Around The Web | What We’re Reading

Identity becomes a recurring theme this week as we explore how it affects not just fashion but politics as well. Namely, with fashion week just finished in London, we spotlight British identity with Burberry’s creative director Christopher Bailey, and his thoughts on reclaiming the brand’s iconic check from a chequered football hooligan past.
We also take a look at a startling inside report from Sweden that highlights the growing issue of an empowered alt-right movement.
In other news, we explore the fascinating world of transhumans with cameras for eyes and magnetic hands, the question of lab-grown meat, and what does the world do about a silent Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

Dive in:

“The new collection is an eclectic mix of everything that I love about Britishness: it’s the highs, the lows, opulence, the working class, the ceremony, pomp and tradition and fashion through the ages.” Watch the incumbent Vogue editor-in-chief Edward Enninful and Burberry creative director Christopher Bailey discuss his defining SS18 collection, what it means to be British, and fashion for a new generation.

“I was captivated by its haunting, gothic-style architecture and how it was a world unto itself with 120 years of history carved into its walls….emotion is inherent in these spaces and even in their quietness, prisons are still emotionally charged.” Photographer Brett Leigh Dicks went on a journey to some of the world’s abandoned prisons, resulting in an eerily beguiling series of black and white images taking you from the canteen to the execution chamber.

“Since the website is everyone’s go-to for basic information, the absence of numerous notable Indian women effectively writes them out of history, at least in the form that post people come across online.” The group Feminism in India is organising monthly Edit-a-Thons to redress the issue of female representation on Wikipedia. In a country where technology is still seen as a ‘boy’s club’, this task is harder than just hitting the save button.

“We will have a Europe, in 2050, where the bank notes will have Adolf Hitler, Napoleon Bonaparte, Alexander the Great. And Hitler will be seen like that: like Napoleon, like Alexander, not like some weird monster who is unique in his own category – no, he is just going to be seen as a great European leader.” In this shocking exposé, a 25-year-old Swedish student embarks on an undercover mission in the world’s growing alt-right movement, achieving their trust and finding out the startling aims of this global organisation. There is even allusion to conversations with the Trump administration. You want to see this.

“I wanted to feel electromagnetic fields, so when I move my hand near a running microwave the magnets in my hands vibrate slightly… I can pick up bottle caps, screws and spoons. That’s not that useful in everyday life, but what I do is not rooted in a grand vision of the future of humanity. It’s like a child playing around, saying: ‘Hey, look at what we can do, isn’t this cool?’” Enter the new age of You want to see this. and meet the transhumans who are already walking amongst us – from eyeborgs to magnetic implants.

“The question of taint on a Nobel Peace laureate is hardly new. Even the most revered winners are not entirely beyond reproach – Mother Teresa (1979), meet Christopher Hitchens – and some of the most famous winners of the prize have been deeply morally compromised even at the time of their victories.” As the ethnic cleansing of Burma’s Muslim minority group, the Rohingya, rages on, the world pleads with Nobel Peace Prize winner Aun San Suu Kyi to react. Some ask, does Suu Kyi still deserve a Nobel Prize?

“Brin’s motivation to jumpstart the path to cultured meat was simple: ‘There are three things that can happen going forward. One is we will all become vegetarian – I don’t think that is really very likely. The second is we ignore the issues, and that continues to lead to environmental harm. And the third option is we do something new.’” It has been referred to as ‘Frankenmeat’, and there is definitely an army of opposition. But in an increasingly unsustainable world, is lab-grown meat and fish the answer? With support from investors like Elon Musk and Bill Gates, the market for petri dish burgers is booming.