Can you feel it

Weekend Combo: Alexander McQueen, Absolute Tension and Jerk Chicken à la Red Stripe
By Alex James Taylor | Fashion | 13 March 2015
Above:

Nick Waplington: Alexander McQueen backstage, 2009. Image courtesy of Tate Modern

This article is part of Weekend Combo – What to do this weekend

We bring you our guide to living well in the world’s capitals, from exhibitions to cinema, food, drink, fashion, music and beyond. Just call it culture and take it, it’s yours.

LONDON, FRIDAY 13th MARCH – SUNDAY 15th MARCH 2015

A homecoming of mega proportions
Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty has arrived at London’s V&A, beginning its six month tenure this weekend. The long awaited show is an expanded and re-curated version of the exhibition first outed at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it attracted more than 660,000 visitors in three months and crowds reportedly queued for up to five hours to get in. Long.

Alexander McQueen – Lee to his friends – was an East End lad who translated his gothic vision to the art of couture in a manner that shook the industry to its very core. Totally. Seismic. The theatrical element of his shows defined his role as agent provocateur of the fashion world, transmogrifying societal context and history into overwhelming sartorial statements. Today, his vision burns bright under the careful direction of Sarah Burton.

There will be around 244 items on display all told, making it the largest fashion exhibition the V&A has ever shown. Within the retrospective sit some of the most iconic pieces from McQueen’s stunning catalogue of work.

Don’t walk in expecting to see menswear, ‘cos you won’t. Instead, take this as an exercise in the same spectacular vision and technical prowess that we’ve seen channeled in Alexander McQueen menswear since the line’s thankful SS05 debut. Regardless – the keen eyed should look out for a particular jawbone piece that pertains to the men’s catwalk and, so we’re told, makes a key appearance here. 

Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty runs from 14th March to 2nd August at the V&A, SW7 2RL
Book tickets here

Go backstage and back in time – a double dose
Timing neatly with Savage Beauty, Tate Britain’s Working Process shifts focus behind the scenes, capturing McQueen working tirelessly. A unique collaboration between photographer Nick Waplington and the acclaimed fashion designer Alexander McQueen, ‘Working Process’ tracks the development of McQueen’s final show, Horn of Plenty, for Fall/Winter in 2009.

The exhibition offers an alternative view to the fashion world, one candid and unpolished. The shots are juxtaposed with images of landfill and recycling, apt given the collection’s context: created as a retrospective, the show took place on a runway transformed into a towering rubbish tip composed of sets from shows past, a statement about the absurdity of fashion’s hunger for empiric standing and status. 

Working Process runs from 10th March to 17th May at Tate Britain, SW1P 4RG

The Dude, Tom Cruise bartending, and breaking out of the friend zone
For three days only, Pop Up Screens in Notting Hill invites you to their own speakeasy, just off Portobello Road. What’s on the menu? A decent selection of movie and cocktail nights. Instead of the usual pick ‘n’ mix and popcorn combo, Pop Up Screens is teaming up iconic films with boozy drinks and food inspired by their coinciding films.

Kick back and enjoy The Big Lebowski with a White Russian, Cocktail with a Manhattan and When Harry Met Sally with (you guessed it) a Screaming Orgasm.

Pop Up Screens runs from 13th to 15th March at Notting Hill 20th Century Theatre
Book here from a selection of films (including The Big Lebowski, Anchorman, Cocktail, The Goonies and When Harry Met Sally)

Tune in, Trip out
Independent label Fuzz Club Records are bringing their best and brightest to The Shacklewell Arms for a night of fuzzy mayhem as part of the pub’s Label Mates gig series. Three bands with their own take on psychedelic space rock.

Kicking the night off in style is neo-psych instrumentalists Radar Men From the Moon, their world is one of beautiful looping distortion and space-age sonics, atmospheric and immersive.

Next up are The Wands, a psychedelic duo hailing from Denmark, having recently released their latest album The Dawn in November last year they are currently riding a high. It’s bold, blissed out acid rock with a krautrock beat. 

Iceland’s brilliant Singapore Sling sit at the top of the bill. Having carved out a unique niche within the psychedelic, stoner rock scene the six-piece boast a thrilling  live set five albums strong, think Primal Scream at their darkest with a heavy dose of Brian Jonestown Massacre’s experimental vibe. Grab your maracas and show us your best Bez impression. 

Label Mates III 2015 runs from today, Friday 6th to Sunday 8th March at The Shacklewell Arms, 71 Shacklewell Lane, London E8 2EB
Further info and tickets are here

Get off Tinder and into a theatre, there’s sex enough for everyone
Patrick Marber’s 1997 play Closer highlights the nihilistic side of love. Set in London the story centres around a quartet of people preoccupied with the restless pursuit it, and the sexual entanglements that naturally occur in the process. In its first major revival Closer returns to the stage at Leicester Square’s Donmar Warehouse for a three week run.

Characters spiral in and out of love, each intriguingly impulsive, each capable of cruelty and charm. With a sharp 90s aesthetic it explored themes considered taboo, portraying love as an easily splintered it follows an agonised sexual and emotional square dance between two sex-obsessed couples’ rootless, restless approach to predatory mating games.

Written at a time predating Tinder, when internet chatrooms were a fresh revelation, Marber’s play was a fresh insight into a growing trend. And don’t even get us started on the sexual tension conjured up between Julia Roberts, Natalie Portman, Clive Owen and Jude Law in the filmic adaptation, the sharpest knife wouldn’t scratch the surface.

This one’s for real – sit down and strap in. You’re in for one hell of a ride.

Closer runs from 11th March until 4th April at Donmar Warehouse, Leicester Square
Book tickets here

Pon de grill
After all that cityside chaos you’ll be yearning for a decent serve of grub, no strings attached.

Nothing smells better than jerk chicken sizzling on a grill, if you come across that sweet smell in Bethnal Green White Men Can’t Jerk is the likely source. The brainchild of three lads with a love of all things Caribbean, the punning pop-up eatery has become the go-to place for a bit o’ spice.

Having launched last month they are currently in the midst of a three month residency at The Star of Bethnal Green, dishing out good vibes and a mouth watering inventive menu: think curried Mutton Shepherd’s Pie with a sweet potato mash topping,  jerk bean burgers, Red Stripe poached Fried Chicken Wings (yeah, buddy) and their signature jerk chicken.

Reggae tunes and a tum-full of fry-up? Yeah, we’ll be back too. 

White Men Can’t Jerk’s residency at The Star of Bethnal Green, E2 6LG runs until April
Keep up to date with White Men Can’t Jerk here

White Men Can’t Jerk

TOP GALLERY IMAGE CREDITS:

1. Nick Waplington: Alexander McQueen backstage, 2009. Image courtesy of Tate Modern
2. Alexander McQueen SS99. Image courtesy Catwalking
3. Still, The Big Lebowski © Universal Studios 1998
4. Still, ’When Harry Met Sally’ © Castle Rock Entertainment 1989
5. Singapore Sling photographed by Charlie Strand
6. The Wands photographed by Jonas Bang
7. Oliver Chris and Rufus Sewell in Closer, 2015
8. Closer, 2015. Photo by Johan Persson
9. White Men Can’t Jerk




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