Barcelona Street Style: Leeds in Barcelona

Dom from Dom, Dick, & Harry.
Fashion designer Ariadna & photographer JohnDave Beer and Rachel from Marketing LeedsGiuseppe from ICS and DomTwo students
Stacey from HebePhotographer from LelookTwo guestsJulia from Marketing LeedsA guestTeacher from IEDCarole Lelook's shoesGiuseppe's DJ's face glittersTeacher from IED and his boyI took these pictures at our recent Leeds in Barcelona event, during the panel discussion at IED. I love shooting people in a fashion school, everything was just so painless, the people are well dressed but effortless, and they welcome cameras, it made my work so easy! 

Graduate Fashion In Leeds, London & Antwerp

Leeds
Anna BrowningDaniela MarchettaShamin SultonAnna BrowningKate O'bryan TearKatrina Lee
Claire GreendaleFaith BunceSophie Broadhurst

A couple of weeks ago the Hebe team headed down to the Graduate Fashion Show by Leeds College of Art. We always love to see new talent emerging and and imagine how they might develop in the future.

Each student was required to showcase three pieces, a mini A/W collection. There were some refreshing elements in many of the students's designs, but for some of the students a lack of coherence was a problem, which is an important factor to think about when building a collection. Some students managed to get this coherence though. I particularly liked Rachael Broadhurst's creations, very feminine, and for my eyes, the most complete collection at the event. Crystal Padmore's way of connecting different materials was skilful. Lauren Crowe made a collection that's trendy right now, using plenty of fringe and leather. I noted down that I liked Sharon Banga's good fabric choices. I also liked Anna Browning's square jacket shape. Faith Bunce's hunting inspired works were very memorable and stood out.

Overall, I do think there's an issue of the students being too aware of what's trendy right now, instead of looking for something that's never seen before. If you can not let loose and do something 'out there' when you are at college, when can you, right?

London

University Of Salford catwalk show. Design by Nicola Bream. Earls Court, London

My good friend and partner on the UK Observing Diary, Chia Wen Liu went to the London Graduate Fashion Week. And this was one of her favorite outfits. She thinks this year's designers were of a good standard, but the event itself seemed to lack some of wow factor of previous years. Perhaps the change in sponsor (River Island to George) and/or a smaller budget had something to do with this?

Chia Wen filmed this video of best and awarded designers this year. An you can see a very noticeable character in the crowd.

Antwerp

And finally, let's take a look at the legendary Royal Academy Academy of Fine Art in Antwerp. You can read more about it at Vice Style. 

MANON KUNDIG (Photo courtesy of VICE) MANON KUNDIG (Photo courtesy of VICE)MINJU KIM (Photo courtesy of VICE)

The Hebe Week In Pics

Team Hebe visited the Loop Arts Fair @ Marshall's Mill. There were some great pieces including this by Lord WhitneyWe listened to a really interesting talk from James Jarvis who shares our love of comicsThe event attracted loads of cool peepsShang Ting @ Loop Arts FairIt was so interesting watching live art @ Loop Arts FairWe then took a tour of the Arts Fair; so many colours!And so many prints!I did a spot of Coolhunting while i was there ;)Shang Ting on the top of Candle House looking for Ghost CargoSome of Matt Maude's pics from Leeds in Barcelona; Dave Beer chllingJo on the Metro in BarcelonaDom enjoying the ride!Chocolates from the wonderful Rowan Grant at the Leeds In Barcelona catch up and interview sesh

Eboi - Immigrants

This afternoon I checked in with Eboi and Thomas from RMH in Stockholm. They told me about the new video they had created for the new track 'Immigrants' and we talked a little about the thinking behind the track and the video.

As you can see when you watch the video there is a strong message in here that Eboi wanted to put out there as he explains:

"Europe is going through a lot of changes and the segregation in many countries is on the rise, especially in areas where a lot of immigrants live. I wanna show the world what it's like up here, especially in a place like Sweden where most people picture tall blond people and no conflicts. There's a big gap between that perception and reality out here."

As some of you will know the track is Eboi's take on the massive Slang Like This - True Tiger Feat. P Money (Big shout to Verena / Kids of Grime in the vid too!) and when Eboi heard the track he knew he had to put his own Swedish interpretaion down:

"I got the idea when I listened to Slang Like This and I felt they captured the feeling perfectly and I wanted to apply the concept to Sweden. I even used the term "slang" in there just to make that connection because as soon as I heard P Money slaughter his verse, I could relate. 

I mean to me the original track (Slang Like This) is already an anthem, and I'm surprised more people across the international hiphop scene haven't already given us their interpretation of the song."

The video has a real 'raw' feel to it and that is exactly what the director Thomas wanted to get on this:

"It's my first music video ever and I wanted to make sure that people all over the world get to see how it looks in the hoods in Stockholm, Sweden. The place where Eboi grew up. I sparked up a J and just started filming the people that kick it in Ebois hood. That's it."

It is always interesting to hear different artists' takes on a track and we love both P. Money and Eboi on this one. Coming from a similar angle but done in totally different ways. The two videos also have the 'real' feel to them that is always really interesting to see - real people doing real things somehow always feels more powerful, especially for a track that has the same vibe.

You can download the track here 

Leeds in Barcelona: The Showcase

Last month we headed out to Barcelona for Leeds in Barcelona: A Creative Encounter. Here we concentrate on the second part of the project - Leeds Taylor which was a showcase event of creative talent from both Leeds and Barcelona. (You can check out the first part of the project here: The Conference)

Leeds Taylor was held at the amazing Hotel ME in Barcelona. The idea behind the event from our point of view, was to showcase Leeds creative talent to massive audience of international opinion leaders and, more broadly speaking, further develop ties between the two cities. But rather then just go to Barcelona and try to 'sell' we wanted to create an experience that was more of a collaboration, something that was a one-off special project. To do this we teamed up with Marketing Leeds and our good friends LeLook and set about creating a platform where Leeds and Barcelona creatives could be seen together. For the fashion talent involved in the project this was in the form of a photo-shoot and catwalk show. 

Photoshoot at Hotel MECatwalk featuring Dom Dick & HarryA piece from the latest James Steward collectionDom Dick and Harry and Nicholas DeakinsJames Steward A/W

The soundtrack for the event was supplied first of all by Barcelona DJ and all round superstar DJ Mustache. Then followed a live performance from Leeds band ICS and they absolutely smashed it! Their performance included material from their new EP mixed up with some really cool covers including Nelly - Ride With Me, and Tinie Tempah - Pass Out. Then the showcase moved up to the 6th floor where the sounds of legendary Leeds club BacktoBasics and more specifically Dave Beer and Tristan Da Cunha kept the 1000 strong crowd entertained for hours more.

ICS left a lasting impression on the Catalan crowd

The showcase attracted more then 1000 people

The reaction to the event in Barcelona was amazing. Loads of people from the Barca creative scene now want to visit Leeds and hook up with designers, artists, bands and DJs here. The directors of the European Institute of Design want to travel here this summer and discuss ways we can collaborate further. Spanish national television will feature the project in a show later this month, introducing millions more to what we created and drive more interest and awareness of Leeds as an interesting international creative city.

Over the coming weeks we will report back on further fallout from the event including some of the next steps people are taking and we will post a copy of the spot on Spanish television. Discussions are taking place involving the talent featured in the project and we are sure that in the immediate and long term, some really cool things are going to emerge from this project.