< Previous“Political strife and partisanship seem to be either pushing people to the extremes of the political spectrum or simply burning them out so much that they no longer care,” muses Kordestani. “It seems that most people are either politically intense or politically apathetic, with no in-between.” Despite concerns that polarisation is at an all-time high, research from the American Communities Project at Michigan University has actually pointed to plenty of consensus on issues. “For a country that often feels hopelessly divided, there is a lot of agreement on statements that centre on government action in one way or another,” study authors Dante Chinni and Ari Pinkus wrote. Even on more contentious issues such as abortion, immigration and wealth inequality, there was found to be a general agreement among people of vastly diff erent demographics. “Deep down, most of us should recognise the resulting groupthink as a farce,” argues Kordestani. “Th e human experience is too varied and complex to boil discourse down to black or white, good or bad, just or unjust. Although it’s a human impulse to take shortcuts, simplify, and reinforce already-held opinions, it’s essential that we avoid categorising things so easily.” LOOKING INWARD Civil discourse is not just about conversations we have with other people, but also about the ones we have with ourselves. “People often think that to practice discourse, they simply need to focus on the qualities and attributes of the other people involved, when they should actually begin by looking inward to learn more about themselves,” says Kordestani, comparing it to driving. “You should always check the road for other cars – but your fi rst priority is to fasten your seatbelt.” It goes without saying that the rise of extremism is not a simple unpacking – hate speech from people who condemn your fundamental rights is never okay and not necessarily something we can work to unpack. But when it comes to the everyday onslaught of content that riles us up, Kordestani believes those who react strongly usually do not understand their own triggers. And just like many of our shortcomings, egos play a large role. Th is evolutionary pull to self-preserve not only fuels the need to be right, but it can also blinker any other fi ndings to prove otherwise. “Your ego can form a protective barrier around you, making you less likely to understand your, let’s say, less positive attributes and behaviours,” he illustrates. “We can easily make assumptions based on the selective evidence gathered from our own position, and sometimes our instinct is to shape the truth [to fi t] with our own biases.” Impartiality may be an unrealistic ideal for deeply subjective animals, but aiming for it can get us pretty close. Progression is within closer reach when we accept our thoughts and opinions as unfi nished products. With this mentality, we can approach situations with the mindset that we can grow from any conversation. 28GRAZIAMA GAZINE. COM GME_011_026to029_EDCommonGroundV5_13386785.indd 2801/10/2024 21:05MOVING FORWARD “One of the problems with civil discourse in its current dire situation is the assumption that it will sort itself out over time,” laments Kordestani. But like him, many have observed these divisions in society and worked to share their ideas for a way forward. “Civil discourse doesn’t always mean agreeing or feeling comfortable,” he adds. Th e same could be said about exercise. Muscle doesn’t grow without resistance. Similarly, uncomfortable conversations challenge us, and it is only through challenge that we become the most resilient. In his work as an associate professor of leadership at Swinburne University of Technology, Samuel Wilson outlines the key principles he believes can ease tensions of polarisation. First and foremost, Wilson urges us to expand our information horizons and actively explore beyond our own echo chambers. Th is doesn’t mean forcing yourself to consume content you don’t like, but enriching yourself with outsider perspectives. To do this requires curiosity with good intention. As Kordestani affi rms, “When we surprise people by being present, by being kind, or by seeking common ground, we advance society at the grassroots level.” Negating judgement means trying to break the natural instinct to box people in and fi le them away at haste – not a simple process, but certainly a worthy capability. What Wilson emphasises is a need to start thinking more ‘manually’. Calling on Greene’s work, he explains that our brain is like a dual- mode camera, with fast, point-and-shoot automatic settings as well as a slow manual mode. “Our point-and-shoot settings are our emotions and intuitions, and manual mode is our capacity for deliberate reasoning, which makes our thinking fl exible,” he writes. “In the context of contested moral and political issues, our manual mode can enable us to see, understand, and incorporate new perspectives and ways of thinking into the problems we must together share and resolve.” Making space for ‘both/and’ thinking over ‘either/or’ thinking is something Professor of Leadership and Management at Bristol Business School Richard Bolden raises. Living with this paradox requires us to accept that there is no black and white, and that two logically incompatible positions can be true. Th e pursuit of aff ective discourse is not about fi xing the world’s problems overnight, but rather, dissolving some of the blockades inhibiting us from enjoying a more open and fruitful society for all. In this tense political climate, getting to a place of civility can feel like a stretch beyond repair, but this is a process that has unfolded over centuries, and as many optimistic theorists put forward, when we can get out of our own way, humans have a profound ability to connect to each other. Th is kind of change doesn’t happen overnight, but taking the steps is the only way to get anywhere. Sometimes it’s as simple as acknowledging a good point. GRAZIAMA GAZINE. COM29 GME_011_026to029_EDCommonGroundV5_13386785.indd 2901/10/2024 21:05Step inside the prismatic splendour of Sarabande, the arts foundation set up by the late Lee Alexander McQueen to nurture innovators and rule-breakers WORDS DIV YA VENKATARAMAN 30I peer through a shimmering prism. Light strikes the transparent pane shaped like a grinning man’s head, turning it green and pinkish-gold. It looks like it’s made of stained glass, but I’ve been in the east London home of arts foundation Sarabande long enough already to know that not all is what it seems. “Oh, no,” says artist Sophie Lloyd as she bends down to peer through the pane with me. “That’s made out of sugar. And lead, to hold it all together.” Lloyd, one of the 39 resident artists that make up Sarabande’s current cohort, explains that she got her start crafting flowers out of fondant – inspired, naturally, by The Great British Bake Off – and moved into hardened sugar sculpture. “I’ve got a sweet tooth,” Lloyd laughs. “And sugar is very sensitive to its environment, which plays into my themes of how human nature responds to our consumerist society,” she explains. How does it feel working with something as ephemeral as sugar, something that melts and fogs and changes shape over time? “It’s exciting. We don’t know what it will look like later,” she adds. “It’ll stay around in some form. But I don’t know exactly how.” Sarabande was set up in 2006 by the late, great British designer Lee Alexander McQueen, and now occupies two studio spaces in London. One is here, down the liminal backstreets between grungy Dalston and leafy De Beauvoir Town, and the other is in Tottenham, taking up a pair of Georgian townhouses in the city’s north. McQueen’s former right-hand woman and his first hire in 1994, Trino Verkade, is now Sarabande’s CEO. Swishing her trademark lipstick-red hair from her cheek, Verkade explains that when selecting candidates for the residency, she and the assessors don’t pay much attention to formal qualifications. They don’t need any. “It’s about what you’re doing right now and what you’re doing in the future – and can we help you get there?” she explains. What’s important is their unique vision and dedication to their craft. Once selected, artists and designers are invited to use one of Sarabande’s studio spaces for a year, rented out at £1 (Dhs4.88) per square foot – a pittance in the context of London’s usual prices. They are also nestled within a uniquely multidisciplinary cohort, where mentorship and connection with the UK’s greatest contemporary artists across various mediums comes as part of the package. Every Sarabande cohort is made up of a diverse range of makers, working across ‘traditional’ modes of art, such as oil painting, clay and jewellery design, and also more left-field genres, like wood-carving, metallurgy, and wearable twine sculpture. “Because everybody’s so different, you don’t feel like, ‘I don’t belong here,’” Verkade tells me as we walk through the airy open studio space, where the current summer group’s show is on display. Among the artworks we see: a moody floral triptych on canvas; a metal 3D-printed sculpture of two cowering figures whose forms bleed into each other; and a life-size pinball machine taken over by Donald Trump’s face. “That’s probably one of the strongest things about the foundation: that you can be in any practice and still feel like you do belong here,” Verkade says. Downstairs lies a warren of studio spaces. These are even more curious and more revealing of the artists than the artworks upstairs. As we wander the corridors, we pass a room whose shelves are lined with Dean Hoy’s slightly maudlin soft toy sculptures, and one where the walls aren’t visible because they’re covered by exhibition artist Darcey Fleming’s reams of rainbow-coloured twine. At the door of another, the earthy scent of henna hits you before you walk in: the artist Banita Mistry is exploring painting with it. Meanwhile, Lloyd’s studio (she of the sugar sculptures) looks more like a baker’s workshop than an art studio: her shelves are stacked with food dyes, royal icing and plump bags of sugar. Then, we stumble into what looks and smells like a garden. There are pots of grasses growing and a woman wearing gloves and dungarees bending over them. Almudena Romero projects photographs onto plants and leaves, and then ‘fossilises’ them in bioresin to make small, jagged sculptures. She began by printing her photography on all the different kinds of flower petals she found in her grandmother’s garden – her grandparents are organic farmers – and experimenting with how they functioned as canvases to develop her film. Romero’s upcoming project is even more ambitious: the grasses she is tending to will make up part of a 30,000 square metre photographic artwork in a field in France, created in collaboration with the country’s National Institute of Agricultural Research. A mockup of her project is tacked onto her pinboard. GRAZIAMA GAZINE. COM31this page Artwork, DANIEL THE GARDENER that page Ring, MATILDE MOZZANEGA previous spread Sugar Sculpture, SOPHIE LLOYD 32GRAZIAMA GAZINE. COM GME_011_30to33_EDArtRenegades_13381441.indd 3201/10/2024 21:11A giant eye stares out at the sky, in the midst of green pastures. Here, the only limit on the materiality of an artwork is one’s imagination. Fashion, as you would expect in a foundation founded by one of the great British designers, also has a key place at Sarabande. London-born fashion darling, Aaron Esh, whose pieces have been worn by Zendaya, and earned him a shortlisting for the prestigious 2023 LVMH Prize just a year after graduating from Central Saint Martins, is one of this year’s Sarabande residents. As we enter his studio, he is preparing for the Fall/Winter season of London Fashion Week, his rails full of prototypes. It will be his third show, and his star continues to rise steeply. “It’s been so useful to work with other artists,” Esh says of his time at Sarabande. “Not just designers – painters, sculptors, whoever. I’ve found that being in this studio, day in and day out, is so helpful for me to get an understanding of my own work and other people’s. It’s, like, the best thing.” A hint of McQueen fi lters through Esh’s designs, too. For his upcoming show, he will work with stylist Katy England, best known for her extensive work with McQueen himself. One of Esh’s pieces from his new collection – a svelte, delicate velvet jacket – was cut from the pattern of an old McQueen jacket, which was, in turn, designed from the pattern of a Margiela jacket that McQueen had given to England. His legacy weaves its way into the present. Next door, Antonio Vattev, founder of the brand av vattev, is also working in fashion. For his latest collection, Vattev wanted to refl ect the impact of music on his designs, so he dreamed up a leather belt fi tted with silver embellishments reminiscent of speakers. He tried to make the piece himself, initially, “but it was really bad,” he laughs. “And then I was talking to Jo [Grogon, another Sarabande resident] who specialises in gilding, and when she saw it, she was like, ‘I’ll do it for you’. It took me three days; it took her three hours,” he says, ruefully. “But I learned something new from this sculptor who specialises in woodwork – something so diff erent, but something I could apply to a fashion brand. I’m really lucky to have that.” Verkade, who has been popping into studios with me, refl ects that this is a common experience among the artists. “Everybody wants to help each other – especially because they’re not in the same space as each other,” she says. Previous Sarabande residents also add to the rich tapestry of infl uences that inform the work of current artists working there. Th ey often come back for parties and events, such as the recent summer group show. “It’s a nice way to connect past and present,” notes Stephen Akpo, a painter and sculptor. You would be excused for thinking Akpo’s medium was conventional compared to some of his contemporaries, except for the fact that he paints with his hands and fi ngers, rather than brushes. Until recently, that is. Like Vattev, he also references Grogon, whose craftsmanship has clearly had an infl uence on her contemporaries. “Did you see the mirror?,” he asks, referring to the wood-carved looking-glass that hangs on the wall of her studio, dripping with carved fl owers. “Th at made me pick up a paintbrush again, just by looking at it. Th e way I felt when I looked at that, I wanted to put that into a new work. We always feed back to each other.” Th ere’s a seismic undercurrent that runs through the space, weaving all of its workers into one mass. It’s like Verkade says: “People are in and out of each other’s studios, showing each other their work, telling everyone else what they think. It just makes for a stronger community in that way.” GRAZIAMA GAZINE. COM33 GME_011_30to33_EDArtRenegades_13381441.indd 3301/10/2024 21:11B GME_011_34to39_EDBlow_13374738.indd 3401/10/2024 21:12As the lm industry turns its spotlight onto the extraordinary stories of sartorial maestros, meet the people who have pieced together the life of late English editor, tastemaker, talent incubator, agent provocateur and style pioneer Isabella Blow for the upcoming biopic ‘The Queen Of Fashion’ BLOW By Here’s something you might not know about Isabella Blow. Despite her eccentric silhouettes, sculptural Philip Treacy hats and penchant for wearing shoes of two diff erent colours, her striking style wasn’t always designed to attract attention. “She saw clothes as armour,” British director Alex Marx tells GRAZIA over Zoom. “Th ere was this interplay between wanting to be noticed, but not always wanting to be intimately seen,” says the man responsible for bringing Blow’s short life to the big screen. Blow once said of her trademark millinery: “Fashion is a vampiric thing… I wear the hats to keep everyone away from me. I don’t want to be kissed by all and sundry. I want to be kissed by the people I love.” As those familiar with Blow’s oeuvre of fashion moments would know – remember the 1993 shoot titled ‘Babes in London’, which was lensed by Steven Meisel and featured Stella Tennant, or how she discovered wunderkind Alexander McQueen – her life was vivid and impactful but tragically all too fl eeting. Ultimately, Blow was recognised and revered for her ability to pinpoint McQueen’s talent as a scrappy Central Saint Martins student with a macabre take on polished Savile Row tailoring, as evidenced in the 1992 graduate collection titled ‘Jack Th e Ripper Stalks His Victims’ which she bought that same year for £5,000 (Dhs24,393) – a lot in those days. “People have written her off as this crazy lady in crazy hats,” Marx explains, alluding to pieces such as a Dalì-inspired lobster emblazoned with Swarovski crystals. “Th at does an enormous disservice and speaks to a total ignorance and lack of understanding of who she was, which was so much more than a spectacle.” Th ere’s a touch of irony here, given Marx has invested eight years (and counting) in a cinematic biography of Blow, due for release in the awards season between late 2025 and early 2026. But to those who don’t know Blow as a household name, this is a necessary venture that will supplant her from being a footnote in the annals of fashion history to a rightful protagonist who defi ned the industry’s ’90s heyday. “Part of the purpose of this fi lm is to inspire and ask, ‘Why can’t we be more expressive?’” Marx notes. “Th e most interesting art is made because it risks missing the mark. I’d rather have a noble failure than a safe success.” So, how did Marx and his creative partner and producer, Elise Freeman, piece together and edit down the life of such a complex character? Ahead, like swatches in Blow’s fashionable life, we enter the Th e Queen Of Fashion’s cutting room fl oor. RESEARCH Marx fi rst became proverbially acquainted with Blow at the Toronto International Film Festival. A viewing of a 2015 documentary about Janis Joplin led Marx to a discussion about death. Blow, who died by her own hand when she was 48, became a topic of conversation. WORDS AVA GILCHRIST GRAZIAMA GAZINE. COM35 GME_011_34to39_EDBlow_13374738.indd 3501/10/2024 21:13Having never heard about the woman he would soon become enamoured with, Marx recalls being immediately struck by the scant details he had. “At the time, having made a few shorts, I was looking for a subject matter for my fi rst feature,” he remembers. “I was excited about this character and the visuals inherent to her story. I could see there might be an audience.” His instincts were correct, as the box-offi ce success of Ridley Scott’s House Of Gucci and streaming fi gures for Apple TV+’s Th e New Look can attest. Yet, delineating Blow’s life with the historically accurate costuming her acolytes would demand, and capturing the debaucherous mode of the pre-millennium European fashion scene, wouldn’t be without hindrances. Integral to this process was rummaging through the rich artefacts of her existence – front-row footage, backstage interviews, magazine spreads and even a Blow-designed limited-edition MAC lipstick – and obtaining unsung personal anecdotes. “A few of the people I reached out to early in the process said they weren’t in the space to talk about [Blow],” Marx divulged. “When I fi rst met her sister Lavinia [Verney], it had been 10 years since her death and [the family] had only just interred [Blow’s] ashes. Now, having been 17 years, it’s less raw. People can celebrate her life.” Style supernovas and local heroes alike, the director interacted with whomever Blow left a lasting impression upon. Marx also ventured to the Cotswolds home his subject shared with her aristocratic art dealer and gallerist husband, Detmar Blow, and stayed at their grand Arts and Crafts estate, Hilles House. Th ese conversations helped illuminate who Blow was more than any treatment written on a page. Her internal dialogues and private interactions were brought to life through recollections of her memory, all in an attempt to, as Marx describes, “make the fi lm I feel [Blow] would’ve wanted someone to make”. “I wasn’t looking for permission, because it’s all in the public domain; I just wanted to ensure I didn’t do something that people who knew her would be upset with,” Marx said of receiving her family’s blessing. CHARACTER Upon Blow’s passing, New York Times fashion critic Cathy Horyn described Blow in her eulogy as “the woman no hat could tame”. A love letter to Blow and all shades of her character, the fi lm will contain these lesser-known moments of her history, including her battle with ovarian cancer and struggles with mental health that eclipsed her lurid outlook and lifestyle. Academy Award-nominee Andrea Riseborough, who will play Blow, and Freeman, were both crucial in helping Marx gauge his subject’s psyche. Yes, Blow was a bastion and muse, but she also felt dejected. “I think darkness played a signifi cant role in her creativity, but so did light,” Marx contends. “Th ere’s a lot of humour, love and friendship in Th e Queen Of Fashion. But, just like anyone else’s life, there’s anguish. Th e fi lm is a drama with slightly ridiculous elements, because these people were larger than life. With that came extreme joy and laughter, but also a great degree of sadness and pain, as evidenced by the ending of both of [Blow’s and McQueen’s] lives.” Marx notes that despite the grandeur of Blow’s life, the overwhelming theme of the fi lm is love. “I hate c---. I like craftsmanship,” Blow said in the 2000s. “But you must also have a little bit of fantasy that translates onto fi lm – for people like us to encourage people to have another feeling. It’s all about emotions. It’s about love.” Th ese words became Marx’s design principle. “I knew it had to exhibit craftsmanship, which is why it’s taken me so long to make.” SCREENPLAY Blow’s life fractured when McQueen went to Givenchy in 1997 and subsequently sold the majority of his company to Gucci in 2000. Feeling abandoned, Daphne Guinness told Horyn at the time of Blow’s death, “Everybody else was off ered contracts. [Isabella] got a free dress.” “I’ve heard confl icting narratives around so many diff erent aspects of [Blow’s] life,” Marx maintains, before adding, “the prevalent perception was that a betrayal occurred. [Blow] felt left behind. Th at wound festered and wasn’t adequately dealt with as life went on. It’s not as simple as [McQueen] did her wrong. We’re all complex creatures, So, that is in there.” Marx clarifi es that Th e Queen Of Fashion is a work of fi ction. “It’s based on a true story, but it’s a movie, not a documentary.” Still, he’s fi rm that his portrayal has Blow’s benediction. “I feel [Blow’s] presence in [the fi lmmaking] process. Th ere have been too many weird coincidences that it feels she is guiding it”. COSTUMING Given the fi lm is aptly titled Th e Queen Of Fashion, costuming plays a starring role, one uniquely advanced by Blow’s real- life pieces. Her collection of clothing, including tartan from McQueen’s FW95 show, was set to be auctioned at Sotheby’s after her death. Destined to be scattered around the globe, Guinness was the benevolent patron who picked up the entire set. “Daphne has generously allowed access [to Blow’s archive],” Marx says. “Having fantasised about this possibility for eight-and-a-half years, I was overwhelmed.” He recalls the clothes being perfectly preserved and catalogued with accompanying images, unzipping their special protective sheets and basking in the fragrance that lingered. “[Blow] very famously doused herself in a perfume called Fracas [by Robert Piguet]. Th ere was still that smell on it,” he says with a smile. “Th at was one particular moment where it felt like she was in the room.” CASTING Leading the cast is Marx’s long-term friend, Riseborough, with Emilia Clarke supporting as Guinness, Irish newcomer Fionn O’Shea as Philip Treacy, Hayley Atwell portraying former British Vogue editor Alexandra Shulman, and Richard E. Grant as Blow’s father. Excitingly, Marx confi rmed he had cast McQueen, but couldn’t share the name of the actor, only to say it is “someone who can physically inhabit this creative genius, is extremely vulnerable and also exhibits a real strength and mental toughness”. 36GRAZIAMA GAZINE. COM GME_011_34to39_EDBlow_13374738.indd 3601/10/2024 21:13GME_011_34to39_EDBlow_13374738.indd 3701/10/2024 21:13Next >