With Men’s Fashion Month done and dusted (except for Hedi Slimane’s Celine show on Sunday – can’t wait!), that means more time to dive headfirst into the city’s cultural offerings. Get involved. 

Beam us up! 
Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City has landed, and on International Asteroid Day, no less. You’ve probably heard enough about the plot by now but here’s a refresher, the plot centres around an American desert town’s Junior Stargazer convention circa 1955.  As students and parents gather from across the country for the scholarly competition, a series of monumental events spectacularly disrupt the event’s itinerary. Wes Anderson tick list at the ready: incredible cast? Yep. Immaculate aesthetic? Yep. Whimsical script? Yep. Sit back and sink into another of the auteur’s fantasy worlds.

Asteroid City is out in cinemas now. 

Full Leather Jackets
During the pandemic, artist Sue Webster bought a stock of almost 100 leather jackets from Spitalfields Market and began customising them in ode to Siouxsie Sioux, who Webster has idolised since she was a young girl growing up in Leicester. Studded, badged, hand-painted and doodled, the leather becomes a canvas – distressed by years of wear by previous owners – for Webster’s mixed-media compositions to take form. (Detail: some badges featured were sourced via online selling platforms, others were hand-painted by Webster herself using a magnifying glass and an 00-size brush.)

Now, these incredible jackets are being exhibited at the Hackney Wick studio Webster and Tim Noble used to work together. Of the exhibition Webster said via Instagram: “I will be showing the full set of my hand painted leather jackets in the form of an exhibition pinned to the wall like a suite of Picassos for sore eyes only.” Major.

‘Full Leather Jackets’ is currently showing at Project Space, Unit 14-15 Trafalgar Mews, Hackney Wick, E9 5JG until 15 July 2023.

The Angel in the House
Taking its title from the Victorian phrase used to signify a saintly and submissive wife, Studio West’s latest exhibition The Angel in the House is a response to John Everett Millais’ The Bridesmaid – an 1851 artwork depicting a Victorian marriage tradition. Exploring ideas around women’s desire for agency, a group of seven contemporary female artists depict scenes of domestic life, visualising notions of femininity while drawing on their own lived experiences. Compiling works from Jess Allen, Pippa El-Kadhi Brown, Olha Pryymak, Florence Reekie, Elena Rivera-Montanes, Grace Tobin and Xu Yang each redefines the relationship between women and traditional domesticity.

The Angel in the House runs at Studio West until July 20th, more info here. 

Better than Glasto
Wish you were hanging around CBGB’s back in the heyday with the likes of Debbie Harry and Iggy Pop? Of course you do. While that’s sadly impossible, we can offer a blockbuster gig in Crystal Palace Park that sees Iggy top the bill supported by Blondie. Manchester punk band Buzzcocks join the line-up alongside Iggy Pop-championed duo Lambrini Girls and supergroup Generation Sex, fronted by Billy Idol alongside members of the Sex Pistols. While it’s no longer the 70s, all these names have still got it – if you saw Iggy squirming across the stage topless and dangerous at the Celine FW23 show, you’ll know.

Dog Day Afternoon takes place at Crystal Palace Park on July 1st, more info here. 

Kids of Britain
In 80s London, photographer Jamie Morgan pioneered the legendary style movement of Buffalo alongside stylist Ray Petri. Revisiting this era for today, Morgan’s new exhibition, Future Generation, is a portrait of modern British youth, representing its diverse identity and style. Featuring street-cast subjects alongside children of his contemporaries including Kate Moss, Annie Morris and Ozwald Boateng, the series is an ode to the enduring beat of youth culture and the transgressive nature of cultural movements.

“I photograph kids, not cute and smiling as is generally seen, but serious portraits, with each subject having their own individual character,” says Morgan. “We celebrate gender fluidity, allowing their free expression. These young people are the most real and honest subjects. They hold their strength and integrity simultaneously with their innocence.”

Buffalo: Future Generation runs at Ladbroke Hall until July 15th, more info here. 

A pub we can live in
Located at the bottom of Telegraph Hill and opening its doors today, Earl of Derby is the newest addition to London’s ever-growing pub scene. From the team behind The White Horse in Peckham and Camberwell’s Grove House Tavern, the joint promises to be a proper local full of neighbouring brews and organic wines.

Taking over in the kitchen is Gengelly’s, a newly founded concept from former Good As Gold chefs George Geen and Laurence Pengelly, and the opening menu features dishes such as Sussex pork chop with Tuscan braised beans, gremolata and aioli, chicken, calçot and ham hock pie, and you can choose between Grandma Betty’s lemon butter slice or Yorkshire tea ice cream for dessert. It’s proper grub done good.

Earl of Derby is located at 87 Dennett’s Rd, SE14 5LW, more info here.