Launched last week on a wet and windy night at the AMUTi 23 bookshop just off Charing Cross Rd, Dressing for Pleasure documents the 70s rubber scene in pictures via a best-of selection from AtomAge magazine. Featuring the amazing fetishwear of John Sutcliffe, it uncovers a secret world hidden behind the front doors of suburbia, where bespoke craftsmanship was an important part of kink. Check the interiors too.

Published by Fuel Design

John Skelton is a longtime Sang Bleu family friend whose contributions to the cause have ranged from interviewee to stockist. His latest project LN-CC is a multi-layered retail concept bringing together a sharply curated selection of fashion, music, and literature. Balancing a strong online presence, with an appointment-only store/venue/showroom, also shows typical commitment to the needs of a contemporary customer base – one which he knows inside out. Sang Bleu grabbed five minutes with John in New York after fashion week to talk shop.

Sang Bleu: LN-CC feels like a very natural progression, was it essentially the vehicle needed to bring together a group of people you always wanted to work with under one roof?

John Skelton: Yeah, kind of.  We live in a world where work, friends and the things that we know and love are all the same thing. We always had the people around us and the vision in our minds, we just needed a platform to be able to execute it without any restrictions and doing it ourselves was our only option really.

SB: Has the crossover into combining menswear and womenswear been a particularly exciting development for you?

JS: The women’s thing is something that i had been wanting to do for such a long time and had had so many requests about so yes it is exciting for sure. At the minute our women’s selection is really limited, it was important for us to launch the site with both men’s and women’s product but we also wanted to take time to build a really strong brand list. Next season will be a lot different and as of October when we begin to receive pre-collections you’ll start to see the full strength and direction of our women’s offer. I think that women need an independent store online, the market is dominated by big players but their selection is so dry. Hopefully what we’re doing will mix things up a bit.

SB: How will the collective feel of the concept be reflected in both the real and digital environments of the store?

JS: This is one of the most important things about what we are doing.  We have invested so much time and energy into our space that I’m sure people will get a much stronger feel for what we are all about when they can see the physical representation.  The store sums up the diversity of our group by incorporating so many different areas in a very deep and specialist manner, not just with the men’s and women’s offer but by covering music, literature and art/tattoo as well so its definitely got a very broad flavour and appeal.

SB: Which new element of the project are you most excited about exploring further in the future?

JS: We’ve got a few things going on in the background that we hope are going to change the landscape forever but I can’t really talk about them right now.  The most exciting thing for us at the moment and coming in the near future is definitely the development of the space which should be ready by the end of October.  It’s really starting to take shape and I think will really give us that extra dimension.  the other thing will be the launch of our Japanese site which should be around the same time.  We are working on a new concept with some Japanese guys based in Tokyo which we will roll out early next year but the basics will be in place real soon.

LN-CC LN-CC LN-CC

“I’m always interested in what direction people put the jewellery on their hands.”

Jonathan’s approach to jewellery is as much about design as it is a way of cultivating identity and personal history. Having started at Eugene Lang with a joint major of philosophy and psychology and religion and finished with a degree in menswear at Parsons School of Design, Jonathan’s work comes from a strong intuitive core. “Ball Game” is the first collection under the Bevel line.

Mayan mythology seems to be at the centre of this collection- with a story behind each piece of jewellery- was that a starting point for the design process?

I was adopted at three months old, and felt an intense need as I grew up to construct my own cultural ancestry. The tale of Mayan civilization is something that resonated with me very early on and has since become a central element in my life, and the idea of a civilization that held so much power so long ago is another source of inspiration in my “States of Being…” to not only capture the human life cycle but one of a once-great civilization, from its inception to its ruin.
I feel like with this first collection, I am cementing my own identity. It feels very grounding. One’s choice in jewelry is by nature very personal, and to be able to create something and give it meaning and heritage is very satisfying. 

Which materials are you interested in exploring?

I’m starting to explore gold as a medium, in the future I would possibly like to work with stones. I like working with silver because the material is like a person, if you don’t love it, it will become blackened and dark, but with care and attention the brighter and the more lustre it will have.

Which are some of the artist or designers that inform your work?

I’ve always loved Francis Bacon. He’s always returning in some way or another. I love a lot of the visuals for Marilyn Manson, Ramnstein. The dark side of mythology is intriguing for me. And my motto has always been ‘dark things breed bright ideas’.

How would you like people to approach your jewellery pieces?

Jewellery is a very personal thing; overtime it can hold a lot of history. I love how things grow. You’ll start with anything perfect or what the person who’s telling you is considering to be perfect and then the more you wear it the more flavour it develops, the more it becomes a part of you and in that way it becomes more personal. For instance silver blackens overtime. Some pieces in the collection are intentionally blackened so the reverse process will happen; where the pieces will become brighter with wear; essentially polishing themselves overtime.

How do you see yourself evolving for the next collection?

The pieces from this collection just came into being, so if this is any indication, the designs for the next collection will just appear. My work grows from an organic process; I started doing jewellery because I had fallen in love with a jewellery designer. Love leads you in these different directions and can be a positive influence, if you let it.

Our friend Yoni Zilber belongs to a rare category of tattooists with a flawless technique. No wonder he can pull off to make a design by Angelique look as good as the original. Chapeau

Sang Bleu is happy to announce that its sister company B&P recently produced this special version of its “Didot” typeface on behalf of Adrien Pelletier, new Art Director of l’Officiel Paris. Speaking of B&P, we are currently working on a brand new website and several new releases, coming out very shortly on www.swisstypefaces.com!

I do have a particular affinity for the raw, the brut, the minimal. Gif have been around for a minute but, what an endless source of virtual delight. Like photocopy for printed matter, I guess. The geek in me says: Check this shit out.

(gifs hereunder by Françoise Gamma)

After years of getting ripped off her amazingly refined designs, Angelique has decided to publish an official line-drawing book. A blessing for the uninspired artists looking for beyond-their-reach designs to rip off (and obviously, take credit for) and inspired ones too, looking for a new challenge in terms of quality level to match.