The following is an extended conversation between Dan Thawley of A Magazine and the artist Erik Madigan Heck, who is the Editor of Nomenus Quarterly. They discuss Heck’s working methods, his two most recent photographic series’ for Haider Ackermann and Undercover by Jun Takahashi, and his opinion on the state of fashion today.

In an exclusive collaboration, we offer Erik’s never-before-seen photographs from the upcoming Nomenus Quarterly #10, released online on September 1st, 2010.

(This interview and gallery is presented in two parts. Click here for the UNDERCOVER article)

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An interview with Erik Madigan Heck, part II: HAIDER ACKERMANN

(Continued from part I: UNDERCOVER)
DT: Well let...

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Tilda Swinton is the perennial fashion muse – a powerful woman whose natural poise and striking beauty have lent her the unwavering fervour of fashion designers across the world. With heavyweights like Alber Elbaz at Lanvin, Raf Simons at Jil Sander and of course Haider Ackermann, Tilda has participated in an organic exchange of energy and publicity – lending her face and lithe frame to some of their most daring creations on film and across the red carpet.

Some years before her avant-garde aura took the film and fashion worlds’ by storm, Olivier Theyskens chose Tilda as the subject for this inspiring collection of images for NºD. Opting for the rich, theatrical aesthetic of Parisian photographer Ali Mahdavi, Olivier styled the story together with French accessories designer L...

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She wants no part of the celebrity culture and isn’t interested in trends. Her work draws inspiration from Marcel Duchamp, Bob Dylan and Oscar Wilde. Maybe that’s why clothes designed by Ann Demeulemeester don’t ever seem to go out of style.

By Eugene Rabkin - originally published in Haaretz, on June 7th 2008.

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Ann Demeulemeester, one of the few successful independent fashion designers today, hates talking about celebrities. “Even if I see them in my clothes, I would never tell anyone,” she says. This does not mean that celebrities don’t wear her meticulously crafted garments. “I want to wish a Happy Birthday to my dear friend, Ann Demeulemeester,” says Patti Smith during her annual concert at the Bowery Ballroom in New York City. “Who?” a drunken man next to me asks. “She’s a fashion designe...

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Olivier Theyskens’ inspirations range from the timeless beauty of nature to modern day craftsmanship, and even back to the beginnings of the European movement of Art Brut – particularly to the Swiss artist Aloïse. For NºD, Olivier selected a short excerpt from the 2003 book La voleuse de mappemonde by Jacqueline Porret-Forel, alongside a collection of Aloïse’s works from the collection of Phillipe Eternod & Jean-David Mermod.

Aloïse Corbaz was born in 1886 and was a psychiatric patient in Lausanne, Switzerland for 46 years of her life, after having been exposed to a world of grandeur working as a nanny in the courts of the German Emperor Wilhelm in her late teens. Aloïse’s creative talent was discovered by Jacqueline Porret-Forel in the asylum (where Jacqueline worked as a practitioner).

Aloïse’s artwo...

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The collegiate concerns of Proenza Schouler’s Fall Winter 2010 collection have been granted a new perspective by cult US film maker Harmony Korine, who shot the range in a short film in Nashville, Tennessee.

In collaboration with the Proenza Schouler designers Jack McCullough and Lazaro Hernandez, Korine took the collection from its polished New York runway to a more rough and ready strip – shooting More Than Anyone, a series of 8mm vignettes featuring rebellious teen girls in their local neighbourhood. Taking inspiration from a single photograph by Christopher Wool, the film is a look at urban youth and their search for friendship and fulfillment, through the heady confusion of adolescence and its many pressures.

Ha...

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Tyen is considered one of the world’s foremost creators in the beauty world, having been at the helm of Christian Dior beauty for over three decades. His approach to makeup comes not only as a makeup artist but as a photographer, shooting many iconic images for the house of Dior as well as fashion magazines including both French and American Vogues. His work was celebrated in a retrospective exhibition at the Palais de Tokyo last year in Paris – Tyen’s hometown since moving from Vietnam at age 16.

For Olivier Theyskens’ NºD magazine, Tyen executed three studio images of the 2003 Spring Summer collection from John Galliano’s Christian Dior haute couture. The white-wall shots are characteristic of Tyen’s work, with a crisp focus on the intr...

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Olivier Theyskens has always harboured an underlying flair for costume and drama, ever since his earliest years designing for the Theatre de la Monnaie in Brussels in the late 90′s.

In NºD, Olivier took the period-inspired garments of Japanese designer Kanya Miki’s 2002 Antwerp graduate collection for Far East Redemption, a photo shoot with Parisian photographer Ali Mahdavi. Staged in the Flemish Opera House in Gent, Belgium, these ethereal images show model Charlotte Pasternak elevated on a plinth and surrounded by a mechanical structure of wooden arms, ropes and pulleys. As little Ella watches on, Charlotte seemes embroiled in an elaborate ceremony as the structure around her manipulates each volumi...

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While the work on NºD issue was coming to an end, by chance I happened to see the famous scene from Funny Face where Miss Prescott suddenly realises drastic changes have to be made…

- ‘Now hear this! I simply CANNOT release this issue the way it is. In the sixty years of Quality Magazine this hits rock bottom.
If I let this go through I will have FAILED the American Woman.’
-’Oh no Miss Prescott, you mustn’t say that!!!’

-’The Great American Woman who stands up there naked waiting for ME to tell HER what to wear. It doesn’t speak and if it doesn’t speak to ME it won’t speak to ANYONE. A magazine must be like a human being. If it comes into a home it must contribute, it just can’t lie around.
A magazine must have BLOOD and BRAINS and BEZAZZ… This is just paper and I if I send paper to the American Woman I will have let her do...

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A BLOG curated by is proud to present an interview by contributing editor Filep Motwary, from his blog Un Nouveau Ideal, as he went head to head with the faceless Maison Martin Margiela earlier this year. Continue reading as Filep discusses sex, age, and other no-go areas with the house.

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Filep Motwary: 20 years of Martin Margiela. What was the goal of the House, when it first started out and how it has changed in comparison with today?
Maison Martin Margiela: We view our work as a proposition to wear what we feel at any given moment.

FM: How difficult it was for a Belgian brand to break into the Parisian bourgeoisie considering that the Margiela heroine is far from bourgeois?
MMM: At the beginning, it was just Martin and Jenny (Jenny Meirens was the co-fo...

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Not one to bow to traditional forms of expression, Hussein Chalayan decided against a traditional ‘fashion story’ for NºC, opting rather to portray the Fall Winter 2002-03 garments of other designers with his own illustrations. Foregoing picture-perfect models, Hussein chose his own editorial team from the magazine to wear the garments, and sketched them in various poses and perspectives in the collections of Viktor & Rolf, Balenciaga, Maison Martin Margiela, Bernhard Willhelm and more.

His drawings are rapid and lively, with focus and colour concentrated on the more explicit details and textures, with bodily forms and blocks of fabric rendered insignificant. Each team member (from the editor to the art director) feature in at least one outfit, though their true l...

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