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Issue 10
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Issue 10
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Plectrum - The Cultural Pick issue 10
French fashion designer, Fifi Chachnil, is internationally celebrated for her designs, but is less well known for her equal passion singing. She talks to Guy Sangster Adams about her inspirations, passions, and career, or in short: lingerie, chansons, et bonbons anglais!
Legendary photographer, Patrick Lichfield, is celebrated in the Amplification section, with a number of his rarely seen photographs, alongside an extended review of a new book of his work, Patrick Lichfield - Perceptions (Quadrille).
Former 1960s Mod and celebrated stylist, costume designer, and art director, Roger K. Burton, whose many important film credits include Quadrophenia (1979), Hackers (1994), Vigo (1998), Stoned (2005) writes about the background to his new exhibition, Every Beautiful Thing… The Dazzling Costumes of Michael Hochong - Socialite, which he has curated for The Horse Hospital, his London venue which promotes rare, avant garde and underground arts, film, fashion, performance, and music.
Plus:
The New Poetry section features four new poems published for the first time and exclusively in this issue, by rising star, writer, poet, and independent film producer, Sam Edwards.
Writer, editor, singer, Sam Burcher, who was, from a very early age, a regular at the infamous and highly influential late 1970s/early 1980s London club nights run by Steve Strange and Rusty Egan at Billy’s and then Blitz, looks back on the formative influence those nights had upon her.
As the area around London’s King’s Cross station undergoes massive change and redevelopment, regular Plectrum-The Cultural Pick columnists, Delisia Howard and Chris Price, who lived in the area from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s, explore how the area has changed and also remember their friend and neighbour at that time the late, Giovanni Dadomo, infamous music journalist, frontman of the punk band, The Snivelling Shits, and ‘A King in King’s Cross’.
And more, much more!
(NB: articles, reviews, and interviews from issue 10 print edition will not be available online or archived online; the webzine edition of Plectrum - The Cultural Pick has an entirely different content to the print edition)
Issue 9
£3.00
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Issue 9
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Plectrum - The Cultural Pick issue 9
The really rather wonderful singer-songwriter, Alice Gold, looks forward to what promises to be a golden summer for her, with the release of her debut album, Seven Rainbows, and festivals aplenty.
Molly Parkin, painter, novelist, poet, performer… hat designer for Biba, and legendary fashion editor of Nova, Harpers & Queen, Sunday Times… shares her intimate recollections of her one night stand with the legend that is, Bo Diddley.
This issue’s fantastic centrefold poster illustration is by Mike McInnerney, who, in the accompanying feature, reflects on his body of work from the 1960s till now, which includes the iconic sleeve design for The Who’s Tommy, and psychedelic poster for the legendary 14 Hour Technicolor Dream, the multi-artist event which took place at Alexandra Palace, north London, in April 1967, was headlined by Pink Floyd, and is now seen as the defining moment of the counterculture in 1960s London.
Plus:
An interview with singer and actress, Eve Ferret, who looks back on her infamous residency at London’s Blitz club in the 1970s/1980s, as one half of the cabaret act, Biddie and Eve, on-set escapades with Mick Jagger and David Bowie, whilst appearing in their promo videos, and her roles in films such as Absolute Beginners. She also looks forward to her return to singing live, which began at last year’s Glastonbury Festival.
A new short story by the award-winning poet and author, Luke Kennard.
And more, much more!
(NB: articles, reviews, and interviews from issue 9 print edition will not be available online or archived online; the webzine edition of Plectrum - The Cultural Pick has an entirely different content to the print edition)
Issue 8
£3.00
(plus £1.50 p&p Surface Mail to any address)
Issue 8
£3.00
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Plectrum - The Cultural Pick issue 8 is also available from the Tate Britain shops, The Idler Academy Bookshop, and Jeffery~West shops nationwide, all of which we heartily recommend you visit, for more details and details of other stockists please keep scrolling down.
Plectrum - The Cultural Pick issue 8
On the release of her new album, Combined, and triumphant return to live performance, the glamorous and enigmatic Claudia Brücken, reflects on her life in pop, from 1984 to the present day, from the cinematic electronica of Propaganda, whose signing to the legendary ZTT records saw the release of the enduringly influential singles, Duel, Dr Mabuse, and p:Machinery, and album, A Secret Wish, to her fantastic new work in collaboration with legendary producer, Stephen Hague (whose extensive list of credits includes, Pet Shop Boys, New Order, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Erasure, Robbie Williams…).
Barry Miles recalls the legendary 14 Hour Technicolor Dream, the multi-artist event which took place at Alexandra Palace, north London, in April 1967, was headlined by Pink Floyd, and is now seen as the defining moment of the counterculture in 1960s London.
Play backgammon on the gorgeous fold out poster created by artist and designer, Alexandra Llewellyn, read new short fiction and poetry from the hottest new writers, Max D.Stites and Asia Obstarczyk, delight in the fabulous shoes of Chrissie Morris, Jeffery~West, and Daita Kimura (The Old Curiosity Shop), catch up with the cultural pick of books, film, including the Kinoteka Film Festival, music, performance, follow regular Plectrum columnists, Delisia Howard, writer and former in-house model and head of cosmetics for Barbara Hulanicki’s Biba, and her husband, the writer and illustrator, Chris Price, back to the strange days of the early 1970s and the extraordinary tale of ‘The Last Cult of England’… Plus more, much more!
(NB: articles, reviews, and interviews from issue 8 print edition will not be available online or archived online; the webzine edition of Plectrum - The Cultural Pick has an entirely different content to the print edition)
Issue 7
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Issue 7
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Jill Kennington, iconic model (Vogue’s ‘Face of 1963’ and ‘Pure 1966’) and celebrated photographer, reflects on her life in photographs; artist Robi Walters’ exclusive centrefold poster, Positive Vibrations, pays homage to Bob Marley in smashed vinyl; regular Plectrum columnists, Delisia Howard, writer and former in-house model and head of cosmetics and household for Biba, and her husband, the writer and illustrator, Chris Price, go in search of the legendary Parisian folly, the Temple de l’amitié. Plus new short fiction by writer, artist and filmmaker, Tereza Stehlíková, exploring a Prague of magic realism; new poetry from rising star Indigo Williams; the stories behind the shoes Georgina Goodman, Jeffery~West, and Lewis Leathers; and much, much more!
(NB: articles, reviews, and interviews from issue 7 print edition will not be available online or archived online; from issue 3 the webzine edition of Plectrum - The Cultural Pick has had an entirely different content to the print edition)
Plectrum issue 6 brings you a tantalising summer line-up, mixing millinery, Rockabilly, and the literary, with the legendary Stephen Jones reflecting on 30 inspirational years in hats, Max Décharné, writer, rock musician, and righteous lounge lizard, defining the music that puts a rocket in your pocket, and Simon Prosser celebrating his passion for books as founder of Five Dials, and co-founder of the Port Eliot Festival. To which The Power of Surprise is brought by regular Plectrum columnists, Delisia Howard, writer and former in-house model and head of cosmetics and household for Biba, and her husband, the writer and illustrator, Chris Price. Whilst Plectrum continues to step out in style with the stories behind the shoes of Jeffery~West and Terry de Havilland, new flash fiction by Abi Curtis, new poetry by Paul Lyalls, guest reviewers, Pamflet. Plus a summer film special Pick Up review section. This summer, The Cultural Pick is straight from the fridge and more revitalising than a mint frappé! Though don’t hold back on either score, they do go wonderfully well together!
Issue 6
£2.50
(plus £1 p&p Surface Mail to any address)
Issue 6
£2.50
(plus £2 p&p AirMail)
(NB: from issue 3 onwards the print and webzine editions of Plectrum have had entirely different contents; articles, reviews, and interviews from issue 6 print edition will not be available online or archived online)
From an exclusive centrefold poster and poem by French stencil artist, Christian Guémy (aka C215), reflections on Brighton with legendary designer and Biba founder, Barbara Hulanicki, author Travis Elborough, and poet Abi Curtis, to first publications of new short fiction by songwriter, music producer, and novelist, Lois Walden, and new poetry by Benedict Newbery, the new issue of Plectrum - The Cultural Pick features the work of an highly exciting and diverse range of contributors. To this fascinating mix is also added the first of a regular new column for Plectrum by the writer and former in-house model and head of cosmetics and household for Biba, Delisia Howard, and her husband, the illustrator Chris Price, and music, film, books, comics, and podcast reviews guest edited by the pop culture blog, Planet Mondo. All in all it’s essential reading!
Issue 5
£2.50
(plus £1 p&p Surface Mail to any address)
Issue 5
£2.50
(plus £2 p&p AirMail)
Alternatively for details of stockists, please keep scrolling down
(NB: From issue 3 onwards the print and webzine editions of Plectrum have had entirely different contents; articles, reviews, and interviews from the print editions will not be available online or archived online)
Signed Biba & I / Bibaology posters designed and illustrated by Delisia Howard and Chris Price for the Plectrum Live Edition events are now available for £5 plus p&p.
Posters are A3 (297mm x 420mm) and are printed in black and white on 120gsm silk paper.
Each poster is signed on the image side in metallic ink pen by Delisia Howard and Chris Price
About the artists:
Writer Delisia Howard, was not only in charge of cosmetics and household for Biba from 1968 to the closing of Big Biba in 1975, but she was also the in-house model on whom Barbara Hulanicki would fit and refine all her sample clothing designs for the highly influential fashion label and shops. With her husband, the illustrator Chris Price, Howard has created the imprint Hazard Books, and they create fabulous limited edition and handmade books, two of which, InBiba, and SinBiba, have continued their creative collaboration with Barbara Hulanicki, as they also feature her illustrations.
Biba & I/Bibaology poster
£5
(plus £2.50 p&p Surface Mail to any address)
Biba & I/Bibaology poster
£5
(plus £3.50 p&p Airmail)
Issue 4
£2.50
(plus £1 p&p Surface Mail to any address)
Issue 4
£2.50
(plus £2 p&p Airmail)
With issue 4 Plectrum has undergone a revolution… of ninety-five degrees. The landscape cover may have gone portrait but within you will still find features, interviews, reviews, and previews from the widest horizon of books and film, music and fashion,
art and performance.
John Stephen, King of Carnaby Street
Jeremy Reed explores the role John Stephen played in transforming not only Carnaby Street into an internationally famous street name and byword for Swinging London, but also in so doing radically changing men’s fashion and shop design. Little more than a backwater when he opened his first shop there in the late 1950s, John Stephen’s dominion would, by the end of the 1960s extended to eleven shops in Carnaby Street alone.
Max Décharné Talks Hipster Slang
With the publication of a new edition of his dictionary of hipster slang, Straight from the Fridge, Dad, Max Décharné, writer (Kings Road - The Rise and Fall of the Hippest Street in the World), rock musician (Gallon Drunk, Earls of Suave, Nikki Sudden, The Flaming Stars), and righteous lounge lizard, tells tales from 20 years of combining the writing of short fiction, non fiction, and music journalism, with singing, song writing, recording, and world tours.
Delisia Howard & Chris Price: From Biba to Hazard Books
Writer Delisia Howard, was not only in charge of cosmetics and household for Biba from 1968 to the closing of Big Biba in 1975, but she was also the in-house model on whom Barbara Hulanicki would fit and refine all her sample clothing designs for the highly influential fashion label and shops. With her husband, the illustrator Chris Price, Howard has created the imprint Hazard Books, and they create fabulous limited edition and handmade books, two of which, InBiba, and SinBiba, have continued their creative collaboration with Barbara Hulanicki, as they also feature her illustrations in addition to Price’s.
New Poetry by Jeremy Reed
Jeremy Reed has also contributed four poems to Plectrum, which are being published for the first time in this issue. Fans of his work include J.G Ballard, who says of him “Jeremy Reed’s talent is almost extraterrestrial in its brilliance”, Bjork who has called his work ” the most beautiful, outrageously brilliant poetry in the world,” and Pete Doherty who states simply “Jeremy Reed is a legend. What more can you fucking ask?”
Centrefold Illustration by Chris Price
Another new development for this issue of Plectrum, which will be a regular part of the magazine, is a fold-out, exclusive, centrefold illustration. To complement the feature on Delisia Howard and Chris Price this has been contributed by Chris Price.
Reviews
Plus an host of reviews and previews including, artist, illustrator, and Biba Baby, Daisy de Villeneuve on the documentary Beyond Biba.
Issue 3
£2.50
(plus £1 p&p Surface Mail to any address)
Issue 2
£2.50
(plus £1 p&p Surface Mail to any address)
Issue 1
£2.50
(plus £1 p&p Surface Mail to any address)
Issue 1
£2.50
(plus £2 p&p AirMail)
Equally, Plectrum is also available from some wonderful independent stockists which we heartily recommend you visit:
STOCKISTS
LONDON
Tate Britain Shops
Find Plectrum - The Cultural Pick print edition in the shops at Tate Britain along with a fantastic collection of books about British art, history and culture through the ages, plus prints, posters and postcards, and gifts and souvenirs featuring works from the collection and current exhibtions. The stock also includes art materials and an imaginative selection of books, games and gifts for children.
Opening times
Monday to Sunday: 10.00–17.50
020 7887 8888
Tate Britain, Millbank, London SW1P 4RG
Jeffery~West’s ‘Infamous English shoes’ and accessories for men combine all the traditional craftsmanship inherent in being manufactured in Northampton factories with hundreds of years of experience with a welter of inspirations from Regency dandies, fin de siecle decadence, and twentieth century pop culture to create fantastic and highly indiosyncratic styles in rich and dramatic colours. The five Jeffery~West shops are also imbued with the same elegance, stylistic references, and drama aided and abetted by the fantastic architecture of their locations.
16 Piccadilly Arcade, London SW1Y 6NH
+44 (0) 20 7499 3360
16 Cullum Street, Leadenhall, London EC3M7JJ
+44 (0) 20 7626 4699
The Idler Academy of Philosophy, Husbandry and Merriment is a bookshop, café and centre of learning in West London. Founded by Tom Hodgkinson and Victoria Hull, the intention is to bring back old school teaching subjects and styles. We combine the atmosphere of cultivated leisure that distinguished Plato’s Academy with the lively conviviality of the 18th century coffeehouse, and add a good dose of the 1950s grammar school. The shop is stocked with a fantastic treasure trove of useful and beautiful books, both old and new. From good old textbooks, and shelf-fuls of Plato, Nancy Mitford, Virgil, William Cobbett, Aristotle and Aldous Huxley, to pencils and exercise books, as well as packs of playing cards and other old-fashioned games. There is art on the walls and the café serves Monmouth coffee, Oolongs from the foothills of the Himalayas and cakes from Kensal Rise
Opening times
Tuesday — Saturday: 10am - 6.30pm
Sunday: 11am - 5pm
Monday: Closed
81, Westbourne Park Road, London W2 5QH
+44 (0)20 7 221 5908
idler.co.uk/academy/
LEEDS
21 County Arcade, Victoria Quarter. Leeds LS1 6BW
+44 (0) 113 244 3588
www.jeffery-west.co.uk
MANCHESTER
1 Barton Arcade, Deansgate. Manchester M3 2BB
+44 (0) 161 835 9284
www.jeffery-west.co.uk
NORTHAMPTON
City House, 43 Cliftonville Road, Northampton NN1 5HQ
+44 (0) 1604 637 971
www.jeffery-west.co.uk
