NYLON Q and A with Peggy Jean-Louis

 

Peggy Jean-Louis is not just a lovely name that rolls off your tongue when you say it, she’s a New Yorker living in London, she has put together some big shows and events for some of my favourite artists, such as, Mos Def, Q-tip at the Roundhouse and the Gilles Peterson Worldwide Awards.
1. How long have you been in London?

I’ve been here for 2.5 years
2. Where do you Live

Hoxton, East London
3. What brought you to London?

Music and a love of Europe
4. What keeps you busy?

My business Peggy UNLTD in which I promote club nights, music brand consultancy, and also special event management.
5. What do you Miss About New York?

Riding my bike through Brooklyn in the Fall.
6. What do you Love About London?

Everything really, but especially the ever-evolving underground music scene. At the moment dubstep is still dominating but its slowly maturing into a thoughtful sound that is more song based as suppose to just repetitive loops. It going to be interesting to see its development next year and the way it will connect to fans.
7. Is there a dose of New York you would like to inject into London and What is it?

A bit more hustle I think. Its good, but sometimes it can take long to make things happen.
8. What Inspires You?

At the moment its the Eurostar. Travel should always be this pleasant!
9. Complete this sentence, ‘You know your are Londoner When…’

You rush home to catch Eastenders. Its just a normal looking TV soap. Everyone looks so boring and plain but manage to get into the most complicated situations. I’ve become a die hard fan.
10. What Slang have you Picked up while living in London? (What is your new favourite word)

innit

11. Survival Tip to Living in London.

Ignore the rain.
You can keep up with Peggy on her blog peggyunltd

What I miss about London…

A Full English Breakfast…

 

 

NYLON Q and A with Kizzy Knight

Kizzy is quite a multi-faceted and creative lady, if she sets her mind to anything she succeeds in it, she is an award winning stylist, a trained dancer and a fashion designer. Her recent venture an Eco Clothing line, JAI Activewear is a contemporary active wear collection that is completely sustainable, who knew you could make a beautiful outfit from an Eucalyptus Tree?
1. How long have you been in NYC?

The first time I came with the idea of living here was about six and a half years ago…
2. Where do you Live?

I literally just moved to the East Village…I love my new neighborhood…I was in Clinton Hill Brooklyn for over four years before that, I defo’ miss the Brooklyn Vibes but hey I still visit and to tell you the truth it rocks being in the city!
3. What brought you to NYC?

Life…I wanted to do Something new, learn and grow…
4. What keeps you Busy?

Dancing through the breeze of creativity…I just launched a contemporary active wear line
called JAI Activewear

5. What do you miss about London?

Loved ones…

6. What do you love about New York?

Everything…The place is swinging, constantly….

7. Is there a dose of Britishness you would like to inject into NYC and what is it?

A more profound understanding of British Humor…..Hahahhahhahhahahhahhahhahhahaa
British humor is smart and witty, you have to think about it to get it.
8. What inspires you?

Love…
9. Complete this sentence, ‘You know your a New York When…’

…you’ve got your stride on, you’ve set the fast paced New York tread mill to your own speed,there is so much going on around the clock…. Yea your a New Yorker once your chilling in your groove!

10. Survival tip to living in New York.

Korea town 24 hour Spa…

Remembering Smiley Culture

 

RIP Smiley Culture – SAXON – Cockney Translation

This one is for SOUTH LONDON Old School.

Smiley is translating Cockney in a Yardy fashion.

‘Cockney have name like Henry, Arther and Delboy
We have name like Winston, Lloyd and Leroy’

‘Cockney say Ol’ Bill!
We Dutty Babylon !’

Cool Guide to NY…Crosby Street Hotel

I heard about this hip hotel before it opened and vowed to check out out as soon as it did. I stopped by recently and was in awe, the place is beautiful, with a fresh contemporary English eccentric style, carefully selected impressive art, along with modern and antique accents. And they serve a traditional English tea, perfect for the upcoming chilly afternoons in NYC. I was given a quick tour of the guest area, private meeting rooms and the screening room. I will be back for sure. 

The Crosby Street Hotel in SoHo, NYC, opened at the beginning of October 2009. Housing 86 individually designed guest rooms, by co-owner Kit Kemp who with her husband Tim make a dynamic husband and Wife design duo. The hotel comes with a 99 seat sub-level screening room, private meeting/event rooms, a beautiful lounge along with eco-cred touches such as an organic vegetable roof garden and will soon be LEED certified (Leadership in Energy and Environmental design)

Kit and Tim Kemp, are co-founders of the Firmdale Hotel Group, together they have a mini-chain of luxury hip boutique hotels. The Crosby Street location is their first outside of London, thier other locations are: The Soho Hotel, Haymarket Hotel, Covent Garden Hotel, Knightsbridge Hotel, Number Sixteen and Charlotte Street Hotel, all which are in Central London.

Cool Factor
– One of the coolest thing about Crosby Street Hotel is that it one of the most environmentally responsible hotel buildings in the U.S.

– All guest rooms are individually designed, with careful thought to textiles, colour, arrangement, style and feel.

– They serve afternoon ‘High Tea’

– Off the beaten path

Q and A with Helen Job

Helen Job spots trends before it happens. She has worked as a trend forecaster, consultant and journalist for nearly a decade, most recently directing WGSNʼs US content. She is widely recognized for her expertise in trend analysis and forecasting and has consulted for major brands and retailers such as Liz Claiborne, and Urban Outfitters. While she is perusing newspapers and blogs everyday, she is also a Trendspotter professor at Parsons School of Design, a mother of two and a wife. 

1. How long have you been in NYC?

Five years
2. Where do you live

East Village/Alphabet City

3. What brought you to NYC?

I was transferred through work to run the New York office of WGSN
4. What keeps you busy?

Working on lots of freelance projects and raising two small kids. Teaching Trend Spotting at Parsons and also research, consultancy, and brand strategy work. Trendspotting involves constant media scan – reading magazines, blogs, twitter feeds etc.. And primary research checking out new music venues, retail trends, visual merchandising, restaurants, and hotels.

5. What do you miss about London?

People’s humor and sensibility – being cutting and rude and nobody actually taking offense. The constant laughter even in dire situations. My ramshackle group of friends. English Breakfast and builder’s tea at greasy spoon cafes.Ribena, Jaffa Cakes, Linda McCartney pies, M&S underwear, Boots the Chemists…I also miss the radio for the dry British humour, the news and a great selection of smaller music stations. The Guardian Newspaper…well G2, lets be honest I don’t read the whole thing. I don’t, however miss the bad weather, the buses and the whinging.

6. What do you love about New York?

You can get whatever you want at any time of the day. Great, cheap and fast food. Meeting fascinating people from many cultures – I have friends with such mixed backgrounds from Korea to Bulgaria – in England everyone I know is just plain ol’English.
7. Is there a dose of Britishness you would like to inject into NYC, what would it be?

Pub culture, going to the pub on a Sunday afternoon, listening to the jukebox and pretending to read the papers, with a good Sunday roast. Hanging out all afternoon and deciding you might as well stay for the evening too even with work in the morning.

8. What inspires you?

Simply walking around New York. I still love walking this city as everything is happening all the time, there’s amazing art, and street culture and I love the nutters too.
9. What are some of the differences in fashion trends and sensibilities between the UK (London) and New York?

When I first moved here, I thought NY was three years behind London, but it’s getting closer with all the fashion blogs etc… However, if you go down the East End in London it looks like everyone is in costume, – they’ve made a real effort. There are distinct style tribes in London too, for example there’s a night called Cockabilly where people dress up in a new take on Rock-a-billy, lots of pompadours. I feel that the hipster look in NYC is very American Apparel, hipster-by-numbers. Everyone wears the same outfit. People are more creative and it just seems fresher in London.

It’s a traditional British thing to dress with a sense of individual style and eclecticism. You have Central St. Martins, which is one of the most creative fashion colleges in the world, but in NYC \ you feel that it’s rolled out for the masses. Great cutting edge designers come from London such as; Giles Deacon and Gareth Pugh, Vivienne Westwood, Alexander McQueen etc.
10. Have you noticed a difference or impact in street fashion in NYC since Topshop arrived? 
Ha ha…I’ve seen TopShop bags around, it’s just another fashion retailer with disposable fashion trends here. It’s not the same clientele that frequents the Oxford circus location; there you get a mix of fashion stylists, models and industry people. I love TopShop so lets hope so…

11. Complete this sentence, ‘You know you’re a New Yorker when…’

You start seeing a therapist.
12. Survival tip to living in New York.

Hmm… that’s really difficult. I guess I’d say $2 pizza and not stopping to think about your next move. Like you are paying ridiculous amounts on rent, for a tiny apartment with no garden you have no savings, no car, and are living with mice and cockroaches but you still keep doing it, because you believe you are living in the best city in the world. It seems madness to some people but nothing beats the atmosphere just walking around this place. I love New York!

 

Black Britain Photography

Photojournalism meets social history inBlack Britain: A Photographic History by Paul Gilroy

 

NYLON Q and A with Thimali Kodikara

Thimali is an all round renaissance woman. She is super creative, flowing with ideas, not only is she a sassy and savvy brand strategist and consultant, she is also a graphic designer, illustrator, and recording artist.

Thimali I salute you.

1. How Long Have you Been in NYC?

6 years, but I deserve to say 26, its been a trip
2. Where do you Live?

Prospect Heights/Park Slope depending on who i’m talking to.
3. What Brought you to NYC?

My move to New York? Adventure in one word. A lad (man) is probably the truth.

Although I prefer to credit my relationship with New York to my first trip here at 19, but my best mate traveled to Ghana the same year. She met a wily scrap of lads from New York on a beach, and fell in love with one of them (haven’t we all..).

She comes home to my flat, cooing, “you’ve gotta come with me and find out if it’s love!!”. To which I say, “I don’t know who these people are, what they do
… Alright. F*** it. Lets go.” We go. And I’m their bridesmaid three years later.

The boys were part of a non-profit art movement ‘The Freestyle Arts Association’, and were doing incredible projects at schools & colleges citywide. We started a triangle of collaborative work whilst I was studying atCentral St. Martins, between my shared studio in Whitechapel, theirs in Long Island City & my mates in Cambridge. We’re celebrating ten years of knowing each other this year.
4. What Keep you Busy?

I freelance for an exceptional London-based branding consultancy which keeps me out-of-state most of the month. When I’m not doing that, I’m working on my freshly-launched new company designing brand strategy & identity for bright, innovative start-ups. We’re in a new economic era, and I believe it should be prefaced by doing all we can to help small businesses get a leg up. Small businesses coax strong communities into fruition, and I live to see that happen! All my executions entertain a guerrilla attitude because it lends itself to interactivity, but I’m also a Left-brained soul, so they’re always painfully and meticulously thought out.

I’m also about to complete my first record singing & producing with Eka.
It’s a collaborative project between myself, Jason Drake (a.k.a super-multi-instrumentalist Cassettes Wont Listen) & Devang Shah (percussionist & founding member of Dragons Of Zynth). We’ve all evolved listening to anything we can get our hands on, but Eka’s natural frequency will span violent beats, to soulful house, to Brooklyn noise. We’re being represented byDope Lotus, which was founded as a collective of artists & musicians, not just for a musical genre.

5. What do you Miss about London?
1. Sense of humor. But no doubt everyone on this blog has said that.

2. Telly. I’m watching a BBC series on the History of Maths via YouTube right now. Can you see that shit on the CW11? Seriously.

3. The pub. Again obvious, but Londoners know how to survive the cold months better than New Yorkers for this reason. A pub lunch – a few solid pints – a fresh pack of Golden Virginia – the Saturday Guardian crossword – a roaring fire – the football – and all your mates who moved to live five minutes away from you so they can finally call your pub, their ‘local’.

4. Women. London’s ladies are feisty, smart, confident, mouthy, independent, intelligent, and most importantly, aren’t afraid to use it.

5. My family.
6. What do you Love about New York?

1. It does freedom in a way the rest of the States hasn’t figured out yet. New York is all free living & free thinking.

2. It has an overwhelmingly powerful creative energy that is completely unavoidable.

3. It’s non judgmental, If you have a great idea, there is no hierarchy to climb. You just do it. People will applaud you for your effort, not only the final product.

4. Community. You can be part of an accessible microcosm or macrocosm, depending on how you choose to live.

5. The Manhattan skyline coming over the bridges, never, ever, tires..

7. Is there a dose of Britishness you would like to Inject into NYC and what is It?

Talking about foreign policy, and your sex life, both in graphic detail, in the same sitting. Same sentence if you can manage it.

8. What Inspires You?

Brilliant people doing brilliant things. Everyone has something to offer you can’t acquire by yourself, so I try to talk to everybody.
9. Complete this sentence, ‘You know your a New Yorker When…’

.. you traveled to Philly to campaign, secured Pennsylvania, and won Obama’s election for the Democrats.
.. your accent is thought to be from southern Jersey.
.. you know Kip from TV On The Radio.

10. Has your Accent Changed a Little….

Not really, and I like it that way. I was born a Londoner, but I’ll plum it up
so Americans can understand me better. Which more often than not backfires
in obscene ways when someone attempts to mimic my accent. That’s about
2-6 times a day.
11. Survival tip to living in New York.

Move to Brooklyn.

Once you’ve done that, don’t think all cab drivers are going to take you home, even if you’re willing to pay, and it’s the law. Get in the cab with a minor knowledge of South Asian and/or Middle Eastern politics and worry about it when you get to Dekalb Av.

Thank you to Thimali, whose album will be out soon, so watch this space.

Is This the Queue for the Toilet?

I was met with a puzzled stare when I asked where the queue was, I’m thinking maybe she didn’t hear me properly, so I asked again…‘Excuse me, is this the queue for the toilet?

She understood the toilet part, but didn’t understand queue…
’Whats a queue? 
Me: ‘You know a single file line’
Oh you mean where is the Line?

Its funny, how we take our common words for granted, we are all speaking the Queens English, but just using different words for different things.

I say Aubergine, You say Eggplant
I say Courgette, You Say Zucchini

Jelly, Jam, Chips, Crisps, Lets call the whole thing off!

I ask for the Toilet, You wheres the Bathroom
I use the Lift, You use an Elevator

Apartment, Flat, Petrol, Gas, Lets call the whole thing off!

Where is the Garbage, Where is the Rubbish
I say I’m Knackered, You say you’re smashed

Pavement, Sidewalk, ATM, Cash Point, Lets call the whole thing off!

 

RIP Lovers Rock Legend Louisa Marks

R.I.P. Louisa Marks, the first British Lovers Rock artist. She was a teenager when her song ‘Caught You in a Lie’ became a hit single in 1975.

Lovers Rock is a romantic, R&B influenced form of reggae, developed out of the U.K. reggae scene. It was a combination of the smooth sounds of Chicago and Philly soul with reggae bass-lines and rhythms.

Lovers Rock had particular appeal amongst women and produced many female stars including Louisa Marks, Carroll Thompson and Janet Kay who had one of the biggest hits of the genre ‘Silly Games,’ which reached No.2 in the U.K. Charts in 1979.

The sound became popular in the late 70’s and early 80’s, especially as late night selections at any Jamaican dance or family house party, where the adults would be slow whining into the wee hours, and the kids alone in the kitchen to sample the special punch.