photography
ARI ASHLEY
Voo Le Voo
LOVE + CONNECTION vol. 01
model
HUGO HAMLET
hair
ELIOT MCQUEEN
make up
JOEY CHOY
set design
SARAH EDWARDS
fashion assistant
BENJAMIN CANARES
SPECIAL THANKS to BEN ANDERSEN and WILL WENTWORTH-STANLEY
for letting us shoot at TWYFORD ABBEY
fashion assistants YURIKO TAKIGUCHI, CRISSY BATALLA
cover look: hugo/ LOUIS VUITTON | lily/ HILLIER BARTLEY
a portfolio
photographed by ARI ASHLEY
fashion director CATHY KASTERINE
When I first thought about what Futurism meant to me, I could only imagine the ideas of love and connection being reliable concepts that I wanted to project as my idea of the future. And so I planned my shoots with the ideas of friendship (Laura Bailey’s portraits of friends), romantic love (Ari Ashley’s wonderful images of her daughter Lily and her boyfriend Hugo) and sensual intimacy (Indigo Lewin’s brilliant pictures of touch and the body). I felt that, within the uncertain times that we found ourselves in, that these projects tapped into the energies in life that were really important – love and connection – the energy that sustained us and made our hearts full and our lives inspired.
Since then we have been plunged into more uncertainty with the Corona virus and all the ensuing fear and restrictions that it has brought with it. I am writing this in week 6 of lockdown from my garden. More than ever the forces of love and connection are what we need, and yet they have been so compromised for so many in self-isolation. I look back at these shoots and marvel at the joy and freedom that we luxuriated in when making them.
I feel a huge gratitude for the collective coming together of the teams that made the shoots happen, something that is now not possible.
We have all slowed down, edited and refined our existences and rely on much less to give us that sense of connection. Maybe we have found it within ourselves, connecting with the glorious light of early summer on our daily walks, or the joy of being with family without any distractions. The collective sense of surrender to what is happening has taken away the impulse to be busy and we have found
a new way to be that reveals our capacity to love and care for family and for those in need.
I hope we are able to retain some of this empathy and joy in others as we go back into life in its new form – and not to lose this connection and to trust that love is a powerful force that will see us through. -Cathy
Love is all there is love is all there is we are told and told and told again and again and again fuck that fuck that so hard
it is a pile of shit love is a trap
love is a trap of self abuse
find a partner love them find a partner that loves you
find a friend love them find friend that loves you
have children love them and your children will love you
you will be in love for the rest of your life for the rest of life fuck that fuck that FUCK THAT
because it happens fucking fast
it happens fucking fast la la la BOOM…
…look we’re alone in this room
dress ERDEM | hat HARRIS REED | shoes LOEWE
vest ASHLEY WILLIAMS
dress RICHARD QUINN | dress TALLER MARMO
and you are looking at me and I am looking at you
and we both know what we are about to do
at last, to ourselves we’ll encompass each other
each other at last we have found a lover
a lover a lover we are falling in love
and fuck me this emotion was sent from above i’m juggidy I’m jaggedy, I’m dripping in lust maybe I’m hazy
but I’m not gonna fuss
come here companion and share this time lets go on this trip
lets make you mine lets make you mine and make me yours
and lick and kick ‘gainst broken doors
dress ERDEM | hat HARRIS REED | shoes LOEWE
top LOEWE | trousers LOEWE | bracelet PEBBLE
dress PREEN BY THORNTON BREGAZZI | tights PREEN BY THORNTON BREGAZZI | shoes LE MONDE BERYL
Great now you’re mine lets change our tune
lets panic that it’s all happening too soon
lets worry that we’ve been going to fast
this boring relationship could never last you piss me off
but I guess it’s okay everyone else does it day after day
the whole world’s in love so it must be good
gotta stick through this sadness everyone thinks you should
cos they may not be perfect but they will do and don’t forget how much they love you they love you you fool can you ask for much more? maybe a little attention? Yea but sure
sure they aren’t present and seem to hate what you speak
but they used to listen it just YOU’RE not at YOUR peak
you’ve been through the fazes and now you are settled
been in the riot of love and now you are kettled
you’re trapped you’re surrounded there is no getting out
and this “love” doesn’t listen even if you shout
so you’re not so perfect in your sweet loving soup
in fact your darling makes you want to puke
by being an idiot and cracking shit jokes and talking of sailing imaginary boats
to impress some dick or cunt or prick
and make them selves feel slightly less thick
and you do the same you pass your time
telling everybody how you feel so fine and how you really feel stable and everything’s well since you found your love and promptly fell
fell head over heals into the pond of love where it’s foggy and your drowning and you want to be above above in that anxious panicky space
where the world feels scary and like a race where you’re single insecure and covered in fear
that you will end with nothing and nobody near
nobody to hold you hand through pain nobody to rid you of your shame
nobody to keep you on a trodden track nobody to hold your madness back
But what is so bad about being mad
what is so bad about feeling sad
what is so wrong with being strange
being a nutjob being deranged?
jacket MODELS OWN | dress EMILIA WICKSTEAD | boots COSTUME STUDIO | necklace COSTUME STUDIO
hugo / top + jeans GUCCI lily/ hat COSTUME STUDIO dress, bra and underwear GUCCI
the whole fucking world is covered in squares
and your cute little love never ever dares
to tell you their bored of your docile eyes
and you’re bored of their silly repeated lies
that are all for show and boring at home
when you’re trapped with their habits drenching your home
but you carry on cos that’s what is done follow the rules
and you will have fun and you decide…oh shit lets have a child
we’ve been together so long its really wild so you try for a baby
and you get one some how get milk in your tits like a fucking cow
and you let them clamber all around your brain
and they take away quite a lot of the pain cos suddenly the world isn’t about you but about their generation…generation new
and you look at them grow hope they’ll be okay wonder first words what will they say? and they grow up and out or up and in
get fat pretty ugly thin
succeed in stuff and fail at others just like their father and their mothers
then one day you think fuck this really sucks
they are at the beginning and they got all this luck
and I feel pretty shit about myself cos I am trapped in this love trapped on a shelf
and yes the shelf’s clean and made out of gold but the truth is… I feel fucking old and I’m looking back at what I’ve achieved…
and I sort of don’t know what else I need I’ve done it all right I’ve ticked every box but I feel like there is something I have forgot
top + trousers CELINE | boots HARRIS REED
lily/ pink dress + shoes MOLLY GODDARD | hugo/ skirt + dress ROKSANDA
hugo/ dress MODELS OWN | boots CHRISTOPHER KANE lily/ white shirt MODELS OWN | dress MODELS OWN | boots COSTUME STUDIO
