JournAl M aleness

Journal
Autumn Winter 2012
Exploring the contradictions in the modern woman
Maleness
Journal
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“For me the tension between contradictions is the
spark of inspiration.”
— Carin Rodebjer
The
Maleness
Issue
“The spirit of creation is simply the spirit of contradiction” Jean
Cocteau once said. Reflecting not only on concrete examples in paintings or writing, but also on the contradictions that happen within you,
he led by example.
On the Rodebjer runway for AW 2012 we saw
a ravishing new collection truly inspired by
men with great character and style, yet worn
by progressive graceful women, leading us to
think about the question, “Is there a spark of
maleness in the modern woman?”
erences for her female characters are men.
We met with the refined nose, Jean-Claude
Ellena, who taught us the art of layering the
perfect female and male fragrances.
But not to forget, we consulted this season’s
heroes, Jean Cocteau, Jean-Michel Basquiat,
David Hockney and Prince Michael of Kent,
who guided us through the male wardrobe and
gave us vital sartorial styling advice. Directions
that clearly left a significant imprint on the
Rodebjer collection for AW 2012.
In our culture we don’t usually talk about contradictions in terms of having more than one
voice or spirit inside you: the many sides of
your personality. Whether these contradictions
are traditional and progressive, mature and
playful or feminine and masculine, we believe
that contradictions are what make the modern
woman alluring.
It is with excitement and pleasure we present
this very first issue of the Rodebjer Journal. An
issue where masculine traditions and progressive female style has come together to create
an expressive and elegant mix of fashion.
We dove into the subject and met up with
Erika, a Mime actress whose greatest ref-
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Blouse Annie Hall Eggshell
Skirt Robin Black/Glitter
Coat jean-michel Eggshell
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Dress LANE Gold
Shoes REDFORD Black
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Coat QUINN Night Blue
Shoes JEAN Black/Wood
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Layering perfumes can for the purist adherent
seem like listening to Mozart’s Requiem and Bach’s
Well-Tempered Clavier at the same time. For them
perfumes are pieces of art beyond compare.
Floral
and
Agarwood
Kenzo Flower + Yves Saint-Laurent M7
Diptyque Philosykos + Bvlgari Black
Pair the vibrant, fresh feminine fragrance of Kenzo, purely
based on floral aromas, together with the heavy masculine perfume YSL M7 characterised by the bold and dramatic features
of agarwood and vetiver. Perfect to be worn for an evening at
the theatre.
Blend Philosykos’ fig tree with white cedar notes together with
Bulgari Black’s woody and rubber features to transform the
scents into a rather unsettling hybrid. Thus, strikingly enjoyable
for the more daring woman.
But if you belong to the experimentalists, layering perfumes, masculine
with feminine, can be a way for you to fall in love with your once forgotten fragrances again. We were eager to find out more about the art
of layering perfume and consulted the expert nose, Jean-Claude Ellena,
here sharing his vision on how to successfully layer perfume.
Start with one simple scent and one more complex. Simple perfumes
are those that give the impression of one or two recognisable accords.
Like the Bulgari Black that smells of primary vanilla and rubber. Chanel
No. 5 in turn has a more complex character, with citrus and aldehydes
as the leading accord, and a handful of floral and with ambery base.
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Estee Lauder Tuscany per Donna + DSquared HeWood
This amalgamation turns into a beautiful blend of sweet wood
and unidentifiable blossom. A rather light-hearted combination
to be worn for an early autumn stroll in the park.
Find at least one accord in common. Spray the stronger perfume first
so that the second perfume gets added to the heart of the first one. Try
your combinations on a piece of paper first and not immediately on your
skin. Some combinations will no matter what not be the one you want
to leave the house in.
Gloves John Black Leather
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Scarf DAVID Multi
Four gentlemen with four different concepts of the
suit. Each with their own defined character reflecting on their personal style. Men that certainly gave
us directions for this season’s fashion.
Consultation
Dress LANE Gold
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Jean Cocteau’s confident yet relaxed manner to wear the suit is what triggered us
to look deeper into his intricate persona.
He taught us how to dress like a proper man
but also that; “the spirit of creation is simply the
spirit of contradiction.”
The drapey oversized suit with details influenced by street wear – Jean-Michel Basquiat
has undoubtedly found his own vogue of turning this conventional ensemble into a nonchalant yet classy outfit.
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Just like the noble gentleman he is, Prince
Michael of Kent’s wardrobe is yet what you
would expect. We just could not foresee with
what refined modern attitude he wears his noble uniform.
David Hockney’s explicit use of colour in his
paintings is certainly also reflecting upon his
style. With no fear of mixing colours and patterns Mr. Hockney is nothing but a modern
dandy.
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Blouse Annie Hall Eggshell
Coat jean-michel Eggshell
Dress Waits Feather
Coat QUINN Night Blue
Shoes JEAN Black/Wood
Cap Basquiat Black Leather
Blazer BEAU Whine Red
Trousers RAMPLING Nude
Sleeve Garters Cocteau Gold
Shoes JEAN Black/Wood
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In this issue we profile two actresses, one incidental and one professional. Both happen to be
exceptionally good in portraying men. We have
met up with them to find out more about this and
how it all began.
Dr. Jekyll
and
Mrs. Hyde
It takes Mime actress Erika Cederqvist two seconds and she is a
hysteric mother. Or another two and she is a devoted businessman.
Through the art of Mime, reflecting upon different characters, and
herself, emotional contradictions have become a part of her daily life.
We met up with her to find out more about Mime and what happens in
her mind when stepping in and out of male and female personalities.
Hi Erika tell us about Mime, how does it differ from
classic theatre?
which requires a lot of prior research. And for
me those characters just happen to be men.
But I also think there is an underlying psychological aspect to it. Maybe consulting Freud
in this question will give me some truly interesting answers about my own personality.
In Mime, your body becomes the most important tool, whereas in theatre you rely more on
dialogue. Usually we don’t even work with text,
which means you need to find other methods
of communicating or creating an atmosphere
or conversation. Mime is physical theatre, and
your entire body, through gestures and movements, becomes the tool to create this dialogue.
It is a combination of so many different expressions and is very abstract, but it can still have
a rather realistic shape of storytelling just like
classic theatre.
What happens on stage when acting these male
characters?
Being on stage as a woman, playing the role of a
man is truly interesting not only for the audience
but also for yourself. The interaction of your (female) body and the character creates huge contradictions that maybe only you get to be aware
of. It becomes like a personality conflict that
only I experience, it sounds very selfish but in
the end it also reflects upon the actual play.
What happens in your mind when stepping into a
new persona?
Where do you find references for these male
characters?
It is really scary; every time I am about to walk
up on the stage I ask myself “why have I chosen
this profession?” To step into a character is to
die a little bit yourself and get reborn into a new
character.
I observe. A lot. I can, for a year, observe one
type of person in a very obsessed way. Like during my last project, I got so obsessed with my
real estate broker that I kept on booking meetings without really having anything to discuss
with him. But I was so eager to study him and
map out his life and behaviour. At one point I
just had to stop because it got a bit uncomfortable, still leaving me without a house!
But when I create my characters it is also
important that they have a quite bizarre counterweight. That also applies to the female characters I portray. If my character is a peaceful
new age woman it is also important that she has
some insane behaviour that you would not usually expect of her. I sort of try to create contradictory emotions that I use to make characters
more intriguing.
How is it then to walk off the stage again?
That is even harder, because then you have to
shake off all these highly emotional feelings you
have been triggering on stage.
I know you have a big interest in acting male characters, what is it that triggers you to do that?
Well, I have been asking myself that question
as well many times, and I have never really
completely figured it out. But I do think what
triggers it is that I always have an urge to act
someone who is really far from my own personality. Someone that is a bit unknown to me
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“Some characters become very dear to you,
and a little piece of each one of them will stay
with you forever.”
Talking about contradictory emotions within characters, doesn’t your relationship with these male
characters evoke contradictions within you?
connected to you it is also very hard to distance
yourself from it. When you act you constantly
borrow feelings from your own register, which
is sometimes a little dangerous. I was in this play
a while ago where I had to act a depressed man,
and after this play, two months later I still felt sad
and mellow from time to time. When this happens you need to deal with contradictory feelings and emotions that can really confuse you.
Certainly, if I rehearse playing a man for eight
hours a day, it is really hard to just shake him off after. He sort of follows me home, meets my friends,
and also reacts as a ghost upon my own personality. It can get bit schizophrenic but as an actor you
need to learn how to deal with this and how to cut
it off when leaving your job. But it is hard, and
sometimes it just doesn’t work that easily.
Does a scripted role ever change on stage?
Definitely, and that is also what is so interesting with Mime. It is extremely spontaneous and
very much depending on improvisation. To keep
your characters alive and let them do what they
want with you rather than you controlling them.
It would therefore be impossible to act in a play
in the exact manner twice. You just really have to
see where a character takes you that specific day.
That is also what defines Mime, a strong interaction based on intuition and improvisation. But
that is also what makes it interesting and exciting – to act within this dangerous verge of never
knowing where a character will take you.
Does your profession become difficult in the sense
that you constantly need to change moods and
personalities?
The more experience you get within Mime the
easier it becomes to shake off the character’s
feelings afterwards. It will make your life much
more uncomplicated.
How do you distance yourself from the characters
then?
It is quite complex. If I step on stage feeling down
and have to play a character that is fragile I sort
of need to borrow some of these feelings from
myself. It is hard to shake these feelings off and
sometimes you get so deep down in your emotions that you evoke memories that were long
gone. But on stage I’m fine, because when I’m
acting I’m never distracted by my own feelings.
It is just after when I’m done it can get difficult
emotionally. To recover after a performance can
be ridiculously intense.
Does the audience have a big influence on the behaviour of these characters?
Yes, for sure. For me theatre is just a big dialogue with the audience. You have to be open
and perceptive to understand what is going on
in the room. Important is to never go that far to
let the audience own you. I can take responsibility for what I say on stage but never for someone
else’s perceptions.
Did you ever work so close to a character that it
became connected to you?
Have you ever missed a character?
Some characters become very dear to you, and
a little piece of each one of them will stay with
you forever.
Yes. You have a library of feelings that you can
use as a tool when acting. As these are so closely
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From a distance Pernilla Philip, a Swedish jewelry designer resembles
Snoop Dogg. They share the same slender build, long facial features
and caramel complexion. Soon the jokes started rolling, and in a case
of life imitating humor she suddenly found herself auditioning to play
Snoop Dogg in his latest music video. We had a coffee with her in her
studio to find out more about this incident and how she prepared to
step into a man’s body and mind.
How did this all get started?
serious production that they even decided to
initiate a casting to see if there were other lookalikes that would suit the role even better.
Well it is actually quite a long story that starts
already back in high school, when I came one
day all fixed up in cornrows. My best friend
Maria claimed that I looked just like Snoop
Dogg and from that day I jokingly went under
the name ‘Sister Snoop’.
So you had to go to London for this audition, how
did you prepare to step into a male character and
especially Snoop?
I looked at videos and interviews about him
trying to find out how he behaves, his attitude
and how he moves. The role was supposed to
be an interplay between both our characters,
mine and Snoop’s. So I had to pick up on
those behaviors that I could apply to my own
personality. I also had to prepare some Snoop
moves in front of my boyfriend, which was really embarrassing; I was laughing constantly
and felt very silly.
How did you go from Snoop look-alike in high
school to a big music video production?
Maria, whom I went to high school with and
who also coined me as Sister Snoop, works
together with the artist Robyn as her stylist
and choreographer. One night in Amsterdam,
during Robyn’s European tour, the three of us
had dinner together. We started to talk about
this whole Snoop thing. It was a period when
Robyn and Snoop had just recorded a couple
of songs together and were planning to record
a video. I don’t know why I said it, probably
as a joke, but I mentioned that I should be
Snoop’s understudy in the music video. From
there it sort of grew, and something that was
intended to be a small production just grew
into something huge. It became such a big and
How did if feel stepping into a man’s mind?
It was fascinating, I mean, I had to play this role
and had to perform a personality that is very
far distanced from my own. But also interesting to see how you start to behave just because
you have to play a male character, every thing
changes, the way you speak, move and behave.
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“I think that was the moment I channeled
Snoop the most, with his nonchalant and
confident attitude of ruling the world,
to actively take more space than you need.”
When you were at the audition, did you have
Snoop behind you all the time?
Definitely, I mean, Snoop and me have very
different opinions on things, and I can say that
only from knowing his lyrics without necessarily knowing him. I think we have very dissimilar visions on how one is to behave and by
acting his character it sort of felt like agreeing on his vision and that was something I just
simply had to overlook this day.
Yes, it felt like he was there, channeled through
me. I got more of a confident attitude and a
much harder shell. A bit like ‘I rule’ attitude,
acting like the role was already mine. I think if
Snoop would be at an audition for something
he would behave like that.
Was there a special moment when you felt Snoop
was taking you over?
How was it then afterwards, did you bring Snoop
home with you?
I think at the end when we were about to
take a group photo of all the look-alikes. I
was shorter than all of the other look-alikes
and felt I needed to take more space, so I
secretly stepped up on my toes and added
this Snoop confidence, all this happened
unconsciously. I think that was the moment
I channeled Snoop the most, with his nonchalant and confident attitude of ruling
the world, to actively take more space than
you need. Although, I did it secretly, which
I guess, was my addition to the character.
Certainly, I had built up this entire attitude
and self-confidence during the whole audition
day and I took that all that with me during
the evening. I remember that we had dinner
with the entire casting and production crew
that same night and I felt I was there more as
Snoop than Pernilla.
Did this incidental Snoop acting somehow make
you feel uncomfortable?
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Bag MICHEL Black
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Fashion undoubtedly works when nothing has
been left to chance. This season’s trademarks have
been borrowed from the male wardrobe. We have
collected five awe-inspiring components that will
complete your utter look.
Trademarks
About the loafer, one can think its origin is
from North America, but these slippers that
Michael Jackson once brought back into fashion have its source in the Norwegian farming
culture. This shoe, worn by any prep schoolboy on the American east coast in the 50’s is
still the perfect shoe for both business and leisure today.
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Young men on Madison Avenue wear grey
flannel suits, crisp white shirts, and skinny bow
ties. Conformity rules the day but the world is
about to change. Classic watch face with its
clean lines and offset second-hand track will
keep you punctual and looking sharp.
With a name originating from the Scottish
glen, the Glen check has been many charming men’s recognisable pattern for a long time.
Perfectly used for suits. 50
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The baseball cap is most likely the most universal cap of our time. Hemingway probably
bought his in a gas station, or maybe in a tackle shop in Key West. This headgear, traditionally worn by athletes, has become everyone’s
favourite sun protector.
Most commonly seen on the waiter serving
you a café au lait in the French bistro, the
bookkeeper organising your bills or on the
man shaking your whiskey sour, these identifiable shirt armbands – Sleeve Gartes – tailor
your shirt or just simply accessorise it.
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Shirt Hunter Nude
Trousers HUSTON Night Blue
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Belt Piper Gold
Sleeve Garters Cocteau Gold
Scarf Prince Multi
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Steak has long been viewed as the ultimate gentleman’s meal but clearly also appreciated by emancipated women. Here used to illustrate how to
prepare a superior dinner for two.
Steak
and
Roses
1. Choose a piece of beef with minimal
outer fat. The fat should be creamy in colour,
and the bones should be soft-looking with a
reddish colour. The meat should be firm, finetextured and a light cherry red. It is very important that prior to preparing your meat, no
matter where it was purchased, that you clean
it. Rinse it well and cut away excess fat, and
finally always make sure to pat the steak dry.
2. With a high-quality cut of meat, you
really don’t need much more than salt and
pepper. Although, some herbs of your favourite choice will turn the steak into perfection. Season both sides of the steak, using
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a teaspoon or less of both salt and pepper.
After seasoning, let the meat sit on the counter for a bit so it comes up to room temperature (a good rule of thumb is at least
10 minutes for every inch of thickness).
4. Put the pan, with the steak in it, in the
oven. Let it bake for several minutes, then
check the temperature or texture for doneness. In the meanwhile, start preparing the
dining table.
3. What we love about cooking steak on
the stove is how easy it is to get a crisp, caramelized coating on the outside of the steak
without over-cooking the middle. Drop the
steak in the pan and let it sit without touching it for 3 minutes. Be prepared to turn on
your fan or open some windows, as there will
be smoke.
5. A properly set table is the canvas for a
beautiful meal. If the tablecloth is white damask, you will need a pad under it to prevent
it from slipping. When the tablecloth is on, it
should hang down about a foot and a half. Set
the table once you’ve adjusted the tablecloth.
pruners to prevent damaging the rose canes
and spreading disease. Remove all leaves that
would be below the water line but leave at least
3 leaves on the stem to feed the plant.
7.Use either a floral preservative or add a
splash of a lemon/lime soda or even a squeeze
of lemon and a tablespoon of sugar to the water in the vase.
8. By the time you’re done, the meat has set
itself ready in the oven. Crisp and caramelized
on the outside, but never burnt. The first bite
that melts in your mouth as the savoury, perfectly seasoned flavour of beef hits your palate.
6. When the table is set to your liking, start
arranging the roses. Always use clean, sharp
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RODEBJER JOURNAL
Written, edited and created by
Therése Östelius
FASHION SHOOT
(Pages 9 – 13, 19 – 20, 26 – 32, 44 – 45, 52 – 57)
Fashion Therése Östelius
Photography Guus Kaandorp & Lonneke van der Palen
Make-up Manabu Nobuoka
Model Wing Mei Man
ILLUSTRATIONS
(Pages 14 – 18)
Rustan Söderling
PHOTOGRAPHY
(Pages 34 – 38)
Diederik de Groot
(Pages 4 – 6, 34 – 35, 41, 43, 58 – 63, 65)
Therése Östelius
Special thanks to APRILL (www.aprill.nl)
for assistance and design guidence.
This publication may not be reproduced in whole or in part
without permission from the publisher. The Journal assumes
no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts, photographs
or illustrations.
Printed in Amsterdam
May 2012
© All rights reserved
www.rodebjer.com
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Autumn Winter 2012