It’s incredible and there is something really beautiful and almost religious about that level of dedication.

If boxing was a religion then the boxing gym would be the church. I put a quote by Muhammad Ali in the beginning of the book that sums it up well. ‘The fight is won or lost far away from the witnesses, behind the lines, in the gym, and out there on the road. Long before I dance under those lights.’

I was lucky to be a witness.

Boxeo Clasico is available now from christaanfelber.com

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THE BASEMENT CHARLESTON HOUSE 12 RUMFORD PLACE

LIVERPOOL L3 9DG

CALL 0151 227 1814 WWW.BOLDASBRASSTATTOO.COM

[email protected]

1HIL000219 • Whitley Neill Consumer Ad_v1.indd 1 09/12/2013 17:02

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x STYLING. MATTHEW STAPLES

IMAGES. AMY WALSHWWW.PALLADIUMBOOTS.CO.UK

WWW.TOGSANDCLOGS.COM

ith one foot in the history of aviation, the French Foreign Legion and the rugged terrain of the Atlas Mountains, and the

other firmly in the high-tempo, neon-tinted rave scene of the 1990s, Palladium is a footwear brand that has always been strongly committed to diversity, functionality and versatility of use.

In the completely apt setting of a central Manchester warehouse, we teamedPalladium up with an array of Togs + Clogs’ best product, to showcase thebrand in an up-to date, contemporary context. Somewhere between Parisiandebonair and psychedelic scally, this is what we came up with…

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Jacket: Edwin Buddy Jacket, 12oz Dark Blue Vintage Wash Denim Jeans: Lee 101z Original Slim Rider Jean -13.75oz Raw Unwashed Jumper: Wolsey crew neck sweater Dark Charcoal Grey

Jacket: Marshall Artist RAF Jacket - Steel blue Top: Armor-Lux LS Stripe T-Shirt Jeans: Lee 101z Original Slim Rider Jean - Broken Vintage Stone Wash

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Jacket: Marshall Artist Tailored Gamekeepers Coat - Olive Shirt: Marshall Artist Distributive Camo Shirt - White Jeans: Lee 101z Original Slim Rider Jean - 13.75oz Raw Unwashed Scarf: Wolsey Firsby Lambswool Scarf Grey Marl

Jacket: Wolsey Alnor Jacket Mushroom Brown Jeans: Lee 101z Original Slim Rider Jean - Broken Vintage Stone Wash Backpack: Herschel Supply Company Heritage Bag Black


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Boots: Pampa Hi Peru - £49.00

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Shirt: Han Kjobenhavn Army Shirt - Pale Blue Corduroy Trousers: Farah Navy Chino

Jumper: Armor-Lux Buttoned Shoulder Striped Wool Jumper Jeans: Lee 101z Original Slim Rider Jean - 13.75oz Raw Unwashed Hat: Marshall Artist Bucket Hat - Light Chambray


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Boots: Pallabrouse Lea 2 Khaki/Tan - £85.00

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Jacket: Marshall Artist Work Jacket - BlackShirt: Marshall Artist Oxford Shirt - WhiteTrousers: Marshall Artist Lined Wool Trouser - Charcoal

Jumper: Brooklyn We Go Hard Star Sweatshirt - Grey Marl Sweatpants: Marshall Artist Classic Sweatpant - Burgundy Melange


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Shoes: Pampa Oxford Black - £44.00

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DID IT LIKE THISSTYLING. MATTHEW STAPLESIMAGES. MICHAEL KIRKHAM

WWW.DICKIESWORKWEAR.COM

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t’s Christmas time. There’s no need to be afraid… That is unless you’re Kevin McAllister of course, for whom the festive period is full of not only

harrowing parental neglect, but also a tumultuous grapple with two comically haphazard criminals. With startling regularity poor Kev is dumped by his parents, and extended family of all-American caricatures, to fend for himself over the most wonderful time of the year. It’s a good job he’s prepared.

Between soaking ropes with kerosene and bludgeoning curly-headed buffoons with house bricks, McAllister junior has got home security on lockdown. It is the organisation of the Home Alone Winter Lookbook however, that we are far more interested in…

From the moment we were introduced to John Hughes’ 8-year-old hero in 1990, he exuded effortless cool. With a penchant for knitwear and informal layering that would put McQueen in the shade, and an array of military surplus that would have Serpico sobbing into his chambray, the young man manages, over the course of 224 minutes, to provide not only two of the finest Christmas films you will

ever see (no back answers), but also a menswear masterclass.

Mixing plaid with a sensational array of knits and a chillingly Aryan complexion, Kevin takes the boy-next-door image and gives it a shot in the arm. One part Dennis The Menace, two parts John Rambo and a sprinkle of Deer Hunter, he was embracing that ‘Heritage’ carry-on whilst the rest of us still had poppers on our tracksuit bottoms. Hiking boots and a bobble hat complete a look that, to this day, leaves the internet’s most casualest casuals scrabbling around for discount codes and rendering their computer’s F5 key out-of-order through overuse.

Whether blowtorching Tommy from Goodfellas’ scalp in the comfort of his own home, or befriending a pigeon-covered Susan Boyle-alike to escape the mean streets of New York City, he doesn’t put a foot wrong. Kevin’s real life counterpart may prefer the gaunt, black T-shirt Hollywood look these days, but through the first two Home Alone films Culkin has left us an icon that will never fade…

#UnlikelyStyleIcon

UNLIKELY STYLE ICON

KEVIN McALLISTERWORDS. DANIEL SANDISON

ILLUSTRATION. JAMIE MATTOCKSCLOTHING. OIPOLLOI.COM

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hose ‘Get The Look’ things are lazy, aren’t they? Really poor and the solace of people who have got no creativity, and wet jeans overlapping

their trainers. Anyway, with that in mind, we’ve got together with Mancunian menswear floggers, Oi Polloi, to show you how you can ‘Get The Look’ of our latest Unlikely Style Icon…

Polo Ralph Lauren Cable Knit Crew (Navy)£104.00The Polo Ralph Lauren Cable Knit Crew — a no nonsense cotton knit from Lord Ralph. It’s what menswear aficionados might call a ‘succinct option for Autumn layering’, but as it’s cotton you can pretty much wear it whenever you damn well please.

Woolrich Arctic Parka DF (Kelly Green) £629.00The Woolrich Arctic Parka was originally designed for workers on the Alaskan Pipeline who had to cope with temperatures well below freezing. This version here, known as the Arctic Parka DF, is a slimmed down version, with a more modern fit. But don’t worry, it’s still an ideal heavy-duty winter jacket.

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Chamula Double Cuff Cap (Fairisle Royal Mix)£56.00The Double Cuff Cap is a proper-warm winter hat from Chamula. Made in Mexico from the wool of locally grazing Merino sheep, it’s not only super-soft, but it’s got that personal touch that only the calloused hands of hardened Mayan knitters can give.

Gitman Vintage Button Down Shirt (Indigo Flannel Red) £165.00When it comes to shirts, not many make ‘em better than the Gitman Brothers. Slightly darted at the sides, their shirts add a bit of class to any proceedings. This beauty here is a soft, brushed cotton flannel shirt that’s been dyed using indigo. As everyone knows, indigo is the stuff that makes your jeans look good, so we’re predicting this should look equally good after a few washes.


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Levi’s Vintage Clothing1975 519 Bedford Cords (Cumin)£145.00What you’re looking at here are a pair of 1975 519 Cords. These are a straight up reproduction of the cords that Levi’s were making in the mid seventies, and they’re good. Very good. They’ve got a sharp, straight fit that’s narrow without being too slim. The washed fabric isn’t half bad either... we’re always partial to a bit of corduroy action and we’re pleased to say the cord used here received a unanimous head-nod from our Cord Inspection Committee.

HALCYON

#STANSMITH

INSTORE: JAN 15 2014

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Halcyon Issue 7