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Day: 27 October 2016

Venture Out, and achieve success

Venture Out is the University of Manchester’s signature student ideas competition, run by the Manchester Enterprise Centre.  The 2016/17 Venture Out Competition is now open, and The Mancunion has the insider knowledge on how valuable the Venture Out experience has been to one Alliance Manchester Business School graduate.

Recent Master of Marketing graduate Katerina Andronikaki entered Manchester Enterprise Centre’s Venture Out initiative in 2015 in order to put her studies to the test and challenge herself and her marketing knowledge.

Katerina entered the PZ Cussons innovation challenge, one of Venture Out’s five competition categories, and was tasked with developing a creative digital marketing idea for Original Source—PZ Cussons’ personal care brand.

Her proposal, Original X-Source, hinges on the idea of collaboration. Inspired by the powerful impact of YouTube influencers on similar brand campaigns, Katerina positioned Original Source as a post-exercise indulgence product that can promote a healthy mind-set, and suggested enlisting the support of prominent health and wellbeing vloggers to help spread her message.

Katerina’s idea was awarded second place in the category, which gave her the opportunity to meet with PZ Cussons directors and senior brand managers at the company’s headquarters near Manchester Airport, to see first-hand how ideas are set into motion.

“Entering Venture Out was an invaluable experience for me. Visiting the PZ Cussons headquarters, learning about the company from within and being able to witness how they craft and execute marketing strategies was truly inspirational. I was even lucky enough to be part of a new product launch, in collaboration with PZ Cussons’ media agencies, which gave me a fantastic insight into the FMCG industry,” explains Katerina.

Leaving her home town in Greece in 2015, Katerina moved to Manchester to begin her Masters at Alliance Manchester Business School, part of the University of Manchester. Attracted by its reputation as one of the UK’s most respected business schools, Katerina was keen to pursue its “intensive yet engaging” marketing programme, and was also awarded the MBS Masters Scholarship.

“Venture Out also had a significant impact on my studies, inspiring my final research paper entitled: ‘Consumer-perceived innovativeness: High-tech products versus FMCGs.” Through my experience with PZ Cussons, I was able to find out about the company’s innovation strategy and how they capitalise on emerging trends, which prompted me to investigate consumer attitudes towards FMCG innovation.

Katerina describes Venture Out as an experience “not to be missed” for any student interested in putting their studies to the test, and meeting like-minded individuals: “I would not hesitate to recommend the Venture Out experience. Anyone with an idea for a business, marketing strategy or social cause should go for it; you have nothing to lose, and whatever stage of the competition you reach it encourages you to challenge yourself, and to think carefully about how you can apply your knowledge and studies to develop solutions to real-life problems.”

Entries for Venture Out 2016 close on 7th November, and the finals will be held on Tuesday 6th December at the Roscoe Building.

Review: Don’t Wake the Damp

The opening scene is the set of 80s TV show Crystal Continuum: a throwback with neon costumes, euphemisms, suggestive nicknames and all. With the assistance of overtly suggestive names and satirical resolutions to manage the explosion, the audience is made to think about the problems with representation and objectification whilst being amused by the humour and attire.

We then relocate to the living room of an elderly lady, who is unenthusiastically hosting the council planner Terry Brambles for a check-up. After listening to her letters—this is 2035, after all—that inform her of the impending evacuation of the block of flats, the inappropriately cheerful council planner and disgruntled lady burst into flashy, choreographed song to express their thoughts. Brambles’ cheerful demeanour in spite of the news he presents successfully illustrates the lack of connection between the council staff and residents of Vertigo Heights.

The focus then switches to two residents in the basement: the inexplicably arrogant Devlin and the hyperactive, bright young Lexxie. They are plotting their escape from the building and the damp, but they have soon joined Terry and the elderly lady, who is soon revealed to be Juniper Berry from Crystal Continuum much to Lexxie’s wonder and disbelief.

The two pairs join forces and push Terry for information until he cracks and bursts into an intense monologue about the pressures of being a part of the ‘army’ that is the council; after a dramatic attack the audience realises that the damp is in fact a mysterious creature that threatens the stability of the whole building. Through the teamwork that ensues, Kill the Beast invites the audience to explore four types of character. Lexxie is optimistic and enthusiastic, if overeager, and provides the technological know-how behind the operation. Juniper’s smart, pragmatic character is given depth by the revelation that she is not mourning her late co-star Max, as the ‘dependent glamourous assistant’ trope would suggest, but is in fact still enraged by the fact that Max neither deserved nor wanted the lead role, and allowed her to be fired after the implementation of her idea, masked as his own. Devlin, a self-centred and sexist character, represents the alpha male that was revered by so many in 80s pop culture. Terry Brambles embodies the impersonal approach that authorities take when dealing with sensitive issues: he offers leather pens and burritos in lieu of a home and struggles to stray from the explanation he has been told to spread amongst the residents.

In one smooth and creatively ingenious moment, the flashbacks of Juniper Berry in Crystal Continuum and her in the present day coalesce to demonstrate the continued prevalence of the frustrations and misogyny that she faced years ago. Whilst revealing the fate of the late Max, the audience watches on as Juniper tries to deal with Devlin in the exact same way.

As the play draws to an end, Terry Brambles is joined by his colleagues as they wonder whether “by diligently following the rules [they] could be doing more harm than good,” and Lexxie moves on from the revelation of her idol’s true colours. Don’t Wake the Damp is a daring, satirical piece of art that takes our thoughts and shows them to us with the accompaniment of a block of flats, neon costumes, and plenty of questionable tropes.

Don’t Wake The Damp is showing at The Lowry until the 29th of October.

Top 5: Small record labels you should know about

5. Asthmatic Kitty

Started by a group of artists including Sufjan Stevens, who currently holds the position of Minister of Aesthetics at the label, every Asthmatic Kitty release is worth paying attention to.

 

4. Luaka Bop

A label that started life as David Byrne’s way of bringing world sounds to the masses, reintroducing unforgettable artists such as William Onyeabor, they now represent great producers such as Floating Points. It’s fair to say Luaka Bop knows what’s hot.

 

3. Sacred Bones

Considering Jenny Hval, Marching Church, David Lynch, Pharmakon, Crystal Stilts, and Zola Jesus are all represented by this Brooklyn-based label, Sacred Bones truly know how to find great musicians.

 

2. Soundway Records

Reissuing the best music to come out of North Africa in the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s, as well as representing exciting bands like Flamingods, any release by Soundway is definitely worth a listen.

 

1. Exploding in Sound

Celebrating their fifth year this week, Exploding in Sound are truly one of the most exciting labels around. With Pile, Krill, Palehound, and Ovlov on their roster, as well as alumni like Porches, Lvl Up, and Speedy Ortiz—Exploding in Sound have made a habit of finding the best garage bands on the east coast of America.

Yuzu

Let’s talk about service.

If you serve me a plate of shit with a smile and its hot and on time, i’ll eat it. Conversely, if you give me an amazing plate of food that comes out late and you have a bad attitude, I’m going to inject venom into the pen with which I’ll write the review.

A conversation I once had with my father comes to mind. We were eating at Frankie and Bennies. Why was I even eating at a Frankie and Bennies? I’m not a snob, I’ll eat anywhere. Why was my father eating at Frankie and Bennies? That is a slightly more interesting question. I’ve always regarded him as a cultured person. He’s lived in London and New York, keeping the company of some fascinating individuals. He maintained a Jekyll and Hyde career at times in his life, trading bonds by day and managing bands by night. His father, my grandfather, instilled in him a taste and knowledge for wine from a young age. But despite all of the above, there is nothing my father secretly enjoys more then going to Nando’s before watching the latest generic action film at a nearby Odeon. On one such evening of guiltless indulgence, Nando’s was insanely busy so we had a cruise of the premier dining and entertainment complex that is the hub of Eastleigh, Hampshire. My father peers into Frankie and Bennies and he confides in me—as if an incredible secret—that it is just a rip-off of a classic American diner. A nod to his Manhattan days.

We go in.

I was working as a chef at the time and he always enjoyed asking me about what I thought of the restaurants we ate in; he gets a buzz from a little insider knowledge. I said a couple of things, for example when we were given a ramekin of mayonnaise that was smeared around the rim. It was the carelessness that bugs me, but at the end of the day, this was Frankie and Bennies; I’m not going to throw my napkin to the floor and demand to see the manager. The other comment I made was about the waiter. When he came over to take our order, he dropped to his knees, rested his arms on the table and addressed us at head hight. I HATE this. It is way too ‘buddy buddy’. So, when he leaves, I lean over to my father and confess that when waiters do that, I want to punch them in the face.

After the meal, when my father is paying the bill, that same waiters asks if we enjoyed everything. My dad—under a compulsion that I will never fathom—replies: “It was all fine apart from when you crouched down it made us want to punch you in the face.” I died. Right then and there in the Eastleigh branch of a Frankie and Bennies, I died.

Last Saturday I went to Yuzu in Chinatown with the redhead. It’s been around for a while, steadily knocking out what is supposed to be the best Japanese food in Manchester. Fresh from a six week trip to Japan, I went to make egotistically informed comparisons to what I think Japanese food should taste like. The thing that stuck with me most about that restaurant was not the food, but the service.

Much to the redhead’s ire I took the opportunity to practice my minute smattering of Japanese on our waitress. When we were leaving she asked if I studied Japanese, and my aforementioned ego swelled to balloon like status. I said that I didn’t, but had spent six weeks in Japan that summer. The majority of that time was spent in restaurants so all the Japanese I know is how to order things and say they are delicious. She asked where I’d been, I mentioned a few place names including Fukoaka. She’d lived in Fukoaka for 29 years. The classic culinary guide book destination of Japan is Kyoto. Fuck that, got to Fukoaka. We waxed lyrical about the Yatai food stalls. Yatai puts the western food truck craze to absolute shame. They are s type of mobile cart, that can be pulled or towed. They serve ramen, yakitori and other small classic Japanese dishes. They all serve booze, some with serious cocktail skill. They have seating slightly hidden by those wonderful curtains that adorn the entrance of all Japanese eating establishments. They are very reasonably priced and emit a wonderful atmosphere. We went on to talk about restaurants on the 8th floor of Fukoakian shopping malls.

It was a lovely connection to have with a waitress, a real rarity. It was also a beautiful reminder of the best place I have ever been to on this earth.

The food at Yuzu isn’t bad either. Try the miso soup, it is outstanding.

Get Involved: University of Manchester Gymnastics Club

It’s been a bit of a whirlwind three years for UMGC (University of Manchester Gymnastics Club). What was once an anonymous society with just 12 members in 2013 is now the Athletic Union’s Most Improved Club of the Year with more than triple the amount of its members.

The new competitive year kicked off with a bang after we managed to secure over 200 sign ups at this year’s Freshers Fair, and with a subsequent average of around 30 members attending the weekly sessions so far. In the past two weeks, more students have joined the club as competitive members than in the whole of the last academic year. We’ll be preparing for our first friendly competition in Bangor at the end of November, where we’re hoping to showcase our members’ impressive progression over the past year and bring some metal ware back to Manchester. We’ve done this by providing another training session for our members this year—Tuesday evenings and Wednesday afternoons. We’re hoping to continue our winning streak after our first ever BUCS (British Universities and Colleges Sport) stint earlier this year, where our men’s team achieved 1st place and half of the women’s team ended up in the top 30 out of 100.

Our mission at UMGC is to welcome everybody of all abilities, regardless of their past experience. Our membership base is comprised of a mixture of total beginners to former national level competitors. Each one has already seriously impressed returning members, committee, and coach alike. Everyone is also displaying tremendous potential, despite having only been part of the club for three weeks—some of our beginners were somersaulting after just one session. After our successful BUCS performance in February, our members have been inspired to challenge themselves to tackle higher level moves in order to progress and compete in the next grade up at competitions. This involves both our men and women upgrading to three or four pieces rather than two, and for some, involves learning a completely new skill. The determination and dedication of our members cannot be disputed, there is an authentic energy in the air when we train. We don’t care if you can’t touch your toes, or you can’t even hold a handstand for a second, we simply want all of our members to enjoy themselves at gymnastics, whether they’re competitive members or not.

The camaraderie among our members is arguably unmatched by any other club. As a still relatively new and small club, we’ve all established a close-knit bond with one another, meaning that the training environment is relaxed, and members feel comfortable training together, despite the variety of abilities. This bond has only been strengthened by our competition and training weekends away in Scotland and beyond. We’re all extremely supportive and encouraging, and often motivate one another to push ourselves out of our comfort zones. This year also marks another exciting first in the UMGC calendar—we’re going on Tour to Lloret de Mar in April 2017! We’re a hugely social club, getting together every week to go out, have nights in, go out for dinner, to trampoline parks etc—you name it, we’ve probably done it! Our White T Shirt social with Trampolining Club last week was a huge hit and it was great to further our relationship with them too. We’re keen to run ‘Bring a Tramp to Gymnastics’ sessions and vice versa, to really promote each other’s clubs and hopefully increase memberships.

We train at Fit City Ordsall twice a week with our coach, Rochelle. Our access to high standard facilities has been pretty restricted, given that there aren’t many, if not at all, free gyms around central Manchester. However, a few of us attend adult gymnastics sessions at Stockport to take advantage of their superior facilities! What’s more, we’ve recently partnered up with Oxygen Free Jumping and use their trampolines to master some new tricks on socials there too.

We’re continually striving to expand and develop the club even further, and we’re aiming for UMGC to become a household name around the University. It’s exciting to think what could be in store for the club in the next three years, following the accomplishments of the last.

Training times: Tuesday 6-7:30 pm, Wednesday 2-3:30 pm. Fit City Ordsall, M5 3DJ.
Please like us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram or email our President, Emily.

Review: B!RTH Festival’s India & China

The Royal Exchange’s B!RTH festival celebrates the power of the playwright and it’s ability for the stage to provoke debate and action. The B!RTH festival was created in partnership with the Royal Exchange’s long-standing collaborators Brentwood and The Oglesby Charitable Trust, resulting in the commission of seven inspiring female writers from across the globe in order to develop seven new plays. These plays will premiere at the Royal Exchange exploring arguments surrounding birth across the world.

On Wednesday the 19th of October I was lucky enough to see ‘Ouroboros’ (India) and ‘A Son Soon’ (China). The two plays performed one after the over explore notions of sterilisation and tradition.

The first, ‘Ouroboros’ (India), written by Swati Simha and directed by Emma Callander addresses mass sterilisation in poor rural areas of India. There it is commonplace for women, many of whom are illiterate, to be given incentives in order to go through with the procedure. As well as portraying the pressure doctors are under to meet targets, the play also explores the story of a doctor who is haunted by her role in India’s population control crisis. Performed by Mina Anwar, Elizabeth Chan, Nadia Emam, and Purveen Hussain, the stage consists of four seats, four lecterns, a screen, and a spotlight.

As expected Mina Anwar (who featured in both plays) was exceptional, easily toying with the audience’s emotions. The stark contrast between her two characters illustrates the talent she has. What I found most astonishing about this production was that Swati Simha is just 24 years old and is already one of India’s most exciting new playwrights. Her writing is incredibly moving and targeted, as well as providing some light relief.

The second, ‘A Son Soon’ (China), written by Xu Nuo and translated by Jeremy Tiang, is much more light hearted than Simha’s piece. Performed by Mina Anwar, Elizabeth Chan, and Shobna Gulati the play follows two women visiting a shamen to ask for guidance. Whilst one has the money to buy her way out of the government’s two child policy, the other does not.

Nuo believes that the main issue in global inequality within China is the speed of growth and disparity between the rich and the poor, the urban and the rural. The line that stuck with me most was: “I often feel in China that a women’s womb doesn’t belong to her.” This echoed to me the constraints of faith, tradition, spirituality, and expectation which must weigh countless women down in a multitude of cultures.

Elizabeth Chan, who also featured fantastically in both productions, played a ghost in the first performance which was lighthearted and tragic at the same time, whilst her performance in ‘A Son Soon’ (China) beautifully projected the weight of guilt many women still unfortunately carry when a couple is blessed with a girl instead of a boy.

All scripts from the B!RTH series will be available online in order to share and carry on the debate. You can find more information here.

Opinion: Are Lyrics Poetry?

There was outrage among much of the literary elite last week after Bob Dylan was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. The prize going to a songwriter, even one as influential as Dylan, raises the question as to whether lyrics can be classed as poetry.

I think we’ve all experienced that feeling when a particular line of a particular song stands out and stays with you. Many times it seems the perfect lyric is just as good, if not better, than many acclaimed lines of poetry.Yet there is a clear class divide in the arts, with poetry seen as high art and lyrics seen as simplistic and easy to write. This divide is ironic seeing as poetry has been performed with music for thousands of years—the word lyric originating in Ancient Greece where a poet would perform whilst playing a lyre (an older version of a harp). Surely then, song lyrics are just a continuation of the oral tradition of poetry that is already celebrated by academics.

Critics often say that if you put lyrics on a page they won’t hold up to scrutiny the same way a poem would. The lyrics of your favourite song, when written down, probably look a lot less impressive than you thought they would. This is because in music we are presented with a lot more information, the rhythms, melodies and vocal effects aren’t present on the page. Therefore, a lot of lyrics lose their charm on paper—think of it as the difference between seeing a 3D object in real life or in a photo.

However, there are many lyricists—Bob Dylan being one—whose work can stand on it’s own because it has enough ‘literary value’ to be classified as poetry. To me, it seems that lyrics serving the sole purpose of accompanying the music do not work as poetry in their own right. Yet, songs where the lyrics are put to the foreground, and the music works to accompany them, do. The best example of this is in rap music (or “rhythm-assisted poetry”). Rappers like Kendrick Lamar and MF DOOM showcase as much poetic skill in their lyrics as other more acclaimed writers. For example, an album like To Pimp a Butterfly could be seen as one of the more important pieces of literature in recent years because, unlike a lot of avant-garde works, it is accessible to wider audiences whilst still retaining social and political importance.

Overall, I’d say poetry and lyrics work best when they converge; there’s a musicality to poetry and poetry in lyrics. No matter where you stand in terms of Dylan’s music, the controversial decision has been good at least in proving that lyrics are a legitimate form of poetry.

New developments in Alzheimer’s treatment

Scientists have managed to prevent the development of Alzheimer’s Disease in mice. The research, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, involved using a virus to insert a specific gene into the brains of mice. The results have provided hope of a potential new treatment for Alzheimer’s Disease, of which there is yet no cure.

The inserted gene, named PGC-1 alpha, has been linked to Alzheimer’s disease before, with earlier studies reporting lower levels of the gene in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients when compared to healthy individuals. Previous work conducted by the team at Imperial suggests that PGC-1 alpha prevents the formation of a peptide called amyloid-beta. This peptide aggregates to form amyloid plaques within the brains of Alzheimer’s patients—a well known hallmark of the disease.

When these amyloid plaques form within the hippocampus and the cortex of the brain, Alzheimer’s patients experience short-term and long-term memory loss respectively, as well as changes in mood, thinking, and reasoning. As Alzheimer’s advances, patients often become immobile, experience personality changes, and an inability to verbally communicate. The disease currently affects over half a million people in the UK, and costs the NHS £4.3 billion annually.

In this new study, researchers injected a modified virus, which is commonly used in gene therapy and known as a lentivirus vector which contains PGC-1 alpha, into the brain of a mouse during the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease. After four months, mice that received gene therapy had developed far fewer amyloid plaques when compared to untreated mice. The team also found that the treated mice performed just as well as healthy mice in memory tasks.

Despite the promising results of the study, Dr Magdalena Sastre, senior research author from the Department of Medicine at Imperial College, suggests that the public must not get too excited about these findings. She says: “There are many hurdles to overcome, and … we are still years from using this in the clinic,” although admitting that “gene therapy may have potential therapeutic use for [Alzheimer’s] patients.”

Meanwhile, at the University of Manchester, an alternative to gene therapy for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease is also being researched. During the summer of this year, a team led by Dr David Brough discovered that the disease can be successfully treated with a commonly used anti-inflammatory drug called mefenamic acid. It was shown to target the inflammatory pathway that contributes towards the development of Alzheimer’s Disease. Using mice as an experimental model of Alzheimer’s disease, results from the study, published in Nature Communications, report that treatment with mefenamic acid completely reversed memory loss and brain inflammation in mice.

Whether it be gene therapeutics or switching the application of an already known drug, it is clear that the hunt for an effective treatment for Alzheimer’s disease is on.

The Real Horrors: Killer Fashion

Let us take a trip back into time to the 19th Century. During this era woman wore a crinoline underneath their skirts. Believe it or not, many of these were made out of steel. Yes, that’s right—steel! It is hard to imagine women wore such contraptions to make their skirts sit prim and proper.

Whilst it did the job of ensuring the skirt sat well, it was extremely dangerous. Strong enough to kill animals, fracture your leg and even be susceptible to strong gusts that could even blow you off a bridge or pier! Yikes!

Another killer fashion find was the corset. Designed to give you a gorgeous hourglass figure, the corset has a bloody reputation, especially when women began to tighten it for optimum results. This led to a deformation of the constricted lungs, causing serious breathing injuries. There are even stories of the metal that is attached to the corset piercing women’s backs…how ghastly!

It is mind-boggling to learn about what stages fashion went through to make women look beautiful. Undoubtedly the modern day equivalent would be the stiletto. Women who are able to wear them for extended periods of time should be celebrated, especially because many (if not all) are so painful. Not forgetting that one slip could result in fatal injuries.

Interestingly, the progression of fashion’s brutality in terms of design has dramatically transitioned and the production of garments and shoes has shifted. The outcome of this shift enables designers to think about their customers and design garments and products that are not only comfortable but also retain their fierce nature. Their status thus stays intact, as these items retain their titles as a ‘killer piece’.

Channeling the glamour goth – Halloween does not have to be cliché

By the time October hits there seems to be a rush of excitement as to how this years’ Halloween façade shall differ from previous ones. We channel our inner child and play around with makeup and costumes creating a concoction of heavy black eyes and splats of blood as if we have been a victim of Jack the Ripper.

Surely it would be amusing to impersonate Frankenstein or a slutty vampire, but after years of witnessing people show their appreciation for fictional psychopaths, the usual ideas are getting repetitive. Go gothic or go home (keeping it fashion of course).

Alexander Mcqueen and Rick Owens have an exuberant history into bringing Gothicism into the forefront whilst keeping the fashion uber chic. Alexander Mcqueen lusts for lace and possess a signature for dramatic, sheer black gowns resembling a provocative Dracula bride—still eerie but glamorous.

The dark eroticism surrounding the current Mcqueen collections exposes Halloween inspiration—sophisticated and a little mysterious. Thick heavy eye makeup and black lips boosts the image of a grunge woman.

Cross necklaces embodying gothic, Christian culture oozes the extra edge satisfying the needs of the fashion savvy party goer. Jet black Latex and shiny satin fabrics display the uncanny yet mod image of a mysterious, possessed princess.

Rick Owens avoids the commercialism behind his spooky collections. Uneven hems and oversized black hoods layering over flowy black dresses creates a unique aesthetic, one which resembles a streetwear inspired acid witch. The latex high top boots add a grungy sportswear vibe which shows this witch is ahead of the fashion times.

The important statement to make is that Halloween does not mean following the crowd but rather standing out from it. Keeping it sophisticated yet sexy is key in channelling your inner darkness.

Mcqueen and Owens are placed on opposite ends of the fashion spectrum—one desires for gothic romanticism whilst the other channels a modern darkness through streetwear. This week’s important question—which do you choose?

Lagerfelds’ style as costume

Few people in the fashion industry are as recognisable as Karl Lagerfeld—the eponymous creative director of Chanel, Fendi and his own line Karl Lagerfeld. His white hair, black glasses, leather fingerless gloves and 17th century inspired suits are both stylish and self-mocking.

Lagerfeld seemingly plays up to his persona as a character of the fashion industry—Choupette may be a beautiful cat but she does make Lagerfeld reminiscent of a Bond villain.

When researching this article I came across numerous online interviews, from a host of celebrated publications, that did little more than list where Lagerfeld’s clothes came from.

It is the impact of the entire costume that merits more attention. His black tail jacket is by Dior but he has the same jacket in multiple fabrics, so he is not actually wearing the same clothes everyday. However, this is part of the glory of his costume, it is the silhouettes and shapes that create the image of the same outfit.

From the far off photographs that are taken of Lagerfeld, he is violently against the selfie, onlookers are not able to decipher the finer details of his ensemble—he has undoubtedly though.

There are always whisperings in the fashion atmosphere as to where his style developed from, he has claimed in interviews that comments made by his mother about his hands are what led to permanently gloved hands. Other accessories, like the glasses, seem to be more playful, an admission that he is ‘fashion’; he is the villain enforcing the tyranny fashion lays on mere mortals.

Lagerfeld, along with Anna Wintour, gives the outside world a vision of fashion. His image can both inspire and deter people—it is shocking in its grandeur and minimal in its palette—but for me it will always remain iconic.