SWEATISSUE±14THE NEWYEAR ISSUE

THE NEWYEAR ISSUE

HAPPY NEW YEAR HAPPY NEW YEAR HAPPY NEW YEAR

HAPPY NEW YEAR HAPPY NEW YEAR HAPPY NEW YEAR

coverembroidery byJESS BUNYAN

artwork byEMMA ALHQVIST

strangersresolutions and the curse

of lana del rey artwork and words by

JESS BUNYAN

artwork andinterview with

CLOVER CHEN

HAPPY NEW YEAR HAPPY NEW YEAR HAPPY NEW YEAR

HAPPY NEW YEAR HAPPY NEW YEAR HAPPY NEW YEAR

HAPPY NEW YEAR HAPPY NEW YEAR HAPPY NEW YEARHAPPY NEW YEAR HAPPY NEW YEAR HAPPY NEW YEAR

HAPPY NEW YEAR HAPPY NEW YEAR HAPPY NEW YEARHAPPY NEW YEAR HAPPY NEW YEAR HAPPY NEW YEARHAPPY NEW YEAR HAPPY NEW YEAR HAPPY NEW YEAR

HAPPY NEW YEAR HAPPY NEW YEAR HAPPY NEW YEARHAPPY NEW YEAR HAPPY NEW YEAR HAPPY NEW YEAR

HAPPY NEW YEAR HAPPY NEW YEAR HAPPY NEW YEAR

THE CURSE OF LANA DEL REY

Late last year the music blogging community got a new girl to fantasise about in the form of pouting trailer park chic “Gangster Nancy Sinatra” Lana Del Rey. She was catapulted to the throne of ultimate alt chick and inspired a piece on Hipster Runoff that read like a teenage girls diary entry.

However, along with the buzz there was already some nerves as the mainstream started to pick up on her. Instead of being the usual, “we want her to stay alternative and never make any money, she’s ours” shtick there was also a little bit of suspicion.Turns out she’d already tried out this pop star thing, releasing an album and an ep on itunes under her real name, Lizzie Grant. Now, that’s not so bad. Except that her new publicists had failed to mention it, as well as the fact that her dad was actually a domain tycoon and the trailer park image she’d been branded with was a little far from the reality of the Conneticut boarding school of

her childhood.

So why should we care? She doesn’t seem too. The new fans she’s found in the mainstream don’t seem to even know about her conflicting origins and her new album is sure to sell tons on buzz and expectations alone. And the blogging community is left either still posting highly stylized pictures of her because she’s super cute or bitterly slating her recent performances because they didn’t match the videos. Her story was obviously dilluted by her record to label and sold to the underground to create hype. But that they didn’t see that is their fault entirely.

In the end though her music is really fucking good. So why should we care what she says in interviews or where she grew up or who her dad is? We’re far too concerned with the fact that she might have had cosmetic surgery rather than that her lyrics are sometimes pretty damn un-feminist. But hey, it’s only pop music right?

CLOVER CHENSWEAT: Was your first love fashion or illustration?

CLOVER CHEN: Illustration, or art in general. I have good days and bad days with fash-ion, but not with art.

S: Obviously your hugely inspired by icons of days gone by, but who do you find yourself returning to the most?

CC: Rene Gruau is definitely the one illustration master I respect and look to for motivation consistently. another illustrator from the past I constantly look to motivation is Coby Whitmore.

S: Who are some of your favourite designers and why?

CC: My favourite designers is Cristobal Balenciaga because of his genius ways of shaping

I first spotted Clover Chen’s work, rather appropriately on The Fashion Spot. But when I found her blog and saw even more of her work I was truly stunned at what I saw.

Fashion illustration is hard to put a new twist on. However, with her painterly figures, big graphic ink splodges and a nack for capturing fabric in a way so divine it appears to have been draped by Mr Balenciaga himself (who just happens to be one of her favourite designers); Clover Chen certainly presents a unique view.

Studying at the world renowned London College of Fashion she’s surely on path to big things. So we caught up with her to talk inspiration and here it is along with some of her newest work. And don’t forget, you saw it here first...

fabric into simple architectural beauties, which brings out an aura of elegance and grandness in its wearer. another favorite, Madeleine Vionnet, which is sort of a counterpart to balenciaga with her soft, gorgeously draped bias dresses. when i think of slim and slender, I think of Vionnet.

S: Tell us a little about your creative process, what really makes you want to get down and start a new illustration?

CC: Curiosity makes me create. If I’m creating for myself, I ultimately create simply for a mood or a feel.

S: What are you planning to move onto next?

CC: I really want to travel.

S: London or Toronto?

CC: Neither, haha.

For moreClover Chen

head over to her website:

clover-chen.tumblr.comor her shop:

etsy.com/shop/clovershop