Vogue Hommes English Version Avril 2016

Sergei Polunin —In the video of Irish singer Hozier’s hit single “Take Me To Church”, dancer Sergei Polunin, in ripped tights with tattoos across his bare torso, dances alone in what one imagines to be a hangar lost somewhere in a forest. He leaps towards the roof, pulls himself across the floor, takes his beautiful, tousled head in his hands; an expressionist demon, rock ’n’ roll creature, bad boy en pointe. The video, posted early last year, has been watched by 14 million people. The Ukrainian dancer is yet another fascinating example of an abundance of natural talent paired with a cruelly unstable temperament. As witnessed in his flamboyant performance for Mario Sorrenti (p. 174). The son of a housewife and a building worker, Sergui Polunin ( 26 ) was…

—David Bowie’s death on 10th January — two days after his 69th birthday and the release of Blackstar,an album filled with crepuscular allusions — was met with worldwide emotion that went even beyond the circle of his more or less die–hard fans. The confession, the final heartfelt cry at the fatal hour of an illness that doesn’t give in easily to treatment, an illness revealed to him before he began recording, appeared not as such but transmuted into mysterious or iconic images and strident, stabbing sonorities. How many times did Bowie’s name come up these past ten years as we sat down to prepare each new issue of Vogue Hommes. We would have loved to meet him, to ask him about the unique way he fused music and fashion, his…

—He has his dad’s mouth, lips as luscious as Salvador Dalí’s Bocca sofa, auguring girlish swoons. He also has the same voracious teeth and cool, blue, feline gaze. James Jagger ( because it is he ) is 30, and comes with a pedigree as brilliant as it is burdensome as the eldest son of one of rock’s all–time greats, and former top model Jerry Hall, the original eye candy. In the past few weeks this “son of”, who IRL fronts rage–fuelled punk group Turbogeist, has been acting up a storm in the ultra–glossy Vinyl, a supercharged TV series set in the 1970s record industry, a wall–to–wall frenzy of sex, drugs and head–banging riffs produced by dad Mick and Martin Scorsese. Setting aside the offspring’s evident resemblance to the pater, James…

Sukajan —Singer Zayn Malik can resurrect whole swathes of the male wardrobe single–handed. He has just done it again with the sukajan, aka souvenir jacket. After 1945, American soldiers posted to Japan used to commission jackets from the local embroiderers. The GIs gave them bolts of parachute silk sneaked out of army stores and the craft workers covered the made–up jackets with dragons, images of Snoopy, cherry blossom, geishas, and eagles symbolising allied power. The jacket was a hybrid between the preppy and the kimono, and named sukajan. In the 1960s, they were worn by Japanese youth as a sign of rebellion and became associated with gangs. The GIs continued to knock off and embroider parachutes during the Korean and Vietnam wars with increasingly draft dodging, antimilitarist symbols. Zayn Malik’s…

—The world of British ready–to–wear is a roiling hotbed of talent, where designers with increasingly radical visions vie with each other and the rest. Grace Wales Bonner’s male silhouette is singular from the word go: willowy, retro, and precious — worlds apart from the dominant banker or urban professional look. After an award–winning graduation show at Central Saint Martins, she was commissioned to do a presentation at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Two years on, and she’s having to fight off solicitations so that she can concentrate on her own label. “The structure is small for now — someone at sales, an assistant, a press officer, and me. It’s true that there’s a trend in London right now, with Craig Green and J.W. Anderson. We’re pushing boundaries to extremes, which…

—“Fragrance brand Byredo creates accessory collection”. In the multi–billion dollar world of fashion, it was just another “product launch”, the sort that requires a press release, a launch party and a glittering after–party. In this welter of clothes from the great legacy fashion labels, young creators, and independent brands, it’s easy to disappear without trace. It’s been ten years since Ben Gorham unveiled his perfumery line, Byredo. With his long, crow–black hair, tats, and imposing beard, the perfumer could have hidden behind his magnetic bad–boy looks, but he preferred honesty and tried to tell anyone who would listen that he knew nothing about perfume. So what could he bring to the party? The answer: a point of view, the ability to take decisions, eclectic tastes. And an ego. “It’s always…