I give my speech in exchange for some advertising on Facebook. We want to encourage the five million people who follow our main site to follow Climate Revolution. Remember – I want to concentrate our company under the banner of Quality not Quantity – and we don’t sell on our main site, we just show people our best things.
I enjoyed talking to all these women and Nicole, who interviewed me, emanates love of life. The background to all my talks at the moment is ‘End Vulture Capitalism’. Then I went on with ‘Get a Life’, the importance of engaging in the world through culture; the more you understand the people of the past, the more you understand the world you live in. ‘You get out what you put in.’ The women were delighted by what I said about Aristotle and the importance of fulfilling your own special potential. The basis of Aristotle’s philosophy was the study of form: how it happened, how it worked and how it changed. He said, ‘The acorn is happy to become an oak’ (not in those exact words). This thought defines his idea of happiness: the acorn is programmed to become an oak and it is its destiny to become the greatest possible oak. We humans are born each with our individual character. Character is like a bag of tools and it’s the only one you’ve got to live your life with. By following our deep interest we begin to use out talent. Happiness lies in fulfilling our potential.
Dublin is a wonderful city, architecture going right back but famous for its eighteenth century – everywhere. A world port, it was then richer than London. Cosmopolitan. Every side street seems an adventure. They haven’t knocked everything down as London continues to do. We took the opportunity to have Seamus our driver show us around; he is a scholar and a thinker.
THURS 18 DEC DOWNING STREET
Downing Street – fracking protest. Government advisors warned them that fracking could be the ‘new asbestos’. So I went with Joe to present the Camerons with a box of (fake) asbestos.
THURS 25 – SAT 27 DEC CHRISTMAS AT JOE’S
Andreas and I met all my family and some of our friends down at Joe’s place in Cornwall. Matthew Owen, who runs Cool Earth, came over on Boxing Day to meet Mike Hands from the Inga Foundation who is also doing amazing work on the rainforest. They both live in Cornwall so we all got together to discuss working together.
2015
JANUARY 2015
THURS 1 JAN HEROES
We had a small dinner party with Julian in the embassy for New Year’s Eve. Julian is one of our thirteen heroes on the Climate Revolution website. I posted photos of them before Christmas and intend to write a text for each to celebrate what they are doing to fight for good. But so far I have only done Glenn Greenwald, Edward Snowden and Prince Charles. I will have to wait to do the others. Because Andreas and I are working every day on this season’s fashion shows – and next season’s collections.
Next time I visit Julian Assange I will ask him how he helped Edward Snowden escape capture.
THURS 15 – TUES 20 JAN MAN IN MILAN T-SHIRTS
Milan. The main event is the MAN show on Sunday but I am here to look at our other collections and the showrooms are filled with people come to buy. For the MAN collection I was very pleased with the unisex knitwear and jersey, including three T-shirts:
T-SHIRT 1 Andreas collected all these odd logos, symbols and fridge magnet type graphics and superimposed them on each other. We call it the ‘Meaningless T-shirt’.
T-SHIRT 2: DRILLERS IN THE MIST A film about Varunga, home of the mountain gorilla, shows how Soco International, an oil and gas company, planted seeds of corruption so they could drill in this protected park. They not only threaten the lives of the gorillas and the rangers who risk their own lives to protect them, but lead to the guerrilla armies/rebels coming into the reservation and killing people to get a cut of the corruption money.
T-SHIRT 2: PRINCE CHARLES WITH CHE-STYLE BERET When I was interviewed, I said that if he’d been world ruler for the last thirty years we would not have climate change. Some people don’t like the idea of a royal family. I think the reason for that is that our left-wingers (can you call people ‘left’ when there is no political difference between right and left?) are what I call decadent Marxists – they don’t like Marx but they still believe in his polarisation between ‘bourgeois’ and ‘proletariat’.
FEBRUARY 2015
THURS 12 FEB RAVEL AND COLETTE
The first special event in February was a concert at the Festival Hall. Ben and his wife Tomoka invited us. Tomoka learned piano in Japan from age four – their flat was so small that her parents slept under the grand piano.
The programme was French. First Mitsuko Uchida, a tiger poised to attack a Ravel piano concerto. Then Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortileges (magic spells). This was a concert performance, the singers taking various roles and adapting their costumes – sometimes just with an accessory – for each change of character. The story is of a naughty boy (a young female soprano) stuck in the house, refusing to do homework, thumbing his nose and pulling faces at ‘Maman’ and angry at the household objects who came to complain about him. It comes from Colette, who, as a young woman, was the pet of French intellectuals. The story of her adolescence in the country and her growing up, the Claudine novels, caused a sensation. If you want to embrace the Frenchness of France at the time of the belle époque – Picasso, Renoir, Chanel, Offenbach, Proust, Rimbaud, Josephine Baker, Cocteau – the list is endless – Bohemia, the salons – read Colette. This was the Western world at the peak of its intellectual output. It was said, ‘When good Americans die, they go to Paris.’
Colette by Leopold Reutlingerin on stage in the the Rêve d’Égypte.
FEB 14 2015 SUPPORT THE GREEN PARTY
Valentine’s Day. I am taking a day off. It is the middle of February and I am just writing up my diary. Andreas and I are under pressure to finish the Gold Label collection, which is in Paris on 7 March. In between we present the Red Label collection – which is finished – in London on 22 February.
As you know, we in Climate Revolution have been seriously campaigning with my son Joe against fracking in the UK. We have to win this battle, put a spoke in the wheel, halt the machine – run by the powerful 1 per cent – the antipeople. Their power controls the globe. But we have to start right here at home. For this reason we have decided to support the Green Party: myself working with Climate Revolution and Joe working with his anti-fracking team from Humanade. The Green Party are anti-fracking, anti-austerity, pro-community and pro-human rights. The rest of the parties – ‘the bloc’ – are the opposite. I just listened to a panel discussion with cross-party politicians – Any Questions on Radio 4. On fracking they all told the same barefaced lies and on the health service their answers amounted to a complete muddle because it’s difficult to rescue it from the mess our current system of vulture capitalism has caused – and they all believe in this system. No chance!
So now Climate Revolution supports the Green Party. We’ve had a couple of meetings. After the fashion collections I want to give weekly talks to young people in universities on how we can ‘Get a Life’ – our own lives – and save human life in the future, as well as how we can enrich our lives by an easy transfer to a green economy. The Green Party will help in this part of the discussion.
SUN 22 FEB RED LABEL GIRL
Our Red Label collection was delivered in good time, which gave us plenty of time to put the show together and enjoy it. Murray had worked with our jewellers to make the most super punk jewellery and suggested punk as a theme for the hair and makeup. I always like it to look like the girl did it herself. The models loved it.
I wrote about the Red Label girl on the press release:
The girl who wears Red Label – I want to tell you about her, she’s a bit like me. She was lucky enough to be born in the country and she moved with her family to London when she was seventeen. She knows the names of all the trees and she’s always been a reader. Since she’s been in London she’s gone to the museums all the time. She’s an art lover and she really thinks culture is ve
ry, very important. If we had true culture we would not be in the situation we’re in. Culture has been replaced by consumption – which is quite a different thing.
At the moment we are controlled by 1 per cent of the world population who are in power. They preach consumption, and they preach war, and they’re taking us into disaster. We are in incredible danger.
There is no point in voting for the others. She is going to vote Green.
MARCH 2015
SUN 1 MARCH AT THE ICE-CREAM PARLOUR
At work Sunday, designing the Gold Label with Andreas. Late home, walking over the Common, we went to the ice-cream parlour, where I was recognised and asked for a photo. This is usually a pleasure – to say hello to someone – and only takes a minute. But twice I’ve said no and regretted it, and I did it again today. There were six or seven girls of age ten or eleven – they were the sweetest and loveliest little things on earth – but I was feeling a bit stressed (worrying about the Gold Label) and I suddenly felt I couldn’t cope with engaging with so many children and being the focus of everybody else in the parlour. I just got up and walked out – ‘I have to go!’ When we got home I felt so upset with myself that Andreas said, ‘Let’s go back.’ I thought, it’s too late, they won’t be there. I should have done, anyway. I was miserable for two days.
TUES 3 MARCH VISITING JULIAN AND TIME TO ACT
I have arranged to visit Julian the first Tuesday of every month. I would like to see him more often but I know he’s busy. Ben takes him lovely Japanese food made by Tomoka – vegetarian, organic – a couple of times a week. I know it’s good because he drops a little of the same to me for my lunch at work.
Julian thinks it’s good that I and Climate Revolution are supporting the Green Party. He says the public debate is far more important than the election. It immediately clicked, yes, what about the social media? Opposition to being governed by these main parties is growing like a tidal wave, so it’s good, Julian says, if the Green Party, being part of that opposition, can take the debate into Parliament. Julian is excited about all those SNP MPs. I say, if only they can tip the balance away from disaster.
So what can people in England do? Vote Green and also add your power to the power of the social media, which has access to true facts. Form true opinions and smother the lies. Go on demonstrations. Start by stopping fracking. We, especially Cynthia, have been working with NGO partners to organise our demonstration, ‘Time to Act’. We designed it as a poster for the London march and a T-shirt for the Gold Label in Paris. At the same time as the march our models are walking the catwalk and I will be sending a video message from Paris. Of course, you’ve noticed – I lay the title of my current activism on top of the collections, then talk about that, not the collections.
WEDS 4 – TUES, 10 MARCH PARIS FOR GOLD LABEL
Off to Paris on Wednesday on Eurostar (the Tories have just sold it off in one of their corrupt bargain sales to the monopolies) to Paris to prepare our Gold Label show. In the Paris showroom we meet Sabina, who is working on the casting. She is a terrific stylist (never satisfied until she’s tried everything). We’ll be able to leave a lot to her. The clothes are nearly all here, which will make a total difference. When they arrive late we’re working all night before the show.
The show is Saturday. Catwalk music is Die Hartjungs live. This collection is something else! Unisex. The same size suit (Savile Row tailoring – from Huddersfield) fits a woman – bolero with shoulder pads buttoned inside – and a man (model size) – sleeves and pants too short. Cool! They look like queens/kings. I liked the make-up idea: frowns. Paz and Marcus were Bride and Groom.
Our Unisex suit at the Paris show.
Gwendoline Christie did our show and after it finished we went straight on and did our shoot with her and Leebo Freeman, with Juergen Teller, for our advertising campaign. Done! Everybody satisfied. At dinner I wanted to talk to my friends, especially Paz and Marcus, but they were so polite and considerate – they left me in passionate conversation with Gwendoline. We were talking about Shakespeare.
Gwendolene modelling our campaign with Leebo – photo by Juergen Teller.
TUES 10 – THURS 12 MARCH CATHAR COUNTRY
In Paris we began an important discussion regarding Q v. Q with our people working in Asia. We need to continue before one director goes back to Japan. This will be on Friday in England. Therefore we will have to cut short the little break we had planned whilst in France. But we have a few days.
Gare de Lyon. It’s so romantic for me travelling down through France. My English education is so connected with its history and culture. We are going to Perpignan, close to the border with Spain, at the foothills of the Pyrenees. As we near our destination the train stops more often. The names. From Nîmes we come to Montpellier. We are by the sea with etangs and flamingoes. At Narbonne Tizer meets us in a hire car. We are staying in her mother’s little house in Padern. Out of the way. No shops. When a van of produce arrives each week a loudspeaker from the mairie announces the opportunity to stock up. We just loved it. The house so rudimentary, collecting kindling and wood from the side of the little road, which wound up the steep hillside to the Château of Padern. Tizer cooked and put us a hot-water-bottle in bed.
The weather was glorious blue. We only had one full day – Wednesday – and went to Peyreperteuse. This is the most dramatic of the Cathar castles built on and embedded within the outcrops of limestone which rise up crowning the hills. The castles run along the French-Spanish border. From the approach road it is difficult to see where the rock stops and the castle starts. I have never seen this kind of limestone terrain before. Rivers crashing and winding, deep pools where you can dive and swim. Tizer has been coming here with her family every summer. Hippies live here and there are organic markets with fantastic wine. The crops you see are vines and almond trees are in blossom amid the landscape.
Anne, Tizer’s neighbour, tells us the Romans were here – ancient tribes always stay near water. They mined tin. How did hunter-gatherers before that survive? I’ve never thought of this before. They must have known so much that we don’t know. It was the novelty to me of this old landscape that made me think of it. How did they survive anywhere? Here there are wild boars and in a section of a stream we saw dozens of big frogs.
On Thursday, on our way to the airport, we passed a sign leading to a Neanderthal cave. We couldn’t go. No time. The Neanderthals were here for 200,000 years before Homo sapiens came to Europe 45,000 years ago and within 5,000 years of that event they were gone. The theory is that we were cleverer at getting our food. Recently dogs’ bones dating from 30,000 years ago were found. They were like wolves but with shorter snouts suggesting that our ancestors tamed and bred dogs from wolves.
WEDS 18 MARCH REMEMBERING RACHEL CORRIE
Amnesty International came to interview me for a film about activists. I remembered Rachel Corrie, a young woman of twenty-three who travelled to Palestine to join a group trying to stop Israeli seizure of Arab land. She wrote a diary there, and this was turned into a play, which I saw. She was in Palestine only two or three weeks when she stood in front of an Israeli bulldozer, which kept coming and killed her.
FRI 20 MARCH EVGENY KISSIN AT THE BARBICAN
Pianist Evgeny Kissin at the Barbican. Andreas is in Italy so I gave his ticket to my son Joe. Kissin first played a Beethoven sonata. Dramatic and so fast you could only just keep up with him. Beethoven is self-consciously clever and seems to hammer the point by repeating himself. It conjured up a picture of charming Victorian ladies in crinolines self-consciously appreciating the countryside. Next Prokofiev. This is great. I wished I could hear it again. Either I didn’t concentrate enough or I did not let myself go enough. I don’t know. Except I did know that it had the integrity of great art. After the interval came Chopin and this carried me away. It was like Kissin owned the music and gave it to you, communicated it to you. I was now completely opened up. Next Liszt and, ravished with pleasure, we travelled on with Kissin i
nto eternity.
WEDS 25 MARCH SMILE
Mark, the artist cab-driver, called for me and interviewed me in his cab on video. He’s really engaged with what is happening in the world and is desperate, like me, to expose the criminal political-financial structure that kills us. When we said goodbye – Gosh! – he gave me the sweetest smile.
THURS 26 MARCH THE BEST BOOK ON FOOTWEAR
An evening event in St Margaret Pattens church in Eastcheap. Our host is Jenny Tiramani. She and my friend Santina Levey are dedicated to their work. They are costume historians, researchers and curators and they publish the work of Janet Arnold, to whom I am grateful, as I discovered historical cuts from the diagrams in her books. Santina is a leading expert on lace and Jenny was costume designer at The Globe. They founded their own school, The School of Historical Dress. This occasion was a launch for a book on footwear by Alan and Vanessa Hopkins. Its lay-out is different to any books published today. Alan said, ‘When you employ a designer you pay for white spaces.’ There are none. But the real difference is the love he put into it. The school hopes to find a house in order to open to the public their archive of historical clothes.
Drinking wine, listening to speeches from people with such knowledge and passion in this treasure of Wren’s church architecture is typical of Jenny. Everything she touches is exquisite.
APRIL 2015
FRI 3 – SUN 5 APRIL WILD GARLIC
Afternoon concert at the Barbican with Andreas, Ben and Tomoka: Bach’s St Matthew’s Passion. Didn’t quite gel. From there we all drove down to Joe and Faye in Cornwall for Easter. Faye with the horses. Blue sky and lovely to walk the beaches and woods and to do nothing. Picked big bags of wild garlic.
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