It is an international, independently published magazine for both female and male readers, with an anticipated readership breakdown of 55% and 45% respectively.

WYLDE is a glossy, large scale (A3) publication that leans heavily towards stunning imagery and brilliant ideas.

The main focus will be fashion, but ultimately, if a story looks amazing, it will go in.

There is an equal emphasis on high-end fashion as well as emerging talent and this also applies to WYLDE's contributors.

From established industry professionals to recent graduates, we feel there is no limit to where creativity can be found

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"Can you just wrap your hand around Lola a bit more?” asks photographer Tim Bret-Day. “Really grip her.”

Oritsé Williams happily complies, sliding a leather-gloved hand around the model’s milky white thigh, inching up her dress, just a touch further. “You’re an expert,” says a stylist. “I’ve done it enough times,” says 25-year-old Oritsé.

It’s just a whisker past 9am and the boys of JLS – Marvin Humes, Aston Merrygold, JB Gill and Oritsé – are sveltely suited and booted sitting all in a row while Amazonian blonde bombshell Lola reclines across their laps (the dress is soon ditched in favour of lingerie). She clutches JB’s calf, one leg resting on Marvin’s neck, her chin tilted back in faux-orgasmic ecstasy. Meanwhile, JLS work their angles, moving minutely with each click and flash; Marvin cocks an eyebrow, smiling with his eyes like a pro. Tyra Banks would most certainly approve.

Afterwards the quartet crowd round the photographer’s monitor. JB’s so stoked about the results he wants a couple of prints for himself. It’s not the sort of shoot they’d normally take part in. JLS are a boy band whose fanbase is largely made up of young girls; their choreography sometimes involves miming heartbeats and each member has their own colour. Aston, for instance, is blue. If you’re judging popularity by the amount of blue JLS T-shirts sold, he’s outstripping the other three in the swoon stakes. They sing about love, mostly, and sometimes lust, but in a hilariously unsexy manner (sample lyric: “I’m going to turn you on just like a TV”).

Officially, JLS are losers, The X Factor’s 2008 runners-up to Alexandra Burke. But if there’s one thing Britain takes to it’s an underdog. And a successful underdog? Even better. In the past four years JLS have scored five Number One singles, more than any other reality-TV artist, won two Brit Awards and even more Mobos, shifted six million records, and along with Take That and the Spice Girls they’re the only British act to sell out 10 dates at the O2 Arena (that’s 1.25m bums on seats). Dazzling stats aside, JLS are surprisingly switched on, savvy businessmen with writing credits on almost every song across all four albums. One Direction may be the country’s biggest boy band, but they’re at the mercy of Simon Cowell’s fine print, mere ciphers for teenage girls’ damp-palmed desires. JLS are laughing; they’ve got two houses apiece, multiple cars and a work ethic that borders on obsessive.

“We were never supposed to be this successful,” nods 27-year-old Marvin.

Rewind to an hour earlier, JB and Marvin are eating breakfast while Oritsé speaks in earnest, hushed tones with his publicist. Aston is slumped upstairs, in a cozy onesie, catching up on sleep where he can. Yesterday’s itinerary was packed, including the BBC’s annual Teen Choice Awards. When JLS eventually clocked off at 10pm, there were girls waiting to catch a glimpse and grab a snap. When the boys rose at 6am, blurrily piling into cabs heading to this photoshoot, the same girls were camped outside the hotel. This is part and parcel of being a successful boy band: girls banging on plate-glass windows with oestrogen-fuelled ferocity, sneaking into their hotel at 1am and setting off the fire alarm so JLS are marshalled out wearing nothing but shorts. One girl went as far as hiding in a suitcase in the hopes of getting slung on their tour bus.

“They just know everything and I’m like, even I don’t know where I’m going to be at this time!” says Aston, now awake, but still in his onesie. Ask the 24-year-old if he’s ever felt that fanatical about anything in his life and he shakes his head: “I don’t get it, but it is nice.” As they prepare to release their fourth album, Evolution, a cursory flick through their schedule reveals almost every hour accounted for, every move mapped out till Christmas. Their publicist spies a rare couple of days off and makes a note: “I’m having those!” Recently they were invited to Usher’s birthday, rolling into bed at 4am before waking up two hours later to kick off a day of promo. “It was amazing!” says Oritsé. “We were all dancing in a circle and Usher – who is one of my biggest inspirations – willed me to go in the circle and do my thing. He was like, ‘Yo Oritsé! You can cut it down, homie!’ I couldn’t believe I was performing in front of Usher! He’s been consistent in his career and worked hard on his craft. That’s very important. I love what I do and the best way to show gratitude is by getting better and improving and being more exciting.”

It’s pretty standard JLS – they play hard – but they’re deadly serious about their careers. Although no longer part of Simon Cowell’s machine, the group have learnt how to behave like 21st century mainstream pop pin-ups. They’re super-friendly – but not disingenuously so – flash broad smiles and deliver upbeat, on-message answers, no matter how few winks they’ve clocked up the night before. The hectic pace clearly suits them. “We’ve always said we want to do 10 albums, one every year, and there’s no reason why we can’t do that,” explains Marvin. “Look at Rihanna: she’s done seven albums in seven years and she’s a solo artist and an international superstar, arguably, the biggest artist in the world. And there’s four of us. We write individually, we write in pairs, so for every album we write 50, 60, 70, 80 songs sometimes. We can get a lot of work done and none of us are shy of working.”

For Evolution the band have assembled a crack team of top-notch American songwriters and producers including Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins, Mr Bangladesh and Midi Mafia, who between them have helped create smashes for Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, Beyoncé, Whitney, Britney and Bieber. A calculated ploy to break America? “For us it’s more about breaking the world,” asserts 25-year-old JB.

Lead single Hottest Girl in the World Right Now is far and away the best thing JLS have ever done. A lean, super-slick cut of electro-R&B, full of Michael Jackson-esque falsettos, jagged chords and jittery, hand-clapped syncopation; it’s the sort of future-pop that Justin Timberlake would’ve been keen to put his name to if he was still in the game. For JLS’s fourth album they’ve switched up their stylist too, rocking black leather jackets and Converse in an approach that’s cool rather than cheesy. There’s not a plunging V-neck or exposed ab in sight. 

And it’s not just the dress code. JLS are getting more confident, and with it more explicit. Dessert, for instance, references Silk’s 1993 hit Freak Me and pulls in elements of New Jack Swing – that late-Eighties, early-Nineties genre of American R&B that included Boyz II Men and Jodeci, both formative influences and the inspiration for their name – “Jack the Lad Swing”.

So what’s Dessert about? Marvin: “What do you think it’s about?” Aston: “Licking a girl out!” Marvin: “I wanted her to say that!” Oritsé: “Desserts are usually aphrodisiacs, so I think it works well having sex and dessert in a song.” Do you think sex and foodstuffs is a good thing? JLS: “Absolutely!” Oritsé: “Sex is a dessert.”

Now that’s a conversation I didn’t expect to be having with JLS, let alone at 8.46am. It’s a long way from the straitjacketed world of X Factor.  If there’s one thing that JLS believe has stood them in good stead in terms of surviving X Factor and succeeding beyond it, it’s that their foundations are rock solid. The boys formed in 2007 and spent a year toiling away, rehearsing every moment they could manage, setting up photoshoots, booking gigs, knocking on the doors of labels and producers, all the while holding down day jobs and studying. During those 12 months they made some inroads, including winning Best Unsigned Act at the Urban Music Awards, but for JLS – then called UFO, an abbreviation for the fantastically camp Unique, Famous, Outrageous – success simply wasn’t coming fast enough. Auditioning for X Factor was their make-or-break moment. “You’re saying, ‘Oh, you only tried for a year’, but you have to remember that at the time no one was interested in boy bands,” says Aston. “Now it’s a different thing because there’s so many of them, but that’s after we set the benchmark. For that whole year people were like, ‘There’s not one boy band around in the world right now, so why would we take you?’”

And he’s right. Bar Take That – long established and who have since moved into “man band” territory – the musical landscape was a barren of fresh-faced boy combos. In 2007 Leona Lewis, Rihanna and the Sugababes dominated the charts. “You could call it destiny, you attract certain people in your life if you’ve got the right kind of spirit,” says Oritsé, the group’s founding member. “When I met the boys we all shared the same goal, we never slacked, no one was lazy.”

Marvin whips out his phone and shows me an interview with his local newspaper. He’s 13 and grinning, above him a headline proclaims: ‘In five years’ time I want to win best newcomer at the Brits or the Mobos.’ “It took a little bit longer than I expected,” says Marvin, “But we won both!” “My mum used to tell me, ‘No matter what you do in life, someone has to be first, so why can’t it be you?’” says JB. “A lot of people say, ‘I want to release music but it’ll never go to Number One’, or ‘I want to go to the Grammys but I’ll never win an award.’ Why not? To me, it’s all possible.” “When we started we were young and bold and there wasn’t even a flicker in our minds that this might not work,” says Oritsé. “For some reason, and it might sound a little bit arrogant, in our heart of hearts we all believed that something was going to pop.”   For Oritsé there was another motivating factor. His mother, Sonia, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis when he was 11, at which point he became the man of the house taking responsibility for his mum and his younger siblings. By the time he was at university studying music management he was also holding down three jobs. Music was his expressive outlet, but he was also keen to make it his means. “My mum is my inspiration for everything,” says Oritsé. “There’s no other person that drives me as much as when I think of her. I just try and do whatever I can to make her life more comfortable and easier. My mum always tells me there’s people in much worse positions and we’ve got to be thankful for anything we do have and just deal with it.”

These days she’s in a wheelchair and her eyesight is failing but Oristé says she’s strong in spirit. Although he finds being away from her tough, the success he’s had with the band means he can provide. Plus, as an ambassador for the Multiple Sclerosis Society, he’s keen to raise awareness. His brothe0r, meanwhile, recently graduated with a degree in biomedical sciences; his lifelong goal to find a cure for MS.

Four years on from X Factor and JLS remain adamant that the reality talent show was the toughest challenge they’ve faced. When Alexandra Burke was crowned the X Factor queen and the cameras stopped rolling, JLS buttoned their blazers and marched into Simon Cowell’s office asking straight out for a record deal. Cowell declined. Although it didn’t seem like it then, timing was absolutely on their side.

“The year before us Simon signed the top three X Factor artists: Leon Jackson, Rhydian and Same Difference,” says Marvin. “Those three acts weren’t very successful in the grand scheme of things so then the next year Simon said he was only signing the winner because I think he was stung in terms of losing lots of money. For us that was a positive: we got a deal with Epic and we wouldn’t have wanted anything different.”

It’s pretty easy to lay a lot of “what’s wrong with modern pop music” at Simon Cowell’s expensively clad feet. It’s not that TV talent shows didn’t exist before him – don’t give him that much credit – but it is scary to see that with each advancing series of X Factor, the desperation in the contestants' eyes becomes even more rabid, the hopefuls are willing to fight tooth and nail, and sometimes physically fight each other for their moment in the spotlight. And it’s never just about people’s ability to sing and dance. Once you get past the car-crash magnetism of the early episodes (featuring as many deluded characters as talented ones), and the real competition kicks off, it’s all soap opera. What pulls in more ratings than a tale of triumph over adversity? These kinds of shows have always been emotionally manipulative, but it’s the increasingly mawkish way X Factor sets out its stall – stories told over an orchestra of carefully calibrated sympathy strings – that’s truly grating.

For six years of the Noughties, reality-show winners had a stranglehold on the UK’s Christmas Number Ones. Who wasn’t thrilled when the 2009 campaign to get Rage Against The Machine’s Killing in the Name to the top spot succeeded? A triumph of real artistry and people power over pop-music-by-committee and mega-bucks marketing campaigns, right? But it’s too easy to make Cowell ?the scapegoat. He contributes and profits from the pervasive fame game, but sitting in front of JLS it’s not hard to be persuaded that the music mogul is a fairy godmother.

“Simon has been fantastic to us so there is no way we can say anything negative,” says Oritsé. “He gave us a massive launch pad and we’ll be forever grateful for that.” And, of course, JLS are unique in comparison to other X Factor alumni in that they’ve taken the opportunity and the exposure and run with it. Far from being pop puppets, JLS appear to be holding all the strings. As Oritsé says: “We’re about the business!” Not one piece of official merchandise makes it’s way to production without their approval, while the JLS Foundation means they’re actively promoting and contributing to a range of charities including NSPCC, Beat Bullying, Ray of Sunshine, Young Carers and the MS Society, to name a few. They are adamant that giving back is vital and I believe them. Touting JLS condoms, each package emblazoned with their individual faces, well, it’s a pretty bold move.

Aston: “Really? It promotes safe sex.” Well it’s great to promote safe sex, of course, but the joke is… Aston: “It’s not a joke.” I know, but I’m telling you a joke. Aston: “You’re telling me a joke, but it’s not a joke.” You haven’t even heard it yet! Aston: “There isn’t one to be told.” JB interjects: “In the UK we’ve got a serious problem…” Right, because the UK’s got the highest teenage pregnancy in Europe. Aston: “And STD rate.” JB: “Being young guys who influence a lot of that generation, ages 16-25, I think it was important for us. It wasn’t an easy message to carry, as you say, people make jokes about it…” The joke is you’re actually promoting abstinence because the second a girl whips out a condom packet with your faces on it, sex will no longer be on the cards. Marvin is amused: “Listen. If that guy’s in the moment, I’m sure he’s not going to mind!” Oritsé: “You need to get yourself a JLS condom. They’re extra-special. Trust me.” Aston: “Safe sex is a beautiful thing.”

Out of the four, JB has been in a relationship the longest; he’s been with dancer Chloe Tangney since just after X Factor. Meanwhile, Marvin married Rochelle Wiseman, singer in The Saturdays, over the summer. Two flourishing music careers have meant time together since has been scarce. “Any career and any relationship is tough to juggle,” says Marvin sagely. “Our lives happen to be all over the place, but it’s never really been any different for us. You make it work because of how good you are together and how strong you are together.” “I’m new to it, being in a relationship ?in this world,” offers Aston, who’s been dating dancer Sarah Richards for just a couple of months. “It’s not as hard as I thought it would be, but then it’s still early stages. As with any relationship, that period is exciting.” He may be the back-flipping, light-hearted prankster of the group, but Aston’s trust is hard won. “I’m just built like that, I guess. It’s in my nature, when it comes to women especially.” Is this based on a particular experience?  “Just based on every experience,” he shrugs. “It’s fine. It is what it is.”

Oritsé is the sole single member of JLS. Not that he’s hurting about his relationship status. Back up at the photoshoot, with a cheeky glint in his eye, he notes: “Being here today and having a sexy model draped over you – it’s a good look and it only gets better.” They dreamed about this as boys. But in the punishing world of pop, JLS know it takes adults to succeed. And, frankly, we’re rooting for them.

JLS: THE WYLDE QUSTIONNAIRE

  Do you shave your chests? JB: No way! I leave mine. Whatever’s there stays there. Marvin: I don’t have a hairy chest. Aston: Immac! It’s only a couple of strands. I just like that clean affect.   Who is your celebrity crush? Oritsé: Nicki Minaj! It’s not just the fact that she’s got a great butt and great cleavage – curves – sorry! And great lips. She’s talented. I’m half Trinidadian and Jamaican, she’s Trinidadian. I just think she’s the sexiest woman, she’s the ultimate. I met her once, we just talked about what I was up to that year. I hit her up on twitter as well. It’s all good!

On your song ‘Have It Your Way’ you sing, ‘You’ve got goods like a corner store?’ What’s your cornershop essential item? A: Strawberry Pop-Tarts.

What song will you spin to always get the party started? M: At the moment Niggas in Paris.   Can any of you cook? A: “I’m good at cooking Mexican food. Chimichanga is a very, very, very lovely meal.”   What film will you never tire of watching? A: Rush Hour. JB: Training Day. O: Shawshank Redemption. M: Back to the Future II.   When will you become a man band? JB: Whenever you guys decide to call us a man band. Or when everyone’s married!   Biggest perk of the job? A: “Free iPhone 5s!” M: “Free Nando’s every day!”   What do you think of the JLS dolls? JB: I wasn’t very happy with mine. The second edition was alright. O: JB’s one looks like Akon, or a Caribbean George Michael! JB: Ha ha! Wow. M: The whole doll thing was incredible. Take That and N*Sync did it back in the day. Now it’s massive again. All the boy bands have dolls. We’ve brought that back.   What’s your biggest extravagance? JB: You know Lucky Number Slevin with Morgan Freeman? They made like 70 replicas of the crystal chess set he plays in that film and auctioned them off. It was about £7k. My dining room has a chess theme. O: So basically it wasn’t the one that’s actually in the film, but one of the 70. M: Kim’s really not that impressed!

Roland Mouret’s Galaxy dress caused fashion hysteria; quite a feat in today’s blasé, seen-it-all culture. It’s a piece of clothing that embodies empowerment as opposed to Power Dressing, an important distinction. The dress celebrates the female shape, in fact gives a woman shape even if she’s a straight-up-and-down size 8. Mouret’s arrival at that career-defining garment and beyond to the House of Mouret, has been wilfully untypical in fashion terms. I joined him on the top floor of his beauteous Mayfair fashion house to talk about the Galaxy, living the dream and his exciting new move into shoe design.

“You look like a secretary from a Seventies porn movie!” Mouret cries as he takes in my outfit. He is a wonderful flirt and I’m thrilled with the comparison – I hadn’t been channelling Boogie Nights intentionally but I’ll take that one, thank you!

Porn, or indeed the porn shops and striptease bars of London’s Soho, are actually a good place to start our story. In the Nineties, Soho was still a neon-lit world of clip joints and drinking dens amongst the Italian cafés, delicatessens and film-production companies. There were a few independent fashion boutiques like mine on Brewer Street and one of our neighbours was the fabulous Freedom bar. It was a bar, yes, but Mouret, one of the creative directors, used the white walls as a constantly changing canvas, making photocopied art, collaged from his own photographs, blown up to enormous scale, and surreal collages after Max Ernst’s Une Semaine de Bonté of fantasy creatures with mismatched multi-animal body parts. The basement was an ever-changing studio space; whether Mouret was directing pop videos or photo-shoots down there or presenting cutting-edge cabaret from Leigh Bowery’s Minty to New York legend Joey Arias, it was always a hub of creative energy.

“Freedom was against the grain. With the photocopies it was all about the dots! I fucked up all the photocopiers in London! They were the printers architects used, the machine was used for printing lines, not lots of BLACK!  The machine would be going: ‘Dah dah dah, brrrrrr...’ We broke so many! Every month we had to find a new shop with a machine where they didn’t know us!”

Mouret was also then part of People Corporation, a design collective making street-wear. Its boyish poster girl Chloë Sevigny closed the show, and there were a lot of dresses amongst the shiny, Lycra separates. I can remember wearing a green Lycra fish-scale-print People Corporation dress with black fetish boots from The Little Shoe Box on Holloway Road. The shape was body-con but also the fabric seemed to be cut on the bias, with elastic strips that looked like your bra-strap had come down. I killed that dress; wore it out. 

Mouret was drawn to London, having spent time in Paris after moving there from his home town, Lourdes, in his teens. While our British designers Galliano, McQueen and McCartney were rushing off to show in Paris, there was something about the London scene that excited Mouret. “I think you have to live somewhere to define yourself, to see if you can grow without roots. Those designers were leaving because they couldn’t find what they wanted here.” If the perceived wisdom is that you can’t “make it” as a success, fashion-wise in London, Mouret set about disproving the theory. “Hussein Chalayan and Sophia Kokosalaki and I were foreigners who came to London and added something different to the culture.”

Mouret presented his first solo show at The Ragged School in Bermondsey in 1998. A heady, incense-imbued, bohemian presentation where supermodels drifted languidly through the space in gowns that Mouret had draped onto their bodies. It was a very sexy show that stimulated the senses, and was another step along the learning curve leading to the perfection of the Galaxy. “For the last season of People Corporation, just after Gianni Versace died, I wanted to do a collection about young people. Bright colours and dangerous. I did a sarong skirt by folding the fabric and it gave me such pleasure, the fact that it was three-dimensional. So the first thing I did after stopping People Corporation was to start to drape on the dummy.”

It’s important to note that at this time he couldn’t even sew a zip on, and all his dresses were held together by safety pins! Also, the timing:  Mouret was making his solo début at the mature age of 36. “If you decide at 36 to do what you have to do, you don’t lose time. Because otherwise you’ll get to 40 and if you didn’t do it you’ll be a bitter bastard who just says bad things about other people because you never did what you were supposed to do.” What he lacked in technical ability Mouret more than made up for in creative desire. And desire itself is a big part of why Mouret was driven to make clothes: “I like clothes that look like part of you, or a piece of fabric that you had sex on or was deformed by the shape of your body. The starting point of my career was always the way, after sex, through the eyes of the person who loves you, the way you define yourself by draping fabric around you. There’s so much sensuality in that moment and I try to create that moment when I create a dress.”

Another important milestone for Mouret was meeting “real” women – women with a womanly shape – who wanted him to dress them. “For years I would create dresses for a size-8 model who was going to walk for two seconds on the catwalk in that dress.” The muse here came in the show-stopping forms of Dita Von Teese and Scarlett Johansson, the meeting of whom Mouret describes as “like an explosion... Both of them, I realised, the clothes just didn’t fit! They had boobs! That’s when I had to revisit my work completely and I realised this wasn’t just about the boyish body of the fashion business. These were women, they are amazing and they came into my life and I was so excited. I went back to the first dress of the first collection. It wasn’t lined, it must’ve been itchy as hell. No zip because I didn’t know how to do it, the ass hanging out, sewn by hand…” 

And, of course, with boobs come bras! “Yes! Suddenly I realised a woman wears a bra! So why not create a dress around that fact and make a neckline based on that.  There is a chain of things that bring you back to, like, when you were nine and you saw things and it started to click. Now at my age I realise where  the influences come from, like Mrs Robinson in The Graduate in her bra and skirt, these kinds of women on the silver screen working the dress and the bra together, it’s really sexual… even the drag queens from Freedom came into it! Men don’t have a waist so they have to put a belt. So I cinched in the waist of the dress by one inch. When we put the waist restrainers on the models and they stood there in their knickers and restrainers and nothing else they looked so sexy, with the Louboutin shoes… That was the beginning of a ride to sensuality. The girls all took the waist restrainers home to wear for their boyfriends! Then I put the power mesh so you couldn’t see any bumps. Then you look back at the shapes of the Sixties and redefine them and then a sexy dress but in a masculine fabric. And I came eventually to the Galaxy dress. And the journey to that dress started the day I was born, in a way…”  

So often in fashion we make comparisons with designers, or we can see “inspirations” all too clearly repeating themselves in their work. Mouret has combined the tradition of the fashion house with an output of clothing that is thoroughly modern and also doesn’t look like anyone else’s work but his own. How does the designer resist the temptation to copy or emulate? “My masters are Yohji, Alaïa, Demeulemeester. I really had to avoid approaching them, style-wise. Every time I did something that looked like them I threw away the dress. At 36 you have that honesty with yourself; you know when you copy or when it’s yourself.  It’s about the strength and the weakness, it’s so personal. Even yesterday I started a skirt, I drew it, and I realised I have to throw it away because it wasn’t me – I don’t want to unbalance myself or lose control of who I am.”

Mouret has also recently reflected that his fashion identity started long before he started draping fabric. “My dad passed away and when we buried him it was in the church of my childhood, and I had forgotten that on the walls there were all these Seventies flat sculptures and the drapes are 3-D but really flat and I started to look around and recognise that in my dresses. I put so much of my identity in my clothing that it can’t be anyone else, it has to be me. I could never be Yohji or Miuccia Prada – I love what she does but it has to be about her own sexuality or her research into fantasy or sadomasochism or whatever. It’s hers, not me. The sad thing is when you see a designer and there is nothing. There is nothing about them in it. When it’s a rip-off or they copy other people. That’s the line I draw between people I respect and people I don’t.” It does feel, looking at Mouret’s position now, as if he’s living the dream. Does it feel that way to him? “I think you go into fashion because you have dreams. One of my dreams was to have a fashion house. I love the idea of a big Georgian or Victorian house where you could create. Finding this place made me kick in my heart. Even all the stairs, the carpet.  The ‘Upstairs Downstairs’ attitude, I found it so exciting.”

And there isn’t a show-case window display, which also makes it unique. “I love the fact we don’t have a window. It works in its own way. Some people even thought it was a motel! You can relax, have a cup of tea or champagne with your girlfriends, you stay for two or three hours. It’s really private. I think it’s a good balance, it’s not about the tourist staring at the window display. There isn’t like a queue of Chinese people to buy the last bag!” The fashion house makes you think of the great Paris houses of Dior and Saint Laurent. “There is a picture I love of Saint Laurent before his first show. It’s 12 o’clock or something, I think, and you can see him through one window working at the table and on the other side is his assistant: she’s sewing something. That picture makes you want to have a house! Or the picture of Givenchy walking through the streets of Paris with Audrey Hepburn, that made me want to meet someone in my life. Then I met Scarlett Johansson. It was amazing, like, BANG! We were both like ‘Who are you?!’  I wanted to protect her and it was weird, she wanted to protect me too. If you try to manipulate this situation to happen, it won’t. Yes, I live the dream but at the same time you become an anal bastard and a control freak! I am such a control freak! Everything has to be in place! I hate it if people drop coffee on the staircase…or if they come in wearing ?espadrilles or something; at least wear a nice pair of pumps! When the dream becomes reality, it’s quite a hard situation to keep the dream alive.” 

There’s something very exciting about this being the HQ or centre of creativity and communication. It’s very familial. And a very different feel to the “flagship”, static shops that many designers have… “There is all the time this attitude that as soon as you open a shop it starts to die. If there are no customers it’s depressing. I wanted to have a  shop where, by the people working around me, life was in the place. It’s not a shop, it’s a house. You have to feed the house, and the house feeds you.” 

Does he feel part of a scene? “I don’t like to have a blueprint of a situation. The moment you have a blueprint then you’re competing with someone. I’m not someone with a big group like LVMH or Gucci behind me. I had to create my own thing. I never went to fashion school, was never trendy at school. Never had the support of the press. I became successful because women bought my dresses, and everything in my journey is related to my customer. That’s what I like about Saint Laurent or Alaïa or Yohji, they’re really close to their customer. You learn that if you’re the new best thing then there will become a time when you’re not any more and then you have to make way for someone younger. I think that’s quite disturbing and that’s why I try to avoid that situation.” Women all over the world will have gasped (with pleasure!) at the news that Mouret recently took over as creative director of Robert Clergerie. “I love it. The making of a shoe is a tough job. I thought clothes were complicated but shoes are more so! I want to become a master of the shoes like I did with the draping but I need to take the time to really get the craft. I have no problem saying that I’m learning. In the Eighties Robert Clergerie was the brand you wore with contemporary clothing, and I want to bring that back.”

It will be interesting to see Mouret work his magic on the feet. How does he come at footwear from a clothing designer’s point of view? “There’s a big problem where I think there’s a lot of shoe designers who are frustrated that they’re not making clothing so the shoes become like – wah! – like you’re wearing the boxes or something!”

As well as designing the main shoe collection, Clergerie also produces Mouret’s show shoes. A select six styles, all with a subtle “R” shape incorporated into the design. We’re showing a selection on the following pages and they’re beautiful - extremely sexy, also tough but – actually(!) comfortable.  A perfect complement to his clothing. 

It is a fearless spirit and a very inspiring inability to say “no” to a challenge that have brought Mouret to this point in his career. “I don’t know how to say no! If I can’t do something I employ people around me to help me do it. I think I’m a good driver. I take people somewhere with me. I will keep on and on trying until I get something right. Not everything is possible. I know how to make a decision, good or bad. I knew I wanted to define something, and it took me years to do it. I’ve never been employed in my life, I have always really been a freelance person. All the other jobs I did in order to become a fashion designer. I was lucky to be independent, to be a video director and then fashion designer. I think you become a master when you can become a good slave. I think I’m a good slave!”

The Wylde Questionnaire Roland Mouret

Do you think in French or English? English. With fewer words you can express something.

What is the ultimate fashion crime? When people leave the price sticker on the bottom of their shoe! Every time I see it I think I can understand the serial killer! I can understand the moment of madness that would make someone snap!

How many times a day do you look in the mirror? All the time! (Laughs and points to one wall of his office which is a huge mirror and his desk faces it!)

Do you have any pets? A Jack Russell, Dave. Dave the dog.

Have you ever fallen in love at first sight? Yes.

Favourite fruit? Cherries.

Hairy or smooth? Smooth.

Should we ‘‘dress our age’’? Definitely, yes.

Cocktail or beer? Cocktail.

When/where are/were you happiest? At home in the country.

Most important lesson your parents taught you? The realisation that I am them. 

Do you have a reference that you constantly return to? My dad. Since he passed away, everything... how I cut, how I drape. When you lose the person you realise the gift.

What would you NEVER wear? Red.

Do you believe in God? No.

Do you drive? No, my husband does.

What would be your perfect holiday? Home.  

What’s your favourite TV show? I’m a big fan of Game Of Thrones. I love it.

Is copying theft, or the sincerest form of flattery? Theft.

Do you fear the apocalypse? Yes. Oh, yes.

What will happen to our digital photographs?  A hundred years from now, will they still survive? What traces will we leave to future generations to assert the fact that we once existed?  All that remains of Richard Colley’s span on earth are four leather-bound albums of portraits and snapshots but these reveal a charmed life of privilege and luxury, fun-filled years of ease and elegance spent with beautiful people in beautiful surroundings.  

I bought the albums from another dealer a number of years ago and despite sporadic efforts since to uncover more details of Richard’s life, I still know little more than the story that can be deduced from the photographs themselves.  These show the elegant interiors of the compiler’s homes in London and Palm Beach, his enormous, chauffeur-driven car, his sleek Borzoi hounds, his foreign holidays, and above all Richard himself and his friends attending a seemingly endless round of parties and costumed balls, often in drag, interspersed with trips to the races and the theatre.  It’s unmistakable from the photographs that not only was Richard a gay man but also that he enjoyed a flamboyantly camp lifestyle in an age when all homosexual behaviour in Great Britain drew moral condemnation and criminal sanctions. His wealth clearly enabled him to live a carefree, hedonistic dream and to love beyond the reaches of the law.  

Holidays featured in the album were largely taken in the early 1930s with a man identified only as Russell, clearly Richard’s boyfriend. They took a motor tour of England and Wales and later set off together around Europe. The two also travelled to Miami and Hollywood. The albums offer glimpses of their life together, enabling us to reconstruct a small part of their stories.  The photographs are the only vestiges left of their lives and their love for one another.  

"The only thing I'm quittin' is givin' a fuck!" snarls Dru Blu on the opening track of his album "This Is Don Strapzy" (2012).

The album marked a turning point for the Lewisham rapper.  He'd been known as Don Strapzy since he started rapping at school and on into his late teens, freestyling in MC contests around South London. But because of the negative associations of the name, especially with the word Strapzy (straps being slang for guns) the artist took the name Dru Blu, a shortening of his real name Andrew. Dru Blu is like Strapzy's more fly, mainstream-friendly self, and it was Dru who was play-listed on Radio 1 at the end of 2012 with the track, 'Check' (featuring Stylo G) and who, he hopes will help give him a shot at the next level of success.

"It's political. I didn't want to change my name at first, but I had to. Even the Don part of the name was too harsh, because of its associations. It's weird because in America you've got artists like Machine Gun Kelly or Ghostface Killah and they don't have to change it. But then you don't see rap songs in the charts here like you do in America. I don't like compromise, which can be a bit of a problem, but now it's good because I've got a whole new following associated with the name Dru Blu." 

Spending an hour in the company of Dru Blu, his desire to succeed is palpable. As raw and angry as the lyrical content of his work is, the fact is that in person he charms with his honesty. If your Chipmunks or your Professor Greens had had more challenging names, I wonder if they would have been as successful? In the UK we don't like our celebrities threatening: we'll take a Rascal over a Killah every time!

Dru Blu's delivery - the  emotional rawness of it, owes something to Eminem. Even the name-changing has echoes of Eminem's decision to release the Marshall Mathers LP in a bid to remove himself from the negativity surrounding his hugely successful creation, Slim Shady. What white rapper post-Eminem can deny his influence?

"He made it in a very black-orientated scene. But take away the skin colour - he's an excellent artist. Before Eminem people might not believe you, or they'd be arrogant of the fact that everyone can struggle no matter what colour their skin is. I'd love to do a collaboration with him."

Eminem also saw music as a way out of poverty. Dru's background, though rich in love -  has been a huge struggle financially.

"I would never complain about having a bad childhood, I had a great childhood. Financially we had our ups and downs. We were evicted from our house...I used to share a bed with three of my sisters when I was in secondary school. But it's made us really close. Because we stuck together and we're so close I think is why I'm able to be doing what I'm doing today. I think I'm the only one out of all my friends who hasn't been to jail. That's all due to the close relationship I have with my mother and father."

His lyrics are full of references to "getting Mummy out of da hood". When he spits, "Ain't you seen Mummy try enough? Ain't you seen Mummy cry enough?" it's very hard not to love him! His primary drive really does seem to be to help his family unit and those he loves. And being able to make a living from what he loves : "If I'm living off music in five years time, that's the ultimate. I'm 22 years old and I see people around me making money, good money. It's a test for me. I want to go on holiday and do things but I need to stick to what I'm doing. It can be frustrating but it inspires me and it humbles me. If I had it easy I wouldn't appreciate what I'm getting. We're making good music, working hard. Even if I was a 9 to 5 I would work, work, work, I'm that kind of person, that's how I do it."

For all the references to family, Dru's lyrics are also full of the harsh realities of his life; of  "slums and guns" and "babies having babies". He feels very strongly about bringing his culture to the scene, rapping about his friends, "black kids, white kids, asians, latinos, we're London's forgotten race. Fuck the politicians, we're their greatest fear." It's very raw and very British, especially in the collaboration 'United Kingdom' with Scottish rapper Madhat McGore and Irish Rob Kelly.  British rappers have had a hard time being believed internationally, especially in America, home of hip hop. Mike Skinner of The Streets observed over a decade ago that breaking the perception that rappers should have an American accent is hard. That seems to be changing gradually; Tinie Tempah has toured in the US and Dizzie Rascal has even released a single with Shakira! Also, in a weird twist you've got Ludacris and Flo Rida rapping all over mainstream British pop records…

As much as the fame game is about the name game, it also helps if you're easy on the eye. Lucky that Dru's a bit of a babe! His Instagram and Twitter feeds are full of girls pronouncing him "stupidly perfect…sexy…cute". You get the idea.  During the Wylde shoot Dru is easy, but not cocky, in front of the camera, he manages to charm photographer, stylist and anyone else in his orbit, there isn't a dud shot. As much as he disses the 'fame and the fashion' and other rappers 'enjoying photo shoots a little too much,' (on Where's the Rapping Gone?), he's a natural at it.

When I ask him about his Rizzle Pricks (sic) vendetta (Rizzle Kicks have felt the wrath of his sharp tongue on record more than once) Dru laughs - and blames Don Strapzy! It's handy having an alter-ego - "Don Strapzy's a bastard! Seriously, I see them labelled as UK rappers, but I don't look on that as rap. They're more pop. I'm a rapper and I say what's on my mind. Musically we cross paths in a way. But you know, I respect their hustle…music's entertainment and they're making their living from music and you can't hate on that."

As much as the Don Strapzy persona has allowed him to vent and say what he wants in the past, with a taste of radio play, Dru Blu has got his eyes firmly set on the charts. "I don't listen to proper cringey pop like One Direction or Westlife but I like Adele, Labyrinth, Rihanna. I like Plan B, I think he's proper. He's intelligent, that's a good look." When I ask if he thought Plan B's hook up with Bulmer's cider was a sell-out, he's adamant: "You have to make money and feed your family. It's not a sell-out, it's making money."

Dru Blu's tattoos Struggle and Succeed could be a portent of the future for the artist - he's paid his dues as far as the Struggle goes…now for Succeed.

There are a million ways to enter the music biz. Misha B fast-tracked her way to the Top 10 via the star making-and-breaking machine The X-Factor. It's a roller-coaster ride that isn't for the faint-hearted. For this Manchester girl, the ride started the moment she was plucked from the queue for her dress sense, and she's still looping-the-loop! As I watched Misha's Chaka Kahn-realness transformation in the make-up chair, we munched HobNobs and talked living the dream and maintaining the hype.....

The X-Factor is all about doing cover-versions but you always slipped your own rhymes into the songs. Your audition took Aretha Franklin's Respect and gave it a Misha B remix, personalising it with your own rap. When did you start rapping?

I used to write poems when I was 11, just to get my feelings out on paper. It was a form of therapy for me. Then I started rapping because my oder siblings were doing it. I loved it because you could be loud with it, really animated, and it was a mirror of my personality. 

What were you listening to at home when you were young?

Old school; Motown, Tina Turner, Aretha, Whitney. My oldest brother was really into Tupac. And my Mum is a massive fan of Westlife - who are fine - but it was a bit annoying listening to them all day! My older siblings were all really into music so I didn't go out and buy it myself, the first record I physically bought was Halleluja by Alexandra Burke.

It's a strange reflection of the time how Leonard Cohen comes to a new generation by way of Alexandra Burke on X Factor! But then again, I first heard that track via Jeff Buckley... Still, owning the cover-version at peak time on Saturday nights has become this century's phenomenon! Misha B is a refreshing, undeniably talented, change from the typical karaoke 'hopeful' you would associate with the show. During our conversation she breaks into song several times and the voice is amazing, the kind of natural talent impossible to manufacture.

I read that you didn't think you could sing when you were younger, how can someone with such a huge, beautiful voice not know it?! I never thought I could sing until I went on holiday when I was about 13. I was with my holiday friends and we were all mucking around singing the Black Eyed Peas "Where is the Love?" and everyone started saying my voice was amazing.

Maybe you felt more uninhibited with your 'holiday friends'? Maybe. My confidence level was so low and it showed in my voice and my range; everything was shaky, it wasn't believable. I got back to Manchester and I tried singing to my friends at school and they were, like, "No, you can't sing" (laughs).

So how did you get from there to having the confidence to take on Aretha in front of all those people?!?!

When I was 15 I decided to home-in and focus on singing in front of an audience. I started busking.

That's brave! And not a typical tactic to learning to face an audience!

It was one of the scariest things I've ever done! You don't know if someone's going to come and start shouting abuse at you! I did it on Market Street in Manchester. A few of my friends would come down to support me.

What were your crowd-pleasers? Which songs went down the best? Adele's Someone Like You and anything by Amy Winehouse.

And when did you first sing on a stage? I got more confidence and would perform at poetry nights, doing open-mic stuff. I started to get a few gigs in London. Then a friend range me and told me she'd signed me up for X-Factor. At first I said I wasn't doing it. Then quite a few of my friends studying music and performance with me auditioned, and we all ended up going together. And I guess I haven't looked back!

It must be so strange to become public property overnight like that. Was the X-Factor experience how you imagined it would be?

No. But I take every experience, flip it and embrace it.

Arguably, winning can be a bit of a curse in a way. But it was said at the time that the accusations that you were a bully to some other contestants behind the scenes - which were also retracted subsequently - stopped you from from winning the competition. Was that a difficult time?

That was one of the darkest times of my life. I'm not one to pretty things up: there were times of course, with 10 girls in one room, hormones flying around and with everyone away from home that we would hit heads. But of course also we were, like, "We're all we have right now". It hurt, but you know, I always try to focus and then give thanks that I had that experience in a way. It made me stronger. I don't think I'll ever understand why it happened but it's a lesson and I just move on.

Do you ever miss those times? No! I'm free now. I don't have to worry about anything except getting my music right. That was quite claustrophobic.

X-Factor must have been such a roller-coaster. Did the experience ever fill you with horror, or was it all good?

Horror is one of the main things! Especially going from being able to walk down the street to not being able to without people following you or showing you love!! It's crazy! It's hard to embrace at first.

Would you ever take part in another reality show?

X-Factor was a springboard. If I saw another springboard then, definitely. I feel like life is all about taking opportunities and experience. If I want to know what something would be like I'd do it for the experience.

It's almost as though going through that process speeds everything up: if you're voted off, you're catapulted back to reality and obscurity in a flash, and if you're loved and successful you're thrust into a world where you could pretty much work with anyone you would want. You were hand-picked by Nicki Minaj to support her on tour, rumours abound of a collaboration with Missy Elliott....

The craziest thing for me is meeting people who I really respect musically and having them respect me back! It's like, "But I'm me and you're YOU!"

There must be lots of people around you who think they know what's 'best' for you or have a creative opinion. Is it hard to keep in control of your own destiny?

My team around me believe in me. Because I'm still experimenting and finding the right sound it's really exciting. What they've found is that if they leave me to do what I want to do I come up with the things that everyone loves. When people are telling me what to do that's when I won't come up with it...I'm in a great place right now but I'm aware that I need to maintain it. X-Factor's on every year, I know that the hype dies down unless you can keep feeding it and giving people what they want.

Does this make you as happy as you thought it would when you initially auditioned?

For now, I'm enjoying it with my friends. When I'm with the people I love, hearing people and seeing people enjoying my music, seeing my Mum happy...

'Mum' is Misha's auntie, who brought her up when her blood Mum couldn't look after her due to drug problems. She's never met her Dad either but has always felt supported and loved by the auntie she describes as "Super Woman."

She's my hero. She stops me getting caught up in it all too.

With album number one due out this summer, Misha B steps further away from the X-Factor machine towards her own personal musical statement with her feet firmly planted on the ground...

This is my journey. X Factor's a big part of my career, it doesn't define my career and it doesn't define me. It's part of me...or it was.

Romani Beau hits you initially right in the eyes, looking like the long-lost love child of David Sylvian and Tammy Wynette and then in the ears with his surprisingly Joan Armatrading-esque, yearning vocals.  A mass of contradictions made flesh, Romani (AKA Karl Smitherman) defies the categorisation of his music by saying it is a blend of folk, country and pop. He has wanted to write songs since he discovered Dolly Parton, models himself on Dorian Gray's portrait in the attic and the bigger his hair gets, the happier he is. This is his first ever interview.

Romani Beau is such a romantic sounding name, are you part-gypsy? My Mum's side of the family has Romany ancestors, there's family photos of them in their Romany caravan. I'd love to live like that. The Beau part of my name is taken from the dandy, Beau Brummell.

What music did you listen to as a child? Awful pop mostly. Britney Spears was my favourite. S Club 7, Christina Aguilera - all the Mickey Mouse people!

Did you always want to sing growing up? When i was little I used to sing in the playground but then I had to stop because I was embarrassing my brothers! The headmistress came over where a crowd had gathered around me and was like "I thought someone had hurt themselves!" and I kind of sloped off. I just wanted to sing. I even remember writing songs at  7 or 8 - I wrote one then about wanting to go to Disneyland! My brother always brings that up! But I never thought of it as a career really, just something I loved to do…

What kind of a childhood did you have? I had such an amazing childhood because there were so many of us. I've got six brothers and sisters, two older and two younger with me and my twin Craig in the middle. I've also got six step brothers and sisters.  We had a proper English upbringing with fishing, camping, beaches…I loved it so much. We didn't have a lot of money, it was all hand-me-downs and stuff. If I had a tracksuit and it was matching top and bottom - even if it was the cheapest tracksuit - I thought I was dressed up because it was matching! 

Home is a recurring theme in your songs, almost a sadness that you can't go home… Home is my nostalgia for the past. I have a nostalgia for the humbleness and simplicity of home. I love the country but it's too comfortable, I feel like I won't go back until I've done what I have to do. I'm naturally an introvert and I like to be on my own but I need to be closer to London, to the music scene.

When did you switch from enjoying singing to wanting to do it full time? I heard Dolly Parton. I worship that woman!  I heard this song of hers called The Grass is Blue - it's a really depressing song! - that song really hit me. Then I found out she wrote I Will Always Love You and 9 to 5 and I just really wanted to write myself. Then from there I found Bluegrass, that's my favourite kind of music. I love Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss. I love country but not the more mainstream stuff. For the last six years I've been writing songs constantly.

Have you been playing live, can we come and hear you sing? I play a lot in Guildford and I played at the last Softly Softly folk session in Crouch end last month, it was my first London gig, I want to play here more.

There's a real feeling that you're a Nature Boy at heart in your lyrics, and yet you sit before me in full-on make-up!  I love that your image could be seen by some to be at odds with the music you make! I started wearing a bit of make-up at college. Growing up my brothers were the good-looking ones. I was the cute one and no-one wants to be that. Then one day I saw this picture which turned out to be an illustration from Oscar Wilde's 'The Picture of Dorian Gray.' Then I read the book and I thought it was amazing and the way he is described with the golden hair, the scarlet lips…I thought, if that's what pretty is then that's what I want to be! So that was my starting point. But then I do love nature. I'm always walking through the fields or up to the cathedral.. 

And your hair is incredible! The longer it's got the bigger it's got! My face is so structured and I wanted to soften it. I wanted to look like a pretty boy rather than a rugged boy so I worked out that the bigger my hair went, it softened my face, and with the make up that softened it more. I didn't want to look manly. I'm a ponce really (laughing)!!!

And the way you are dressed is quite gentlemanly by way of a contrast… I like cardigans, sweaters, very English country. I'm a bit of a grandad. I love brooches, if it's old-fashioned I'm like "Oooh, I like it!"

It's quite a statement, are you expressing your sexuality in the way you present yourself? People ask me are you gay and I'm a bit like, yeah, clearly!!!  

When I was researching your music, there were the lyrics to 'I Found Christ Today', are you very religious? My great-grandad was a vicar and he married a gypsy! She was really spiritual and he was really religious and I love that contrast. I'd say I'm a Christian but of course I sometimes struggle with it a bit because it says you can't be gay. For me it's more about listening to God than what other people throw at you. I'm sure some people would look at me and think, "you can't be religious!" but I just put my own little twist on it. My Mum's always been really spiritual too. I've been praying every night since I was about ten and the last year and a half I've been going to Church and I love it. 

There's a beautiful sadness in your songs… I love songs of lament. When I get an album the first thing I do is play all the sad songs. I'm proper into the songs about death, I find it really peaceful. I listen to a lot of war songs as well. The love songs of the war are so hopeful. I love 'I'll Be With You in Apple Blossom Time' and 'Lili Marlene'. And 'The White Cliffs of Dover' of course! I love Vera Lynn!

He's a folk dandy with a heart as big as Kent who doesn't fear the pop tag. He expresses the rawness of personal experience whilst loving a catchy hook. Folk music is steeped in tradition and yet he has been experimenting with sampling kitchen utensils in his music. Romani Beau's contradictions are his strength. I love the fact that his muse, Dolly Parton was also famous for her huge hair….he's got the hair down, may the hits follow!

Nicky Haslam is leaning over a computer screen with our photographer as I enter the studio. They're inspecting the best portraits from this morning's shoot and have arrived at a genius shot of Haslam; elegantly hunched in a pose that is pure Dovima: leather jacket casually but just-so on his shoulder, cigarette (slim Vogues, naturally!) poised and posed inches from his mouth, smoke coiling chicly upwards, eyes in a sideways smoulder to camera. He knows what he's doing. The monochromatic outfit: Acne black leather jeans, crisp white Prada shirt and beaten up black biker jacket, topped with his very white cropped hair…looks like a nod to his 60s mod days. When he and David Bailey led the British invasion on New York, drainpipes, white collarless shirts and Anello and Davide winkle picker boots were their bad boy uniform. Haslam slips the leather off and a bit of grey marl heavy-gauge cashmere on to get comfy, and I spend the next hour rapt - one minute cackling with mirth, the next, holding my breath as immortal names from the firmament are clanged about me with reckless abandon. I'm not complaining: his is a life LIVED, at the hub of society happenings, from parties of legend to scenes in the making. Known as much for the 'Sheer Opulence' of his interior design business as for doing the twist with Bailey and Shrimpton at the Factory or transforming his features to resemble Liam Gallagher in the 90s, Haslam has socialised from Saint Tropez to the White House. He has had more than a passing acquaintance with a breathtaking role call of the greats of the 20th Century (my list of favourites include Greta Garbo, Lena Horne, Cole Porter, Andy Warhol (who credited Haslam for bringing the British look to New York), Marilyn Monroe, Cecil Beaton, Shirley Maclaine, Francis Bacon….and on and on).  Rubbing shoulders effortlessly with royalty one minute, joining Dali and Gala for a séance the next, Haslam has such an openness to experience. He has a love of people and a genuine interest in them still, even though you might think he would have become jaded or reached some kind of saturation point.  Haslam's outlook really has kept him young; he lived as a cowboy in Arizona at one point in his youth, "The only reason I bought a ranch was to wear cowboy clothes, let's face facts!!" Oh, and he was Joan Crawford's date for the premiere of Cleopatra and worked under Diana Vreeland at American Vogue. He's been everywhere and met pretty-much everybody!

But that's not why we're here.

Nicky Haslam has made a record. Yes, he is making his debut as a recording artist and releasing Midnight Matinée through Cherry Red records this summer. In the tradition of Noël Coward, Quentin Crisp and These Foolish Things-era Bryan Ferry, Haslam's album will have a piano-bar feel and feature spoken word performances as well as songs and will even include a couple of tracks which promise to be Disco in feel. Being Haslam, the list of collaborators is insanely impressive: Bryan Ferry is actually in there, Nicky duets with Cilla Black and Helena Bonham Carter, Rupert Everett reads from Andy Warhol's diaries, Tracey Emin reads a short story she wrote, Guy Chambers wrote a song for Haslam…and you might have heard of his backing band, Pink Floyd. I KNOW!!! I told you, insane!

My favourite Motels track of all time is Total Control. I was thrilled to hear Haslam has covered it for Midnight Matinée. And he does a lovely job.  The other track I've heard from the album is the duet with Bryan Ferry, Illusions. Originally written for Deitrich ("I've always wanted to be Marlene Dietrich!") the only other artist to have covered it is Marianne Faithful. Good choices. But then, Haslam is "word perfect in the songs from every musical from 1947 onwards", so his memory contains a dream back catalogue. 

How long have you held ambitions to make a record? "I'd always sung. My sister lived in America and she used to come back with all the latest records and I always sung at parties for fun. Then I did a cabaret residency at the Savoy and Annabel's and David Ogilvy my producer heard me there and said, "you know, I could do something with your voice."'

Because of that British tradition of spoken-word recordings, the kind of records made by Noël Coward in the 50s (my favourite: At Las Vegas), this does feel like the perfect stage of your life to be making this record. Your voice has had the right amount of experience - and cigarettes! - to sing and speak in this cabaret style… "Also, I think music now is very introspective and intellectual. When I was watching the Brits I was surprised how ballad-y the songs were. Music is going softer in a way…"

With that line-up, it would be a bit of a number to go on tour wouldn't it? "Getting everyone together would be a nightmare. But maybe just once we could do it, for charity or something. Cilla said (bad Liverpudlian accent) "What about the Albert 'all?!"

When will the album be finished? It's being mastered at the moment by the people who did Led Zep.

Of course it is! Can you remember the first record you heard or that made an impression on you? Absolutely! It was The Isle of Capri by Nat Gonella. He had the sexiest voice. I remember it so well from when my mother used to play it in her bedroom. And The Harry Lime Theme by Anton Karas, that sums up my childhood completely.

Is there a singer or a band who you constantly return to, or a record that is like a soundtrack to your life, as corny as that sounds? A singer that I come back to all the time is Lee Wiley, a chanteuse from the 30s and 40s. Cole Porter told me about her. She's extraordinary.

Is it fair to say that you were obsessed with Liam Gallagher in the 90s, even modelling your appearance on his? Well, I was almost in love with Gallagher because he was so bad. I was at the Ritz after that period and he was there with Patsy (Kensit) and he said "What's wrong? You don't look like me any more!" Sweet.

Image has always been a big part of Haslam's day-to-day life. His outfits, from the biker leathers to the self-stitched lace shirt cuffs in the 60s were, and are, meticulously put together. How important is image to him? People have always said I changed my image all the time but I just tried to look up to date. To look like people in the street. I like to look up to date. In Arizona when I was a cowboy I had ripped clothes joined together by safety pins! In the 60s we had our suits made in the East End and our winkle pickers came from Brixton. 

Who was the ultimate mod, do you think? Who wore that look well? Probably David Bailey in his boxy jackets and narrow pants. David says we invented the 60s. We were doing the look that epitomised the 60s in 1957. Then Liberace was important too because before him, men didn't have sparkles. He was such a sweet man.

It's funny to think now that the 60s look has become almost a classic, not outrageous at all, as it was at the time. Now we're always looking back… Yes, the concept of retro wasn't really there when I was young. Unless you're talking about Bunny Rogers and his Edwardian suits. We wanted to look fresh and young and scrubbed. The biggest difference was made by Vidal Sassoon. It was revolutionary that he made people wash their hair! Before that people washed their hair once a week, or had it washed at the hairdressers. He brought in the concept of shiny, clean hair which was quite new!

You were art director at a very young age of Show magazine in the 60s after working on Vogue doing layouts for Diana Vreeland. You also worked on Ritz magazine in London in the 70s, which we love here at Wylde. How did you enjoy the magazine world? I was so lucky to work daily with Vreeland, and the education that entailed. In Show we did the first piece on underground movies. Show was like Vanity Fair before it existed; the arts, social things….we had Baby Jane Holzer on the cover sucking the American flag, people were cancelling their subscriptions in horror! I did layouts, photography and then interviews (memorably with Stephen Tennant) and a gossip column for Ritz, it was great fun.

You commissioned Diane Arbus at Show didn't you? One of my favourites, how was working with her? She became a great friend. She did the pictures of Mae West for me, we sent her to Hollywood…

Sitting here in the offices of Wylde just off Old Street, you must be quite struck by the changes to the East End? You never dared come here, now it's buzzing, really exciting. I used to come with David Bailey sometimes. We used to go to the first drag cabarets at the Duraggon pub. All these straight boys being Marlene Dietrich and Rita Hayworth, with their mothers sitting in the front row. I'm slightly bored of drag queens. Drag's become quite déclassé in a way, androgyny is better I think, wonderful. I knew April Ashley when she was Tony April, singing "Get Me To The Church On Time" in Paris cabaret. She's so dignified now, isn't she? Makes Margaret Thatcher look like a chorus girl!

I wonder how having polio when you were very young, which immobilised you in a full body cast and rendered you bed-bound for two years contributed to your love of interiors? I can't imagine how a little boy coped with staying still for such an interminably long time but with only the walls and ceiling to look at, you must have been intimate with every inch, every corner and cornice of your room? It was boring but quite wonderful, in a way, with people coming to read to me and things. I was quite spoilt really and I only saw grown-ups at that time and so I had a very sophisticated point of view.  I didn't think 'oh I'm not running around playing games', I just thought 'oh I'm lying here doing other things' it's part of acceptance of life in a way.  When I eventually did go to school I couldn't bear all these ghastly things farting and playing games and I thought, why can't they talk to me about Greta Garbo like my parents did?! The interiors happened much later after doing layouts and I didn't get my first proper interior design jobs until the early 70s. 

Although I read that your room at Eton was quite legendary, you had a flair for interiors even then… It was mad. My tutor used to bring people to see my room after dinner as if it was some sort of cabaret! I had astro turf from a flower seller on Belgrave Square on the floor, a life-sized picture of James Dean knifing Buzz from Rebel Without a Cause, lit up from behind. Ostrich feather pelmets which I'd made out of paper and I sewed ermine tails on the curtains, it was great fun…

What is your design philosophy? I'm intensely interested by interior spaces and how one can make them look more wonderful. I always say, the only point of decoration is to make people look prettier and make them feel happier. So that's what I like doing: making people feel wonderful.

My favourite kind of person is the 'slash person' (© Dianne Brill). You fall into that category; refusing to be pinned down and being unafraid to try something new, this record being a case in point. Is there anything you still wish you could have done, or been? I like to be unboxed. As far as things I wish I had done…creating sets for Hollywood musicals would have been heaven. I love that scene in the Ziegfeld Follies with the set like a Dali painting (clutching his heart at the thought). But everything I do is inspired by interiors in a way. Even the singing is part of what happens in a room, the atmosphere. 

And off Haslam goes into the East End traffic, leaving me in a puff of smoke with the image of hundreds of Ziegfeld girls perfectly posed in technicolor decorating my mind for the rest of the day….

Nicky Haslam - Wylde Questionnaire 

What do you find thrilling? (Laughs) Waking up every day! I think life is thrilling, for me it just seems to get better. 

Are you nostalgic? I love the past and talking about it but I don't hanker for it. I love modern life.

Are you vain? I think I'm the opposite of vain. Vain people think they're perfect. I don't think I'm perfect, that's why I've had face-lifts.

Who is your favourite artist? If I had to choose one it would have to be Velasquez.

What's your favourite recreational drug? (Slight gasp!) I suppose cigarettes. And it helps with my voice. You know all opera singers smoke like fiends!

What's your favourite cocktail? A proper gin martini. Or a Gibson even better, I was taught a proper Gibson by Noël Coward.

Favourite food? It's so embarrassing...I absolutely adore cheese slices! With white bread! Nothing like it!

What is your pet-hate when it comes to interiors? Dead plants. They look so horrible.

What's the best party you've ever been to? The Queen's party after Diana's wedding.

So, not Bianca Jagger's birthday party at Studio 54? I didn't especially like Studio 54. I was in New York in the 60s with glamorous clubs like El Morocco. I thought the sleazy side of Studio 54 was a bit obvious, I like people in backless dresses dancing and smoking together, that's why I've called my record Midnight Matinée.

What's the epitome of chic? I think insecurity is quite chic. The opposite is smugness, that's the worst.

Who is or was the love of your life? A new love, an architect from New York.

Favourite city? To live in it has to be London. Street life in London is the best in the world. If I couldn't live in London I'd probably live in Rome, but you'd probably go bananas with the provinciality. Or Istanbul, it's magic.

Who's your best friend? Bryan Ferry is my best male friend, Min Hogg my best female one. Bryan's birthday is the 26th, mine is the 27th and Min's the 28th - three Librans in a row! And it's a Libra full moon today! And 27 is my lucky number! (we're doing the interview on the 27th!)

Who do you consider The Great Beauty? It occurred to me the other day that female beauty is all that matters; from Helen of Troy onwards...Dietrich, Hedy Lamarr, Dolores Del Rio, Ava Gardner. (Wylde: Cyd Charisse?) Ah, Cyd Charisse! I met her in Hollywood with Cecil Beaton, we went to dinner at her house, lovely woman.

Is there anyone left you haven't met that you'd love to? Sandi Toksvig. (I am visibly, thrillingly shocked!). I just think she's so funny.

Savages are what you have been waiting for.

These four heroic, uncompromised....LOUD women will rock your core. They will kick you square between the eyes with their fearless, driving noise, which recalls the best of British new wave, punk and post-punk and New York no-wave whilst sounding utterly fresh. 

As photographer Sarah Lee and I elbow our way to the front of the crowd to shoot the band at Camden's Electric Ballroom, I cast my eyes around the hall. Not surprisingly, I notice several stoic, middle aged men who have had the punk part of their cerebrum re-awakened and are ready to join the new revolution, a lot of women; faces upturned and expectant. Proud. Actually a real cross-section of types and ages. But everyone is engaged. Ready. There is a definite frisson of excitement and expectancy. And one boy, centre-front - probably first through the doors - is silently reading Private Eye and occasionally chuckling to himself. Brains are ON. It's not a leery beer mosh and actually no-one really starts losing it until quite near the end of the set when they launch into live favourite 'Husbands'.

Savages live are stomach churningly exciting. Lead singer Jehnny Beth has the kind of engaging charisma and power over the audience which has had critics comparing her to Siouxsie Sioux and John Lydon - and it's true, she does have a similar timbre to Siouxsie - but the other similarity is that thing with the eyes: she's utterly in control and unflinching, almost evangelical. Songs of intimacy, violence, soul searching and sexual tension, growls and yelps "forcing the slut out", "hit me"...the audience are mesmerised, caught in the headlights. But there is also a gamine quality to the lead singer - like Jean Seberg in A Bout de Souffle - and there's no messy flailing, but taut, clenched fists or pointing like a punch and she seems not to break a sweat. Utterly captivating. 

Jehnny Beth, guitarist Gemma Thompson, bassist Ayse Hassan and drummer Fay Milton have only been together as a band for just over a year. But the impact they have made in that short time proves my original statement. No-one else sounds like this right now. Grabs you by both ears and screams in your face to "wake up!" in quite such a life-affirming way.

Savages debut album, 'Silence Yourself' is out in May. They've just played numerous American dates including Coachella, and will be supporting Iggy Pop at Yoko Ono's Meltdown in June (SO going!). They'll be touring extensively throughout Europe throughout the summer. Jehnny Beth took time out of the band's hectic schedule to chat to Wylde.

Wylde: Savages is such a perfect name. Not since the Slits has there been a more perfect all-female band name! So evocative, the underlying violence it implies as well as the feeling of a gang, against all the odds. What does the name mean to you?

Jehnny Beth: Gemma came to my house one day and said she had found a name for her project and it was going to be Savages. That was a pinnacle moment for me. That name attracted me.  Savagery is in everyone but few people choose to express it. As human beings, we spend our lives trying to pretend we have become these super evolved creatures but music obviously is a great medium to remind us we haven't evolved so much, our body is sort of shaken out of its lethargy and hopefully that can affect our lives unconsciously and open doors to self expression, which is great. The name was also connected to a lot of Science-fiction Gemma was reading at the time and the idea of devolution...

Wylde: You label yourselves 'post-punk', and I can hear a little Joy Division (or maybe more i can see it in Jehnny's on-stage body language) and Bauhaus also there are very strong elements of the NY No Wave scene in there, maybe a little DNA....? But you sound refreshingly new so it probably doesn't need analysing too much! What are  Savages strongest influences (not just music necessarily) would you say?

Jehnny Beth: we never labelled 'ourselves' post-punk. It came from journalists really... Anything we watch, feel, read, hear can be an influence, music, films, books, life.. What we find inspiring is the process which artists use. The genre or the medium don't matter. 

Wylde: You're so new but also seem so very 'together'. You've kind of pounced right into the music scene as this amazingly taut, assured band. It's so exciting to watch the chemistry between you all on-stage. Had you been plotting your attack for a long time?

JB: Although Savages is new, we've all been part of different groups and projects before. Everything we've done until we formed Savages has been sort of influential to all of us. Fay Milton used to be a percussionist in orchestras, then she moved to film production before starting  Savages. Gemma and Ayse had a band together. I've been working with Johnny Hostile in John & Jehn, released 2 records, got signed, got dropped, worked on film soundtracks, started my own record label Pop Noire ... We've all been very active. 

Wylde: I loved the way Johnny Hostile's DJ set segued perfectly into the beginning of your set, do you always start your live shows that way? Is it important to you to control the build-up to your appearance on stage?

JB: We like to consider every show like an event. we think of everything that will happen from the time people enter the venue and the moment they will leave. What music they will hear, how do you build an atmosphere... Having Johnny Hostile, who produced the album, involved for the gigs is a chance to explore more into these ideas. Everywhere we go, we play a half an hour set he has prepared for us before we go onstage. So yes it is very important to 'set the scene' before and after we play, as much as possible. Johnny is also going to open for us at our next UK and European tour. We tend to play unreleased material, side-projects we are working on, before and after our shows. Again, to work on the audience's subconscious...

Wylde: A Savages gig is refreshingly straight down to business, all about the music.There's very little audience interaction, in a good way. All I can remember you saying at the gig the other night is,  "It's a sad and beautiful world". Was that a spontaneous observation or an important  Savages message for us all to take home and mull over? If so, it worked because it's stayed with me....

JB: 'this is a sad and beautiful world' is a quote from the Jim Jarmusch film 'Down by Law'. Before the show I think Fay and Gemma were talking about it so it stayed with me during the show...

Wylde: All of your energy onstage is huge! Fay spends a large part of the concert on her feet, does she stand up when drumming in rehearsals and in the studio or is it to do with the fever pitch of excitement during a live gig?

JB:Fay is one of the best drummers I've ever seen play live. Her style is so original. Like Geoff Barrow said after our show in London at Electric Ballroom : "I think I have a drum crush!"

Wylde: You seem like the sort of band who would have a Mission Statement? Do you? If so, what is it?

JB: Yes.Our goal is to always look for better ways of living and experiencing music. We believe there are still new ways to be found and we like to share them with our fans and audience. For each release I write a sort of band statement which expresses what we have in mind at the moment artistically, they are sort of 'sub-titles'. That way, we have a I AM HERE manifesto, a SILENCE YOURSELF poem... 

Wylde: Could you tell me about your side project HTB which features on the soundtrack to Nathan Corbin's short film, Savages NYC?

JB: HTB is an improvisation project with me, Gemma Thompson and Johnny Hostile. We organise HTB sessions in my house where the 3 of us stand in different rooms, improvise and record at the same time. It is very liberating and very useful to be able to explore new ideas freely. There are no boundaries in HTB, you can do anything you like and you won't be judged. It is very important to still have a place to work without trying to achieve anything in particular. What matters is the process, not the result. HTB sessions are still very therapeutic and playful to us. They help stimulating our imaginations and revive the feeling of risk.  

Wylde: I love Bo Ningen (London based Japanese psychedelic band) and couldn't have been more excited to hear your collaboration, Nichijyou. How did that come about?

JB: Bo Ningen asked me if I'd like to sing one of their songs and write lyrics in English for them. I thought that was a great idea. I've always loved to watch Bo Ningen perform. They were the only band which were doing something interesting in London. I used to go and film their performances a few years ago. When they asked me to collaborate, it seemed very natural to say yes and try something with them. We are even pushing the collaboration further : in May at The Red Gallery,  Savages and Bo Ningen are teaming up to write and perform a 'sonic simultaneous poem'. It is a concept inspired by the Dadaists after the war who used to organise gigs of 'simultaneous poetry' - different people would recite poems in several languages at the same time... The cacophony as an evocation of the chaos of the world... An idea still relevant today. 

Get yourself some Savages. I insist.

[All questions are answered 'as one', at the sewing machine from Stevie's North London studio]

So exciting to see that you are both in the studio together again today! What are you working on?

We are recreating a BodyMap throwback T-shirt. It's a prototype for a limited edition souvenir to be sold in the V&A Museum shop for the upcoming Club To Catwalk exhibition. We have also been archiving our collections, press, photos, club pictures, films and videos for a forthcoming book.

Let's talk about the V&A exhibition: can you tell us about the pieces you have chosen to represent your work together?

They are from our Cat In A Hat Takes A Rumble With A Techno Fish A/W 84 collection. The outfits are chosen to highlight our signature silhouettes with our unique twist on proportions. For example, an oversized porthole-back sweat over a figure-hugging one seam fintail skirt, square beret and original hand knits.

This is Wylde's Music Issue and music was a big part of a BodyMap show. Is there one record or piece of music that sums up for you the BodyMap peak of fabulousness?

Oh my god there are so many! The amazing Helen Terry sang acapella to open our first solo show Cat In The Hat. That was nerve tinglingly thrilling and such a happy memory for us both. Nico, David's seven-year-old niece performed as the chosen maiden for the sacrificial dance to Stravinsky's Rite Of Spring amidst rolling models and full-on laser light show, choreographed by Michael Clark in the S/S 90 catwalk presentation Life Is. Oh, and Billy Beyond performed a show stopping lip-synch to Joel Grey's Wilkommen from Cabaret one year! Les Child and Michael Clark danced an amazing duet to Patti Smith's Rock n Roll Nigger. Sue Stewart [Stevie's Mum] tap-danced down the runway to Madonna's Into The Groove which delighted all the London buyers as she doubled up as a glamorous delivery girl on a normal day! Jeremy Healey composed a special BodyMap jingle for us with Lizzie Tear singing on it, which was great, as she was one of our favourite models and we used her in every show.

BodyMap's fashion shows were ground-breaking in many ways. Not only the euphoric chaos, with models skipping and dancing down the catwalk, but also that the fact that the models weren't 'typical'. You sent children, pensioners, singers, dancers, club friends and occasionally 'proper' models down the runway. Did you want to challenge tradition?

Yes of course! We pioneered a different way of showing clothes. The shows involved dance and performance and we encouraged all shapes, sizes and ages. The new technology of the fabrics we employed meant we could stretch to all dimensions. It also illustrated that the clothes could be worn by all body shapes.

Sportswear and performance fabrics weren't really associated with 'fashion' before BodyMap. Discuss...

At first, we used sweat shirt and lycra fabrics and developed styles that were performance related, e.g. skirts that could be pulled on, eliminating the need for zips and fastenings as much as possible. Later we worked closely with fabric manufacturers in France and Sweden and experimented with mixes of cotton with synthetics like viscose. That was the start of the well-known viscose-lycra combination used commercially in today's market.

Do you consider plagiarism theft or flattery? Would you feel comfortable talking about your reaction to the D&G Fall 2011 collection which was less of a tribute, more a direct steal?!

We feel it was a tribute to great Eighties designers. It contained flavours of Katharine Hamnett, Stephen Sprouse and a BIG helping of BodyMap!

Wylde's shoot on the preceding pages is full of BodyMap pieces from your archive and it's amazing how contemporary it still looks. Having both diversified since BodyMap days, would you go back to fashion now or would you run screaming from the idea?!

Stevie continues to design and make fabulous costumes for the likes of Kylie, Girls Aloud, Leona Lewis and Britney and dance costumes for Michael Clark and Russell Maliphant. We both miss the development and creation of fabrics, designing and putting on fashion shows. We've both diversified from our fashion roots but we'd both go back in to fashion if the opportunity arose.

Do you miss the creative hotbed that was the infamous Warren Street squat, or Taboo nightclub?

The Warren Street days were some of the best and most memorable times of our student days. The theme parties were historic and often set a trend for the time - until the next one! Taboo was the most looked-forward-to club nights. Leigh Bowery was a true legend and certainly knew what made a good night out.

Who was your favourite BodyMap model?

Susie Bick was so favourite! Other favourites were Amanda Cazalet, Lizzie Tear, Nick and Barry Kamen. Michael Clark and Les Child made show stopping shapes down the catwalk. They were all part of the BodyMap family.

You don't see much BodyMap clothing in auctions or on ebay etc. Do you think that's because people can't bear to part with them or because they clubbed them to death?!

We think a bit of both. People who invested in BodyMap clothes did wear them to the max! Also lots of the pieces could be worn from day through to night club time. People still come up to us and say they have a BodyMap piece in their wardrobe and don't want to part with it for nostalgic or sentimental reasons.

Which designers do you both rate today?

DSquared², Martin Margiela, Raf Simons, Louise Gray, John Galliano, Céline and Junky Styling.

There's that quote, I don't know who said it, that BodyMap were to the Eighties what Mary Quant was to the Sixties...

We definitely changed the face of fashion in London. Like you said earlier, it does still look contemporary in today's fashion forum and though we have both diversified and don't necessarily live, eat, breathe fashion, as our tutor Pepita de Foote taught us to as students, that doesn't mean we wouldn't reawaken our passion should the right situation arise!

Among his circle of friends and correspondents, the eminent British artist Derek Boshier is treasured for his prolific adornment of envelopes and missives...including this one.

Illustrated with motifs, symbols, slogans and “detourne-d” photographs, these letters, notes and jottings are elevated beyond ephemera into artworks, a sub-strand of the important body of paintings, prints, film, installation and conceptual work produced by this founding father of British Pop over six decades.

Boshier’s painting Remake/Re-Entry influenced Bryan Ferry so much that the ex-art student paid calculated tribute with Remake/Remodel, the title of the first song on the first Roxy Music album. Derek taught 60s The Clash’s Joe Strummer at Central St Martin's, which led to a commission designing one of the defining documents of punk, CLASH 2nd Songbook. Around that time avid Boshier fan David Bowie persuaded Derek to create the gatefold sleeve of the 1979 album Lodger (which featured Bowie adopting the form of a recurring Boshier motif, The Falling Man). Derek also painted Bowie in his Broadway role as The Elephant Man, contributed to the Let’s Dance album sleeve and designed stage sets for the monster early 80s tour Serious Moonlight (maquettes of these designs are among the exhibits in the current V&A Bowie retrospective).

Now living in Houston, Texas, he has produced successive waves of paintings, installations and prints, based on everything from celebrity, fashion and the LA transsexual scene to gun control and US military policy. Also making film art on his iPad, he is as prodigious an emailer as he is letter-sender. Yet it is the highly decorated letters which evoke the pop culture-obsessed Portsmouth boy of the 1950s who eschewed a career in the butchery trade in favour of the Royal College of Art, where fascination with “low culture” – American film, advertising graphics, pop music, etc – led him and his contemporaries Peter Blake, David Hockney and the tragic “most beautiful blonde in the world” Pauline Boty to forge a new language for British art. They were all featured twisting the night away in Ken Russell’s 1962 landmark documentary Pop Goes The Easel, in which the handsome Derek (soon to appear as a pin-up in teen mags such as Petticoat) talks about his hero Buddy Holly and US consumerism.

The letter from Derek I cherish especially contains substantial references to that early 60s, pre-Beatles world (he knows I am an enthusiast of rock & roll music and style). The front of the envelope features familiar Boshier profiles facing each other: one, I guess, me, the other him, communicating from across the Atlantic. In the centre are cut-outs in black-inked frames of some of the founding fathers of rock and roll: clockwise from top-left Gene Vincent, Joe Brown, Eddie Cochran and Billy Fury. Surrounded by very graphic musical notes, they are all dreaming of “Chaz”, which is what Derek calls my wife Caz. And Derek enclosed the glamorous photograph from which the portraits were cut. This was taken on the doomed 1960 UK tour which changed pop music for ever. Here was one of the first opportunities for British fans to experience the electricity and abandonment of bona fide American performers backed by the cream of our domestic crop, yet it ended in tragedy. On the way to a gig in Bristol, the 21-year-old Cochran died in a car crash in which Vincent suffered serious injury. In one respect this object is frivolous, a charming paean to Caz, in another, it talks about the loss of innocence experienced by Derek’s pop generation. Yet you don’t need to know the back-story to fall under its spell; like all great artists, Derek is a magician, and even his throwaway letters and notes are transformed into totems.

Paul Gorman is a cultural commentator and writer. His monograph of Derek Boshier will be published later this year.

www.paulgormanis.com www.derekboshier.com.