Lampoon Magazine International issue 20

The attitude of a contemporary day — beyond equal rights, beyond pride, and beyond shame: we are fluid. The word defines an identity that is undefined. Not gay or straight nor male or female. Water flows between our fingers in the light of the day. Not only is the demand of a definition unfair but so is the question. The image of fluid is simply water that cannot be held in our hands. There is nothing more discourteous, less well-mannered and less modern than asking a person who they are with or making an assumption about it. The word fluid is now used around the world — from pop culture, to gossip, to children’s music — everywhere. It could also appear to be that celebrities use fluid to conceal some…

In a studio three flights above Chinatown’s Elizabeth Street, Hillary Taymour sits at a table hosting a sewing machine and enough deadstock fabric to expand the length. It’s 7:15 pm and Taymour’s head is down and hands busy with a sneaker in one hand, glue in the other. The Collina Strada founder is working to complete a custom pair of sneakers for Spanish singer and songwriter, Rosalía’s upcoming Grammy appearance. “Sustainability is a journey” — Taymour confirms. Based and manufactured in New York, Collina Strada’s core transcends its collections as its DNA is imbued with catalysts for change. Self-declared as a platform for climate awareness, social awareness, change and self-expression, the brand offers itself as the medium to which Taymour has been able to express her social, political and eco…

”We're from the world and not just Lebanon,” says David Raf-foul. Along with Nicolas Moussallem, the designer duo try to spend fifty percent of their time in Milan and the remaining back home. “It’s important to be both in Beirut and in Europe.”›The current economic depression in Lebanon means that banks have set a low cap on how much money can be withdrawn, spent and transferred each month, pausing all transactions and putting the luxury industry, which very much relies on imports, in standstill. At the port, inbound and outbound shipments have also slowed down and customs taxes have increased. For Raffoul and Moussallem two show openings in Beirut were postponed in light of the situation. Still, while local businesses suffer, they are grateful that much of their projects come…

Irish linen used to be moon-bleached. Artisans would spread linen under the moonlight for a year until they achieved the shade they sought in the fabric. The village of Upperlands, situated in county Londonderry in Northern Ireland, is acquainted with the technique, owing its existence to the linen industry and the Clark family, who established the first linen mill there in 1736. Amidst green hills and vast wetlands, divided by various rivers, the small village offers the perfect grounds for what later became one of the most precious materials in the world. Home to the last beetling factory standing, William Clark & Sons has bleached and finished linen, marketing it in most parts of the world for almost 300 years since Jackson Clark had spotted the ideal location for a…

Cristóbal Balenciaga Eizaguirre, the Basque fashion designer born in 1895 in Getaria, northern Spain, sees the light in a proletarian family. His father, a fisherman, passed away when he was just eleven years old. His mother was a seamstress working at Palacio Aldamar, the summer residence of Blanca Carrillo de Albornoz y Elio, Marquise of Casa-Torres (who would be the first patron and supporter of Balenciaga when he opens his first atelier in San Sebastian at only twenty-two years old). The coastal Basque location is soon followed by boutiques in Madrid and Barcelona. In 1937, he takes to Paris, leaving the horrors of the Spanish Civil War behind. He opens his showroom on 10 Avenue George V and explodes internationally. Balenciaga’s style is imbued with all the contradictions and the…

Orkney, also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, characterized by wild nature, sweeping views, and unapologetic Scottish weather. Once a year, in the island of›South Ronaldsay mothers and fathers delve deep into their attics and cupboards, proudly assembling their children’s costumes for a tradition believed to be unique to Orkney dating back to at least the early 19th century: The Festival of the Horse, with its Boys’ Ploughing Match — a pagan ritual, still very popular among the rural families of Orkney. In the early days boys would do the plowing competing for who managed to do the most straight and most even furrows. The girls would dress up as horses, sporting spectacular outfits made of collars, hats, belts, pom-poms and fringes.…