London Fashion Week runs on tension. Chaos and poise, aloofness and zeal, the underground and the establishment.
Tish Weinstock has seen it all. A writer, editor, and beauty-world clairvoyant, she’s both watched and shaped London’s sartorial landscape. From guerrilla runway shows to gothic institutions, she slinks through the city’s most fashionable haunts with ease, but has an unabashed penchant for staying home. This week, she's sitting fashion week out (trading front row chatter for a wellness retreat), but that doesn't mean she's out of the loop. On the heels of the release of her first book, How to Be a Goth: Notes on Undead Style, Weinstock called up CULTURED for her takes on everything from the best salmon-sperm treatment in London to the runway show she's surprised she misses.
Though you’re sitting out Fashion Week this time, can you define what makes this moment so special each season?
There's always a sort of a youthful irreverence, playfulness, and unbridled creativity. And there's such a rich history of amazing designers showing in London or having their start in fashion in London. I'm thinking of McQueen, obviously. But that's still true of London. Look at Conner Ives—who’s not British, he's American. He's choosing to show here, for now at least. The schools, like Central Saint Martins and London College of Fashion, also carry such weight.
There's a lot of people rooting for London, which creates this energy that's very infectious. It doesn't take itself too seriously. Every city has its own character. When you're in Paris, you're like, “Okay, things are getting serious,” whereas in London, you can still have fun and be a bit punk, which I think is important. Dilara Findikoglu wasn't accepted into the main show [a while back], so she said, “Fuck that, I'm gonna stage a guerrilla fashion show.”
What are some of your most memorable Fashion Week moments?
One moment was with Conner Ives. He very sweetly asked me to close his show last year. I was his bride. It was decided the day before that I would walk out to a different song. Vanessa Reid said, “Oh my God, we need ‘Headphones,’ by Björk” because there were headphones on the dress. It all sort of came together. It reminded me of many years ago when I was interning at Tank. Chloe Kerman was styling a show, and it was all so last minute. I was just like, “Oh my God, how is this going to happen? This is crazy they haven't even decided what the looks are.” It was all instinctual. People were weighing in and saying, “No, what if we do it like this?” It felt that you were part of something quite fluid. If everything was mapped out, you would lose some of the charm and the romance.
Beyond Conner Ives, are there other voices in the London fashion scene you're excited about right now?
Last season, I was totally blown away by Aaron Esh. Katy England styled it and Sam Gainsbury produced it—the McQueen A-team—and Sam's husband did the music. There was something that felt quite raw about it. Outside the show, all the guests were just hanging out, having a cigarette. There were no influencers. It just looked like people that you wanted to party with. That felt different. I thought the clothes were great. The casting was great. There was Kiki and Ch'lita. Lux Gillespie was walking as well. It felt like family. We talk about world-building, and for such a young designer, it was a succinct world that he had built. His girlfriend, Fiona [Hartley], was the reference for all the sunglasses. That's not to say that Aaron's was utterly polished—that was not the look he was going for either. It just made sense as this whole.
We live in such a globalized fashion world right now. Is there something you see happening in London that you're not seeing anywhere else?
There's a Hedi Slimane fangirling energy that's happening at the moment. It ties in with indie sleaze. People are wearing skinny leather trousers and Chelsea boots, even a McQueen skull scarf. It's a cool, more elevated iteration of indie sleaze. But you don't belong to a style tribe as much anymore; now, it's all about how you identify as an individual. The music we listen to isn't as tied to what we wear because you can listen to all genres of music with the swipe of a button. In the ’70s, if you listened to punk, you dressed punk. You had to adhere to a certain correlation, but that connotation has been divorced now.
Are there any old heads in London that you feel wish had more of a spotlight?
Well, Christopher Kane was obviously given his due. He had a little comeback with Self-Portrait. We culturally miss Christopher Kane and miss his shows. Weirdly, I kind of miss the Topshop show, not that I was necessarily buying that. There was something about the Topshop show with the front row being Kate, Cara, Georgia, and Alexa that was very London. Then there are also staples like Erdem. Season after season, beautiful clothes and true to his own aesthetic. He's not beholden to trends. Same with Simone Rocha. Her work is reassuringly beautiful season after season, sometimes it's more romantic, other times it's darker. I'm excited about 16Arlington. Marco [Capaldo] is an absolute delight. Last season was so good. Not saying that he wants to go to a house or that going to a house is more prestigious than having your own brand, but I was like, Oh, I can see you at a house.
Is there anything missing from the London fashion scene that you want to see more of?
It's not really about the designers but the people. What's missing are the celebrities and the influencers. I just went to New York Fashion Week, and I went to this Jimmy Choo dinner. There was Chloë Sevigny, Amanda Lepore, Martha Stewart, legends of the New York scene. Madonna is out and about, Beyoncé goes to the Luar show, and Rihanna's been wherever she's been. All the celebrities are there. People just skip London. They're like, “London's shit, we'll just do Milan because of advertisers.” I think it's sad. It's so hard to be a designer in London. I remember this amazing designer who I loved, Claire Barrow. She doesn't do shows anymore. She's now an artist. She was always an artist in the way she approached fashion, but it was a money thing as well. Molly Goddard isn't doing shows anymore. It's very hard to be a successful designer. It costs a lot of money to do a show. I think you need to get creative in terms of how to support these young designers. Chopova Lowena just got their grant. I'm excited to see what happens with them. With financial support, they can afford to create the things that they really want without compromising on their vision.
Because of the book that you just wrote, How to Be a Goth: Notes on Undead Style, can you mention a few places that epitomize goth for you in London?
Well I launched my book at the Gothic Bar, which is pretty fab. [It's] like Chiltern Firehouse, but with a much darker energy to it. Brompton Cemetery is romantic and spooky. My favourite painting, Sleeping Venus by Paul Delvaux at the Tate Britain, is a gothic fever dream. The V&A is great for medieval ephemera. The Albert Memorial is a testament to Queen Victoria's love and loss—what could be more gothic than that? St Dunstan in the East is an overgrown church that was bombed in the war—very macabre! And this isn't very goth, but I love Sir John Soane's Museum. I love the British Museum, but it's built on classical ideology. Sir John Soane Museum's is much more romantic.
What's the most loaded street corner in all of London for you?
Westminster Abbey because I went to school next to it. I'd have my own early morning abbeys, where you had to sing in Westminster Abbey. I'm pretty sure Gucci had a show there, but that could be a complete lie. Westminster is very triggering for me, but it also brings back some funny memories.
Where do you go to escape the crowds?
I am a person of extremes. I'm either in my house or going to some kind of event. I rarely meander around the street. I have to be home. Or at the destination. There's no in-between.
Where do you go to get inspired?
I love Climax and Reference Point. They have a great curation of books. Leighton House in West London. It’s someone's home, but also there's art curated in it. It has the most amazing mosaiced hall in turquoise. I would love to live there.
Where do you go to have a laugh?
Probably the Natural History Museum with my son, looking at the dinosaurs. Or the Science Museum. We laugh a lot there together. And there was this bubble museum we went to, I swear it was like in the O2. We had a real giggle there. If I’m laughing with friends, I'll probably be at the pub. I've had a few giggles at the Lansdowne in Primrose Hill. And I've had some silly nights at Chiltern Firehouse.
Where do you go to relax?
For facials, I love Teresa Tarmey in West London. Also, Jasmina Vico. I haven't seen her in ages because she's in the wrong area for me now, but she's great. Keren Bartov is also very good. At Ouronyx in St. James, I love the salmon sperm polynucleotides. It's a very chic building where you can enter from one way and exit the other in case you have your whole face reconstructed. You can tell I'm really into wellness at the moment because I'm really trying to be well. I really like the Wellness Lab in Knightsbridge. It has hyperbaric oxygen chambers and ozone therapy. London Natural Therapies also does ozone therapies and drips, and this woman there has this machine where you put your hand on these panels and she reads the wavelengths of all of your cells. She told me, “Don't eat peas.” So now I can't eat peas.
What's your favorite mode of transportation in London?
I'm a passenger princess. If I want to escape the noise, it's the back of a cab for me. I mean, there's still the noise in my head from my many personalities up here, so there's never really any quiet.
What's your ideal shopping itinerary?
Found And Vision in Notting Hill for some good vintage. Then Turner Vintage in Portobello Market. It's like 1920s and 1930s bits and pieces. She's there every Friday. One of A Kind is brilliant, obviously, and Lovers Lane. These are all in Notting Hill because it’s where I live. I'm embarrassingly lazy. It always feels quite nostalgic because when I was younger I used to go to Portobello. We would go and swap clothes that we owned for new clothes as we tried to figure out who the fuck we were. It was quite a fun place to play around.
Where do you go out to eat if you want to ball out?
Scott’s. I'll get some caviar and then a yummy Dover Sole. They make this amazing ice cream with honeycomb and chocolate sauce. For a rollicking good time, I would probably go to St. John. St John for a boozy dinner, Scott’s if I want to be chic.
Who is your favorite Londoner of all time?
God, what does it mean to be a Londoner? I guess [Lee] McQueen. The “Jack the Ripper Stalks His Victims” [collection] feels very East London. He was a tailor on Savile Row doing all those suits and sewing his hair into it. I think of Walter Sickert, and his paintings of Jack the Ripper. People say that Walter Sickert was Jack the Ripper. He did those paintings of women sleeping, but are they sleeping? Are they dead? That for me feels very London. McQueen, by way of Jack the Ripper, by way of Walter Sickert. That triumvirate.
What's the item you purchase the most in London?
I go to Supermarket of Dreams in Holland Park for food that is just crazy expensive. Delicious organic fruit, amazing fresh sushi, yummy soups.
Last question, what three songs make up your London canon?
“London Calling” by the Clash.“Three Lions” by the Lightning Seeds. And “God Save the Queen” by the Sex Pistols.
