Spring/summer fashion highlights Crystal Antlers Robert Ballagh Pete Doherty Beers of the world Marble at The Abbey tn2’s pick of the most exciting things to Calendar of fun do in Dublin this coming fortnight Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday 24 25 26 27 28 1 2 Sam Shepard’s Ages of Looking for some “high- Tonight is the last night Hooray For Humans, The very excellent Hockey and Passion So, I know it’s been on the Moon has its world energy mega electro of Martin McDonagh’s with support from Kidd Four Tet is to be found Pit are riding a pretty since September, but premiere tonight, with rock?” Good, because The Pillowman at The Blunt, you say? Happy tonight in Andrew’s Lane massive wave of hype Exquisite Corspe at Stephen Rea and Seán Le Galaxie are around Helix. days. with Sunken Foal, among at the moment – now’s IMMA is over at the end McGinley starring. tonight (and are rather The Helix, 7.30 pm, €10 Eamonn Doran’s, 8 pm others in support. your chance to see if of the month and is The Peacock Theatre, 8 fun indeed). Andrew’s Lane Theatre, they’re any good. worth a look. pm, €22 Whelans, 8 pm, €10 10 pm, €25 Whelans, 8 pm, €15 IMMA, until 31 March 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Clonmel-born John The Choice Music Mark Geary is in Whel- OrphanCode play a Peter Bjorn and John Watchmen went on Self-taught artist Stano Brennan has an exhibi- Prize is announced ans tonight. Daguerreotype fund- have a new record out general release over has an exhibition in Axis tion in the Hallward tonight, with lots of the Whelans, 8 pm, €20 raiser tonight. Go out fairly soon and are play- the weekend. Is it really Ballymun until May. Gallery until the end of nominees performing. and support your local, ing tonight no doubt in so wrong to be excited Axis Ballymun, until 28 the month. Vicar Street, 8 pm, €27 poverty-stricken artist. an eff ort to promote about this one? Probably. May Hallward Gallery, 65 Mer- The O’Reilly Theatre, said record. Yes indeed. Cinemas nationwide rion Square Great Denmark Street, The Button Factory, 7 pm, €10 8 pm, €18 xkcd.com Contents Spring/summer fashion picks 4 Issue Catriona Gray talks to Pete Doherty... 6 ... and also Crystal Antlers 7 9 Rise up 8 A beer odyssey 9 The censorship debate 10 The spectre of my thesis deadline hangs ominously on the horizon, Reading the world 11 dear readers so I’m going to be brief. This issue, we talked to all sorts of interesting characters: Pete (or is that “Peter” now?) Do- Caroline O’Leary meets Robert Ballagh 12 herty, Robert Ballagh and Jonny Bell from Crystal Antlers among them. Fashion looked ahead to what we’ll all be donning this sea- Loneliness in West Germany at the Goethe Institut 14 son (special mention must go to Sinéad Mercier for her lovely illus- trations). Theatre took in productions from The Abbey to Players. Current exhibitions at the Douglas Hyde 15 Books got all debate-y about censorship. Food and Drink got blee- din’ wrecked, tasting many delicious beers from all over the world. Marina Carr’s latest 16 Art took in a number of exhibitions around the city. Film reviewed an awful lot of movies. And then there were the rather cool pictures Joker Choker at Players 17 that Lenka Špryslová took of Rise Against’s gig last week. Lamenta- bly, we couldn’t print them all, but you can see more of her concert The real deal? 17 pics at www.lenulino.net. All that remains for me to do, then, is to bid you farewell until our Reviews 18 next issue in Trinity term and get back on this thesis-writing buzz. Stupid thesis. Your studiously, Hugh Editor [email protected] Win VIP passes for you and 3 friends to Felix Da Housecat 16 March Dr Lektroluv 20 March in The Academy To enter, e-mail [email protected] with your name, the show you’d like to go to and a contact phone number tn2 24 February – 9 March, 2009 3 Getting seasonal Ana Kinsella relentlessly pored over the catwalk shows for Spring/Summer 09 to bring you the rundown of the top trends for this spring... whenever that starts eeping up with the never-ending skin jeans, purple stiletto-heeled cowboy quiere, decked out their models in hard- merry-go-round of this fashion boots and a pink leather stetson” to quote edged sequined shifts that look like they world is a diffi cult business. The Marian Keyes’s Angels. This season, rock came straight from a 60s sci-fi fl ick. Not rules change so quickly, and as chic is more luxe denim, accented shoul- the most wearable stylings, but an unde- Ksoon as you’ve gotten used to the cur- ders, crystals and bandage dresses, best niably innovative and awe-inspiring col- rent season, the next one rushes showcased in Christophe Decarnin’s col- lection. in to transform everything lection for Balmain. His iconic rehash- However, many of these trends will not once again. Well, never fear, ings of eighties pieces such as top heavy translate to the high street. That’s why for I’ve combed through the military jackets, ripped acid wash jeans it’s important to look at micro-trends – Spring/Summer 2009 col- and tight bandage dresses, all infused small aspects that get repeated across lections looking for trends with sequins and crystals, have won him collections. Louis Vuitton, Dries Van so that you don’t have to. a place at the top of many fashionista’s Noten, Marc Jacobs, Matthew William- The fashion industry is wishlists. On paper it sounds a tad gaudy son all favoured the fun kinds of prints scheduled in such a way that but the collection is immaculately pro- which can be easily emulated on the high it casts its nets six months into duced, and has been seen on celebrities street – Dries Van Noten’s black-and- the future – the Spring collections as diverse as Gwyneth Paltrow and Kate white squares are a personal must-have. show in September, the Autumn Moss, as well as the impeccably turned- Zippers also featured prominently, with collections in February – giving out Vogue Paris team. Elsewhere, we can Phillip Lim, Versace and YSL using them pundits a full half-year to place see leather, denim, and quite a lot of black to accent and edge otherwise feminine their bets on the dominant trends from Elise Overland, Givenchy, Ann De- frilly designs. Soft, shiny metallics made to follow. This sea- meulemeester. an appearance at Prada, Vivienne West- son, the Spring col- This trend spills over into the wide wood and globetrotting favourite Sophia lections were shown world of shoes, with extreme shoes tak- Kokosalaki, and I hope to see this in some in tremulous times, ing centre stage like never before. The short shiny shapes from Topshop in a with Lehman Broth- term has been bandied around for a month or two. Annoyingly, some of the ers collapsing as the few seasons but a number of designers most prevalent microtrends were also the fashion pack headed from New showed barely wearable heels, includ- most unwearable. Prada have been push- York Fashion Week to London. But the ing Balenciaga, Louis Vuitton and Prada, ing the exposed midriff “bra-top” look show must go on, since the mid nine- apparently, and Avant-garde Maison Martin Margiela, ties, and the likes of so for four weeks Alexander Wang and the catwalks of who embraces recycling and Proenza Schouler New York, Lon- are also trying to put don, Milan and deconstruction in his collections, sent his a chill in our kidneys Paris revealed to by exposing fl at us what we must – girls out with their faces covered in tummies and scary and must not – be coloured material. I won’t be placing bets rib cages on the run- wearing this sea- way. Something tells son. on this one appearing in the Arts Block me this one’s not for What is fashion everyone. supposed to do in a recession? Distract where a number of models toppled from Over the past two years we’ve seen a us, with shiny fabrics and bright colours? their heels, with one taking them off and turnaround in the levels of popularity of Or play along with the mood, and turn to walking barefoot. Such extreme heels certain designers, and the Spring 09 col- droopy drawers and fl oppy hats? Well, have also already begun to trickle down lections confi rmed the status of newer it seems we’ll be wearing both. Colour to the high street, with Zara and Topshop designers like Alexander Wang, Rodarte, blocking is an unavoidable trend this sea- churning out knock-off s of Balmain’s and Basso & Brooke and Karen Walker over son, seen at Lanvin, Gucci (a personal Louis Vuitton’s skyscraper shoes. established stalwarts like Chloe and favourite is a jade green pantsuit with Runways turned into treadmills at Givenchy. These newbies have been win- matching fedora), Michael Kors and times as several designers decided to ning praise from editors and celebrities Calvin Klein, and will have us decked advocate sportswear for Spring, with alike, and it’s pretty obvious that these out in bright solid minidresses, boxy DKNY, Louise Goldin, Stella McCartney guys will be exerting a palpable infl uence jackets and pants from now until next and it-boy Alexander Wang all are doing over how the fashion-conscious dress winter.