To all the fellows of the Unknown Culture Movement,

Secret Cinema in partnership with Windows Phone presented Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s ‘The Red Shoes’ at Tobacco Dock in Wapping, London Docklands.

The Unknown Culture Movement took London by storm. Julian Craster and the UCM fellows met at Wapping Station and stormed the theatres, the galleries, the cinemas and the shops of Covent Garden.

Secret Cinema is getting stronger. Over 16,000 of you came together to build The Red Shoes. You created a newspaper, a radio station and helped us build
another world. Thank you UCM.

The streets of Covent Garden were filled with dancers, actors, writers, painters, poets and dreamers bringing the world of The Red Shoes to life. The ballet took place all around us. All around you.

Before the main feature, Future Shorts presented the incredible Danse Macabre.

VIDEOGRAPH AND PHOTOS

You can see a videograph here and photoshere.

We are creating a secret online gallery… please submit your best images from this event to[email protected]

Send your words, dreams and stories
here.

NEXT SECRET CINEMA

We will return in April. Click here to join us.

We hope to see you at Future Cinema’s presentation of Jean Jacques Beneix’s beautiful Diva at the London Coliseum tonight. Buy tickets here.

We would like to thank our partner Windows Phone for their continued support. Click here to take advantage of their free 14 day Zune trial.

Secret Cinema

Tell No-one

Isn’t it jolly lovely that various English heritage brands have been jumping on the music scene and giving a platform for some emerging talent. Previously Burberry has acoustic sets galore, but next in line is Lyle and Scott, who are getting in on the action with a series of gigs at uber trendy XOYO. Last Thursday we popped by to check what delights were on offer.

I Only Date Models were first up with their pretty little faces and commercially friendly brand of pop-rock. Think a little bit like if the Lost Prophets and Snow Patrol had a love child, which may initially seem questionable so you can decide if this is a good/bad thing (link above).

The token northerners came in the form of electro-pop five piece, May68, displaying a pleasant array of heavy synth riffs and tight bass hooks, yet perhaps giving a sense of ground previously covered. Probably best summed up by some guy by the bar - “bit like The Gossip if Beth Ditto decided to pass on the cake.”

We did however fully fall for Clock Opera and their heartfelt form of indie-electronica mash up. You may have previously seen Guy Connelly fronting The Corrections/The Fallout Trust, but Clock Opera sees Connelly finally firing up a storm with finely chopped samples layered with vocal harmonies, chunky synth and occasional cutlery-on-kettle beats. There are obvious parallels with Steve Reich-style loops and phasing patterns which are nicely brought together in this intricately woven package. We look forward to hearing more from them asap! For now though, they are just teasing us with THIS little gem

Lesley Acheson

The Art of John Lennon @ Mandeville Hotel

This weekend Daisy and Faye headed to London’s trendy Mandeville Hotel for The Art of John Lennon Exhibition, presented by The Legende Celebrity Art www.legendcelebrityart.com.

Now we all know John Lennon for his musical career as a Beatle, his beautiful and celebrated lyrics and of course for his endless political activism with wife Yoko Ono, but how many of us would recognise him as an avid, and incredibly talented, artist?

This was our time to do just that. But what could we expect to find behind the doors of the Mandeville’s private Red Room? Quite simply, a collection of limited edition prints of Lennon’s original hand-drawn sketches (signed by Yoko Ono) celebrating John Lennon for what would have been his 70^th birthday. And boy was it impressive.

Descending the stunning staircase (we were especially delighted by the red velvet-covered floor and walls) we stepped into a small and modest room. With no distractions or diversions, just 39 framed pictures, sketches and prints lining the walls, it was clear that Mr Lennon was the only focus.

From large sketches of figures to tiny scribbles of poems and lyrics, each print provided a poetic and innocent insight into the mind and, some even suggested, the inner child of Lennon. My favourite of all were the lyrics of Instant Karma, purely but beautifully scribbled onto the page, written so rapidly that some were hard to decipher. Simple, poignant and striking. Another that caught our attention was entitled Imagine Peace (below). Depicting John, Yoko and their son, it is stunning through its purity and minimalism – my kind of art.

Come Together (below) was also a talking point amongst us spectators, as it was one of the few coloured prints on display and seemed detached from the rest of the collection. Strange but alluring I think you’d agree.

Now when I listen to my beloved Beatles albums, not only will I appreciate the words and sentiments of Lennon’s music, but also the poetic and captivating artistic talent of our favourite Nowhere Boy.

Through seeing and experiencing Lennon’s art his message becomes all the more clear, love communication, peace and the kind of freedom we only experience during childhood. However, priced between £500 and £6,400, I think I shall remain a happy spectator.

Faye

Paula Beaton sent these photos through of Dave the 18 year old ginger tom, awwww

x

We keep getting little LFW treats guys, which we just have to share with you! We have never featured LFW illustrations before, so when Avril Kelly’s drawings popped onto our screen we knew straight where to show them off!!

review by Lesley.XX

Isn’t it jolly lovely that various English heritage brands have been jumping on the music scene and giving a platform for some emerging talent. Burberry have given us some pretty sweet acoustic sessions (my favourites being the oh-so cute Misty Miller and the soon to be massive Dog is Dead – check them out here: http://uk.burberry.com/store/content/experience/acoustic/index.jsp). Jack Wills launched their unsigned tour, playing to popped collars and polo shirts in student unions up and down the country. And now Lyle and Scott are getting in on the action with a series of gigs at uber trendy XOYO. Last Thursday we popped by to check what delights were on offer.

I Only Date Models were first up with their pretty little faces and commercially friendly brand of pop-rock. Think a little bit like if the Lost Prophets and Snow Patrol had a love child - You can decide if this is a good/bad thing.

http://www.myspace.com/ionlydatemodels

The token northerners came in the form of electro-pop five piece, May68, displaying a pleasant array of heavy synth riffs and tight bass hooks, yet perhaps giving a sense of ground previously covered. Probably best summed up by some guy by the bar - “bit like The Gossip if Beth Ditto decided to pass on the cake.”

http://www.myspace.com/may68uk

We did however fully fall for Clock Opera and their heartfelt form of indie-electronica mash up. You may have previously seen Guy Connelly fronting The Corrections/The Fallout Trust, but Clock Opera sees Connelly finally firing up a storm with finely chopped samples layered with vocal harmonies, chunky synth and occasional cutlery-on-kettle beats. There are obvious parallels with Steve Reich-style loops and phasing patterns which are nicely brought together in this intricately woven package. We look forward to hearing more from them asap! For now though, they are just teasing us with this little gem:

http://www.myspace.com/clockopera

_________________________________

A big thanks to Stephanie Churchill and Jack Thomas for adding us to the guest list and for all the bands involved. Everybody had a wicked evening of fun and frolics. Lyle and Scott deserve a great big pat on the back as do the guys over at XOYO for working hard into the night.
cheers all involved.

Thomas.

I wish I could say that I loved every minute of London Fashion Week. But the truth is, I had some moments of genuinely unpleasant stress throughout over the course of the five days. One such stressful hour came on Friday at the Aminaka Wilmont autumn/winter 2011 show. First, I had to leg it back to Somerset House from the Vauxhall Fashion Scout venue near Holborn. I rushed into the BFC show space just as the lights were going down and the show was starting, so I had to stand amongst a cramped crowd of other latecomers at the end of the runway. I gave up on trying to take notes straight away and decided to just take photos instead. Cue the real stress kicking in as I rummaged in my bag only to discover my camera was no where to be found. Resigned to the fact that it was gone, I tried to concentrate on the clothes and capture a few looks with my iPhone camera.

If I had been paying more attention, I would have noticed a collection that represents a consummate evolution for the husband and wife designers. Maki Aminaka and Marcus Wilmont showed in the smaller ON|OFF venue back in September but this season they graduated to the big league and, boy, did it suit them. Gone were the pretty fluttery butterflies of spring/summer, replaced with an altogether stronger silhouette and a heap of tough girl attitude.

Naturally, then, black figured heavily, such as on a pair of black wrap jackets with stern shoulders and black leather sleeves. The legs were pinpointed as the erogenous zone of choice with skirt and short hems pitched high on the thigh, and even floorlength dresses were slit high up the sides. Not practical for winter? Over-knee socks in fawn and grey solved that conundrum. Digital prints are always a focus for Aminaka Wilmont, and this season they carried the other theme that ran through the collection. Blurred birds eyes, brown feathery motifs and fur rendered in 2D were intended to convey an animalistic confidence.

The models converged into a suitably predatory pack for a final turn on the runway, just at the moment I discovered I had not, in fact, lost my camera at all. Given that feeling of sheer relief combined with the joy watching such an appealing collection, I practically skipped out of the room.

Another beaut from Paulina. LFW we miss you.

And her backstage shots from LFW. love love love.

…Show you more beautiful shots from backstage at LFW. Thanks Paulina for some beauties this season.